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today-only-happens-once · 3 years

Text

out of focus

title: out of focus

word count: 3955

summary:

The actions of a Fire Nation admiral during a meeting causes some problems for Sokka. The words of that admiral causes some problems for Zuko. They try to take care of each other.

“What did the admiral mean,” Sokka blurts out without really thinking about it, “when he talked about insubordination?”

Zuko freezes, the rag half-out of the bowl and his other hand still bracing Sokka’s (not quite holding it… far too gentle to be holding it). “What—uh. I, uh.” Zuko stops. Takes a breath. Tries again. He still doesn’t look up at Sokka. “When I was younger, I spoke out at a meeting.”

Warnings: burns (description of), violence, threats of violence, discussion of canonical child abuse, characters curse but no curse words are written, character is non-permanently injured, yelling/arguing, trauma

A/N: me? writing a zukka AtLA fic and posting it an hour short of midnight? Apparently, it’s more likely that you’d think.

Read on AO3

Zuko has the patience of a saint, Sokka thinks to himself.

It’s an unusual thought, he realizes. A year ago, if you’d told Sokka that he’d come to think of the Banished Prince as ‘patient’, he’d probably have thrown his boomerang at you. A year ago, Zuko was one of the most short-tempered people he knew. A year ago, Zuko was the face of the enemy.

A lot changes in a year.

Sokka barely stifles a frustrated sigh. The attempt does not seem to go unnoticed by Zuko, who glances at him quickly before the corner of his mouth twitches with something like amusement. The meeting had been going on for hours, and Sokka can’t help but feel that very little progress on the treaty had been made. It wasn’t for lack of trying, Sokka knows, but war leaves messy problems in its wake. He knows that both the literal and metaphorical shrapnel left behind by a century of conflict can’t be swept away in a night or a week or a month.

It doesn’t make these meetings any easier to sit through.

“I want immediate release of all prisoners of war,” an Earth Kingdom ambassador demands.

“I second that,” Sokka hears his father--sitting across the table from him--add, a bit more calmly but no less firm. “I have men in those prisons that haven’t seen their family in a decade.”

“Of course,” Zuko replies at the same time a Fire Nation soldier snaps, “absolutely not.”

Zuko levels a hard look at him. “Admiral, people who were arrested as prisoners of war have no need to remain so after the war has ended.” He looks to Hakoda, then to the Earth Kingdom ambassador. “I’ll draft that mandate tonight and will ensure it’s circulation as soon as possible.”

“This is an outrage!” The slam of a fist against the table makes Sokka’s hand fly to the boomerang strapped to his hip instinctively. The admiral is on his feet.

“Admiral,” Zuko says, his voice steely as he rises from his own chair. The Fire Nation soldier cuts him off.

“Where is the justice for the Fire Nation families whose sons and daughters were slaughtered by those criminals?”

“Admiral--”

“I remember a time when you cared about Fire Nation soldiers! And it’s hard to believe you’ve forgotten, seeing as you ought to be reminded every time you look in the mirror--”

“Enough!” Zuko snaps. “You will watch your tongue or you will be escorted out. You approach insubordination.”

“You are a child,” the admiral sneers. “Though one that ought to know a thing or two about insubordination, given your father’s attempts to brand you with a permanent reminder of its consequences--”

“Warriors!”

“Then again, he always was twice the leader you will never be. Long live the Phoenix King!”

Sokka sees the warning signs—the slight shift of weight, the clench of the man’s fists—and leaps to his feet. “Zuko--!”

“Sokka!”

There’s a blinding light and scorching heat. Sokka feels something slam onto his shoulder and he dives instinctively for cover as the familiar roar of a fireball explodes in front of him. The flames are bright and lick around him, and Sokka throws a hand up to protect his face. He blinks the spots from his vision as he yanks his boomerang out of his belt.

Zuko is standing beside him, his stance ready and his hand outstretched, having evidently dispelled the fireball that had been launched at him. Sokka leaps back up to his feet and hurls the boomerang in his hands towards the Admiral, hitting his hand right as he moves to launch another attack and forcing it to go wide. A burst of flames slam against the wall to the left.

The room is in chaos.

Sokka barely hears the shouts of alarm and curses over the roar of dying flames. He sees his father, already on his feet, diving underneath a bolt of red fire. Across the room, the Earth Kingdom ambassador jerks their hand. There’s a rumble in the ground before it rises and anchors around the Admiral’s feet, holding him in place.

Sokka sees the admiral’s gaze meet his own and narrow. The Fire Nation soldier bares his teeth in a snarl, his fist shooting out. Before Sokka can blink, Zuko steps in front of him, dispelling the flames just as the door ricochets open. Two Kyoshi Warriors flood in and in a series of quick strikes, the admiral drops. Awake, but limp.

Sokka thinks idly that he’s grateful that Ty Lee taught them how to block chi.

“Your father should have killed you that day!” the admiral shouts as he’s dragged through the doors. “He showed mercy on your pathetic, worthless—” the door slamming shut cuts him off.

The silence that follows makes Sokka’s ears ring. He can still feel stale adrenaline coursing through him, his heartbeat pounding in his chest. For a moment, nobody moves. Zuko awkwardly clears his throat.

“Apologies for the, uh, disruption. It shouldn’t happen again.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Firelord Zuko,” Hakoda assures him, but there’s something odd in his father’s expression when he looks at Zuko that Sokka doesn’t understand.

Zuko says something in response, but Sokka doesn’t catch it. As the adrenaline bleeds out of him, his muscles relaxing, Sokka realizes that his fists are still clenched. Sokka forces them to relax, and hisses as it sends a jolt of hot pain through his left hand. When he looks down, he realizes that the skin on the top of part of his hand near his knuckles is a blistering, angry red.

Sokka’s hiss doesn’t go unnoticed. Zuko looks at him over his shoulder, his brows drawn together in confusion before his eyes fall to Sokka’s hand. Then, they go wide.

Zuko turns back around suddenly to address the room, his back straighter. “We will adjourn the meeting for the afternoon. We will reconvene tomorrow.”

“Firelord Zuko—” an ambassador from the Northern Water Tribe protests, but Hakoda interrupts him.

“I think we could all use a breather, Kovrik. Coming back tomorrow with a clear head is a good decision.”

“Yes… yes, I suppose that’s fair.”

Sokka is finding it increasingly difficult to follow the conversation. His hand hurts, and it’s taking every last drop of his willpower and pride to grit his teeth and swallow back the whimper that wants to push up his throat. It’s not until Zuko’s face is taking up his entire field of vision that Sokka realizes everyone but the two of them and his father have left the room.

“Let me see,” Zuko says quietly, then curses under his breath when he looks at Sokka’s hand. “Where’s Katara when you need her.”

“Do you have anything that can help?” Hakoda asks from behind Zuko.

“Yes, sir,” Zuko replies, his brows still furrowed in concentration. “Though it’s not quite as immediate as waterbending healers. But it should help with the pain, and prevent infection. Follow me.”

Sokka feels Zuko take his elbow and guide him out the door of the meeting room and down the hall. He’s distantly aware that Zuko is moving quickly—not quite a jog, but only barely shy of it—through a network of corridors. His hand feels like it might still be on fire, and Sokka looks down at it again just to be sure that’s not actually the case. He tells himself that he’s endured injuries more painful than this. The broken leg was worse, he thinks, though it does little to actually help with the burning sensation in his hand.

He’s vaguely aware that Zuko says something quickly to two guards that are flanking a set of doors before he rushes in. Sokka looks up and realizes it’s Zuko’s chambers. He’d only been in here a couple of times before, largely while Zuko was still recovering from Azula’s lightning strike in the weeks following the end of the war.

“Wait here,” Zuko tells him before disappearing through another door on the far side of the room.

“You had good reflexes in there,” Sokka hears his father’s low, soothing voice speak up. He’d had almost forgotten he was there. Hakoda moves the chair that had been beside the bed closer to Sokka in a clear direction to sit down.

“Lots of practice,” Sokka replies as he sits. He hisses a little again as his hand flares and grits out a swear behind clenched teeth.

“Easy,” Hakoda says softly. He places a bracing, comforting hand between Sokka’s shoulder blades. It’s grounding, and he’s grateful.

“Wish Katara was here,” Sokka tells him, echoing Zuko’s comment from earlier.

“I know. Unfortunately, I don’t think she’s coming to Caldera for a while. She’s still in Ba Sing Se with Aang.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Her magic water comes in handy though.” Sokka gives his father a tight smile. “Get it? Hand-y?”

Hakoda snorts just as the door opens again. Zuko has his arms full of a large bowl, his hands fisting a few vials and some bandages. There’s something pinched about Zuko’s expression, and the way he doesn’t meet Sokka’s eyes as he kneels in front of him feels odd. The bowl is full of water, Sokka realizes, as he sets it on the ground and begins to empty the vials into it.

“Can I see your hand?” Zuko asks, and the question—for some reason—catches him off guard.

Sokka blinks. “Yeah. Sure.” He grimaces as he places his hand in Zuko’s, but the excessive gentleness surprises him so much that Sokka almost forgets that his hand hurts.

Zuko was many things, but Sokka can’t remember a time—even after he started to get along with the Fire Prince—that he would have described Zuko as gentle. But his grip on Sokka’s hand is careful. Almost excessively so.

Zuko hums in the back of his throat as he inspects the burns. “I don’t think it’ll have permanent damage,” he says quietly. “But I still need to treat it so it doesn’t get infected. It… might hurt, a little. But then it should feel better.”

“No permanent damage. That’s good,” Sokka says. He swallows, and nods. “Okay.”

For a long moment, the only sounds that fills the room is the quiet splash of water in the bowl as Zuko submerges the cloth rag again and wrings it out. Sokka lets his gaze float around the room.

Zuko has left it mostly bare. There’s a portrait of Iroh and a woman that Sokka remembers being the Fire Lady—Zuko’s mother—hanging on the wall near the headboard of the bed. On the dresser beside it is a drawing that Sokka did of the group of them months ago. He sees a pile of papers on the desk across the room. He thinks one of them has Aang’s signature at the bottom, but it’s too far away for him to know for sure.

Bright, painful heat searing his hand slams his attention back to Zuko in front of him and Sokka yelps, yanking his hand away. Zuko grimaces, retracing his own hand.

“I’m sorry,” he says, sounding more earnest than Sokka expects. “This part is painful, but it’ll stop hurting in a minute.”

Sokka fights to pull his breathing back under his control. In through his nose, out through his mouth. “Right,” he manages, his voice tight. “Right, sorry.”

“Don’t be. I know it hurts.”

Something about that line—and about the fact that Zuko still hasn’t met his eyes since returning from the other room—drags Sokka’s thoughts back to the conversation in the treaty meeting. There were several things that the admiral had said to Zuko that Sokka didn’t quite understand. He could only remember pieces of things said, but they repeat in Sokka’s head like disjointed pieces of a puzzle that he can’t quite make fit together.

seeing as you ought to be reminded every time you look in the mirror… insubordination… your father’s attempts to brand you… consequences…

Sokka’s gaze falls back to Zuko, dutifully bowed in front of him. There had long been pieces about Zuko that Sokka had found puzzling. Things about him that didn’t quite fit together. Sokka considers himself a person pretty good at figuring out how things worked together, and that extended (with less success) to figuring out how parts of people make up the sum of their whole.

Zuko, though… Zuko had always been something of a mystery. But as the words of the admiral ricochet in his mind, there’s a picture beginning to come together that is still just a little too hazy, a little too out of focus, to fill in the spaces that Sokka felt were missing.

“What did the admiral mean,” Sokka blurts out without really thinking about it, “when he talked about insubordination?”

Sokka’s brow furrows as Zuko presses the rag to the back of his hand again. Sokka realizes that his hand has stopped hurting, but he’s too preoccupied with what Zuko said to pay it much mind. “After the stuff at Ba Sing Se? When you went home?”

“No, I, uh.” Zuko clears his throat. “Before that. Before… yeah. Earlier.”

Your father’s attempts to brand you…

“What happened?” Sokka asks. The way Zuko’s shoulders seem to tense doesn’t escape his attention, and there’s a part of him that wonders if perhaps he shouldn’t have asked. But it also feels like a question that once asked, is too late to take back.

Zuko pats Sokka’s hand dry with another towel and begins to gingerly wrap a bandage around it. He keeps his gold gaze steady on the work. Sokka keeps his gaze steady on Zuko.

“My uncle allowed me to attend a war meeting where they were talking about some battle strategies to use against an Earth Kingdom battalion. There was a general that wanted our newest fleet to serve as a distraction while we mounted an attack from the rear,” Zuko begins. There’s something off about his voice, though. Something detached and careful. He keeps wrapping the bandage. Around and around and around.

Sokka frowns. “That’s not fair,” he says. “Your newest recruits? They’d be slaughtered by an experienced battalion like that.”

Zuko sighs, his lips pressing into a thin line. “Exactly,” he says in a low voice. “And that’s what I told them. I wasn’t thinking. I just… yelled at him.” Sokka opens his mouth to disagree—it sounds like Zuko was thinking, unlike anybody else at that meeting—but Zuko cuts him off as he secures the end of the bandage to Sokka’s palm. “My father didn’t… take it well. I was challenged to an Agni Kai, and I thought I would be facing the general in it, so I accepted.”

Zuko gathers the bowl and empty vials as he stands, crossing the room to set them on the edge of his desk. Sokka stands up slowly as Zuko does so. The pieces that had been out of focus for so long are starting to come together, and Sokka feels his stomach rolling with a leaden weight against what he can sense is coming.

“No…”

“It wasn’t the general,” Zuko continues, his voice so quiet that Sokka is sure he would have missed it if it hadn’t been dead silence around them. “It was my father.”

“You faced your father in an Agni Kai?”

“Not exactly. I…” Zuko stares down into the bowl of water beside him, his gaze distant. “I couldn’t fight my own father. Instead, I begged him for forgiveness. I was met with a fistful of flames.”

Zuko gestures vaguely at his face, and Sokka’s blood turns to ice.

“He…” Sokka’s throat closes, cutting off the rest of that sentence. All this time being chased by Zuko—all this time being friends with him—and he’d always assumed that the scar was the result of a training accident, or a fight with a firebender he lost. Sokka thinks bitterly and viciously that the second assumption wasn’t far off but his own father—

“I was banished after that,” Zuko says, and his voice is hollow and empty and wrong. And he finally, finally, meets Sokka’s gaze. “I was told to bring the Avatar back and all would be forgiven, or to not come back at all. That was before you and your sister woke Aang up from the iceberg.”

Sokka stands very, very still. He glances down and realizes his hands are trembling. He curls the non-bandaged one into a fist to get the shaking to stop. “How old were you?” he asks, and he doesn’t know why—of everything he could say—that’s the question that tumbles past his lips, but he feels like it matters.

“Thirteen.”

“Thir—” Sokka cuts himself off, scrubbing a hand across his mouth and swallowing hard. “Thirteen. Tui and La, when I was thirteen—”

Sokka breaks off again, his throat closing, his gaze falling to his father. When Sokka was thirteen, his father had left to go fight in the war and told Sokka he couldn’t come along. He’d protected Sokka, and though Sokka had found his way into fighting in the war regardless a few years later, he knows his father had only been trying to keep him safe. The idea of his own father striking him—let alone with a fist full of flames to his face—was incomprehensible.

Hakoda doesn’t look back at Sokka. His gaze is trained on Zuko, and there’s something in his eyes that Sokka doesn’t quite understand. But he’s seen it before. It was the same look Hakoda wears when he hears other water tribe soldiers recount war stories. The late-night ones. The ones where their voices betray the weight on their shoulders and tremble with the generations of nightmares on their backs.

Sokka takes a sudden, faltering step forward, and Zuko instinctively tenses. Sokka freezes. “Zuko…”

Zuko shakes his head. He coughs a little, as if trying to clear his throat. “Anyway. That’s—that’s what the admiral was talking about.”

“You…” Sokka tries again, his voice carrying just the barest hints of hysteria. “You were his kid.”

“Yeah, well.” Zuko’s gaze meets Sokka’s again. “He spent most of my life wishing I wasn’t.”

“Zuko,” Hakoda speaks up, his voice a low, soothing rumble to Sokka’s trembling nerves. “I… hope you understand that you didn’t deserve that.”

“I know, sir,” he replies, sounding steadier than Sokka feels. Sokka feels a little like the ground has shifted beneath his feet as he stares at his friend across the room. Zuko continues, frustratingly calm. “It… I didn’t at first. It took me a long time to understand that it was wrong of my father to do that. But I know now.”

“Where is he?” Sokka demands, flushing with a sudden and intense fury.

Zuko blinks, looking taken aback by the vehemence charged through Sokka’s voice like a steel rod. “Where’s who?”

“Ozai.”

“Sokka, what are you gonna do? Fight him? He already lost.”

“Against Aang, not against—did Aang even know?”

Zuko’s brow furrows and he rubs the back of his neck. “Um. I guess I don’t know. I never told him. I… never told any of you.”

“Yeah—and what’s that about, huh?” Sokka demands. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Sokka,” Hakoda warns, but Sokka’s words are already bubbling up throat and spilling past his lips, hot and bitter and angry.

“What, did you think we wouldn’t care? That it wouldn’t matter?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Zuko waves a hand towards the window that overlooks the courtyard. “My father already lost to the Avatar, Sokka. The war is over. The fighting is over. Aang took his bending. And that—I don’t know about you, but that’s the best, most justified end to his legacy I can think of.”

Sokka is still shaking. He can’t explain why. He knows, logically, that Zuko is right. He’s right. But Sokka can still feel his hands shaking, can still feel his heart hammering in his ribs with the urge to run something through with sword, can still feel the way his eyes sting with tears he won’t let fall. Sokka clenches his jaw and rips his gaze away from Zuko out towards the window, where he can see the sun setting on the horizon and painting the palace courtyard in an orange light.

“Wherever he is, I hope he rots,” Sokka says finally, and yet it still doesn’t feel like enough. “He deserves worse.”

Sokka looks back at Zuko, whose gaze is a little wide. He looks… taken aback. Sokka cocks an eyebrow.

“Don’t tell me you disagree—"

“No,” Zuko replies, shaking his head. “I just… Nothing.” The corner of his mouth tugs upwards in the barest hint of a smile. Sokka doesn’t understand why, just like he doesn’t understand why it uncoils the tight knot of burning anger in his chest.

Sokka takes a deep breath. Wills himself to relax. It helps… a little. There’s a beat, and then Sokka hears his father take a step forward. “Thank you for helping Sokka’s hand, Firelord Zuko.”

Zuko blinks, and Sokka swears his cheeks take a faint pink tint as he rubs the back of his neck. “Oh. Uh, of course, sir. And… just Zuko is fine.”

Sokka glances over and sees Hakoda smile, inclining his head. “Understood.” He looks to Sokka. “I should draft a letter to Bato tonight to update him on the treaty. Will you be okay without me?”

Sokka rolls his eyes teasingly. “Yeah, dad. I think I can manage.”

Hakoda squeezes his shoulder, nods to Zuko again, and quietly slips out of the room. The silence afterward seems to stretch, and Sokka feels the lingering tension bleeding out of him as he looks at Zuko, who quietly shuffles through the papers on his desk. Sokka watches him for a beat, his gaze lingering a little on the scarred tissue across his face. Sokka swallows.

There are other questions Sokka thinks he could ask. Like why—after doing that—Zuko was still so bent on returning home to his father. But there’s a part of Sokka that thinks he maybe understands.

Spirits know that he understood what it was like to crave the approval of your father.

“Hey,” he says, and Zuko’s gaze snaps over to him. “I… thank you for telling me. I… know that wasn’t easy, and… it means a lot that you trust me with that.”

“It… it wasn’t a question of trust, you know,” Zuko replies quietly, averting his gaze. “Not telling you, I mean. It was just—”

“I know,” Sokka says, and means it. “But I also know what it’s like to have things you don’t necessarily… want to relive. So it means a lot that you told me.”

The corner of Zuko’s mouth twitches again. He takes a deep, slow breath. “Thank you for listening,” he says.

“I like to think I’m a pretty good listener,” Sokka teases, shrugging.

“You are,” Zuko says, with far more sincerity than Sokka felt was warranted for what he’d meant to be a joke. Sokka blinks at him, and Zuko clears his throat, ducking his head a little. “I was thinking of getting some tea. There’s a place just outside the palace. It’s not as good as Uncle’s, but um. Did you want to come?”

“Yeah,” Sokka replies with a small smile. “I could use a cup of tea.”

#avatar the last airbender #zukka #zukka fanfiction #zuko fanfiction #zuko #sokka #not ts #we interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast to give you this fic for an unrelated fandom woops

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cierrabiscuits · 3 years

Text

Miya Atsumu X Fem Reader : Eligible Bachelor Alt route.

Word count: 5.4 K

Warnings: Some suggestive content, harassment, alcohol consumption, Nightmares, and a dab of angst. Happy ending :)

AN: I felt awful for breaking his heart in Sakusa’s route, but I’m atoning for my sins today. I went with a new approach and the ending is very fluffy! Also a big shoutout to @ambershaydeoffical for helping me edit and giving me some ideas! I hyper linked all the songs used! I hope you guy enjoy.-CB

Find Sakusa’s route here

Find Bokuto’s route here

~Story~

“Why did I ever agree to let you pick me up?” Your hand was gripping the support bar In Atsumu’s car for dear life.

“Because you love me and you know I’d get lost without my lovely Y/N.” Atsumu gave you a goofy smile as he shifted the gears.

“First off I’m your manager, second can you please go the speed limit. I’d like to make it to this charity event alive and in one piece.” You looked over to see him giving you a devilish smirk.

“You said we were late, therefore I’m making up for the lost time.” You rolled your eyes at him, but knew he was right.

“Maybe I should have let Omi take me, at least he would have driven the speed limit.” You said smirking at the setter.

“Oh yeah? Well yer stuck with me, besides I play good music.” He spun the volume button on the console all the way up. ‘This is what you came for’ started to boom through the speakers.

“Baby, this is what you came for Lightning strikes every time she moves And everybody's watching her But she's looking at you, ooh, ooh-” His thick accent attempted to sing along. You couldn't help but break out laughing.

“Tsumu I love you, but there is a reason you're a setter and not a singer.” You turned the music down so he could hear you.

“So you do love me?” He whipped his head to look at you. Your face ran hot, but panic came right with the rush of heat.

“Umm-TSUMU WATCH THE ROAD.” You screamed as he swerved a bit. Your hand found refuge yet again on the support bar. “Thank God we're almost there, you're an awful driver. Maybe worse than Bo.”

“I was kind enough to offer you a ride since your car is messed up and this is the thanks I get.” Your car’s transmission decided to go out, leaving you without transportation until it was fixed. But it ended being a blessing and a curse. Blessing being you get to hang with Atsumu alone and not to mention how sexy he was driving the standard shift. Curse being he was a crappy driver and your transmission broke your savings account.

“In all seriousness thank you Tsumu, you're the best.” You knew you were feeding his ego by saying that, but you were truly grateful. But he didn’t speak or even give you one of his normal cheeky comments. You looked over to see his cheeks glowing red,. You wish you could take a picture of the blushing athlete, but the venue was the next turn off.

“Tsumu, turn left at the next light.” You could see the huge venue center, the picture you saw online didn’t do the justice.

“You really sound like a GPS Y/N. Cute.” He turned the wheel with one hand and pulled into a parking spot.

“You have reached your destination.” You tried to imitate a GPS voice, but failed.

“I hear ya, wait here.” Atsumu unbuckled and hopped out of his car. You sat confused but then realized he was coming to open the door for you. He opened your door and offered you a hand which you gladly took.

“What a gentleman. Tsumu you're spoiling me.” You could get used to this side of him.

“No fair, Omi didn't open the door for me.” You turned your head to see Bokuto pouting.

“You're lucky I even drove you here, quit pushing it.” Sakusa rolled his eyes. “That goes for you too.” He then shot a death glared at poor Hinata.

“Okay guys less fighting more walking, Now pick those feet up, I need to meet with the event coordinator!” You lead the boys towards the venue. It reminded you of a Roman colosseum. It was stunning.

“Wow this place is huge! I bet there's a lot of people in there!” Hinata looked up at the venue it awe.

“How dreadful.” Sakusa said, adjusting his facemask. You had to beg him to come. After a little persuading he finally said yes.

“You already agreed to come Omi, please don’t back out now.” You pouted at Sakusa, causing him to roll his eyes. “Besides we’re already here.” You pointed at the large doors that led into the venue. They all looked excited to be here (Minus poor Sakusa).

“I know yer just itching to letcher us. I can tell by the look on your pretty face.” Sporting a smug look, Atsumu leaned on the side of the building. He never missed an opportunity to make your heart flutter.

“You know me so well Tsumu.” You smirked at the setter. You turned your attention to the rest of the group. “As you already know this is for charity, so keep it classy. You will also be auctioned off for a date, so whoever gets you, please be nice and respectful. You have a little time to kill so explore the place a bit and put yourself out there.”

“We'll be on our best behavior!” Bokuto chimed in giving you a thumbs up.

“I know. Now let's head in.” You went to open the door but Atsumu beat you to it. A heat tried to crawl its way up your neck, but you pushed it down. There was a time and place to dwell on the way Atsumu made you feel giddy. Now was not the time, sadly. It was hardly ever the right time, being the manager was a demanding position, their public image was one of your main concerns, which meant having an unprofessional fan girl moment was out of the question.

Once inside, you couldn’t settle your eyes to any one spot. To say the venue was packed would be an understatement. It was a flood of designer dresses and fancy tuxedos. It made you feel severely under dressed, but you're not here for fun. As much as you would love to dance the night away with the boys, specifically Atsumu, you were mature enough to realize how important tonight is.

“Bokuto let’s go eat! Atsumu isn’t your brother catering some of the food?” Hinata asked, eyeing the onigiri.

“Yup, he worked all day to make enough onigiri for tonight.” Atsumu said proudly. He and his brother may fight and quarrel, but they are both so supportive to each other.

“We better hurry and get some!” Bokuto grabbed Hinata by the arm and ran towards the food.

“You know where I’ll be. Just come get me when it’s time.” Sakusa walked towards a secluded corner.

“Now what do you plan on doing Tsumu?” You asked looking around the crowded room.

“I don’t know. I’ll probably bother Omi-Omi at some point.” He glanced at Sakusa sulking in his designated corner.

“Leave him alone! I need him to stay cooperative.” You wacked Atsumu in the back.

“Whatever you want doll. I have some orders for ya too.” Atsumu’s bright hazel eyes met your tired ones. Could he tell how nervous you were for this event? What could he possibly order you to do?

“What would that be?” You looked up at him, ready to deny his request.

“If you're gonna dance, make sure it's with me. We killed ‘Down on me’ at the last gala we went to.” Atsumu wiggled his eyebrows. You will never forget that night, you were full of liquid courage and danced on him all night long.

“Tsumu you have to dance with whoever bids on you. I’m in manager mode tonight and I’m staying sober this time.” You glanced at your watch and it was almost time to meet with the event coordinator. “ I doubt I’ll have time to dance at all. Oh snap, look at the time,I have to go to Tsumu.” You turned to walk towards the stage but he grabbed before you could get too far.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make my way to ya. Count on it.” He spoke right next to your ear, causing your hair to rise up. He released you and disappeared into the crowd. Your face was burning from the bottom of your throat, to the tip of your ears. Damn that Miya.

“Y/N thank you for coming!” The coordinator extended her hand for you to shake.

“No problem, I look forward to working with you.” You shook her hand and smiled. The flashing lights of the dance floor blinding you for just a moment. You wished you were dancing instead of working.

“Same here! Now let's get down to the plan. We’ve got a good line up tonight, I’ve got everyone lined up by group size, with yours being the smallest we will have your guys go last.” She scanned the clipboard in her hands. “Have them here in an hour please! I better get going, the rugby team is next and they have a lot of the team here! Ciao Y/N.” She made everything sound easy enough, but the hard part was rounding the boys up.

The music was booming, and the vibrations went through your body like an electric current. You wanted to dance so bad, but you remind yourself you have things to attend to. You try to spot the boys in the sea of people. You went to the food bar first but it looks like Hinata and Bokuto attacked it already considering there was nothing left. You began to walk towards the dance floor and heard the ‘cupid shuffle’ start playing. It was an iconic dance song, and a fun one to get a crowd going. People began to line up and make room to dance. You notice the tips of Bokuto’s hair, Hinata was on his right and Atsumu was on his left. You needed to reach them before the song really kicked in but It was too late.

“Just in time Y/N!” Bokuto beamed down at you.

“Guys we need to get lined up. Plus we still have to grab Sakusa.” You semi yelled over the music.

“Come on Y/N one song won’t kill ya, well get rounded up quick after this okay?” Atsumu wrapped an arm around Bokuto and Hinata. “Now get beside me, you always mix your left and right up.” He wasn't lying, you loved to dance but sometimes became uncoordinated.

“Fine.” You accepted defeat and got beside Atsumu, you took the chance to check him out. He looked so good in his suit, he had a grey tux that fit him like a glove. The white shirt underneath was unbuttoned and his tie left loose around his throat. He was too pretty for his own good. The music finally reached the start of the shuffle, and it pulled you from your thoughts. You followed the music with the rest of these boys in perfect sync. Tsumu nudged you in the right direction every now and then, but no one could see his hand lingering on your side. You smiled from ear to ear, it felt so good to dance some stress away and it felt even better to be so close to Atsumu. You watched his smooth movements, he was calculated on the court and on the dance floor. You could tell he was catching the eyes of women besides yourself. But right now it was you dancing next to him and that's all that mattered. The song came to an end and everyone tried to catch their breath.

“Okay now let's go get Omi.” You lead them out of the dance crowd and toward where Sakusa was. You find him exactly where you left him. He had an intense aurora surrounding him. If looks could kill you would be six foot under right now.

“Omi It's time to go lineup, are you ready?” You asked and he nodded his head. “Follow me guys.” You lead them to the side of the stage.

“So who’s going first?” Hinata asked nervously. You could only pray he wouldn’t puke on stage.

“Hmm good question, lets have Bo go first, then you, then Omi and Tsumu last.” You felt nervousness creep on you, this was really about to happen.

“Y/N you really saved the best for last hmm.” Atsumu flipped his hair dramatically. You rolled your eyes at him.

“Do I have to take my mask off?” Sakusa gave you a pleading look.

“Whatever is comfortable with you. I’ve put you through enough,” Sakusa sighed in relief at your words.

“Okay now, make sure to make a good impression and run these rich ladies pockets up.” You smacked your hands together. “I better get going, remember I’m counting on you guys.” You gave them one last thumbs up.

You got a seat in the front so you could take some pictures of the boys. You were definitely going to get some good ones for the teams Insta. You know what the fans want and you feed them. You were to caught up in getting your phone ready you didn’t notice someone sit next to you.

“Hey Y/N.” Osamu adjusted himself beside you.

“Oh. Hey Osamu! Your onigiri was a hit tonight I heard.” Too bad you didn’t get any, you thought.

“They paid me good for catering tonight, I wanted to make sure it was the best. I even had Tsumu come and try new recipes. He ate so much I thought I'd end up taking him to the ER.” He chuckled. You knew Atsumu loved his brother's cooking. “But enough about that airhead. You looked a little sad earlier when I saw you walking around, Is something wrong?”

“Everything is fine, I’m just stressed. Plus I want to dance and can’t.” Your hands fell to your lap in defeat.

‘Why can’t you dance? Are you hurt?” He gave you a concerned look.

“No I’m fine.” You smiled up at the twin. “I have to take pictures of the boys with their dates and make sure everything goes smoothly. Plus my dance partner will be taken anyway.” You let out a laugh to hide your disappointment. You really wanted to dance with Atsumu, but he will have fun with whoever gets him.

“Oh I see.” He seemed to have a small smirk on his face. “It looks like it’s starting.” The lights of the stage turned on and an upbeat song came on.

“Welcome to the annual Valentines day date auction! We are so glad you all could come out and join us. We have a great line up or should I say roster. This year our theme was sport team singles! Ladies if you plan on bidding tonight just raise your hand when you see the man of your dreams. Shall we get started?” The announcer said hyping up the crowd of women young and old. Neither your or Osamu paid any attention to the stage, instead you made small talk and showed him embarrassing pictures of Atsumu. Your favorite one being his face pressed up against an airplane window fast asleep. You sat beside him on that flight and ended up falling asleep on his shoulder. You remember him covering you up with his blanket at one point, he was a sweetheart when he wanted to be. Time flew by and it was finally time for the boys to get on stage.

“Next up we have the MSBY volleyball team!” Bokuto was called up, you got some good pictures of him flexing and just being his goofy self. Hinata came on stage and was more collected than you thought he would be. Sakusa came out and was stiff as a board the whole time, but you wouldn't complain considering he was kind enough to even come. And now it was Atsumu’s turn. You saw him walk on stage and your stomach began to feel like a merry go round. His wavy hair bounced with every confident step he took, he was hot and he flaunted it. Your eyes were glued to him, and once he found you in the crowd his eyes locked onto yours. He winked right at you and gave you one of his shit eating grins. You felt the embarrassment creep up on you, your attention went to your phone to take pictures of the cocky setter.

“I wonder what poor soul will get Tsumu.” Osamu stuck his tongue out at his brother.

“Hopefully someone who can put up with him, and keep up with his erratic dancing.” You laughed out. If you were being honest you wished you were the ‘poor soul’.

“I only know one person who fits that description.” Osamu smirked at his brother

“What?” You looked up at him confused. “Who?”

“Alright for 175,000 yen, going once , twice...” You eyed Osamu and he reached his hand out and tickled your side, causing your arm to shoot straight up in the air.

“We are now up to 180,000 yen! Going once, twice, and sold! That concludes the auction! We hope you all have a wonderful night and a Happy Valentine’s Day.” Astumu gave you one last smile before exiting the stage. You were still in a state of shock as the stage lights dimmed.

“I know what yer thinking Y/N, but it will be easier if you go talk to the dumbass. He’s a watin for ya.” Osamu got up and left you in a state of shock. You stood up quick and made a beeline towards the large crowd of athletes. You could feel your heartbeat pick up the closer you got. You just had to know why.

“Y/N over here!” You heard Hinata’s familiar voice over the crowd. You made your way to him and noticed the rest of the team standing with him. You wanted to congratulate everyone before you interrogated Atsumu.

“You guys did so well! I’m proud.” You smacked Bokuto and Hinata on the back. “Your dates should come get you soon, remember to have fun and be kind to them!” Sakusa was standing nervously against the wall, you hope someone tame got him. You looked over at Atsumu and he mouthed ‘Let’s go to the lobby.’ You nodded your head and you left the team to find out what was up. He led you through the crowd and into the empty lobby.

“I hope you're not mad at me Y/N, truth is I had something planned for you this Valentine’s Day, I wanted to surprise you, but we ended up having to do this which ruined my plans. Kinda.” Your eyes widened at his words. “You may be the team's manager and I may be the setter. But tonight let’s just be Y/N and Atsumu. You won me fair and square so either way you're stuck with me.”

“Okay, I’d like that actually. But I still have to check on the other every now and then.” You felt your heart rate pick up again. “But I have to know, who paid for you really?”

“Samu did. He was going to give most of his earnings back to the charity anyway.. I didn’t want just some girl beside me tonight, I wanted my girl. So after some begging he agreed to do it. But In return I must refer to him as the superior twin for the rest of the year.” Atsumu had you dumbfounded. You would have to thank Osamu later.

“Tsumu what do you mean by ‘my girl’?” Your knees felt like jelly. You knew what he meant, but you needed to hear it.

“Exactly what I said. I think we both know about each other's feelings. I love you more than Omi loves flu shots and lysol.” This was the oddest declaration of love, but it still made your heart melt.

“That makes you mine too, right?” He nodded his head and began to rummage through his pockets.

“Yes It sure does darlin’. I’m glad to get that off my chest. I got you a little something, close your eyes and hold your hand out.” You closed your eyes and felt his hands clasp something around your hand. “And open.” You looked down at the tennis bracelet you’ve been eyeing for a long time.

“Tsumu how did you..” You were at a loss for words, the bracelet was something you’ve been saving for. It was a pretty bracelet with a pretty big price tag. You couldn't help but smile.v

“When we all went to the mall a few months back I went to find you and saw you trying it on at the jewelry store. You looked sad when the cashier put it back in the case. As soon as you left the store I went right in and bought it. And before you say a thing, that smile you have on is worth every penny I spent.”

“Tsumu thank you, but I’m sorry I didn't get you anything.” You felt guilty but he wrapped an arm around your shoulder.

“Having you with me right now is plenty enough for this fool. Now let’s go check on everyone and get on the dancefloor.” He began to walk you back into the ballroom. You spotted the boys talking to their dates. Bokuto was with a shy curvy girl, she was absolutely stunning and she was definitely his type. You knew he would treat her good. A volleyball player from America bided on Hinata, they were talking about receives. She was a perfect fit for him. Sakusa was with an older woman, she seemed to be very respectful and calm. She mentioned that he reminded her of her late husband. All was well. They left with their dates and now it was time for you and yours to hit the dance floor. Atsumu grasped your hand and led you to the center of the dance floor.

“Tsumu wait.” You stopped a server and downed a glass of champagne.

“Oh my, here we go again.” Astsumu rolled his hazel eyes. You and drinking never ended good.

“I won’t go overboard. Now let's go dance.” You began to speed walk to the dance floor. The DJ was playing some straight up bops, you felt the music take over your body and you began to dance. As soon as ‘hips don't lie’ began to play you both went straight feral. You pulled away from him and swayed your hips side to side. Atsumu's eyes stayed glued to you as you let Shakira guide you. You came to a stop when you felt a lingering presence from behind you. You felt an unfamiliar pair of hands linger over your hips. You felt a wave of panic wash over you but Atsumu was quick to react, he wrapped his strong arms around and spun you away from the creep.

“Don’t even try, she obviously ain’t yours, now screw off asshole.” Astumu held you as close to him as humanly possible while telling the creep off. The smell of his cologne grounded you. The man flipped Tsumu off and disappeared back into the crowd. “Are you okay Y/N?”

“Yes thank you, but I need a drink to loosen back up.” You said eyeing the bar. You swore sobriety tonight, but you were feeling yourself. “But just one.”

“Sureee just one, I know better than that. You’ll be plastered by the end of the night.” He leaned down and whispered in your ear. His thick accent made your hair stand up. You rolled your eyes and led him to the bar. Bokuto was with his date at the bar, he was talking her head off, but she seemed to be interested in what he was saying. You didn’t want to disturb them, but Bokuto called you and Atsumu out.

“Tsumu! Y/N! Drink with us!” Bokuto ordered him and his date another shot.

“I’m not drinking tonight, I’m the DD tonight. But our manager here is feelin bold.” Atsumu waved down the bartender and ordered your favorite drink.

“Don’t get too drunk Bo, Sakusa will kill you if you get sick in his clean car.” You downed your drink. The champagne from earlier already making your head buzz.

“Yes ma’am, now me and this cutie are going back to the dancefloor. Have fun.” Bokuto held the girls hand and guided her back to the dance floor. They looked so cute together.

“I’ve got to use the bathroom, I’ll be right back.” Atsumu left you alone at the bar. Bad idea. You waved the bartender down and ordered two shots of tequila. You needed to get loose and the sugary drink he ordered for you wasn’t gonna cut it. You downed the shots and felt the warmth in your cheeks. You ordered one more for safe measure. With the evidence gone Atsumu didn’t suspect a thing when he came back.

“Ready to get back out there?” You nodded and headed back out. You noticed Bokuto was absolutely throwing it back on that girl, she looked so embarrassed but was definitely enjoying it. Sakusa and the older lady were enjoying a conversation at a secluded table. Hinata was hyping up the volleyball girl as she slowly dropped on the dance floor. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

“Now let's get back down to business.” Atsumu spun you around and pulled you close to him. “You have no idea how happy I am right now. I’m so glad your with me ” Atsumu planted a kiss on your forehead.

“Me too, I figured it would be another lonely valentines day, but this was a pleasant surprise.” You kissed him back on his cheek. Under the flashing light you could see the blush spreading on his cheeks.

“You won’t be lonely as long as I’m around Y/N. And that is a genuine Miya promise.” He crossed his heart as the upbeat music came back over the speaker. “Now let's get busy.” You two danced with your bodies hot and heavy against one another. It felt like heaven the way your bodies swayed under the strobe lights. It was like no one else was on the dance floor but you and him. You were fine and then all at once the tequila from earlier hit you like a train. The room was spinning and your spirit was rising. The liquid courage strikes again. You pulled away from Atsumu and stood in front of him.

“Tsumu you are so freakin sexy did ya know that?” You wrapped your arms around him and kissed his neck.

“Well yeah I am pretty sexy, but what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” He quirked his eyebrow up.

“Tsumu, I had a little extra alcohol while you were in the bathroom. Don’t be mad please, but I’m feeling greatttttt.” You slurred out your words. “But don’t *hic* worry *hic* I can still dance, I’ve got a ton of songs left in me.” You looked up to see three Atsumu’s looking down at you. Between the alcohol running through you veins and the bright lights flashing your head went dizzy. The only thing you remembered before passing out was Atsumu saying something along the lines of “ARE YOU KIDDIN ME Y/N.”

“Next on the stage we have Miya Atsumu, he is the setter for the black jackals! He is single and ready to mingle.” You watched Atsumu walk up on stage, your body felt frozen. You watched him but his eyes never met yours once. You heard girls screaming out his name and bidding on him. But he's yours, right? You were unable to move, unable to speak. You wanted to scream out to him, but no avail.

“Going once, going twice, and sold.” You watched Atsumu jump off the stage and ran to the girl who won him. He picked her up and spun her around. This can't be right, he was yours. He wanted you, why is he going after her? He looked so happy to be with her, but he was yours, he even said it.

“Tsumu why?” Your voice came out finally.

“Your not good enough, you never were.” He began to laugh at you as the girl pulled him by the tie and kissed him on the lips.

“NO!” Your body jolted up. You could feel your heart rate skyrocketing. You realize you had a nightmare, but it felt so real.

“Y/N what wrong? Baby are you okay?” You heard Atsumu's voice but couldn’t make out where it was coming from.

“Tsumu, where are you?” You felt hot tears run down your face. You see a lamp flicker on and spy Atsumu wearing a white fitted shirt and boxers. You realize you are in his bed, you could tell from the sheets and comforter you helped him pick out a few months back.

“Hey, hey It's okay, tell me what's wrong.’ He came over and sat down beside you.

“Tsumu am I enough for you? You could do so much better than me.” You sobbed out, he gave you a confused look.

“You’ve always been enough, I don’t need better when I already have the best. Tell me what has you sayin these things.” He began to rub soothing circles on your back.

“I had a nightmare, you told me I wasn't enough and there was another girl and she kissed you.” Atsumu looked sad as you explained your nightmare to him.

“It was just a nightmare Y/N, yer my one and only. No one even compares to you.” He kissed your tear stained cheek. “What can I do to make you feel better?”

“Kiss me.” You blurted out, you covered your face with your hands in embarrassment. “Tsumu you don’t have t-” Your body fell back on the bed and Astumu hovered above you.

“Ask and you shall receive.” He leaned down and gave a kiss that made you lips tingle. He pulled away and look down on you with a gentle smile on his face. “Better?”

“Umm.. yes.” You lifted yourself back up. “Not to kill the mood, but what happened, how did I get here?”

“You blacked out on me princess. I had to get Bokuto to help drag you out of there and load you in my car. I was going to take you home, but I brought you here to make sure you were alright. No more drinking three shots of tequila back to back, Sakusa saw you and ratted you out.” Atsumu handed you some aspirin and a bottle of water he had on his nightstand.

“Sorry Tsumu.” You lowered your head in shame. You felt guilty for making him go through all the trouble.

“Don’t be, you were kinda cute clinging to me.” He got up from the bed and walked towards his dresser.

“Uh, Tsumu what is this on the floor?” You asked looking at a pile of pillows and blankets scattered beside of the bed.

“That is my makeshift bed, I was going to sleep on the couch, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He rummaged through the dresser. “I’ve got some of your spare clothes from the last team sleepover. Do you want to shower?” He handed you the clothes.

“Please.”

The hot water felt like heaven on your tired body. You lather yourself in Atsumu body wash and tried to remember what happened exactly. You can remember Bokuto and Atsumu gilding you to his car at some point. You also remember Sakusa dragging a drunk Hinata to his car, at least you weren't the only one. You remember a little bit of the car ride, Atsumu drove alot smoother thankfully. You stepped out of the shower and dried off. You felt like something was missing. You changed into your clothes and looked into the foggy mirror. You reached up to fix your hair and noticed the tennis bracelet Astumu had given you was missing. You slammed open the bathroom door and ran to Astumu’s bedroom, he was laid back playing on his phone.

“Tsumu my bracelet is missing!” You began to look around the room in sheer panic.

“It's here, I took it off ya when we got here.” He pointed at his nightstand and you see the bracelet shine under the light of the lamp. You grab your chest and sigh with relief.

“Thank God, I thought I had lost it. I would be devastated if I lost the first gift my boyfriend gave me.” You eyes widened when you realized what you said.

“Boyfriend huh? That’s got a nice ring to it.” Atsumu turned his phone off and plugged it into a charger. “Are you ready for bed, my girlfriend?” That did have a nice ring to it. You nodded your head and climbed into his king sized bed. Atsumu went to get back in the floor but you grabbed his wrist.

“I’d feel a lot better if you slept next to me. Please.” You averted your eyes.

“Anything for you, I’m relived you asked really. The floor is not very comfortable.” He lifted the comforter and crawled in beside of you. He kept a distance from you, despite what people may think, he was a true gentleman. You inched you way to his side of the bed and it didn’t go unnoticed. “Your making it obvious you want cuddled, come on over, I don’t bite.” You scooched over and laid your head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around you securing you in place. Your could hear the soft beating of his heart lulling you to sleep.

“I love you Y/N.” He softly whispered into you ear and gave your forehead a feather light kiss.

“I love you too Tsumu. You’ll be here when I wake up right?” Your eyes struggled to stay open.

“Yes I will, I will always be here. Sweet dreams my pretty girl.” You smiled and slowly fell asleep feeling safe and loved in his arms.

Fin

#Haikyuu Fluff #atsumu x female reader #atsumu x you #atsumu x reader #haikyuu angst #msby x reader #miya atsumu #atsumu fluff #haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader

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howtodrawyourdragon · 4 years

Text

Nothing Like Bonding During A Storm

Summary: In a modern world, Toothless has trouble adjusting to the surface world. Fortunately, he knows he can always count on Hiccup, even when nature's extremes bring down her wrath on the world.

Rating: General

Characters: Hiccup, Toothless

Words: 3 075

Author’s Notes:

That moment when you finish and post a one-shot about an AU that's been developing since February before finishing the actual main fic.

Anyway, I've been watching a lot of videos on YouTube about tornadoes and I find them very fascinating to look at. I often find myself wondering "how do people deal with possible natural disasters in a world that has ended" and this came to mind.

This is basically just dipping my toe in a concept with countless of possibilities and I will probably return to it later to explore it some more.

I have barely slept the past two days, I hope it doesn't show in this one-shot. It doesn't feel as exciting as I want it to be.

Also, hopefully I can finally get the main fic over and done with instead of daydreaming about it. I literally have another finished one-shot of this AU that I haven't posted yet.

Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Enjoy!

Ao3

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Hiccup muses that today is simply the culmination of his hubris. His natural and unrestrained curiosity, his want to travel, his workaholic tendencies, having a best bud for a dragon who would love to explore this new surface world with him... All of this was bound to come back to bite him in the ass someday and today is that day.

Flying way, way out West in the hopes of finding more human settlements that wished to regain contact with others, Hiccup and Toothless find themselves far away from home.

Though his father was initially against it, his plan on returning the vast network of communication that mankind once had before it was taken from them turned out to be a fruitful one and that is the only reason why Stoick ever agreed on letting Hiccup stray even farther away from home.

He still isn't quite so keen on letting his son out of his sight, even after all these years.

So far this country has been just as empty as he already figured it would be before they left Berk. It's been days since he and Toothless arrived and they have yet to find a single remaining human settlement.

Plenty of birds, critters, and other local wildlife, but no humans.

Not that they have managed to explore much. They have found an abandoned town close to a beach and spend a little while combing through it, but once it became clear that it was empty, they moved on.

But finding no human life on this mission to do just that will have to wait. There is a matter far, far more urgent that needed their attention.

High up in the sky, Toothless rumbles his concern to his Rider. Hiccup is already looking in the same direction he is, the map in his hands temporarily forgotten.

"I know, Bud. I'm keeping an eye on it, too." He tells him and it's as if the dragon understands, relaxing just a tad bit with the knowledge that Hiccup is aware of it, too.

In and around the Northern island of Berk, extreme weather isn't something Hiccup is unfamiliar with. The Winters could get so cold, especially during the weeks that he and his people nicknamed "Devastating Winter". A fitting name for the below-freezing temperatures and the blizzards that buried their houses annually.

Many people from different countries have called them stupid for continuing to live here, but then, they are descendants of the Vikings that once lived there. So maybe their problem isn't so much stupidity as it is pure stubbornness.

And with climate changing, though it has most likely slowed down since the year everything went wrong, the temperatures during Winter are even colder than they used to be when Hiccup was a child. And the Summers so much warmer.

On the North Sea, you can expect the occasional waterspout as well. But so long as it didn't come on land, it wasn't too much of a threat, not too much. For the island's inhabitants, that is.

But the clouds Hiccup and Toothless see swirling are a little too threatening for their comfort.

They are dark, appearing to be stacked on top of one another to create an uneven tower as wide as it is tall with a thick saucer-like shape at the base. The clouds that make up each level appear restless, opposite from their usually fluffy nature.

Above them and the flying duo lies a dark, ominous blanket that stretches for miles. There is a strong wind, conflicting up and downdrafts fighting for dominance, and they make the clouds and column dance and swirl. There is a downpour of rain and hail beneath as well. It makes the area underneath it seem foggy.

Their appearance makes Hiccup's heart swell in awe-inspiring trepidation and he has to swallow as his mouth feels dry. Meanwhile, Toothless looks on in fear.

He still hasn't had much experience with the surface's weather. The sight of this dark sky makes him feel like his heart is about to burst right out of his chest.

Hiccup hasn't forgotten, of course. He knows his Bud is completely inexperienced and relies on his Rider to know what is best.

Thankfully, always having been quite fascinated by things that could potentially kill him ever since he was young, Hiccup has done his fair share of research on certain weather phenomena. Much like Fishlegs and his interest in geology and mineralogy.

What Hiccup is staring at right now, it could possibly be called a mesocyclone.

There is a supercell inside that thing and the winds around them are getting harder to fight.

Lightning weaves its way through the clouds for miles. There are multiple strikes and they follow each other closely, speaking volumes of the storm's electrical strength. The thunder is a good indication of how close Dragon and Rider are, too. It is deafening.

Mindful of the metal holding Toothless' prosthetic together, Hiccup decides it is wise to land.

Folding the map in his hands up and pulling his backpack to his front to stuff it away, Hiccup then continues to look at the world below them.

There is plenty of space to land, lots of open fields for miles around them. But with how close those clouds are, Hiccup would feel better if there is a shelter or something they can hide in. Preferably a storm shelter just in case that supercell had a particular surprise in store for them today.

"Down there, Bud! Let's land and see if we can ride it out there." Hiccup tells his Night Fury when he spots two buildings on the ground with a fence all around the perimeter. An abandoned machine stands in the middle of an overgrown cornfield. It looks to be a farm.

Right at that moment, the downpour catches up and soaks them both in seconds and the winds grow even fiercer. Quickly after, hail that grows to be almost the size of the palm of his hand.

Toothless lets out a panicked yell, startled by the sudden shower.

"I know, Bud, I know! Set down near that farmhouse! Those wooden houses over there!" His Rider points them out to him and he folds his wings for a quick dive. While holding onto the saddle, Hiccup attempts to shield his dragon's eyes from the hail.

They land on the dirt road before the home that is swiftly becoming muddy beneath their feet. Toothless wastes little time to jump underneath the roofed porch, escaping the rainfall. Hiccup dismounts, pats his dragon on the neck, and goes to work on finding that storm shelter.

Sunlight teases them from the edges of the miles of clouds, but it is much too risky to try and escape this storm. Not with the speeds at which this supercell is traveling and certainly not with winds so strong possibly dislocating wings as wide as Toothless'.

Leaving the restless dragon on the porch, Hiccup runs down the steps and back out into the downpour, his prosthetic slipping in the mud. His hair and his clothes already stick to his skin.

One look told him the entrance to their salvation wasn't there under the porch. But on farmland miles away from the nearest city and closest hospital and with weather like this not being completely uncommon, there has to be shelter around here somewhere

Running around to the side of the house, it isn't long before Hiccup finds a set of slanted metal doors leading to a concrete room underneath the home where the basement should be. Approaching it and finding it without a padlock, Hiccup opens both doors and finds a stone stairway down into darkness. It's a storm shelter.

The hinges of the two doors rattle slightly with the wind and that worries him, but this place will have to do. No use taking to the skies now.

Something spooks Toothless and he calls out to his Rider. In the rain, thunder, and the hail, Hiccup can only just hear him and he turns around, shielding himself from the large chunks of frozen water, to find a sight that makes him stumble. His eyes would've widened in wonder if the rain didn't make it too difficult to see.

At the base of the mesocyclone, the rapidly whirling clouds have formed a greyish funnel-like shape that reaches for the earth. Witnessing the birth of what could possibly turn into a tornado, one of nature's most dangerous phenomena, is truly astonishing and Hiccup can hardly put his feelings into words. Such a library of languages at his disposal and not one word can describe them.

It is fast, too, much faster than he previously anticipated, and the girth is quickly gaining width as well.

But enough staring in wonder at nature's lethal beauty, Hiccup can tell that Toothless worries. That Night Fury has never seen anything like this before and is rightfully freaking out.

But what he can't tell and Hiccup can, is that the swirling of dirt and debris on the ground means that the tornado has already touched down and the funnel simply needs to follow to make its conception complete.

Hiccup also realizes, much too his growing discomfort, that it is much closer than he originally thought.

"Come on, Bud!" Toothless doesn't need to be told twice and he comes with a leap. Looking down into the shelter, he gives Hiccup a skeptical look.

"Hey, I may be an idiot, but humans know how to build things." Hiccup tells him, shouts at him over the growing noise all around them, though he worries whether his dragon will actually fit.

"This will keep us safe, Bud, trust me." He places a hand on Toothless' head, scratches him behind his earfin. The rain is pouring, the hail is falling, and his heart pumps blood through his veins with great speed, but Hiccup still smiles as if aerial wrath isn't about to descend upon them.

Where he gets that kind of bravery, Toothless honestly doesn't know.

Reassured by his Rider's calm demeanor, Toothless finds it in himself to descend into the near pitch-black shelter. The pouring rain stops for him.

Toothless fits and Hiccup feels comforted by this. It is without a doubt not spacious down there, but at least they won't have to face a storm that size.

Speaking of which, he turns to face the monstrous clouds behind him and his breath is taken away.

There is something gorgeous about the display he sees before him.

The funnel now connects the earth and the sky. The clouds are dark, but still, the tornado contrasts greatly against the grey background. The rain doesn't hide its deadly beauty and its enormous size makes him feels insignificant and small. More so than even Toothless had upon their first meeting.

If he'd been born and raised in this country, he probably would've become a storm chaser, of that Hiccup is sure. If life hadn't been turned upside down on a global scale.

Sounding almost like a human groaning in annoyance, Toothless briefly leaves the shelter to grab Hiccup by the shirt and pull him down the stairs.

"Yep! I'm coming! I'm coming!" Snapping out of the trance that will probably kill him someday, Hiccup follows.

Why must the human be so attracted to things that are lethal him? Are all humans like this or just his? He knows Astrid is a lot more careful than Hiccup.

"Toothless, can you find the light switch? I've shown you what they look like, right?" Hiccup asks as he struggles to close the metal doors. The wind has picked up and dirt is starting to fly up outside. The neglected fields are being flattened and by now the rotting fence in view is knocked down. Debris is approaching and before long the tornado itself will be there.

Two trees are uprooted just as Hiccup manages to hold them close and he fights the urge to figure out the EF ranking of this specimen.

The light flickers on and Hiccup finds the latch to keep the entrance closed. Once again he is grabbed by the back of his shirt and he lets Toothless pull him further down. He is in a hurry to get Hiccup with him.

There are many dusty shelves down here, but besides cobwebs and the occasional spider, they are already empty. Plundered empty, most likely. Or the family that lived here, took everything and left. Either way, there isn't much room for something the size of a Night Fury.

Toothless lies curled up with Hiccup in the middle and still he can only move so much.

The roaring of the storm outside grows and grows and the doors aren't quite enough to keep it out. The house above them begins to creak and groan as the unforgiving winds beat it mercilessly.

Despite his size and his lethal nature, Toothless shrinks underneath the unfamiliar noise that sounds so much louder in his sensitive ears. He's never been through a storm this size before. And while Hiccup hasn't either, he at least knows and understands what is currently raging right above them, tearing apart everything in its path.

"Shh, it's okay." Hiccup kneels beside him, pulse just slowing down.

The dragon's instincts are screaming at him to get out and flee, his fear is almost suffocating. All that grounds him now is his human's presence. In the still short time that they've known each other, Hiccup has already proven himself to be far braver than Toothless can ever call himself, though his Rider would disagree. He trusts his judgment.

The house above them gives in beneath the endless abuse and is loudly ripped from its foundation. It is proof of the twister's power.

The dragon yells in Hiccup's face as if he even needs to be told and the human pulls his head onto his lap and embraces it.

He can't imagine how scary this must be for him. Before the surface world, Toothless didn't even know what rain was. So extreme weather like this was like a nightmare come to life.

Wrapping his forelegs around his Rider, Toothless finds solace with him.

The two don't know which is louder. The thunder booming above them or the roaring of the twister that, by all likelihood, is leveling everything above them.

Hiccup attempts to cover his Bud's ears. His own eardrums feel like they are about to burst.

This couldn't have lasted for more then a couple of seconds with the wind speeds this storm travels with, maybe a minute or two at most, but it felt like an eternity. Toothless' grip on his Rider tightens.

And then it passes.

The roaring leaves them, the explosive thundering moves on. Gradually, careful silence returns.

Their ears continue to drum for a little while longer.

Toothless moves to look up to Hiccup to see what the knowledgeable human thinks, but Hiccup shakes his head and pulls him back down.

They wait for at least an hour just to be sure.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toothless is close to napping when his Rider moves. Letting go, he raises his head to watch Hiccup rise awkwardly on his prosthetic.

He doesn't say a word as he climbs the stairs and out of Toothless' sight. The grating noise of metal sliding against metal reaches his ears and light comes shining down into the shelter.

Hiccup returns soon after with a smile.

"Come on out, Bud. It's safe now." He tells him and Toothless once again doesn't need to be told twice.

The air outside is relieving and welcomes the dragon as he ascends the stairs and exits the shelter. It is humid and a little chilly. Toothless takes a deep sniff and still smells the rain.

The tornado is gone and the wind has calmed. The once quaint farmland, though abandoned, is in ruins all around them. The long grass of the fields and the weeds lie flat against the ground, there is corn all around them, and trees are torn in two or entirely uprooted. Half of the barn has collapsed, but the house has been mostly leveled. Nearby lie the crushed remains of a metal contraption that humans call a car.

Turning his head, in the far distance, Toothless spots the dark tower and lightning is still striking. The thunder isn't as loud now.

But Hiccup isn't looking at the carnage. Hands on his hips, he is staring up at the sky.

Coming to stand next to him, Toothless follows his example.

The clouds above them, now tinted a lovely orange, are strangely shaped now. There is an entire blanket of them separating the earth and the sky above it. There are rows and rows of fluffy pouches that reflects the light of the sun beautifully.

He can see why Hiccup would smile at the sight. And in an area as abandoned as this, no human or dragon life was lost that they know of, so they can only bask in the moment.

"Glad we got that tornado warning, huh, Bud? The movies never said that we still needed to deal with natural disasters. Ah well, the joys of a post-apocalyptic world, I guess." Toothless doesn't know what his Rider is talking about, probably something he used to know from the time before their worlds met.

Hiccup kicks a nearby wooden board away and removes his backpack to check its contents. There are some things in there that can't get wet. Fortunately, it is a good backpack and everything inside it is still dry. He briefly ponders his raincoat, but leaves it. His plaid shirt and the one beneath it are already wet, no use pulling it out now.

But they were lucky, that is for sure. They are probably bruised, to be sure, but that the hail didn't hit them in the head, or the eyes in Toothless' case, is nothing short of a miracle. And to come upon this abandoned land with a storm shelter when they needed it most... If people still lived here then he and Toothless would have been forced to brave the storm.

Though they can still see flashes of lightning in the clouds in the far distance, the storm is dying. And with the sun setting in the horizon, Hiccup figures it is probably wise to find a nice spot to spend the night. Somewhere far away, where he would be certain they will be safe.

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wrathfulspark · 4 years

Text

warm sunny days

@xreznikovx

Weeks pass before Elidi has another day off again, five consecutive days off instead of her usual one day. Though the witch suspects Tamryn had something to do with that. Despite Elidi's protesting they still ended up taking Tamryn's private jet to Miami, where a hotel on the beach had already been booked for them. Not that the witch intended on spending much time in the hotel, still, she was in awe of the hotel's atmosphere. The interior was nicely decorated in the lobby and dining area, but their room was her favorite part.

The majority of their quarters was fair in color, pristine, worrying Elidi who only hoped not to make a mess or track sand everywhere in this cultivated establishment. The bedroom was soft tan tones, accompanied by pale blue hues, a charming replica of the ocean's water, and the sandy ground, along with a nice view of the ocean. Naturally one of Elidi's only request was a room with a view, close to the waters. Now alone with Tamryn, and their bags set aside, Elidi wrapped the redhead up in her arms, pressing multiple kisses to the woman's cheek, practically radiating with delight. "It is so pretty here, Red! I love it!"

The moment is short-lived, Elidi stepping away from Tamryn to change into her swimwear. She wears a black cover-up over her swimsuit, with her sunglasses, pushed up onto the top of her head, and sandals. Momentarily she wonders if she should remove her bracelet, not wanting the waters to mess with the crystal, but summarized it should be safe enough. Elidi hummed happily to herself, as she gathered the necessary materials they would need for their day on the beach.

The duo moves down the designated pathway from their room to the beach, Elidi carrying an ice chest in her hands, as well as a few bags draped across her shoulders. Every once in a while as they walk along the sand, Elidi shoots a look to Tamryn from over her shoulder, a wide grin on her lips. Tamryn however is starting to look less than pleased, Elidi making a mental note to question the redhead later.

Thankfully not too far from the resort, a stand is set up where they are selling canopies. Elidi quick to purchase one before Tamryn can beat her to it. With the canopy rented for the day, and already graciously set up by the vendors, Elidi discovers the rental comes up with two beach chairs and a few towels. Once inside the tent, Elidi is all too grateful to dump their belongings from her back, exhaling a sigh of relief as she turned to face the currents.

Wordlessly she stared out at the waters, her hands on her hips, satisfied to listen to the sound of the waves crashing into the shore and seagulls chirping above. Untying the cover-up from around her waist, she shrugged the lacy material off, tossing it onto of the empty chairs. Underneath she wore a sky blue bikini, her dominant hand moving to clip her hair up into a messy bun. Walking out from underneath the tent, she cast a glance from side to side, noting there were only a few people around, one consisting of a family, and the other a group of what appeared to be young adults.

Her arms stretched out to her sides, taking in the warmth of the sun, briefly, her gaze lifted to the sky where finally her lids drifted shut. She felt connected with the blazing heat above, which she assumed was because of that fateful day she received her upgraded abilities. No one needed to tell her that somehow that deity was related to the sun.

Her scar was on full display for Tamryn. True to her word the scarring did cover the majority of her back, up to the base of her nape, imitating that of a lightning strike, where branches forked off to trail along the veins that would be visible in one's backside.

Elidi glanced over her shoulder to the redhead, before turning and stretching her arm out to the alpha, her fingers wiggling as she waited for Tamryn to take her hand. Though, her head tilted, her gaze searching Tamryn's eyes almost curiously, "I noticed when I first mentioned the beach you tensed up, quite dramatically, but you didn't shoot me down. So... I thought perhaps it was alright."

The witch paused, walking back toward the alpha in somewhat of a hurry, the sand hot beneath her bare feet. "Are you nervous? Is it the sand, or the heat? There aren't that many people around either... and the birds won't bother you." Elidi attempted reassurances, her lips pursing in thought. Abruptly, she recalls Tamryn informing herself of one of her most fatal scars, the sound of rushing water quickly fills Elidi's ears, something then plunged inside the depths. It's enough to snap her from her thoughts, a frown stretching across her lips as realization finally hits, "You don't like the water."

Suddenly feeling very inconsiderate, she found herself stammering, holding Tamryn's hands firmly in her own. "You could've told me no, querida. I wouldn't have minded... oh, I was so distracted by the thought of going to the beach I didn't really notice until we were here. Though I did observe the closer we got to the ocean the more... your expression seemed to falter." The witch paused, leaning in to press a reassuring kiss to the alpha's forehead, "I won't let anything happen to you."

#trch:tamryn #doubt im gonna find any beach gifs with her or swimsuit sooo uhhh #but anyways hope you like it #:3

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667-darkavenue · 5 years

Text

pressurized (part two.)

Catra/Adora | (part one.)

“Today just keeps getting better.”

“Hang on, I saw a flashlight,” Adora mumbles in the dark.

She scoots along the edge of her seat and feels around for the excursion kit she first opened. It takes a while, but she eventually manages to fumble it open and seek out the familiar shape of a flashlight. Adora flicks the switch and the beam shines directly at Catra, who hisses and flings an arm across her eyes.

“Whoops! Didn’t see you there. Obviously.”

“Okay. Adora, get up.” “Uh, why?”

“You’re sitting on something I need, just switch with me.”

Adora complies, pivoting over to sit on the other crate while Catra drops to her knees in front of the box with the parachutey thing. She leans forward to watch, holding the flashlight with the beam pointing upward. The cockpit is so small that this narrow beam alone does a half-decent job at dimly illuminating the area.

Catra gives her a dry look. “You gonna point that over here and help or are you gonna tell me the story of the Weeping Princess?”

There’s couple seconds of confusion before Adora realizes what she means. The beam from below must be lighting her the way Lonnie held a flashlight beneath her chin when she told ghost stories at night.

She points the flashlight to the crate and suggests with a snort, “I have lots of new princess stories you’ve never even heard of. They’re super different from the ones we had. A nice, non-spooky variety.”

Catra opens the crate with a disinterested hum.

“There’s this one I just can’t get out of my head... It takes place way before the Princess Alliance was formed, when the realms were still establishing themselves. These two neighboring princesses, Melodiance and Lumina, were at war over—”

“Adora, this is so fucking boring.”

“No, shh, you’ll like this one—”

“Does a princess die?”

“Actually, yeah.”

“Okay, fine. Go.”

“Ugh, you made me ruin the ending!”

“Tragic.”

“It is! Basically, the two princesses meet for the first time on the battlefield. Melodiance stabbed her enemy and secured the victory, but…”

The word ‘stabbed’ actually gets Catra to look up from what she’s doing and pay attention. Adora makes sure to put a little extra ‘oomph’ in her retelling, going out of her way for dramatic pauses in all the right places.

“The moment Lumina collapsed into her arms, Melodiance said she saw a kindred spirit—another brave kid, proud and driven for glory. But Melodiance was so absorbed in proving herself that she realized it one crucial moment too late. She never married and spent the rest of her life writing about Lumina. Even though her reign was hundreds of years ago, her realm today is still packed with more monuments and memorials to Princess Lumina than to anyone who actually ruled.”

Catra laughs quietly, a little huff of breath through her nose. “You think I’d put up a statue of you?”

“That was not the point of the story.”

“It’s the point you ended on. A statue’s a little much, but I guess I could be generous when I tell your story for the princess books.”

Adora rolls her eyes, an action that surprisingly ticks Catra off during a moment Adora’s been assuming to be playful.

She prickles, ears pointing back. “What, you don’t think I could be a kind ruler?”

Adora has an answer she’s pretty sure Catra doesn’t want to hear. A long silence stretches between them.

It ends with Catra clicking her tongue. “I could be as fair as any princess alliance.”

“Then act like it.”

Catra gives her a look that’s disturbingly familiar and triggers some kind of flight-or-fight response at the back of Adora’s mind. It’s the look that suggests she understands something Adora doesn’t.

Whatever it is she knows, she keeps to herself. All Catra says in return is, “Hey, they killed their own kind on the battlefield.”

“That was not the point of the story.” Adora’s gaze floats down to what Catra’s taking out of the crate and she raises an eyebrow. “What’s that for?”

“This,” she unzips the front of the hazmat suit, “is the only way out of here.”

It looks sort of like a old space suit. Or sort of like something that belonged an old deep sea diver. Knowing Entrapta, she may have cobbled it together from a frankenstein mix of both things and any number of other things Adora wouldn’t even identify.

“I don’t get it.”

“It’s the only thing in here that can handle a little tar.” Catra shuts the crate’s lid again and drapes the suit over it. She tucks the helmet under one arm.

A chill drops like an ice cube running down Adora’s spine. “There’s only one.”

Catra looks her dead in the eye. “Yeah.”

She swallows hard, the inside of her throat suddenly feeling full of cotton. A spike of panic rises behind her ribcage, followed by a sharp drop of regret. After all they’ve been through, they’re going to kill each other over a fucking suit? Adora’s adrenaline pulses, preparing for another fight like the one when she first jumped in this tank. One with no interruption this time.

Then Catra adds, simple and sharp, “So, get in.”

The complete certainty in her stare shakes Adora to her core. “What…?”

“Put the suit on, stupid.”

“But,” Adora looks at the hatch, then up at the black windshield. “If one of us tries to open that hatch, the tank fills with tar, stupid.”

“You said you could push through it as She-Ra.”

“I mean, probably. Still, you can’t survive long enough for me—or, I guess, the Horde—to come back.”

Catra narrows her eyes. “Yeah, no duh. And how long can we keep re-breathing the same air in here before we both pass out and die? We’re not in a bunker. There’s a real short time limit to how long we can stay here.”

Adora hadn’t thought of that. They need to conserve air. She’s conscious of every breath, suddenly. She tries to hold her next inhale in just a few seconds longer before letting it out in a measured exhale. She can’t concentrate on this enough to keep it up while her mind scrambles for a quick fix. The flashlight’s beam roves wildly around the dark cockpit.

It does a double take over the compressor tank that caused the nasty bruise on her forehead. “There’s the huge air tank! Set it up and we’ll take turns breathing.”

Catra barely reacts to the revelation. “That’s not oxygen.”

“What?”

“This,” Catra shakes the suit’s sleeve to demonstrate, “is a HAB suit.”

“Um, what’s—”

“High-altitude balloon. Entrapta sends ‘em up for some kind of research. That’s the helium tank.”

Adora shakes her head. “Okay—Doesn’t matter.” She must look like Light Hope when she’s stuck on a loop, because she can’t seem to stop shaking her head. “No. I’m not—I’m not gonna—I can’t just—”

Catra lets out a long exhale that sounds a lot like a prayer for patience.

“You got my permission this time. You can go, for the sake of saving the world, or whatever.” The way she says it is stilted, each word painfully and reluctantly plucked out of her.

“If you cared so much about saving the world, why haven’t you been on my side?” Adora’s voice rises, not even trying to downplay her distress anymore.

“I don’t, okay! I don’t care. People suck and the world’s still gonna suck whether the Horde or the Princesses are in charge.” Catra’s arms cross over her chest. “Only reason I got so invested was to make a point. A point that becomes worthless if you die in a tank at the bottom of a tar pit.”

“You said your plan was to kill me.”

“Not like this.”

“More like…” Adora’s fingers reach out to brush their knuckles against Catra’s hand. “Melodiance?”

“Shut up.”

Beneath the grazing touch, Adora feels her hand unclench its grip around her own bicep. She takes the opportunity to slip her fingers underneath Catra’s. Catra lets Adora gently pull her hand away to hold it against her chest.

“Let me be the hero I’m supposed to be and you put the suit on,” Adora whispers, pleading.

Catra’s mouth twists and her brows furrow. “Yeah, and what about your big mission? Saving the princesses?”

“It doesn’t have to be me.” She clutches Catra’s palm between two trembling hands. “If I’m not there for you to go against, what will stop you from making the right choices?”

“Oh, Adora. You always think the world revolves around you.” Catra’s hand comes up to hook around Adora’s neck and slowly shift up the back of her head. “But you are, unfortunately, the one literally destined to save the princesses.”

“But you—Why are you doing this now?”

“The world’s bigger than the two of us. I can’t be the only person you look out for.”

Having her own words thrown back in her face like this cracks Adora’s resolve. The levee breaks and the tears well up. It’s a cruel wonder for this to be the time and place Catra takes her words to heart.

Catra goes on, “I already told you I don’t actually care what happens to the stupid princesses. I don’t even really care what happens to the Horde anymore. Maybe I want Hordak to eat shit.”

Adora nearly asks, What do you care about, then?

On second thought, the answer is obvious.

Catra’s fingers wind around Adora’s ponytail and use it to pull her forward. Their foreheads touch. Their eyes lock.There’s something secret, something heart-vexing, in Catra’s gaze. Adora hasn’t seen this look since they separated. They haven’t held each other in so long. They stay like this for a while, close enough that their eyelashes brush against the sides of each other’s noses. Bow calls that butterfly kisses.

Catra’s right, Adora realizes in a terrible lightning strike of self-honesty. She can’t do this to Bow. She can’t do this Glimmer. There are so many people counting on her to fix everything. People she cares about more than anything in the world. Yesterday, she was training to kill Catra.

Adora doesn’t need to speak it. Catra seems to have understood it long before she did. Catra’s the first to pull away from the embrace. She gets Adora to step into the suit. Helps her put it on. Zips her up, pulls her gloves on, hands her the helmet.

Blue eyes, still rimmed with shimmering tears that refuse to spill, stare down at it. “I can’t do this.”

Catra takes her face in both hands.

“Hey.” She forces Adora’s chin up. “Yeah, you will. You’ll be fine.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No. You’re not, really.” Catra holds her face still for the kiss she presses to her lips.

Adora makes a soft, wounded noise in the back of her throat.

“Okay,” Catra pulls away, panting—Almost sniffling? “C’mon, it’s time. Put that on.”

“Wait.”

“You can’t keep waiting.” Catra takes the helmet from Adora and attempts to put it on herself.

Adora bats it away. “Seriously, stop!”

The abrupt shout alarms Catra enough for her to actually pull back.

Gloved hands fumble with the suit, fighting to tear it off. “Take this—Get this off me—”

Catra stands still. “What is it?”

“The balloon! We have a giant balloon.” Adora’s out of breath, struggling to peel the gloves off without any help.

“Okay?”

“We—listen—We tape the bottom of the balloon around the hatch—and we fill the cockpit up with helium—”

“The balloon’s not big enough to float an entire war tank out of a tar pit.”

Adora grabs Catra by the arms. “It’ll make a little tunnel through the tar for us. We just need to hold our breath and crawl along the bottom.”

“That… Huh.” She watches hope dawn on Catra’s previously resigned expression. It’s beautiful. “We can do that.”

Catra swings around and flings open the HAB crate. Adora takes a minute to get out of the rest of the suit before bolting to the excursion kit and snatching the roll of black tape.

“Can’t believe I didn’t think of this,” Catra mutters to herself as they tape down the rim of the balloon all around the hatch door.

Adora snorts. “Yeah, ‘cause it was, like, so obvious.”

Together, they heave the helium tank beneath the balloon. Catra takes a deep breath and plugs her nose while Adora twists the handle to open up the flow all the way. The gas spills out with a loud hiss. Next, she drags the discarded HAB suit over to her and reaches inside for the gas mask. Adora holds the mouthpiece up to her face and—”Ouch!”

She cringes at the flare of pain when it touches against the gash across her nose. Holding it in front of her more gingerly this time, she takes a deep inhale. Exhales. Inhales, and holds it. She beckons Catra over and passes her the mask. Catra does the same. Inhales, exhales. Inhales, holds it, and passes the mask to Adora.

While Adora breathes, Catra crawls back beneath the balloon. It’s like disappearing behind a curtain. Adora hears the latch click. Catra grunts and metal creaks. In the next instant, the balloon is seemingly sucked up and out of the tank’s open hatch. Catra stands at the door, blinking in astonishment.

“Can’t believe that worked,” she says, but in the voice of a chipmunk.

Adora laughs, but the sound also comes out like a high pitched series of squeaks. It makes Catra laugh, just as high pitched, and now they’re stuck in a terrible feedback loop. Perhaps a little intoxicated with hope, they both share one last breath on the mask before they suffocate on helium. Adora, still in a giggle fit, struggles to hold that breath in.

Catra crawls out first, flashlight in hand. Adora follows, leaving the helium tank spilling behind them. Crawling inside the balloon isn’t at all like the fun play-tunnel experience she imagined. It’s more like being inside a water-wiggler toy. It’s squishy and warm on all sides, sort of collapsing around her. Feels gross, actually. Doesn’t smell awesome either.

Adora drags herself forward on her elbows, following the circle of light dancing ahead of her and the occasionally swish of Catra’s tail across her face. She can’t tell direction which direction they’re going in the pitch black balloon. Adora hopes they’re crawling along the floor of the pit and not like… up vertically, or else at the end of this they will find themselves still stuck in the middle of the tar pit.

The balloon seems to collapse more heavily around them the further they push forward. She hears Catra grunting as she tries to squeeze through the crushing pressure of tar all around her. Adora can’t even help push her, she’s stuck trying to wriggle herself forward. The water-wiggler experience turned into something more like seriously tight-space spelunking.

Out on the surface, the tar pit bubbles, seemingly undisturbed. A particularly large bubble rises up along the shoreline, then pops. A sword bursts through one side, a clawed hand on the other. Adora and Catra haul themselves out from the end of balloon, sweating and heaving.

They drag themselves a couple feet out over the soil and collapse at the edge of the Whispering Woods. Adora rolls onto her back, catching her breath. Daylight is painfully bright after the past hour or so of darkness, but she forces her eyes to stare up at the blue sky and white clouds. In a moment of bliss, her hand finds Catra’s and squeezes it.

“There you are!”

They both jolt upright at the shout from within the trees. Oh, no.

Branches rustle and a familiar face barrels out of the bushes. Scorpia runs at them with so much concentrated force that Adora reflexively braces herself for a tackle, fully expecting to be slammed to the dirt. That’s not what happens.

Instead, she swoops Catra off the ground and spins her around, hugging tight. “Iwasfreakingout, youhavenoidea!”

“Agh!” Catra tries to squirm out of the hug, but Scorpia seems way too adept at the art of hanging on.

“I followed your tracker and the location was in the middle of the Torpid Tar Pit!” She does set Catra back down, but only so she can use her free hand to point at Adora. “I thought this one threw you in!”

“She sorta did.”

“You wear a tracker?” Adora laughs. “What’s next, a collar?”

“Shut up, Adora.”

“Yeah, Adora,” Scorpia helpfully supplies. “The Horde search team I called will be here any minute now.”

Adora doesn’t wait for Catra’s permission to go this time. She hisses, “Fuck,” beneath her breath and darts into the trees without looking back. Scorpia lunges after her, but Catra’s arm across her chest stops her.

“She’s getting away. Again.”

“Just leave it. Don’t tell anyone she was here.”

“But—” She starts, then falters.

“Scorpia. I need you not to tell anyone she got away, so that I won’t have trouble.”

She’s already nodding before Catra finishes the sentence. “Well, yeah.”

“Cool.” Catra turns her face to stare at a nearby thornbush.

Scorpia’s been pretty good at keeping her mouth shut about momentary lapses in judgment when it comes to Adora. She’s lucky for that.

“Oh, wildcat,” Scorpia sighs, “you keep falling into the same old velvet ditches left and right.”

Catra’s sharp eyes snap to her. “Velvet what did you say?”

“A velvet ditch,” she repeats. “You know, a low place you fall into and don’t try to climb out of. Because you’re so comfortable there. It’s what my mom calls the Fright Zone.”

“I don’t fall into anything—Why’d you say ditches? Like I have more than one?”

“I think you do. But that’s okay. I’ll lend you a hand when you’re ready to climb out again. And I’ll help wash that tar off your arms.” With a spark of excitement in her eyes she adds, “It’ll probably take a while.”

Another thing Catra’s lucky for, is that Scorpia tells her the truth.

END.

#catradora #spop #catra #adora

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khaosgaming22 · 5 years

Text

Backstory Part 2- Last Will

You still here? Good! Sorry, I ramble a lot sometimes...its a hunter thing.

Anywho, where was I? Oh yeah, big scary Hive Knight with dark shading. Anyone who has attempted to kill Crota will know what that meant. And he was a tough guy, even with 6 guardians. So what was I going to do by myself with no ghost? Nothing. Id never seen Taken before, pretty rare thing until Oryx showed up, but even as I looked at him I knew he was trouble. So I ran, not very noble but looking back...it was smart.

I barely made it out of there, I could hear the Taken Thrall clawing at my cloak, scratch that, I could fell them. I was so afraid, I kept running, I didn’t look back. I climbed my way up same way I went down, hopped on my sparrow and got the hell out of there.

First thing I did was look for Chase and apologize for being an idiot, to this day he still asks me what happened, well now I guess you know buddy. Anyway, when I returned to the city, I tried to figure out what those things were, didn’t find an answer until I heard about a certain dark ship around Saturn that blasted half an Awoken fleet. The same day, Malcom came home from a mission and told me about Aleina...while I was on Luna, she took her last breath....

After a while I sort of got over her death but even as Im recording this the feeling still sticks with me. Eventually, I started becoming a full fledged Gunslinger and going on Strikes with Malcom. He also showed me the Crucible, pretty fun actually and Shaxx is one of my favorite people in the tower now besides Cayde-6. Say what you want about him, if you sit and listen, he has some good stories.

One day Malcom and I ran a two man strike together, we had to get rid of a Hive base in the Reef. It was going good for the most part, we took out the warden at the front no problem and the Fallen we’re helping us a little because they wanted the base for themselves. So we waited until they took out a few ads and finished the job, so to speak, to be fair they did shoot at us first.

Like I said everything was going better than expected and we were about to get some decent loot for an easy job, the we got to the end...

Started out easy, took out snipers and got rid of the Shriekers right away and got the Ogres shields down pretty quick. Then we saw the Acolyte with a familiar looking weapon...

Thorn, well not exactly Thorn but a prototype hivey version. Malcom stopped dead in his tracks, id never seen him with so much fear in his eyes. Before I knew what was happening he charged at the Ogre firing his Golden gun, killing it then moving on to the Acolyte. He stood with his enemy feet apart from him, for a mindless hive he seemed to know what what going on, because he didn’t shoot him right away. Malcom summoned his ghost Yorin and told him to countdown from 3. I still had no idea what was going on, I just stood there dumbfounded at the intelligence of the Acolyte. The ghost counted down, slowly, or maybe I just remembered it that way. When his ghost finished displaying the number one they both drew, quick as lightning. Malcoms bullet hit, so did the Acolyte’s, the poisonous dart from the strange Thorn hit Yorin...

Malcom fell to the ground kneeling by the shell of his cracked ghost, he picked it up lovingly and placed it at his side. Malcom stood up, kicked the Thorn away from the dying Acolyte and spat on him, he walked away picking up his ghost. Then a swarm of Thrall enveloped him. He died his final death.

When the Thrall dissipated, I walked over to Malcom, he had scratches all over and a large gash over his other eye. There was no saving him, even if I could bring him back he would have been permanently blind. I picked up his hand cannon and I saw something I had never noticed before, engraved on the side was the word Sacramento...

I grabbed the loot from the chest and buried him in the sand with my knife saving his cloak. I would’ve left it on him but I just couldn’t, it was too beautiful to be left in the dirt, I replaced my cloak with his and tossed mine aside then placed his ghost on his chest.

When I returned to the tower I asked Cayde where he might know where he kept his will, he said he personally didn’t know but he pointed me in the direction of one of Malcoms friends who might. Unfortunately I never found any of them but I did find his friends descendants, or uh, later models? Hard to say with Exos.

Anyway, they showed me where to find his will after I told them what happened. Not much to say about it but his last words always stuck with me.

“What some don’t realize about guardians is we have a choice, we can serve the light and protect it, or follow our own path and disregard it. Some advice? Do what you think is right. And I know you might not like being a guardian Ken but what’s done is done, now you got to make the best of it.”

So thats what I did, that’s why im a guardian, I have to roll with the punches and make the best of it. But I’ve allowed myself to have some of those punches stick around. I still wear and use his cloak and hand cannon to this day, made a few modifications though...

So, thats my story, these are my last words. To Chao-5 and Draeko Thalon my friends that showed me Malcoms will, I leave my Thunderlord and all of Malcoms books, go crazy guys! For my hunter friend, Kiera I leave you Sacramento, take good care of it! Finally, if I have gone back to my old ways and have become a Dredgen, track me down, and kill me...

Chase, end recording.

#destiny hunter #destiny oc #destiny #number 2 #here we go

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dreammutual-remade · 6 years

Text

high school!donghyuck

request: idk if you’re taking reqs but i really like ur highscool aus so if u want to write one abt hyuck ill be :^))))))) - anonymous

word count: 5.1k

a/n: oof its been awhile unnies!!!! ive had exams for the past two weeks and I still have exams now so im sorry for not posting anything but reblogs with headassery in the tags!!! we are continuing the high school series n renjun is next!! since I got like 3 requests for him !!!!! hhehhehehheheh its gonna b cute <3 anyways hope u enjoy this I love my lil duckie baby

masterlist

mark, renjun, jeno, donghyuck, jaemin, chenle, jisung

big oof i’m gonna cry while writing this

i’m running out of creative ways to say let’s dive in

let us take the plunge

okay!!!!!!!!!! so you’ve been an editor/writer for the school paper for pretty much all of your high school career

you’re not super well known though because you don’t try to take any credit for anything and always sign your pieces like “- the daily newspaper team” or smth

anywhom you’ve always loved writing about the stuff around you or making up little short stories

one of your hobbies is just going people watching and trying to write down a brief description of people you see and what you think they’re on the way to do

you’ve befriended the baristas at your favorite spot, lucas and mark, and they always beg to read them but you never let them because mark is too nice to tell you it’s shit and lucas is too dumb to at least say it nicely

you’ve got at least 6 notebooks FULL of these little stories but you’ve never really ? showed anyone because wow showing others your work is Scary

criticism ???/$&/&:&:&:

it’s midway through the first semester of the school year and you’ve been super busy since it’s football season and you gotta write about all the games

and you haven’t had much time to write your cute little stories for yourself and you miss it a lot :/

this weekend though the chance of rain is SUPER high so the football game is cancelled and you have plenty of time to yourself !! :D

there is, a setback tho

THUNDER!!!!! IS SO SCARY !!!!!!

u fckin softie

you decide to tough it out though and get suited up in some polka dot rain boots and a rain jacket and set off to find somewhere to chill

as you’re walking to the nearest lil greenhouse/cafe thing it starts raining ,, ,,, hARDER

when you started it wasn’t rlly raining it was just like that weird tension in the air right before the air pressure drops and it starts to rain and you were already on edge OOF

but then it’s raining so you clutch your notebook to your chest and dash

usain bolt had nothing on you girly you were ZOOM ZOOM

broom broom- doyoung

unfortunately you don’t make it though because with you head down to keep the rain out of your eyes you run RIGHT into someone’s CHEST !!!!!!

hehe u know i’m a sucker for these god damn TROPES

your notebook goes flying and and the arms attached to the Chest That Caused Your Grief come up to catch you by the arms

“oh gOD sorry are you okay ??? i wasn’t looking and i was trying to keep my journal dr- MY JOURNALSDJDDD”

you fling yourself out of this boys arms and pick up your soaking wet journal sadly

:((((((( you had so many stories in there wtf

“oh shit i’m sorry do you uh want me to buy you another one ???”

“no that’s okay it wasn’t your fault :( and it’s just a journal i’m only sad because all my stories are gone :(((((“

you finally look up from your Ruined journal to see , the prettiest boy

you can’t tell for sure cause his hair is soaking wet but it’s a bright red that looks a bit faded and his skin is tanned and golden like HONEY OOF

he meets your eyes and awkwardly smiles and he looks so GUILTY AW

“no really it’s fine don’t feel bad!!”

“okay but i feel bad what can i do to make it up to you?”

“hMMM you could come help me think of wacky stories about people who walk past”

“well if you INSIST m’lady”

“aw, never mind”

“IM JUST KIDDING SJDJJD”

so in the pouring rain you both walk to cafe and find a little corner to people-watch in

on the way there he tells you his name is donghyuck but his friends call him hyuck

“dude that’s the sound goofy makes when he laughs your friends are terrible”

“oh my god i don’t even think they know what they’re saying HsjdjHEHHS”

after a couple minutes of bad goofy impressions you decide to call him duckie instead because ,,,, GARSH MICKEY 🤠🤠🤠

also because it’s cute

you didn’t hear this from me but he uwued so hard rip his street cred with the Boys

anyways right before you settle in you’re like hey uh did you have somewhere to be like weren’t you heading places

and he was like nah i like the rain it’s nice to just walk around feels GOOD

your eyes widen so big and he snorts because what’s so ridiculous about that

and you’re like uh UH NO NOPE NO SIR I DONT FUCK WITH DEMONS

your dramatic ass tries to get up and LEAVE but he grabs your wrist and is like noooo we haven’t even written any stories yet why do you hate rain so much ??

you explain how thunder is the work of the devil and that lightning could strike you down where you stand at any moment and storms are EVIL

he chuckles and side eyes you

“aW you big wimp you’re afraid of thunderstorms aren’t you”

“yES. like any sane person would be”

“you know a lot of people actually like storms”

“like i said, SANE people do not”

and then you change the subject right quick because your face is getting RED with embarrassment

you n donghyuck spend like 2 hours just sitting in the corner and writing little scenarios on napkins

“oh shit that girl over there with the french braids is TOTALLY gonna marry hipster beanie guy in two years. mark my words”

“idk y/n she lowkey has the hots for the barista”

“ ew you mean mark??”

“yeah. now THAT man is a work of art”

MARKHYUCK RISE

“god what is wrong with you maybe you should buy me another book”

“too late now we’re FRIENDS and i don’t owe you ANYTHING”

“being friends doesn’t work like that at all but, okay”

at the end of the day you’ve got a stack of napkins with scribbled notes on them

(one of them has donghyuck’s number on it skdkkfjd)

he leaves you with a bright smile and you’re in awe this boy is so golden and lovely

oof and when you were still in the cafe his hair had dried to the unnatural red color that he ? somehow made look good ugh not fAIR

and it was a lil curly and fluffy and looked very soft :(((((

as you walk home you drift along the sidewalk with a stupid smile on your face wow please get a little less obvious hunty

when you get home the sun is setting and the rain has cleared and you are so Happy that was the best day !!!

you weren’t even scared of the thunder because whenever the sky would fckin CRACK OPEN hyuck would subtly try to keep your attention and distract you with questions

the sky: AAAAAAAAAAA

duckie: oH Hey uhhh so hOW do you even come up these stories ?):$:$ theyre so good

such a sweet boy uwu

when you get home your mom eyes you suspiciously as you drift down the hall towards your room but doesn’t comment

she didn’t need to though because you immediately return and tell her everything !!!

she encourages you to befriend him at school and see where it goes from there ;))) or just TEXT HIM

so you do

both of those things !!!

you: hey!! it’s y/n btw

duckie: hey! u make it home alive without the sky cracking open and killing u

you: stOP MAKING FUN OF ME

you send him memes and he sends , even better ones back this boy is Husband Material

the next couple weeks you realize that hyuck is actually in like a lot of your classes

and he’s like yeah i don’t blame you for not noticing since your nose is always in one of those Damn Journals

can’t believe u smh

anywhom

you start actually interacting with people in class

and by people i mean donghyuck and any of his friends who happen to be there

you literally get thrown into their friendgroup like one day you know donghyuck and have vaguely heard of jeno since he’s on the soccer team

and then the next you’re a part of the group message and jaemin begs for your math homework during lunch ????

“jaemin just dO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK FOR ONCE ???”

“ugh but i don’t know how”

“hey you know what maybe if you didn’t sleep in class you WOULD”

“IM TIRED GOD DAMN IT”

this is usually when duckie interjects with

“hey now girls, you’re both smart <3”

“i know im smart but , jaemin , i don’t know about him 😔😔”

poor jaemin leave him alone :(

jisung is , extREMELY awkward around you because he’s a Baby Freshman and you’re a Female Senior hsjdjf it’s so cute

and chenle is the complete opposite he IMMEDIATELY latches onto you and is always like

“y/n !!!! wanna watch this video of me singing and playing the piano when i was thirteen on live national television !!!!”

“y/N !!!!!!! can you drive me n jisung to get ice cream plEASE !!! we won’t even play PSY this time”

“okay,,,,, pinky promise?”

his pinky hooks around yours at an incredible speed as he jumps up and down with excitement

“pinky promise !!!!!!!!!!”

hyuck overhears and insists upon coming with for , unknown reasons

renjun and jeno keep snickering to each other across the lunch table too uGH

sneaky bastards !

after school you wait in the parking lot for the Babies with hyuck who looks rather flushed considering his skin is pretty tan and it takes a lot for him to visibly blush ??

“hey duckie boy you good?”

“haha yEAH uh just wondering where the boys are hhhh”

“oh yeah ! they should’ve been here like 10 mins ago”

your phone buzzes in your pocket and you go to check it to see a text in the group message

lele: hey y/n~ me n jisung can’t come we totally forgot we joined a frisbee team and there’s practice today !!!

blueberry: yeah ! have fun w/ hyuckie tho

moominluvr96: sjdjd i’m so proud of them

jenomunomunomu: absolute legends have fun at ur frisbee practice my sons

you: 🅱️ro i wanted to go home and SLEEP

blueberry: sorry ! xoxo :*

duckie: chenle my son ? how could you 🅱️etray me this way???

you: ur dead to me

you: literally what’s a chenle ?? sounds like a poisonous fruit

lele: NO IM SORRY

but tbh you’re just being Silly you don’t mind just going with Sunshine Boy

hyuck has only gotten redder as the texting went on though what’s his deal 0.0

you agree to take his car !

actually you insist because you don’t wanna drive but, let’s say you agreed

you find out that hyuck exclusively listens to hipster bands and the occasional troye sivan song because we love a gay legend

actually his music taste is ALL OVER THE PLACE but we r still boppin ladies

you roll the windows down even tho it’s Chilly and let your hand float in the breeze until your fingers start getting numb and you pull your hand back in and roll up the window

okay maybe that was a Bad Idea your fingers almost hurt they’re so cold and you’re rubbing the feeling back into them when hyuck clears his throat

you look up at him and he tilts his chin toward the hand he stretched toward you

you’re confused bc like ? i don’t have anything to give u duckie

he sighs anxiously

“just. give me your hand. mine are warm because i didn’t try to be cool and stick my hand out the window like this is a teen coming of age movie”

“have you ever just been nice and not followed it up with a weirdly specific insult”

“nope. now gimme”

you cautiously placed your hand in his and felt heat bloom all over your cheeks and trail up to your ears and down your neck

he gulps and interlocks your fingers and tucks them in the pocket of his hoodie

you have to lean against the console in between you a little so that your arm isn’t strained but it’s,,,,, Warm and Nice

you’re quick to continue the conversation like normal but your voice sometimes goes in and out since he is subconsciously rubbing his thumb over the back of your hand or tapping his fingers against yours

when you arrive you awkwardly pull your hand from his grip to get out of the car and he cringes a lil :(

you decide to be bold for once in your life and run around the car to catch up with him and shove your other hand into his

“this one’s cold too”

he ducks his head and smiles but gives your hand a lil squeeze :3 uwu

eventually though you do have to let go and enjoy your ice cream

you just make small talk with him about the newspaper and whatever homework is due the next day when a man walks in wearing BRIGHT RED CLOWN SHOES

the weirdest part though is the fact that other than the clown shoes the man is dressed like a body builder and has the hulking mass of one

and also there is a PARROT ON HIS SHOULDER ???

you and hyuck whip to face each other and then look back at the man

without looking away you slide your notebook to the middle of the table and flip open to where you’ve bookmarked the next available page

needless to say you both have a field day making up storylines for this man

“hey hyuckie i missed this it’s been forever since it’s been just the two of us and my journal”

“me too, sunshine”

“heY now you’re the sunshine in this relationship”

both of you choke at your use of the term “relationship” but continue with the conversation JSKSK

“alright but then you have to be the rain”

“aw you know i don’t like the rain”

“yes i know that’s why YOU are sunshine”

“kay but you are so much more like sunshine than i, an Emo”

“how bout i be sunshine since you like sunshine and me, and you be rain since i like rain and you”

OOF ????????

you blush for the Millionth Time and nod shyly and duckie is about to turn purple YIKES

you leave the ice cream shop and climb back in the car and the whole atmosphere is very Tense

you sigh because you miss holding his hand and then turn up the song on the radio which just happens to be, Walkin On Sunshine

THE !!! IRONY !!!

you giggle into your hand and he snorts and you both break into laughter

you plug your phone into the aux

“alright time for some Real Tunes”

“i swear to GOD if you play Bad Boy one more time i’m gonna LOSE IT”

“fuck you red velvet are LEGENDS”

“the only reason you know who they are is because mark tells everyone with a pulse that one of them is from canada just like him”

“okay and ??? i can still appreciate that they produce iconic songs only”

“LISTEN I LOVE RED VELVET TOO BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”

you playfully bicker the whole way back and when you get back to the school to pick up your car you realize you never even got to play your song

“for your information, i was in fact NOT going to play bad boy i was going to play the bop of the century, what is love by twice”

and then, with heavy sarcasm

“well gee why didn’t you just sAY SO”

“IM SICK OF YOUR GIRL GROUP SLANDER LEE DONGHYUCK”

then he giggles and grabs your hand to keep you from getting more than halfway out of the car

“okay okay you know i’m just messing with you”

“yes but leave my gorls out of it”

he releases your hand with fake disgust and wipes it on the passenger seat headrest

“ugh go home, gru”

“it’s a good meme and you can’t even deny it duckie boy”

you blow him a half serious half playful kiss as you bounce over to your car and climb in

you play bad boy and roll the windows down as you drive by his car just to spite him and he laughs good naturedly

it’s only when you get home that you’re like heyyyy nOW

WAS THAT A DATE ??????

you tell your mom about it and she’s like uHHH sounds like a DATE to me ???

but you’re Unsure so you don’t say anything to the others or hyuck just the usual goodnight texts and whatnot

although it could be argued ,, that goodnight texts are a little, relationship-y

it could also be argued , that you do have his contact name as , duckie☼♥

but those can be discussed another time

you continue to hang out with the boys although you refuse to allow them to sit with you at football games because they’re so DISTRACTING

jeno and jisung just fckin yell the whole time while you try to jot notes down to turn it into a story later for the paper

but you can’t concentrate or even figure out wtf is goin on because they’re scREAMING and jumping and messing you uP !

so you sent them elsewhere although,,, hyuck stayed with you

he always does “just in case you get cold or smth”

ur not fooling anyone hyuckie baby

and would you look at that time has FLOWN and it’s time for homecoming !!!!

you plan on going in a big group with hyuck and all The Boys and jaemin has even scored a date !!!

it was highkey through trickery but that’s okay

chenle and jisung are gonna wear matching shirts because they’re headass like that

you’ve already bought a dress and you haven’t ….. shown hyuckie……. just in case……… he asks you

since he…… hasn’t …… YET

renjun keeps assuring you that you don’t need to find a date and that everything is covered but ???? inch resting how duckie has done nOT ONE THING

alright the day of the dance you wake up feeling a little off but go through your normal saturday routine of eating a waffle and absentmindedly watching old gossip girl reruns

but later in the day you feel SHITTY

you’re flushed and your head hurts and it takes so much EFFORT just to get up and get a glass of water

you , comrade, are sick :-(

you text in the gm to let your boys know you can’t come

chenle thinks you’re faking until he calls and hears you sniffling and how rough your voice sounds

“hEY THOT I KNOW UR FAKING BC U DONT HAVE A DATE”

“chenle if it didn’t hurt to speak i would yell at u but my eyes are watering please just text me”

“oh,,,,sorry love u”

and then he hangs up real fast lmao

so you decide to just wallow in despair in your bed and rent overpriced movies on demand

there’s a half drank mug of tea that has long gone cold that contains the medicine you’re supposed to be taking but,, you can’t be bothered tbh lifting your hand is so hard

after a few movies and the sun setting there’s knock at the door ???

you barely hear it since you’re in your room with the door closed but /sigh/ you gotta go answer

you drag yourself out of bed and stumble to the front door and open it, immediately slumping against the frame

this whole time you have still not opened your eyes because light hurts a lil and you know your house well enough

in hindsight that was probably dumb considering you don’t know who’s at the door

you try to open your eyes but they only turn half lidded and droopy so you can just barely make out donghyuck looking Concerned on your front porch

“duckie? what are u doing here?”

“uhhh i uh came to take you to homecoming ??”

he then holds up some flowers and smiles awkwardly

“duckie. baby. sunshine. did u not read the texts i sent ? also it is VERY late to be asking me to homecoming. also, i am a little high on cold medication”

“srry princess, can i come in? you look like you need company and soup and possibly some Sarcastic Banter”

“sounds good duck”

“okay duckie was already incorrect please don’t shorten it to duck”

“you know i didn’t have to let you in”

“so what kind of soup do you want? :-)”

he busies himself attempting to make soup while you have melted into a chair at the dining table with one eye cracked open to watch him

he is very obviously Struggling so you wobble to your feet to stand behind him at the stove and maybe lean a little too much into his back to prop your chin up on his shoulder and reach a hand around him to turn the heat down on the stove

you’ve reached the point of I Don’t Give A Shit and have given up on trying not to be affectionate with him you’re too tired and sickly to restrain yourself and his heart is just steadily beating faster and faster

after your soup you drag him into your bedroom to force him to provide you warmth while watching another movie

but he digs his heels into the floor and tugs on your hand to turn you around

“since you’re missing homecoming….. wanna dance?”

“in my bedroom. while i’m dying. with no music.”

“i’ll take care of the music. cmon don’t be difficult”

“i’m not being difficult i’m just-

you’re cut off by him pressing a finger to your lips and going shhhhhh

you open your mouth to curse him out bc hOW DARE HE

but then he gently pulls you by the waist into his chest and does his best to tuck you under his chin

you’re too comfortable like this so you don’t bother admonishing him for earlier and just settle into his embrace

you loop your arms around his neck as he starts to sway you back and forth

after a couple seconds he starts humming, quietly at first and then louder

and then he starts singing and it’s so sO SWEET AND SOFT

you can feel each breath he takes under your hands and the vibrating of his vocal chords against your forehead and you just close your eyes and press closer to him

you’ve literally never been this content in your whole life binch

he is so warm and ever so often smooths a hand up and down your spine whenever you shiver a little or shift in his arms

when the song finishes you keep swaying with him a little while longer

you’re leaning against him so hard that like the majority of your weight is on him yikes

“babe are you asleep”

“mm”

“no?”

“mmm”

“pretty close though?”

“hm”

“alright”

he chuckles and presses a barely there kiss to the top of your head and sort of waddles the two of you over to the bed

you don’t even have to ask him to climb in with you that was The Plan, Stan

(that’s a saying and also i’m calling u a stan wow queen of puns)

as soon as he settles in you tuck yourself under his arm and throw an arm over him to play with the fingers of his other hand

you’ve got the breakfast club on and it’s Real Nap Hours

hyuck’s arm falls asleep pretty soon tho so instead you switch to laying on your sides facing each other with your face pressed into his neck and your arms draped over each other

right before you fade into unconciousness, he tilts his chin down and nudges his nose against yours to get your attention

your eyes flutter open and you look up at him while he smiles gently down at your sleepy expression aWE ???

“hey wanna be my date when you’re not on your death bed?”

“god, what a romantic. is that a shakespeare quote?”

“shut up and say yes”

“alright fine”

“with more enthusiasm!”

“YES!! GOD DAMN IT”

he shakes his head but then leans down to press a lingering kiss against your cheek before tucking you back against him and evening out his breathing

you fall asleep and dream of boys with beautiful voices who love to dance in the rain

a couple hours later you wake up to a forehead smooch and your Boy whispering bye angel

you sit up and whine and he’s like bby i have to go it’s like midnight n my momma wants me home :(((

you pout and he giggles and taps your lips with his index finger

“go back to sleep and i’ll text you something nice to wake up to yeah?”

you nod and grab his hand to kiss it before flopping back down and passing The Fuck Out

the next morning you wake up still feeling a bit shitty but smiling anyways bc you’ve scored the cutest boy in the universe uwu

he even kept his promise and left you a cute message to wake up to ;((((

duckie☼♥: good morning bbg i hope ur feeling better today and that the sun shines all day for u !!!

you: JEKDKDJ DUCKIE IM STILL SICK BUT TAKE ME ON A DATE RN

you: 💗💗💗💕💌💞💞💗😤💖🤧😔💗😔🤧😔🌺💐🌺🌺🌸💐😔💛😔💛💐🤧💐💐💖💖

duckie☼♥: noooo ur gross

you: you ruined it :(((

duckie☼♥: i mean noooo u gotta get better

you: okay :)))

you finally get over your cold like 4 days later and insist you’re fine to be Taken Out And Treated Like A Princess

he tells you to dress warm except gloves bc he wants to hold youR HAND CAN YOU BELIEVE

you’re weirdly not nervous ? like you thought you would be but you’re just excited and very happy !!!! uwu

he picks you up about an hour after school and reveals that he’s gonna take you to all the cafes in town to people watch and write stories which is !!! your favorite activity !!!!!!

“is it lame??? oh god you think it’s lame i’m so sORRY”

“nO!!! no i love it you did good”

“are you sure?”

“yes duckie”

“okay good i mean i knew you’d like it”

“but you just-“

“hm?”

“,,,,, nevermind”

you both hike around town until it gets late and you’re tired and you end up on a bench in the local park with his head in your lap and your fingers in his hair

you lightly scratch his scalp and hum and he practically PURRS like a cat

(furry ????? it’s more likely than you think)

his eyes are closed and you trace your fingers over his features lightly until it tickles and he scrunches up his nose aw bABY !!!!!

then, without opening his eyes

“so when are you gonna man up and kiss me?”

“first of all, i will never man up i prefer being female thanks. sECOND WHY DO I GOTTA DO IT”

“i asked you on the date !!! you gotta do something!!!”

“i held your hand first!!”

“after i literally offered my hand to you”

“uGH fine come here”

“no i’m not gonna ‘come here’ you literally just made a disgusted noise at the thought of kissing me”

“it wasn’t at the thought of kissing you it was just at you”

“this isn’t helping at all”

you roll your eyes playfully and then yank him up by the collar of his shirt to press your forehead against his

“does this help?”

aND THEN YOU LAY ONE ON HIM ??????:$&:&;&;

QUEEN OF CONFIDENCE

he sighs against your lips and sits up a little more so he can reach you better, smoothing a hand up to cup the side of your jaw and neck

you pull away and his eyes are still closed

“hmmm,,, yeah”

you scoff and drop him back to half laying on your lap

“you’re such a dork”

“yeah but i’m your dork now so it’s embarrassing for both of us”

“aw i wouldn’t have it any other way <333”

“is it just me or was that sarcasm”

“just you <3333”

renjun, who has been rOOTING FOR YOU GUYS THIS ENTIRE TIME

screams when you call him that night lol

literally SCREECHES

chenle happens to be with him and screeches eVEN LOUDER

basically the whole group screams simultaneously they’ve been shipping it since day one

hyuck is a bit prideful so when you guys are out in public he’s not super affectionate but ,, when you’re not out

he’s wrapped around you like a koala and will never let go

you have to go pee? hold it

you’re dehydrated and dying? you can live off of his Love

your favorite activity to do together is BAKING because it never goes well no matter how hard you try

and although it usually ends in DISASTER it’s also a good time and afterwards duckie lets you curl up between his legs on the couch and nap uwu !

dating really didn’t change the dynamic between you two other than affection you still read each other to DUST on the regular lmao

no one gets too harsh tho bc you love each other and whatnot

ugh love ruins all the FUN doesnt it :/

donghyuck makes it his business to know exactly when it will rain and makes sure to be with you when it does

at the first sight of clouds he is in your house with board games and movies and snuggles to distract you !!! what a sweetheart

on days when it’s really bad you just climb into bed and bury your face in his chest while he talks about whatever comes to mind and distracts you

he also takes to slumping down and falling asleep on your shoulder whenever you have movie nights together and it’s so CUTE

his little heart shaped lips and his cheeks always end up smushed and he just looks adorable wow rip you

he’s obsessed with your cheeks he loves to cup your face while he talks to you and press gentle kisses to them during Sleepy Time or when you part ways in the school hallways

if he’s excited he’ll bound up behind you and wrap his arms around you and kiss your cheek real hard and then start babbling about whatever’s got him so worked up

basically, hyuckie is a boy full of sunshine and passion and sarcasm and he’s the best boyfriend you could ever ask for :’-)

503 notes · View notes

50funny · 5 years

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Mage- Chapter 4: Battle At The Ball

Written by 50funny:

Part 1- The Gate Crashers

Alex stood in the empty kitchen, furiously scrubbing dishes sending water and foam flying across the bench.

“Stupid Liz, making me scrub up dishes. What did I ever do to her? All I wanted was to come to this dumb party,” Alex ranted under his breath.

“Alex, please just let me out! It stinks in here,” Bip begged trying to get Alex’s attention.

“Huh what? Oh yeah right,” Alex said realizing Bip was still stuck in his cloths.

Alex grabbed his shirt and untucked it from his trousers. He held the base of his shirt open allowing Bip to fall out onto the bench top below. Bip took in a series of sharp deep breaths and scratched at his tongue trying to get rid of the taste.

“Yuk, it smelt disgusting in there. I’m never gonna forgive you for that,” Bip spat.

“Yeah sorry, guess I forgot you were in there,” Alex said unapologetically.

“You jerk,” hissed Bip.

Bip looked around the abandoned kitchen.

“Uhhh Alex, where is everybody?” Bip asked.

Alex looked around the kitchen surprised, having not noticed how empty the room had become.

“Huh? Oh yeah, where did everyone go?” Alex said.

“Were you really so worked up about Liz that you didn’t notice an entire room full of people leaving?” Bip questioned.

“Hey, don’t blame me, she was a real jerk. We’re supposed to be friends!” yelled Alex.

“You can’t be serious,” Bip sighed. “Get your head in the game Alex; have you forgotten why we came here?”

As Bip’s words echoed through Alex’s head his mood shifted becoming much more serious.

“Yeah, you're right. Sorry, come on let’s get going,” Alex said.

Alex began walking towards the door followed shortly behind by Bip. He swung open the kitchen doors and walked into the main ball room. What had previously been the scene of a loud and busy party had now been completely deserted save for a lone old man sweeping in the middle of the room. Alex and Bip looked around the hall confused as to what had happened. The old man sweeping noticed the pair out of the corner of his eye and looked over to them.

“What are you two doing here?” asked the man.

“What are we doing here? Where’s everybody else gone?” Bip retorted.

“Didn’t you two hear? The party was called off early and all the staff sent home. Well all the staff except for old sweepy,” the janitor complained.

“Called off? Why would it have been called off?” Alex asked as he and Bip approached the man.

“Well from what I heard Mr. Lance was feeling a bit under the weather. But if you ask me I think he just wanted some quiet time with that nice looking gal I saw him with, haha” said the man letting out a cheeky laugh as he returned to his chores.

Alex and Bip looked at each other.

“So, what’s the plan now then?” asked Bip.

“Well we should probably start by finding Liz,” stated Alex.

Alex took in a swift gasp as he had a moment of shocked realization. He ran over to the janitor and forcefully grabbed him by the collar.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” the man gurgled.

“The girl you saw Lance with, where were they and what were they doing,” Alex demanded.

“I don’t know, they were just walking and talking, they went into the main study down that hall, the tenth door on your left you can’t miss it,” said the man pointing his hand out towards the nearby hallway.

Alex dropped the man to the ground before running off down the hall followed shortly behind by Bip.

“Crap, we should have never left her alone” Alex said, coming to a stop as he reached his destination.

From behind the large wooden door the pair could hear Liz and Lance’s mumbled conversation. Alex walked up to the door placing his eye to the key hole. His eyes darted around the study before finally landing on the two. Liz laid on the floor limply as Lance knelt above her, his hand around her head, emanating a red glow.

“Damn it, looks like she’s in trouble, stand back I’m gonna break the door down,” Alex stated.

“Damn it, she’s in trouble! Stand back” Alex stated pulling back his fist.

“Wait hold on a second, think this through first,” Bip pleaded to no avail.

Alex launched his fist full force at the door sending it violently swinging open with a loud thud catching Lance off guard as he looked over to face the door. Alex stood in the doorway staring at Lance with an icy glare.

“My oh my that was quite the entrance. You’re the boy from this morning aren’t you,” asked lance.

Alex remained stone faced as he slowly walked into the room.

“I take it you’re here to try and help your friend, would that be correct?” Lance continued grinning menacingly at Alex.

“Spose, something like that,” replied Alex taking up a fighting stance.

“How noble of you, but foolish all the same” Lance said standing. “But I don’t recall inviting you to this event, so I suppose I am obliged to remove you from the premises,” he continued taking up a similar fighting stance.

Part 2- Battle At The Ball

Alex and Lance began slowly circling each other waiting for an opening to strike the other.

“You can’t really expect to beat me can you?” Lance taunted confidently. “Come on then let’s make this fair. I’ll let you throw the first blow”

Lance put his arms out and gestured for Alex to attack him. In an instant Alex sprung forward at an incredible speed, seeming to almost teleport in front of Lance. He pulled his fist back and prepared to launch it at Lance. Time seemed to slow down for Lance as he tried to comprehend what had happened. He began to pull back away from Alex’s fist causing it to fall short of its target by mere millimeters. Alex made a quick U-turn returning to his original position in an instant. Liz looked on from the ground shocked by Alex’s feat of athleticism.

“What the?” Liz exclaimed.

“Liz over here,” came Bip’s voice.

Liz looked over towards the door to see Bip flying swiftly over to her.

“Liz get up we need to get out of here! Now!,” Bip said urgently.

“I would if I could, Lance put some sort of poison in my drink, I can’t move at all,” Liz said looking over to her broken glass on the floor.

Bip flew over to the glass, knelt over and began to smell the remains of Liz’s drink.

“Red fang,” Bip stated.

“Red fang? What’s that?” asked Liz.

“It’s a an extremely potent paralyzing poison, it also goes by the name mage killer,” said Bip.

“Mage killer! Holy crap am I gonna die?” Liz panicked.

“No don’t worry; it just immobilizes the victim making it impossible for them to use magic” Bip said calming Liz as he flew back over to her. “The effects only last max 10 minutes, hopefully this we’ll keep us safe for that long.”

Bip landed in front of Liz and clapped his hands firmly together and began to tense every muscle in his body. Suddenly a shimmering translucent blue sphere started emerging from the ground, encapsulating the pair with in it. Bip continued to focus all his effort into maintain the field as he started to sweat.

“Let’s hope this holds,” Bip said.

Lance looked at Alex still surprised by his lightning fast attack.

“My my, you’re a speedy one aren’t you. Maybe I underestimated your ability’s somewhat… or maybe you just got lucky, either way I assure you that won’t work a second time,” said Lance.

As quickly as the first time, Alex launched himself towards Lance pulling his fist back preparing to strike him. As Alex grew closer Lance prepared himself, learning from Alex’s previous attack. Lance sent his own fist flying toward Alex at full speed landing in the centre of his stomach just before Alex’s own blow landed. Alex was sent flying across the room landing with loud crash, throwing a plume of dust bellowing into the air.

“Alex!!” Liz and Bip yelled in unison.

Lance turned around and began slowly walking towards the pair.

“Ha, well that was easy, now just to deal with the pair of you,” Lance said menacingly.

Lance’s attention was suddenly drawn back to the dust cloud. As the cloud settled Alex appeared standing completely unaffected by Lance’s attack. Alex dusted himself off nonchalantly.

“Well, this is a surprise, that blow should have killed you, or at least put you in the hospital for a long while,” Lanced said. “There’s only one explanation for it… you used magic to protect yourself.”

“What, that’s not possible” Liz said in shock as she listened on.

“You… are a magic user,” Lance said as he raised his finger accusatory towards Alex. “But why didn’t I detect it sooner, I’m usually pretty on the ball when it comes to that,” Lance continued as he began to stroke his chin in thought.

“Maybe you’re just not as good as you think you are” Alex taunted as he returned to a fighting stance.

“Well maybe, or maybe you’re just such a weak magic user that I didn’t even sense it. Yes that must be it,” said Lance.

“Wanna try that theory out,” Alex retorted.

“Haha, I like your spirit! But unfortunately for you now I know you can use magic, I don’t have to go easy on you anymore,” Lance said. An evil smile formed on his face as he held his fingers out towards Alex in a gun shape. “Finger guns activate!”

Suddenly a loud bang filled the air as a small silver orb shot out from Lances fingertip at the speed of a bullet, sending his hand flicking back from the recoil. The bullet went flying inches away from Alex’s head and landed in the bookshelf behind him. They exploded on impact leaving a large hole wall. He turned to run away from the crater but was stopped quickly by a second bullet passing close by his face. Alex turned around to face Lance as another shot came speeding straight towards his head. He flicked his hand out in front of him causing a blue barrier to form in the air. The bullet hit the barrier causing it to shattering it like glass.

“Crap, that’s not good,” Liz panicked.

“Don’t worry Liz,” Bip said confidently. “Alex knows what he’s doing.”

Lance laughed maniacally as he continued fire his barrage at Alex who narrowly dogged in-between each speeding bullet by mere inches.

“Haha, you can’t keep this up forever, sooner or later you’ll slip up,” taunted Lance as drop of sweat fell from his brow. “You’ll tire yourself out at this rate.”

Alex jumped up high off the ground passing between two bullets. He grabbed onto the top of the bookshelf and with a strong kick launched himself off towards Lance causing the shelf to fall down shaking the room as it hit the floor. Alex passed narrowly by Lance landing kneeling down on the other side of the room.

“Damn it, missed,” Alex said nonchalantly as he stood back up.

Lance turned around to face Alex shocked and horrified as he noticed the short silver dagger he now held. Alex shook the blade off, sending a splatter of blood to the floor as a small cut opened up under Lance’s eye.

“What the hell was that? how did he see through my attacks, that shouldn’t have even been possible? And where did that blade come from, was he hiding it somewhere?” Lance panicked as he tried to wrap his mind around what had happened. “No I can sense it, that blade is of magical origin. But for a novice to conjure something of that strength?”

Lance raised his finger to point at Alex.

“Ju… just who the hell are you?” Lance yelled his voice quivering with fear.

Alex slowly walked towards Lance.

“What am I gonna do, I still can’t sense any magic coming from him. I have no clue how powerful he really is. Whatever the case, I can’t let him get close to me. One good strike from that blade and I’m done for. I just have to keep him far away until I figure out what to do” Lance thought, panicked as he raised his hand up pointing his finger guns once again.

“Machine gun modes activate!” Lance yelled.

Lance’s finger guns began to fire again much faster than before. Alex began dodging between the shots once again. moving so fast that he became a blur.

“Haha, you can’t keep that pace up forever. you’ll tire yourself out soon enough haha, then I’ll make you into Swiss cheese,” Lance yelled.

The wall behind Alex began to fall apart as it became more hole than wall, sending dust and debris flying into the air. Lance began to sweat profusely as he continued his barrage.

“Just give it up all ready, you can’t possibly defeat me” Lance panted in exhaustion.

The pace of Lances shots began to slow down as he became more and more exhausted giving Alex plenty of opportunity to counter attack. Alex once again launched himself forward pointing the butt of his dagger out. The dagger made contact with Lance’s knee sending a loud crack echoing through the air. Lance let out an ear piercing scream as his knees buckled beneath him dropping him face first onto the ground. He rolled himself onto his back to face Alex.

“You bastard!” Lance yelled pointing his fingers out once more.

Another small bullet went flying towards Alex, harmlessly bouncing off his shoulder blade and onto the floor.

“What the hell, that was a direct hit, why aren’t you dead?” Lance said in frustration.

“I’m surprised you don’t know, you’re a pro mage after all,” Alex sighed sarcastically as he turned to face Lance. “In its most basic form magic is just energy, an energy produced by all living things. Normal people use that energy up every day and replenish it at night by sleeping.” Alex began to explain “For magic users though, we harness that energy to preform our craft, that’s why we need to know how to conserve it, in case we run out and collapse from sheer exhaustion,”

Alex began walking over to Lance until he stood looming above him as he pointed his hand towards the destroyed wall.

“See, those little bullets you were using where strong… too strong. You poured way too much magic into each one than you realistically needed to in order to kill me. It was only a matter of time till you ran out of magic completely and passed out. All I needed was for you to drain yourself enough to start slipping up, and with how much magic you were wasting with that machine gun mode, your fate was sealed,” Alex said “You should really work on conserving your magic more. Take that as advice from a real pro.”

Lance listened on. Shocked by how knowledgeable Alex was.

“This boy is insane. To be able to come up with a plan like that, in the middle of a battle, takes years of training. But how? I still sense no magical presence about him, and yet he’s clearly a pro. How?” Lance thought as his eyes focused on Alex’s blade. “Wait, that dagger, I’ve seen it before.”

Lance’s eyes widened as he began to realize Alex’s true identity.

“You’re…” Lance yelled before being cut off as Alex stomped on his face.

“Shut your filthy mouth,” Alex said as a dark aura began filling the air.

Bip looked over to his friend knowing what was about to happen.

“Oh crap, Liz can you move, we’ve gotta get out of here right now” Bip panicked as he dropped the barrier around the two.

“I.. I think I can,” Liz said as she struggled to stand up.

“Here, I’ll help” said Bip, placing himself under Liz’s arm to support her weight as she began to shuffle towards the door.

The pair walked out into the hallway as Bip closed the door behind them with his tail, leaving Lance to an unknown fate at Alex’s hands.

_______________________________________________________________

To Be Continued

Thank you for reading chapter 4 of mage. if you like what you’ve seen please consider following my tumblr for a new chapter every Friday. Until next week, have a good day.

#Mage #Chapter 4 #Magic #Story #Original Story #50funny

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brownstonearmy · 3 years

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2021-01-08: Duck Tales (A Commemorative Tale About Ducks And Religion)

Tuesday Aug 18th (Tuesday Morning)

Two faces from Spleenifer's past arrived in Brownstone the previous night, seeking to assist Spleenifer and Brownstone in rebuilding after the recent flood. First up is Glarmp Glorious, Spleenifer's adopted twin Brother. He's a pious paladin practicioner of the same religious order as Spleenifer, spreading the gospel in the name of St. Squatzalot, and he's barely half the height his sister. The other new face is Tweazle Tealeaf, a halfling who Spleenifer babysat once upon a time. Tweazle's didn't take as readily to the dogma of the particular sect of Lathander practiced by his parents, Glarmp, and Spleenifer, and took off in search of a life of adventure (Like Tweazle's brother Milo before him).

When the adventure begins, Spleenifer wakes up much later than usual: after sunrise. Normally the cacophony of ducks she keeps wakes her up while it's still dark. It's too quiet, and Spleenifer looks outside to an empty duck pen. A note is stuffed into the door jamb.

"Dear Resident: The Reformed Church of the Dragon recently commandeered some of your poultry. Due to meat shortages, we will compensate you 2SP for your troubles. Thanks."

The news hits Spleenifer hard; she falls to the ground in sobs. Glarmp is awakened by the sound of Spleenifer's plight and immediately offers assistance and prayer to her. The emotional commotion also wakes Tweazle, who tries to go back to sleep after offering to procure some bats to replace the ducks. Ultimately the current situation requires Tweazle to remain awake.

Moments later, Lucky and Q (who goes by Raven today) arrive at Spleenifer's place to meet the guests Spleenifer mentioned would be coming. It's not the happy meeting they anticipated; not only does a Lucky have the aftereffects of a wild magic surge where words appear in peoples' mouths like a comic book, but a friend is in need of assistance! And thus the seeds of a plan begin to germinate.

A steady stream of people are out on the streets today, and they all seem to be headed in the same direction. Lucky suggests making a detour to the Fighter's Guild to check in with Hilaria and perhaps watch a sparring match or two. While Lucky and Hilaria are catching up, Tweazle's boar (named Melboarn, which contrary to societal expectations, is a perfectly fine name for a female boar) starts encroaching in Hilaria's personal space. Lucky polymorphs the boar into a mouse, and then asks if Hilaria would mind accompanying her on an "adventure date" to rescue Spleenifer's ducks. Hilaria agrees and Tweazle casts Locate Animals to find pinpoint Spleenifer's feathered companions. The ducks located due south not far from here, and thus the party sets out for a rescue!

The ducks seem to located at the Temple of the Reformed Church of the Dragon. Of course. The party lurks in the back of the church as Jrr'all Oshtreeth says a blessing at the altar. Glarmp isn't fond of the Reformed Church of the Dragon because of it emphasizes profit over the well-being of its adherents, and Tweazle isn't fond of the church because Jrr'all the Dragonborn has hair. Is that hair even real?

Lucky and Tweazle want to find out. Tweazle whispers instructions to Melboarn the Boar-Mouse and sends her skittering up the aisle toward Jrr'all. Lucky's contribution to the shenanigan is to make Melboarn invisible. While this is going on, Spleenifer hears a voice like that of Lathander telling her that allow the sacrifice of her ducks for the betterment of other people. However, this particular voice seems to be coming from one of the numerous dragon statues in the sanctuary, and not from Spleenifer's conscience. Perhaps this voice is that of an idolator!

Jrr'all notices the party hanging out at the back of the church and implores them to donate to the recovery efforts. Lucky and Tweazle volunteer to help cook duck soup, which is really important because there are Halfling Kosher Laws that must be followed before any of the Fair Folk are able to eat food prepared by someone else. Raven even volunteers to be the soup supervisor... The Soupervisor, if you will. But when the party declines to proffer a monetary donation, Jrr'all casts Command at Spleenifer to compel her to donate. Spleenifer's faith in true will of Lathander is too much for Jrr'all's command.

By this time, Melboarn has scampered up Jrr'all's gleaming armor and absconded with the Dragonborn's hairpiece. The congregation is in an uproar, but Lucky casts Mass Suggestion on them. Everyone in the congregation except Jrr'all now believes that Spleenifer is the chosen one of the Dragon Mother.

Raven does some epic level persuasion (without magic!) to convince Jrr'all that this is a clear indicator that Spleenifer has been chosen by divine decree to lead the Reformed Church of the Dragon. Melboarn the Boar-Mouse climbs Spleenifer's armor while still inside the hairpiece and clambers atop Spleenifer's head. THE HAIR HAS SPOKEN! SPLEENIFER IS IN CHARGE AS JRR'ALL RELUCTANTLY CONCEDES.

Lucky and Tweazle go to the temple's kitchen to prepare the duck soup according to Halfing Kosher Law. Of course, it won't actually have duck in it; they're going to be making mock duck soup instead. After emptying any leftover zombie guts out of the portable hole, she sneaks the flock into it for transport. The soup has been cooked successfully, though each bowl comes with a puppy that may or may not be magical, thanks to a wild surge that occurred during the cooking process.

Tweazel hauls the soup out to a wagon destined for the athletic fields to serve the hungry masses, and then excuses himself to water the bushes, if you understand Halfling slang. While all this is happening, Spleenifer summons a divine steed to carry her to the athletic fields for a dramatic duck rescue. Lucky happens to be near the steed when it suddenly appears, so she takes it for a ride across town to get the ducks to safety. She casts a quick "I love you!" message to Hilaria to prevent any miscommunication about Lucky's sudden disappearance. The whole thing is basically the plot of the 1996 film, Fly Away Home.

Anyway, Spleenifer also receives a message from Lucky indicating that the ducks are safe. But Spleenifer is an attentive duck mother and can tell from the dull chatter in the background of the message that some of the ducks don't seem to be present. Fear grips Spleenifer as she realizes who's missing: T'Pam, Prongle, and the five ducks all named Matthew.

Glarmp sees a big forehead vein bulge out on Spleenifer's face and tries to calm her down. But Spleenifer marches over to Jrr'all and demands the last seven ducks. Jrr'all, who is trying unsuccessfully to load a large dragon statue onto a wagon to accompany the procession to the fairgrounds, tells the pair they are welcome to take the remaining ducks from the temple's tower (right past the door leading to the temple's casino), but Jrr'all isn't going to help them retrieve the missing ducks.

The party (and Hilaria) make their way up to the top of the temple's disused belltower. It looks like someone's been living here, and the upper floor is covered in nests of hay. The seven missing ducks are all standing in a row up there and looking vaguely terrified. And the source of everyone's terror seems to be a goose that's in the room.

Tweazle casts Speak With Animals and talks first to Matthew #3 to get a handle on the situation. Mattew #3 relays the tale of how someone kidnapped all of them in the middle of the night, and these seven ducks were specifically picked out by the goose (named Almora) to participate in some sort of goose-duck hybrid breeding program. The other ducks corroborate Matthew #3's story, but the speech is interrupted by the angry goose announcing the next phase of the program.

Spleenifer is beside herself with worry about the situation unfolding with the ducks, and Tweazle tries make things better for the ducks by doing a spinning dragon kick at Almora the goose. Unfortunately for everyone, Tweazle whiffs on both kicks. But Melboarn's polymorph has since worn off and she charges the goose and sends it slamming into the wall with a satisfying smack.

But the moment the moment the goose hits the floor, it turns into an Elf woman. Spleenifer tries to play the woman like a bagpipe and extract a tithe on behalf of her beloved ducks, but only manages to get a low gurgling toot. Spleenifer picks up her dazed duck husband harem and takes off down the stairs. Glarmp casts Banishment on Almora to buy some time to flee, and then casts Find Steed on the stairway to block the Almora from using the stairs.

In another moment stolen directly from the 1996 film, Fly Away Home, Almora reappears after her banishment and screams an oath of vengeance against Jrr'all for allowing her duck test subjects be stolen. She crashes through the window of the tower and flies through the air like Superman, looking for a fight. Almora sees Spleenifer on the ground with all the ducks and begins combat in earnest. Tweazle casts Hunter's Mark on the flying wizard to track her in case she escapes, while Glarmp dispels the magic powering Almora's flight, causing the wizard to crash into the ground and eat dirt.

Tweazle casts a Wind Wall around Almora to box her in, but the dragon statue Jrr'all was struggling to load up earlier provides an opportunity for Almora to strike back. She channels her arcane magic into the statue, causing it spin around and spit lightning in random directions. Everybody on Team Anti-Almora starts bringing the pain. Glarmp cleaves great chunks out of the statue with his mighty axe, but before the statue and Almora can be destroyed, there's another complication:

Several rock worms burrow to the surface and burst forth from the ground. Lucky casts Xear's Chaotic Command, and ends up selecting the Crown of Madness option on Almora. Raven casts Vicious Mockery on Almora, but the unfolding chaos weakens the impact of their insults. Tweazle casts Lightning Arrow on the statue, causing it to crumble and kill Almora (Just like in the climax of Fly Away Home!).

The larger rock worm flees after its tremorsense is impacted by the thunder damage in the fight. The two smaller rock worms aren't that lucky. Lucky unleashes a potent chaos bolt that leaps between enemies, though it does result in an severe case of dandruff followed by leaves sprouting from her head. A few tense seconds later, the remaining enemies are dispatched and the adventure concludes for the night with Spleenifer's ducks safe and sound.

Stay tuned next time for more!

#adventure log #shits and giggles #Dungeons and Dragons #fishdavidson #ducks #goose

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panic-angel3314 · 7 years

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War of Hearts: Part 2/?- Alpha!Roman Reigns x Omega!Reader; Alpha!Braun Strowman

A/N: Ok so this is a series I’ve been working on. 1. Because I love Braun Strowman and Roman Riegns and 2. I love the whole werewolf AU. And 3 I’m a sucker for soulmate AUs😫😫It’s my first time ever writing something like this so please be gentle. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea ☕️ Tagging my babes @theworldiscolorful , @therealfivefeetoffuckingfury , @smolsassynalilsmartassybecause they continue to inspire me and encourage me. I love you guys 🖤🖤 Pairings: Alpha!Roman Reigns x Reader ; Future Alpha!Braun Strowman x Omega!Reader Warnings: Cursing maybe? Angstish (like internally, it’s a love triangle people), Fluff, A/B/O dynamics Summary: Becoming a women’s wrestler is never easy, especially as an Omega. Finding love is even harder. Will you find love in one or will fate throw you to the wolves? Follow this story as the reader goes into battle in a “War of Hearts”.

Also tagging : @calwitch

Part 1 | Part 2

“I can’t help but be wrong in the dark ‘Cause I’m overcome in this war of hearts”

(Y/N)’s POV

Sasha and I were waiting in the gorilla area for Charlotte and Dana's cue to hit. As we were waiting there, Charlotte was nice enough to wish us good luck while Dana couldn't be bothered. She didn't even try to be subtle with the stink eye she was giving me. Whatever, I had neither the time nor patience to deal with it. It was my debut and I wasn't going to let the Blonde Bimbo Beta ruin one of the greatest nights of my life.

All too soon it was Sasha's turn to head out and while Charlotte was following the script to the letter Dana was taking just a few too many liberties at my expense. I shook it off and used it as fuel for when I got to the ring.

"For your information, the partner I got joining me today is not only the baddest chick to step foot in to the WWE but she's made a name for herself worldwide. Ladies and Gentlemen of the WWE Universe I present to you, my one and only best friend, Babydoll!!!!" Sasha had just introduced me and my music hit. I swear it was one of the loudest pops of the night. I was so happy I could cry but I wouldn't break character not when I have a show to put on.

Throughout the match everything was going swimmingly. It wasn't until Dana unnecessarily tagged herself in to take a crack at me that things went a little haywire. She went as far as to perform her freaking finisher on me and damnit if I wasn't madder than a hornet’s nest. I was so mad I didn't even give her the decency of a one count and the crowd was eating it up. As soon as she got up to face me I dropped kicked her so hard, it propelled her into her corner and Charlotte could tag back in. Unfortunately, not without displaying a look of utter shock as the sequence of moves took place. Thankfully Charlotte and I were able to finish our sequence no problem and I wrapped her up in my submission, the Yes Lock, winning the match.

"And here are your winners by submission the team of Sasha Banks and Babydoll!! But still your Raw women's champion Charlotte Flair!!" JoJo announced to the universe.

I looked at Charlotte and pantomimed the belt sitting on my waist and mouthed 'I'm coming for you!' Which cemented the new story line between us and I couldn't be happier. Charlotte is an amazing competitor and I could see us becoming close friends in the process of our "feud".

Sasha and I walked hand in hand up the ramp to head backstage but before we went behind the curtain, I turned to the WWE universe and blew it a kiss earning one more huge pop.

Awaiting backstage was The Bella's, my brother, Roman, and even Charlotte to congratulate me. I was completely on cloud nine!! Even Hunter, Steph, and Vince were there. I felt so loved and so accomplished I couldn't believe. However, Hunter pulled me aside to address the whole Dana going off script thing. I told him it was no big deal that I'm like a chameleon in the sense that I can adapt in any situation but he wasn't having it.

"I understand that but still she put everyone, especially you at risk and for that I'm really sorry." He conceited while petting my head in a fatherly manner, display the true concern he held for me.

Hunter and Steph were some of the few that knew my true presentation as an Omega and because of that they were very protective of me. Hell, when I first met them they wanted to adopt me. And ever since my parents died I looked up to them as parental figures.

"Hunter, I promise I'm okay! Don't worry so much Papa Bear. You've taught me well and I'll continue to do well, but only if you don't hover so much." I tried to joke to lighten the seriousness the conversation held.

It was Steph's turn to pipe up, “We can't help it if we love you, Babydoll. We just want to keep you safe. Besides the fact of the matter is we can't have superstars under contract going rogue. So, we're going to deal with her accordingly."

"Can't argue with Momma Bear on that." Came my reply making both Steph and Hunter chuckle. I made sure to give them one last hug and make my way to Roman who had been patiently awaiting my arrival.

Before I could get a word out the Samoan scooped me up into a rib crushing bear hug that had me squealing for my release.

"Ahh Ro! Let me go I can't breathe!"

While his grip loosened slightly he didn't fully release me from his grip, however, I was able to reach his handsome face for a chase kiss.

"Babygirl, I'm so proud of you! I told you, you'd do amazing and have I ever lied to you."

"Well no I sure hope not." I teased which earned me a growl from my superman.

"You better behave Babygirl or I'll make you room alone tonight."

That had me panicking slightly, as an Omega and the baby of the pack I never slept or roomed alone and I was terrified at the prospect. And before I could stop it my Omega nature kicked in. I nuzzled into the crook of Roman's neck whimpering, "No, please Alpha. I'll be good. I promise."

This earned me a soothing rumble of the chest from Roman. Having realized what he'd done he was quick to apologize.

"Hey, no, I'm sorry Baby. I didn't mean it like that. I would never do that to you. Hey (Y/N), look at me." He said while cupping my face to look at him. "I love you, Babygirl. And from now until forever I'm not leaving your side. You hear me?"

I looked deep into his fierce grey eyes to search for any fallacy to his words but found none. I nodded my head mumbling and 'I love you too' before nuzzling back into his warm.

He carried me bridal style to my awaiting dressing room. Instructing me to shower and change so that when he was finished with his match signing, He could drive us to the hotel down the road. And then we had a few days off after that and we decided we spend some one on one time together at his house in Orlando. I was excited and nervous at the same time. I had really been contemplating lately whether to take our relationship to the next level. Lately our make out sessions had become more and more steamy. And after having not seen him or spent time with him in months, my body was craving his touch.

Braun's POV

I was sat down to watch my 'girlfriend's' match and honestly, I used that term loosely. Our relationship was born out of convenience. I needed someone to help me through my ruts on the road, while she wanted someone to adhere to her Omega complex she developed.

The thing is ever since I saw that fair skinned beauty wrestling with Sasha at the performance center awhile back I couldn't get her out of my head. Unfortunately, ever since that encounter Dana has been exceptionally clingy.

The mystery girl had smelt otherworldly to me, which immediately had my inner wolf stirring. But before I could even exchange two words with her, she was gone as fast lightning could strike. And then when I went to ask Sasha about her, all she would divulge was that she was a Beta and the little sister of Daniel Bryan, (Y/N) Bryan. I was never quite convinced myself that she was a Beta because everything about her screamed Omega, my Omega. Her smell alone has been imprinted on my heart, like a searing brand on my senses, so intoxicating and nearly addicting. In fact, as soon as I had entered the arena I swore I could smell the sweet alluring scent of her, that has only ever appeared inside my dreams.

Alas, I was broken out of my thoughts, that she has continually consumed, by the big tv screen they'd set up in catering.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the WWE Universe I present to you, my one, my only best friend, Babydoll!!!"

As soon as the words leave Sasha's mouth an unfamiliar music hits and out walks the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on. Soon I realize it's her, it's (Y/N)! And it makes my wolf stir at the thought of finally having her near me, finally getting chance to meet this Siren who has had a stranglehold on my psyche for the better part of 6 months.

I watched as she flew around the ring effortlessly, it was like watching a master painter at work. The grace she had, had me completely captivated. It wasn't until I noticed Dana tag herself in unnecessarily that I started to pay attention to the other players in the ring.

Dana was taking one too many liberties with (Y/N) and it had my inner wolf seething. How dare she try and hurt our mate! My wolf was clawing under the surface ready to tear Dana a new one. She had gone as far as to perform her finishing maneuver on (Y/N), funny enough she didn't even allow for a one count. Soon (Y/N) was up and drop-kicking Dana in the corner, with a power only my Omega could possess. The wolf relaxed slightly, happy that our mate could clearly take care of herself. But on the other hand, he still couldn't get over Dana trying to wound his mate.

The sweet little Babydoll was soon announced the winner, by submitting Charlotte and my wolf was swelling with pride. But now comes the hard part, reprimanding Dana without going full wolf on her.

As soon as she came past the gorilla, I grabbed her by the hand and dragged her around to a secluded corner so we could have a private conversation.

Roman's POV

After dropping off Babygirl to take a shower and change for the night I headed towards catering, wanting to meet up with Dean before my match signing with Strowman tonight. As I round a corner I heard a familiar growling timber and a smaller female voice bickering at each other.

"What the hell was that Dana?! You know damn well you went way off base with that little stunt. You could've really hurt someone." Braun was practically growling at his girlfriend.

"You mean I could've hurt her. So, what? What is so special about her anyways? You're my Alpha not hers." She replies with her nasally and irritating voice.

"If I'm the Alpha then who are you to question me!" He snarls at the blonde. Not Braun's proudest moment but he was still trying to reel in the wolf boiling to a bubble just underneath his skin. "Next time follow the script. I don’t want to have this conversation again."

As the blonde woman storms off in a huff, I make my presence known.

Clearing my throat, I raise an eyebrow to the opposing Alpha. "Is there a reason you're worrying about something that doesn't concern you."

"Is there a reason you're listening to conversations that don't involve you."

"If it involves my Babygirl, it involves me. What it doesn't involve is you! Don't worry about what isn't any of your business Strowman. Just keep your girl on a better leash. I'm (Y/N)'s Alpha! So, I'll be the one taking care of her and defending her honor."

Roman was seething at the thought of Braun having anything to do with his Omega. But he couldn't voice that. No way in hell would he out your true presentation to some stranger Alpha.

Braun just looked at Roman with a smug look on his face and a chuckle upon his lips, "Yeah, we'll see about that Reigns, won't we?" And Strowman strode away to go prepare for tonight's promo.

Something about Strowman's last statement didn't still well with Roman and then add the fact that he was showing a sort of concern for her by calling out Dana, something was wrong and Roman could feel it in his heart. The heart that belonged solely to his Babygirl, that would always belong to her. Before he could dwell on it too long he continued his way towards to catering in search of his best friend.

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#wwe imagine #wwe fanfiction #wwe smut #roman reigns imagine #roman reigns x reader #Braun Strowman imagine #Braun Strowman x reader #omega reader #my writing #roman reigns smut #roman reigns fanfiction #abo dynamics

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elane-in-the-shadows · 7 years

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Red Queen Fan Fiction - Blood Curse part 6

Here comes the fight scene ;-)

Find this on wattpad

chapter 1

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

chapter 5

chapter 6

chapter 7

chapter 8

chapter 9

chapter 10

chapter 11

chapter 12

chapter 13

chapter 14

chapter 15

chapter 16

chapter 17

chapter 18

chapter 19

chapter 20

chapter 21

chapter 22

chapter 23

chapter 24

chapter 25

chapter 26

chapter 27

chapter 28

chapter 29

Final chapter

Mare POV

Spontaneity is quickly replaced by determination. I enter the ring in a fluid motion enabling me to set forth web lightning the moment I face Evangeline. Caught by surprise, it makes her stumble. Still uncannily elegant, she manages to stay upright, but her defense is weakened enough for me to strike a second time with a flash of sparks which grazes and burns her forehead.

Her reaction is quicker this time, as if out of reflex. Metal scraps fly at me, disorganized enough so I can create an electrical barrier to protect me. I dissolve it fast and the shards fall to the ground.

Evangeline grins at me. “Not really fair, Lightning Girl. I haven’t consented to this duel yet.”

I smirk back. “You’ve always been the fairer fighter of the two of us.” If playing with me instead of outright killing me in the Bowl of Bones could be called thus. “Do you want to bail out now?”

She brushes off the taunt of her valour like a gentle breeze, flipping back her slightly dishevelled braid. “Barrow, I’ve waited ages for a chance to re-match.” To demonstrate her verve, the metal pieces around us move with a flick of her wrist. If she wants to scare me, I disappoint her. I crack my knuckles and give off sparks in reply.

“I’ve improved greatly myself, Samos.” Current flows through my body like the frustration, rage, and nervousness I’ve felt all day and with a tap on the floor, I release another surprise attack from my feet. Fortunately, I don’t wear rubber soles.

Evangeline is prepared better now but the ring is too tight to allow much dodging of such a broad charge. She dances in her corner, evading some but not all electrical branches I’ve unleashed. She almost smiles when she faces me again, eye to eye with a well-aimed pulse lightning. She ducks while spinning but the lightning burns her relentlessly and she falls to her knees. I hear the air, the ground and her armour sizzling from the residues of my electricity. It buzzes in me as well. So far, I did a good job as I barely had to move though I still wish to run. Instead, I smile at Evangeline who’s getting up, not defeated but bruised nonetheless. I keep grinning, walking backwards to keep my eyes on her. “Maybe Elane can lick your wounds?”

Evangeline only raises her chin, looking down her nose at me. “She does, and frequently. Jealous?”

Her tongue can be as sharp as her blades. My mistake. I used her messy love life as a taunt, forgetting I haven’t drawn a better lot.

All because of him.

I grind my teeth to banish the thought of Tiberias and clench my fists which are crackling with voltage like ball lightning.

We circle each other. Evangeline scans the ring, her throat bobbing. My mouth twitches. I didn’t emit such a broad web lighting only to attack her, but to shove away her metals as well. Certainly, she’s able to pull it back but she’s too fair for that. Out of the ring, out of the game. But I know I can’t rely on her fairness.

Despite my agitation, I’m the one baiting her now and she responds accordingly. Several times, she feints an attack yet draws back again while her armour ripples and changes shape continuously. It’s supposed to be a menace but I don’t intend to get closer to her anyway. Instead, she uses her armour to create new weapons, sharp and spiky things she hurls at me.

I dodge the most of them and she accelerates her frequency of charging at me until I’m surrounded and have to use lightning to block her blades. It’s not easy. Although I gained new skills with the other electricons, I still fight mostly with brutal strength whereas Evangeline controls metal with a dangerous precision which she probably has learned from making dresses and crowns as a hobby. I try to find a pattern, like when she formed splints into creatures, but she’s subtler today, moving each piece on its own orbit. I increase my speed of both my body and my ability. Tipsing around, I feel the sweat on my skin. I have to risk an attack and I release strong web lighting in her direction and promptly, tiny knives enter through the hole in my defense and cut my arm. But my opponent doesn’t fare better. My aim is perfect and enough of a surprise to strike true. Evangeline protect herself with her arms up and her armour changes into a shield floating in front of her.

I realize. Ignoring the pain in my arm, I unleash another charge and again, Evangeline uses a shield in defense. It’s confirmation enough but I need a plan first: With the conductive the metal around her, her armour is useless against an electricon; I could electrocute her anyway.

I manage two attacks in fast succession and she can’t evade both of them. Her right arm isn’t protected by a shield and it shakes when my lightning hits it. She bites her lip in pain but I gloat for a second too long and Evangeline strikes back: A mace-like metal thing is about to pierce my stomach and I can only throw myself to the ground and kick at the spiky ball, disintegrating it with a surge of voltage. Its pieces scatter and I watch them fly out of the ring, threatening to damage innocent bystanders. It wakes the lingering memory of Shade stabbed to death by a diverted magnetron’s needle. I gasp, fearing for the people around me but they’re lucky and splints just clatter on the floor.

Frozen by the old ache and crouching on the ground, I must offer an easy target. I have to force myself to rise, only to realize the hurt is physical as well. Evangeline has already scored some hits since several spikes are buried in my left leg and blood soaks my trousers and drips on the floor.

I wince and summon lightning in my fist, if only to use the sizzle to keep me focused and standing. It doesn’t help. Evangeline pulls the spikes out of me and blood gushes out. The sudden loss of blood makes me too dizzy to contain the electricity. Sparks fly off and vanish. I stumble and need all my energy to remain upright as I face another pattern of Evangeline’s needles dancing around me. I bleed more as I dodge as best as I can but it’s a lost cause to try to run in the tight space. Between painful steps I gather electricity for one last charge with my lightning. Evangeline won’t expect it, neglectful in her defense while she watches my unelegant tripping. I feel the current in my fists, ready to release it, but a new projectile comes my way, urging me to step back with my injured left leg in the moment I throw the lightning at her.

Surprise is no advantage when my aim off from wincing in pain. Instead Evangeline stops toying with me and grants me her whole attention. No longer trying to be subtle, her spikes merge to one huge wedge knocking me over and pressing the air out of my lungs.

The world turns black and I hear Evangeline say, “I win”, without waiting for me to yield, as Akkadi did. I don’t rise again. My energy has left me and all I feel is the ache throbbing in my leg and my pants tacked to my wounds, crusty from dried blood. Inappropriate as it is, laying on the floor of a gym full of soldiers is exactly what I need. I don’t care for the commotion and I’m still seeing stars when someone bends over me, muttering something about being a skinhealer. He’s supposed to be careful but it still hurts when he removes the pant from my leg. My sight returns slowly as he starts to heal me. I see silver glitter above me and startle to find Evangeline bending over me.

“Careful,” the healer – Reese, I remember – warns me. His soothing hands numb my agitation and panic as well the pain while I assess my surroundings again. I suppose it was Evangeline who cut open my pant for Reese and now she has the decency to care about her defeated opponent. She seems truly worried, if not only for Farley who stands at the outer edge of the ring, glaring at her.

Reese is almost finished when the shouting starts and a heat wave crosses the gym.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!!” he roars.

Instinctively, I crawl away but I still feel the fire in Tiberias’s wake. Evangeline is quick enough to get out of his way but Reese isn’t so lucky. Tiberias grabs his collar and his hands scorch Reese’s shirt. Tiberias’s still shouting when Farley enters the ring and helps me up. She should’ve better barked at Tiberias but I take over the task. I walk over my own blood spread on the ground, right into the blazing heat around him. Reese must be sweltering from his assault and this needs to stop. I touch Tiberias’s torrid arm, just long enough to send a shock of electricity through him and it does its purpose. He lets go and stumbles back, startled to see me up and about, now unharmed despite the blood loss, and blistering with sparks of anger.

“Don’t hurt the one who healed me!” I scream and suddenly he looks lost and beaten.

“Mare … you’re alright, that’s great. But he was looming over your naked leg and I couldn’t – “

“Don’t be such a possessive ass!” I shout. “I do well without your misplaced worry.” I turn away, surprised to notice that Evangeline is still there. I wonder why since I expect Tiberias to turn against the causer of my injuries after all. Instead of being scared, she appears strangely smug with her arms crossed in challenge.

It’s Farley who snaps. “Calore!” She steps forward and brushes my hand for a second. I pull away but stay with them. “I’d appreciate if you didn’t attack our esteemed skinhealers,” Farley continues. Meanwhile, Reese has slumped down and has to make do with an ice pack. “We’re relying on each other’s support here. Silver temper tantrums are uncalled for. You understand, your highness?” Farley finishes her reprimand.

Tiberias catches himself. “General,” he says respectfully, then bows to me. I have to look away, but Evangeline is still grinning.

When Farley and I finally leave the gym, having gotten Reese another skinhealer and new pants for me, Evangeline runs up to us. She ignores Farley’s pointed gaze and extends her hand to me.

“Good match, Barrow.”

I gape at her for several seconds but she’s unusually patient until I finally shake it.

“Indeed, Samos.”

“I’ll not be as brutal in the next one,” she proposes. “General Akkadi already scolded me for it.”

A laugh escapes my throat.

“I am cooperative, Barrow,” she insists but her face loses amusement.

“To what cause?” I ask.

The corners of her mouth twitch. “My own, I hope. You don’t suppose I think you like this situation? I rather assume we have a mutual interest here.”

“Is that so?” sneers Farley. “Excuse me, your highness, but we’re not here for individual wishes but to win a war so we can enable the liberation and legal equality of the Reds.”

“But individual wishes are the cause of everything we do,” Evangeline replies and pauses. It’s surprising to hear this from her. “Mare,” she starts again, “Tiberias came to look for me as I’ve stolen myself away. But I have no need of his attention. Whereas you – “ she shrugs.

“We have a mutual interest to stop your wedding, you claim?” I ask. “I fear our opinions aren’t decisive in that regard.”

She seems both smug and guilty. “I’ve hoped to convince some people today. Unfortunately, I’m easily … dismissed.”

Right, I’m not relieved by her idea to beat me up to antagonize Tiberias, so I scoff at her. “Sure, Evangeline. I’ve seen your manipulations at work often enough to believe otherwise. To my chagrin.” A part of me regrets the words, realizing she’s just trusted me with her own heartsickness. I lower my head, but I can’t bring myself to take back my words before I turn and leave.

“You follow me like a mother hen,” I say to Farley when we reach the administrative tower again.

“As you apparently need someone to keep an eye on you.”

I stop with the hands on my hips. “Go mother your own child.”

“I wish I could,” she utters.

We stand in silence awkwardly and I curse myself for this new lapse. I shuffle my feet. “Sorry. It’s – I want to go home. Or at least to the base. But …”

“We’re here for a reason, aren’t we? So we can’t just leave because we feel lonely?” Farley sighs and brushes my shoulders. “That doesn’t have to be true, Mare. We just talked about taking care of each other.”

I nod.

“Then take care of yourself first. And don’t forget we’re not here forever. I want to see our family again, too.”

I hug her, longer than I intend to. “You don’t have to do everything by yourself,” she reminds me, and I think she needs the embrace as much as I do.

“The same goes for you,” I say.

“We’ve done what we can here,” Farley says, shuffling her papers. “I don’t expect to stay here much longer.” She looks satisfied with her notes, at ease in her office room with the sunlight gleaming on her short hair and the glass objects on the desk. I crouch on a chair, watching the setting red sun behind her. “I haven’t relocated those recruits for nothing. And actually … Mare?”

“I’m listening,” I reply but I still stare into the sun, squinting. “And then, what?” Despite what we’ve achieved so far, it feels like we’re only beginning. It seems like the war between Norta – or what’s remaining of her – and the Lakelands will become more real than it ever was. “What will we do about the new royals sprouting from the ground?”

“It’s – “

“Don’t say it’s classified information.” I sigh. “Intrigue leads to nothing and there’ll always be blood. Our blood.”

Farley cocks her head. “I wouldn’t say intrigues are useless. Remember how much has happened so far.”

“You mean we should just assassinate them, like Elara did with Tiberias the sixth?”

“We can’t just kill everyone, or we would’ve done it already.” She looks up and blinks, as if shocked of her own words.

“You needn’t be afraid of microphones or cameras, I’d know if there were any,” I say.

She snorts. “Still surprising how versatile your ability is. Unless there’s someone with super-hearing.”

“Are we competing in paranoia now? Because I always feel watched in this place. Like when everyone saw Tiberias’s theatrics in the gym.” I must be blushing again and focus on my feet.

“Your love-life has always been a kind of public one,” Farley comments, back to her papers. I’m not in the mood for teasing.

“Not everyone can be as secretive as you.” I retort pertly.

She doesn’t take it light-hearted either. She bangs her ball-pen on the desk, and her expression turns dark.

Right. Right. It was hardly a secret when she was –

I stand up in a rush. “I didn’t mean …,” I begin but she remains silent despite her obvious anger. “I’m sorry,” I admit, and go to the door. Another glimpse reveals she’s still frustrated.

“I’m okay, Mare,” she claims. “Go if you want, we’re not here to supervise each other.” It’s my cue to leave.

I idle along the corridors, torn between weariness and restlessness. The memory of my injuries lingers. I curse myself for my need of attention and I decide I should rather read a book. Corvium lies below me as I pass the windows to my room. Although the city buzzes under the sunlight, it still feels stifling to me. Like a coffin I want to get out of. I yearn for my family and the forests of Winghill, the Piedmont base, instead I’m staring at black walls.

It’s when I feel a familiar warmth engulf me and it chases the cold from my bones. I know he’s behind me and I let him simmer for a minute, yet I’m afraid he might just leave again. But he’s still there when I turn.

Tiberias looks guilty and lost and it both annoys and pleases me. He shouldn’t be proud of his actions and I stare him down, hoping to equal Farley’s glare.

“You can’t just attack people.”

He lowers his head in admission. “I apologize -”

“Apologize to Reese.”

“I did, but I can see you’re even more angry,” he insists and he’s right.

I smile faintly. “You know why I’m angry with you. But such behaviour doesn’t help.”

“Can I not be worried about you?!” he exclaims. “Seeing you hurt and bleeding after all that has happened? These people could do anything to you!”

I can’ help cackling. “These people? I thought they were your allies? But you can’t trust them?” I sigh dramatically. “I suppose it was a good decision not to …” I stop myself because he approaches me, grabs my arms and breathes heavily. His head sinks, just a few inches from touching my brow.

“You were right.”

It hardly feels satisfying, so I don’t know what to say - what does this acknowledgement change? For the moment, I allow myself to enjoy his closeness, to just see and smell Cal, the man I love, and no one else.

He’s the one to let go. I look up to meet his ember-like gaze. “And?” I whisper. “Are you fed up now? Will you keep the promise you gave me and choose me and the Guard instead of the crown?”

Would you run with me again, away from here?

His lips quiver and my bravery vanishes. I don’t wait for his objection, for another disappointment, another dismissal of my and any Red’s wishes. If he’s ready to give me a different answer, he’ll know where he can find me.

#red queen fan fiction #red queen fanfiction #mare x cal #king's cage fanfiction #red queen 4 prediction #blood curse #evangeline samos #diana farley #tiberias vii #mare barrow #red queen 4 #king's cage #rise red as the dawn #victoria aveyard #blood curse ch 6

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medusaivatco · 7 years

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BASICS

Full name: Octavia “Medusa” Henry Any nicknames?: ‘O’ [bitch] Age: 29 Birthday/Zodiac sign: Gemini Height: 5′8 Any tattoos, piercings?: A large Kingsnake tattoo up her left leg [image can be found in her moodboard]. She chose the Kingsnake because they are known for preying on and eating other snakes and being immune to pit viper venom. Octavia has a an industrial piercing in her right ear in which she usually wears this, and in both ears has the standard, forward helix, orbital, death, and upper lobe pierced. Left eyebrow is pierced.

FAVORITES

Sound: A car engine. With home after home being lost to her past as little more than a memory, including the home she'd once had in the original Olympus, Octavia has found a constant in the coming to life of an engine and it can both invigorate her flames and settle her when her ends get too fried. Color: Octavia doesn’t have a specific favorite color because, to her, any color on its own has limited meaning, but does like the scheme of red, grey, copper, black and white. Person: There was a time she would’ve said her mother, before she died, and a time she would’ve said Giana, before she abandon her, and countless other people she would’ve said had they not passed, wronged her, or been wronged by her. Now she knows better than to lock her sites on someone and declare them important to her, because it seems that everyone her gaze fixates on, even for just a moment, is burned up or cased in stone. Memory: One of her mother. One that’s fleeting. One that reminds her to be soft, to settle her flames and crack out of the stone. One of willow budded fingertips and a voice. Is it her mother’s or a manifestation of what she wants to say to herself now? “It takes more strength to be gentle than it does to be violent.” Her father proving that right, proving that lack of self-control takes no strength, takes no power. Her mother proving that right, proving that laying a man that strikes you back into bed takes all the strength, takes all the power, that you have. Place: There’s no one specific location that is Octavia’s favorite, instead the entirety of New York is what Medusa would call her ‘favorite’. Vice: If we were to discuss Octavia’s favorite vice, it would by a long shot be her alcoholism because as destructive as it is and isolating as she uses it to be, in the moment it’s generally fun for her. My favorite vice of Octavia’s, however, is her self-pity. I’m not here to say that all of Octavia’s misfortunes aren’t that, unfortunate, but she has such an ability to hold onto anything that is wrong and milk it. That started because, when she was younger, the bulk of truly bad things happened to her on very drastic levels, and now she just expects that whenever something remotely bad happens, its the total end of the world and she just throws in the towel and turns to a bottle. She is so quick to give up on herself and just hiss and spit anyone that tries to help until there isn’t anyone who gives a damn enough to try to anymore because she LOVES being the victim and LOVES wallowing in self-pity.

HAVE THEY EVER…

Been in love?: Too many times to count. It honestly seems like Octavia can’t stop falling in love?? Like first it was Giana, and as fleeting as that seemed it was really a big affair because it was her first love, her first kiss, her first time, and as much as it was all at once, it was also spread over numerous years with the time they floated in and out of each others lives during their childhood. It was for both of those reasons, it being so fast and so much, and so slow and feathery, that the abandonment hurt so bad. And then of course, there was Zeus. At this point in her life, Octavia was already starting to get really crusty, in the stone way I mean, like genuinely starting to harden, and she just melted for them. Love has this way of totally breaking Octavia done, and not in a bad way, and making her putty, and not in necessarily a good way. Love makes her so naïve, and so young? Like she has never been in love with someone in a mature way, where it was civil and domestic, because she just falls in love so hard that its all consuming. With Zeus, they became her whole everything. Originally, she was in the gang for Cronus, for a family, just generally for the gang, and then when she fell in love with Zeus she became this fucked up puppy dog, because that's how she thought love was supposed to be. It didn’t matter that Hera was her best friend and that she loved her too, because she was IN love with Zeus and that mattered more, even when sometimes Octavia realized that it didn’t. The love was sweet, and genuine, but still it was toxic, both because of just Zeus, but mainly because Octavia can’t seem to find a way to make love not toxic for herself??

If we wanted to get extra, I could talk about how her true love is the gang, because her true love is a desire for family and gag but I already understand that about her and I’m y’all do too. Done drugs?: I’m not gonna say Octavia’s a heavy drug user, as she is much more inclined to drink than to do drugs, but I’m sure she has done drugs at some point. Killed someone?: Yes, at the moment I only have it noted that she killed Cerberus’s ex-boyfriend, but I have it headcanoned that Octavia is really loose about killing people that she has no connection to. Like it’s easier for her to kill people she doesn’t know than people she hates. So, there might be other people she’s killed, and other people she will kill, but at this point in time the only booked one is the boyfriend. Betrayed someone’s trust?: HA. She had a long-term, intimate relationship with her best friend’s fiancé so yes, she most definitely has. Had their heart broken?: I think Octavia’s biggest heart break was watching the person she was devoted to (even if they weren’t devoted to her) and loved split apart her family. Octavia’s whole life has been about herself inadvertently destroying her homes, and her families and she definitely is a breaker of her own heart, but the difference was she never trusted herself not to do those things?? She never loved herself the way she was in love with Zeus, never put her faith in herself the way she did in them and so it hurt that much more when he ruined the only thing she loved more than them. Having to lose both Zeus, Hera and the gang all at once has been Octavia’s biggest heart break. Lost someone?: Lost someone is a vague term, as I’m sure it was meant to be, so the list of people Octavia has ‘lost’ is extensive. Her father, Giana, Zeus, Hera, the gentle and willow budded image she had of herself becoming as a child. People who have died, however, include only her mother and Cronus.

DO THEY…

Have any pets?: Octavia keeps mice. It’s kind of a fucked up power trip deal, but she has a trio named Linus, Leo, and Lacey. Have a family they still talk to?: HA. No. Sometimes she wishes that Giana would some how find her way back into Octavia’s life, even though they were never actually family, but other than a wish, there is no connection to anyone in her life from before. Have a best friend?: There’s a time when the answer would have been Hera, and not knowing about what Hera did, there are times when Octavia wishes that was still the answer. At this time, Hades is probably Medusa’s closest friend, even if it is majority business, but Octavia has an interest in getting closer to Cerberus because she sees in them her reflection every once in a while. Want to get married and/or have kids?: Marriage and children are so domestic, and as wild of a person as Octavia seems, there’s little she craves more than domestic life. It’s a secret, sometimes one she even keeps from herself, and as much as she knows that life evades her, isn’t built for her, is a danger to her, she wants that sense of secure family that marriage and children offer because she’s never had it. Nothing about this gang is secure. Want to leave?: Never. New York is everything to Octavia and not only could she imagine life outside of it, but she is scared of it. Everything she’s ever had has been loved and lost here, and maybe that's why she should leave it, but Octavia could never bring herself to tantalize the thought that maybe this city is the root of all her problems, all her heart break, and that if things don’t get better, she should abandon ship.

THIS OR THAT?

Phone call or text?: Text. As decisive and convincing as Octavia can seem spur of the moment, she often finds her voice faltering when she’s not able to look someone dead in the eye. There’s no confidence in who she is without eye contact, which is why hers always seems so striking, and which is why she prefers texting. Wealth or loyalty?: Loyalty. Octavia’s never had wealth, and to be fair she’s never had loyalty either, but what she finds herself drinking herself into a stupor over is not the fact that she doesn't have a diamond in her eyebrow piercing but that she ended up drinking alone. Again. Love or lust?: Love. Octavia has wild and free sex whenever she wants, it’s not difficult for her, she never regrets it, and it’s even relaxing for her, habitual. But, it’s never really satisfying. Love is a hot commodity, and sex, for her, isn’t. Always want what you can’t have. 5 Friends or 100 Acquaintances?: 100 acquaintances. Arms length, usable, resources. Medusa dawns thousands of serpents on her head, Octavia possesses a hundred connections throughout the city. It’s safer that way, for everyone involved. The snakes on her head don’t ever get caught in her gaze. Summer or winter?: Winter. Octavia’s a fire. Always fluctuating between lightning strikes and raging flames, and smoldering stone, welding together as it burns out. Winter brings a calm to Octavia while summer only seems to ignite her temper, make her irritable and reckless and as much as Octavia loves the power her wild and licking flames give her, she’s sick of burning herself up.

OTHERS: Wanted plots/connections: COMING SOON.

#&&. I SEE MYSELF IN YOU [inspo]#questionare #olympustalk #TW: death #TW: abuse #TW: alcohol

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spearcast · 7 years

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Remember Me for rose Rogers and Kay Thorsdottir

Leave a “Remember Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about one character trying to get another to remember them [be it from an accident, meeting them after years apart, brainwashing, feel free to specify.]

(This gave me an idea for an AU; so, let’s see how this plays out.)

It was uncommon to find anything these days untouched by the nasty plots and schemes of HYDRA. However, this particular thing was by far one of the most unexpected. Later trusted people would discover that it was all technological (which was why the events turned out the way they did) and slipped into the food. In fact it wasn’t all THAT surprising, considering any other attempt to have done this to Rose Rogers probably would’ve gone down the shitter pretty fast.

But in the time she had been... altered, she’d created quite the damage. Her knowledge of where her fellow children-of-heroes were helped in that. It was a smart enough move to target the young super soldier- at least, Kay thought so. Rose had managed to track her down in town outside of Xavier’s school. Things were at an an impasse, as Kay floated far enough above the open field (where the two had ended up) that Rose couldn’t easily reach her. This left the latter pacing like an agitated cat watching a bird out of its reach.

“How in the hell do we fix this, Rose,” Kay had muttered to herself. The Asgardian had tried her damndest not to go full force on her friend, though she was reminded that Rose was one of the few out of them who could genuinely do proper damage, even to a godly superhuman type such as herself. It was then she had a realization: Rose had disappeared from sight. “What?! We’re in an open field-”

The collision of even a hard-light shield with someone’s body, even an Asgardian’s body when thrown hard enough, is always a painful thing to be put through. Kay tumbled to the ground momentarily. Getting up was easy- getting off the ground again proved to be the opposite. The clearly unlike-herself Rose countered Kay’s every hit. (To be fair, Kay countered Rose’s every hit too. As stated before- an impasse, even though immobilizing Rose would’ve probably been the best bet. Kay didn’t want to injure her, even if the serum in Rose’s blood meant quick healing.)

“Come ON, Rose! It’s Kay! You know me! You were the first to come find me after I ‘returned from the dead’ those few years ago or whatever!” Kay said, delivering a hard jab to Rose’s stomach. It made the other girl pause, but she was back at it in moments. And, uncharacteristically silent.

“God, what do I have to do-” Kay continued, pivoting on her left leg and swinging a well-aimed kick with her right. She managed to throw Rose a couple of yards with that blow, giving her some more time. She pushed off the ground again to enter the skies she loved so much. With a sigh, seeing her friend stand up again ready for another bout, she balled her fists up at her sides.

“You’re gonna thank me for this later,” Kay called down to Rose; at least, the super soldier offered her a look of confusion, proving she was still somewhat herself. With an opening of her arms and hands, Kay called down a single, very specific bolt of lightning- striking Rose directly and throwing her another few yards. This time, she didn’t get up. “Shit.” Kay descended to the grass, jogging over to the slightly smoldering girl sprawled in the dirt. “Shit shit shit-”

“Ugh, fuck-” Rose finally grumbled, rubbing her head before groggily lifting it and staring up at Kay. In moments her bleary eyes blinked clear and sudden terror filled Rose’s face. “Holy shit, what am I doing here?”

Kay laughed, plopping down beside Rose tiredly. “Good question. It’s good to see you’re back, though. Maybe now we can actually hang out.”

#cap writes #this is.... not Good #but it will suffice #i'll probably edit it later #but!!!! yeah #kalamitis

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garnettfox · 7 years

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Ninjago: Rewind King of Shadows

King of Shadows opens with the Ninja on a boat sailing through glacial water, Jay is annoying Cole by trying to get him to play I spy when Cole is trying to steer the ship….When did he learn how to do that? Kai then makes a very good point after Cole has a minor crash, Wu knows the way to the weapons and probably given he put it there knows how to steer a boat, why the hell ISN’T he steering?!

Zane gives a non answer to the question and Wu decides to ready our Chekhov’s gun for the episode. When all four of the Ninja’s elements are combined it allows them to us the Tornado of Creation to create something from nothing. We will later see that Wu is talking out his ass as the Tornado of creation doesn’t actually work like that.

Kai to show off mimics the moves Wu does even after Wu warns him that if you do the Tornado wrong then there will be disastrous consequences. Cole then crashes the ship as Kai finishes making him think it was his fault. The group disembarks onto an island seemingly made of ice, the group walks through ice blocks with skeletons inside….and it’s never made clear if their Skulkin or normal people who the Ice Dragon froze to death….

Anyway we get a way to quick for it’s own good series of cuts. They see the Shuriken of Ice hanging from the ceiling with the dormant dragon, Zane is lifted by the others to get them only to get frozen, the dragon wakes up and starts chasing them. The Ninja run out carrying Zane letting the Ice dragon get stuck in the narrow opening and they ride down the mountain on Zane crashing into a wall thankfully letting Zane out.

I get that at this point they were probably pressed for time as it seems they might have had bigger plans with how detailed the Ice Dragon’s island was. Maybe the Pilot was meant to be three episodes but got cut to two, it explains why the Lightning Dragon’s section is so fast to.

And I mean it’s fast I think combined the Ice and Lightning Dragon’s sections clock in at a minute tops. We cut to the Ninja on a mountain, Skulkin are after them, they climb up a giant chain to a platform at the top while a lightning storm rages around them. Jay reaches the top and grabs the Nunchucks of Lightning, the Lightning Dragon literally teleports in, looks angry and the Ninja jump activating gliders. What really gets me is unlike the Earth and Ice the Lightning Dragon isn’t trapped anywhere, it was free to fly after them and get the Nunchucks back, it just decided to be lazy that day I guess.

The Ninja land in a forest and we cut to later that night with the team bonding with music and dancing, and Zane cracking his first joke! We transition later into the night (I swear to god my fingers keep typing Ninja whenever I try to write night) with the Ninja asleep only for Kai to be awoken by what sounds like Nya calling his name. ‘Nya’ runs and Kai gives chase wanting to know how his sister got free and finally reunite with her.

‘Nya’ leads him into the Temple of Fire appearing in front of the Sword of Flames, Kai is initially relieved until ‘Nya’ changes revealing itself to be an illusion created by Garmadon. Garmadon taunts Kai making him realize he left his sword behind but Kai remains confident that as a shadow trapped in the Underworld Garmadon can’t hurt him. Garmadon then reveals he has Nya chained up over the lava and that as he left his sword Kai’s only option to save her is to use the Sword of Flames to cut her down.

Garmadon drops Nya and Kai pulls of a pretty cool mid air roll grabbing the Sword and performing Spinjizu to grab Nya and throw the pair of them to safety. Garmadon uses his powers to manifest Kai’s shadow as a solid being, Kai tries to fight it but his strikes just pass through the shadow while the shadows knocks back and hurts Kai. Nya points out this isn’t a fair fight, annnnnd Garmadon creates copies of the shadow and taunts her. He’s a dark lord sweetie they don’t play fair.

Wu then makes the save standing where his shadow is projected among the Kai shadows and using that to fight them off before using a shadow puppet of a bird to scare the rest off. He manages to grab the Sword and Garmadon blocks off the exit with his shadow pointing out that Wu’s focused on keeping Kai safe while leaving the others alone and asleep in the forest….Why didn’t Wu wake them up and tell them ‘Kai’s being an idiot I’m gonna go save him you three stay on your guard’.

I’m just saying it would have saved them from getting tied up in their sleep by the Skulkin and the other three weapons stolen. Wu upon this realization tries to escape with Kai and Nya but Garmadon wakes up the Fire Dragon who is pretty bad at his job if he’s only just now realized there are people in his temple who are taking the one thing he was told to protect. He cuts off the exit leaving them trapped and Wu decides that his only option is to go to the underworld through the Fire Temple with the Sword to keep all four weapons apart.

….

Uhrm….Garmadon is IN the Underworld, and the Skulkin are established as being able to travel to and from the Underworld….How is taking the Sword of Fire to the Underworld in anyway keeping it away from Garmadon who again IS IN THE UNDERWORLD?! I know he’s in a bind but it doesn’t make a lot of sense….Also why is the Fire Dragon attacking him? He PUT IT THERE in the first place! He should be able to tell the Dragon “Chill out it’s just me I need the Sword back”. Wu enters the Underworld and Kai has a dramatic moment about how it should be him making the sacrifice play. Garmadon leaves to meet Wu head on and while Kai has his drama Nya rightfully points out he should stop worrying about Wu and more about the fact the pair of them are trapped in a temple with an angry dragon.

We cut to the Skulkin preparing to go to the Fire Temple only for Garmadon to appear to them and tell them to come back to the Underworld where Wu has brought the weapons. The Skulkin depart Kruncha realizing he’s misplaced his sword but shrugs it off as they depart. Alone Jay reveals he managed to steal said sword….Somehow and cuts the three of them down giving chase after the Skulkin.

Implausibly they manage to catch up with the Skulkin’s speeding vehicles and manage to get onto Samukai’s vehicle knocking off most of the Skulkin. Jay tries to get at the Weapons only to find them locked up and unable to break the lock. Other Skulkin jump on to help fight off the Ninja, Jay tries to tell Cole something only for Cole to hit him in the throat leaving Jay unable to speak properly for a while. Zane gets the jump on a pair of Skulkin only for Samukai to kick him off and leave Zane clinging for his life not wanting to get crushed by the vehicle. Samukai then kicks off his own driver and speeds ahead forcing the Ninja off the vehicle and finally entering the underworld leaving the Ninja beaten and disheartened.

We cut to Wu waking up in the Underworld, he wraps up the Sword to help keep it hidden and starts to explore keeping out of sight of the Skulkin. Hopefully looking for a way out to keep the Sword away from Garmadon. We cut back to the Ninja Cole pounding on the Temple door calling out for Kai and Wu, Zane then informs them that he senses all the weapons are in the Underworld and that he can feel only loss inside the Temple.

...Ok knowing what I know I can believe he can sense the weapons but how the hell is he detecting ‘Loss’ from the temple?

Cole bemoans that mortals like them can’t cross over to the Underworld, only for Kai’s voice to ring out and the temple open up revealing Kai and Nya riding Flame (The fire Dragon….Ya I knew their names the whole time….Actually I think we only get Flame and Rocky’s name mentioned in the show, possibly Wisps to. But Shard I don’t think ever get’s his name said….I will correct myself if I’m proven wrong). Kai and Nya reveals that their parents used to tell them storys about Dragons and that as they are not mortal creatures they can cross over to the underworld….Considering information we’re give in later seasons does this mean Dragons can cross over to other realms to? And if so which realm did they come from?

Cole freaks out and hides as the one thing he apparently fears is Dragons. Zane takes pity on Jay who is trying to speak and acts as his wingman asking Nya if she likes Blue. Kai is unimpressed with the flirting and details that once Flame realized they were trying to protect the sword he became a big softy, Jay and Zane jump on as Kai and Nya have a moment together, Nya swearing to keep a candle lit till Kai comes back and telling him to be careful. Cole on the other hand is hiding and points out there isn’t enough room on Flame for the four of them to travel.

Kai’s solution? Jump cut to them having befriended Shard, Rocky and Wisp and flying through the sky while Cole desperately clings onto his seat scared out of his mind. Also costume change for no reason. Cole nervously questions how exactly Dragons travel to the underworld, and they get their answer the dragons dive bombing and spinning to create a portal then flying through a bunch of crazy caves that are trying to kill them. I kid the animation in this scene and the music is pretty good. And at the end they have a moment of darkness that reminds me of the Between in the DragonRider books.

The Dragons skid to a stop accidentally throwing off the Ninja who rejoice realizing that they survived the trip. We get a full proper look of the Underworld which is a little….underwhelming, just a bunch of rocks floating in a void, not a whole lot to look at or a lot of imagination went into it which is a bit disappointing.

Zane states that he senses Wu inside a palace that is pretty much the only structure in the Underworld. We get a Kruncha and Nuckal comedy bit with them trashing a cart coming into the palace in a Ninja search. It’s a solid plan they know the Ninja are gonna come after the weapons and by the looks of it there is only one entrance to the palace so they’ll have to pass through them to get in.

The Ninja seeing this travel above the Skulkin using stalactites annnnnd end up grabbing onto the legs of giant spiders with only Jay noticing. Jay frantically tries to alert the others while Cole and Kai talk about how great it’s been since Jay lost his voice. Ouch dude your the reason he LOST his voice! Show a little compassion! They finally notice Jay and the spiders and end up falling to the ground, which really should have killed them but cartoon logic *shrug*.

Kruncha has another comedic moment asking what the pluralization of Ninja is before alerting everyone. The Cole invokes Murphy's law inviting the spiders down to join the army of Skulkin looking to kill them….Why were you originally the leader?

We cut to Wu entering the throne room of the Palace and we finally get our first good view of Garmadon. I liked Garmadon’s original design, reminds me vaguely of Skelator only a lot less campy considering you know, his skins been scorched black and his ribs are exposed to the elements. That has got to hurt big time, how has he not broken his ribs several times over the years without his skin and flesh to protect them, or managed to not get an infection considering the underworld can’t be a sanitary place with all the undead wandering around.

Anyway Wu soundly beats a gang of Skulkin that come at him then Samukai enters to fight him with all the other weapons and...Ya it’s pretty good, the animation feels a little slow but that might be because I’m used to the more fast paced fights we get later in the show but it’s still a solid fight.

We cut back to the Ninja surrounded and wondering how their going to win against the stacked odds and we get a pretty weak comedy bit with Jay trying to say ‘Tornado of Creation’ and the others making pretty stupid guesses as to what he’s saying before Jay screams it his voice magically back….I am gonna come back to this.

They debate it for a second before all four of them perform Spinjizu….Why they couldn’t just use their spinjizu to fight them off isn’t mentioned. They merge their elemental tornados and form a golden tornado, said tornado pulls in all the Skulkin, spiders and a bunch of objects around them using said objects to form a ferris wheel contraption that contains the Skulkin within. And here’s my ‘Wu was talking out his ass’ point comes back. He said that the Tornado of Creation creates something from NOTHING, what the Tornado actually does in the show is more like Master Building in the Lego movies, taking objects from around them, breaking them down and remaking them into what you need.

The Ninja hurry into the Palace and enter into the still in progress fight between Wu and Samukai, Kai stops them from interfering saying it’s Wu’s fight and we get them actually using the elemental aspects of the weapons.

Wu launches a fireball, Samukai freezes the Sword of Fire to the ground….I would think the Swords properties would make that impossible but ok. Then uses a lightning bolt to try and fry Wu only for Wu to pull himself and the sword free at the last moment, then the Scythe to split apart the platform they're on before using a final lightning bolt to knock the sword from Wu’s hand winning the battle.

Garmadon commands Samukai to bring him the weapons, and as you would predict Samukai turns on him claiming all four for himself and that he’ll take his throne back from Garmadon. Garmadon laughs and we are informed no being can handle all of their power at once (....Considering what happens in later seasons could a ghost possessing a person use all four weapons as they aren’t one being?) Samukai is disintegrated by the power of the weapons and a portal to another realm where balance of good and evil can be broken is opened up. With a parting villain cliece #784 ‘You were always mom/dads favorite son/daughter’ Garmadon escapes through it.

The Ninja reclaim their weapons and Kai confirms that he’s with the team for the long haul having accepted his destiny as a Ninja. Wu is happy about this claiming that balance has been restored for now. We cut to Nya as the Ninja return with their dragons, there’s a happy reunion and a comedy bit with them blowing themselves up by putting the Weapons together. And we end on a somber but hopeful note as Kai confirms Garmadon will return one day and that they’ll be waiting for him.

So King of Shadows, it was another Ok episode. As I said the part with Shard and Wisp was far too fast paced for it’s own good going by too fast to be processed, the first time I watched it I had no idea what was going on and it’s only by rewatching that I’m able to keep up with it. Like Way of the Ninja it isn’t a stand out episode though some of the animation is nice and shows the quality we’ll get when we get to the seasons proper. It and Way of the Ninja set up a solid enough foundation even if we get information that contradicts some of it later. If I had to pick an overall theme for the pilot it’s…Rough starts. Both for the characters and the show though we’ll soon see how they improve overall

King of Shadows: B-

Pilot overall: C+

And here a little extra bit I hopefully won’t have to do often ‘They wasted a perfectly good plot’ Ya I don’t like that they wasted what could have been a good plot for a character driven episode in the pilot without doing anything with it. What do we get from Cole rendering Jay mute? We get Zane hitting on Nya for him, Cole making a cruel remark at Jay’s expense and a pretty unfunny joke with the Tornado of Creation bit.

What they could have done instead?...Keep it as Cole accidentally hitting Jay in the throat during a fight and him being rendered mute, I have no problems with this. And show us the Ninja caring for one of their own during down time rather than during a high pressure situation like the season finale of Rise of the Spinjizu Master. Give us Cole being a leader and feeling guilty because he’s hurt one of his brothers and trying to care for him. Jay protesting as much as he can and trying to get back in the fight, then realizing how much of a liability he could be being unable to communicate and support the others with his tech knowhow until his voice heals.It’d have been a nice character and bonding episode for the Ninja which I don’t think we get a lot of that aren’t directly tied to moving the plot forward.

Next time on Ninjago: Rewind we meet a new main character and our antagonists for the next two seasons in Rise of the Snakes.

#Ninjago #Ninjago:Rewind #King of Shadows #Ninjago Review #Garmadon #Kai #Jay #Cole #Zane #Wu #Nya

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