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wiypt-writes · 3 years

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Stark Spangled Banner

Ch36: I Bid You Farewell And Good Luck, Morons. Part 1- It’s Like A Pirate Had A Baby With An Angel.

Intro: Thor wakes up on a strange ship, surrounded by even stranger people, a talking tree and a rabbit. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the fight to save Vision is won and the group make their way back to the compound to understand what exactly it is that they’re facing.

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: So I HAD to write Thor and Tony’s POV over the IW chapters too, because, frankly, they had some of THE best scenes in Infinity War, and I love that freaking Norse God Himbo and chaotic Stark chemistry so bad! I know this is Katie and Steve’s fic, but Steve had so little screen time in this film all things considered…we were so robbed!!! Once again, I can’t thank @angrybirdcr enough for her edits, they’re awesome!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 35

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Thor wasn’t dead. But he felt like it. Every inch of his body ached and when he was jerked back to consciousness for a moment, just one split moment, he thought he saw Little Stark. Only it wasn’t her. The woman had dark hair, yes, but as he focussed he realised she looked nothing like the woman he loved dearly as a sister. This wench had huge eyes and antenna dangling from her forehead. And, whilst he knew it had been a while since he had seen his friend, she wouldn’t have changed that much.

Finding his feet he looked around, chest heaving, at the band of people stood in front of him; a woman with green skin and red hair, a man with grey/blue skin covered in red designs, a tree creature- a Flora Colossus unless he was mistaken- which was off to the side draped over a chair, some kind of furry, animal thing- a rabbit maybe- and finally a man who appeared to be a normal, human being. That was until he opened his mouth and Thor realised he was probably the most stupid human being he had ever encountered.

His rescuers had offered him soup, and then when he had explained about Thanos, the green skinned lady called Gamora had told Thor what the Titan wanted the stones for. Which she knew, because she his daughter.

Thanos had a daughter. Interesting.

“Families can be tough,” Thor spoke wisely, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Before my father died, he told me that I had a half-sister that he imprisoned in Hell. Then she returned home, stabbed me in the eye so, I had to kill her.” He shrugged. “That’s life though isn’t it I guess? Round and round, but I feel your pain.”

The human, Peter Quill, pushed his way between Gamora and Thor, and looked at her “I feel your pain, as well, because, I mean it’s not a competition, but I’ve been through a lot. My father killed my mother, and then I had to kill my father. And that was hard. Probably even harder than having to kill a sister. Plus, I, came out with both of my eyes.”

Thor wasn’t paying attention. The man was clearly a moron, and he’d just noticed he had bent the spoon in the bowl of soup and was having a flashback to the time he had tried to bend the Captain’s shield. Little Stark had laughed so much at how annoyed he had gotten when he failed that she had cried. And then, to make it worse, a few days later the Captain had managed to move Mjolnir. Just a fraction, but it moved. No one had seen it, bar Little Stark of course, but there was something there, Thor was sure. Steve Rogers was a man worthy of a lot of things, but his hammer was complicated. You have to prove your worth. That had been explained to him by his Father the day he had given it to him. Of course, he hadn’t realised then that Eitri had actually made it for Hela first.

Eitri… Oh, yes!

“I need a hammer, not a spoon.” Thor mumbled, as the idea took hold and he looked at the pod at the back of the ship. “How do I open this thing?” He began pressing random buttons on the screen next to the door. “Is there some sort of a four-digit code? Maybe a birth date or something?”

"What are you doing?” the rabbit animal, Rocket asked.

“Taking your pod.” Thor replied nonchalantly.

And then there was an argument in which the moron Quill tried to imitate Thor’s deeper voice telling him he could not take the pod, but Thor was going to take the pod anyway because he was the God of Thunder after all, and then the lady Gamora cut them off quite rightly directing the focus back to Thanos by stating they needed to find out where he was going next.

But Thor had already thought of that. “Knowhere,” he answered as he brushed past Quill and over to the refrigerator he had seen Gamora get his soup from.

“He must be going somewhere.” Mantis argued innocently.

“No,” Quill shook his head and Thor noted his stupid voice was back to normal. “Knowhere? It’s a place. We’ve been there. It sucks. Excuse me, that’s our food.” He jabbed, suddenly noticing what Thor was doing.

“Not anymore.” Thor shrugged, stuffing it into a backpack he found.

“Thor!” Gamora cut across the pair of them again. “Why would he go to Knowhere?”

“Because for years, the Reality Stone has been safely stored there with a man called the Collector.” Thor stated.

“If it’s with the Collector, then it’s not safe.” Quill snorted. “Only an idiot would give that man a stone.”

“Or a genius.” Thor shrugged.

“How do you know he’s not going for one of the other stones?” Gamora asked.

“There’s six stones out there.” Thor began to explain, “Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it, last week, when he decimated Xandar.”

He didn’t missed the shocked and horrified look the group shared with one another.

“He stole the Space Stone from me, when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people. The Time and Mind Stones, are safe on Earth. They’re with the Avengers.”

“The Avengers?” Quill asked.

“They’re Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”

“Like Kevin Bacon?” Mantis called out.

“Errr he may be on the team now, I don’t know.” Thor shrugged, having no idea who the man named after a breakfast meat was. “I haven’t been there in a while. And as for the Soul Stone, well no one’s ever seen that. No one even knows where it is. Therefore, Thanos can’t get it. Therefore, he’s going to Knowhere. Hence, he’ll be getting the Reality Stone. You’re welcome.”

“Then we have to go to Knowhere, now.” Gamora stated, looking around.

“Wrong. Where we have to go is Nidavellir.” Thor picked up the backpack.

“That’s a made up word.” Drax, the blue man countered.

“All words are made up.” Thor smiled, slinging the backpack onto his back.

“Nidavellir is real?” The animal called Rocket’s eyes grew wide and he jumped up onto the table and looked at Thor. “Seriously? I mean, that place is a legend. They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the Universe. I would very much like to go there, please.”

“The rabbit is correct.” Thor grinned at Rocket’s excitement. “And clearly the smartest among you. Only Eitri the Dwarf can make me the weapon I need.” He turned to the furry animal. “I assume you’re the captain, Sir?”

Rocket grinned and nodded, “You’re very perceptive.”

“You seem like a noble leader. Will you join me on my quest to Nidavellir?”

“Let me just ask the captain. Oh, wait a second, it’s me!” Rocket grinned. “Yeah, I’ll go.”

“Wonderful.” Thor beamed.

“Uh except that I’m the captain,” Quill chipped in

“Quiet!” Thor was now beyond bored of the moron.

“And that’s my backpack.” Quill continued pointing to the bag that Thor was stealing.

“Quill, sit down.” Rocket tapped at the pad and keying in the digits to open the pod.

“Look, this is my ship. And I’m not going to - wait, what kind of weapon are we talking about here?” Quill looked round.

“The Thanos-killing kind.” Thor smiled.

Boy, was it going to be a big, fucking weapon like no one had ever seen before…

“Don’t you think that we should all have a weapon like that?” Quill frowned.

“You lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as you minds collapsed into the madness.” Thor shook his head.

“Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?” Rocket asked.

“Erm, a little bit weird. Yeah.” Thor looked down at him, frowning.

“If we don’t go to Knowhere and Thanos retrieves another stone, he’ll be too powerful to stop.” Gamora stepped forward.

"He already is.” Thor shrugged.

“Look, I got it figured out.” Rocket interrupted, looking at Gamora. “We got two ships, and a large assortment of morons. Me and Groot will go with the Pirate Angel here, and the morons will go to Knowhere to try and stop Thanos. Cool? Cool.”

“So cool.” Thor grinned before he climbed into the pod.

“For the record,” Quill said leaning down to Rocket, “I know that you’re only going with them because it’s where Thanos isn’t.”

“You know, you really shouldn’t talk that way to your captain, Quill.” Rocket smirked, walking backwards and gesturing outwards with his arms. “Come on, Groot. Put that game down. You’ll rot your brain,”

As Rocket sat down Thor nodded out of the pod to the rest of the people on the ship. “I bid you farewell and good luck, morons. Bye.”

******

It wasn’t hard for the team to track Wanda, her red power flashing bright against the dark sky over Edinburgh City Centre, and as the jet followed her movements, the four friends saw her spiralling through the sky with Vision and crashing through the train station roof, just as Sam put the jet on the ground.

Within seconds the Ex-Avengers were sprinting off the jet.

“Katie, Nat, take the side!” Steve yelled, as he vaulted over the railings at the edge of the road running down onto the bottom half of the concrete ramp which led to the station. “Sam, up high and remember, we protect Vision at all costs!”

“Got em.” Sam spoke over the coms. “Platform seven, near the café.”

Steve vaulted over another set of barriers, the station now deserted thanks to the evacuation taking place by the local police. As he ran onto one of the walkways over the lines, he was just in time to see two of the aliens crash through the station roof. Weighing up his options, he realised it was going to be quicker for him to hop down onto the platform he was currently overheard, and jump across the lines to help. He swung his legs over the railings and landed easily, looking up. Across from him he could see Natasha and Katie emerging to the right, as Wanda stood and moved protectively in front of Vision, building power in her hands. An express train whizzed past him and he stood still, waiting and it wasn’t long before the taller, blue looking woman spotted him, and she launched her spear over the platform. Steve easily snapped his left shoulder back whilst leaning over his body with his right, catching the staff in his hand.

“Heads up.” Sam muttered, and as Wanda and Vision turned to see Steve step out from the shadows, fury lining his face, Sam swooped in and kicked one of the aliens across the platform and through a closed café’s security gate, causing tables and chairs to go flying, before he spun and started to fire on the other alien.

Steve launched the weapon he had caught across the tracks where Natasha caught it and stabbed the second assailant in the gut as Katie moved in to head off the other who was stalking back towards them. The weapon Natasha had been using flew back into the alien’s hands and Katie ducked as she swung, jabbing her in the back of the leg with an electric powered escrima stick. The alien let out a yell, stumbled slightly and Steve cleared the platform in an easy leap, rolling and scooping up the second assailant’s staff from the floor, holding it up to block the blow that the creature aimed at Katie. He grit his teeth, planting his legs to absorb the power of the hit, as Katie rolled to the side, jumped up and the two of them began to fight the alien, joined shortly by Natasha. Steve had to admit, the woman (if you could call her that) was a force to be reckoned with, but the three of them were just about getting the upper hand when they heard Sam yell.

“DUCK!”

The three of them did so and Sam flew in hard, kicking the woman backwards where she fell and scuttled over to her fallen friend. Sam landed next to Katie, drawing both his submachine pistols on the couple.

“Get up” The alien instructed to her fallen partner, her voice was deep.

“I can't.” His gravelly, robotic voice replied.

“We don’t wanna kill you.” Natasha spoke coolly “But we will”.

“You’ll never get the chance again.” The female levelled them, with a cold glare and with that a beam shot down from the hole in the station roof and the two were transported upwards. The weapon Steve was holding also shot out of his hand. He frowned in surprise for a moment, looking at his hand then upwards as the beam of light disappeared and the ship sped off.

“Can you stand?” Sam asked Vision as Katie replaced her sticks and walked towards Wanda and the android. When Vision shook his head, Sam moved forward to help him up.

Supported by Wanda and Sam, Vision looked over at Steve, Natasha and Katie, electricity shimmering over his surface. He’d been badly damaged in the fight, and as he spoke his voice distorted.

“Thank you, Captain.”

Steve took a deep breath and nodded. His face stern, but his eyes were much softer than his expression and Katie knew why. It had been a while since anyone other than Sam, Nat or Wanda had called him Captain.

Steve looked at the android, he might have been damaged but they had the stone, and that was the main thing. Nodding, he spoke. “Let’s get you on the jet.” His voice was soft and he moved to let Sam and Wanda support Vision on their way past him, Natasha following.

Katie hung back a little, trying to stop the light-headedness she was feeling from washing over her.

“You okay?” Steve turned to her as she blinked.

“Yeah, just took a whack that’s all. “I’m fine.” She assured him as they took up the rear of the group, her fingers lacing into his.

Once Vision was safely settled in a seat at the side, Sam dropped into the pilot’s seat. Katie hit the button to close the ramp as the Jet rose into the air.

“I thought we had a deal.” Natasha spun angrily to Wanda. ”Stay close, check in. Don’t take any chances.”

“I’m sorry. We just wanted time.” The younger woman said gently.

Katie glanced at Steve, he was stood up in the middle of the jet, hands on the buckle of his utility belt, staring seemingly at nothing but clearly contemplating something.

“Where to, Cap?” Sam asked.

Steve looked up, he glanced at Sam then locked eyes with Katie as he spoke one word, one simple word that they had all been waiting to hear for almost two years.

“Home”

*****

After a few hours, with the morning sky being the only thing in sight, Sam started to lower the jet through thick white clouds and Katie couldn’t help but inhale sharply when the compound began to take shape as she watched out of the front window. It looked the same. The buildings, the grounds…she wasn’t sure why she had expected anything to change, maybe because it felt like everything had changed for them, but either way, there it was. The exact same as the last time she had seen it.

Steve noticed her demeanour change slightly as they landed. She stood up straight, her shoulders squaring as if she was about to face an onslaught. And they were, in a way. On their way Steve had called Bruce to tell him that they had Vision and were heading back, but had had no idea what they were heading back to, nor did he care. Be it Ross, police, the army, whatever, Steve was done bowing to anyone’s will, he was over playing other people’s tunes. The two years they had spent hidden had shown them all that they could operate on their own if required, and he wasn’t afraid to fight anyone who got in his way.

They stepped off the ramp and strode over the lawn, Katie taking a deep breath as she looked around. So many emotions flooded her system, she couldn’t explain or identify half of them. Memories flashed in front of her eyes, visions of long summer nights spent outside in the garden and on the BBQ patio until sunrise. Laughs during team dinners. Sam and Wanda collaborating on pranks. Training sessions with the team and Vision reading Tolkien aloud to Wanda before asking questions about humanity’s love of fiction. Walks and picnics and other things in the ground, just her and Steve. Their wedding, God their wedding! Frequent visits from Tony, bringing in new ideas and improved gadgets. Getting back safe after being out on a long mission. Feeling relaxed and at ease.

Feeling at home.

Steve’s arm curled round his wife for a moment before he pressed a kiss to the side of her head as Vision opened the door.

“Still no word from Vision?”

“Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh.”

“On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world’s most wanted criminals.” “You know they’re only criminals because you’ve chosen to call them that, right, sir? “

“My God, Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own.”

The sound of the call between Ross and Rhodey echoed down the corridor reaching the group that were making their way through to the lab.

“If it weren’t for those Accords, Vision would’ve been right here.” Rhodey shot back and Katie glanced back at Vision as the sounds the voices grew louder as they neared their destination.

“I suspect it will be a Hollo Call.” Vision said gently, answering Katie’s unasked question. His suspicions were proven correct as they rounded the corner and the lab came into view. Rhodey was stood across from where the holographic image of Secretary Ross was facing off against him.

"You have second thoughts?” Ross was challenging Rhodey, who smiled simply as his eyes shot sideways. Steve strode forward, his presence as intimidating as ever, and the first thing Rhodey noticed was just how dark he looked. Gone was the upstanding, All American Hero, and in its place was someone much harder, far rougher round the edges. Kiddo looked different too. Her hair was shorter and she looked slimmer.

“Not anymore.” He grinned.

The holographic Ross followed Rhodey’s gaze and his eyes fell on Steve who was stood next to Katie at the front of the group, Natasha, Wanda, Sam and Vision behind them. Steve raised his chin a little defiantly and moved to take his power stance, feet apart, hands on his belt, before he greeted Ross politely.

“Mr. Secretary"

Katie couldn’t help the smirk on her face as she watched Ross attempting to cover up the shock he had clearly felt at the group of outlaws turning up again. She locked eyes with Rhodey who gave her the smallest of winks before he glanced back at Ross who was shaking his head slightly as he approached Steve, his holographic form almost trying to square up to him. Steve simply raised his chin further and looked down from the steps he was stood on.

"You got some nerve.” Ross sniffed, staring up at him “I’ll give you that.”

“You could use some of that right now.” Katie shot back bluntly, Ross turned his head to face her for a second. She held his gaze and arched an eyebrow until he turned back to Steve.

“The world’s on fire.” Ross said incredulously. “And you think, you can just walk back in here and all is forgiven?”

Steve levelled the secretary with a firm gaze. “I’m not looking for forgiveness.” his voice took on a threatening tone as he spoke “And I’m way past asking for permission.”

At that point the smirk on Katie’s face grew even wider as she stole a glance up at her husband, pride swelling in her chest as he continued, stoic and unyielding.

“Earth just lost her best defender, so we’re here to fight. And if you wanna stand in our way,” he stepped down to be at level with the hologram, and stared it square in the eyes “We’ll fight you, too.”

Ross was practically foaming at the mouth as his eyes went to Rhodey and he spat out his order, “Arrest them.”

“All over it.” Rhodey promised nonchalantly before shutting off the hologram, shortly after a beeping noise sounded from the computers.

“That’s a court-martial.” He informed the group as he slapped the back of his right hand into his left palm, though his tone said told Katie that he blatantly couldn’t have cared less for Ross’ demands. There was a short pause as the group glanced down at their friend, Steve smiling softly, before Rhodey’s face split into a huge smile of his own.

“It’s great to see you, Cap.” He stepped forward.

“You too, Rhodey.” Steve answered, taking the last two steps down before he shook Rhodey’s hand. Katie threw herself at her brother’s best friend and he gave her a huge bear hug before he looked down at her.

“You do something to your hair?” He teased. Katie smiled, stepping back from his embrace while he looked the rest of the group over.

“Well. You guys really look like crap. Must’ve been a rough couple of years.”

Steve looked round, an amused smile on his face as he glanced at his wife then to the rest of the team.

“Yeah, well, the hotels weren’t exactly five star.” Sam quipped back cheekily, the banter flowing between them like no time at all had passed.

“Uh, I think you look great.”

Steve turned at the new voice to see Bruce inching his way into the room nervously wringing his hands together.

Steve and Katie remained silent, exchanging a glance. In the rush around and the fray of the fight, we’d forgotten to explain exactly who it was that called.

“Yeah. I’m back.”

Katie glanced over at Nat, she had her gaze fixed solely on the scientist as she spoke “Hi, Bruce.”

“Nat.” Bruce answered inclining his head towards her slightly as he fidgeted.

“This is awkward.” Sam piped up. Steve and Katie looked at one another, before they both smiled and looked back up at Sam.

“Any news on Tony?” Katie asked gently, interrupting the silence that had fallen.

“Not yet no.” Rhodey said. “FRIDAY lost him when he left the atmosphere. We got NASA running scans and we’re trying to track his trail but…” He shook his head.

“Typical Tony.” Katie rolled her eyes “Always has to go one bigger and one better doesn’t he?”

Her blasé tone wasn’t fooling anyone.

“Banner.” Steve said gently, looking across the room at the scientist. “Can you fill us in on what we’re up against here?”

“Yeah sure,” Bruce said nodding hesitantly.

Without so much as another word, the group all started to make their way out of the room. As Katie turned to follow Natasha, Steve’s hand gently fell on her shoulder. Without looking at him, she reached up and gently wrapped her fingers round his, giving them a squeeze before she left.

Steve took a deep breath as he glanced around the room once more, before he too followed on, that sick feeling in his gut was getting worse.

**** Chapter 36 Part 2

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #steve rogers fanfiction #Katie Stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fic #mcu fanfic #mcu #chris evans #chris evans characters

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imagine-loki · 3 years

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Triple Threat, Chapter 5

TITLE: Triple Threat CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 5 AUTHOR: fanficshiddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki kidnaps Darcy Lewis, in hopes of getting the tesseract in return for her. Imagine his surprise when he grows rather fond of the mortal, finding that she understands him better than anyone else ever has. RATING: M

After calming the tension down between the two Loki’s, the team abandoned the takeaway food. Apart from Darcy, who grabbed her chow mein tub and took it with her as they all headed up to Fury’s main office.

She sat there at the large table, using chopsticks to eat while everyone conversed. Loki stood right behind her, hands on her shoulders possessively as he glared at the other Loki across the table.

Loki was sitting down, quite comfortable in his surroundings.

‘Start explaining. You have exactly two minutes to tell us why we shouldn’t lock you in a cell and throw away the key.’ Fury said firmly, glaring at him from the top end of the table.

Loki smirked. ‘You need me. That’s the first reason. Secondly, you haven’t locked this one up.’ He motioned across to Loki. ‘Which in my eyes, is a good thing and means you can trust him. Hence, you can trust me. We are one and the same.’

‘We are not the same.’ Loki snarled.

‘You both sure look the same.’ Tony commented, earning a glare from Loki.

‘Nah… I see it now, the hair is slightly different. Intruder Loki is slightly longer and greasier. Plus, the features are ever so slightly off. Not as handsome.’ Darcy said, pointing her chopsticks across the table at Loki.

Loki smirked and gave Darcy’s shoulders a squeeze.

‘You didn’t seem to be thinking that last week at the cinema, when you were kissing me with such enthusiasm.’ Loki grinned wickedly.

Darcy’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Loki looked just as shocked and appalled.

‘WHAT?’ Both Darcy and Loki roared at the same time.

‘That was YOU?’ Darcy screeched.

‘How DARE you!’ Loki was about to storm over, but Thor grabbed his shoulder.

‘Calm down, brother. Let’s hear him out first. Then you can sort out other issues afterwards.’ Thor said calmly.

Loki’s nostrils flared as he clenched his jaw and moved back behind Darcy. His grip on her shoulders even tighter than before. Darcy tried to ignore the horrible feeling within her stomach. So she covered it by continuing to eat.

‘But it’s still Loki. Just from another reality. And he still has to tell us what the hell is going on!’ Clint said as he took a seat.

Loki sighed and leaned back in his chair.

‘In the reality where I come from, Thanos got hold of all the infinity stones. He wiped out half the population of every realm, every single race. We managed to defeat him, eventually. With a lot of time hopping to get the stones from the past and a lot of sacrifices.’

‘Who’s we?’ Fury asked.

Loki looked at everyone and motioned his hand to them all. ‘Everyone. I was on a ship with Thor and The Asgardians that remained after Ragnarok, heading here to Midgard when Thanos’

‘Wait, Ragnarok?’ Thor interrupted.

‘Oh, that hasn’t happened?’ Loki looked at Thor.

‘No! And it would NOT happen under my watch.’ Thor growled.

Loki chuckled. ‘Well, that’s a story for another day. Let’s just say, we had some more adventures together, brother. Then working together, we saved the Asgardians from Ragnarok, but not Asgard, unfortunately. Although New Asgard is prospering. Now, as I was saying… Thanos attacked the ship we were on. I managed to get to Midgard with Bruce, and we got help from Doctor Strange and yourself.’ He pointed at Tony.

‘Wait, I was with you on the ship?’ Bruce asked.

‘Are you all going to continuously interrupt me or can I carry on?’ Loki snarled.

‘Keep going.’ Natasha nodded.

‘Long story short, we were able to beat Thanos. Undo everything he did. But on returning the stones, Steve lost one while traveling through time. The reality stone, or maybe better known to you all as the Aether. We have tracked it down to this reality, but it’s whereabouts is unknown… What I do know, is that your girlfriend Jane Foster likely has it in her possession.’

Everyone paused and looked really confused. Thor especially.

‘She is not my girlfriend anymore.’ He said regretfully.

‘She dumped you in this reality too?’ Loki raised an eyebrow with a very slight smirk.

‘No… I was the one who ended it.’ Thor said sheepishly.

‘Ah. So perhaps you are smarter than in my reality.’ He chuckled.

‘Hardly.’ Loki scoffed.

‘Wait, why do you think Jane has it?’ Darcy interrupted.

‘She stumbled across it in my reality, Thor had to get my help to get it out of her. We drew the dark elves to her, to get it out of her. So, I’d say it’s an educated guess that she would stumble across it in this reality, too. And I suspected she would be here, with Thor. Or at least with Darcy. I must say, I am rather surprised to find you dating me. I can’t wait to hear how that happened.’ He grinned.

‘We’re not dating.’ Darcy said flatly.

‘It certainly doesn’t look that way.’ Loki narrowed his eyes at the two.

‘It’s complicated.’ Loki grumbled.

‘Sure it is.’ Loki chuckled. ‘So, do you have any idea where Jane is?’

The team looked at one another, shrugging.

‘She left… I haven’t even heard from her, not a single text.’ Darcy shrugged and finished off her chow mein.

Loki frowned. ‘When did she leave?’

‘Hmm, I dunno. Must be, what, six months ago?’ Darcy glanced at Natasha, who nodded.

‘Yeah, about that.’ She agreed.

Loki stroked his chin in thought. ‘Why did you dump her?’ He asked Thor.

‘She… She was acting, strange. She had become rather…’

‘Stuck up.’ Darcy finished for him. ‘She turned into a horrible bitch, from just before Loki came along, actually.’

‘Mmm, that is true.’ Thor nodded in agreement.

‘So, her behaviour changed?’ Loki asked. ‘How long ago?’

‘That must be well over a year and a half ago now?’ Darcy asked the others. She couldn’t believe it had actually been that long since Loki first kidnapped her… How things had changed since then.

‘That would fit… I was aiming to get back further in time, to roughly a year and a half ago, but Tony and Bruce in my reality didn’t send me far enough back. So I need to make do with you all in the here and now. But I believe she found it back then, which would explain her change in character. It can influence people, for good or bad. It takes the tiniest of feelings and it can manifest those feelings into something much bigger, and sometimes deadlier. I am surprised she’s been able to contain the power within her for this long… You really have no idea where she has gone?’

‘Nope.’ Darcy shook her head.

Loki pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Ok.’ He sighed. ‘I know where I can get a trinket to help locate the aether. But it’s not on Midgard.’

‘Where is it?’ Wanda asked.

‘Knowhere.’

‘It must be somewhere. You just said you know where it is.’ Tony said, confused.

‘No, it’s on Knowhere. It’s a realm.’ Loki growled at Tony, shaking his head.

‘I see you have to deal with idiot Midgardians too.’ Loki smirked.

But Loki ignored him.

‘Wait, are we sure we can even believe this guy? I mean, it IS Loki. No offence, Loki. But we know YOU. But not this guy.’ Steve said as he motioned to the intruder Loki.

‘Steve is right. How do we know you aren’t trying to get the stones for yourself?’ Fury asked.

Loki rolled his eyes. ‘If you want Thanos to wipe half of you all out, then fine. Be my guest to do nothing and lock me away. Or you could send Thor to speak to Heimdall, see if he can locate Jane. Prove me wrong. But I am betting she is either not on Midgard, or is shielded from his view.’

The team looked at one another uncertainly. But they had no other options at this time.

‘Thor, go check with Heimdall.’ Fury said firmly.

Thor nodded and headed out with Mjolnir.

‘WE need to talk.’ Loki leaned down and growled in Darcy’s ear. She gulped and got up, heading out with him. Who had a firm grip of her elbow.

‘And you need to stay here.’ Fury pointed at Loki. ‘It’s bad enough having one trickster here, we don’t need two running around. Vision, Wanda, keep an eye on him until we can make some sense of this mess.’ Fury stormed out of the room.

The rest of the team went off too, leaving Loki under Wanda and Vision’s supervision in the meantime.

‘You KISSED him?’ Loki hissed at Darcy when they got back to his room.

‘I thought it was you!’ She screeched up at him.

Loki started pacing back and fore. ‘You just said you can tell the difference. How did you not know it wasn’t me?’ He looked hurt.

‘I’m sorry, Loki. I had no idea there was two of you. He surprised me, why wouldn’t I think it wasn’t you? Please, don’t let this come between us. I didn’t mean it, I really didn’t. But he’s still you, just… a different reality. Slightly older, I assume.’

Loki went to the window and looked out, hands on his hips.

‘Loki, don’t ignore me. Come on, I’m as shocked as you that there’s another you. But I bet you’d do the same if you had to jump to another reality and found you were hooking up with some hot chick. You enjoy mischief just as much as he does and playing tricks.’ Darcy walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind, hugging into his back.

‘I wouldn’t because you know youhave my heart.’ He grumbled.

‘I know. But if I didn’t, if we weren’t… whatever we are. You would’ve done exactly the same. I know you, Loki. And would you know the difference if another Darcy from a different reality suddenly started kissing you?’

‘I… Well, of course.’ Loki stammered out sheepishly.

‘No, you wouldn’t. Not at first anyway. Please, Loki. Give me a break here. I don’t love him, I love YOU. Not him. I promise. And I’m sorry.’

She knew Loki gave in and forgave her as soon as he placed his hands over hers at his stomach. He sighed and turned around, to wrap his arms around her in return and he rested his chin on top of her head.

‘I’m sorry, love. I just… I don’t like the fact there’s another me.’

‘I don’t either, believe me. It’s me that now has to deal with TWO Gods of mischief!’ Darcy groaned.

Loki chuckled and kissed the top of her head. ‘Hopefully he won’t be here for too long, as soon as we find Jane, we can send him on his way back to his own reality with the aether.’

The team all gathered again an hour later once Thor returned from Asgard.

‘Well, does Heimdall know where she is?’ Darcy asked.

Thor sighed and looked down. ‘No… He has not seen her since she left here six months ago.’

‘Well, shit.’ Darcy groaned, throwing her head back.

‘In that case, I will need a ship and a team to come with me to Knowhere.’ Loki said as he looked around the team expectantly.

#Loki #God of Mischief #Submitted fic #submission #triple threat #chapter 5 #fanfichiddles

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cali-holland · 4 years

Text

The End of the World- Peter Parker One Shot

Pairing: Peter Parker X Reader

Prompt: As a daughter of Thanos, you betrayed him to join Gamora and Nebula with the Guardians. You thought it was the end of the world when he started collecting the Infinity Stones, but then you found a source of hope- you met Peter Parker.

Word Count: 7000

Warnings: severe daddy issues (i mean it’s thanos?), mentions of anxiety, discussion of self-sacrifice (could be triggering as suicide), maybe some swearing, violence, death

A/N: so the reader has a regular skin color (aka not blue/green/purple)

Based On: End of the World by Kelsea Ballerini

Masterlist Peter Parker Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

~~~

You paced the ship anxiously. They should be back by now. You didn’t know why you’d agreed to stay behind; you should’ve gone, you should’ve been there to help them fight Thanos on Knowhere. Gamora had told you, though, that it’d be better if you were safe, if he couldn’t get his hands on you again. While the two of you may not have been blood sisters, you were raised alongside her and Nebula as a daughter of Thanos; with your special abilities to control the elements, he found you extra advantageous for his glorious plan. You were too powerful for Gamora and the rest of the guardians to lose you to him.

Hearing the transport ship dock, you knew they were back. You went to greet them, nervous to see what happened, if they had gotten the stone or not. Quill brushed you off, keeping his head low and his face tight with frustration.

“He took her.” Mantis told you quietly, and you felt your heart shatter. If he took her, that meant you were one step closer to losing this battle.

“Quill!” You yelled, chasing after him. He was supposed to protect her, but he was also supposed to kill you or Gamora if either of you got taken. “Did you- did you even try?”

“Did I try to protect her or did I try to kill her?” He asked, tears in his eyes.

“Both.” You said, but his lack of words let you know he had, “If Thanos gets the soul stone-”

“What if we got it before him? You, Gamora, Nebula, you all know where it is. We could beat him to it.” Drax offered, and you shook your head.

“I promised my sister to never go there, to never speak of its location. If I took us there, we could just be leading him there.”

“What will we do?” Mantis asked. Quill may be the leader of the team, but you were the one with the most experience with Thanos, your disgusting excuse for a “father”. Before you could respond, a message came through the speaker. It was Nebula, calling for you to meet her on Titan with the rest of the team.

“We go to Titan.” You said, sitting down in the pilot seat. Quill was angry and upset with himself and with Thanos; he was in no state to fly.

The trip to Titan was brief and you watched as Ebony Maw’s ship came into view. As it traveled into Titan’s atmosphere, it crashed to the ground, making you wonder what happened to Maw. Quill quickly devised a plan, and you all got ready to attack. He blasted the side off the ship and all four of you ran into the destroyed ship. You saw three figures, two in seemingly red and gold metal suits and the third in an odd costume.

“Mantis!” You called out to her, seeing one of the metal figures shoot sticky web substances at her, freezing her in her spot. You quickly shot a blast of fire at the strange enemy, only for it to turn towards you and grow four extra long metal limbs. You continued to shoot flames at it, but it jumped too quickly for you to hit it. Finally, you hit the figure with a gust of air, shooting it down to the ground. With one hand, you wrapped their torso and arms with water as if it were a rope, keeping them from moving; with the other hand, you held a fireball near its head threateningly.

“Everybody stay where you are. Chill the f out.” Quill spoke up, standing near you defensively. He removed his helmet to speak. He pointed the gun at the other metal figure, standing on Drax with his guns for hands raised, “I’m going to ask you this one time. Where is Gamora?”

“I’ll do you one better. Who’s Gamora?” The other man asked, his mask vanishing to show a human face. You jumped a little in surprise, but kept your grip steady.

“I’ll do you one better. Why is Gamora?” Drax questioned and you looked at him with raised eyebrows.

“Tell me where the girl is or I swear to you I’m gonna French fry this little freak.” Quill demanded, holding his gun up to the stranger in your hands.

“Let’s do it. You shoot my guy and I’ll blast him. Let’s go!” The other shouted.

“Do it, Quill. I can take it.” Drax insisted.

“No, he can’t!” You and Mantis both protested.

“She’s right. You can’t.” The other stranger with the orange magic shields said.

“Oh, yeah, you don’t want to tell me where she is? That’s fine, I’ll kill all three of you, and I’ll beat it out Thanos myself.” Quill threatened further. He turned to the one in your arms, “Starting with you.”

“Quill,” You tried to stop him. There was no way Thanos would entrust Gamora’s whereabouts to humans- but yet again, you still didn’t know if the one you were holding was human. It felt human?

“Wait what? Thanos?” The magician-like one asked. “All right, let me ask you this one time. What master do you serve?’

“What master do I serve? What am I supposed to say? Jesus?”

“You’re from Earth?” The one threatening Drax asked.

“I’m not from Earth. I’m from Missouri.” Quill corrected him.

“Yeah, that’s on Earth, dipshit.” The stranger said. You held back a laugh; you weren’t sure if you trusted these odd people, but you appreciated their humor when it came to Quill. “What are you hassling us for?”

“So you’re not with Thanos?” The one in your arms asked quietly.

“With Thanos?” Quill questioned, sounding offended. “No, I’m here to kill Thanos.”

“He took my sister. Who are you?” You asked and the mask of the one you held disappeared. So it was a he and he was a human.

“We’re the Avengers.”

“You’re the ones Thor told us about.” Mantis piped up.

“You know Thor?” The one by Drax looked from Mantis to you to Quill.

“Yeah, tall guy, not that good looking, needed saving.” Quill stated, making you roll your eyes.

“Look, okay, we’re all on the same team then. We’re all here to stop Thanos.” The stranger stepped off Drax and you let go of the one you held. He left to stand by the other two and Drax came beside you and Quill. You felt your eyes linger on the stranger; he looked far too young to be a part of all this, but yet again so were you. You didn’t know much about humans, except for the few you had met like Quill, and you’d dare to say he was cute.

“I’m Doctor Stephen Strange. This is Tony and Peter, or Iron Man and Spider-Man.” The non-metal one said, gesturing to the others.

“I’m Peter Quill, call me Star-Lord.” Quill stated. “And this is Drax the Destroyer, Y/N, and Mantis.”

“That’s the time stone.” You pointed out, your eyes landing on the doctor’s necklace.

He shifted almost defensively, looking at you quizzically for your comment, “I took an oath to protect this stone. Thanos is not getting it, nor anyone else.”

“I’m not looking to take it from you.” You told him, “What happened to Maw?”

“Maw?” The young Peter asked.

“Ebony Maw. One of Thanos’ children and lieutenants. This is his ship. I assume he was trying to acquire the time stone for Thanos. Where is he?”

“We killed him.” Iron Man replied, unremorsefully.

“Serves him right.” You felt a weight lift off your shoulders- one last psychotic ‘sibling’ to take care of. You turned to Quill, “We should leave this ship. Thanos will be coming here for that stone. With the power, space, and reality stone, we need to be ready.” You started on your way out with the rest of the guardians.

“Excuse me, but how do you know so much about Thanos and these stones?” Doctor Strange asked you, stopping you in your tracks.

“Because I’m his daughter.” You said, turning sharply and leaving Maw’s wrecked ship. You and Quill needed to focus on a plan.

“I should go check in with Nebula. She should be here soon.” You told Quill, pulling him away from Mantis and Drax momentarily.

“Let me know if she hears anything about Gamora.” He said, his voice stumbling a bit. “And I’m sorry, I couldn’t-”

“It’s fine, Quill. I’m sure there wasn’t much you could’ve done if he had the reality stone already as well as the power and space.” You reassured him. “If he comes back without the soul stone and he tries to get me, make sure you-” You cut yourself off, not wanting to say the words that would make it too real. How can you ask someone to kill you, even with the fate of the universe resting on your life?

“I won’t- I won’t fail, not again.”

“Hey, Mr. Lord, person, we need to discuss a plan.” Iron Man called out to Quill as he and his other two teammates came to stand by Drax and Mantis. Quill looked back at you and you nodded, silently telling him to go while you communicated with Nebula. You made your way back to Quill’s ship, settling in your seat to radio your sister.

“Nebula, Nebula, come in. It’s me, Y/N. We’re here on Titan and we’ve found some allies. They’re humans from Earth, but they’re powered. They killed Maw.” You spoke into the microphone. You waited a few moments for a transmission back, but nothing came. You heard a soft step coming from behind you; instantly, you jumped from your chair, forming an ice dagger in your hand, and grabbing the neck of your attacker.

“It’s just me. Same side, remember?” The new Peter said, shaking a little from shock. You stepped back and dropped your hands, the dagger forming into a small pool of water as it hit the ground.

“Didn’t you ever learn not to sneak up on assassins or do they not tell you that on Earth?” You asked, sitting back down in your chair, still waiting to hear from your sister.

“Must have skipped that day.” He replied with a small laugh. “What are you doing over here?”

“I’m waiting for my sister to send a transmission.” You stated and he hesitantly sat in the chair beside you.

“Your sister as in-” You could tell he was just genuinely curious as he warily brought up the elephant in the room.

“Look, Thanos is not my actual father. He took me from my home world when I was young because I was gifted and he trained me to be an assassin alongside Nebula and Gamora.” You explained, “Long story short. We escaped a few years ago. Nebula went back to try to kill him again, but she was captured. She only just escaped, and he took Gamora now. The thing is, the three of us all know something that gives him an unprecedented advantage in this battle.”

“What is it?” Peter asked, and you let out a small sigh.

“When we were still serving him, he tasked us with finding the soul stone, the one stone which has had unknown whereabouts for as long as the universe has existed. We found it, and we realized he could never know that information.”

“Where is it?”

“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you. Thanos cannot know about it, he can’t get the soul stone. That’s why Quill has to kill me if he gets me.” Your voice broke off at the end. Peter was a stranger and yet you still felt like you could trust him.

“There has to be some other way. Surely, you don’t have to- to die to protect that secret.” He sounded so sincere, so genuinely hopeful that your life could be better.

“Don’t be naive. If it comes down to me or half of the universe, it’s a sacrifice I’d be willing to make. This feels like the end of the world for me.” You stated definitively.

“Half of the universe? That’s what-”

“That’s what Thanos will do. Destroy half of all life in the universe, perfectly balanced ‘as all things should be’.” You quoted the often repeated phrase of your father’s. You turned away from Peter, looking back at the comms panel in front of you.

“Your powers- what are they?” He asked after a silent moment.

“I don’t have a fancy term for them. I can bend the elements to my will.” You told him. “Air,” You blew a small breeze towards him, “Water,” You created a small orb of water, “Earth,” You moved the land below the ship a little, shifting the Benatar as you did so, “And fire.” You ended with a flame coming out of your open palm.

“So you’re basically the Avatar.” Peter said with a small smile, brown eyes intently watching the flame burn in your hand.

“Avatar?” You asked in confusion.

“It’s this TV show on Earth, and it’s about this kid that has the weight of the world on his shoulders because he’s the only one who can end this raging war since he’s the master of all four elements. It’s the best show ever.” He beamed, and you nodded, vaguely understanding his thought process.

“I guess, then yes, I am. What about you?”

“I got bitten by a radioactive spider, so I’m super strong and agile, and then I created this web-like substance to use so I can fight more like a spider. Mr. Stark gave me this suit today, so the retractable legs are new.” He explained, showing you his web fluid on his wrists.

“So you’re not part spider?”

“No, I don’t think so.” He shook his head with a laugh, “I also have, well, I call it my Spidey sense, and it helps me know there’s incoming danger.”

“You seem young for a hero. How old are you?” You asked.

“16.” Peter replied, a bit embarrassed. “And you? You seem pretty young compared to the rest of your team.”

“I don’t know.” You said and he felt his face heat up in further embarrassment, “Thanos took me when I was so young, I have no recollection of my home world. He wasn’t the type of father to care about birthdays. I suspect I would be around your age; he never really let me go into battle because he deemed me too young, but he wanted to use me for my powers when I was ready. Two years ago, Gamora and the guardians helped me escape, and I’ve been with them ever since. And since then, my powers have only grown.” You paused, sensing his pity for you, “It’s okay, though. I may have never known my true family, but the guardians are my found family.”

“Hey,” He reached out and placed a comforting hand on your shoulder. You tensed, not expecting the physical affection, but you didn’t pull away, “I don’t have much in the way of family either. My parents died when I was young, and my aunt and uncle raised me, but my uncle- he passed a few years ago. I love my aunt, and she’s the only legitimate family I have left, but the Avengers have become my family now.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your parents and your uncle.” Your apologetic words sounding so foreign to roll off your tongue.

“It’s made me better as a person, and stronger as a hero.” He stated. “Your past makes you stronger.”

“Technically, it made me a deadly assassin with incredibly strong powers.” You said, laughing lightly. Peter let out a chuckle, his eyes closing as he laughed at your comment. Before the conversation could continue, the speaker went off as a transmission came through.

“Y/N, I should be there soon. I only have a few more jumps. I don’t know where Gamora is, but she told him- she told him about Vormir.” She said, her voice sounding urgent and you let out a shaky breath. Peter took his hand off your shoulder, running it over his other arm.

“Oh no.” You mumbled. If Gamora told him about Vormir, he found the soul stone.

“He’s near.” Peter breathed out.

“Your Spidey sense?” You asked him and he nodded. You turned back to the microphone, “I’ll see you soon, Nebula. He’s almost here.”

You jumped out of the seat and rushed back to the others with Peter trailing along behind you. “Nebula’s almost here.”

“And so is Thanos.” Peter added.

“Do you have a plan?” You asked looking between Quill, Doctor Strange, and Tony, already knowing Drax and Mantis wouldn’t be much help.

“Strange will distract him and then we’ll surprise attack.” Quill explained as if it was simple.

“Do you know anything else about the stones that can help?” Tony asked you.

“He has the power, space, and reality stone that we know of. The reality stone warps things so your perception is off, the power stone is more powerful than anything else- it can bring down a planet, and the space stone allows him to transport. Together, they’re incredibly powerful. We need to keep him from closing his fist.” You informed the group, and they all nodded. “He also has the soul stone now, but that won’t help him until he has all five.”

“You all need to hide for now.” Doctor Strange spoke up, going to sit on a pile of rocks. You all went to find decent hiding spots, creating a surprise advantage over Thanos.

“Y/N,” Peter pulled you aside for a moment. You could see it in his eyes, he was worried, “It’s not the end of the world, not today.”

You wished you could believe him, you so desperately wanted to believe his words. More than anything, you wanted to believe that you could somehow beat Thanos, but with three stones, you knew your chances were slim. Peter swung away before you could say much more, leaving you to shift some rocks to create more cover for you all.

You stiffened as the blue portal opened and Thanos stepped out. You hadn’t seen him since you escaped his torturous clutches; you felt your fingertips burn with fire, ready to avenge your fallen past. He talked to Strange, demonstrating what Titan once was before he ‘freed’ the plant through the reality stone, before Stark smashed him with part of Maw’s ship. You all jumped into attack mode at his signal. Drax took jabs at him with his knives, Quill shot him with his gun, Peter swung into action and tried to web his eyes shut, Tony shot him with energy blasts, Strange used his mystic arts on him, and you shot a mix between the elements at him. Nothing seemed to weaken him enough though, each person getting thrown back, beside you.

“Daughter, you disappoint me.” Thanos spoke viciously as you shot fireballs at him; your flame was running so hot, they were a striking blue.

“I don’t care what you think anymore.” You stood your ground from his attacks. Sending an icicle spear at him, it skimmed his left arm. He grunted in agony as it cut deep enough to draw blood. Just moments before Strange’s cape covered his fist, he used the power stone, sending you flying backwards.

“Are you okay?” Peter asked when he caught you in mid-air.

“He’s bleeding. He’s weak.” You told him as he set the two of you down behind a rock. “Something happened to Gamora. I can feel it.”

You stepped back from his embrace as fire started in the palm of your hands and a large gust of wind came through the atmosphere of Titan.

“It’s going to be okay.” Peter reassured you. One of Strange’s golden portals appeared beside Peter and he jumped into, effectively kicking Thanos across the head. Stepping out from your protective rock, you began to shoot pellets made of the earth at Thanos. Peter jumped through a few more portals to attack him, before the titan caught him by the neck.

“Peter!” You exclaimed. Before Thanos could hurt him further, your hand shot out in front of you, but instead of the regular hot flame bursting out of your palm, it was lightning from your fingertips. Surprised, Thanos was thrown back away from Peter; you didn’t even know you could do lightning. Suddenly, a ship came from the atmosphere, crashing into him.

You didn’t have to question who that was. It was Nebula. She came out of the ship, yelling as she attacked Thanos with her knives. You joined beside her, freely letting the lightning shoot from your fingers. It didn’t go far before he threw both of you back again, but you had both stalled him enough that Strange could catch his right hand with Tony on his left, Drax holding down his feet. The doctor created a portal for Mantis, who dropped onto Thanos’ head, and put him to sleep. You froze water around his legs, keeping him stuck in place. As Tony and Peter tried to remove the gauntlet, Quill flew back down in front of Thanos.

“I thought you’d be hard to catch. For the record, this was my plan.” Quill told the paralyzed titan, “Not so strong now, huh?”

“Where is Gamora?” You questioned, eyeing the soul stone on his gauntlet.

“My Gamora.” Thanos mumbled, dazed from Mantis’ hold over him.

“No, bullshit. Where is she?” Quill spat, growing angry at his words.

“He is in anguish.” Mantis cried out. You stepped back, looking over to Nebula in concern, your worst fears falling into your mind.

“Good.” He smirked.

“He- he mourns.” She further added.

“What does this monster have to mourn?” Drax asked, straining as he helped Strange hold down his hand.

“Gamora.” You and Nebula said in sync.

“What?” Quill turned to the two of you in disbelief.

“He took her to Vormir.” You stated.

“He came back with the soul stone, but she didn’t.” Nebula explained.

“Okay, Quill, you gotta cool it right now. You understand?” Tony spoke up as he and Peter still tried getting the gauntlet off. You felt frozen in place; Thanos murdered his favorite daughter for the soul stone. You knew he was heartless, but he always admired Gamora, you thought that maybe she was safe at least. As long as Thanos lived, you could never be safe. “Don’t, don’t- don’t engage. We almost got this off.”

“Tell me she’s lying.” He raised his voice, looking at Thanos. “Asshole, tell me you didn’t.”

“Quill, don’t.” You urged, realizing the gauntlet was just about off. Before you could step forward, Thanos quietly spoke up.

“I had to.” And that was all it took for Quill to break.

“No, you didn’t. No, you didn’t.” He repeated, hitting Thanos with his gun.

“No!” You shouted and he woke up, grabbing the gauntlet just barely before Peter could get it off his hand. He flung Mantis off his head and Peter swung to grab her before she could fall. He blocked Quill, Strange, Nebula, and Drax from attacking, leaving you and Tony to take him.

“Kid, watch out.” Tony said to you, blasting Thanos.

“I literally have lightning coming out of my fingertips. Are you really calling me kid?” You questioned, throwing more lightning at Thanos.

“Hit me!” Tony told you, and you did a double take at his words. Lightning was incredibly dangerous and it was something you didn’t even know you could do until now. “Hit me, just like Thor.” You realized his suit was completely electric, you’d be surging his entire system with more power. You sent a destabilizing gust of wind at Thanos before striking Tony with lightning, giving him even more power.

But Thanos was too strong, using the stones to bring a moon crashing down on you all. As much as you tried to stop the moon from falling with your air power, you couldn’t as Thanos hit you with another shot from the power stone. While your body weakened, you could see Peter swinging about and saving your teammates from the moon. You tried to block the falling rocks, but one hit your head just a bit too hard; as your vision grew fuzzy, you saw Peter land in front of you, calling out your name.

“Hey, hey, stay with me.” Peter spoke softly, cradling your head in his hands. You heard Quill yelling in the distance, but you couldn’t focus on that.

“Peter, we need to go- we need to fight.” You pushed yourself to sit up. As much as your head hurt, you needed to get up, you needed to end this. When you stood up, you felt yourself leaning into Peter’s side for support, a feeling you weren’t used to. It was quiet, you couldn’t see Thanos at all, “Where is he?”

“He’s gone.” Peter mumbled, walking you over to where Strange, Tony, and Nebula were. When Peter saw Tony’s hurt state, he rushed over to his. You let out a sigh of relief as you saw Mantis, Quill, and Drax making their way over to you- everyone was fine, but Thanos was gone. Nebula came beside you, placing an awkward yet comforting hand on your shoulder.

“We lost.” You breathed out. “Gamora’s gone, and we lost.”

“There’s still one more stone, right? Vision-” Peter started, looking from you to Tony, but his mentor just shook his head.

“I don’t know where he is. All we can do is hope that the others can stop him.” He said solemnly.

“Something’s happening.” Mantis spoke up, looking around at all of you concerned. In less than a second, she was gone, nothing but dust. For the first time, you felt your heart truly break- you lost, Thanos had won.

“Quill,” Drax looked over at him, but he too was dusted quickly. Quill’s eyes rested on you, and you shook your head, feeling a bubbling worry creep up your throat.

“Oh no.” He muttered and the next second he was gone.

“Tony,” Doctor Strange called your attention back to him, “There was no other way.”

As soon as he was nothing, but dust, you felt yourself collapsing into Nebula’s side, growing incredibly weak. Peter watched in horror as you fell into your sister’s arms. He was frozen in place, feeling his own body fighting a strange sensation.

“Y/N, no. Not you.” Nebula cried out as you shook in her arms.

“Kill him for me,” You said weakly, before you too were gone.

“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.” Peter mumbled, stumbling closer to his mentor.

“You’re alright.” Tony tried to reassure him, but Peter could tell they were both breaking.

“I don’t- I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know.” Tony caught the young boy as his legs gave out, “I don’t wanna go. I don’t want to go, sir. Please, pleasure, I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go.” He repeated before Tony laid him down softly. “I’m sorry.”

And just like that, all was silent on Titan, all was silent in the universe as half of it vanished without a trace.

~~~

You woke with a jump, ice daggers appearing defensively in your hands. You blinked in confusion; you were on Titan, but it all felt like a bad dream. Gamora getting taken by Thanos, coming to Titan and meeting the Avengers- meeting Peter, fighting Thanos, losing to Thanos, your teammates getting dusted. You had a gut feeling that something was wrong, you just couldn’t place it.

“Y/N!” Peter hugged you as soon as he saw you standing near him. You dropped the daggers, surprised from the sudden physical intimacy.

“What happened?” You asked, trying to comprehend what was happening. Peter let go of you, realizing he may have overstepped.

“You- you turned to dust. I thought you died.” He said, worried. You looked over and saw Mantis, Drax, and Quill looking just as confused as you and Peter.

“I watched you all turn to dust.” You spoke softly, happy to see them okay again. “Where’s Nebula?”

“Where’s Mr. Stark?” Peter wondered, unable to see either of them anymore.

“Okay, this is going to be a lot, but stick with me here.” Doctor Strange spoke up, calling for all of your attentions. “It’s been five years since we were here. Thanos snapped his fingers, we were part of the half that turned to dust and died. The Avengers time traveled and Hulk just used the stones to bring us back, but Thanos’ army from 2014 is there, and we need to go help them.”

“Wait, time travel?” Quill asked in shock, “How advanced has Earth gotten?”

“That’s not important. We need to go now and fight Thanos’ army.” He insisted.

“2014? Are Nebula and Gamora-” You started and he nodded.

“There’s two Nebulas, the one that you know as your sister and the one that you know as a slave to Thanos’ will. Gamora, on the other hand-”

“Is starting to doubt Thanos.” You finished his thought, knowing that the Gamora from four- or technically nine, years ago was the Gamora about to betray Thanos and join the guardians.

“Are you all ready?” Strange asked, beginning to make a portal. You got your daggers ready as Peter stood beside you. He looked over at you with a small, hopeful smile on his face.

“It’s not the end of the world, not today.” He reassured you, just as he had done seemingly earlier that day, even though apparently that was five years ago. You let out a nervous breath as the portal opened, giving you the view of Thanos’ army in the full. There were hundreds of them, but as you all stepped through the portal, you saw more and more golden portals opening, enough people to take on Thanos’ army. You could see Thanos standing in the middle, ready to command his armies- his lieutenants on either side of him. Peter let out a laugh of disbelief as he looked at all of those on your side of the battle field.

“Not today.” You told him quietly.

“Avengers,” You heard someone yell out from the front of your side. “Assemble.”

The battle cry was said, and everyone ran together towards Thanos’ army to attack. Peter swung away, using a gigantic person to get himself farther on the battlefield. You couldn’t think of the confusion that was Earth though, too focused on destroying Thanos. You were sending everything you could at Thanos’ forces; at first, they seemed hesitant to fire on you- after all, you were still Thanos’ daughter in 2014, but they quickly learned you weren’t on their side.

“Hey, Y/N!” Thor smiled, seeing you shoot lightning at a Chitauri that was about to attack him. “See your powers have improved.”

“Watch out, I’m stealing your lightning.” You joked, teaming up with his to create a small lightning storm. “Who has the stones?”

“The Spiderboy.” He replied, and that’s when you heard the call.

“I don’t got this. Help, somebody, help!” Peter exclaimed. He wasn’t too far away, and you sent a large blast of wind to flick all of the Chitauri off him. You rushed to his side as he crouched down with the stones while Thanos called for his ships to rainfire. Bending the earth around him, you created a shelter for the two of you.

“Hey, you alright?” You asked him as he held onto the stones, trembling a little in fear.

“Nope.” He shook his head. The firing stopped as a person came in through the atmosphere, crashing through his ships with ease. Peter called out for assistance a glowing figure dropped in front of the two of you.

“Got something for me?” The short-haired woman smiled.

“I don’t know how you’re going to get through all that.” Peter said, eyeing the swarms of Thanos’ army.

“Don’t worry.” A woman in red landed beside the other.

“She’s got help.” You stood up from your spot beside Peter, your fingers flickering with lightning. As you started to charge with the other two, you became aware of the other countless women attacking with you; and somehow, nothing felt more powerful. Those stones were getting back to that destroyed van (even if you had no clue why).

Thanos blew up the van and it quickly became another game of keepaway. Thor fought Thanos with the help of another, and you stepped in, firing with your own lightning, wanting him to pay for causing so much suffering and destruction. He fought the other two men off him before Tony attacked, and you took the opportunity to grab the gauntlet.

“Daughter?” Thanos looked at you in confusion, not realizing this wasn’t the girl he had known. As he saw your hostile eyes, he spoke again in anger, “Don’t defy me.”

“You don’t control me anymore.” The gauntlet slipped onto your hand, and you stumbled backwards from the unprecedented power coursing through you.

“Y/N, no!” You heard Peter call out, swinging down nearby, as you snapped your fingers. The battlefield grew silent while Thanos’ army dusted away. Your body shook as you watched Thanos dust away, the stone still shimmering on your hand. You ripped the gauntlet off, tossing it aside. Peter rushed over to you, catching you in his arms before you could crumble to the ground weakly.

“I got you.” He tried to comfort you. Your arm and hand were covered in burn marks from the gauntlet’s power. Shakily, you placed your other hand on your arm, cool water coming from your palm as a way to soothe the numbing pain.

“How did- how did you do that?” Tony looked at you in disbelief. You didn’t know it, but he had witnessed the Hulk barely survive snapping his fingers and here you were, incredibly injured but healing yourself.

“I don’t know.” You mumbled, still surprised by your actions.

“Y/N,” Nebula came to your side, seeing you for the first time since five years ago. “You did it.”

“He’s gone.” You whispered as your eyes transfixed on the spot where Thanos turned to dust before you.

There wasn’t much discussion after you had snapped with the infinity stones. No one really knew what to say. Half of the universe died five years ago and came back like nothing changed, nothing happened, but to the other half of the universe, something devastating happened and it was a near impossible task to move back to a normal life.

For the next few days, you stayed with the other guardians at Tony’s house, all of you trying to recoup. Peter stayed with you too, and so did his Aunt May, the one he had told you about when you first met him. She also died from the snap, leaving them homeless for the time being. It was hard on everyone, especially you and the other guardians because none of you knew Earth before the snap, none of you could really understand the same emotions as the others.

“I want to stay here.” You told Peter a week after the battle as you two sat by the large lake on Stark’s land, watching as the sunset behind the trees. Peter looked at you skeptically for a moment, before his gaze softened. Both of you knew the guardians would be leaving soon, and your own future was kind of left in the air with no Thanos or murderous other adoptive family members to track down.

“I want you to stay, too.” He replied quietly.

“What would I do? If I stay here with you.” You asked, looking at him like he had all the answers, but he didn’t.

“I don’t know. I’ll talk to May and Tony about it all, but you could come to high school with me, if you wanted to.” Peter offered.

“What’s high school like?” You had gone through Thanos’ own twisted version of schooling, knowing enough to be on the path to become an expert assassin like Gamora; while you were intelligent and strategic, your mind wasn’t the most exercised skill of yours in Thanos’ hands, not when you had powers.

“It kind of sucks, to be honest, but it’s life. I met my best friend, Ned, through school. You’d like Ned, he’s cool. We’re on the academic decathlon team together.” You watched as his brown eyes lit up in excitement. “There’s also social parts of school, like sports and dances.”

“Dances? Like Footloose?” You asked, thinking back to when Quill would bring up the Earth movie as the best dancing movie of all time.

“Well, kinda.” He laughed a little, a lopsided smile on his face as he looked at you, “It’s just teenagers gathering in a gymnasium and we’re all dressed up in suits and dresses. Then we dance, kinda like in Footloose. I’ll show you that movie, then you’ll understand.”

“Will you show me that Avatar show too?”

“Of course.”

Later that day, you and Mantis were entertaining the young Stark as Peter talked to his aunt about you staying on Earth. Morgan seemed fascinated by the fact that you could do magic, as she called it, and she found Mantis’ antennas incredible.

“Peter, we can’t.” You heard his aunt speak, and you slowly made your way to where they were sitting at a table in the kitchen, trying to overhear the conversation while you remained hidden by the doorway. His aunt’s voice sounded shaky as she continued, “As much as I want to, I can’t raise a second teenager. I was just barely getting by with you, and now- well, it’s been five years. I don’t have a job, we don’t have a home anymore.”

“Can I intervene?” Tony’s voice sounded from right behind you, startling you. His question drew Peter and May’s eyes over to you, and your friend smiled weakly at you, knowing you’d heard his aunt reject the offer. Tony stepped into the kitchen and urged you in as well. Peter stood to come beside you, his shoulder brushing against yours.

“Y/N, I’m sorry. You seem like a bright girl, but I can’t afford another teenager, not right now.” May told you, her eyes filled with sadness. She turned to Tony, “Peter wants Y/N to stay here with us on Earth.”

“What about staying with me?” Tony offered, and you looked at him in confusion. You had briefly fought with him on Titan, but you didn’t know him well enough to think he’d ever willingly open his home to you like that. “Pepper and I can work out all the details, make it official with adoption papers, all of that. And May, I’ve got you and Peter a place to stay in Queens. Pepper’s looking into open positions at Stark Industries for you too.”

“Tony, you don’t have to.” May started, but he cut her off.

“I want to. You and Peter are like family to me, and Y/N saved the universe. It’ll be nice having her around.” As if on cue, Morgan came running into the kitchen, grabbing your hand and Peter’s hand.

“I forgot to show you my treehouse! Uncle Rhodey made it!” She tugged on your hands. You and Peter looked at Tony and May, who both just nodded, silently agreeing to discuss this topic later.

“Uncle Rhodey made you a treehouse?” Peter asked Morgan enthusiastically as you two followed the little girl. Yeah, you definitely wanted to stay on Earth.

~~~

“You promised me tonight was Footloose night!” You protested as the screen crawl for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi started. Peter shushed you, sitting beside you and placing a blanket over your laps.

“I said we’d watch Footloose after we finish Star Wars.” He laughed.

“There’s too many of them.” You sighed overdramatically, turning away from Peter in feign anger. Peter pouted, wrapping his arms around you, but you refused to budge. Your boyfriend knew you too well though, and he peppered your face with kisses until you cracked a smile. One of his hands cupped your chin, pulling you back to face him.

“This is the last one of the originals, and then we’ll watch Footloose, alright? I won’t make you sit through the other six yet.” Peter said.

“Okay.” You smiled, “I have to see Footloose before Homecoming next weekend or else I won’t understand any of it.”

“Footloose won’t make you understand Homecoming.” He shook his head with a light chuckle. “I haven’t even asked you to come with me yet.”

“Am I supposed to wait for you to ask because Pepper already took me to get a dress with Morgan- and those things are uncomfortable.” You stated, grimacing a little.

“Since you’re homeschooled, yes.” Peter laughed. He cupped your cheek, lightly caressing your skin with his thumb, “Do you want to go to Homecoming with me?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” You teased. Peter’s lips barely brushed against yours before someone cleared their throat behind you.

“Parker, you’re not corrupting my daughter, are you?” Tony questioned, raising his eyebrow at the two of you as he came into the living room.

“Oh please, dad, you know I can handle myself.” You laughed, playfully creating a few lightning sparks in your free palm.

“Keep it PG in here.” He said, before leaving, and you shook your head, turning back to Peter.

“Is there ever going to be a day where he doesn’t interrupt us?” Peter chuckled.

“Not today.” You whispered, before capturing your boyfriend’s lips in yours, both of you smiling into the kiss. Even though that day on Titan eight months ago felt like the end of the world, Peter was your lifeline right on time.

~~~

Tag List: @viagracex @theamazingtomholland @Hellomoveonby @heyitsshrez @harrisonosterfieldhazmyheart @joyleenl @t-o-m-holland @lonikje @sleepybesson

Peter Tag List: @quaksonhehe

#peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker one shot #peter parker x you #peter parker x reader #peter parker x y/n

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summoner-kentauris · 3 years

Note

What does your interpretation of Zacharias think about Líf and Thrasir? (You can either just answer or write a lil story if you feel like it)

OOOO now i have thought in my free time a fair amount about what líf thinks of zasha but, and i cannot believe this, i have not thought about what zacharias thinks about líf and thrasir. full disclosure, book III happened to be going on when i formally stopped playing feh. i kept up with the story after that but, theres my obligatory knowledge base disclaimer.

also minor cws through this whole thing because i talk here and there about zacharias and his... mm, canonical relationship to death/selfharm

so, i spent a lot of time thinking about this one, and i keep coming back to my gut reaction, which is that i don't think zacharias would like them very much. i dont know why i think that, though.

PART ONE

i think a lot of it would depend on how they approach him, which is maybe why i've spent more time thinking about the reverse of this ask, come to think of it. see, i think zacharias could go any which way in terms of what he thinks of them. i think he could hate them, as two people who killed versions of everyone he ever loved, including metaphorically killing off the two people closest to him.

i think he could love him, having seen the hell (ha ha literally) that they went through. understanding what that feels like. given the way he talks about his suicide attempts, and honestly that he spent most of book I trying to get people to kill him, really his whole relationship to death. i mean the man talks a lot about death and killing. he might not be the feh OC who best understands how manipulative and... whats a good word. alluring? what im trying to say is that besides eir, he might be the one most likely to understand why Hel and hel's offer appealed to líf and thrasir. i feel like this bit has a place here: "With his dying breath...he begged for his life. He called out your names! "I'll do anything you ask! Just let me live!" excepting of course that i still am not sure if i think he said/thought that or not. ive never been sure who really is in control of speaking right then and there. Anyway. Probably he could come to understand Líf and Thrasir's stance, enough that he could care about them the same ways he cares about his versions of Alfonse ann Veronica

on the other hand, i can see him being fully horrified by the choices those two made in response. this bit: Not anyone... This dark god...seeks death. And it cries for the destruction of Askr. Like. Líf and Thrasir are intentionally enacting the same thing as the dark god's desires, in order to correct a mistake they made that, uh, also enacted the same thing as dark god's desires. talk about awkward. and i think Zasha, who has lived with this nightmare in his head for so long, might recoil from people who are so directly aligned with it. who wants to be around someone who has become, who has chosen to become, everything you ever feared you'd be? especially when you're nearly drowning from the effort of fighting to stop yourself.

i could also see him meeting them and it being incredibly, incredibly bad for him. i feel like, he puts a whole lot of... mm. what am i trying to say.here:

Yet it is you that says this, dear friend, and so I must consider it. I see the faith reflected in your eyes. Perhaps it is possible...

SPEAKING OF BUNNY ZACHARIAS I ALSO THINK YOU COULD TAKE THE FOLLOWING:

You never change. All you see is a lofty goal, even if you lack the means to achieve it... The idea that gods would fall by the hand of man is a fantasy... and a preposterous one. This is a goal that even our ancestors Líf and Thrasir could not achieve.

setting aside the obligatory wtf zash i know you know your lore (fuck, maybe there is no killing the gods, maybe all Fire Emblem victories are temporary at best and Zenith is the only one who knows it. but i think, probably not), i think you could spin a very believable scenario where zacharias takes one look at these two ambitious, arrogant posers and absolutely refuses to speak to them any further.

so, part one, i think that zacharias could think any number of things about líf and thrasir. which i suppose means that i think he's fairly neutral on the subject of líf and thrasir. makes sense to me, i suppose. i feel like zacharias | bruno has practice (regardless of whether he's any good at it or not, or whether its any good for him) at holding and maintaining separate personas, so I don't think the fact that líf and thrasir were alfonse and veronica would necessarily be all that important to him.

which brings me to part ii

what happened to dead zenith zacharias

if zacharias is neutral on the subject, I think a lot of their relationship is going to pushed in one direction or another by líf and thrasir themselves.

and, complicating matters (when do I make things simple?), i think their approach to zacharias would of course depend on what happened to their zacharias. correct me if im wrong, but i dont think we have even a hint what happened to him.

there are three ish options I'm seeing. one: as dead world zenith is further along in its timeline and as zacharias claims he's almost out of time with his curse, other zacharias died due to that before the war with hel. i feel like scenario one is the most likely to lead to a good relationship between main zacharias and líf and thrasir.

two: mr. professional "knows plot relevant things out of knowhere" was the one who found out about angrboða's heart in the first place. especially given "As destruction took hold, we joined with Embla to seek the forbidden heart...", which to me sounds a lot like, "hel was kicking our ass then zacharias showed up and said we should go get this mystical plot object from embla". thrasir even says she and líf weren't allies before the world went to shit. anyway. hear me out here:

Yes. The heart is sealed within an Emblian blood temple. If that seal is broken, someone will die each time the heart beats... Those who perform the rite are the first to die.

Now. Líf claims he was the one who broke it open, but he also was present for the war that followed and only after was he killed and inducted into hel's army. so. both of those things can't be true. i propose that the magic mcguffin located in a sealed emblian blood temple was unlocked by our dear zacharias and thats what killed him in other zenith. i think its possible that other veronica was the one who did it, but you know. its all imagination at this point. also, and i forgot this, but thrasir does go off about how she can't lose until she saves her brother, so. something especially tragic happened at least. and oh boy is scenario two a nice fresh tasty tragedy. so that's scenario two. other zacharias directly died as a result of attempts to fight hel

number three thing that could have happened to zach is boring. he's always off doing things, he could have just died off screen. i mean. everyone did, eventually.

frankly he could still be alive for all i know. the heart appears to take the lives of people in the world, not of the world, or else the summoner would have been fine. so, if zacharias was on one of his off world jaunts, he could conceivably be a-okay. well. as okay as someone who's whole world died. i don't think that's what happened, because thrasir is pretty clear about feeling that she failed him, but yknow.

líf and thrasir's reactions to the above

thrasir is i think the most straightforward. i can't really see her approaching main zacharias with anything but positive intent. even if she's only a little bit open, i think thrasir and zacharias will probably have a decently tolerable relationship. if zacharias can come back to a country that exiled him as a kid and let his mother die in a dungeon and then go on to not just befriend but protect and care for a half sister he didnt know before then, then i think he'll find a way to care about thrasir. you know, intsys could have had fun making another perpetual older brother character. as i understand it, xander gets brother'd a lot, he and zach could have talked. could have been fun. a whole, zacharias, a historically traumatized child: *arrives in a world* every currently traumatized kid in a five mile radius: oh shit this one's ours now. you know what im saying? found family except zacharias would very much like it to stop finding him. he's got important brooding to do. but anway, they didn't go that route and its a tragedy.

líf is... more complicated. i think scenario one creates the most positive outlook. i can see him still having guilt over zacharias' loss, but i think any of it would be overshadowed by everything else that happened. in this scenario, líf finally gets back a piece of the world he'd lost. yeah, it's not his zacharias, but still. it is a zacharias, who is living and breathing and frowning and asking why you are staring at me, knight. i think the two of them could get along rather well, although i see them having significant issues with pessimism. inch-restingly enough... the dark curse bades its hosts to kill askrans. and líf is, well. dead. so... perhaps... perhaps líf wouldn't trigger the curse like alfonse does. in that case, not only does líf get someone back he thought he'd never see again, but so does zacharias.

scenario two is just a nightmare. frankly, i initially thought this scenario would lead to líf just ignoring zacharias (out of guilt, pain, etc), but i was rereading the scripts looking for the spelling of angrboða and this came up:

Tell Hel. She'll erase those memories. She'll erase them all...

so, honestly? i think that in scenario two líf just straight up gets hel to remove his memories of zacharias (as an aside maybe this is also why he never ever ever talks about other anna >:{ )

in that case, líf wouldn't really have any reason to talk to this man, who causes this empty deeply sad feeling to well up in him for now discernible reason. and zacharias has no reason (or time) to talk to this standoffish general of the dead. so. that's a real ships in the night moment.

number three i think líf would still hold the same guilt as in number two, but i don't think it would be as horrifically tragic, so i think it's more likely he'd be willing to approach zacharias. he does appear to have even worse of a thing than alfonse about not opening oneself up to people, but i think that even if he's líf, he once was an alfonse, and being that this is me answering this, i don't think any alfonse can really keep away from a zacharias for very long. its a version of the person who once knew him as well as any other person in the world. like líf can't really seem to stop himself from associating with main sharena, i don't think he could stop himself from reaching out in his own way to main zacharias. and god does that man need some more friends. i think zacharias would probably be a little frightened of líf, and of what an alfonse could become. but i think probably... i feel like a lot of book i issues stem from the fact that, justified or not, zacharias thinks alfonse would risk anything, any harm to save him. i don't know that confronting an alfonse who literally risked everything and did all harm to save his world would be a comfort, but i do think zacharias would get a lot out of having someone who's already done the worst they can do. been there, done that, got the tshirt. i think zacharias would be a little afraid of what an alfonse could become, but i think he would no longer have to be afraid of... no, anxious about it. i think there's a kind of calm in having something confirmed that zacharias could appreciate. healthy? unhealthy? fuck if i know. i also think that in líf, zacharias has a friend who he can't physically hurt anymore. lífs already dead. been there done there got the.... glowing gel torso. i think, curse nonewithstanding, zacharias will always have some degree of tension and fear about hurting people he's in a relationship with, be that because of his issues with abandonment, of abandoning, of harm, etc. but you know. líf's kind of a rock. and he's already hit his rock bottom, now that i'm thinking about rocks. i think that kind of steady, placid deathness could really help zacharias. and i think he would find it soothing, whether or not he knew why.

plus he will be able to know that if the curse gets him, if he dies... he'll still have a friend in the realm of the dead. he doesnt have to be so afraid of leaving and getting left

so there we go! lots of musings. i have been thinkin about why my headcanons are less that and more elaborate branching theories, and i think it is because i would change my opinion depending on which story i wanted to tell or hear or see.so yeah. dunno which one of these answers belongs to the question, what does your interpretation of Zacharias think about Líf and Thrasir?, but hopefully at least one of them is interesting to read about!

OH also. i think he would be petty-ly annoyed about them cribing líf and thrasir's name. like full on scholar petty. probably showed up to the order in a nerdy huff excited to meet the actual factual líf and thrasir and turns out its just those two, sitting around glowing and reciting death metal lyrics like they're spoken word ballads. dont think he'd get over that ever.

#as an aside during the course of writing this #i have become convinced that ''I was powerless to stop it... There was nothing I could do...'' eir #could probably have interesting things to talk aboutwith ''he was all alone... there was nothing he could do to save himself...'' zacharias #anonymous #whew thats a lot of words #ill spell check in the morning #yeah right no ill spell check tomorrow evening #thats more likely #that was fun to think about #i hope this makes sense because i am NOT going to reread it #im going to go get dinner #sat here and DID NOT MOVE for ages #my neck is killing me #thanks zacharias

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the-fiction-witch · 4 years

Text

A Float

MOVIE: MAZE RUNNER AU COUPLE: NEWT X READER RATING: SWEET + SAD

I sighed as I went around picking up glasses and tankards wiping my little rag along the tables where the ale had spilled, I kept my eyes on the wooden floor and tables and off the girls stood in there dresses leaning on the stairwell in the corner, I felt the eyes of the bar keep glued to me as he watched me. I heard the bell ring on the door but I thought little off it and continued my work till someone shoved my back almost tipping me over "Watch it kid" he snapped as he headed over to the girls "Newt!" My barkeep warned "Sorry sir" I said to him "No hard done by kid" he laughs as he grabbed at some poor girl taking her upstairs "Go on head home Newt" the bar keep said so I finished my work and handed him all the glasses getting my bag and went out to the foggy cobble streets. I groaned putting my arms across my chest to try and avoid the cold but the damp air made that impossible, I could hear the noise from the pubs and houses I tried not to smell the sweet scents from people's homes it just made my stomach rumble and grumble slowly going though town "Evening Newt" I heard a voice smile I looked over and saw the familiar yellow dress half torn and broken, her red hair a plaited mess from being on her back Most of the day "Evening Teresa" I smiled to her "how's business?" "Pretty slow... Never much catch in the fog" she says "I suppose not" I laughed "Here, while I have you" she says handing me a couple of glass bottles "Thanks Teresa" I smiled getting her a coin and handing it to her open palm before I headed off, soon enough I got to the alley heading down getting my key and unlocking the door to the cold dark little house. I shut the door locking it up again and lighting a candle or two with my last match before it burnt my finger I hurried to the left room opening the little door I headed over to the crib and lit a candle just as I did someone started crying so I smiled be gently lifting little Erwin up out his crib giving him a little cuddle which silenced his cries so I put him down tucking him tight oh no... One, two- where's Sonya! "Oh no, oh no, oh no" I said unlocking the door and rushing out into the foggy streets "Sonya! Sonya!" I shouted as I ran thought the paths and alleys I ran for what felt like forever till I stopped to get my breath "Newt?" A voice asked I turned to see a window opening it was Mrs linley who lived a few blocks away "I found this little one trying to steal my laundry" she says handing me little Sonya "Oh thank god, I was so worried about you" I told her but she just giggled sucking on her fingers "thank you, I don't know how she keeps getting out" "You know... Isn't right young boy like you raising those babies" she says "you haven't the time with work and all... Should really give them in" "I'm doing fine taking care of them" I snapped "sorry I just... I know my mum wouldn't want us all to be separated" I said hitching Sonya up on my hip "thanks again for finding her" I smiled before heading home putting her in the cot with her brothers Erwin and George, once I got the bottles sorted I got them all out sitting in there chairs "sorry guys, as this is all we've got we going to have to ration a bit," I sighed knowing this isn't going to be enough not for Tonight let alone the week so I feed them each as much of the milk from Teresa as I could possibly spare, Teresa is a whore and has been as long as I can remember but she got pregnant not to long ago and... Unfortunately lost it. And since what happened to my mother she agreed to give as much milk as she could for them atleast till they get a bit bigger. But since it is all we have they get some milk a day and the rest is having to be bread soaked in water but I tried to keep it as fair as I could between the three. As they where having there food I got the last few biscuits they were so stale they where hard to chew and a few had rat and mouse bites in the sides but if it's good enough for the rats I suppose it will do for me. I was just about to set them to bed when the door knocked "Who is it?" I said in panic "Open up Newt it's just me" the sweet voice replies I quickly opened it shutting it again behind her "You scared me" I blushed "How?" She giggled pulling off her black hood revealing her pretty purple dress "I thought you might be a debter or something" "You worry too much" she laughs going off to the bedroom I smiled sitting back on the chair as she got sorted out "look what I managed to sneak home?" She smiled putting two apples in the table "What would I do without you Y/n" I smiled giving her the biggest hug I could manage "Be dead probably" she giggled pushing me away and getting a knife from the kitchen "this one today, this one tomorrow" she says putting the other apple away and cutting this one into five equal prices three of which she diced up and gave to the kids and we shared the other two even if I could have swan she gave me a little more then she had "How was work?" I asked trying to take tiny bites to make my apple last "Fine, long day" she says "how was work?" "Okay, herb didn't pay me again" "I'll talk to him on my way out tomorrow" she says "No please Y/n, it's okay we can make it work" "Newt... We can only stretch my two pounds a week so far" she says "if he's not going to pay you, you may as we get another job" she says taking the triplets to bed "Knowhere will take me, knowhere but the factories... And I can't risk it in the factories. I couldn't have the risk of not coming home" I explain "I could always..." She says as she came back fiddling with her dress "take up some extra work? In the evenings" "Y/n no" I told her holding her hands "no, it hasn't come to that... We'll be okay," "If you're sure, come on bed you have work tomorrow mr" she says "and you best not be home late tomorrow, it's bath night" she warns so I smiled and headed to the bedroom clothes scattered everywhere the window boarded shut, the old half broken bed tucked into the wall with a thousand blankets I got sorted and tucked into bed the bed as cold as everywhere else, as Y/n came in not long after having locked up the house and blewn out the candles, she undid her long brown hair and slipped off her dress and corset revealing her curves I looked away best I could as she climbed into bed "goodnight Newt" "Goodnight Y/n" I told her pulling her close she was a little warmer then me but not much, she drifted to sleep quickly nuzzling close to me as she slept her skin slight shivering so I gave her as much blanket as I could spare to try and keep her warm.

I suppose I should really explain. A long time ago, things where simple. My father used to run the cobblers in the town with my mother helping out where she could, until I came along, and even then things where okay if a little stretched sometimes... Until my siblings came, my mother passed away in childbirth but they where able to save all three triplets, but not to long after my father ran off with some whore girl. I tried keeping us afloat best I could but we where drowning... And then Y/n. I had known her quiet a while meeting in the shop and such like but I found her one night while I was walking home from work tucked in an alley in the rain, she had run off from her abusive father and uncle but had nowhere else to go. And ever since we have lived together we share a bed but mostly for warmth and for the fact we couldn't afford a new bed so this was my parents bed together both of us working is just enough for the bills and for food but it means using every last penny.

I hated having to live this way but I refuse to let her go out and get a evening job, the things people do to those girls I couldn't bare the thought of Y/n doing that, Even if we could really use the money. I hated how people looked at us the assume we are living in sin even if I've never touched Y/n like that...well intentionally. They look at us even worse if we go out with the triplets people think that we live in sin with three bastard children even if most around here know that isn't true

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

Text

Stark Spangled Banner Ch36: I Bid You Farewell And Good Luck, Morons!

But there’s no sign of Tony, and the more they heard, the more they start to wonder if this is a battle they stand any chance of winning.

Warnings:Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist

This is a bit of a longer update than normal, but I wanted to explore IW using all 3 of the perspectives that were shown, for no reason other than I had favourite bits in them all! And I LOVE writing for Thor and Tony!

As always tags are open and I’m taking suggestions for that lovely 5 year gap post snap/pre time Heist so if you have any ideas or wants, hit me up!

“It’s like a pirate had a baby with an angel…”

Thor wasn’t dead. But he felt like it. Every inch of his body ached and when he was jerked back to consciousness for a moment, just one split moment, he thought he saw Little Stark. Only it wasn’t her. The woman had dark hair, yes, but as he focussed he realised she looked nothing like the woman he loved dearly as a sister. This woman had huge eyes and antenna dangling from her forehead. And, whilst he knew it had been a while since he had seen his friend, she wouldn't have changed that much.

Finding his feet he looked around, chest heaving, at the band of people stood in front of him; A woman with green skin and red hair, a man with grey/blue skin, bald head, and red lines all over his body, a tree creature- a Flora Colossus he thought- which was off to the side draped over a chair, some kind of furry, animal thing- a rabbit maybe- and finally a man who appeared to be a normal, human.

They had offered him soup, and then when he had explained about Thanos the green skinned lady had told Thor what the Titan wanted the stones for. Which she knew, because she his daughter.

"Families can be tough," Thor said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Before my father died, he told me that I had a half-sister, that he imprisoned in Hell. Then she returned home, stabbed me in the eye so, I had to kill her." he said, shrugging "That's life though isn't it I guess? Round and round, but I feel your pain."

The human, Peter Quill pushed his way between Gamora and Thor, and looked at her "I feel your pain, as well, because, I mean it's not a competition, but I've been through a lot. My father killed my mother, and then I had to kill my father. And that was hard. Probably even harder than having to kill a sister. Plus, I, came out with both of my eyes."

Thor wasn’t paying attention. The man was clearly a moron, and he’d just noticed he had bent the spoon in the bowl of soup and was having a flashback to the time he had tried to bend the Captain’s shield. Little Stark had laughed so much at how annoyed he had gotten when he failed that she had cried. And then, to make it worse, a few days later the Captain had managed to move Mjolnir. Just a fraction, but it moved. No one had seen it, bar Little Stark of course, but there was something there, Thor was sure. Steve Rogers was a man worthy of a lot of things, but his hammer was complicated. You have to prove it. That had been explained to him the day it had been given to him. Of course, he hadn’t realised then that Eitri had actually made it for Hela first.

Eitri…

"I need a hammer, not a spoon." Thor mumbled, as the idea took hold and he looked at the pod at the back of the ship. "How do I open this thing?" he began pressing random buttons on the screen next to the door. “Is there some sort of a four-digit code? Maybe a birth date or something?"

"What are you doing?" Rocket asked.

"Taking your pod." Thor replied nonchalantly.

And then there was a row in which the moron called Quill tried to imitate Thor’s deeper voice telling him he could not take the pod, but Thor was going to take the pod anyway because he was the God of Thunder after all, and then the lady Gamora cut them off quite rightly directing the focus back to Thanos by stating they needed to find out where he was going next. But Thor had already thought of that.

"Knowhere," he answered as he brushed past Quill and over to the refrigerator he had seen Gamora get his soup from.

"He must be going somewhere," Mantis argued innocently.

"No," Quill shook his head and Thor noted his stupid voice was back to normal, "Knowhere? It's a place. We've been there. It sucks. Excuse me, that's our food." he said, suddenly noticing what Thor was doing.

"Not anymore," Thor shrugged, stuffing it into a backpack he found.

"Thor," Gamora cut across the pair of them again "Why would he go to Knowhere?"

"Because for years, the Reality Stone has been safely stored there with a man called the Collector." Thor said

"If it's with the Collector, then it's not safe.” Quill snorted. “Only an idiot would give that man a stone."

"Or a genius." Thor shrugged.

"How do you know he's not going for one of the other stones?" Gamora asked.

"There's six stones out there." Thor began to explain, "Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it, last week, when he decimated Xandar.”

He didn’t missed the shocked and horrified look the group shared with one another.

“He stole the Space Stone from me, when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people. The Time and Mind Stones, are safe on Earth. They're with the Avengers." Thor stated.

"The Avengers?" Quill asked.

"They're Earth's Mightiest Heroes."

"Like Kevin Bacon?" Mantis called out.

"Errr he may be on the team now, I don't know.” Thor shrugged, having no idea who the man named after a breakfast meat was. “I haven’t been there in a while. And as for the Soul Stone, well no one's ever seen that. No one even knows where it is. Therefore, Thanos can't get it. Therefore, he's going to Knowhere. Hence, he'll be getting the Reality Stone. You're welcome."

"Then we have to go to Knowhere, now." Gamora said

"Wrong. Where we have to go is Nidavellir." Thor said picking up the backpack.

"That's a made up word," Drax, the blue man countered.

"All words are made up." Thor smiled, slinging the backpack onto his back.

"Nidavellir is real?" the animal called Rocket’s eyes grew wide and he jumped up onto the table and looked at Thor "Seriously? I mean, that place is a legend. They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the Universe. I would very much like to go there, please."

"The rabbit is correct." Thor grinned at Rocket's excitement, "And clearly the smartest among you. Only Eitri the Dwarf can make me the weapon I need. I assume you're the captain, Sir?"

Rocket grinned and nodded, "You're very perceptive."

"You seem like a noble leader. Will you join me on my quest to Nidavellir?"

"Let me just ask the captain. Oh, wait a second, it's me!” Rocket grinned. “Yeah, I'll go."

"Wonderful." Thor beamed.

"Uh except that I'm the captain," Quill chipped in

"Quiet!" Thor said, now beyond bored of the moron.

"And that's my backpack," Quill continued pointing to the bag that Thor was stealing.

"Quill, sit down," Rocket said, tapping at the pad and keying in the digits to open the pod.

"Look, this is my ship. And I'm not going to - wait, what kind of weapon are we talking about here?" Quill looked round.

"The Thanos-killing kind." Thor smiled. Boy, was it going to be a big, fucking weapon...

"Don't you think that we should all have a weapon like that?" Quill frowned.

"You lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as you minds collapsed into the madness." Thor said.

"Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?" Rocket asked.

"Erm, a little bit weird. Yeah." Thor looked down at him, frowning.

“If we don't go to Knowhere and Thanos retrieves another stone, he'll be too powerful to stop." Gamora said, stepping forward.

"He already is." Thor shrugged.

"Look, I got it figured out," Rocket interrupted, looking at Gamora. "We got two ships, and a large assortment of morons. Me and Groot will go with the Pirate Angel here, and the morons will go to Knowhere to try and stop Thanos. Cool? Cool."

"So cool." Thor said with a smile before he climbed into the pod.

"For the record…” Quill said leaning down to Rocket “ I know that you're only going with them because it's where Thanos isn't."

"You know, you really shouldn't talk that way to your captain, Quill.” Rocket said, walking backwards and gesturing outwards with his arms. “Come on, Groot. Put that game down. You'll rot your brain,"

As Rocket sat down Thor nodded out of the pod “I bid you farewell and good luck, morons. Bye."

******

Within seconds the Ex-Avengers were sprinting off the jet.

“Katie, Nat, take the side!” Steve yelled, as he vaulted over the railings at the edge of the road running down onto the bottom half of the concrete which led to the station. “Sam, up high,and remember protect Vision at all costs!”

“Got em.” Sam spoke over the coms “Platform seven, near the café.”

Steve vaulted over another set of barriers, the station now deserted thanks to the evacuation taking place by the local police. As he ran onto one of the walkways he was just in time to see two of the aliens crash through the station roof. Weighing up his options, he realised it was going to be quicker for him to run down the platform he was over and jump across the lines to help. He swung his legs over the railings and landed easily, looking up. Across from him he could see Natasha and Katie emerging to the right, as Wanda stood and moved protectively in front of Vision, building power in her hands. An express train whizzed past him and he stood still, waiting and it wasn’t long before the taller, blue looking woman spotted him, and she launched her spear over the platform. Steve easily snapped his left shoulder back whilst leaning over his body with his right, catching the staff in his hand.

Steve launched the weapon he had caught across the tracks where Natasha caught it and stabbed the second assailant in the gut as Katie moved into to head off the other who was stalking back towards them. The weapon Natasha had been using flew back into the alien’s hands and Katie ducked as she swung, jabbing her in the back of the leg with an electric powered escrima stick. The alien let out a yell, stumbled slightly and Steve cleared the platform in a leap, rolling and scooping up the second assailant’s staff from the floor, holding it up to block the blow that the creatured aimed at Katie. He grit his teeth, planting his legs to absorb the power of the hit, as Katie rolled to the side, jumped up and the two of them began to fight the alien, joined shortly by Natasha who had stabbed the other one in the gut, taking him out of the fight. Steve had to admit, the woman (if you could call her that) was a force to be reckoned with, but the three of them were just about getting the upper hand when they heard Sam yell.

“DUCK!”

“Get up” she instructed to her fallen partner, her voice was deep.

“I can't” his gravelly, robotic voice replied.

“We don't wanna kill you.” Natasha spoke coolly “But we will”.

“Can you stand?” Sam asked Vision as Katie replaced her sticks and walked towards Wanda and the android. When Vision shook his head, Sam moved forward to help him up.

Supported by Wanda and Sam, Vision looked over at Steve, Natasha and Katie, electricity shimmering over his surface. He’d been badly damaged in the fight, and as he spoke his voice distorted.

“Thank you, Captain.”

Steve looked at the android, he might have been damaged but they had the stone, and that was the main thing. Nodding, he spoke “Let's get you on the jet.” his voice was soft and he moved to let Sam and Wanda support Vision, Natasha following as Katie dropped behind to stay with him as they took up the rear of the group, her fingers lacing into his.

Once Vision was safely settled in a seat at the side, Sam dropped into the pilot’s seat as Katie hit the button to close the ramp as the Jet rose into the air.

“I thought we had a deal.” Natasha spun angrily to Wanda. ”Stay close, check in. Don't take any chances.”

“I'm sorry. We just wanted time.” The younger woman said gently.

Katie glanced at Steve, he was stood up in the middle of the jet, hands on the buckle of his utility belt, staring seemingly at nothing, clearly contemplating something.

“Where to, Cap?” Sam asked.

Steve looked up, he glanced at Sam then locked eyes with Katie as he spoke one word, one simple word that they had all been waiting to hear for almost 2 years.

“Home” he said, looking round the jet.

*****

Steve noticed her demeanour change slightly as they landed. She stood up straight, her shoulders squaring as if she was about to face an onslaught. And they were, in a way. On their way they’d let Bruce know that they had Vision and were heading back, but had had no idea what they were heading back to, nor did he care. Be it Ross, police, the army, whatever, he was done bowing to anyone’s will, over playing other people’s tunes. The two years they had spent hidden had shown them that they could operate on their own if required, and he wasn’t afraid to fight anyone who got in his way.

They stepped off the ramp and strode over the lawn, Katie taking a deep breath as she looked around. She felt a wave of that many emotions she couldn’t explain or identify half of them. Memories flooded in, the long summer nights they sat outside in the garden and on the BBQ patio until sunrise. Laughs during team dinners. Sam and Wanda collaborating on pranks. Training sessions with the team and Vision reading Tolkien aloud to Wanda before asking questions about humanity's love of fiction. Walks and picnics and other things in the ground, just her and Steve. Their wedding, God their wedding! Frequent visits from Tony, bringing in new ideas and improved gadgets. Getting back safe after being out on a long mission. Feeling relaxed and at ease.

Feeling at home.

Steve’s arm curled round his wife for a moment before he pressed a kiss to the side of her head as Vision opened the door.

“Still no word from Vision?” The holographic figure of Ross looked up from where he sat at a table and glanced at Rhodey.

“Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh.” Rhodey replied. He knew they were on their way to the compound, but hadn’t told Ross deliberately.

“On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world's most wanted criminals.” Rhodey felt his temper beginning to flare. “You know they're only criminals because you've chosen to call them that, right, sir? “

“My God, Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own.” Ross said as he stood up. The sound of the call echoed down the corridor reaching the group that were making their way through to the lab.

“If it weren't for those Accords, Vision would've been right here” Rhodey shot back and Katie glanced back at Vision as the sounds of Rhodey and Ross’ voice grew louder as they neared their destination.

"You have second thoughts?" Ross was challenging Rhodey, who smiled simply as his eyes shot sideways, as Steve strode forward, his presence as intimidating as ever, and the first thing Rhodey noticed was just how dark he looked. Gone was the upstanding, All American Hero, and in its place was someone much harder, far rougher round the edges. Kiddo looked different too. Her hair was shorter, she looked slimmer too, but her upper body looked stronger.

"Not anymore." he grinned.

"Mr. Secretary"

"You got some nerve." Ross sniffed, staring up at him "I'll give you that."

"You could use some of that right now." Katie shot back bluntly, Ross turning his head to face her for a second. She held his gaze and arched an eyebrow until he turned back to Steve.

"The world's on fire." Ross said incredulously. "And you think, you can just walk back in here and all is forgiven?"

Steve levelled the secretary with a firm gaze. "I'm not looking for forgiveness.” his voice took on a threatening tone as he spoke “And I'm way past asking for permission.”

At that point the smirk on Katie’s face grew even wider as she stole a glance up at her husband, pride swelling in her chest as he continued, stoic and unyielding.

“Earth just lost her best defender, so we're here to fight. And if you wanna stand in our way," he stepped down to be at level with the hologram, and stared it square in the eyes "We'll fight you, too."

Ross was practically foaming at the mouth as his eyes went to Rhodey and he spat out his order, "Arrest them."

"All over it." Rhodey promised nonchalantly before shutting off the hologram, shortly after a beeping noise sounded from the computers.

"That's a court-martial." He informed the group as he slapped the back of his right hand into his left palm, though his tone said told Katie that he blatantly couldn’t have cared less for Ross’ demands. There was a short pause as the group glanced down at their friend, Steve smiling softly, before Rhodey’s face split into a huge smile of his own.

"It's great to see you, Cap." he said, stepping forward.

"You too, Rhodey." Steve answered, taking the last 2 steps down before he shook Rhodey's hand. Katie threw herself at her brother’s best friend and he gave her a huge bear hug before he stepped backwards.

“Hey Kiddo, you do something to your hair?” he teased. She smiled, stepping back from his embrace while he looked the rest of the group over.

"Well. You guys really look like crap." He said lightly. "Must've been a rough couple of years."

Steve looked round, an amused smile on his face as he glanced at his wife then to the rest of the team.

"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five star." Sam quipped back cheekily, the banter flowing between them like no time at all had passed.

"Uh, I think you look great."

Steve turned at the new voice to see Bruce inching his way into the room nervously wringing his hands together.

Steve and Katie remained silent, exchanging a glance. In the rush around and the fray of the fight, we’d forgotten to explain exactly who it was that called. "Yeah. I'm back."

Katie glanced over at Nat, she had her gaze fixed solely on the scientist as she spoke "Hi, Bruce."

"Nat." Bruce answered inclining his head towards her slightly as he fidgeted.

"This is awkward." Sam piped up. Steve and Katie looked at one another, before they both smiled and looked back up at Sam.

“Any news on Tony?” Katie asked gently, interrupting the silence that had fallen.

“Not yet no.” Rhodey said. “FRIDAY lost him when he left the atmosphere. We got NASA running scans and we’re trying to track his trail but…” He shook his head.

“Typical Tony.” Katie rolled her eyes “Always has to go one bigger and one better doesn’t he?”

Her blasé tone wasn’t fooling anyone.

"Banner.” Steve said gently, looking across the room at the scientist. “Can you fill us in on what we're up against here?"

"Yeah sure," Bruce said nodding hesitantly.

“We’ll use the living area.” Rhodey said, “Slightly more comfortable”

They made their way to the lounge, the same lounge they had all sat in discussing the Accords. Not much had changed; the furniture was different, there was couple of new sofas and the TV was larger, but that was it.

“So start from the beginning.” Steve looked at Bruce where he stood near the window, one hand on the back of a chair, the other on his hip. He nodded encouragingly, he could see the man was nervous “Who took Stark and what are we up against?”

“I’ll give you the short version and we can plug in the gaps later.” Bruce sighed, “His name is Thanos. He’s a War tyrant, from a planet called Titan. He goes from place to place, destroying worlds, taking what he wants, when he wants. Loki’s attack on New York?” Bruce looked around “Thanos was the one who sent him to attack Earth,"

"But what does he want?” Katie asked.

“All six Infinity Stones…” Bruce supplied.

“Infinity Stones?” Sam questioned.

“Yeah, so erm… the big bang, when it happened, it sent six of these crystals out across the universe. They each control an essential aspect of existence. Space. Reality. Power. Soul. Mind. Time.” Bruce said, rubbing his temple.

“Thor told us about them, after Ultron.” Katie looked round and her eyes fell on Steve’s “He said there were three out there unaccounted for, and three that he could locate. One was with some collector or something, one was housed in the tesseract which was locked in a vault in Asgard and the other…”

"Viz." Wanda murmured, glancing at the Stone in Vision's forehead.

Bruce nodded again. “Thanos came to our ship for the tesseract, which means he already had the Power and Space Stones before he came to Earth looking for the rest. Just that alone makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe, if he gets his hands on all six he could destroy all life as we know it."

“Hang on, the Tesseract was on your ship?” Katie looked at Bruce, “I thought it was on Asgard?”

“It was, but right before Ragnarok…” “Ragnarok?” Katie frowned, her mind whirring “But that’s…that’s the fabled downfall and the destruction of Asgard, I mean....” “I know.” Bruce looked at her. “Asgard was destroyed as part of a battle between Thor and his sister. So was his hammer.” “What?” Steve let out a breath as Katie felt her mouth drop open.

“Thor has a sister?”

“Look, that’s a whole different story.” Bruce said, his tone slightly frustrated. “All you need to know is that Loki –yeah, surprise, not dead, -stole the tesseract from the Vault before we left. Thanos boarded the ship and took the stone. Just took it.” he said, his arms swinging out to his sides before returning with a slap.

The room fell silent.

“So Thor.” Katie took a deep breath and asked the question she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to “Where…”

Bruce dropped his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh no.” Steve muttered as he dropped his head, looking downwards. He glanced up and saw across the table that Katie had her right hand against her forehead the heel of which was pressed hard into the space between her eyes in utter dismay.

Thor. Gone.

“He was no match for Thanos, not when he had those stones.” Bruce said gently. A single tear trickled down Katie’s cheek and fell to the floor and Steve watched as she took a deep breath, furiously wiping at her face.

“So the two we fought came for the mind stone.” Sam spoke for the first time “I’m assuming the ones you fought were after another one that’s located somewhere in New York?”

"The Time Stone.” Bruce nodded “It was being protected by some mystical arts guy, or a Wizard as Tony called him, Dr Steven Strange.” Katie’s head whipped round to Steve and he took a breath and straightened up, before he glanced over at Sam and Natasha and the four of them shared an instant understanding, they’d heard that name before on top of a multi-storey parking garage in DC.

"A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future.”

“But he was taken along with Tony.” Bruce finished.

Katie didn’t even want to think about that right now. She had to trust in her brother’s quick mind and sharp resilience, because the alternative didn’t bear thinking about.

"Well, we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey said and Steve looked down again, his mind racing as he tried to make sense of everything Bruce had said.

"And they can clearly find us." Wanda added.

"We need all hands on deck," Bruce said pacing, "Where's Clint?"

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal," Natasha explained, "It's too tough on their families. They're on house arrest."

"Who's Scott?" Bruce frowned.

"Ant Man," Steve answered.

"There's an Ant Man and a Spider Man?" Bruce looked around in confusion, but it was Rhodey who nodded, simply, like it was just perfectly normal. Bruce shook his head, realising that it didn’t really matter at the moment before he continued. "Thanos has the biggest army in the Universe. And he is not gonna stop until he gets Vision's stone." He said the last part softly, almost reluctantly.

"Well then, we have to protect it," Natasha said stepping forward but Vision immediately corrected her.

"No, we have to destroy it," he said resolutely, his gaze focussed on something out of the window as everyone turned to him. He turned to face them and gestured to the stone in his head. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps" he made his way over to Wanda and held onto her upper arm, "Its molecular integrity could fail."

"Yeah, and you with it," Wanda looked at him, shaking her head "We're not having this conversation."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it."

Katie noticed Wanda’s eyes flash as she glared at Vision. "It's also too high a price."

"Only you have the power to pay it," Vision said quietly.

Steve shifted slightly. He knew that Vision was right, but the idea of losing someone else in their group didn’t sit well.

"Thanos threatens half the Universe.” Vision persisted “One life cannot in the way of defeating him."

"But it should," Steve argued, his eyes were diverted to the floor as he spoke gently, and it was right. Who were any of them to decide one life was worth less than anyone else? He took a deep breath and looked up and around the room before landing back on the android "We don't trade lives, Vision."

"Captain, seventy years ago you laid down your life to save how many millions of people? Tell me, why is this any different?"

Steve took a sigh and stepped towards Vision, unable to answer because he knew the android had him, but then Bruce did it for him.

"Because you might have a choice," Bruce answered, and Steve could see the Scientist had suddenly had an idea, "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixing together. All of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda asked.

"I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts."

"Can we do that?" Natasha asked looking back and forth between the android and the scientist somewhat impatiently.

"Not me. Not here."

Steve suddenly began to think, maybe not Bruce, but could Suri? She had fixed Bucky after all, surely she could do this. T’Challa would be happy to help. And with his defences, maybe Wakanda was the safest place for Vision to be.

"Well you better find someone and somewhere fast," Rhodey pipped in. "Ross isn't just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."

Steve nodded to himself, his mind made up before he raised his head to look up around the group. "I know somewhere."

His eyes momentarily locked onto Katie’s and he watched as the realisation crossed her face, she knew instantly where he meant.

“Wakanda?” she asked.

He nodded, turning to Sam. “Can we get wheels up in 20?"

Sam nodded and Steve turned to Rhodey. "That enough time for you to load up your suit?"

"Yeah. Should be."

“Ok. “Steve looked round “Banner, I suggest you grab what you need. The rest of us, back to the jet.”

The team began to bustle about and then Katie remembered something.

“Rhodey?” she asked, hopping down off the table, “Where’s Steve’s shield?”

Rhodey paused in the doorway and turned to face her. “I don’t know, sorry Kiddo. Tony never mentioned it.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Steve said gently. As Katie opened her mouth to suggest they had a look for it, he cut her off “And we don’t have time either, we need to go.”

Truth be told he didn’t want the shield back. It wasn’t his, not anymore.

“Fine.” Katie said somewhat stiffly. “I’m going to raid the armoury anyway, pick up a few things…” “Katie!” he called after her as she hurried out of the room. He let out a frustrated groan.

“I’ll go.” Rhodey said, patting the Captain on the shoulder. “I need my suit anyway.” The directions ingrained in her memory forever she headed to the armoury on autopilot and once inside she stopped dead. It had all changed. To the left were the usual lockers, although they now held no names she would lay odds on all the original seven of them still having kit in there. The guns, arrows, widow bites, shock batons were all still there on the racks. Rhodey’s War Machine kit stood in the corner, but what wasn’t was an Iron Man suit, or a Nova suit, of any description. Instead, in place of the the usual glass cabinets that held them were rows of smaller capsules.

“What the…” Katie mumbled, heading closer to examining “FRIDAY?”

“Welcome home Mrs Rogers…” The AI spoke, a hint of amusement in her voice “I believe Pod Seventy-Six is one of yours”

“Tony’s been working on upgrades” Rhodey spoke from behind, making her jump. “Nano-tech, courtesy of some work with Helen Cho.” “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Katie frowned as Rhodey made his way to the War Machine suit.

“Sevety-Six you say?” Katie’s eyes scanned the wall. “OK, FRIDAY hit me up.” One of the capsules opened and a smaller capsule flew out, opening in mid- air and then out of nowhere a suit formed around her body.

“Woah…” Katie said, as the familiar heads-up display lit up.

“The suit is held in a simple bangle” FRIDAY explained. “I’ll show you once the calibrations are done.”

As FRIDAY rattled through the new features, including a shield, new weapons Katie stole a glance in the mirror. It was much sleeker and less bulky, almost like wearing a cat-suit in a way. It was dark blue and gold, as always, with her Supernova Star in the middle of the chest. She gently reached up to touch it and the suit melted away to a silver cuff with the star in the middle which she tentatively placed around her wrist.

“Impressive huh?” Rhodey asked as he stepped into the War Machine suit.

“One word for it.” She said softly, tracing the outline of her bracelet with her fingers. “I can’t… why did he make it?” she looked up at Rhodey who slid his face plate back up to look at her.

“You know what Tony’s like.” Rhodey said, “Just because you left doesn’t mean he stopped caring.”

Katie looked down at the bracelet on her right wrist.

"Was- Was he okay, you know...after?" She asked, her voice cracking.

"He was as okay as he could be…” Rhodey hesitated slightly “To be honest, nothing was great though. The team was split and…”

Katie looked down “I had to go, I couldn’t stay, not after what he said to me.” Rhodey looked at her. “And have you ever considered why he said what he did?” “Because he hates me?” “No, because he loves you.” Rhodey took a deep breath “He knew full well that whatever choice you made it was going to kill you, but he couldn’t see you sat in a jail, he just couldn’t Kiddo. So he did what he had to do make sure you stayed away.” Whatever she had been expecting Rhodey to say it wasn’t that. His words hit her like a tonne of bricks and she felt her face screw up as she blinked back the tears.

“Shit…” she managed to mumble out. “I could, you know we could have called him, or he could have called us, tried to …” “You’re both as obstinate as one another” Rhodey said, shaking his head as he started to walk to the door of the armoury “Which is why I know he’s still alive. He’s too much of a stubborn asshole to die. “

*******

Tony was pissed, really pissed. Not only was he stuck on this fucking ship, the kid was still here too. Peter Parker was almost as much of a pain in his ass as Katie had been when she was his age. The thought of his sister brought a pang to his heart, especially when he knew she was more than likely at the compound now after Bruce will have called them. He hoped anyway, he’d thrown the phone down before the fight after all, he just hoped the scientist had found it.

He looked around and glared at Peter before his shoulders fell. Well the kid was here now, might as well use him.

“Come on.” Tony sighed “We got a situation” He lead Peter over to a viewpoint to see the torture going on below. Peter crouched to study the situation, with that damned cloak leaning over his shoulder. “See him down there? He's in trouble.” Tony continued “What's your plan? Go.”

“Um. Okay, okay... uh...” Peter and the cloak popped back up suddenly, a smile playing on Peter’s face. “Okay. Did you ever see this really old movie, Aliens?”

It was a dumbass plan, but dumbass enough to work. Tony blew a hole in the side of the ship which caused a huge depressurization and as such the alien was sucked out of the side. A quick struggle and Dr Strange was rescued from drifting off to space, Tony repaired the side of the hull with nanites and that was that.

“We've gotta turn this ship around” Strange looked at Tony who rolled his eyes. .

“Yeah. Now he wants to run. Great plan”.

“No, I want to protect the stone.”

Tony walked towards the expansive front view-port and from the way things were moving out there, he assumed they were travelling at some kind of hyper speed. The wizard was irritating him though, if he’d just agreed to get the stone out of the way they wouldn’t even be in this mess.

“And I want you to thank me now. Go ahead, I'm listening.” he turned to glare at him.

“For what?” Strange snorted, “Nearly blasting me into space?

“Who just saved your magical ass? Me.” Tony looked at him. “

“I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet”. Strange shook his head as he eyed the billionaire up and down.

“Admit it.” Tony said, for some reason he felt the need to make this guy admit he was wrong, just like he used to try and do with Rogers. No particular reason for it, other than being the one to come out on top “. You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused.”

“Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you”.

“And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut billions of miles away from Earth with no backup.” Tony gestured around him.

“I’m back up.” Peter said, raising his hand.

“No, you’re a stowaway.” Tony said, waggling his finger between himself and Dr. Strange “The adults are talking”.

“I'm sorry, I'm confused as to the relationship here. Wh-- what is he, your ward?” Strange frowned.

“No. I'm Peter, by the way.” Peter said, holding out his hand.

“ Dr Strange.” Strange replied, looking at him.

“Oh, we're using our made-up names. Um. I'm Spider-Man, then”.

Before Strange could respond, Tony piped up. “This ship is self-correcting its course. Thing's on autopilot.”

Strange walked closer to where Tony was stood. “Can we control it? Fly us home?”

Home…Thanos…home.

They’d almost flattened New York once, and then there was Sokovia…no, home was most certainly a bad idea.

“Stark?” Strange’s voice cut across his thoughts. “Can you get us home?

Yeah I heard you. I'm thinking. I'm not so sure we should.” he said, honestly.

“Under no circumstance can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos.” Strange warned “I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here”.

“No. It's you who doesn't understand, that Thanos has been inside my head for six years since he sent an army to New York and now he's back!” Tony said, stalking towards Strange, jabbing a finger in the air as he pointed towards the ground. “And I don't know what to do. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his but you saw what they did, what they can do. At least on his turf, he's not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him. Doctor. Do you concur?“

Strange had to admit, the guy had a point. Let Thanos destroy his own place, not theirs. “Alright, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand... if it comes to saving you or the kid or the Time Stone... I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it”

“Nice. Good. Moral compass. We're straight” Tony nodded. Stepping over to Peter he tapped each of the kids shoulder with the edge of his hand, dubbing him as is done at a knighting.

“Alright, kid. You're an Avenger now”

Tony couldn’t look at him as he spoke, because he knew what he was signing the kid up for.

******

The jet was filled with chatter as Rhodey, Bruce and the rest of the team were catching up but Katie wasn’t listening. She wasn’t feeling great either, that damned sick feeling was back, most likely this time down to utter fear about what was to come. If Bruce was right, she wasn’t convinced this was a battle they were ever going to be able to win.

“You know,” she said, looking up at Steve and voicing her fear softly, “if he’s already killed Thor, and it’s going to take us, plus a royal army to attempt to fight this guy off what fucking chance does Tony stand?”

Steve didn’t answer, he couldn’t. Because what he was thinking wasn’t going to provide her any comfort. Instead he merely tightened his arm around her and pressed his lips to her forehead.

It was a couple of hours later before they hit Wakandan airspace.

"We're coming up." Sam spoke as Steve focussed his attention out of the front of the jet, one arm hanging lightly against the grab rails on the roof.

"Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0." Steve instructed.

Sam glanced back over his shoulder before he spoke, "I hope you're right about this, Cap. Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."

Katie gave a small smile as she drew up next to Steve, wrapping her arms around his waist. They both stood, waiting as Sam flew the jet right into the trees, and swore with a loud ‘holy shit’ as it passed right through the hologram barrier into Wakanda. Everyone on the jet moved to get a better look at the beautiful mountains, lakes, buildings as the jet circled and Steve directed Sam to the runway.

They disembarked and Katie strolled off shortly behind Steve, followed by Natasha. Vision and Wanda stayed put, Steve telling them he would get them some help soon.

Bruce, who was at the rear with Rhodey whispered as he shrugged his arms into his jacket, "Should we bow?"

"Yeah, he's a king." Rhodey answered casually without missing a beat.

Steve ignored their banter instead smiling warmly at T'Challa as he reached out to shake his hand. "Seems like I'm always thanking you for something."

T'Challa smiled back and he shook Steve's hand before embracing Katie in a warm hug. “Mrs Rogers, it is a pleasure to see you.” “And you.” She smiled softly, before she stepped back and T’Challa nodded to the rest of the group. The clearing of a throat caught Katie’s attention and she turned just in time to see Bruce bow forward towards T’Challa.

"What are you doing?" Rhodey asked, looking at him.

"Uh, we don't do that here." T'Challa said kindly waving a hand to stop Bruce’s bow. Everyone smiled in amusement expect for Bruce who turned and shot a disbelieving but amused look at Rhodey who grinned back at him, nudging him with his elbow.

Then they turned serious again as T'Challa asked, "So how big of an assault can we expect?"

His guards moved as he spoke, opening up a path that T'Challa took, leading them away. They followed quickly while Bruce piped up politely as he explained, "Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault."

"How we looking?" Natasha added, addressing the king with a similarly concerned frown on her face.

"You will have my King's Guard," T'Challa listed, "the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and-" He gestured to the side just as a familiar, dark-clothed man stepped out of the building to greet them by the door.

"A semi-stable, one hundred-year-old man." Bucky grinned. Katie smiled back and then glanced at Steve as he walked forwards, that familiar boyish grin on his face as pulled the man into a hug clapping him on the back a few times.

"How have you been, Buck?" he pulled back to look at his friend. He looked as well as he’d seen him in years. Healthy and dare he say it, happy.

"Not bad," Bucky shrugged looking down at his new black vibranium arm, "For the end of the world.” Katie stepped forward to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “You look good Buck.” she said, standing back to look him up and down before smiling, something that didn’t escape Steve’s notice. And yes, he knew there was nothing in it, and this was the most inappropriate time to get jealous but still…

“I feel it.” Bucky smiled as Steve slid his arm around his wife’s shoulder. “Goat farming suits me.” With that, Bucky turned to Sam. “Hey man.”

“Frosty.” Sam responded with a jerk of his head.

They left Rhodey, Sam and Bucky with some of the guard to keep watch, and the rest of them followed T'Challa up to the labs where the person who was said to be able to safely remove Vision's stone was waiting. Steve could tell that the rest of the group weren’t expecting that person to be T'Challa's sixteen year old sister, Shuri. But T'Challa had full faith in her, as did Steve after she had managed to remove Bucky's programming.

"Whoa." Shuri blinked as she stared at the hologram of Vision's brain and the stone in awe, "The structure is polymorphic...”

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." Bruce nodded and Shuri glanced at him with a raised brow.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" She asked looking at Banner. Vision also glanced at the doctor in question.

"Because... we didn't think of it." Bruce admitted sheepishly.

Shuri smiled and Katie had to fight the laugh that was brewing at the Princess’ playful nature "I'm sure you did your best."

"Can you do it?" Wanda asked stepping forward anxiously.

Shuri's smile dropped as she became more serious. "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." Her gaze moved to T’Challa “It will take time, brother."

"How long?" Steve asked, straightening up slightly.

Shuri shook her head. "As long as you can give me." She answered honestly and worryingly.

A loud warning siren suddenly started and instantly Katie looked around. General Okoye tapped at something on her bracelet and she looked over at T’Challa."Something's entered the atmosphere."

Seconds later, Sam's voice called over their coms, "Hey, Cap, we got a situation here."

Katie moved over to the floor-length windows of the lab to look out, Steve stood close behind her as everyone followed to see what was going on. In the distance, they could see the plains all around as far as the border stretched to the city. A giant ship descended from the sky and as they watched it exploded high above the city as soon as it touched the shield, causing Katie to jump back slightly. Steve gently caught her, his hands going to her shoulders as his focus remained on the exploding ship which dissipated above the invisible barrier they had flown through.

"God, I love this place." Bucky’s contented sigh rang over their coms.

"Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome." Rhodey warned.

More ships came crashing down to Earth just outside the Wakandan barrier disturbing the dust and sand on the ground as they landed. The lab they were stood in shook slightly and Vision sat up.

"It's too late." he whispered and both Steve and Katie turned to look at him as he sat up. "We need to destroy the stone now."

"Vision, get your ass back on the table." Nat replied snapping her head back to look at him as she made her way to the door.

"We will hold them off." T'Challa said motioning to his guard.

"Wanda," Steve spoke up, looking at the young woman, "As soon as the stone's out of his head, you blow it to hell."

Wanda nodded with promise, "I will."

Steve turned his attention back to the window, watching the space ships which at the moment were doing nothing. T'Challa meanwhile, turned to his General and her warriors and began barking orders, "Evacuate the city. Engage all defences."

Steve turned to look at him as the king pointed in his directing before adding firmly. "And get this man a shield!"

Steve gave a small nod before he glanced back out of the window. For 2 years his fighting days had been focussed on simple people. Small groups of nobodies. Now, they were being thrown back into the crazy world of Aliens, AIs…and he knew they were going to look to him for leadership.

He might not be Captain America anymore, but he was still Captain Rogers, still that dumb kid from Brooklyn. And he still wasn’t going to run from a fight.

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bevioletskies · 5 years

Text

bring it on home to me [1/5]

summary: The fight of everyone’s lives may be over, but for Nebula, Peter, and the rest of the Guardians, the search for the person they love most has just begun.

a/n: MAJOR spoiler warning for Avengers: Endgame, though I am a little vague about the events of what happened. Regardless, please don't let me spoil it for you!

Fic title is, of course, from the song Bring It On Home To Me by Sam Cooke.

word count: 2.6k | ao3 | tag

Peter woke to a cold bed, his teeth chattering and his feet numb, and promptly rolled over to blindly pull his tablet off his bedside table - if one could call it that, given that it was an old crate he’d found in a junkyard on Knowhere - and attempt to remotely adjust the Benatar’s temperature controls. To his utter lack of surprise, it didn’t work. He wasn’t sure Rocket’s recent rewiring of the ship was to blame, but he was sure he was going to say so at the next team meeting, anyway.

He stumbled out of bed, got dressed, considered for a total of thirty seconds as to whether he wanted to shave the slow-growing beard he’d been developing with little success over the last few months or so, and then waved it off, making his way out of his tiny little bunk and into the ship’s communal area. There, sat at the console table, was Nebula, her feet propped up on its surface and her inky black eyes fixated on him like she knew he was coming (she probably did).

“You eat yet?” Peter asked, yawning loudly. She recoiled at the sound.

“No,” she said shortly. “Our rations are lacking. We need to make another stop before we unnecessarily starve ourselves to death.”

Peter grinned. “I like that you said ‘our’. Gives me the warm fuzzies.” Nebula glared, her eyes following him all the way around the room as he tapped into the ship’s operating system on the main holoscreen. She didn’t miss the way his face fell the slightest bit, the way he took a sharp inhale to prepare himself for his next line of questioning. “Find anything yesterday?”

“Nothing. The same as the day before that, and the day before that, and the weeks and months before that,” Nebula said. She turned away, suddenly finding it too hard to look at him, to know that every emotion written on his face was on par with every emotion that stirred in her chest. “We know that. You know that.”

He swallowed, his hand hovering over the screen. Subconsciously, or instinctively, really, he’d taken himself to the criminal records that the Nova Corps had written up on them what felt like decades ago. The picture that stared back at him looked familiar but not quite close enough, the detailed write-up that sounded like someone he knew but not the someone he knew now. Or maybe had known.

“Don’t mean we have to accept it,” he finally said, turning to look at her. “I’m done being passive. Passive is gettin’ us nowhere. We don’t have the right to call ourselves the Guardians if all we do is sit around like a bunch of a-holes.”

“Then it’s good that I’m not one,” Nebula retorted. Peter shoved the screen aside and stomped right up to her, face-to-face, slamming his palms down on the table. He almost detected a twitch in her otherwise stone-cold expression, a betrayal that revealed how affected she truly was.

“You’re a Guardian, Nebula, okay?” His voice was dangerously low, the kind of pitch and tone he usually reserved for when he wore his mask, but there was no finger on the trigger of his quad blasters, just the wetness of his eyes and the intensity of his gaze. “No matter what anyone says. Including yourself.”

She stared back, standing up slowly; he followed her inch by inch. “I’m far beyond letting anyone tell me who or what I am. So you take your self-hatred for what you’ve done and what you didn’t do, and keep it to yourself, Quill. When you stop by the nearest planet to pick up supplies, I suggest you drop me off. This is no longer a ride I want to be on.”

The closest planet they came across was like many others they’d been on before - nondescript in every shape and form, lacking distinguishing features or unique characteristics that would make it any more memorable than the last. For Rocket, all he wanted whenever they touched down somewhere new was a junkyard and a bar, preferably within spitting distance of one another so he could walk in sober and stumble out drunk.

Upon returning to their landing site an hour after they’d first arrived, he apparently came back just in time to see Nebula stomp her way down the Benatar’s ramp and out the loading bay, snarling at the nearest attendant who had gingerly approached, wondering if Peter needed any help with the engine. Peter was stood by the nose of the ship, running his fingers through his hair agitatedly, but made no move to follow her. “She’ll be back,” he was saying to a concerned-looking Drax and Mantis by the time Rocket joined them. “Look, Rocket came back and he talks about leavin’ all the time!”

Rocket fixed him with a long, haunted stare. “Don’t even joke about that, Quill.” Peter’s face crumpled. Rocket turned and made his way up the stepladder and directly into the ship’s engine, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. It was hard for anyone to look anyone else in the face these days, but Peter was especially difficult to take, Nebula even more so for how numb she seemed to be.

He poked around aimlessly for a few minutes, trying to find the cause of their latest ship-related issue. If it wasn’t the computer system, it was the pipes, or it was the engine, or it was the fact that the Benatar was a piece of crap when they got it and was still a piece of crap now. Rocket huffed impatiently, nudging the casing with his foot. “C’mon,” he grumbled. “What kinda engineer would I be if I can’t fix the damn engine?” Another swift kick, harder this time, but all it resulted in was a stubbed toe and a bruised ego. It was a testament to how distracted Peter was that he didn’t even bother chastising Rocket for it, instead disappearing back inside the ship with the others in tow.

Another low growl, and Rocket sat back on his haunches defeatedly, pushing his toolbox aside for the time being. He leaned forward, resting his head in his paws, pulling at the bits of fur that seemed to be falling out of his temples in worryingly large patches, the grooves where his claws had dug near-permanent welts into his cheeks. “I am Groot?”

Rocket lifted his head to see Groot approaching him apprehensively, still clutching his beloved handheld Defender in one hand, the other outstretched in Rocket’s direction. “What d’ya think? We shoulda gotten rid of this rustbucket a long time ago.”

“I am Groot,” he protested, climbing up to sit beside him, his legs swinging over the edge of the ship’s hood. “I am Groot.”

“Yeah, well, nothing’s ever gone right for us, why should it start now?” Rocket let out a hysterical laugh. “Out of the last five jobs we had, two were a complete and utter failure, and one shorted us on units. All ‘cos Quill’s too busy dragging us around the galaxy to find her. ‘Cept that wasn’t her. That wasn’t...that wasn’t our Gamora. That was a Gamora. And I dunno if she wants to be ours, or if she can be in the first place. But he’s done it, Groot. He’s gone and lost his mind, and now we’re the ones who gotta pay for it.” The engine sparked pathetically. “More like not get paid for it.”

“I am Groot.” They both fell silent, Groot politely ignoring the loud, shaky breath Rocket took that certainly wasn’t related to the engine issue. Then, Groot began to hum. It sounded a little thin and reedy in his voice - “tree puberty”, as Peter had so delicately once put it, looked and sounded a lot like human puberty - but it was instantly recognizable.

“Don’t - don’t do that, man,” Rocket said half-heartedly. “We haven’t heard that since you were no bigger than a boot.”

“I am Groot,” he shrugged. He still remembered every note, let it linger in his head sometimes when he needed it most; only he remembered it in her voice, heard the joy when she first remembered the lullaby her parents had sung to her as a baby, how she sang it to him when he was fussy or scared or just wanted to keep her by his bedside for a few more minutes. He’d grown out of it eventually, scoffing at everything and everyone around him like a typical stubborn adolescent, but now he longed for it again, even if just for one more time. “I am Groot?”

“Nah, I don’t think she would’ve known how to fix this.” Rocket twisted a series of wires around his finger, nearly slicing through them with his claw in his absentmindedness. He quickly withdrew his paw before it could happen. “Hell, I’d ask Nebula if she wasn’t in such a...Nebula mood.”

He glanced around the hangar where they’d parked, how very average it all seemed - sky-high ceiling heights, long stretches of metal and concrete as far as the eye could see, and people of all kinds milling about, fawning over a cool ship someone had brought in or arguing over how to best fix the reason they’d landed here in the first place. They had been in a place very similar to this the first time she asked him if she could help, mere weeks after the Guardians had officially formed, with everyone still cautious and nervous and new to existing alongside other people.

“I spent years helping Nebula with her implants,” she had said with her arms folded across her chest, watching him yank at the wires fruitlessly. “Let me take a look.”

“Ship mechanics and implants ain’t the same thing,” Rocket had retorted without sparing her a glance. “Look, I’m sure you were a big ol’ help to your wacko sister, but leave the engineering to me. You go...swing your sword at somethin’ or whatever.”

“You insult me by insinuating I’m only useful in a fight.” The cadence of her voice had been even, measured, but there was a hint of danger to it that gave Rocket the impression he wasn’t going to win this one. “I’ve also shadowed some of the best engineers in the galaxy and made countless minor repairs before. At least let me watch so I can learn. No one ever gets anything done just standing by.”

Rocket had sighed, moving aside so she had room to hover over him, her gaze intensely focused on the meticulousness of his work. “Is that what you told yourself when you first went after the Orb?”

“Yes.” The quickness, the sureness, even, of her reply had surprised him. “I spent years watching Thanos destroy homes, destroy families. Knowing his plans for the Stone, I couldn’t watch any longer.”

“But your sister could? She’s a real piece of work.”

“Watch yourself, Rocket.” She had reached out, gripped his tiny wrist with her long, battle-calloused fingers far too tightly. “My sister and I, we’re like you. Built for someone else’s purpose. Taken apart to fulfill another’s desires. Her lack of morality may disappoint me, but I can’t deny that not too long ago, I still felt the same way.”

He had yanked his arm out of her grasp, shaking it, mulling over her words. “So what changed? Why did you turn your back on the big purple man, and not her?”

“It could be anything that kept her from doing so - disposition, personality, personal traumas…” She had trailed off, tapping one fingernail gently on the glint of silver in her cheekbone, a particular piece that outlined the sharp planes of her bone structure a bit too well. “...repeated body mutilation and a craving for validation that will never come would break anyone’s spirits. You know that as well as we do.”

Rocket had cleared his throat, turned his attention back to the work at hand. “Alright, honesty hour’s over. You gonna pick up a wrench of your own or what?”

“I am Groot.” Groot’s voice brought Rocket back to the present, his chest aching with something he could identify, but wanted to deny. Melancholic longing had always been part of his life, but never his vocabulary, and he wasn’t about to start now. He didn’t want to sound like one of the morose love songs Peter had taken to playing on the ship through to the early hours in the morning. He didn’t want to wake up crying, chest heaving, gasping for air, the way Peter did sometimes, the way they all pretended he didn’t do, for the sake of what was left of his dignity. “I am Groot?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Stop starin’ at me, you’re making me nervous,” Rocket spat, his tone harsher than intended. His ears drooped when Groot’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed. Groot hopped back down onto the stepladder and started walking back to head inside the ship, his footsteps heavier than they had been when he first came out. “Wait, Groot...look, we’re all on edge, I don’t mean to be a dick about it. C’mere, let me show you how this junkpile works.”

Groot sighed, his shoulders heaving, and he went back into the ship without another backward glance. Rocket stared after him, his chin dropping to his chest as he hung his head. He could vaguely hear Peter and Drax arguing inside, with Mantis trying her best to moderate without using her powers, something Peter had sorely been against as of late, something about not wanting to numb himself to how much everything hurt (Rocket hadn’t really been paying attention, mostly because it hit too close to home).

“I am Groot.” Rocket lifted his head to see Groot walking back up to join him. Instead of carrying his video game, he was carrying a familiar-looking book, one that was dusty from lack of use, its spine still in perfect condition. He held it up to Rocket in a sort of peace offering, smiling tentatively. Rocket’s breath shook as he accepted it, brushing away the residue so the title could be read: Engineering Basics, Volume XI: Spacecraft.

“I can’t tell this is a gift or an insult,” she had said dubiously when Rocket first gave it to her. It had been two months since their encounter with Ego, and everyone was finally starting to feel more settled, more at peace with who they were and who they were with.

“You said you wanted to learn,” Rocket had protested. “Look, I spent a whole fifteen units on this!” She had fixed him with a look. “Okay, so I found it at yesterday’s trading post, the attendant said it was a gift from his parents, never used, wanted to get it off his hands. Isn’t it the thought that counts or some crap?”

She had laughed, an unexpectedly soft, musical sound that made Rocket’s ears perk up. “If you say so, Rocket. And thank you. I’m not sure when I’ll have the time with everything that’s going on right now, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

“I am Groot,” he said gently, now placing a hand on Rocket’s.

Rocket inhaled. “Guess she never got around to it. Thing’s never even been opened!”

“I am Groot,” he said, looking pensive. Groot looked younger then, a little bit more like his toddler self, his eyes round and liquid and perpetually in a state of nervous, uncertain energy. The lullaby continued to play in his head; he felt the ghost of a slightly calloused hand cup his cheek as if to say hello, goodnight, goodbye.

Nodding slowly, Rocket opened the book, running his paws over the glossy pages that were otherwise untouched. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I miss her, too.”

a/n: I just watched the movie yesterday and I have to get on a plane tomorrow but I just really, really needed to get some feelings out! This is more of a character relationship study than a strict "The Search For Gamora" fic, mostly because I needed a place to explore all the little headcanons I have about her relationships with each Guardian. And I know Thor was there with them at the end, but as much as I adore him, I wanted to strictly keep the focus on the team, so let's just say he left for a hot minute to check in with Valkyrie in New Asgard or something.

This fic probably exists in a dozen other forms already but regardless, this was oddly therapeutic to write and I hope you enjoyed it all the same! Thanks so much for reading, likes and reblogs would be much appreciated, and see you next time :)

#starmora #starmora fic #peter x gamora #gamora x peter #endgame spoilers #spoilers #myfic #myfic: bring it home #marvel #i'm leaving for vacation tomorrow but i really needed to get my feelings out lmao

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therearemonstersinthedark · 5 years

Text

Book 2 Luciferous

Chapter 11: No One’s Here to Sleep

A Guardians of the Galaxy Fanwork

Pairings: Peter Quill / Gamora (one-sided), Peter Quill & Nebula (freindship)

Genre: Adventure, general

Word Count: 5.5k

Rating: T to be safe, mild gore and cussing in some chapters

Links: Fanfiction.net || Ao3

Summary: Peter’s dreams are back, and Mantis begins some lessons of her own.

Author’s Notes: Title is from ‘No One’s Here to Sleep’ by Bastille

No One's Here to Sleep

"So you and your father are an element? I have never heard of such a thing as a living creature being an element."

"Elementals, Drax, we're Elementals, apparently, which just means we can control the elements or something like that. I'd never heard of it either."

The rest of the Guardians, minus Rocket, were eating dinner with Peter as he shared the information he had learned with them. Even Nebula, who had joined him on his walk back, had decided to stay to hear his news, though she made a rather obvious point about staying far away from her sister.

"And Cosmo has his powers drawn from one of these... 'Givers?'" Nebula asked from her seat next to Drax.

"Yeah. Ego said drinking from the head on Knowhere should have killed him but, it's not completely unheard of for this to happen. He was just lucky I guess."

Nebula pursed her lips in disapproval at the mention of luck. "This does explain a few things," she murmured.

"How is your progress with your own powers going?" Gamora asked from where she sat two seats to his left, in the corner diagonally across from her sister.

"Oh!" Peter shoved his chair out so he could stand up and step away from the table. "Check this out!"

Peter was still pretty tired from the day's work, so he only managed to form a crystal about the size of a baseball, but it was satisfyingly round and toeing the line of being called truly transparent. "It's usually a bit bigger," he confessed, slumping back into his chair and placing the crystal on the table with a thunk. "But it's a big improvement from this morning and it's getting easier to summon and control the Light."

Drax reached forward to grab it, chewing loudly as he rolled it around in his hand.

"And how is this orb supposed to help us defeat Ronan and Thanos?"

"Well, it's not, but eventually I'll be able to make bigger things. When I fought my father last time I made these massive rock-bodies, like gigantic fighting robots," Peter waved his arms up dramatically to emphasize how very gigantic these bodies were. "It was pretty cool."

"On the subject of fighting," Gamora said, her arms crossed neatly on the table in front of herself as she stared at Mantis, sitting across from her. "Do you know how to defend yourself at all, Mantis?"

Mantis blinked her huge eyes in surprise at this question. "I have never needed to defend myself. Ego is very powerful, and I am always with him."

"No one has ever tried to hurt you?" Gamora asked.

"Well, I have met... unhappy people, but with my abilities, I can sooth them back into a happier state if they come too near. I rarely speak to others, though, so it does not happen often."

"Peter," Gamora turned her eyes on him now. "How did she manage in combat in your timeline?"

"Uh, I guess we looked out for her if it got too physical, but she's tough, and she was learning." He shrugged, not sure if this was the answer Gamora was looking for. Mantis was, compared to the other Guardians, pretty frail in terms of physical strength and fighting ability, but it had never been a big issue in their travels. They hadn't actually had many big fights after Ego's planet, though. Mostly it was some contracts that led to a couple firefights, and Rocket's shenanigans leading to their usual violent endings. Someone was always there to keep an eye on her, and she walked off any bruises or injuries she incurred with admirable grace.

"If you are planning to take her with us, she will need to know how to defend herself, at least." Gamora narrowed her eyes at him like he was an idiot. "You can't take someone with no real experience into battle against my father. She'll be dead in an instant."

"Why don't you guys teach her?" he asked. "I'll probably be too busy with my own lessons to do anything about it, but you and Drax would give her occasional lessons in my timeline."

"I would love to 'take lessons' with you and Drax!" Mantis piped up eagerly. "I have never had lessons before. This is so exciting!"

There was scoff from Nebula's corner of the table, and Peter glanced over to see her glaring into her food like it had personally slighted her.

"It's getting late," Gamora said, glancing meaningfully at the light fading rapidly through the glass panes. "We can start in the morning. There are no lights here, and I don't want you injuring yourself in the dark."

There was a clink of utensils as Nebula set hers down and shoved her chair out. "I'm done," she said flatly when she noticed Peter staring at her with his brows raised in question, her good mood from earlier in the day seemed to have vanished.

"Are you going exploring again tonight?" Peter asked.

Nebula shot her sister a darting look before answering, as though considering whether or not she wanted to give away her plans where Gamora could overhear them. "Yes," she told Peter. "I'll be in the canyon beyond the river if you need me."

"Okay," he said, as she made her way to the open doorway. "Thanks. Let me know if you run into Rocket?"

Nebula didn't look back, but she waved a hand in acknowledgment of his request as she left.

When Peter turned back to the table, Gamora was staring after her sister with her lips pinched in the corners.

-x-

Mantis was apparently eager to get to work, Peter thought to himself, as the pounding on his door came much earlier the next morning. Lifting his head from the pillow with a groan, Peter opened his eyes and could barely make out the features of his room under the starlight glinting through the panes of his window.

"Mantis?" he asked, suddenly wondering if it might be one of the other Guardians instead, but couldn't think of any reason the others would be pounding on his door at who-knows-when in the morning.

The knocking came again, more insistently this time.

"Hello?" Peter kicked off his sheets and groped around for his boots. "Who is it?"

More knocking, this time the door shook in its frame under the abuse.

"It's open," Peter called, giving up on his boots and crossing to the door. "What do you want?"

He flung the door open wide, but there was no one there.

"What the?" he mumbled, glancing up and down the hallway. "That's not funny! Come on. Go wake up someone who your life doesn't depend on their beauty rest!"

Something made a noise from outside.

"Rocket?" Peter asked, suddenly hopeful. Maybe Rocket wanted to speak to him without the other Guardians nearby. Peter stepped out into the hallway and immediately his foot slipped out from underneath him. He had to grab the door frame to keep from going down. "Ugh, what?" he grumbled, lifting up his foot to stare down at where he had left a track through a thick layer of dust that coated the marble floor. Peter swiped at his sock cautiously, but it appeared to just be normal, unremarkable, dirt. A little plume of dust rolled off of his foot and settled back to the floor. As he watched it settle, he noticed that, other than where his foot had just landed, the rest of the dust lay sleek and undisturbed. There were no other tracks in the hallway. So... maybe not Rocket.

Curiosity peaked, Peter stepped out into the hallway, careful of his footing this time, and made his way across to Drax's door. The layer of dust muffled the sounds of his steps, making him feel like a ghost himself.

"Drax?" he hissed, rapping on the door with his knuckles. Unnerved by the silence -not even the sound of Drax's snoring leaked through the walls- Peter shoved the door open. Inside, the room was empty and a thin film of dust coated everything in here as well. The dust sat the thickest in a clump on the bed, but Peter could find no clue as to what could have caused this or where Drax had gone, so he stepped back into the hallway and slid the door shut. He pushed Gamora's door open next, but her room was in the same state, and just as unhelpful.

Peter licked his lips and tapped his fingers against his pants, pausing when he realized something else here was out of place. Peter held his unbandaged hands up, marveling at the perfect, unbroken skin in the dim ghost light of the hallway, and it dawned on him like someone had raised a curtain after he had already guessed what was behind it. He'd known, but not really known, until just now.

Peter was dreaming again. This may be the most real one yet, or at least the most aware he had been without waking up. They were getting stronger.

Peter cast his gaze up and down the empty hall, not sure what he was supposed to be doing here. Was this a test of some sort? Peter closed his eyes and reached out towards the Light. He didn't know if he could reach it in a dream, or whatever this was. If nothing else, it could provide him with a way to light up the hallway. Ego would probably be disgusted at the notion of using his powers in such a way, but as far as Peter was concerned, his father's annoyance was just more incentive to do it. But when Peter felt the familiar sensation of the power drawing to him the world around him began to shudder. Peter's eyes flew open to see the walls dancing and rippling unnaturally. A wild, unreasonable panic seized his mind and Peter quickly severed the connection he had built, pulling away from the Light as if it had burned him.

The world around him settled back into place, and the panic receded, leaving his skin prickling despite the pleasant temperature. So that... was not a great idea...

There was another noise from outside. A grating sound, kind of like a cat scratching at a door, but louder, and it echoed unnaturally through the building around him. Feeling pretty confident that this was a dream and he was safe, Peter shook off the chills and moved towards the front doors to investigate. When he pulled the massive copper door open, he had expected to find the usual scene of galaxies, but was met instead with a bursts of hot air and a bright burning sky. Peter held one hand up to shield his face and peered through narrowed eyes into the wind. The world around him was lifeless and barren- even more so that when he had fallen asleep. All of the plants had died, most of them seemed to have blown away, leaving behind clumps of shriveled up sticks and vines scattered across an endless landscape of dry cracked dirt and sand that blew about and danced in the harsh wind.

"Ego?!" Peter called. His voice was snatched up by the whistling wind and blown away.

The scratching noise came again, this time echoing through the empty world around him like something was trying to dig in through a ceiling that didn't exist. Something moved in the corner of his eyes, and Peter squinted against the acrid wind until he saw it again. In the distance, beyond the softly rolling remains of the garden, something was sending the dirt flinging upward where the wind caught it and carried it off.

Peter tugged his jacket tight against his neck and waded into the wind. The sandy ground and bits of brittle leaves crunched under his socked feet, and the closer he drew to the flinging dirt, the louder the scrabbling noise became, but still the sound echoed from all around, rather than from his destination. As he surmounted a small roll in the desert, he was able to get a look at what was causing the strange phenomena. A series of rectangular holes had been dug into the dry dirt. Eight in total, all lined up neatly, like graves. As Peter watched, another clump of dirt was flung out of the nearest one and he approached with a sense of trepidation to peer over the edge. Inside, some four or five feet down, Rocket's striped tail bobbed as he dug furiously at the dirt with his bare hands, pausing to grab the loose dirt he had churned up and flinging it out from the hole. The scratching noise was louder than ever, and Peter had to shout to hear his own voice over it.

"Rocket?!"

Rocket paused in his digging again and straightened up to peer at Peter looming above him. The scratching in the sky above which had not stopped when Rocket had been throwing the dirt, stopped now. Slowly, his lips split into a wicked grin. "This one's for you," he promised darkly.

"What?" Peter took an unconscious step back.

"I told you to dig," Rocket said. "I was very clear. And that's a very difficult thing to do from here. If you can't dig fast enough on your own, I'll have to help."

"Rocket," Peter said slowly. "Where are the others?"

Rocket paused to look behind himself like he could see the other graves despite being underground. "We're all dust in the end," Rocket said. When Rocket turned back his eyes had changed, but instead of the red and blue Peter had seen on the Starburst, his eyes were flooded with stars and swirling galaxies. "One way or another. All but me. But if you help me dig, it doesn't have to be so bad. If we dig together, it will take much longer."

"What does that mean, Rocket?" Peter asked, ignoring how his skin shivered under that gaze. "None of that made any sense- why would it take longer to dig together?"

"Isn't that what you want, Peter? To delay the inevitable? I want that to, but I can't help you until you dig me up."

"What I want is to wake up," Peter said, crossing his arms and hunching miserably against the wind which hadn't relented in its assault. "I want these dreams to stop."

"Then keep digging." Rocket gave one last tooth flashing grin that was only a step to the left of a sneer and his body began to fall apart like dust in the whipping wind, sweeping away and swirling into nothing. The scraping noise started up again, rattling Peter's bones and filling his skull until he screwed his eyes shut against it.

-x-

Peter did not immediately awaken this time, but fell instead into a black and dreamless void so that by the time he stirred to wakefulness the next morning, the worst of the shudders and disgust had faded. The memory of what had occurred was still fresh enough, but the feelings had grown stale and he did not leap from bed with a shout or awaken in a pool of his own sweat. Instead, he lay on his back, his fingers laced together across his stomach as he stared mutely at the ceiling until Mantis came to alert them breakfast was ready.

"You are very quiet today," Drax told him between bites of his second plate. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"I'm fine," Peter lied, taking a bigger bite of his own food as if to prove it. "I just didn't sleep well."

"More dreams?" Nebula had deigned to grace them with her presence again. She had appeared after everyone else had sat down to grab her own plate and sit down in a chair that Peter was pretty sure Drax had intentionally saved her away from her sister, and while a part of Peter wanted sorely to say something, to tease her for her continued refusal to be a part of life, he was a little afraid she would actually leave if he did, and having all of them here and whole and alive was making him feel better. All but Rocket, that is.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Hey, did you happen to see Rocket last night?"

"I saw him from a distance, but we didn't speak. It seems he is still trying to find a way off of this planet."

"Ego's ship-?"

"-is rubble by now."

Peter didn't feel even the slightest tinge of annoyance or regret at learning of the destruction of his father's property.

Mantis was clearly excited for her lessons. She could hardly sit still through breakfast and was clearing away everyone's dishes almost before they had finished cleaning them off. Drax nearly upturned the table, lunging over it to snatch the last bite from his plate as she pulled it away after he had turned away to say something to Groot and she had thought he was done. She was so upset by her mistake it took Drax taking her hand and placing it across his chest to assure her that he was not angry.

When everything had calmed back down the group moved out into the court beside the cliff where they had first stepped from the horseshoe shuttle. The fountain was out of the way enough that it still left plenty of open space to practice in, and even provided a place to sit for Groot who happily perched on the edge, toying with the false metal fish as they span in their endless cycle.

"Do you have any weapons here?" Gamora asked as she finished inspecting their footing. "A sword, or staff, or anything like that?"

"Oh!" Mantis exclaimed. "I will be right back!"

She vanished into the main cathedral that loomed over the court, returning a few minutes later, face flushed and panting, but held the item she had retrieved up for Gamora to inspect with a proud smile. It was a long staff, almost the height of Mantis herself, a brilliant gold with sparkling emerald carvings that didn't quite resemble dragons, but made Peter think of them nonetheless. "Often, when Ego and I would visit planets, the locals would offer Ego great gifts- things like clothing, or food, or decorative trinkets and weapons," Mantis explained. "Ego has no need of such things, so he either refuses, or disposes of the items later. When Ego and I visited the planet of Kleinert, he saw how much I loved this item, and allowed me to keep it."

She said this with such pride, like a child telling the story of how their parent had purchased them the exact pony they had wanted for Christmas. The sheer joy and gratitude sparkling in her eyes over something that had cost Ego nothing, and he probably didn't even remember doing, made Peter want to reach out and give her a hug.

Gamora took the staff and balanced it carefully in her hands, testing its weight and giving it a few experimental swings before handing it back. "It is actually very well made for such an ornamental piece," she said, loud enough for the others to hear. "Kleinert is known for its metalwork, and prides its self on combining beauty with durability and function. My father had considered commissioning me a piece from their smiths, once."

From behind Peter, Nebula gave a snort.

"This will do," Gamora finished and Mantis positively beamed under the assassin's cool approval.

"First, lets show you the basic stretches and stances."

Peter got comfortable on the steps and let his anxieties melt away as he watched Gamora guide Mantis through the familiar routines she had shown to him once. He was wincing in sympathy as Mantis struggled to find her balance in a stance that he had almost pulled a hamstring learning when he heard the scuffling of his father's shoes approaching from behind him.

"Are you ready to go?" Ego asked in that tone that clearly said 'I'm not really asking.'

"Yeah." Peter stood and stretched, dusting imaginary dirt off of his pants before turning to follow his father down the familiar pathway to their own practice grounds. "Aren't you going to ask what Mantis is doing?" Peter asked as the walked.

"No," he answered with disinterest. "She's yours now, you may do with her as you wish."

Peter's nose wrinkled and his brows drew together into an ugly glare at his father. "She's not a thing." Peter just couldn't understand why Mantis could feel anything but hate for the monster walking beside him.

Ego didn't answer him, and they continued on in silence.

Again Peter was lead to the center of the courtyard. "We're going to begin expanding on your usefulness today," Ego informed him. He snapped his fingers and a bubble of light rose from the ground between them, bursting outward and forming into a wide basin, about a body length across and nearly coming up to his hip. After that, he reached one hand out to hold it over the basin, in his hand swirled a smaller ball of Light. Slowly he tipped his hand over, and water began to spill from the orb, splashing into the basin below. Peter watched the orb carefully, but no matter how much water poured through, the amount of Light never changed. After a couple of inches had gathered in the bottom of the bowl Ego closed his hand and the light vanished, the last drips of water fell into the pool below where the ripples slowly settled into a pristine and unblemished surface.

"How do you-?" Peter began to ask, but Ego cut him off.

"You can take a break when you have filled the bowl to the top," he said, clasping his hands behind his back and stepping back to stare at Peter expectantly.

"But how do I make water?" Peter asked.

"The same way you made rock," Ego snorted. "I suggest you get started, or you'll be here all night."

Peter's lips pulled into a deep frown. He was running out of patience for these cryptic games. With an angry flick of his wrists, Peter held his own hands out over the bowl and began to gather Light. It came easier than ever, and he had a respectably heavy ball of light knitted together in a matter of minutes. He tried to focus on the thought of water, the feel of it, and the light seemed to change in his hands. Instead of growing heavier or denser, like it had when he was forming crystal, it changed in its behavior. Before, it had felt like it was made of strings of lightning, moving in darting, unpredictable ways. Now it was beginning to grow more sluggish and uniform, swirling in a slower fashion and trying to leak out the bottom. Peter tried to hold it together as long as he could, but before the light had cooled from the orb in his hands he lost control and it slipped from his hold. Instead of the explosions of yesterday morning, it burst like an overfilled water-balloon, chunks of still dimly-glowing liquid plopped into the bowl where they sizzled and bubbled into the existing water.

"You should tip it earlier," Ego told him, ever-helpful only after the fact. "And you cannot hold the water between your hands after it is formed, try to change only one section at a time."

Peter tried again, deciding to stick with smaller balls of light for the time being to avoid more big messy bursts of liquid light.

Trying to control the Light in sections was a much bigger challenge than Peter had anticipated. Edges would slough off when they became too heavy, unbalancing the energy still in his control, or the section he was working on would be reabsorbed by the Light if he lost focus for even a moment. Eventually, he tried Ego's trick of tipping his hands and letting the formed bits trickle out, aided by gravity. This way he could put most of mind to the task of making sure the water formed from the center and guiding it out through the same hole. This trick made the process less messy, but it was agonizingly slow. Each ball of Light only produced so much water before it had all been transformed and drained away and Peter had to start back over at the beginning.

The water level in the bowl had only raised a palm's worth by the time Peter had to pause and catch his breath, leaning with one hand against the smooth lip of the basin.

"How am I supposed to fill this?" Peter panted, his head hanging low. "This is going to take forever."

"Keep digging," Ego's voice answered.

"I am digging," Peter snapped, turning his glare from the tips of his boots to the celestial across from him. "This is me digging."

"I'm glad to hear that," Ego said, raising a brow. "Now, if you are feeling comfortable enough with controlling the Light in parts, why don't you try refilling the Light you posses as you drain it away."

Peter huffed out a mouthful of air and straightened himself back up to try again. As he stared into the Light, obediently swirled into existence between his hands, Ego's voice again broke into the silence.

"You're not digging deep enough."

The tiny orb in Peter's hands wavered, but he held it together.

"You're wasting your time with this, keep digging."

The bundle of light he had gathered flickered out with a tiny 'pop' as Peter looked up to shoot Ego an annoyed look.

"What are you doing?" Ego asked. "Focus."

"Gladly," Peter grumbled, not amused by this new game.

Things fell back into silence after that. Hours of practice had left Peter fairly exhausted, and he was beginning to run out of steam. The Light was growing just a bit more difficult to summon every time. He was considering whether he should drag out just a little more before he began trying to summon and modify the Light at the same time, or if he should just give it a go with the Light he already had, when Ego's voice cut into his concentration again.

"You're taking the long way," his voice rumbled with frustration.

Peter huffed his annoyance but didn't want to spare the energy to look up or answer, so he dug deeper and pulled another thread of light into existence.

"You have to keep digging if you ever want to save your friends."

"That's it!" Peter screamed, throwing the ball of light down in a fit of rage where it burst violently against the water's surface below and sent up a spray of water and mist.

Ego's eyebrows shot up at Peter's outburst. "Peter-"

"I'm here aren't I?" Peter shouted over him. "I'm learning to use this stupid Light and doing everything you've asked, so why are you doing this?"

Ego drew himself up to his full height and had the audacity to look shocked and offended. "I don't know what you're-"

"Don't lie to me!" Peter stepped around the basin and pointed one finger accusingly at the celestial before him. "Those dreams were bad enough, but now you're threatening my friends!"

Ego's lip peeled back into an ugly sneer, but his voice remained calm under Peter's storm of accusations. "I have not threatened your companions. I have no need to."

"Yes you did. Just now!"

"No, Peter," Ego's eyes narrowed. "I didn't"

"I heard you!"

"I haven't said anything."

"But you-" Peter's burst of rage was cooling under Ego's confused denial, and a strange spark in his father's eyes.

"What did you hear, exactly?"

"Keep digging," Peter repeated, watching Ego's face carefully. "Keep digging or... or I'll never save my friends."

"And you heard this in my voice?" The dark shadow of suspicion in Ego's eyes was replaced with a spark of understanding and something angrier that was making Peter's skin itch. "Just now? You're sure?"

"Yes?" Peter asked, suddenly not so sure of anything.

Ego ran his tongue over his teeth and made a face like he was tasting something sour.

"What is it?" Peter asked. "What's going on?"

"Celestials aren't the only thing that walk on other planes," Ego muttered darkly. He raised his hand up and placed his thumb against Peter's forehead much like he had the first time they had met.

The immediate result was less spectacular this time, perhaps because Peter knew what to expect, or perhaps because Peter already had some access to the Light so this was less overwhelming, he really didn't know. A strange tingle rushed through his body, and the late-morning forest around him transformed into a landscape of stars over the seafoam court. As Peter stared at the stars in amazement, he recognized the colorful galaxies of his nightmares.

"Finally," Ego's voice rang out from behind Peter, entirely disconnected from the body of his father which still stood in front of him, his mouth unmoving. Peter turned around to find a second Ego standing across the court. His eyes were bright with triumph and lips split into a toothy grin that revealed pointed teeth. "Found you."

"What the f-?"

A hand came down on Peter's shoulder and he risked a glance to find the Ego he'd come with had stepped up to stand beside him. His eyes were narrowed dangerously at his twin.

"Eternity," the first Ego, which Peter was pretty sure was the real one, growled over Peter's shoulder. "What is your business with my son?"

End

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andyyxeve · 6 years

Text

GOT7 Scenario ~ Them clinging onto you in a haunted house

can I get a Got7 or seventeen scenario where you’re walking in a haunted house with a member and they’re the one jumping on the reader and getting scared? - @xxbluestrifexx

As a group, the eight of you decided to go to a haunted house since the boys had a free schedule and you were just bored. It was a bit of a random activity, but you couldn’t find any reason not to go. Including you, there was an even amount of people so everyone decided to go through the house in pairs, you obviously being paired up with your boyfriend. Haunted houses never really bothered or scared you so you were interested to see what your boyfriends reaction would be, seeing as you’ve never done this together before. You weren’t expecting him to be the bravest, but you definitely weren’t expecting him to cling on to you the whole way.

Mark

As the two of you walked though the front door of the house, you noticed Mark was a little tense, but you didn’t really make anything of it.

“Are you sure you want to go first Y/N? I mean, it might be too scary for you or something.” Mark said, panic clearly evident in his voice.

You snorted at the thought of getting scared in a haunted house, you haven’t once been frightened by anything the boys have made you do so you weren’t quite sure why Mark thought you would be now. You rolled your eyes, even though he couldn’t see you doing it in the dark hallway, and grabbed his wrist to pull him along. As soon as you let go of his hand, he immediately found it again and pulled the rest of your arm up against his side.

“Mark, what’s gotten into you? Are you scared?”

Even though it was dark in the hallways, you just knew Mark was blushing. It wasn’t like him to be all clingy and scared, so this was a first for the both of you. Throughout the rest of the haunted house, Mark stayed glued to your side. As soon as he could see the exit, Mark ripped himself away from you and just ran. You laughed and just slowly walked to meet him outside, not forgetting to tease him for hugging you the whole time, not that you were complaining.

Jaebum

Jaebum being the fearless leader he is, volunteered the two of you to go second, not thinking about his slight (vv big) fear of haunted houses. He just didn’t want to seem like a wimp in front of you, even though you’ve witnessed him almost having a heart attack over a spider multiple times. When the door slammed shut behind the two of you, you could feel Jaebum tensing up and you heard him gulp loudly, you guessed out of fear or arousal.

“Well.. lets get this over with I guess.” Jaebum said with a voice crack, since his throat got very dry all of a sudden.

You grabbed ahold of his arm, and pulled him forward through the dark hallway, seeming like a little kid in a candy shop. Jaebum wondered how one could get so giddy and excited over an experience as horrifying as this one. At every small sound or movement, Jaebum grabbed ahold of your shoulders and wouldn’t let go until you pushed him off, which resulted in him just grabbing onto another one of your accessible body parts. When the two of you got to the exit, you heard your boyfriend let out a huge sigh that he must’ve been keeping in the entire time you were inside. You realized this meant you’d probably never go into a haunted house with him again, which you weren’t to bothered by, seeing as he was just a giant baby in there.

Jackson

Even before the eight of you got to the haunted house, you could tell Jackson was terrified. He kept zoning out and kept quiet the entire ride there, which was very unlike him. As you pulled up to the site where the house was, you saw Jackson let out a shaky breath out of the corner of your eye. You sympathized for your boyfriend, knowing this would probably be a traumatizing experience for him if he was acting like this before you even got to the front gates of the house. When you got a text from Mark saying it was your turn, you turned to Jackson and gestured for him to get out of the car. He gave a small breathy laugh (gif) and ran his hands through his hair, before stepping out.

“Love, if you’re this scared, you don’t have to do it. You could’ve said something before we got here.”

Jackson shook his head before grabbing your hand and intertwining your fingers.

“No, it’s fine. I could tell how much you wanted to do this. I didn’t want to let you down or anything.” With that, he pulled you through the front door and took a deep breath once again.

Like Jaebum, every noise he heard and every movement he saw, he’d be clinging onto you. You didn’t push him off though because you knew how scared he was. When you met up with Jaebum and Mark at the exit, Jackson dropped to the ground with a huge smile on his face, just happy that he got it over with.

Jinyoung

When it was your guys’s turn, you noticed something off about Jinyoung. Usually he was calm and collected but he looked like he was on the verge of having a mental break down right now. You didn’t want to ask him about it though, in fear of triggering that previously mentioned breakdown. At first, the house wasn’t too scary, the two of you only being hit with a couple jump scares, but as you progressed through the hallways it gradually got worse. At one point, even you almost let out a small scream, but you didn’t let it affect you. You looked over at your boyfriend to check up on him, only to see him with his eyes closed and a frightened look on his face. You only now realized that he was scared so you took his hand in your own which resulted in him jumping, since he wasn’t exactly expecting it. Jinyoung opened his eyes to look at you, but only let out a scream when he saw a clown headed your way. You turned around to see the clown and just laughed, pushing past it and dragging your boyfriend along behind you.

“How do you even do that..” Jinyoung said in a small voice, still shocked on how the clown came out of knowhere.

“It’s never bothered me, now let’s get you out of here before you start throwing punches at ghosts.”

Jinyoung rolled his eyes, only to cling onto your side the rest of the way out, claiming that if he didn’t, something might attack you.

Youngjae

Now everyone knew Youngjae wasn’t going to be the bravest, so you made sure to wear clothes that you knew weren’t going to rip, because he’s honestly got one hell of a grip. Even before you walked through the gates, Youngjae had an iron grip on your bicep and shirt. You looked back to see a laughing BamBam and Yugyeom, mouthing good luck and giving you a thumbs up. You rolled your eyes at them and turned your attention back to your stuff boyfriend.

“Next time I take you to a haunted house, I’m buying you a stress ball, that way you’ll be able to squeeze as hard as you want without giving it bruises.”

You felt him loosen his grip a little, only to immediately tighten it again when he heard ominous laughter coming from the dark hallways.

“If there is a next time. I don’t even know why I agreed to do this.” Youngjae replied to you with fear laced in his voice.

It only took a minute or two before something brushed up against him resulting in him letting out multiple curses and jumping around, only to grab hold of you again, his grip getting stronger. You’re just glad you decided to wear a disposable shirt, because your boyfriend had already stretched one sleeve to about twice it’s actual length. You don’t even want to think about how long it’d be towards the end of the haunted experience.

BamBam

BamBam, being quite the humorous person he is, tried replacing all his fear with terrible humour. Whenever something jumped out at him or anyone tried getting near him, he’d just make some stupid joke about how obsessed they are with him, being an idol and all. But you saw around it. I mean, it wasn’t too difficult, he wasn’t that great at making jokes under pressure, or in general.

“Bam, you’ve made that joke at least three times now, just admit it, you’re scared.”

He was about to retaliate, probably with some other stupid joke, when he let out one of the most high pitched screams you’ve ever heard because he thought he saw something. Spoiler, it was just the wall. He kind of just gave up after that and practically glued himself to you the rest of the way out. Outside, the members that finished were waiting when they heard a scream from inside. They started cracking up, immediately knowing who it was. When you two finished they wouldn’t stop teasing your boyfriend.

They’re never going to let him live this down, you thought to yourself, laughing slightly. At least they got something out of this.

“It wasn’t that loud was it?” you heard BamBam ask in a light tone, clearly getting some amusement out of this as well.

Yugyeom

Yugyeom being the youngest, wanted to prove to you that he wasn’t the immature child everyone thought he was. Even though you knew he wasn’t a child, I mean, he’s 20. What 20 year old does he know that’s still a literal child. But back to the point, he just wanted a chance to prove himself worthy I guess? I don’t know, it made more sense in his head.

“Alright, lets do this. I’m ready, let’s do this.”

“Sweetheart, you’ve already said that, like, five times. Are you sure you’re ready? You sound a bit nervous.”

Yugyeom shook his head and took a deep breath, before heading to the front doors, leaving you to catch up to him. He was doing good for about halfway through when someone grabbed ahold of his ankles, that’s when he let out a shriek and practically jumped into your arms on the verge of tear.

“I lied, I wasn’t ready. I don’t want to do this ever again. I hate haunted houses and I want to leave and never come back.” Yugyeom blubbered for a bit before he got over it and just had you out in front of him in case anything jumped out at the two of you.

It was pretty easy on the rest of the way out, you being the one getting jump scared more often then him, not that it affected you like it did your boyfriend.

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lettersfromn0where · 5 years

Text

Creator Tag

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc!) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2018. Tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original!) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

I was tagged, appropriately, by my first-ever Tumblr buddy, @disruptedvice - thank you for thinking of me!

This is a bit tough because every fanwork I’ve ever posted has been written since April. There’s certainly a few stupid oneshots in my repertoire that I’m not proud of, but considering that at the beginning of the year I was petrified of the mere idea of writing and sharing fanfiction, I’m rather pleased with the fact that I managed to do anything at all. So, without further ado, my top five (in order from 5th-1st):

5. remember me, once in a while (please promise me you'll try) https://archiveofourown.org/works/14936669

Short summary: IW missing scene. After Gamora is taken on Knowhere, Peter struggles to accept the reality that she may be gone. There is a letter. It is 100% intentional emotional manipulation, pure and simple, and I’m pretty sure everyone who read this realized that.

Excerpt:

The faint trails of tears, yet to evaporate, lingered on Peter’s face for all his attempts to disguise them as he turned the sheet of paper in his hands, reluctant to open it for fear of tainting something so precious. He paid no heed to the ever-shifting starscape racing past the windows, trying not to risk being caught in tears as he thought of the moment, on the way to Knowhere, that Gamora had pressed the letter into his hands.

“In case…” She said, but trailed off, neither wanting to confront the sentence’s inevitable end.

“No,” Peter had protested, voice thick with emotion. “You won’t-“

"It’s just a precaution,” Gamora had tried to reassure him, but even she knew her tone was entirely unconvincing.

Peter had kept the letter with him every moment they’d been apart, hoping desperately he’d never need to open it but unwilling to part from it lest it be lost along with –

No, he told himself, feverishly, with all of the desperation his worry-worn mind could muster.

Commentary: This one was not what I’d consider to be my best-written piece, but it was certainly (from the way people reacted) one of the most emotionally impactful. Any fic that gets you multiple angry comments from people claiming you made them cry has to be at least somewhat of a favorite, right? This one was, oddly enough, based on an anime, “Your Lie in April.” I’m not an anime person, but YLIA is about a violinist, so as a violinist I had to watch it, and it BROKE MY HEART INTO A MILLION TINY PIECES. *Spoiler* one of the key moments in the series comes after the protagonist’s death when she leaves a letter to the boy she was in love with for him to read after she dies, revealing things she couldn’t while she was alive. That idea of the posthumous letter, translated to the GOTG-verse (and the fact that I sobbed my eyes out while rewatching the clip where said boy reads the letter), made its way into my mind and wouldn’t leave. And that is why I had several very angry people cursing at me in the comments.

And to whoever commented “f*** you”: I’m honored.

4. meet me in this broken place https://archiveofourown.org/works/15646347

Short Summary: post-IW, during the (hypothetical) events of Endgame. My Damaged Babies, Peter and Wanda (Maximoff), both of whom lost significant others during the events of IW, find solace in the fact that they both know the feeling of losing everyone one holds dear.

Excerpt:

They don’t want to imagine a world without the ones they love, but – even with their teammates working around the clock, making and discarding endless plans to save them – they realize now that maybe their good fortune had been exhausted by their own returns to life. They are left with no choice but to venture blindly into a bleak future without the ones whose sides they never thought they’d leave.

“What are we going to do?” she asks, too weary to conceal her worry.

“I guess…we just have to keep going,” he says numbly, but it’s plain as day that he doesn’t believe a word out of his own mouth.

“What is there for us in a future without them?” she asks, rhetorically but not entirely so, and plays with the hem of her jacket. It’s frayed with the trauma of the past days, looking about as battered and torn as she feels.

“Don’t know.” He shrugs. “I wish I still knew how to hope that I’d see her again.”

“Isn’t that the problem, though?” she asks, pursing her lips in painful irony. “None of us knows how to hope for the best anymore. We try to fix things, not believing that anything we do is going to work.”

He ponders her statement, turns it over in his mind – it is their problem, he realizes. They are working tirelessly towards an end they all believe to be futile. Yes, they’ve accomplished three-quarters of what they set out to do. But it doesn’t feel like a figure to celebrate when the other quarter of the equation determines the fate of the people they cherish most.

Commentary: this is essentially a super depressing slice-of-life fic. I chose it because A) Wanda Maximoff is the love of my life and I loved writing her, and B) I think the writing in this is just about the best I’ve seen in any of my work. I like the way the prose came out here - the melancholy tone lends itself well to the style in which I write, if that makes any sense, even if at points the excess of run-on sentences and overlong prose becomes rather tired. I was proud of this one. (Not super popular, but it always seems like it’s the super trite stuff I don’t think was good that gets comments while the ones I like are unnoticed. Heh...)

3. I Guess It’s Half Timing (and the Other Half’s Luck) https://archiveofourown.org/works/14775470/chapters/34172447

Short Summary: high school AU. Peter’s a jock, benched with academic ineligibility until he can get his grades up. Gamora is the type-A star student in charge of the peer tutoring program that may be Peter’s only hope of playing in the State Championships. You can probably predict the ending...

Excerpt:

“So, let me get this straight. You’re eligible again, but you still wanna spend every single afternoon at tutoring?” Rocket shook his head, sincerely disappointed. “You’ve got it worse than I thought.”

“Yes and no,” Peter vaguely defended himself. “I mean, yeah, she won’t talk to me any other way, but I’ve realized something, too.”

“This oughta be good,” Rocket snickered. “What, do ya suddenly feel called to be a brain surgeon or something?”

Peter fixed him with a nonplussed gaze. “Why would I want to do that? I can’t even get a shot without losing it.”

Rocket rolled his eyes. “I mean, do you think your future depends on your grades all the sudden? Little late for that.”

“No, but now that I’ve realized I can do better, it should start aiming higher-“ he started to explain.

“…because Gamora only dates guys who care about school,” Nebula finished for him, walking up with her usual inopportune timing.

“Dude! How and why are you always sneaking up on me?” Peter shuddered. “It’s creepy!”

Nebula shrugged. “I pride myself on my timing.”

“Oh, so this is what that’s about,” Rocket cackled. “You’re hilarious. You fall for the smartest girl in your class and all the sudden you decide you’re going to be on the honor roll or something?”

“Rocket…”

Commentary: this fic. Ohhhh, boy. It was a bit of a trainwreck, but oh, how I LOVED writing it. It’s a light, fluffy high school rom-com mixing my own relentless fixation on academics with excessive melodrama, a very, VERY OOC Nebula, and a million vague tie-ins to the movies that I’m fairly certain no one noticed. “Half Timing” is not, in my opinion, fantastically written (witty at times, mind-numbingly cheesy at others), but it was endlessly fun to write, and I loved the ending. Plus, it’s the reason I became friends with @disruptedvice, who had MANY feelings about the New Year’s scene. MANY. (She was 37% of the reason this fic was so fun to write.) It spawned three unnecessary sequel oneshots and was a productive start to a summer which I spent primarily writing fanfiction and studying for the SAT. This one’s on here for the nostalgia and the fact that it was so central to everything else I’ve written, not for literary merit, but it is and will always be dear to my heart.

2. So Many Things Unknown https://archiveofourown.org/works/14632275/chapters/33818142

Short Summary: Soul World Mantis feels. A half fix-it.

Excerpt:

Peter didn’t need to hear his name to know it was him she called to, and exactly who was calling and why and where he was and – He turned. Mantis saw Gamora’s eyes widen, filling with tears, almost beginning to go to him before stopping herself again, for reasons Mantis did not understand. For a while the two simply stood, perhaps thirty feet apart, saying nothing and staring across the distance at each other as if they were not sure of the reliability of their eyesight.

And then she broke into a run, and they were in each other’s arms, and Mantis could not hear everything they were saying, but she knew from the way their shoulders shook that both were crying, and she thought she heard a faint “I love you” and she knew they both said something to the effect of “I thought I’d lost you” and “I’m here” and repeated it until they both finally believed it was really happening, and something inside her felt suddenly warm and whole.

She had seen her share of unfair endings in the last couple of days. Untold numbers of young, gifted, and truly good people had been taken long before their times. Countless others had lost the ones they held dearest, some forced to watch. The future of the universe looked rather bleak; half of her friends were trapped in some sort of afterlife in a rock that had started a war, and the rest were scattered across the cosmos. But she knew, in that moment, that it would not stay this way. They would find a way out of here, and they’d stop this and make everything right again. Mantis was surer of this than she had been of anything before. Optimistic, perhaps, she knew; but she felt this time that her instinct could not be proven wrong.

This, too, would pass.

It had to.

Commentary: my first posted fanfic and the lovely @marypoppinswasmyfatherbitches‘ favorite, I almost didn’t post this. I was deathly afraid of writing fanfiction for years and it took the trauma of IW to make me realize how many stories I had to tell, if I’d only allow myself. I was overly cautious when I wrote this, terrified of writing someone OOC or setting the story at an unrealistically fast pace, and I didn’t think it was much good, but I posted it anyway...and here I am. Some of the sweetest comments I’ve ever received were about this piece and though at time the progression of events is a bit ???, I think it was a decent start. “So Many Things Unknown” was where it all started, and though it’s not my favorite thing I’ve written, I’m proud that I was able to get it out there.

1. Take What I Took and Give It Back to You

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14986307

Short Summary: Mantis feels, 5+1 style. That is all.

Excerpt:

She can’t see it. Mantis has never been an influencer; she’s simply in the background, where she’s always assumed she is meant to be. But perhaps that – sensitivity, a sort of gentleness – is what she brings to the team that it lacked before, she concludes.

She is an empath, after all, and a powerful one. Most of her teammates possess the emotional intelligence of lumps of metal. Mantis thinks, liking the idea more than she admits, that maybe she’s helping to shape those metal lumps.

After all, hearts are malleable, she thinks. They don’t stay the same.

Sitting in the kitchen once again, staring into her beloved mug, chipped with four years of wear, Mantis smiles.

Commentary: and now for my all-time favorite. I rarely think well of my writing, but I was SO incredibly proud of this one. As an ex-homeschooler who grew up relatively isolated and still does not “understand the intricacies of social interaction,” I’ve always connected to Mantis more than any other Guardian; if I had to pick, she’d probably be my favorite character in the entire MCU canon. So I love writing her. It makes me feel as if I can get inside her head in a way I can’t with the other Guardians. In addition, the 5+1 format was a perfectly-suited framing device for the story I wanted to tell, and I’m pretty sure I exhausted a year’s worth of pretty lines on this story. I feel like I risk sounding arrogant, but when you genuinely love your own writing, you have to embrace it - that’s VERY rare. As soon as I saw that I’d been tagged for this, I knew that this would be the story I ranked as my favorite.

Thank you SO much for the tag, @disruptedvice! Tagging @bevioletskies and @marypoppinswasmyfatherbitches.

#fanfic #creator tag

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thebustedandtheblue · 5 years

Text

The Busted Ch 5: Good Times Bad Times

The Busted Ch 4: Over and Over and Over

Chapter 1| Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

Days pass into weeks. Scullery duty continued, but there was a distinct air of hesitation from the rest of the crew when the two worked. There were no more incidents like with the orloni, and while the name calling and jeering still happened it wasn’t nearly as often as it had been that first day. It appeared that N’Zar had been accepted, although she suspected it was done at the behest of the officers of the Starhawk. She no longer tagged along with her charge although she did spend a bit of time with him. Eventually Yondu broke off from mess duties, and she kept washing dishes.

She still didn’t know much about him, where he was from, what he did before becoming a Ravager. What little he spoke to her was usually orders or grunts. She almost never saw him smile, and when he did, it was always with some wicked reason behind it. She had to find out from Tullk. She was scouring the sink of grime from the previous meal when he came by on his break.

“What’s Udonta’s deal?” She asked him, brushing off the grime from her trousers.

“What d’you mean?” He asked, ha

“I mean why’s he always so angry? It’s like he just wants to fight about everything all the time.”

“It’s the only thing he knows. He was a slave most of his life.”

“I figured that but I mean...I’ve known people who’ve been slaves before, I’ve never met anyone like him before.”

“Prolly cause he was a battle slave.”

N’Zar stopped mid scrub. That explains a fair amount. To fight for the Kree without actually being Kree was damn near a death sentence. She had never met one in person, but she had heard stories. They were the vanguard of the ground troops, cannon fodder. He knew her kind more as those that should be destroyed than as actual people. She felt for him, she truly did. Military life, especially forced military life, and at such a young age, was hard.

N’Zar snorted. “No wonder he hates me.”

“I don’t think he hates you. Don’t take it personally he’s like that with everyone. We just got used to it. It’s how he is.”

She was about to say something to him, when someone entered the mess. The Krylorian with the now-crooked nose from the fight.

“Captain wants to see you. He’s with the other officers.” He said.

In so many years of her life, being told to see the boss still scared her. A thousand scenarios went through her mind. She’d been found out and they’re going to send her back to Knowhere; they knew who she really was and they’re going to collect the bounty on her head; they just don’t like her and she’s getting spaced. She could feel her heart beat against her ribs as she made her way to the officers’ quarters, a slightly more spacious section of the ship, where Udonta and the officers were waiting for her. They were all sitting around a table. Stakar, his wife Aleta, his first mate Martinex, Charlie 27, Krugarr, and Yondu. The gang was all there. She stood military stiff in front of her superiors, beating against her chest twice, hard as she could, her back as straight as she could muster.

“Miss N’Zenne”, Stakar started, “We need you

“We’ve been contracted to steal this.” A section of the table shimmered and a projection of a bust of a woman adorned in black robes of obsidian. It was a fairly unimpressive thing, save for a brilliant red jewel in the center of her throat. “That is the Neramani Star. The client just wants that, not the statue. It’s currently owned by this her.” The projection changes, and a Shi’ar woman appears in the bust’s place.

N’Zar relaxed her shoulders, let her back slump slightly. She cocked her head and looked at the ruby. It must have been the size of her fist. “All right but what does this have to do with me?”

“I’m getting to that.” Stakar said.

“We need you to trade places with this man.” another projection appeared. A Strontian man, slightly younger than the Shi’ar. “Her assistant. We need you to pose as him.”

“Oh! Oooooh. Okay I thought I was in trouble.”

The captain smirked and shook his head. “No you’re doing fine. But if you help us with this you’d be doing us a solid. So what do you want to do?”

“I’m...Wait what are you asking?”

“Give us a plan.” He motioned towards the hologram “What would you do to make it so that his employer doesn’t suspect you, and how are you going to get that stone?”

N’Zar took herself out of the room for the moment. There was a great deal more information she would need if she were to configure a plan.

“What else do you have on him?” She asked, a half demand.

“That’s all we got.”

“I think…”she started, “I’d tail him. No not tail him. Not just me anyway. Get a few guys to watch him, get his routine down, see where he goes in the span of a few days, maybe a week if this was extended. A month if this was deep cover. If this is just a day then following him for a few days or so’d do.”

“Then what?”

“If he’s got a regular place he goes, and by the look of him he probably does. Maybe a bar or he goes and spends time with someone on the weekend, go and see him then, try and chat him up and get him alone.”

“This is very elaborate, N’Zenne.”

She didn’t hear the captain.

“I’d get him alone and the others jump him and knock him out. Hide him in his house or something. Then I go in the next day, check out what she has for security and report back, and then we rob the lady.”

“Sounds like an all right plan.”

N’Zar returned to the land of the living and looked up at Stakar. “Wait what?”

“That was a bit much but we just wanted to know if you were on the same page. You’re joining Yondu here, and a few others, to go and take that stone.”

N’Zar understood now. She knew why the captain didn’t flay her outright when he found her stowed away on his ship. Her sob story did nothing to help her. He was willing to take her on whether she was tragic or not. She almost regretted spilling her guts until the thought of what she would have had to endure back on Knowhere.

“What do I get out of this?” she asked

“You get a cut, and anything else you find is yours.”

N’Zar looked at the holograph. She looked up at the officers and Udonta.

“All right, I’ll do it. Where are we going anyway?”

“Spartax.”

“Oh cool. Spartax. I have no idea where that is.”

Aleta snorted.

N’Zar walked down the sun drenched cobblestones of an old part of the Spartoi capitol. The ancient buildings of stone and glass around the open square stood dignified in contrast to the monstrous skyscrapers of downtown and the floating transports that crisscrossed the sky. There were a few booths and carts set up around them selling all manner of produce, a few selling wines or other libations. This was what she had always imagined what her ancestors’ home had once been like.

“Enough sightseeing, N’Zenne. The guy’s coming up on your left.” Udonta’s familiar abrasive drawl said through her earpiece.

And so he was. Lean, violet skinned, somewhere in his forties and running through the square like several others that morning. N’Zar wandered around him, keeping a good few meters away. The mark turned the corner of the block, she was a good ten feet away from him. The mark stopped at a crosswalk. When the signal changed, she noticed that his pace had picked up. Had he noticed her? She hung back a little bit. She didn’t want to scare him.

“Get closer, N’Zenne.” Udonta said.

“I’ll spook him if he gets closer”

“Get closer. That’s an order.”

“I’m fine.” She insisted. “You’ll lose him.

She stops and looks up into the tall buildings above her. “I know what I’m doing, Udonta.”

On a roof some five blocks away, with a very powerful pair of binoculars, a man with blue skin and a red mohawk of an implant scowled. He would not tolerate insubordination, or some little shit Skrull talking back to him.

“Get back to him. Now.” Yondu demanded, an agitated rumble in his voice.

She glared in the vicinity of the building, and returned to tailing the Strontian man.

“Don’t be so hard on her.” Tullk said from across the room. He had been monitoring her target’s movements. “It’s her first mission, Yondu.”

“She shits the bed I’m going to be the one paying for it.”

“Have some faith in her. She’s probably done this before although it probably ended with a wallet.”

Yondu grumbled. “I have a lot riding on this mission, Tullk.”

“I know.” was all Tullk said and waved him off. He looked through his own scope. The sun was still low in the morning sky, and the scope each could see her in a terran-esque shift with olive skin and dark hair. Her eyes remained the same. “She’s not that bad looking like this.” “If you like skinny green shapeshifters.” Yondu scoffed.

“What if I do?” Tullk asked.

Yondu wasn’t sure if he was trying to get a rise out of him, or if he was genuinely interested. But he turned to look at his scarred and tattooed friend. He squinted. He wasn’t sure if his friend was serious or not. Getting duped by a skrull was one thing, it was an entirely different thing to go to bed voluntarily with one. He could understand the appeal to some degree, shifting into whatever he wanted, any race, any gender, but as she was was different.

“I ain’t her keeper anymore. If you want to ask her out you do you.”

“Then maybe I will.” Tullk said, a ghost of a smile on his face. “What’s she like in bed?”

“He wouldn’t know he never got that far. And I’m not skinny!” A distinctly feminine voice said over the comms. The two men had momentarily forgotten they were still speaking over an open channel. Somewhere in orbit around Spartax, in the officers quarters on board the Starhawk, Aleta Ogord let out a horsey peal of laughter.

She wasn’t that skinny. Not anymore. A few good-ish meals on the Starhawk saw to that. She was lean, but she wasn’t skinny. What would Udonta know anyway.

She followed her orders, catching up to the mark. The old buildings fell away to modern homes. More angular and dull rowhouses. She saw him walk up a flight of stairs to one of the last traditional-looking brick buildings on the street. It was a modest thing of two stories and made of red and creme brick. She walked passed the building, making note as he walked into the house.

“Now we know where he lives. So now what?”

“Wait there, N’Zenne.”

A small and growing blip in the sky came down, a transport, parking a block away from the house. From the cabin of the car came Yondu and Tullk.

“Alright so now what do we do?” She asked once again.

Yondu looked up at the building.

“Y’think you can turn into a bird?” He asks.

“Yeah but I won’t be able to fly or anything.”

“Ah...what?”

“I’m gonna be too heavy to fly, and I won’t really know how to fly since I never practiced being a bird. Might be able to glide, but I don’t think there’s enough wind to get me very far. What did you want me to do crash into the window?”

He scowled. “If you’re so smart what do we do?” Yondu grumbled.

N’Zar looked at her two partners. Both were scruffy, one was ill-tempered, the other one too many tattoos for what she had in mind, but it might still work.

“You guys got any money?”

The two men searched the pockets of their leathers. Between the two of them they had a little shy of thirty units.

“This should do us...we gotta find a thrift store.”

“Thrift store?” Yondu asked.

“Yeah a thrift store! That transport got a GPS?”

He was in the midst of dressing for work when the doorbell rang. He wasn’t expecting company, but perhaps it was that package from home he had been waiting on? The one his father said he would have to sign for. The strontian man heard the doorbell ring again, this time with some slight urgency. Down the stairs he went to see three figures behind the frosted glass. He opened the door and in front of him was a small strontian woman holding a very thick, dog-eared book. Her outfit was conservative, a dark skirt and blazer, with a white shirt and dark tights. Around her neck she wore a bright gold ankh. Behind her were two men in a similar mode of dress. They all looked rather tired and haggard, with beads of sweat from the summer heat on their faces, and dark patches under their arms.

The woman gave him a toothy smile. “Excuse me sir, I hate to be a bother on this very lovely morning, but do you have a moment to talk about the Magus? It will only be a moment of your time.”

Unies. Great.

“I’m very sorry but I don’t have the time right now.” He said, and began to close the door only to have it stopped by her foot in the threshold.

“Perhaps some other time then?” She squeaked. “I could come back later today if you’d be so inclined.”

She was being persistent, and from the looks of her she had been running around in those clothes most of the morning. He looked into her sad golden eyes. He honestly shouldn’t. The two behind her looked mean, and the Centaurian in particular looked like he was ready to stab someone His employer does not like to be left waiting, and he generally was not a fan of the Universal Church of Truth, but at the very least he could be polite and let her in for a glass of water.

He sighed, and opened the door wider to let her and her compatriots in.

She gave a slight curtsy and the three walked into the house. The Centaruian kept his eyes forward, not even looking at his host. The last one, a man with scars and tattoos, came up to the man and shook his hand heartily. “Thank ye very much, sir.” He said, sticking a small metal disc to his hand. He looked into the man’s face, a wicked grin on his face. Behind the two men the Strontian woman’s violet skin was changing to an olive green. Her hand was reaching for something around her wrist, and it was the last thing he saw before a shock and the floor rushing up to him.

#yondu udonta #guardians of the galaxy #gotg #fanfic #the busted #ravagers

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madamemalfoywrites · 6 years

Text

A Little Bit of Love

Commission for @xeternal-fantasiesx thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to write this! My first time for Lev x Yaku but it was lots of fun! Lev is such a big puppy dog ^o^ Warning: Fluffy feels ahead lol enjoy!

Lanky.

That was definitely the word.

Lev was lanky.

And loud.

Loud was another good word.

Lev was definitely loud.

Yaku hated both of those things. How awkward the alpha was with limbs so long he didn’t know what to do with them, and an overwhelming amount of energy that seemed to bubble and burst in random spurts of idiocy.

And yet, despite all that…

“You’re blushing again~”

Yaku swatted at Kuroo, scowling at the alpha, “I am not.”

“Maybe you should take this week off too,” Kuroo suggested, “Wouldn’t want you to bust a nut just from looking at the guy—”

The captain was left unable to say anything else, Yaku having kicked him right in the stomach. It was a good thing it was the end of practice, because though Kuroo didn’t ever admit it Yaku’s hits hurt a lot more than anyone ever really let on. With everything put away, the team made their way to the club room to change and get ready to go home.

On the walk there, Yaku wondered if maybe Kuroo was right. It’d been a long time since he’d last had his heat. Courtesy of suppressants, of course.

Suppressants were a requirement for all omegas but they were especially helpful to athletes, who had to compete certain months out of the year. Though they weren’t exactly a cure all, they gave a solid 9 months or so before an omega would have to go through heat again. It wasn’t healthy to wait much longer than that, and Yaku’s time was just about up. Besides waiting longer than the 9 months usually meant unpleasant side effects.

Yaku didn’t particularly mind his heats. They were just something that came with being an omega. It didn’t exactly interfere in any meaningful way so he just dealt with it the way most omegas did.

But it had been almost a full year since his last heat, and he’d forgotten about the symptoms that came along with it.

Particularly those that happened just before his heat. Everyone called it pre-heat. And for the most part it was sort of awful. Pre-heat came with cramps, mood swings, bloating, sudden strokes of hunger and sometimes a stray headache snuck in there as well. Omegas also became especially needy of touch during this time, platonic or otherwise. That was the part Yaku struggled with the most.

Mood swings he could deal with. That was more of a personal problem anyway. He just had to make sure he thought things through before snapping at someone. But the need to scent, to touch, the fact that just being near an alpha made him calmer was sort of difficult to deal with on his own. It wasn’t something he liked admitting to people.

Especially when Lev was babbling at him in the middle of the club room, shirt off, saying something or other that Yaku wasn’t really registering, because Yaku had been in the middle of changing as well, but more importantly, he was mesmerized by how white the alpha’s skin was.

Had Lev always been that pale?

Without thinking about it, he reached out to touch the alpha, fingers sliding down Lev’s torso. The simple touch alone was enough to start a happy hum in his throat.

Lev stood frozen, for once in his life quiet, staring at Yaku with those big green eyes of his. Yaku swallowed, realizing what he’d done, pulling his hand away in quick embarrassment.

“Sorry,” he said, as if that would explain everything, grabbing his clean shirt and putting it over his head.

Suddenly, he was pulled from behind, the scent surrounding him one he immediately recognized as Kenma, the fellow omega rubbing his nose against Yaku’s scent glands.

“Don’t get touch starved,” was all he said, before returning beside Kuroo to finish changing.

Yaku managed a nod, before he finished getting dressed, leaving the locker room before anyone else, stepping out into the open air and slapping his hands against his warm cheeks. He’d definitely made a face he never planned on showing to anyone.

Back inside the locker room, Lev was touching his chest where Yaku had touched, looking as if he were in a sort of daze, shaking his head before he finished changing himself.

“Kuroo-senpai!” he called, much louder than was really necessary, “Is Yaku-senpai touch starved?” He asked, recalling what Kenma had said earlier.

Kuroo looked from Kenma to Lev, Kenma giving him a don’t do it kind of look, Kuroo returning it with a cheshire sort of grin before focusing his attention back to the first year.

“Yaku will start his heat soon,” Kuroo explained, “Since our training camp is over. But his pre-heat symptoms get pretty bad, so he needs constant touches to avoid getting starved.”

“Really,” Lev’s eyes widened, “Are they that bad?”

There was a collective sort of groan that came from the rest of the team, because a lie this obvious was pretty cringe-worthy, but for some reason Lev still seemed to believe the captain.

“Oh yeah,” Kuroo continued, “I mean all omegas get pretty cuddly but you know Yaku. Stubborn as an ox, so he doesn’t like admitting it. It’s why he usually sticks to Kenma. But I bet if it were you, he’d definitely like that.”

Lev shifted awkwardly, blinking at the captain, “Wouldn’t—wouldn’t he just kick me again?”

“Who knows?” Kuroo shrugged, “But we wouldn’t want him to get touch starved would we?”

The shining glow returned to the Russian’s eyes, Lev balling his hand into a fist of determination, “I can do it!”

…

Today was a bad day. Yaku knew from the moment he woke up. He kept on making these short little whines kept popping up out of knowhere, he had a headache, and it felt like the entirety of his body was cramping. It was just not going to be his day. All he wanted was to curl up into his nest and murmur himself to sleep. If he didn’t have a test in English he probably would have stayed home.

He also would have skipped out on practice, since there wasn’t much going on anyway, but his legs led him there out of habit, so he figured he’d might as well get changed and warm up with everyone else. Maybe some exercise would help brighten up his mood.

All of him just felt so…achey.

He’d just finished running a few laps around the gym, getting his fill of water, when Lev ran up to him, screaming out for Yaku-senpai!!

The alpha grabbed Yaku by the hands, causing him to drop his water bottle, and before Yaku had the time to ask him just what he was doing, Lev began throwing up a circus of words.

“I’ll make sure you don’t get touch starved!” He squeezed Yaku’s hands as he said so, emphasizing the bold declaration, “You’re very important to our team and you’re my important senpai! So please excuse me!”

“Lev—”

Yaku didn’t have the chance to stop him, the alpha bending at the waist so that he could nuzzle Yaku’s scent glands.

The omega’s heart slowed.

This was…platonic. It was platonic, wasn’t it? Yaku’s heart sped up again, the sudden rush of blood making his cheeks go pink. Lev was too close. Much too close. And he was rubbing his scent all over him. Yaku could smell him. He smelled…oddly of sugar. And grass? It was a terrible combination, really. Should have made him want to throw up but it made Yaku strangely calm instead, and before he even realized he was sighing into the alpha’s embrace, craning his neck a little to receive more affection.

Omega instinct was stronger than he ever could have hoped to be. Because for whatever reason, his headache was gone.

Lev pulled away with a large smile on his face, looking like he was waiting for a reward of some sort. Yaku sighed, because uncalled for or not, the alpha did manage to make his headache disappear. Though Yaku was partially convinced it would have been the same if Kuroo or any of the other alphas on the team had scented him. Alpha pheromones just had that kind of effect.

Still though, he sighed, reaching up and patting the tall alpha on the head. “Thank you, Lev.” He figured he must have looked a lot worse than he felt, for Lev to come to his rescue like that. It was sort of cute, dammit.

And it kinda made Yaku smile.

Lev had never seen anything like it before. That soft expression on the omega’s face that just made him want to cuddle him all over again. That almost-there smile and that gentle touch of the omega’s hand on his head.

It made his heart beat fast.

So even Yaku could be kind like this. In all honesty Lev didn’t know what to do, because kicks and getting yelled at he could handle, but the soft praise and patting from his senpai was more than he could have ever asked for.

Excitement bubbled in his chest, determination once again lining his features, “If you need a hug then I’ll hug you! I googled so I’m confident in my abilities to help you through your pre-heat symptoms!”

Stiffly, Yaku pulled his hand back, clearing his throat. “My symptoms aren’t that bad,” he said simply, already beginning to shift his body in the opposite direction, “But—thank you.”

Lev felt his chest swell with pride, the alpha standing up even taller than usual, “YOU’RE WELCOME!” He called, mouth wide open in a flashy grin, happiness filling every bone in his body.

This was his chance. With this, he could get closer to Yaku-senpai. Thanks to Kuroo-san, Lev now finally had the opportunity he’d been waiting for.

As they got further into the week, however, Lev wasn’t so convinced that Yaku’s symptoms weren’t that bad. Because the omega was increasingly more affectionate, not just with him but with the rest of the team, stealing a touch here and a nuzzle there whenever he seemed to get a chance. And although Lev was certainly the one receiving most of Yaku’s impulses, it still slightly bothered him whenever he saw the omega being scent marked by Kuroo. Even if it was platonic, it was unsettling.

They were really close, weren’t they?

Not only that but, the rest of the team didn’t seem shocked or put off in the least. As if they were already used to Yaku’s soft side. As if it were all just natural.

Lev couldn’t get used to it. No matter how many times Yaku nuzzled up against him, or gave a passing touch, or let a soft hum vibrate in his throat, Lev couldn’t adjust. Couldn’t stop his heart from practically beating out of his chest.

Especially with the way Yaku was starting to smell, giving off such a sweet scent, so sweet it was inviting, almost, and Lev had never experienced anything like that before, nothing that was this close, and he couldn’t figure out if it was because it was Yaku or if he was only feeling like this because the omega was approaching his heat.

Probably a mix of both.

Not to mention once Friday rolled around, he and Yaku had been put in charge of cleaning up, so there was no one else around besides the two of them. Kuroo had wanted to let someone else do the cleaning, since Yaku was obviously getting really close to his heat, but Yaku said it was part of his club duties and he didn’t want anyone taking his place.

That scent was only all the more obvious when they were alone together. It made Lev anxiously lick his lips. He tightened his grip on the mop, trying to focus on just cleaning up the gym and then getting out of there.

Because sometimes his alpha instinct got the better of him. And though he was confident he wouldn’t do anything to that extreme (and that Yaku was more than capable of taking care of himself should that happen), Lev wasn’t positive he wouldn’t end up saying something stupid.

Because Lev had this horrible habit of sometimes saying something stupid.

Especially when Yaku was moving around the way he was, sweat making the little short hairs stick to the back of his neck, the omega carefully folding up the net like it was his millionth time doing something like that.

That was what Lev liked the most about Yaku. He was dedicated. More than anything else, the omega pushed towards his goals, and didn’t give up.

It was something he thought that made them sort of similar.

He shook the thought away, continuing with the floors. That is, until he felt a weight on his back, short arms wrapping around his torso.

Yaku was nuzzling his back.

Lev swallowed, trying to fight back the urge to pick the omega up and nuzzle him ten-fold.

“Sorry,” Yaku yawned, “I’m just a little tired.”

“Oh it’s fine!” Lev answered immediately, figuring the floor would do the way it was, “Do you want me to carry you to the club room?”

The omega snorted, playfully punching Lev on the arm as he pulled away, “I’m not that weak.”

“Still though,” Lev said eagerly, “If you’re tired—”

“I’ll be fine,” Yaku insisted, “But thank you—”

Lev wasn’t sure what overtook him at the moment, it probably wasn’t his best of ideas (but none of his ideas were ever really good) and without thinking he swept up the omega in his arms, carrying him princess style.

He should’ve guessed Yaku would’ve been pissed by that.

But Lev kinda figured Yaku was mostly pissed because the way he was being held made it really obvious that there was a boner in his pants.

That was an omega in pre-heat, for you.

“I like you!” Lev blurted, unable to look away from the outline in Yaku’s shorts, “I really like you Yaku-senpai!”

Yaku struggled, wasting no time in jumping out of the alpha’s hold, smacking him on the head and calling him an idiot.

“Think properly before you confess to someone like that! What’re you gonna do if instinct dictates your whole life?”

“It’s not instinct!” Lev whined, rubbing the top of his head, “I’ve always liked Yaku-senpai!”

Yaku frowned, grabbing the alpha by the front of his shirt and dragging him to the end of the gym before ordering him to sit down, muttering angrily something about how tall Lev was.

Lev did as he was told obediently, sitting down on the floor and looking up at Yaku, half wondering if the omega would end up kicking him in the face.

To his surprise, however, Yaku settled himself in Lev’s lap instead, nuzzling up against the alpha’s scent glands.

“Did you mean it?”

It was so quiet that Lev almost didn’t even really hear it.

“Yes,” the alpha nodded, squeezing Yaku to him, “Absolutely.”

“Did you only just realize it?” Yaku asked, somewhat somberly, keeping his face hidden in the alpha’s neck.

Lev shook his head, “I—“

“Are you only attracted to me because I’m in pre-heat? You know better than anyone I’m not usually like this.”

“I know!” Lev spoke quickly, squeezing Yaku again, “I like the Yaku during regular practices and I like the Yaku now! I especially like the Yaku right now because I’ve never been so close to you before,” the alpha licked his lips, unable to keep his words from falling over each other, “I actually confessed to Kuroo-senpai about it—because I didn’t want to be hated—but Kuroo-senpai said you didn’t hate me and that made me really happy! And then, when you started nuzzling, I—”

He stopped abruptly, Yaku having bitten his neck.

“I get it, idiot,” he sighed, relaxing in the alpha’s hold, “You could have summed that up in two sentences.”

Lev trembled slightly, though he nodded regardless, shifting awkwardly from where he sat on the floor. “How…um…” he swallowed, licking his lips in anxiousness, “How does Yaku-senpai feel about me?”

Yaku shot his head up, glaring at the alpha, and again Lev thought Yaku might just hit him. But he didn’t. Just said, “Do you think I sit on just any alpha’s lap?”

“Um, well, I don’t know—”

Lev was pulled forward by the front of his shirt again, his lips crashing against Yaku’s for a brief moment, before the omega pulled away just as quickly, cheeks red and eyes fluttering downwards in a fluster.

“That—“ Yaku kept them an arm’s length away, “That should be obvious enough, shouldn’t it?”

“Yaku-senpai! Can we do that again—!”

This time he was hit on the head, and Lev couldn’t help but let out the kind of whine a pup might after their mother scolds them. But Yaku just snuggled into him again, telling him to wait until after his heat was over.

The alpha perked up, snuggling into the omega’s cheek, “And then we can kiss again?”

Yaku scoffed, but didn’t pull away, “Yeah,” he said, “Then we can kiss again.”

“Yaku-senpai? Does that mean we’re going out now?”

The omega laughed, pressing his nose into Lev’s cheek, shaking his head, “Learn to read the mood, idiot?”

Lev shifted, holding Yaku just a little tighter, “So, that’s a yes?”

Yaku rolled his eyes, before placing another quick kiss onto Lev’s cheek, “It’s a yes. And I won’t let you get out of confessing to me either. Even if you regret it later.”

“I won’t! I’d never regret it!”

Then it happened. Lev saw that soft smile Yaku had given him the other day in the club room.

And that was something he hoped to see again and again.

#fic commissions #levyaku #yakulev #haikyuu!!#hq!!#omegaverse #alpha lev #omega yaku

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