#I watched a Pacifist run first and cried - of course | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

koshicoast · 3 years

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A few shinkami headcannons because I love them more than anything

Shinsou has a growth spurt and practically towers over Denki by their second year (for all intents and purposes, Shinsou has always been in class 1A)

Denki grows a little bit but not that much, he’s not complaining though, he gets Shinsou to grab stuff on the top shelve for him or has him hang up posters in higher places in his room (the only downside is that he has to get on his tippy toes for kisses but usually Shinsou will just bend down like a good boyfriend)

They go on dates every Sunday, It’s their day and it doesn’t matter what they’re doing as long as it’s just the two of them

They could be studying or doing homework or exercising or anything really and they’ll call it a date

The rest of the class knows better than to try and contact either boy on Sunday

“Normies worship Jesus on Sunday but I worship Shinsou” - Denki, at one point in time

Shinsou loves playing with denki’s hair, he buys different kinds of hair clips just to put them in denki’s hair

he just likes how the colors pop out

He especially likes to see purple hair clips in denki’s hair

Tbh it doesn’t have to be hair clips, it could be a scrunchie or a rubber band or a headband; as long as it’s purple it does wonders to shinsou’s heart

Denki likes playing with shinsou’s hair too but more than that he likes seeing Shinsou in yellow clothing

Shinsou doesn’t wear bright colors a lot usually sticking with black or cool tone colors

But when he does wear yellow, Denki just gets all mushy no matter how small it is

It could be yellow earrings or socks or something and Denki will wear a love sick expression all day

Despite being in the hero course, Shinsou still gets incredibly insecure about his quirk and how some people only see him as a villain

Denki, without fail or hesitation, tells Shinsou what a great hero he’s gonna be, he talks about how Shinsou is gonna inspire a new wave of underground heroes and how he’s gonna be some kid’s Aizawa one day and how proud he is of him (The first time he said that, it makes Shinsou sob. It makes denki cry too bc he’s a sympathetic crier so they just lay in bed holding eachother)

He also tells Shinsou how no matter who’s the number one hero, Shinsou will always have first place in his heart. And that Shinsou is just as much as any other hero out there and even a little more because he’ll be underground

Denki just loves his boyfriend so much and whoever planted the idea that some quirks are just made for evil is going to get electrocuted >:(

Denki will also pepper Shinsou in kisses saying things like ‘you are so kind’ ‘you’re an amazing person’ ‘I love you so much’ ‘You’re my hero’ and just a bunch of stuff so by the end of their heart to heart Shinsou is feeling a lot better

Denki gets insecure about how ‘dumb’ he is and how he’ll probably just end up hurting civilians or himself before he hurts a villain

Shinsou hates how that’s how Denki views himself because Denki is one of the kindest people in the world and doesn’t even realize it like the first time Denki told him that insecurity, Shinsou looked at him and was like ‘are you..you’re serious? Denks, You’re one of the most clever people I know’

Whenever Denki mentions it, Shinsou he just squeezes the blonde and lets him cry out his frustrations before telling him that ‘he’s not an idiot or stupid and that it’s okay not to understand something as fast as others and that it’s okay to learn differently and it’s okay’ (Shinsou will always try not to cry but a few tears fall anyways bc he just wants denks to be happy without feeling like he’s a fuckup)

Shinsou never lets Denki call himself an idiot or stupid, even in a joking way.

They don’t fight a lot because of their personalities like

Denki is a people’s person and is really in tune with other’s emotions and by default is a pacifist unless otherwise

Shinsou isn’t a people’s person but he’s observant due to his quirk bc of how he’s been treated in the past, he’s also good at picking up on people’s body language

Most times it’s just small disagreements and even then they communicate the best they can and try to compromise

If that doesn’t work then they’ll give each other space so the disagreement won’t turn into something ugly

They’ve only fought once and it was the worst (and best) thing for them

The fight happened after a mock rescue mission goes wrong and there were weeks of stress and tension leading up to it

It was messy and bad like really bad

“I just don’t get why you have to run into danger!” Denki screamed. The whole dorm could probably hear them but he didn’t care, not when his boyfriend was looking at him like he just lost his mind.

It was supposed to be a simple training exercise. Simple. Go in, defeat villains, rescue the ‘hostages’. It was not that simple.

*insert how badly the mission went and Shinsou ran towards the danger to help or smth idk*

It gets pretty rough between the two of them because they’re both pretty emotional people

Shinsou thinks denki doesn’t want him to be a hero and denki thinks Shinsou doesn’t want to be with him

It’s a lot of insecurities + stress + yelling

Denki is the first one to break, he’s a lot more emotionally sensitive than Toshi and everything is just crashing down and he hates it

“Do you just not want to be with me?!” He cries, unable to keep the tears at bay any more. He hates arguing with people, especially when that person happens to be his boyfriend. He gets it, he does! Toshi is training to become a hero and so is he but that doesn’t make it easier. Doesnt stop the shot of fear whenever he watches the other get hurt, doesn’t stop the late night self deprecation, doesn’t stop the anxiety he gets whenever he sees Toshi run head first into danger.

But he gets it and somehow it’s a bitter realization.

Because Hitoshi’s priority is the job they signed up for and Denki’s is Hitoshi.

The fight ends with tears on both their parts and they call it a night, too tired to scream anymore

They sleep in their own rooms that night

The next morning they agree to take a break, not a full break up, but some time away. Space away from each other to prioritize and think.

(Now ive seen fanfics where everyone picks denki over Shinsou and i hate that so fuck you, class 1A are both their friends and they’re all family and try and to help each other I will die with that statement)

Surprisingly the two most helpful people are Bakugou and Kirishima

(Actually not that surprising, they’re the longest couple in the whole class, dating immediately after Kamino)

Bakugou and denki have a heart to heart

“You’re both dumbasses” Katsuki sighs heavy, passing another tissue over to the sobbing blonde. He’s not good at these kinds of things, but Kirishima told him he could help the electric blonde more than he could so here he is. “You gonna tell me what’s wrong or just cry?” He asks, not without a hint of worry though. He pretends to ignore it.

So denki tells him everything and his insecurities

Oh. Yeah, Kirishima was right.

“You think I’m an idiot” Denki mutters quietly, harshly rubbing his eyes.

“No” The older blonde shakes his head, plopping down on the bed next to the other. He doesn’t turn to meet yellow eyes, his own trained on the All Might poster hanging directly across from them. He feels Pikachu’s curious gaze on him so he decides to elaborate more, knowing the sooner he helps the sooner he doesn’t have to deal with this anymore. It’s totally not because he’s gotten soft. Absolutely not.

“Trust me, Zombie Eyes looks at you like you put the fucking stars in the sky. It’s disgusting to watch.” He crinkles his nose in disgust earning a small laugh. “People like him and I, we gotta work twice as hard. Not saying that no one else does but it’s different.” He stresses the last word. “People like Ei or Deku or even you, people already see you as good so all you gotta do is get stronger. They don’t question your character, your morals, they don’t look down on you for having a weakness. People like Zombie Eyes and I though?we gotta work hard just to prove that we’re good. That we were meant to become heroes. Every action we do is put under a microscope and analyzed.” He explains.

“We’re assholes by default, It’s how we were raised. Not saying it as an excuse though. He was in the shitty system and I had shitty parents, no adult taught us shit like love or how to properly deal with feelings.”

Stupid Deku tried with him but he didn’t even know how to deal with his own much less some angry blond kid’s.

He takes a deep breath, pushing back faint memories of his childhood. The younger hasn’t said a word but he can tell he’s listening so it’s fine. “We can’t just turn off how we are. If it’s frustrating for you and Ei, It’s worse for us. Like we know logically that we’re good people, that we changed but that’s now how our brain sees it. We push ourselves because that’s all we know how to do, it proves to us and everyone else that we bled for our spot here. That we made it. Having friends is hard because we compare ourselves to them and draw our own conclusions to their actions. Being nice? Our brain says it’s a trap. Showing some human fucking decency? Our shitty brain says it’s an act. Being in a relationship? Laughable. We’re just villains pretending to play heroes to everyone else.”

He takes another deep breath, forcing himself to look away from the poster, flashbacks to their first year briefly passing in his head. Okay yeah, not going down that route. He looks over, making eye contact. He wonders if this is how Kirishima feels whenever he’s trying to cheer him up. Wonders if it’s just as hard. This better be worth it, everyone has been miserable. (Shitty thing about having been through life and death situations together is that everyone has bonded and become close like a family so when one of them is sad it’s like everyone is fucking sad.) (He loathes it because even he gets worried.)

“But despite that he still loves you.” He says softly, almost whispering like he’s telling the other a secret. “Fights his demons to hold your hand and all that shit”

Shinsou loves him? Loves him?

“How do you.. how do you know?” Denki whispers, throat sore. “We fought so badly last night, we were screaming at eachother.”

“He treats you the same way I treat Ei.” He answers,

“He changed his priorities around to try and accommodate for another person in his life, you became more important than training or studying. He takes days off to be with you, cuts his studying short if you need a break. It might not seem much to others but for him that’s huge. He came in with this one track mind but then you came along and he scrambled to balance everything. And then you two got your shit together and started to go out and I’m pretty sure he got scared”

“Scared?” Denki asks, the thought almost funny to him.

“I did.” Bakugou admits as Denki’s eyes grow wide.

“I was petrified. When Ei started to become more important than hero work, I freaked. It’s not that loverboy is choosing being a hero over you, It’s because he doesn’t understand that he can have both. He thinks everything important is a choice- that if you want something you have to give something up. He chooses hero work and he loses you. He chooses you and he loses hero work.”

“But he’s not going to lose me or hero work”

“Kinda sounded like you did give him an ultimatum though”

The realization hits him like cold water.

Shinsou gets a similar talk with Kirishima

It helps, a lot

They don’t immediately go back to eachother, instead spending the week with their everyone else and just taking time for themselves

Shinsou knocks on Denki’s door Sunday morning and they finally talk things out

It’s also the first time they say ily!!

Anyways after that fight they work harder on communicating especially when it comes to things like hero work

It’s not perfect bc their dumb traumatized teens but they’re trying and they know their lil family will always be there

I haven’t slept but yes thanks for sticking around if you’re reading this

If ur interested in shinsou’s talk with Kirishima lmk

#shinkami headcannons #shinkami #drabble #snippets #shinsou x kaminari #shinsou hitoshi #shinsou #denki kaminari #kaminari #my hero academia #kiribaku #Kirishima #bnha bakugou

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kal-djarin · 3 years

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Memories From the Past

Fandom: Star Wars

Date Posted: February 8th, 2021

Pairing: Reader x Obi-Wan Kenobi

Warnings: angst, fluff, suggestive themes but no actual smut, fighting?

Request: n/a

A/N: Okay I’m actually kinda proud of this one. I really love the dynamic of Obitine so I tried to translate that into fic without stealing the entire plot, but it steal is very obviously similar. I really hope the flash back scenes and change in pov. make sense, I had some issues trying to figure out what tense I should use for them, but hopefully it’s not confusing. IM SORRY THE ENDING IS RUSHED!!! As always please let me know what you think!!

Word Count: 4.5k

The news of Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi’s return to Sundari caused an array of emotions throughout the Palace. The Royal Guards were more watchful than usual, still not truly able to release the years of grudges held against the Jedi Order and Satine, was glad to be reunited with her old friend, despite the impromptu meeting being over possible changes in where the planet stood in the Clone Wars; a figure dressed in Mandalorian armour attacking a Republic cruiser would bring anyone to question the supposed position of neutrality Mandalore held.

You, on the other hand, were instantly filled with dread. Years have passed from the last time you have laid eyes on Obi-Wan and still the mere mention of him causes hundreds of memories to resurface.

When Satine became Duchess of Mandalore, many people were happy, but there were still insurgents that would not accept her pacifist leadership. They would send bounty hunters to try to eliminate her and the power she held. These constant threats against her life compelled Obi-Wan and his Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn to remove her and you, her most trusted advisor, from Mandalore and live on the run for nearly a year.

You lived one day at a time, trying to focus on surviving the present and live to see what uncertainties the future held. Most people would think that living in such dubious conditions would be terrifying, but it was one of the best years of your life.

Right when you met Obi-Wan, you were instantly turned off by him, despite his handsome looks. His diplomatic kindness and reverence felt impersonal and fake instead of charming and he was far too arrogant for your liking. Qui-Gon, on the other hand, was someone you befriended very quickly. His empathetic and wise nature instantly connected the two of you and he became almost like a father-figure. He was constantly giving you advice and was the only reason you tolerated Obi-Wan in the beginning.

Obi-Wan instantly felt this disfavor towards him, bringing out his sarcasm and frequent jabs, making him even more unbearable. The two of you spent weeks either trying to see who could irritate the other more or just completely ignoring each other, to both Qui Gon and Satine’s dismay. Qui-Gon always tried convincing you that you and Obi-Wan would make a great pair if the two of you would just stop being so stubborn, but his advice fell onto deaf ears.

Your hostility towards each other did die however, when you were being chased by venom-mites on a cliff on Draboon. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fought them off as you and Satine escaped to the ship. Satine ran onto the boarding ramp and just as you were about to join her, you tripped over a divot in the ground, the momentum of it almost completely hurtling you off the side of the cliff, had you not grabbed a hold of the ledge.

All you can remember was the absolute terror that coursed through your veins and Satine’s horrified scream. Your body was hung over what seemed to be a bottomless pit and the only thing anchoring it were your hands; hands that were rather weak from a life devoid of physical exertion and that were slipping as each second passed.

You struggled, trying to find a way to climb up to solid land, but soon realized all the effort was fruitless. Obi-Wan, startled by Satine’s cries for help, turned around and saw your rather unfortunate situation. His eyes widened and he quickly turned from his Master and ran towards where you hung. When he was close enough, he slid to his knees and stretched his arm out to you.

“(Y/N), Take my hand!”

You wanted to, you really did, but the fear of falling to transfer your grip from the ground to his hand was too debilitating.

“Obi-Wan, I can’t, I’ll fall!” You managed to choke out

“You have to trust me!” His voice was loud, but still held its usual steadiness. His eyes however gave away his true emotions. They were frantically searching your own trying to convince you to lay your life in his hands. You could practically feel his terror radiating off of him.

Realizing you were out of options, you slowly released your grip and reached out to grasp his outstretched hand. Your fingers barely grazed his own and you knew it was too late. Gravity met you full force, and you felt yourself scream as your body began to plummet.

Then, all of a sudden, a warm cradling feeling caught you, interrupting your imminent death. You felt yourself rise over the cliff and saw Obi-Wan’s concentrated face and twitching hand. When you were about a foot above the ground, you dropped into Obi-Wan’s arms, and let out a sob of relief. Your body was racked with tears, still trying to process what just happened, and Obi-Wan just held you. You wrapped your arms around his neck, seeking comfort for your near death, and leaned against Obi-Wan’s own shaking body.

That day was the start of a new relationship for the two of you. You began to confide in each other more and felt the trust between the two of you grow as time passed. Obi-Wan dropped his guard of fake diplomacy and began to act more like himself. Of course, he still had his sarcastic humor, but it was more endearing now and his kindness felt genuine.

Soon, your relationship became more than just finding comfort in each other. When one of you couldn’t sleep, you and Obi-Wan would just sit together and talk until you became tired or if it was time to get up. Being around him was effortless and there was an understanding the two of you had that was rare to find. Of course, there was still tension between the two of you but it was different, less hostile.

If your relationship with him had ended there, innocent and full of what-ifs, you would have been just as excited as Satine was to see him. You wouldn’t currently be standing in the throne room, shaking with anxiety, waiting for him to step through the doors.

Just as you begin to contemplate completely ditching Obi-Wan’s arrival, the doors are opened and you hear the Prime Minister talking to him.

You look down and try to not draw attention to yourself, which is impossible considering Satine insisted you walk in beside her. Satine knew you and Obi-Wan were close, but you never told just how far your relationship with him went, so she didn’t see anything with the reunion. She sits down at the throne and you stand next to her. They greet each other briefly and the sound of Obi-Wan being so close to you again gives you the courage to finally meet his gaze.

He looks absolutely radiant, somehow looking more attractive than you remembered. His hair is a bit longer and a perfectly trimmed bear adorns his handsome face. You can’t help but stare, trying to take in the view you have been deprived of for almost 15 years.

“After all these years, you're even more beautiful than ever,” He says towards Satine, but still keeps his eyes locked on you.

You break the intense eye contact and try to not let his smooth words affect you. He doesn’t falter at your discreet rejection and continues the diplomatic conversation between him and Satine. She invites him on a walk through the city, and to your dismay, she gestures for you to join them. You walk just behind Satine, allowing the two of them to lead the way. Air speeders whistle by around you and people walk around the city, going about their day, unbothered by the Duchess and Jedi moving around them. You hear Satine talk about the current predicament Mandalore has found itself in with the Death Watch and you know you should be paying attention and adding into the conversation for sake of not seeming rude, but can’t help but carefully watch Obi-Wan’s side profile as he walks.

It’s perfect just like the rest of him and triggers yet another memory in your mind: you and his first kiss. It was a couple months after the incident on Draboon, and the four of you were forced to spend the night in a cave because of a rather wild storm. You sat on the cold floor near the fire Qui-Gon made, unable to rest, just watching the rain hit the mouth of the cave for hours. Unlike you, Satine used her time wisely, quickly finding much needed sleep. Qui-Gon had been meditating earlier, but now seemed to be resting as well, facing the inside of the cave. Obi-Wan sat cross-legged, reading a book about, if you remembered from his earlier explanation correctly, the method of Jar’Kai, farthest from the fire.

It wasn’t long before he noticed your restless form and decided to sit down next to you, close enough for your shoulders to touch.

“What’s up with you?” He asked, nudging your shoulder with his own.

Usually this kind of touch wouldn’t have caused you any issues, but more recently, you began to take note of every physical contact the two of you made. Obi-Wan was rather reserved, so knowing he so frequently chose to make contact with you gave you conflicting feelings. You turned and looked at him and suddenly felt rather sad.

“Don’t you wish we could be more carefree, like other people our age?”

He looked taken aback from your sudden question, but soon began to contemplate, fingers coming up to gently grasp his chin. After a moment, he looked back at you and shook his head.

“I never truly have thought about it. Why?” He questions further.

You knew why. No matter how hard you tried to deny it, Obi-Wan has found a special place in your heart. Months of confiding and building trust with one another let you get to know his true personality, making it impossible not to feel so much for him. But, although you were just teenagers, the both of you had responsibilities and expectations of you. He was a Jedi and you had to stay focused on helping Satine rebuild Mandalore after the raging civil war.

So instead of answering his question, you decided to satiate the need to feel reckless by standing up and walking out into the rain. The feel of the cold drops on your skin should have annoyed you, but instead it made you feel alive; it helped numb the feelings you so badly wish you didn’t have.

“What are you doing!” Obi-Wan yelled, looking alarmed at your sudden uncharacteristic decision.

“I’m living!!” You replied, soaking in the feeling of the rain and quickly running back and grabbing his hands with your dripping ones.

“Come on, Obi Wan, join me” You urged. His eyes are wide in shock but, nonetheless, takes off his outer robes and walks out into the rain.

His trust to join you with no question made you feel even more giddy and you dragged him into the middle of the valley that the cave sat in. You grabbed his hands and began to dance, if you could even call it that. Obi-Wan, as comfortable as he was with you, immediately stiffened up, since he was never truly taught how to dance. This setback, however, caused little pause in your actions and you just spun with him around in a circle.

The drumming of the rain did little to drown out your laugh whenever Obi-Wan would stumble, to his dismay, but he too began to chuckle at the unskilled dancing going on. You gazed up at him and just from the look on his face you knew your feelings for him were going nowhere. His hair laid flat on his head, soaked, and his face was covered in water and he looked breathtaking. He made you feel safe and trusted and maybe that was the reason you decided to risk it all.

You grabbed his face between your hands and pressed your lips to his. It was short-lived, with him quickly pulling away with his eyebrows furrowed and lips parted.

You instantly were filled with regret, embarrassed from the rejection, and went to run back into the cave to hide from your mistake. You felt selfish, trying to act on feelings that completely disrespected everything Obi-Wan lived for. Right when you pulled away from his arms, Obi-Wan quickly grabbed your wrist and pulled you back in.

His hands went up to cradle your face and he kissed you. It was overwhelming how much emotion he was channeling through it. The kiss was needy and hard but his hands were gentle, one of them coming up to tangle itself in your soaked hair. You could tell he was inexperienced, his form being a tad messy, but the passion put into it made up for any mistakes.

You feel a hand rest on your shoulder and are instantly pulled out of the memory. You see Satine looking at you, worry written all over her face.

“(Y/N), are you alright?” She asks, her eyes searching your face.

You go to answer her and shut down any of her worries about you, but catch a glimpse of Obi-Wan and lose the words. His face looks almost distraught and you know he must have seen what you were thinking of. You force yourself to look away from him and respond to Satine.

“Yes, sorry I must have zoned out.” You apologize, hoping she buys your white lie. “As a matter of fact is it alright if I return to the Palace, I think I need a little rest”

She still looks worried, but quickly approves of your request and turns back to walk with Obi-Wan, who still seems bothered by your memory, but remains cordial and attentive.

You turn and go back to the Palace, a single guard flanking your side. When you return, you do exactly what you told Satine, you lie on your bed and rest, or at least try to.

***

When Obi-Wan sensed the memory you were thinking of, he was no longer able to focus on the important matter at hand. Even after the bombing on Mandalore after you left and him nearly being crushed to death on Concordia, he found himself thinking about it. He remembers that day so clearly; the first time he truly gave into his temptations.

He had worked so hard to stay in the Jedi Order- nobody wanted him as a Padawan. He was always not enough and it was only by fate that Qui-Gon decided to take him under his wing. He knew better than anyone that the title of Jedi was invaluable and there you were making him question everything he ever knew. He knew Jedi weren’t supposed to form attachments or express their emotions, so why did he keep indulging himself with your presence.

The moment you kissed him, Obi-Wan’s instinct was to run. He was powerless against the attachment he had to you, so he knew the best way to stop it was to completely remove himself from the situation. He had every intention of doing so when he pulled away the first time, but then his other instincts kicked in. He felt the feel of your hands on his face, the closeness of your body, and realized there was no way he could let this go, at least not now.

Days after the kiss, Obi-Wan was filled with disgust at himself. He hated that he let himself indulge. He hated how he completely disregarded everything he was ever taught. He hated the fact that he loved every second of it, and what he hated most of all is that he began to wonder how it would feel to kiss your neck, skin, and other very un Jedi-like places.

Because of this, the months of progress the two of you made in your relationship were completely erased. He knew it was unfair to you, but he had to uphold the morals of a Jedi, and being around you made that goal impossible. He reverted back to the arrogant and guarded Padawan and pushed you away every time you tried to fix things.

But his efforts were fruitless. You knew Obi-Wan and were not able to let go of his sudden change in personality.

His Master also noticed the sudden change in relationship and decided to take matters in his own hands. He decided to send the two of you off on a mission to retrieve some sort of plant and herb. The two of you walked through the woods, The entire trip, Obi-Wan ignored every attempt of yours to engage in conversation and didn’t even truly acknowledge your presence. You finally decided to confront him, to his dismay.

“Was it truly that horrifying to kiss me, Obi-Wan”

“What?” He said, trying to keep the act up.

“Was it so bad to the point of ignoring me,” You pushed, getting angrier by the minute.

“I hardly see how that is relevant to the current task at han-” He began to deflect but was cut off by you grabbing his shoulder and whipping him around. Angry tears began to form in your eyes and at the site, Obi-Wan felt his facade crack.

“You don’t get to decide to drop me when things get hard, Obi-Wan” You spat, emphasizing your words by jabbing your finger on his chest.

Obi-Wan tried. He tried so hard to stay away from you. But the look of anger and heartbreak on your face made him, give into your spell, once again. He grabbed your hand and looked into your eyes.

He knew he was going to hate himself after, like last time, but the temporary pleasure it brought was impossible to resist, so he kissed you.

The kiss was hard and full of anger: anger at you, at himself, at the Jedi Order, and at the world for making you his weakness. You instantly reacted bringing your hand around to run through his short auburn hair and pulling your body as close as possible.

Obi-Wan deepened the kiss, letting his tongue explore the inners of your mouth, inciting a moan from your lips. Obi-Wan felt himself flush from the obscene sound and couldn’t help but feel bolder from the thought of bringing you pleasure. He started to kiss along your jawline and down your neck, his brain becoming muddled from the pleasure of it all.

You had begun to take off his robes and that was when he came to his senses. He knew he had to stop this, it was completely un Jedi-like and uncivilized, especially out in the open. His thoughts were immediately shut down however when you slid your hand down his chest. He decided to burn every single pleasure and feeling into memory and worry later. Your hand began to venture between his legs and that was the second time Obi-Wan gave into temptation.

You were all he could think about while fighting on Concordia, and he knew this was why Jedi don’t form attachments. Just the memory of your relationship caused his judgement to be clouded. He couldn’t imagine how he would have been if you were there during the fight with Death Watch: constantly worried, focused on an individual rather than the greater good.

He was relieved to get on to the Coronet and away from the memory of his failures as a Jedi, but that relief was short-lived when he saw you boarding the ship alongside Satine.

***

Satine, as strong-willed as ever, insisted on you going to Coruscant with her. She didn’t want you to be alone on Mandalore, vulnerable to the rapidly more aggressive Death Watch attacks. Once aboard the ship, you settle into your temporary room and head down to meet back up with the Duchess, who was currently discussing her position of neutrality with other senators down the hall.

As you walk towards the meeting, you run into a young, handsome man and Obi-Wan. You immediately freeze, not prepared for the sudden direct interaction and just stare at him. “O-Obi-Wan” You stutter out, not knowing how to fully go about this.

Obi-Wan looks equally as startled, but recovers quickly and introduces you to the younger man.

“(Y/N), this is Anakin Skywalker, my Padawan and Anakin this is Adviser (L/N).”

You tear your eyes away from Obi-Wan’s and quickly greet Anakin with a nod and small smile. Wordlessly, you walk through the door and head to Satine’s side, not before hearing the Padawan say, “On a first name basis, huh, Master?” and a small grunt following a hitting noise.

The meeting was full of high tensions, many, including Obi-Wan, disagreeing with Mandalore’s neutrality. It was always an issue when brought up, and even you saw the issues with it. The idea of staying neutral and not interfering in a war is noble but is much harder in execution and can cause more turmoil in the long run.

As soon as the meeting is dismissed, you file out of the room, trying to avoid any more confrontation. You head to the room where you are supposed to have dinner and find Satine waiting for you.

Obi-Wan enters the room, walking with other leaders. All you had to do was get to Coruscant. Once there you can get out of here and not have to think about Obi-Wan Kenobi ever again. You zone out for most of the meal, not noticing the nervous atmosphere starting to settle over everyone or the warning Obi-Wan gives about a situation going on below decks.

You are suddenly pulled out of your own head, when you hear him yell to the guards about securing the lifts. You see the blue light of Obi-Wan’s lightsaber and Satine quickly stands up from the table, bringing you with her.

A horrifying crunching sound is heard and the doors to the lift begins to wrench open, revealing a giant spider droid. It easily knocks down the guards and clambers onto the table, quickly approaching the group of senators. Obi-Wan goes into action and severs the spider droid's legs and lands a fatal lightsaber wound to its head.

The people around you breathe a sigh of relief but soon find out that it's far from over. Miniature spider droids begin to pop out of the body of the larger one and spread out to box the group of you in. Senators begin freaking out, but you and Satine know better. Years of dealing with the pushback of the people have forced you to learn how to defend yourself. Not to mention, the year spent with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan required you to spend quite a bit of time learning to fight. You and Satine immediately pull out your deactivators and get to work killing the droids.

Obi-Wan joins the fight with his lightsaber and the two of you fall into the instinctual rhythm from all those years ago. Back to back, slowly turning, ensuring the other doesn’t get too overwhelmed by the enemy. As much as you hate being reminded of your once very close relationship, it's easier to connect to him through the ease of physical touch. You can predict his movements and fighting techniques, making it much easier to interact than dialogue. Once all, except one, of the droids are eliminated, Obi-Wan turns towards you and seems as if he has something to say but quickly stops himself and walks away to check on the others. The adrenaline coursing through your veins from the fight keeps you on edge however, even after you return to your seat.

It stays with you, even when Anakin returns to inform Obi-Wan that there is a seperatist among you. The surviving spider droid is walked around the table, a test to see who it won’t attack. When Obi-Wan reaches Tal Merrik, a sudden change in the droid's hostile behavior proves him to be a traitor.

You watch in horror as Tal grabs Satine and holds a blaster to her head. The adrenaline from the previous fight serves you well because, even before Obi-Wan has time to react to the sudden change in severity of the situation, a fallen guard’s blaster, set to stun, is in your hand and has already raised and fired at the Senator. He quickly falls, releasing Satine.

You release a shaky breath and everyone, including Obi-Wan, stares in shock at your quick save.

“T-thank you,” Satine says, obviously shaken from almost being held hostage.

You nod in acknowledgment and watch as Tal Merrik is put into custody.

For obvious reasons, all the senators decide to retire to their rooms for the rest of the night.

Exhausted emotionally and physically, you do the same and head to your room after making sure Satine arrived at hers safely. You are about to relax into your bed when you hear a knock at the door. You open it to find Obi-Wan standing there, looking rather uncomfortable. “What do you want, Obi-Wan,” you sigh, tired of hiding from your past.

“I thought that we could talk”

“You are the last person to want to talk about feelings, Obi” You say turning around and heading back into the room, silently allowing him access to your space.

He walks in and closes the door behind him and leans against the wall opposite of you.

“I thought it would be a benefit to the both of us if we just talk”

“What do you want me to say Obi-Wan?” You raise your voice, tired of his roundabout way of talking.

“Do you want me to say I’m in love with you? But you already knew that didn’t you, all those years ago, and you still left” you accuse spitefully, not believing that you could somehow still have feelings for such an emotionally constipated man.

His face contorts into one of regret and grief at the mention of his abandoning you, but you still don’t let up.

“I think it’s better if you just go, Obi Wan. It’s what you do best.” You spit out, turning around to face away from him.

You hear him push off the wall and begin to move, but instead of leaving like you told him to, he walks up to you. You sense his presence against your back and he is so close you can feel his breath gently hitting the back of your neck. He stands there and lightly touches your hand with his own, breathing you in, again resorting to physical touch when his words fail. You bask in the closeness of him, giving into the way you missed his touch.

After a few moments, you hear him sigh and pull away from you.

“Had you said the word, I would have left the Jedi Order”

With that confession, he slowly leaves and shuts the door, leaving you more confused and heartbroken than ever.

#obi-wan kenobi x reader #obi wan kenobi #obi wan oneshot #obi wan x reader #obiwan #obi wan headcanon #clone wars x reader #obi wan angst #obi wan smut #starwars x reader

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writingfeatherduster · 3 years

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A Warm Feeling

Chapter One: Let Me Walk You Home

Summary: Here's the start to a Sans x Grillby fic you didn't know you needed.

Warnings so far: Nightmares

Chapter Two

Read this on Archive of Our Own or Wattpad!

Sans was… anxious. It had been three days since the last complete reset, and the kid still hadn’t left the Ruins. This happened sometimes, of course. Sometimes Frisk liked to take their time. They liked to spend a few days relaxing and living with Toriel before rushing out into the cold sometimes. Those runs were usually Pacifist runs, and they were good ones. Frisk would hang out in Snowdin for awhile, visit Undyne more than once, and watch anime with Alphys before finally moving on to face Asgore. Once Frisk even stayed around in Hotland long enough for Mettaton to be repaired and recharged, wanting to do another (less deadly) game show with him. Yeah, those were the runs Sans preferred over all.

However, the last run… hadn’t been like that.

On Frisk’s last run, they came out of the Ruins shuffling along, covered in dust. Sans was surprised for the first time in a long time. They’d spent a whole week in the Ruins, and that usually meant that they wanted to do a Pacifist run and spend time with everyone. Surely Frisk didn’t think they could get away with spending time with the others and still pick Genocide? Frisk laughed at the whoopie cushion, but… it didn’t feel right.

Frisk played along in Snowdin. They didn’t kill anyone, did all of Papyrus’s puzzles, and took their time in town. Still, Sans couldn’t let his guard down. Just when he thought that maybe this was another messed-up neutral run… Frisk fought Papyrus. Papyrus died… and so many others did as well.

Frisk took their time, playing with them, luring them into a false sense of security before striking. There was no time to try to evacuate everyone. Sans was lucky he’d gone to watch the fight, because he managed to get ahead of Frisk and stop by all the local hot spots, screaming at everyone to get out. People left everything, rushing to get to sneak out behind Frisk and start evacuating towards Waterfall. Of course, Sans knew it was pointless.

Frisk came to Grillby’s first, blocking the exit. Even fighting multiple people at a time, they showed no mercy, and the room began to fill with dust. Sans watched, feeling helpless as Frisk advanced towards the bar, smiling as they locked eyes with Grillby. Sans could have sworn the kid mumbled, “I’ve always wanted the chance to fight you.”

Sans couldn’t move. He screamed at Grillby to run, but the bartender didn’t acknowledge him, preparing his magic. Frisk dodged the fire easily, and Sans watched as they raised their stupid toy knife and--

“SANS.”

Sans woke up with a gasp, tears streaming down his face. He had to look around and orient himself for a moment. He was at Grillby’s, sitting at the bar. There was no dust, and most of the lights were off, casting the room in a dim, comfortable glow. The brightest source of light in the room was the fiery bartender in front of him, completely unharmed and wearing a look of heavy concern. Grillby had his hands on Sans’s shoulders, the comforting warmth seeping through the skeleton’s hoodie. He sighed in relief when Sans finally focused on him, tilting his head. “Just breathe, Sans. Are you alright? That was… quite a nightmare.”

Sans wiped at his tears, huffing out a hollow chuckle. “Yeah, I’m alright. Nightmares happen, you know?”

Grillby let go of Sans, and Sans immediately missed the warmth. The bartender adjusted his glasses and fixed Sans with a look that seemed to pierce right through the skeleton’s facade. “You woke up screaming, Sans,” Grillby pointed out, firm but not unkind. “It’s alright if you don’t want to talk about it, but don’t try to tell me that was just an ordinary nightmare.”

“Alright,” the skeleton conceded, “You got me. It was… a little intense, but I don’t really feel like talking about it. I already barely remember it anyway.” He woke up screaming more often than not these days, especially since Frisk had started to try new things again. Even the little comfort Sans could take in Frisk taking their time in the Ruins was now stripped away. Although, come to think of it, this had been the first time he’d woken up screaming at Grillby’s before. Taking another look around, he finally realized that he and Grillby were completely alone. Was the bar closed?

Catching Grillby’s expression, the bartender answered Sans’s silent question. “Yes, I’m closed for the evening. You’ve just been… well, more exhausted than usual. Your brother hadn’t come barging in looking for you yet, so I decided to just let you rest for a little while.”

Sans rubbed the back of his neck. Had he really been that obvious lately? “Thanks for that, Grillbz. I’ll go ahead and get out of your hair so you don’t have to burn the midnight oil for too long.”

Grillby rolled his eyes at the skeleton. “Let’s see,” he mused, “I think that’s twenty-eight now? No, twenty-nine.”

Sans laughed at that. “Lemme guess, keeping count of how many times I’ve made that joke? If I get to a hundred, do I win a prize?” His smile became a bit more genuine at Grillby’s eye-roll. “Come on, you know you love me.”

“And it’s infuriating,” Grillby responded. “And… it’s also exactly the reason I’m walking you home tonight.”

“Huh?” Sans sat up a bit straighter. “Grillbz, you don’t have to do that… It’s late, and my house is like, just down the road.”

“So it’s no trouble to walk a little ways and make sure you get home safely.” Grillby grabbed his coat from under the bar, shrugging it on. “I’m not taking no for an answer,” he continued. His tone softened as he looked at Sans again. “You look… well, for as long as you slept today, you still look so tired. If you won’t let me walk you home for your sake, do it for mine. You’ve trailed off in the middle of eating sometimes. I would feel horrible if I came to open up tomorrow morning and found you asleep out in the snow.”

Well, there wasn’t really any arguing with that. “Alright,” Sans conceded, “You win, but just so you know, if Paps gets on to me about making you stay late, I’m holding you accountable.”

“I’ll take it off your tab,” the bartender joked. He came around the bar and pulled out his keys, unlocking the door and holding it open for Sans. He turned off the last of the lights, locked up, and then started walking in the direction of Sans’s house.

The silence was… comfortable, as the two walked side-by-side. Sans had to admit, it was nice to have Grillby’s light illuminating the snow, compared to stumbling through it in the dark. He glanced up at the bartender again, thinking.

Grillby caught him staring and smiled a bit. “What is it? Is there something on my glasses?”

Sans blushed and looked away, chuckling. “No, sorry. I was just… thinking. You’re too kind to me, you know that? I guess I could say that you’ve got a warm personality.”

Grillby rolled his eyes. “You know that isn’t always true. You should see me when I get… ‘fired’ up.”

Sans tried and failed to choke back a laugh. “Oh my god, did you just make a fire pun? You didn’t. I’m still asleep.”

“I take it back. I should have let you pass out in the snow,” Grillby grumbled. Even as he fussed, however, there was amusement hiding in his voice. “Anyway… You’re welcome, I suppose. That’s just what friends do.”

“...yeah,” Sans mumbled, caught a little off guard. “Still, thanks.” He considered Grillby a friend, for sure, but it had always been sort of an unspoken thing. To hear Grillby admit, out loud, that they were more than just friendly acquaintances felt like stepping over some kind of line, but… in a good way. Like they pushed past some kind of barrier. Yeah, they were friends. Good friends, even.

When they arrived at Sans’s house, sure enough, Papyrus swung open the door. “SANS!” he cried, “I was about to come out and look for you myself! Of course, the one evening I come home late from training, and you aren’t even home! And look, you made Grillby stay up with you!”

Sans chuckled and looked up at Grillby. “Again- this lecture’s on you.”

Wanna keep up with the story? Read this fic on Archive of Our Own or Wattpad and subscribe to get notified when a new chapter goes up!

Chapter Two is out now!

#undertale #sans #grillby #sans x grillby #sansby #slow burn #fluff #dustywrites

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isabelleashmore · 3 years

Text

Invisible Moonlight: Padmé Amidala/Sabé for @star-wars-wlweek

Padmé winged easily through the steps, whisking Sabé along with her, and for a moment, they were waltzing in their nightgowns through the ballroom of Theed Palace, Sabé’s touch electric at the small of her back. It was only on her planet that petticoats and ballgowns, stiff and unforgiving on the bodies of Imperials, turned beautiful, their hems flaring vibrantly over the floor with their soft, silken sighs.

It was only in Sabé’s arms, dancing through her memories of Naboo, that Padmé became weightless.

(Or, Padmé and Sabé have a romantic night to themselves following the rise of the Empire.)

Rating: Teen

@star-wars-wlweek

Read here or on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33233989

Invisible Moonlight

“Were you surprised?”

Sabé whispered the question as if they were kids at a sleepover, scared to be caught out of bed after lights-out. They essentially were, Padmé reflected, only this time, it was being caught in bed that would get them in trouble. She tried and failed to banish that image from her mind: palace guards breaking down the door to her and Sabé’s hidden bedroom, finding them tangled up in the sheets and in each other. A humiliating arrest, after which they would be hauled to the throne room and tossed at the feet of a furious Emperor Vader. He’d throw his jealous little tantrum right then and there, which would subside only after he’d locked away his wife and executed her lover, all without ever addressing the women who frequented his room each night. The sparks of resistance that she and Sabé had so painstakingly kindled would be snuffed out; Luke and Leia—well, thank the gods that they were Anakin’s, too, because envisioning her children at risk, especially as a byproduct of her own actions, squeezed the air from Padmé’s lungs faster than if she’d been chucked off a skyscraper—

Sabé curled an arm around her waist, breaking her free from her ruminations. Padmé’s lips twitched into a fragile smile. Sabé’s every touch felt like a lullaby, like a murmured, “I’m here.” They had taken all the necessary precautions, she reminded herself: Dormé was covering for them and Anakin was spending the night with his own mistress. Not that Padmé thought of Sabé as her mistress. If anything, she liked to imagine that she was her girlfriend, and sometimes even indulged in fantasies of one day calling Sabé her wife.

Emboldened by the dream kneaded into that word—wife—Padmé giggled and touched her nose to Sabé’s. “Was I surprised by what?”

“Realizing that you were attracted to me. Were you surprised?” Sabé shimmied coyly out of Padmé’s grasp; her sultry, side-eyed gaze was enough to send tingles down Padmé’s arms. She found herself admiring Sabé’s lip gloss under the muted, golden light, the way it drew attention to the delicate purse of her lips, and thinking about how, whenever she was deep in thought, those lips would fall open just slightly, like a rosebud puckering into bloom…

It took Padmé much too long to focus on the question. She inhaled and blew out a slow stream of air, hoping Sabé hadn’t noticed. “Yes,” she hedged, “and no. I mean, there were some things about us that finally made sense. Like back when we were girls, and I got jealous when Harli Jafan started flirting with you—”

“You did?”

A blush stole into Padmé’s cheeks at Sabé’s unabashed delight. “Why else did you think I was upset about her trying to kiss you? I should have realized it earlier, but everyone around me just assumed I was only into men. Maybe I assumed it, too. Until…”—she met Sabé’s gaze from beneath her eyelashes—“until I couldn’t ignore it anymore.”

Sabé smiled and took Padmé’s hand in hers, absentmindedly tracing the lines of her palm. “If you don’t mind me asking, what made you so sure that people had those assumptions in the first place? No offense, but I can’t imagine Theed Palace being thrown into chaos over your sexuality. Yané and Saché were openly a couple, and I was out as bi before I signed on as your handmaiden.”

“It wasn’t that. I’m sure that if I made a point of coming out, everyone would have been supportive, but…” Padmé rested her head on Sabé’s shoulder, pondering how to translate her emotions into words. “My parents and sister were always asking me when I was going to bring home a boy. Maybe I started to believe that that was the ultimate goal, that liking anyone else made me somehow…less than. And then one day, Anakin happened to accompany me to my parents’ house. He was only there as my bodyguard—a Jedi one, at that!—but my whole family leapt to the assumption that he was my boyfriend. Sola and my mother were so happy—relieved, even—and…I don’t know. I told myself that none of it would matter if I could just fall for Anakin, but then I caught myself thinking, how would they have reacted if I’d brought home a girl instead?”

“I know your parents,” Sabé said. “I’m sure they would have been supportive.”

“Oh, they would have, if they had known. But I brought home you and Dormé a few times and they never assumed either one of you was my girlfriend.”

“It’s probably because you’re so feminine,” Sabé said with a hint of bitterness. “No one ever expects feminine women to be into women.”

“No one ever expects women to be into women.”

Sabé’s only response to that was to grip Padmé’s hand a little tighter.

They sat together in silence until Padmé had collected her thoughts. “I think,” she confessed, “that I was most afraid of seeing the shock on their faces. It would have felt too much like letting them down, like turning my back on a dream they’d had for me since childhood. No, more than a dream: an expectation.” She worried her lip. “I don’t know when ‘assumption’ turned into ‘expectation’, but it did, and I couldn’t bring myself to ruin it—not for them, and especially not for myself. I still don’t know of anyone in House Naberrie who isn’t heterosexual, and there was enough tension between my relatives and me as it was, what with some lingering contention over my career choice and my not-entirely-pacifist politics—and then this—!” Padmé didn’t realize she was crying until the tears were flooding down her cheeks. She clapped a hand over her mouth, just in time to muffle the sob that escaped her. “Gods, I wish I had told them—now that Anakin won’t even let me talk to them—”

“Hey, hey, hey…” Sabé stroked Padmé’s hair with her free hand, pausing only to tuck a stray curl behind her ear. “You didn’t do anything wrong, okay? We all move at our own pace. I knew pretty young, but if I’d figured it out just a little bit later, I would have had the same insecurities as you. Probably more of them, since in my case they would have been justified.”

“Stop it, Sabé. You know how I feel about you talking yourself down.”

“I know, love.” Sabé raised Padmé’s chin to drop a quick kiss on the corner of her mouth. Somehow that still ignited every nerve in Padmé’s body. “For the record, my career path was also hard for my family to accept. Being chosen as your handmaiden was an honour, of course, but my parents were just so hung up on this fantasy of me following in the family tradition, playing hallikset in the back row of some orchestra for the rest of my life.”

Padmé sighed, wiping the last of her tears on the back of her hand. “I think that’s one of the main problems on Naboo. Everyone wants their child to go into the arts, but we still need people who can run the government or fill any of the other thousands of jobs that are necessary to our planet’s survival. My father did support my engagement in politics growing up, but even he still hoped that I would ultimately pursue a career in the arts. Thankfully, once I announced to my parents that I was running for Princess of Theed, they understood that politics were my calling and stopped trying to wrangle me into an artistic pursuit. But before that, they’d tried everything: poetry, original oratory, debate, the like. My mother had desperately wanted me to be a musician, like you, but I wasn’t a standout talent at any particular instrument. At least I took all those years of dance classes—”

“No way, that doesn’t count. Everyone takes dance classes.”

Padmé shoulder-checked Sabé in mock offense. “How dare you dismiss my prodigious dance skills. I’ll have you know, I was recommended to a couple of ballet conservatories thanks to my ‘natural poise and diligence’.”

“Oh, I can believe it. I was watching you dance tonight.” Sabé’s voice had taken on a genuine, if a bit seductive note. She grinned and dropped her lips to Padmé’s ear. “You want to know a secret?”

A thrill shot down Padmé’s spine. “Yes…”

“I was jealous tonight, love. Really jealous, having to watch you dance with him in front of everyone. His hands, just…digging into your waist, as if to lay claim to you or something…” Padmé was horrified to find that the passion in her girlfriend’s voice, so hot and sensual a second ago, had suddenly been zapped dry. “Gods!” Sabé cried, sharpening and spitting the word like it was dirty. “That man is insufferable, I—I hate him!”

Padmé remained silent, rubbing the silk of her nightgown between her fingers. She had thought for a moment that this was going in a different direction, but then somehow Anakin had ruined it without even being here and—no. She refused to let the thought of him spoil her mood. Instead, she took a deep breath and examined the small, windowless bedroom that she and Sabé shared. Already a warm pulse of pride was pushing out the anger in her chest. They may have lost the bulk of their past lives to Anakin, but they had still succeeded in making this one thing their own.

Padmé’s favourite shimmer-silk robe had taken up permanent residence on the back of the desk chair, and Sabé’s hallikset case lay nestled at the foot of their bed. On the walls, they had hung every holophoto they’d rescued from Anakin’s war on the past, regardless of whether said photos were personally relevant to them. Decade-old letters from Padmé’s sister and Sabé’s brothers, penned on real arbovellum paper, were piled lovingly on the vanity; next to them, a meticulous arrangement of eyeshadow palettes and perfume bottles. What really caught her eye, though, was Sabé’s music player, its bulky form squatting somewhat obtrusively in the corner. Sabé had held a strange affection for the battered old thing since Padmé had known her, despite—or perhaps because of—her brothers’ alleged attempts on its “life” over the years.

“Sabé,” she proposed lightly, “how about a dance?”

Sabé followed her gaze to the music player, and her eyes widened in surprise. “What, right here?”

“Why not? We’ve got music and two people who know how to waltz. What more could we need?”

“Hmm…fair point.” Sabé stood up from the bed, her hips swaying just slightly as she approached the music player. Padmé felt a fresh blush heat her cheeks. “I’ve still got this recording my brother gave me a few years ago, from the orchestra he was playing with at the time.”

“Perfect.” Padmé closed her eyes just before the first strains of music wove through the air. When she opened them again, Sabé stood before her like a vision: her hair haloed by a cross-section of candlelight, her hand extended to Padmé with the palm up. “May I have this dance, my lady?” she asked in a manner so formal, they could have been at an actual ball. Padmé giggled like a lovestruck teenager and took Sabé’s hand, pulling her eagerly to the centre of the room. Their nightgowns traced the movement with a cool flutter of silk. “You may,” Padmé whispered belatedly, unable to look anywhere but into Sabé’s eyes.

She could feel the night wrapping them up in moonlight they could not see, driving them closer, closer, closer until her breasts pressed up against Sabé’s, whose open lips hung just a tantalizing breath away. Lost in the glossy expanse of her girlfriend’s pupils, mesmerized by an orchestra’s melancholic cries, Padmé let the past flood the present, transforming the world around her. She was dissolving into another time, a place where thousand-pound chandeliers hovered overhead like they weighed nothing at all, where moonlight came streaming through arches and marble reflected the world at her feet. Padmé winged easily through the steps, whisking Sabé along with her, and for a moment, they were waltzing in their nightgowns through the ballroom of Theed Palace, Sabé’s touch electric at the small of her back. Padmé gasped into the cello’s sonorous vibrato, each pull of the bow a tug-of-war between desolation and desire. It was only on her planet that petticoats and ballgowns, stiff and unforgiving on the bodies of Imperials, turned beautiful, their hems flaring vibrantly over the floor with their soft, silken sighs.

It was only in Sabé’s arms, dancing through her memories of Naboo, that Padmé became weightless.

The bow paused on the string, still trembling, as if on the cusp of climax. Padmé’s eyes fluttered closed and Sabé kissed her, firmly on the mouth and then more passionately, parting Padmé’s lips beneath her own. Padmé clung tighter to the curves of Sabé’s waist, unable to suppress a shiver as the music exploded around them. Sabé’s lip gloss tasted of strawberries, of carefree summers in the open air of the Lake Country. Padmé tugged insistently on her girlfriend’s bottom lip, frenzied by the elusive sweetness of home, and felt Sabé deepen the kiss in response.

Coruscant was a cold planet, in every sense of the word. But Sabé always managed to make it just a little bit warmer. As soon as their lips had parted, Padmé lowered her head to Sabé’s ear. “One day,” she promised, “after all of this is over—the Empire, the Rebellion, everything—I’m going to take you to Varykino. We’ll put ourselves first for once and leave everything behind. No Amidala, no handmaidens…just us. Well…except for maybe one thing.” She laced her fingers through Sabé’s and gently stroked the side of her palm, hoping it would distract from her own quickening heartbeat. “I…I’ve decided that I’d like to raise Luke and Leia with you, Sabé. Assuming…that’s something you would want?”

Sabé’s rosebud lips dropped open in shock. Padmé panicked and nearly jumped in to amend her request—what she would actually say was beside the point—but then Sabé laughed—a full-bodied, dazzling laugh—and breathed, “Padmé…” Her fingers were feather-light on Padmé’s skin as she lifted her face to hers; Padmé was met with the glorious sight of Sabé’s eyes, glistening beneath a thin layer of tears. “I can’t think of anything else I’d want more than to raise children with you. I love you.”

Giddiness overtook Padmé then, a rush like free-falling back into love. The laugh that emerged from her was watery, nowhere near as melodious as Sabé’s, but she didn’t care. “I love you, too,” she replied, and because that still didn’t feel like enough, “I love you, I love you, I love—”

Sabé kissed her again, robbing her lips of the words so that only raw passion remained, and in that moment, in that small, windowless, beautiful room, Padmé’s cares slipped away beneath the invisible moonlight.

#starwarswlweek2021 #padme amidala #sabe #starwars #sabedala #dancing #lesbian romance #lgbtq+ themes #naboo royal handmaidens #post order 66 #padmé amidala lives #emperor vader au #wlw writing wlw

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noaltbruh · 3 years

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BUCCI GANG AND HOW THEY WOULD PLAY UNDERTALE

Since I got my friend into the UT fandom, and the brainrot for this game is slowly coming back, I've figured that I'd fuse my favourite franchises and make this post, enjoy!

GIORNO:

-This may surprise you, but Giorno would almost do a Blind Pacifist run

-While at first, he was planning on taking out whoever got in his way, he changed his mind in the moment he saw Toriel

-After she taught him how to resolve the various conflicts peacefully, he decided not to fight, but to show MERCY to every monster

-He finds the multiplicity of choices a very interesting mechanism, especially since he's not much of a gamer, and he's pleasantly surprised to see such an innovative game

-While most of the times he would completely avoid the FIGHT button, if a monster got on his nerves a little too much, he may attack it until it doesn't want to fight anymore

-He takes the time to interact with everything and everyone, he wants to enjoy the game at its fullest

-He was so freaking lucky to meet Gaster on his first run

-Actually brought the piece of snowman with him

-He's part of the "Chara defense squad", and finds them strangely...relatable

-He was just about to do a full Pacifist route, but he couldn't bring himself to SPARE Flowey, and killed him

-"I won't let you hurt her"

-Ultimately, he regretted it, and reset his save file

-After doing a TRUE Pacifist, he left the game, leaving the monsters alone and giving them an happy ending

-Only knows about the Genocide through gameplays

-Favourite character: Toriel, but also likes Chara quite a lot

-Favourite OST: Memories, followed by home, Undertale, Megalo strikes back and Star (he doesn't care if they actually don't play in the game)

-What SOUL would he have: DETERMINATION

BRUNO:

-My man wouldn't hurt a fly if he had the chance to, off to the Pacifist route he goes

-Similar to Giorno, he finds Toriel a very comforting character, but he feels bad for pretty much every monster he meets. He thinks it's unfair for them to be forced to stay in the UNDERGROUND, and wants to find a way to destroy the barrier at any cost

-He's never played a videogame before, but he gets the hand of it quite quickly, even though he still ends up dying a couple of times.

-He would also be the kind of player to interact with EVERYTHING, paying close attention to whatever the passing monster has to say

-Sometimes, he likes to take a break, lay down and listen to the OST of the place he's exploring

-The most challenging enemies for him were Undyne and Asgore. It took him a while to realize that the only way to spare her was to run away, and he just really didn't want to hurt Goat papa

-He lets the bird carrying him to the other side, even if he doesn't actually need to move around. He just wants the little guy to feel appreciated

-Veeeery reluctantly, he decided to SPARE Flowey, it would have been a waste to kill somebody now, after everything that he had done so far

-He almost cried at the Pacifist ending

-He refuses to even acknowledge what happened in the Genocide route

-Favourite characters: Toriel and Asgore

-Favourite OST: Fallen down, but he also likes Heartache, Home and Waterfall

-What SOUL would he have: KINDNESS

MISTA:

-Mista's first run would be a Neutral. It's not that he enjoys killing the monsters, he's mostly just too lazy to think of a way to spare them

-If it's obvious, however, he'll just casually show the enemy MERCY, there's no need to take out absolutely everyone

-The only one who he genuinely looked for a way to spare was Papyrus. Honestly, he couldn't bring himself to just hurt him 'cause he had the chance to. Besides...He was afraid of what Sans would have done

-Speaking of him, he finds his jokes HILARIOUS, and he will use them in real life conversations if he gets the chance to

-He basically wasted all his money fighting Undyne

-He didn't buy the spider donut in the RUINS, and was forced to farm gold for 3 entire freaking days and buy one directly from Muffet

-After finishing the neutral route, he decided to go back and try the others. His next route was a Genocide

-He was about to shoot his computer AND himself while fighting Sans, but he eventually managed to beat him. Of course, after swearing at 3 A. M., drinking 10 cans of Sprite, listening to Megalovania on loop and threatening to throw Narancia out of the window because he interrupted him while he was playing

-His favourite moment during the Pacifist was cooking with Undyne

-He immediately questioned his life choices when he finished the route and saw Chara taking over Frisk's body. Closed the game and never opened it again

-Favourite characters: Papyrus, Sans and Undyne. He refuses to choose an absolute favorite

-Favourite OSTs: Megalovania and Song that might play when you fight Sans. He also likes Bonetroulse and Spear of justice

-What SOUL would he have: BRAVERY

NARANCIA:

-Narancia playing this game would be a total mess. Ironic, considering he's the one in the gang that likes video games the most

-Despite Toriel's guidance, at first, he would FIGHT every monster that got in his way, following the simple "It's an rpg, the more I kill, the better it is" logic

-When he saw the "but nobody came" screen, however, he freaked the hell out and immediately reset

-After that mini heart attack, he went on a full Pacifist route. However, sometimes, he would snap and accidentally kill a monster. He lost count of how many times he had to reload the file

-He also really likes Toriel (she's just very popular among the Bucci gang). The reason for it...Is not a very happy one, like in Giorno's case

-He genuinely tried to stay with her, he didn't want to leave Goat mom

-He's the one who gets emotionally invested in the game the most, he even forgets it's a game at times and just erase the surrounding world from his head

-He LOVES to voice the characters while he plays, it makes the story feel way more alive for him. He makes a very good Papyrus impression

-Speaking of which, his favourite parts of the game were the interactions between Sans and Papyrus.

-He lost his s**t when he arrived at the Temmie village. He stayed there FOR HOURS farming money. Heck, he even bought the Temmie armor

-He refused to open the game for two days after Flowey stole the SOULS

-He wanted to ask someone to play the TRUE lab with him, but he refused to admit that he was scared

-While he's not the kind of player who stops by to read every dialogue, he makes an exception for Snowdin. He really likes that area of the game!

-While he would never admit it, he cried three times during the Pacifist route. The first time when he left Toriel, the second when he heard Chara and Asriel's story, and the third when he finished it

-His favourite fight in the game is the one against Asriel. He kept on repeating the "Don't you have anything better to do" dialogue for 20 minutes, before giving up to the idea that there was really no way to save him

-After giving the monster an happy ending, he was overwhelmed by his own curiosity, and decided to try the Genocide route...Boy did it go wrong

-You thought he cried a lot during the Pacifist? He became a freaking fountain during the Genocide. Every single time he killed a Boss, he cried, with no exception

-He spent days trying to defeat Sans, until he was given the option to SPARE him, and so he did

-...The others could hear him yelling from the other floor after what happened next

-He got tired of Sans' bulls**ts, reset and did a Pacifist again

-He watched a gameplay to know what happened in the Genocide ending. Chara's jumpscare still haunts him

-Narancia gets really involved in the stuff made by the fandom, especially fan made songs and comics

-He listens to "To the bone" religiously, it's part of his routine

-He tried and failed to figure out how AUs work

-Favourite character: Papyrus, followed by Toriel and Asriel. He used to like Sans a lot too...But now he gets Vietnam flashbacks every time he thinks about him

-Favourite OSTs: Bonetroulse, Hopes and dreams and Snowdin. He can't choose between them

-What SOUL would he have: INTEGRITY

FUGO:

-Fugo would categorically refuse to reset on his first run. What it's done, it's done, and he has to take responsibilities for his choices

-He would do a Neutral, killing whoever he encounters, but without specifically looking for the monsters just so that he can kill them

-That doesn't mean, however, that he dislikes to play with the timeline. It's quite the opposite, to be honest

-Fugo enjoys messing around with the save files A LITTLE too much, dude basically became an hacker playing this game

-In his attempt to make a Pacifist run, he fu**ed up and accidentally got the Hacker ending

-"...THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT WHEN I SAID I WANTED EVERY ENDING"

-He toned it down a little after that, but he still managed to modify the FUN value enough to meet Gaster and his followers

-He's also the only one who unlocked Sans' room. He doesn't trust him, but he finds him an interesting character

-Neither the Pacifist or Genocide endings particularly picked his interest, even though he did punch the walls a couple of times fighting Sans

-He likes to try the different Neutral endings, he doesn't do all of them, just the ones he thinks that would affect the monsters the most

-The only character he got attached to emotionally was Alphys, he can see himself a lot in her

-He's very interested in the various theories that surround this game, and he's waiting for Deltarune to come out, he just wants to know more about Gaster

-Favourite character: Alphys, but Gaster is a close second

-Favourite OST: Darker, darker, yet darker, followed by Here we are, Waterfall and Premonition

What SOUL would he have: faded BRAVERY

ABBACCHIO:

-MERCY? Is that a food? Yeah uhm...No, that doesn't exist with Abbacchio, nothing but Genocide for him

-It's already a surprise someone convinced him to play this game. He'll play in his own way, and that means killing literally everyone, not simply the ones he encounters, but even looking for them just to earn more Exp

-He was...Weirdly satisfied when he saw the "But nobody came" screen, and he was lucky enough to find every monster almost immediately

-He hadn't found a single character that he liked until he reached Undyne. Her sense of justice reminded him of his old self, which wasn't exactly pleasant at first, but at least he felt something

-He was finally happy to see a monster actually trying to stop what he was doing, and killing her was the only thing in the game that made him slightly sad

-He's still offended for not having the chance to kill monster kid, he couldn't stand that child

-He skipped through pretty much every dialogue in the game, not that there are many people to interact with during the Genocide...

-He'd eat a piece of the snowman right in front of him just to spite him, then take the rest and leave

-He didn't care about whatever Flowey was trying to tell him about his past. That's also because without knowing he's Asriel, most of what he says doesn't really make sense

-In the moment Sans dodged his attack, he realized that he had screwed up REALLY bad. After dying against him a couple of times, he considered resetting, but he wouldn't have let "the lazy skelefu**" have it his way

-He let out a huge "YES" and a sigh of relief when he finally managed to hit him, it took him around a week

-However, little did he know, that the worst still had to come. When he noticed that he wasn't the one who had just killed Asgore and Flowey, he freaked out a little, and Chara staring directly at him made him feel a small shiver down his spine

-Still, he decided to decline their offer to destroy everything, not because he regretted what he had done, he just wanted his revenge on the child for scaring him

-He closed the game after the jumpscare, and never questioned what the hell he had been through

-Favourite character: Undyne

-Favourite OSTs: But nobody came and Battle against a true hero, he also likes The fallen child

-What SOUL would he have: very very faded JUSTICE

TRISH:

-Trish got into this game just because of its music, she kept on hearing it everywhere and wanted to understand where it came from

-She was kinda scared at first, videogames aren't exactly her forte, and her encounter with Flowey didn't help

-She slowly got used to the dynamics of the game, even though she died at least three times in every area, exept for the RUINS. (She only got a game over two times there)

-She doesn't have the heart to hurt anybody, she thinks the monsters (well...Most of them, at least) are adorable! Shyren is her favourite minor enemy, and when she saw the "Taking piano lessons again" text, her heart melted a little

-She refused to take off the faded ribbon until she found she tutu, but she never sold either of them

-She loves flirting with literally ANYONE. You can? Well then...You must!

-Her favourite area is Hotland, including the Core too. She loves the whole "artificial" theme of the place, and she had a lot of fun reading Alphys's posts!

-She would pretend to be an actual part of Mettaton's programmes, but only when she was 100% sure nobody could hear her

-Needless to say, the boss fight against him was one of the funniest parts of the story for her

-Another thing she absolutely adored were the dates with Papyrus and Alphys, especially the latter. After everything that had happened, it was a nice opportunity to relax for a bit

-Similar to Narancia, Trish gets really involved emotionally in playing the game, and she had to take a little break from it before facing Asgore

-The ending genuinely made her cry, but it was the only time she shed a tear through it

-She doesn't care about trying the Genocide, she's worked hard to give the monsters an happy ending, and she wasn't going to throw it away

-She's in love with the Undertale Musical by Man on the Internet, she knows pretty much every song by memory

-Favourite character: Mettaton, but she honestly really likes all of them

-Favourite OST: Death by glamour, followed by Metal crusher, Power of NEO, and Another medium

-What SOUL would she have: INTEGRITY

Yes, I know that Narancia's part is longer, but it's just so funny to write about this baby, bear with me please 😌

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nuka-blackwell · 3 years

Text

A Haunting Past EXTENDED {Tiana/Rora/Marzel/Nuka/Marisa/Ella/Bambi}

The full version including Willa’s capture, Rescue & Bambi’s timely arrival.

+ Memories are stolen and returned. Lives are lost and save.Final goodbyes are given.

Once you get to the battle it’s the same I was just trying to be fancy, so this has everything.

Same TW: Blood, Broken limbs, Death, Wrist Slash (from Sora’s wound when Nuka took the blood) TW are in the para as well.

@truitt-story @aurora-rosewood @cinderellaashbourne

Nuka

Nuka hadn’t considered his little game with Tiana would ever be useful. Of course he intended for it to be fun and had even gained access to her house because of it. But finding out the princess of the forest lived in the house.

Lucky day for him indeed.

Slipping in even while the house was busy wasn’t difficult, he had passed Aurora by her room and quickly compelled her to forget him before he walked into the room with Willa having her quiet down in a moment.

They didn’t want to draw any attention now did they? Yet it was curious that there were bags packed as if Miss Willa and Ella were about to leave town. A shame for them they hadn’t moved a little quicker. But curious indeed.

Not enough for him to worry about it, not when he heard footsteps and he slipped out the window heading to Talon Manor.

One Sacrifice was in hand and the remaining would walk in by themselves later tonight.

Ella

They were pretty much all packed and ready to go. Ella would be a liar if she said she hadn’t been waiting for Aurora and Tiana to tell her that something was happening, after they revealed the truth about themselves. About the knights, and all the rest of it. It seemed like it was building to something, and had she not known about her friends, Ella would never have known about it at all.

Though at least she and Willa would be out of the way for… whatever it was. She had made a deliberate decision not to ask too many questions, both so that she wouldn’t worry too much about the other girls and so that, should anything happen, she could claim deniability.

All that was left to do was to collect Willa. Ella had put her down for a nap, hoping she might sleep through the journey out of town, if only because travelling with a baby was difficult at the best of times but made even worse when that baby was fussy. She crept up the stairs with the practised silence of a mother not wanting to wake her child, and peeked into her bedroom, where Willa’s crib was nestled in the corner. She knew where all the creaky floorboards were, avoiding them as she moved through the room, arriving at the side of the crib with a soft smile.

It fell away when she saw that the crib was empty, though.

“Willa?” Ella took a step back from the cot, dread sinking like a stone in her stomach, making her feel cold all over. Willa wasn’t one to climb out and run around, she never had been… “Willa?” Ella called again, louder this time, panic creeping into her tone. Last time she had found Willa gone she had been halfway through the woods, taken by the trolls--

“Tiana! Aurora!” Ella cried, skittering to the top of the stairs. “She’s gone! Willa, she’s-- she’s gone!”

Tiana

Tiana had barely slept that night, but somehow, in the early hours of the morning, she had managed to drift off. Which meant that she had a harder time getting up than usual. She trusted Ella to take care of the things she needed to get done in the early morning, so she took her time getting out of bed and getting ready. She was just finishing up the sandwich she had made Ella for the road when she heard Ella’s voice. What was that? Gone? Who—

When Tiana saw Ella’s face, though, she understood. A feeling of horror and dread settled in Tiana’s stomach. It was just what they had feared. Willa was gone. They hadn’t moved fast enough.

“Are you— are you sure?” Tiana stammered, though she knew there was no use. Of course Ella wouldn’t have missed her somehow. She looked to Aurora. “I mean— right. We’re going to find her, we have to— did anyone see anything last night?” Her head was spinning, but she had a feeling about who this could be.

Aurora

Aurora was dazed, much like when she woke up from a sudden fainting spell, she was curled on her bed, dressed and ready for the day but it took a few moments to remember why she was ready and why Ella was screaming.

When she had though, she jolted out of her room running to Tiana and Ella the dread and heavy weight settling in. They had been too late, they had tried to protect Ella and Willa and they failed. Maybe whoever took her was close, Aurora could do what she did in Elfhame, extend her magic into the earth and see how far she could reach.

“If they are close I can- I can tell-” Aurora stated running back out of the room Lolly close on her heels barking madly at the commotion and the panic. Trying to tell them something no one could understand.

Getting to the backyard wasn’t any help though, whoever it was, was long gone and although Aurora had a feeling of who it was, or at least what family she had no proof.

“It has to be them right? The Blackwell’s.” Aurora stated meeting back up with the girls. “And we’re going to get her back.”

Ella

It took Ella a moment to stumble down the stairs after Aurora; her eyes were fixed on the crib, the empty cot, the room that she had turned upside down when she had looked for Willa. She was just willing her to crawl out from under the bed, or behind the curtain, or something. Or anything. Anything other than the reality she was now faced with.

Was she such a terrible mother? To have her daughter so easily snatched from her not once, but twice? After the first time she had never left Willa alone, she had watched her round the clock, slept with her right by the side of the bed. But time had gone on, and nothing else had happened, and Ella had let her guard down. Things had seemed so normal, but she never should have begun to settle, she could see that now.

“The Blackwells?” She asked, fumbling the words, her throat dry and her mouth feeling like it was full of chalk. “What-- what about the Blackwells?”

TIANA

Tiana couldn’t bear to look Ella in the eyes. She had failed her. After all the training, all the preparation… even though Tiana had thought living with two Knights would protect Willa, Tiana couldn’t help but wonder if it made her even more of a target. The horrible feeling of guilt in Tiana’s stomach grew.

“Remember when we told you about that… Knights of the Round Table thing?” Tiana started, looking to Aurora for confirmation. “There was a little more to the story. We didn’t get into it because it was still sort of developing, and if anything were to happen, we didn’t want to put you in more danger, having that knowledge. But I think you need to know, now.”

Tiana took a deep breath. “There’s a plot to take over Swynlake. By these people. The Blackwells. It has to do with undoing the charter. And there’s a spell that requires… certain items. And certain people. It’s, er, why I had a weather vane stashed in my room for a little bit, for example. I’m wondering if— it’s possible that Willa was a target.”

The implication dawned on Tiana: that meant Willa’s life could be in danger. “But we’re going to get her back,” she added quickly, glancing at Aurora again.

Aurora

“We never knew who they wanted just they wanted people.” Aurora supplied with a grimace. “We wanted you to get out of town before anything. I’m so sorry.” This was their fault. They should have moved faster, quicker. Done more. Done so much more.

“I don’t care what we have to do to get her back. We will. I promise.” Aurora stated without a second thought, perhaps she considered herself a pacifist, but taking someone she loved meant that she was going to do what she needed to get Willa home. To make this little family whole again.

“I know you weren’t planning to go but are you coming with us? A rescue mission of our own?”

Ella

She didn’t blame her housemates for a second. Even if there was more to the story than what they were telling her, it still wasn’t their fault. Ella knew that they would’ve done absolutely everything in their power to protect her daughter if they had known, and now she trusted them to do everything they could to get her back.

But like hell was Ella letting them go without her.

“Of course I am,” She said after a moment, once she had collected herself just a little more. She had to be strong, for Willa. She had to keep herself together until she found her again. “I’m not going anywhere without her. Not without my baby.”

TIANA

Tiana couldn’t imagine what this was like for Ella. She didn’t have any children. But she knew that her own mother would have done just about anything to keep her safe. So of course they had to get Willa back, and unharmed. She and Aurora had promised Ella that much. And beyond the promise, Tiana couldn’t imagine the house without Willa. She had developed a deep tenderness for Ella’s daughter over the past year, and now Tiana would do what had to be done to save her.

There wasn’t another option. Tiana wasn’t going to think about the alternative.

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Tiana said decisively. “If the Blackwells took her, then our best shot at finding her is going to the ball. We’ll search the place, top to bottom. And we won’t leave without her.” She took Ella’s hand. “We’re getting her back, Ella. I promise.”

~TIMESKIP~

NUKA

Nuka watched everyone fall, as he held the unconscious Willa in his arms, her mother was here as expected and so were Tiana and Aurora, what he hadn’t accounted for or expected was both of them to jump into action. He had wanted Tiana to cower in fear like she did every time. He wanted to see Aurora falter the way she had last time.

But it was fine, it didn't matter too much to him. Nuka had all the time in the world for the game. Right now all he needed was a bit of Willa’s blood and with a prick of her finger, Nuka collected it. Abandoning her on a nearby table.

Don’t worry little Willa, or the girls trying to rescue her. He would be back for her. He still had a game to finish.

ELLA

So much was happening, and it would be so easy to be distracted, but Ella only had one thing on her mind. She was looking for her daughter - she didn’t even care about the person who had taken her, she only wanted Willa. She just wanted to find her daughter safe and sound, and get her somewhere else - somewhere safe and secure, where they could lie low for a while. She wasn’t thinking too far ahead, admittedly. Her focus was just getting Willa, and keeping her safe.

Ella looked across the room, her gaze moving quickly, like she was pulled towards it, and she saw her: her little baby girl, being set down almost gently, as if the pair of hands holding her actually cared. Ella didn’t even bother to look at whoever it was had set her down, though she was sure Tiana and Aurora would-- she was already pushing her way across the carnage, all but throwing herself towards the table to grab up little Willa where she lay.

“Willa, sweetheart, my poor baby--” Ella shifted her in her arms, brought her close, pressed her ear to her chest until she could assure herself of the beating of her little heart. It was hummingbird fast, but it was there, it was strong. Ella ignored the tears in her eyes and held her daughter close, shielding her with one arm. “She’s alright,” She said, turning back to her housemates. “She’s alright, I think.”

TIANA

Tiana was surprised that Nuka left Willa without much of a fight. She had been readying herself for a battle, to do anything she had to do to get Willa back in Ella’s arms safely. It almost made Tiana a little nervous. Because Nuka clearly had more up his sleeve.

But Tiana couldn’t think about that right now. First, she had to make sure Ella and Willa got to safety. As Ella picked up her daughter, Tiana watched Nuka disappear into another part of the ballroom. She stayed there for a moment, her sword raised, until she could be quite sure Nuka was not coming back. He seemed otherwise occupied. For a moment, Tiana wondered if she should go after him, but she had to make her first priority Ella and Willa. If the Knights needed her, she would go help them as soon as she knew her housemates were safe. She turned back to the others. “Is she okay?” Tiana said, rushing over to Ella. “I think— we can try and find someone to check her out, make sure she isn’t hurt?”

OLLIE (TW: Blood, Arm Gash)

His next choice was a human, one he had seen quite a bit at the hospital lately, working with kids. How kind and caring. Not really.

Grabbing Ollie’s right arm he cut horizontally deep enough that it was quite a bit of blood and exactly how Nuka liked it. Really Nuka should have punctured each of the flowers on his chest but he was being nice and time was more important. He could play with his food later.

Aurora

Aurora followed quickly her hands on her taslisms, ready to make sure she protected the girls. She had failed once already but she wasn’t going to fail again. All of the Blackwell’s were running around quickly and suddenly she wondered why she never figured it out before.

Vampires.

They needed to stay on guard. And ready for anything.

Surrounding Ella, Aurora made sure Tiana and herself were the first line of defense as everyone else jumped into battles, Marzel was with his sister. There were so many people unconscious. “We need to figure out if she took the same thing as them or she’s just unconscious.”

ELLA

They could’ve all been vampires, every single one of them, and it wouldn’t have stopped Ella. She had hunkered down by the table where she had scooped Willa up, clutching her close to her chest; it was the first time she really stopped to look around and even then, it wasn’t to wonder what was going on. It was only to try and find the best way to get them out of the carnage and somewhere safe.

“I think she’s ok,” Ella said, glancing up briefly at Aurora and Tiana before she looked at her daughter again. She couldn’t be sure, of course she couldn’t, but--

Willa wriggled a little in her arms, and then blinked big, blue eyes up at her mother. Ella felt lighter almost immediately, like she could finally breathe again. “There you are,” She said, a smile in her voice, tears in her eyes. She looked up at Tiana and Aurora again, giving a nod. “She’s awake - we have to get her out of here. We can go to the forest, maybe. Bambi should be able to look after us both.”

SORA (TW: Blood, Wrist Slash, Broken Ribs)

Nuka ran over to the next target glancing up only briefly at his Mother and Arthur as they began to tumble. He’d help her soon, not that she needed it, Arthur was unmatched in both brilliance and brawn. He had no chance.

But Nuka felt that tick of annoyance building up. How dare any of them think they could face them. How dare they try to oppose them.

|| Grabbing the boy's wrist Nuka made a slash || drawing the blood needed and even though his wrist dripped blood it wasn’t enough for Nuka. Dropping the boy roughly he kicked him in the ribs forcing him back into a wall feeling just slightly better at the small act of violence.

TIANA

Tiana let out a sigh of relief for the first time that night. Willa was okay. That was what mattered. And Bambi would help, of course he would. Tiana tried to avoid turning serious, urgent moments into sentimental ones, but she couldn’t help it. She pulled Ella and Willa into a hug.

“Be careful. Stay there until we give you the all clear,” Tiana instructed. “I’ve got a feeling this night is only going to get scarier.” She glanced at Aurora. “Should we all walk there together?”

Aurora

Aurora nodded, they needed to get Ella to safety. First and foremost that was the most important thing. But there were so many screams of terror around them. People were going down. And then the most terrifying sob was heard and Aurora twisted her head to Marzel and his sister.

“I’ll back both of you up. Ella go!” There just wasn’t enough time for anything and that was the point. Strike when they were all down at least they hadn’t poisoned a child at the very least.

ELLA

It was surprisingly easy to find her feet. Ella would’ve gone alone, if Aurora and Tiana had needed to stay here to help, but she was glad that she didn’t have to. When Aurora told her to go she was up and running, following Tiana through the crowds of people. She kept Willa’s face tucked in against her chest, shielding her from as much of it as she could until they were out, and hopefully, safe.

“Thank you,” She said, once she could hear herself think. “For finding her. And for helping us both,” She looked between her housemates, smiling softly. “I suppose your night isn’t over just yet, but… we should be safe, until we have the all clear.”

TONY (TW: Broken Arm, Blood)

Salt - They had trapped his Mother with salt. These people were prepared for it and it pissed Nuka off. He needed to move quicker. As that anger ticked higher and higher, the only thing stopping him from jumping in and killing the knights was the fact his Mother needed him to collect the blood.

One more to go after this. Grabbing Tony’s arm roughly he heard the bone crack before he even drew the blood, but Nuka’s eyes were wild as he slowly stopped caring.

Not that he did before but he dug into Tony’s skin to draw his blood before running off to his next target.

TIANA

Tiana whipped her head around at the sound and froze for a moment, but then she remembered what she was doing. She had to get Ella and Willa out. She could help Marzel once she knew they were safe.

“Right. No time to lose,” Tiana agreed, motioning for Ella to follow her to the door. It was a good thing Talon Hall was so close to the lake, and to the forest. Hopefully the animals would have alerted Bambi.

BAMBI:

The forest was in a tizzy. It had not been unaffected by the strange smoke that billowed through the town. Of course, the animals were left alone, and himself, but those few humans and humanoids that resided within its borders were overtaken.

Something was very wrong.

In an instant, the edges of the forest shored up, becoming denser. Old paths grew over and entrances to the forest became indistinguishable from the rest of the treeline. Bambi was not taking any chances with whatever this was.

Only the birds and the smallest of critters could manage to make their way through.

That was how he found out that Ella and Willa were headed to the forest. He cut a path, following the birds, to where the would be and with a clench of his fists, a hole opened in the trees just as the trio stopped.

“Ella,” Bambi said, flicking his eyes towards the other two with her. He assessed them for a moment before looking back at Ella and his sister. “What’s happened?”

Aurora

Aurora made sure to cover the girls as they ran, the smoke was blinding and they didn’t have much time. They were going to have to move fast, be back to help the others but Willa and Ella were their family too and they needed to protect her.

Standing in front of the Great Prince was something though, even if he seemed like a kid.

“There’s a group of Vampires trying to destroy the town?” Aurora mused with a slight shrug. “It has to do with the Charter and we don’t know the repercussions of it. But it’s not going to be good. If you can protect Ella and Willa, Tiana and I would be grateful and we can go help the town.” Aurora offered a little more sincerely looking at each of her housemates. They would be fine after this, they had to be.

ELLA

“They took her,” She blurted, shifting Willa in her arms. Ella didn’t know what exactly her daughter could hear, but she supposed it must be the forest. As soon as they had gotten close she had perked up a little, looking surprisingly no worse for wear, and now that she was within arms reach of her brother Willa twisted in her mother’s arms, reaching out a chubby little hand for him.

Ella wasn’t so delighted, though. She knew Bambi would understand how she felt - he had been there the first time, too. “For whatever it was they did. I think she’s fine,” she added, looking at Bambi. “But I don’t… I don’t think I’ll feel safe at home.”

BAMBI:

Bambi’s eyes narrowed, pinched, at the sorceress. Humans were so troublesome.

Except, of course, Ella and Willa.

He stepped closer, though he did not leave the comfort of the trees. Reaching out, he touched his sister’s hand with his own, as if reassuring himself that she was alright. His heart clenched in his chest to think something might’ve happened to her. If it was up to him, he would keep her here in the forest. Where she would be safe.

It was not up to him.

At least she appeared unharmed.

“Of course, Ella. You know you are welcome here, any time. The trees are open for you.” He grabbed Ella by the bicep gently and pulled her closer, toward the trees. He looked over his shoulder at the women.

“If there are any other children and their caretakers that need protection, tell them to come to the forest edge and say that they are a friend to the trees and creatures here. Children only.” And with that, he flicked his wrists and the trees and foliage closed around them again, plunging the forest into darkness.

TIANA

Tiana had never ventured very far into the forest. Under other circumstances, she wasn’t sure she trusted this. But Ella trusted Bambi, so Tiana did, too. She made a note to tell people to bring children to the forest, if they had to.

“Thank y-“ Tiana started, but the forest had already closed itself again. She turned to Aurora. “Alright, we’ve got to get back inside. I think I saw Nuka trying to hurt Marzel, I—“ Tiana couldn’t speculate. She would only make herself crazy. “I’ve got to go help him, before it’s too late.”

NUKA

Nuka’s last target already had a knight over her body, his sword drawn to protect her. Did all of his games have to have knights attached to them? It was annoying. Dull. Boring. Blood needed to be drawn first before they really fought.

Maybe she was a distraction and he would be useless.

Either way he still had to get through him. Rushing Marzel, Nuka grabbed the sword in his palm so even though it sliced him he disarmed Marzel grabbing him around the throat so he couldn’t speak.

“We did our research. We know your kind. Don’t think your voice is going to save you here.” Nuka mocked holding tighter and tighter until Marzel couldn’t breath. The sword tossed to the side, Nuka reached over with his bloody hand though it healed and snapped Marzel’s wrist as Marzel kicked out with the power only a merman’s tail could have (Well with legs) pushing Nuka away and dropping Marzel again in front of his sister.

Coughing out Marzel leaned low. He didn’t have his human weapon but he would fight to the death to protect his sister.

Nuka didn’t have the time, Arthur was fighting his Mother and she needed the charter broken now.

Rushing ahead Nuka didn’t attempt to play nice anymore, slamming Marzel into the wall and letting him fall limply to the ground.

Marisa was next. And Nuka was pissed off. Grabbing the girl’s throat he squeezed watching her even unconscious struggle for a breath before he sliced down her arm, watching the blood fall like a waterfall. More than enough to shatter that charter. And with this he had done what he needed to do.

Weren’t you proud of him, Mother?

Looking up at his Mother to see how she was doing, that elation dropped and Nuka snarled, she was bleeding.

What had he done, what had Arthur done! She wasn’t healing!

Nuka needed to get to her, to protect her. And as he worried about his mother his grip tightened on Marisa’s neck, cracks heard but not cared about. It was this distraction that allowed Marzel his opening. Slicing his sword through Nuka forcing him to drop Marisa, Marzel rushed to catch her and stop her head from cracking on the ground.

Grabbing his sister Marzel checked her pulse, watching her head lull to the side. At first he couldn’t even find it and when he did it just grew weaker, fainter. Her name could heal- maybe- hopefully. He just needed to stop the bleeding as it pooled around them.

Marzel scrambled to rip off pieces of his jacket trying to stop the bleeding. Begging his sister to live. They were supposed to go back to the ocean, they were supposed to lead their pod. He was going to follow her to the ends of the earth.

He had only been here to protect her.

The sobs ripped out of his throat as he tried to save her as he begged for help, covered in her blood.

“Marisa, please. Please. I’m sorry I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry. Please just wake up. I’ll do better next time please. I won’t fail again. Please. I’m sorry Valentino I promised you I’d protect my family and I failed again. Please please. Just give me this chance.” Marzel begged again and again as his sister’s head lulled to the side.

Those words couldn’t be the last. Those words couldn’t be the last ones he heard from her.

This couldn’t be the end, it couldn’t.

“Wake up please. Wake up.”

Aurora

Well that worked? Even if it was a bit rude. All that mattered was that Ella and Willa were safe. And any kids that needed protection as well.

Nodding at Tiana they both rushed inside, where Nuka was ready to go after Marzel again and he was clutching at his sister sobbing.

TIANA

Tiana had remained in the shadows, trying not to let Nuka see her. She just needed to protect Willa and Ella. That was top priority. And she trusted Marzel to handle this on his own. After all, the sparring attempts with Belle had proven that Tiana was not the best fighter. But she was small and quick, and she believed she would be best suited to hanging back.

But when she saw what Nuka did to Marisa, Tiana had to clasp a hand over her mouth to hold back a scream. It was just so brutal, so cruel. And so surreal. Once, Tiana had considered Nuka and Marisa her friends. Marisa was her best waitress, and Nuka was one of her best customers. And now, he had-- no. He couldn’t have. Marisa had to be…

Nuka fell and Marzel caught Marisa, and the sound of his voice was enough to confirm to Tiana what had happened. Tiana staggered backward, her hand still over her mouth, tears falling without Tiana even really noticing, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of her as she struggled to catch her breath but it caught in her throat. No. No. No.

She couldn’t stand there any longer. She had to do something. Tiana rushed over to Marzel, one hand on his shoulder, the other reaching for Marisa’s hand. It was all over. The realization was crushing and horrible, but Tiana knew it was a million times worse for Marzel. He needed to get out of here before he got hurt-- or worse. He was in pain. He wasn’t going to be thinking straight. Tiana knew loss well, and she didn’t know if she would still be here if she were in a battle situation when she had found out what had happened to her father.

“Marzel,” she said in a low voice, a little wobbly but determined. “Take Marisa and go. Someone can help her. There… there has to be something. But I’ll take on Nuka. You need to get out of here.”

MARZEL/AURORA/NUKA

They had gotten Willa back and for the most part that was all Aurora cared about, at least until she could tell how many people were getting injured during this. It was bloody, it was terrible and Aurora couldn’t stop it. Directing Lolly to stay at Ella and Willa’s side Aurora watched the terror appear on Tiana’s face and her rush down to Marzel and Marisa.

She didn’t know them well not more than within the knights for Marzel but the pain of losing a sibling was insurmountable. Aurora already knew that. His regents were painful to look at.

But Nuka was already standing and Marzel wasn’t moving, as he continued to sob into Marisa’s chest, her heart a slow beat.

Marzel couldn’t even feel the pain of his broken wrist. Not when it felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest. Did he have anything to live for if he had failed his duty.

Tiana’s words barely registered to him. He did need to get Marisa out of here, he needed to get her help. Gathering her body in his arms ready to run Nuka stood up and Aurora moved to grab her talismans keeping Willa and Ella behind her.

“Too late.” Nuka called out. “One, Two, Three, Falter. One Two Falter.” He called out in regards to Marisa’s heart. “She’s lost too much blood. Even a mermaid like you can’t survive that.” Nuka grinned a side glance thrown to Zira and Arthur. She would be fine. Nuka had a game to play and it seemed his favourite player had thought she won.

“Can you really take me on Tiana. Of course you don’t remember all the times you already tried but it never goes well.”

TIANA

Wait— a mermaid?

Confusion flickered across her face as she looked at Marzel and Marisa, as though trying to figure out whether that could be true just by looking at them. No, not the time, Tiana thought. She’d try and figure that one out later. Right now, there were lives at stake. And she wouldn’t put it past Nuka to say something just with the purpose of confusing her.

She drew her sword, praying that her practice wouldn’t fail her now. Oddly enough, Tiana thought of Belle. Irritating, maybe a little bit, but self-assured and competent. She needed to channel a little bit of that energy. Maybe that twisted ankle wouldn’t be for nothing.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. But you’re outnumbered, Blackwell. We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Tiana said in a voice that was not really her own. She wished she could muster the strength of Gareth— but Gareth was scared, too. Tiana was just going to have to lean on her team. “Either say your piece and surrender, or you’re going to lose this fight.”

MARZEL/AURORA/NUKA

Nuka scoffed at Tiana’s ill placed confidence. He could say his piece but it would be more fun for her to relive it. Meeting her eyes Nuka compelled her to remember before meeting Aurora’s and doing the same.

Anger flooded through Aurora as she remembered and it was only one instance to remember. Reaching out Aurora threw the seeds forward quickly turning the house into a battlefield she could control vines wrapping around him and when he ripped them and moved away Aurora tried again and again. Not letting up. She didn’t know how Tiana would react and she needed to cover her.

And Marzel who had sunk to the ground knowing his sister wasn’t making it out of here, not alive. He tucked her hair behind her ear and softly sang to her as if he could take away any of the pain she might be feeling. Marzel had failed but he would get revenge for her, even if he died doing so.

Slowly Marisa’s heart stopped and Marzel whispered his goodbyes forcing himself to stand. His voice was still horse from what Nuka had done earlier but it wouldn’t matter. His wrist was broken but it didn’t matter not as he drew his sword again.

He was going to kill this bastard.

TIANA

There was so much happening at once. Too much. Time seemed to go in slow motion, the vines creeping over the floor and Marzel falling to the ground and the memories coming back to her, one after the other. Each one started out familiar: Nuka, joking and flirting with her at the bar. Nuka, walking home with her after work. And then the unfamiliar part: Nuka, sinking his teeth into her neck. It was almost like Tiana was back there again, in that alley, and she felt the terror seize her in a way that was so real, so palpable, that she never wanted to feel that way again.

Tiana was proud and stubborn. She didn’t let anyone control her destiny but her. And yet the memories proved that someone had, over and over again managed to terrify and control her, then wipe it from her memory. That was what angered Tiana most. Not the blood drawn from her, not even the betrayal of someone she had once considered a friend. It was the fact that Nuka had managed to make her feel so weak and pathetic, so out of control of her own life.

As she grasped the full extent of what had happened, Tiana started to become aware of her surroundings again, and she heard Marzel’s song, low and mournful, an unfamiliar language. Maybe he was a merman… but that was not the point right now, Tiana reminded herself.

Nuka had taken away the one thing Tiana clung most tightly to: her dignity. And, worse, he had killed a woman in cold blood, an innocent woman, someone who used to help Tiana when the restaurant got crazy and who made Tiana want to be a better boss. And clearly someone who Marzel loved very dearly. Tiana had never seen Marzel like this before. She had always thought he was cold, guarded, closed-off. Marisa brought out something different in him. And now, she was gone.

This time, Tiana didn’t even need to pretend. She was angry, numb to the pain, ready to do whatever it took to make Nuka feel as pathetic as he had made Tiana feel. “You are despicable,” Tiana spat, raising her sword higher. She glanced at Marzel, who was drawing his sword, and she could see something dangerous in his eyes. Under other circumstances, Tiana might have told him to go, that he wasn’t in his right mind, that he shouldn’t do something he might regret. But Tiana had no mercy left. Not after the horrors she had just seen Nuka commit. “Rot in hell.”

She exchanged a look with Marzel and then charged forward, her sword raised.

MARZEL/AURORA/NUKA

Marzel truly had no emotion on his face, the anger seeped just below the surface bubbling, his rage was palpable. He was empty, his purpose in life was to protect his future Queen and he had failed. Just like he failed to protect his late fiance, just like he failed to protect his home.

There was nothing quite like the rage of a siren scorned. And this time it was toward a vampire and thankfully not a human.

Nuka didn’t notice nor care about this journey on Marzel’s face, but Aurora did. She watched the waves of anger roll off of him and she never knew an instance she had seen a reagent that dark and suffocating. It was only matched when Nuka glanced up and watched his mother fall to the ground and his rage surrounded him.

Suddenly the vines he had been able to dodge along with Tiana and Marzel’s sword weren’t what he was focused on.

Nuka screamed about killing him while he battled the two knights but as soon as Aurora could surround him she grabbed him tightly with all the vines even as her head swung.

“I can’t hold onto him much longer!” Aurora yelled out.

TIANA

This was probably some of Tiana’s best work when it came to fighting, which wasn’t saying much, considering her inexperience and her ankle injury, but it was saying something. She managed to hold Nuka off, anyway, even if the few hits she managed to get in barely seemed to faze him. The vines helped. But Tiana didn’t want Aurora to use all of her energy.

“Aurora, it’s okay! We’ve got it! Save your energy!” Tiana called over her shoulder. She wasn’t so sure about that, but if Aurora fell unconscious, it would be another person down. And another person the Blackwells could try to use for their scheme— although, as Zira fell in the distance, Tiana gained more hope that the Knights might actually be able to stop them.

No time to think about that, though. She kept trying to pin Nuka against the wall, but he was too fast, too strong. At the very least, though, the vines kept him from escaping.

It occurred to Tiana, as she and Marzel surrounded Nuka, that if he slipped up even slightly, they could beat him. And then— what were they going to do? Turn him in to the Sheriff? Make him beg for mercy? Kill him? Tiana had never in her life wanted to kill someone before. She wasn’t sure she did now, even. But there was a determined glint in Marzel’s eye. And after seeing what Nuka had done to Marisa… Tiana made a decision.

If Marzel tried to kill Nuka, Tiana wasn’t going to stop him.

She slashed at Nuka, slowing him down, and shot Marzel a meaningful glance. One that said, Do it.

MARZEL/AURORA/NUKA

Marzel didn’t know what was up with Aurora and Tiana, why she couldn’t hold her magic. But he did know he didn’t need her to hold him. Even now as he struggled against the vines, hissing and ripping them apart.

Aurora stumbled even with the call of Tiana. She needed to conserve her energy and even without Lolly she knew she was using too much of her magic. With Willa and Ella behind her they couldn’t take a chance.

But there was a moment that Nuka stopped fighting, a calm surrounding him and Aurora watched Marzel’s lips moving singing him into a stupor. Slowing him down enough and reaching out for Tiana. The last blow would be his.

This wasn’t the first time that Marzel had killed someone and it wasn’t going to be the last, there was no hesitation nor was there any regret. Not for Nuka of all people. Marzel wished he could make it more painful.

That’s why at the last second he stopped his song, waited until the recognition flooded his face and then Marzel sliced through his neck his head falling off his body and he stabbed his sword through his body.

“How do we make sure he’s dead?” Marzel questioned. Glancing back at the girls.”

“Fire?” Aurora supplied weakly, all her resolve to do anything to protect Willa and Ella, Tiana now that she had jumped into a fight escaped her as she her vines got coated in blood. She had participated in that.

TIANA

It all happened so fast. And Tiana thought she had prepared herself, but how did you prepare for a murder happening right in front of you? Even if it was one you had aided in, of a person you despised more than anyone else…

A wave of nausea came over Tiana. But she had to focus. Nuka was a vampire, which meant it would be difficult to tell whether he was dead for good-- Tiana tried to remember what she knew about killing vampires. Not very much. Maybe she should have studied this more… but it was too late at this point.

“Sure. Yes. Fire,” Tiana said, trying to get her bearings. One thing at a time. Having a next step to focus on helped. Zooming out too much and thinking about how insane all of this was did not. She realized she was shaking all over. Tiana took a deep breath and tried to focus on the task at hand. “B-but I don’t want anyone else getting hurt… maybe we ought to go outside? Or we could find a Magick who could do it…”

In the distance, other fighting continued, but Tiana tried to block it out, Otherwise, she was going to completely lose it. One thing at a time.

MARZEL

“I’ll just burn his head. He can’t survive that.” Marzel stated simply. Perhaps he would feed his body to a shark or something. Of course that would be hard to do but Marzel didn’t care. Nuka deserved to die in the most painful way possible.

Gaining a lighter from somewhere Marzel arranged Aurora’s vines in a way to burn them and eventually Nuka’s head. It was Simba’s voice that brough Marzel’s attention away and he glanced to Arthur.

“I’ll finish up here. Go to Arthur.” Marzel would be right behind, his eyes trailing to his sister’s dead body and focusing back on disposing on Nuka.

TIANA

Tiana didn’t have to be told twice. She wanted to get away from this scene as quickly as possible. The image of Nuka killing Marisa would haunt her forever, she knew, and the less time she spent here around all this death, the better. But there was one more thing to do.

Tiana glanced at Aurora to make sure she was still conscious (she looked a little ill, but still okay) and then turned her gaze to Marisa. Her coworker. Her friend, even, lately. Tiana burned with regret that she hadn’t gotten to know her better. But all she had was this moment.

“Just… one second,” Tiana said, and knelt down beside Marisa’s body. If only she had gotten here sooner— if only she had been strong or fast or brave enough to take Nuka down before he had the chance to harm Marisa. She couldn’t change the past, but she could at least do her best now to say goodbye. She took off her tuxedo jacket and laid it on Marisa like a blanket, like she could be sleeping, covering the massive gash on her arm and the bruising on her throat.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her eyes welling up with tears again. It was so uncharacteristic of Tiana, to be emotional and sentimental like this. But everything felt wrong. Everything felt off. This was the only thing that felt right. She imagined this was the kind of thing her mother would do if an innocent person was killed, and that was the thought that she clung to. Compassion and kindness and gentleness. Things Tiana didn’t always think she was capable of. So she channeled Eudora.

She pressed a gentle kiss to Marisa’s forehead and then stood up, rolling up the sleeves of her dress shirt. “Alright. Let’s go find Arthur.”

MARZEL

Nuka’s head burned and there was no relief from the pain. The anger and grief, he had killed and nothing felt better. Of course Marzel knew it wouldn’t solve anything, he killed and killed and none of the lives of his pod had been returned. This would never heal Marzel, nothing ever could.

He was a broken man before his sister died and he was nothing of one now that she had.

Marzel barely appreciated Tiana’s sentiment, he couldn’t. He just didn’t have it in him.

Stumbling to his sister Marzel ran his fingers over her hair before picking her up and setting her away from the fray. She wouldn’t be hurt anymore tonight. And this night wasn’t close to being finished, even as Aurora and Tiana moved to speak to Arthur, Marzel knew it wasn’t over, the night was just beginning.

Eventually Marzel stood, placing a kiss on Marisa’s hair. “I’ll be back soon. You would want me to protect the people here wouldn’t you? To love and appreciate humans. I may never to the extent that you did. But I will protect them for you. That I promise.” Marzel stated softly before moving to join the other knights around their king.

#truitt story #Aurora Rosewood #cinderellaashbourne #//thank you emma and bee for doing this quickly with me and clem for the pop in bambi apperance

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safia123 · 3 years

Text

Bang Chan Oneshot- So Far

Warning: Angst, She/Her pronouns, death, mentions of suicide and self harm.

There are a lot of twists and honestly, I cried at the end because I didn't expect my fingers to type what they did.

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A/N- This is my first post and first fic (after a few long time). If you have any suggestions or improvements, I am all ears :) Also, I hope to write more gender neutrally in the future when I am able to do so properly.

____________________________________________

Sometimes life pushes the people you need to the deeper ends of the ocean. The more you swim, the harder it gets.. but the more you crave them.

In a world where riches ruled over morals, the Bang family were at the top. They were known for their lavish lifestyle. Just being in their presence could make warriors fall to their knees.

Mr. Bang inherited a successful trade company for weapons and warfare goods being sold all over the world. They were expensive and gold branded, just a touch of a bullet could slice a whole finger. Only the top, wealthiest people could afford to take even a few of the weapons. But they were never disappointed with the results. The weapons could turn pacifists into soldiers.

Whispers on the street claim that the family would use poor people to test the weapons, offering their families money in exchange for a life.

This wasn't helpful for the youngsters of the family. Their family's reputation proceded them.

The Bang family's eldest son, Chan, craved to be accepted.. to be befriended and not just used or feared for his name.

His mother was a poor woman, who had captured the heart of his father at a very young age. Sadly for the couple, his father was to be married to a rich businesswoman to maintain their familys reputation. She was stern and refused to look Chan in the eyes.

Chan never got to meet his mother. He was left with his father while his mother escaped before his fathers family could kill her.

Chan was always taught to never mention his mother and to pretend that Cilla was his biological mother. He was taught never to be curious, so he hid away his emotions at a young age so they would never get the best of him.

It was 9 in the morning and like every other day, Chan had to go to school. Rich kids need to be educated too, apparently.

He felt like the days were repeating themselves. Instead of his usual route, he decided to dress down, wearing a cap and a mask to stop anyone from recognising him. Of course, this meant that he would have to sneak early so no one would notice how he wasn't dressed in his uniform.

"One day off school wouldn't hurt. It's not like I will be missed." He thought to himself.

Today was the day Chan had been planning for weeks. He knew exactly what he was going to do. Exactly where he was going to go.

He could take a private plane to Rome or Hawaii ... but no. He just wanted one day where he could just breathe and live like a normal kid.

He took the first bus downtown. He wasn't sure how buses work so he just walked right in and the driver didn't say anything. He remembers hearing the kids at the back of the class- the ones that were too afraid to even look at him- mention an arcade. He had never been to one before. His father was too dejected and found it too painful to look at him without thinking of his mother and Cilla refused to accept him as her son.. so natually he had no one to go with. He had trouble making friends too, so that didn't help.

"Another shift?" He heard the bus driver ask the girl at the front. He seemed genuinely concerned and this caught Chans attention.

"Yeah. It's fine. I can do it." Smiled the girl at the front.

She looked quite scruffy and her eyes looked tired, but her brught smile seemed to fool everyone. She played it off pretty well. Once she stressed her lips across her face, the brightness would outshins the dread.

He watched as she sat in an empty spot towards the front of the bus. Her head rested against the side of the bus and she seemed as though she was fall into deep sleep within any second.

Something about her fasinated him.

When the bus had come to the 4th stop, the bus driver called out, "(Y/n) wake up, kiddo. You're going to miss your shift."

Her droopy eyes fluttered open and it took a few seconds for her to quickly pick up her bag and run towards the exit. Before she left, she started walking back as if she had forgotten something, "Thanks for waking me up, Steve. Have a great day!" She said with a smile and then ran back out.

Chans feet moved faster than his mind and before he knew it, he was off the bus and following her.

She walked into a restaurant.

"Bro, you need to hurry. He looks pissed. I don't know if he will let you off this time." The boy at the front warned (y/n).

"I know.. I'm sorry if he let it out on you." She apologised before rushing towards the back.

Chan had gone too far to stop now. Maybe (y/n) could be todays mystery. And all he had his mind on right now, was solving that mystery.

He approached the front desk and gestured "table for one". After the male had ignored him, he just walked right into the restaurant and sat at a fancy table, where he sat eagerly looking for (y/n).

It wasn't long before a tired-looking (y/n) walked out, in uniform, with a pen and pad and a fake smile to fix it all up.

She took the order from the group of girls two tables away from him and walked back to the kitchen. Not long after, she walks out juggling two plates. She seems steady until another waiter unexpectedly walks infront of her, catching her off guard and making her drop the dishes.

The whole restaurant went quiet after a loud SMASH and everyones eyes were on her. The kitchen staff ran out and you could feel her anxiety from across the room.

She didn't know where to look so she kept her eyes on the shattered pieces of glass on the floor. She was looking directly at the floor but her face seemed to became more and more disengaged with the situation.

The manager smiled at the customers reassuring them that everything was fine as he dragged her away from the scene.

Chan got up and walked towards the kitchen, pretending he was on his way to the toilets. He could hear shouting and crying.

A tired, tear stained (y/n) walked out soon after looking defeated. She walked to the toilets and was there for a while.. until she came out, still looking down, headed to the door. Chan followed her to the bus stop and sat next to her guarding her from the other men at the stop who were oogling her in her skirt and ripped tights.

Chan noticed little drops of blood on the floor and his eyes followed the trail to (y/n)'s legs, where there was a huge gash and as he kept searching, he noticed her sleeves were completely soaked in blood. He was surprised that he didn't notice before. It seemed as though (y/n) had passed out and before he could call the ambulance, the man next to him had already called.

When the ambulance arrived, Chan rushed into the ambulance with (y/n), eyebrows furrowed as he eagerly hoped to see her (y/e/c) eyes once more.

The paramedics were putting pressure on her wound and he heard them mention her blood pressure dropping.

When she was taken to the hospital, she was taken to the Intensive Care Unit and the paramedics explained the situation to the doctors.

He was too caught up in what was happening to ask the doctors if she would be better. He sat outside the room where they were operating on her and felt bad for her. He kept thinking about her pained smile and her tired eyes.

They seemed so familiar. So important. But he couldn't pinpoint why.

Her sleeping body was taken to a room, where he sat by her side. She was attached to a machine but he didn't pay attention to it. He kept wondering where he knew her from.

He was watching her and taking him her features when her eyes started to flutter open.

"Thank God, you're ok!" Chaan gushed. He then realised how weird this would have looked. He was a steanger to her and she was most likely about to freak out.

"Chan?" She questioned. "Huh? How do you know my name?" His head spinning with questions.

"You... you came back. I-where have you been? I waited. I waited for so long. And you lied. You said everything would be better. It is not better. She is still sick and they still constantly fight. Oh my gosh- my work. No. I- i cant lose it. I have to go back and beg. I can't lose it. How would I afford anything? I can't go back home and tell them that I lost the job. The other 2 jobs aren't enough. I- omg what do I do?!"

"(Y/n). Breathe. Its ok. Start from the beginning. I need you to tell me... how do you know me?" Chan had to clear his questions. Was she delusional? No. That cant be it. How did she know his name?

"Chan. Are you serious, right now? I haven't seen you in 10 years... your face still engrained in my head and you dont know who we are to each other?" (Y/n) looked betrayed. Her eyes started to water and he felt guilty for pressurising her.

He closed his eyes and inhaled. He slowly exhaled and for once he felt like the world was catching up with him.

He remembered a small park and two kids. A cute little girl and tiny Chan. The little girl was crying and Chan held onto her tight. He reassured her that everything would be fine. Surely it was normal for 8 year olds to be worrying about finances. He was approached by a pale lady with sad eyes. She looked just like him. Or maybe he looked like her.

"Mum? Where were you?" He gasped. Tiny Chan let go of the little girl and held onto the older women. "I'm sorry I had to leave but I am here now. I won't leave you again." She held him tight, the way he was holding the little girl.

The lady held his hand and led him away. "Chan!" The girl cried behind him. "I will be back. I promise! This is my mum. I need to go now. Everything will be fine."

And then it turns black.

"What happened next???? Where did we go??" Chan jumped up, frantically. This scared (y/n) a little.

Nothing made sense.

"You.. I thought.. they said that you died. Your father mourned your death and your mothers. I didn't believe them. You said you would be back. And here you are. They must have set up a fake grave for you and your mum. Maybe the bodies by the truck were a lie. It can't be true.. how else could you be here?" And then (y/n) went silent.

No.

He was dead? That can't be true.

So he wasn't being ignored? He wasn't feared? All those years he spent hating himself for not being noticed.. no one saw him. He was dead?

Reality hit him too fast to process. He didn't understand. Why him..? Why was he still there, then?

"Why can I see you..? Am I..?" (Y/n) whispered. She turned to the machine next to her and looked down at her sleeping body. The numbers were dropping and she felt like there was a countdown for her life.

Reality wasn't kind to her, either.

"This time, come with me. I am not leaving you behind." Chan held out his hand to (y/n). She stepped back.

"What? No. They need me. I can't just go. They will all suffer because of me. I should have neved even thought about doing what I did. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING! I JUST WANTED IT TO STOP. But not like this..." she whispered the last part.

"Life goes on. What's done is done. We can't change it. It will all work out and everyone will move forward. Trust me. I've seen it." He comforted her.

He reached out once more.

"I'm sorry I had to leave but I am here now. I won't leave you again."

She took his hand.

- BEEEEP-

#bang chan oneshot #bang chan #christopher bang #stray kids #stray kids oneshot #kpop angst #kpop #stray kids angst

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secret-engima · 4 years

Note

....I lied. If you’re still doing the title thing - if I go down gonna burn with the sun

I thought there was a few more title asks still lurking in here for me to answer. *cracks knuckles* RAMBLE TIME.

-Star Wars AU. Star Wars FFXV sorta-x-over AU where the Astrals decide that Aera and Ardyn deserve a chance at happiness, just not on Eos, and therefore go YEET. The Force, finding these two wayward and powerful souls is like- Sure okay and boom. Ardyn and Aera are reborn in a galaxy far, far away.

-Purely not coincidentally, far away, on different worlds and in different star systems, one Satine Kryze and one Obi-Wan Kenobi take their first breaths.

-Yes I’m serious.

-This would be- SUCH a chaotic fixit AU, both because Aera loves peace but she is NO pacifist and not about to let an entire Culture DIE just because some so called New Mandalorians cannot see the dangers of burying their own past. Two because- well.

-Ardyn has already BEEN a Chosen One and an Accursed, a Hero and a Villain. He has walked the path to salvation and damnation both and seen the worst sides of himself and humanity, and for all they look different, every species in the galaxy isn’t far different from humanity in those regards.

-Obi-Wan Kenobi grows up in the Jedi Temple and he is a Troublesome Child. Too quiet and too reckless by turns, a smile that could melt butter and a tongue that can strip flesh from the backs of whatever bully goes after him this time. The Jedi ... worry. He is Dark, they whisper, was born with shreds of Darkness in his soul. He is manipulative, they worry, he has a temper, they gossip.

-Ardyn hears them all and inside a part of him screams. Because of course he is Dark, they did not have their souls swallowed by a plague for others’ sake, were not consumed with madness until dying (being freed) at the hands of a nephew two thousand years removed. As for manipulation ... he doesn’t mean to. It’s just ... he’s so much OLDER than the other children mentally, older even than any Jedi there (even YODA), he can’t help it that he thinks rings around people sometimes, or that he is so in tune with the Force (with a galaxy-spanning magic that burns beneath his skin like a hundred newborn suns that he keeps buried so the Jedi will not sense it so clearly, will not know how strong and old he really is inside) that he can practically read minds and knows what to say to get the best outcome. He has a temper. Who doesn’t? You try being reborn after a lifetime of AGONY and see how patient you are with petty morons and small minded bullies.

-He says none of those things, and when his time grows near to be sent away without a Master, he does not fight it.

-He looks at the shadow of Qui Gon Jinn in the doorway and something in the Force ... sings. Sad and soft. It speaks of heartache and betrayal and a fear of being hurt again. Ardyn can almost FEEL the two paths branching away under his feet, one with Qui Gon in it, and one without, and he does not know which one will bring him less pain.

-Ardyn does not try to impress anyone in the sparring ring, but after he is done, he slips away. He finds Jinn in the garden, trying to meditate, and settles down across from him without invitation.

-Qui Gon opens his eyes in annoyance. He knows that the Council wants him to take a Padawan, and that this one is almost at the age of being moved to the Corps. He expects the boy to beg to become a Padawan, or to try to impress him somehow.

-Instead the boy just smiles, thin and sharp and knowing in a way that makes Qui Gon feel ... exposed. Like every thought and wound in his heart is on display for this child, “The Council wants you to take a Padawan. That’s why they keep making you watch us.” It’s a statement, not a question.

-Qui Gon raises an eyebrow, “And you think I should take you?”

-The boy shrugs, but his blue eyes are still sharp as knives behind his friendly mien and Qui Gon doesn’t like the feeling crawling up his spine, “That’s your choice to make and yours alone. There’s nothing I can say to change your mind one way or the other.”

-“Then why are you here?” He asks suspiciously.

-“Because you’re lonely, and it makes the Force feel sad.” The answer is so blunt, so sure of itself. Qui Gon feels his stomach twist, and old anger makes him snappish without meaning to be (he’s heard of this boy as well, he’s heard that he’s got a manipulative streak and a tendency to twist his Force empathy to his own ends, he’s heard many things).

-(Qui Gon forgets that it is not a good idea, to base judgement on rumors) “I am not, and if I was, I would not need your company to ease it.”

-Obi-Wan Kenobi, Initiate of the Jedi Temple Ardyn Lucis Caelum, Sage and Healer King and Accursed, tilts his head thoughtfully, then nods and stands up, “Then I will take my leave. Take care of yourself, Master Jinn.”

-Initiate Kenobi Ardyn the Accursed and Healer King walks away, and a breath later the Living Force twists, like the snapping of cables, and Qui Gon gets the fleeting, distinct impression that he has failed some kind of very important test.

-Ardyn is assigned to the AgraCorps. A life as a farmer for others awaits him.

-The day before he’s to be shipped off, he walks out one of the Temple’s side-entrances and into the underbelly of Coruscant with only the clothes on his back. He doesn’t look back even once. It takes until the next day for anyone (for his friends, if he can call them friends when they are so much YOUNGER and painfully more innocent than him) to miss him. It takes another day for the Jedi to realize Obi-Wan Kenobi is well and truly missing.

-Deep in Coruscant’s seedy side, at the dockyards manned by those who are less than concerned with legality, a boy in ratty (stolen) clothes asks to be taken aboard as a maintenance worker. He calls himself Ardyn Izunia, and there are no Force Sensitives close enough to feel the sunlike fire burning in his blood as he smiles.

-Skip forward several years and Satine Kryze (Aera) is on the run from Death Watch, civil war is on the horizon and her father asks for Jedi protection to keep her safe.

-The bounty hunter who calls himself Adagium finds her first.

-A sword that glitters like blood and cuts through metal like a lightsaber (that hums-hums-hums with magic none but a Force sensitive can see blazing like bloody fire down the ancient blade) finishes off the Death Watch assassin that Satine hadn’t had the chance to shoot yet, and under his hood, Adagium smiles. Satine stills, head tilted as if listening, then she collapses into the teenage bounty hunter’s arms in joyous tears. Adagium- Ardyn- holds her close and cries with her.

- “I finally found you, My Aera,” he breathes and for a moment he lets his magic loose and it burns like the sun through the Force, lancing through the growing shadows in the Force like they’re fragile paper and somewhere far away Sidious feels Doom™ crawl violently up his spine.

-Aka that Fixit AU where Aera is a Mand’alor that DOES want peace for her people but NOT at the cost of burning history to the ground (or being defenseless, she has died to the sword once already she will not go quietly into the night a second time, not if she has to paint the walls in blood to protect her life and the lives of her people), the Jedi are Confused™, and Ardyn is incredibly content to be Aera’s former bounty hunter trophy husband with a tendency to adopt strays (read: Anakin and Shmi who he frees as well as Anakin kthanks, and quite possibly Savage and Feral too tho no one is quite sure how) until the Clone Wars start and Ardyn takes one (1) look at the war and goes: ah. I know this plan. This is a stupid plan. And all of Sidious’s plans go fwoosh.

-Because I’m sorry but there is no way you can convince me that Ardyn wouldn’t EAT SIDIOUS ALIVE in any kind of fight, mental, physical, Force, or tactical. This man is 2k years old. It took Sidious until he was an old sack of bones to get his Empire and that was with GENERATIONS of Sith serving as his foundation, and then he got yote down a reactor shaft by his minion 19-25 years later. Ardyn was able to manipulate an entire Empire into engineering its destruction and fulfill ALL HIS REVENGE GOALS (giving Bahamut a headache, driving the world to darkness and ruin, and ending the line of Lucis Caelum INCLUDING HIMSELF) in like- 30-40 years. While MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY ILL thanks to the Scourge. Fully healthy and in control of himself and with people (Aera) to protect? Sidious would just be fresh meat.

-Also Ardyn adopts a bunch of the clones, possibly all the clones, on the excuse that since they were raised by Mandalorian trainers they count as Mandalorians and as genetic sons of Jango Fett that makes the Mandalorian CITIZENS by BIRTHRIGHT and the Republic can only watch in confusion as their army gets mass adopted by the Mand’alor’s trophy husband who also exposed their new Chancellor as a Sith. Bail Organa, the new Chancellor, may or may not be sweating quietly at the thought of accidentally gaining the ire of the so called Trophy Husband because he’s smarter than most and knows that Ardyn is Very Very Dangerous.

-Also also Qui Gon doesn’t die somehow because I do really like him and I think he’s a good Jedi, just not a good fit for Ardyn as a master.

#Secret Engima Rambles #Burn With the Sun verse #Ardyn Izunia #obi wan kenobi #obi wan x satine #ardyn x aera #oh no new au

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wonderlandleighleigh · 4 years

Text

Hey remember that Clone Wars Episode Arc, Slaves of the Republic, where our heroes were physically and emotionally tortured and then everything was fine and it never came up ever again?

I wrote a fic about it because I have feelings about what happened. And didn’t happen. It’s 12 pages.

It’s under the cut.

Ahsoka gives them three days.

Three days of solitude to put themselves back together after the Zygerrian slavery debacle.

On the morning of the fourth day, though, neither Anakin nor Obi-Wan have emerged from their quarters, and Ahsoka decides it’s time to start worrying.

“They just need some more time,” Mace assures her when she takes it to the Council. “And rest. It was a long mission. We’ve given them a week and a half to rest and rejuvenate. That’s what they’re doing.”

She’s dismissed, and it’s frustrating. Because she knows her masters. She knows that Anakin’s method of rejuvenation is a long speeder ride, followed by a large meal and then a nap. She knows that Obi-Wan’s is a hot shower, and then a day spent in the Temple gardens.

None of these things have happened. And while she’d like to think that they’re just sleeping, she can feel their presences through the Force when she reaches out. They are cold, and pained. Tired and unsteady.

“Fine,” she mutters to herself as she hops on one of the speeder bikes. “If the Council won’t help my masters, I’ll find people who will.”

*****

She finds both of the women she’s looking for at Padme’s office in the Senate Building, having tea together and chatting.

When she steps in, both women rise to their feet, rushing over.

“Oh, Ahsoka!” Padme cries, wrapping her arms around the young girl. “We were all so worried after that last mission. Are you alright?”

Ahsoka nods, and hugs her back, a little more tightly than she means to. “I’m okay. But my masters…” she shakes her head. “I think things are very wrong.”

Satine’s expression darkens. “Have you spoken to them?”

“They haven’t left their quarters,” Ahsoka explains. “And neither of them would open their doors for me. Today is day four.”

Padme’s expression turns deeply worried. “What has the Council said?”

“That they’re resting,” Ahsoka says. “That they’re fine.”

“Of course they did,” Satine grumbles. “Because why actually admit when things are wrong and fix them? Horrible old-”

“We’ll follow you to the Temple in my speeder,” Padme tells Ahsoka, cutting Satine off.

Ahsoka nods and heads out.

****

The three of them get strange looks as they step into the Temple. The Jedi Order does not normally entertain guests, and certainly not escorted in by a Padawan.

Satine breaks off from Padme and Ahsoka as they enter the hallway containing the Jedi living quarters.

“I’ll go check on Master Kenobi,” she tells them.

Ahsoka frowns. “Wait, how do you know where Master Obi-Wan’s...room...on second thought? I’d rather not know.”

Satine nods and disappears down the hall, as Padme then takes the lead towards Anakin’s room.

“More things I wish I didn’t know,” Ahsoka says to herself.

Once they get to the door, Padme turns to her. “Ahsoka, please alert Master Yoda and Master Windu of our arrival. Let them know that we’ll be by to see them once we assess the Generals and their conditions.”

Ahsoka nods, though she looks unsure. “Yes, Senator.” she says.

Once she’s gone, Padme looks one way, and then the other, before keying the security code into the keypad on the door, and slipping inside.

****

Down the hall, Satine does the same, squinting in the dim light of Obi-Wan quarters, looking around for any sign of him. Her eyes settle on the bed, where she can see a distinctly Obi-Wan-sized lump under the covers.

“Oh, My Darling,” she whispers, walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling back the covers to look at him.

His skin is pale, and he looks exhausted, his eyes shut tightly as he turns his head away from her. “Satine...I...I’m not up for visitors…”

“I’m not here to visit, Obi-Wan,” she promises. “I am here to take care of you.”

“I don’t need-”

“You look like you’ve been hit by a speeder,” she tells him firmly. “When was the last time you ate something?”

“I’ve not been hungry.”

Satine sighs softly and reaches out to touch his face, but he puts his own hands up, blocking her.

“Don’t touch me, please.”

A myriad of emotions play over her face, not that Obi-Wan can see them with his eyes shut, but she settles on sadness after rage. “Why don’t you get out of bed, and take a hot shower, and then we can have a walk in the gardens. You’ve always spoken fondly of them. I’d love to see them. Then we can get you something to eat.”

Obi-Wan hesitates, before opening his eyes just a little. “I...it does sound nice Satine, but I...I haven’t been able to sink fully into a healing trance. I’ve been trying for days. Nothing seems to work.”

“Then perhaps this will help,” she tells him. She wants to reach out again, but doesn’t, respecing his earlier request. “Come along. Out of bed.”

*****

In Anakin’s quarters, Padme sits in front of him, kneeling on the floor. He’s curled up, as small as he possibly can, in a corner of the room, and his eyes are open, but Padme knows that he can’t see or hear her.

She’s seen her husband like this before. In times of deep stress, or if something reminds him too deeply of the abuses he suffered as a child, Anakin will, to put it bluntly, check out.

After the first time it had happened, Padme had discreetly asked a family friend who happened to be a doctor about it.

“It could be a form of dissociating,” they’d said. “A way for someone who has suffered traumatic experiences to protect themselves. It’s rare, but sometimes dissociation presents as catatonia.”

At least Padme knew what was likely happening, and she’d seen Anakin snap himself out of it before, but she’d never known him to be in this state for whole days.

“Anakin?” she asks softly, reaching out to brush a sandy curl away from his eyes. “Anakin, can you hear me?”

She gets no response, and it breaks her heart. She’d do anything to see his eyes flicker back to life; to see his big cocky grin, or hear his voice.

“Ani,” she says, stroking his face gently.

Still nothing.

Padme closes her eyes tightly for a moment, before shifting over to curl up next to him, resting her head on his arm, waiting.

And waiting.

It’s a few hours later when Anakin stirs, and grunts softly.

“Padme…?”

His voice is hoarse, as though he hasn’t used it in days. He probably hasn’t.

“Oh, my love,” she says, sitting up on her knees again, cupping his face, watching as awareness seeps back into him. “I was so worried.”

He doesn’t respond, averting his eyes, shame behind them. “I...things went wrong on this last mission, and I-”

“You don’t have to explain,” she tells him gently. “I heard about what happened. I know how hard this must have been.”

“I...I’m…”

Padme knows he wants to tell her he’s fine. She also knows he can’t. “Come on,” she says softly. “Shower, and then an actual nap, in your actual bed.”

*****

Later - much later - Ahsoka finds the two women outside of the Council chambers, waiting for an audience with Master Windu and Master Yoda.

They don’t speak. They don’t say a word. The sickened look on Padme’s face, and the angered look on Satine’s say everything Ahsoka needs to know.

“Your Masters are resting peacefully now, my dear,” Satine tells her. “The rest of their leave time should go a little smoother.”

“Anakin will want to see you in the morning,” Padme tells her, offering her a wavering smile. “He’s promised to make you breakfast.”

Ahsoka nods, still worried. “I can escort you back to-”

“No need,” Padme tells her. “We need to speak with Master Yoda and Master Windu.”

“It’s not their fault,” Ahsoka says hesitantly. “If my masters needed help, they could have-”

“My dear,” Satine says, firmly, but softly. “When one has control of an army, it is one’s responsibility to care for their soldiers.”

Ahsoka nods, thinking that over, frowning as she recalls every time her master had checked in on a clone trooper. Every time he’d benched one, telling them they needed to rest Every time Anakin had sat down with his men to make certain they were in fighting shape. She knows Obi-Wan had acted similarly with his own men.

When she thinks of this situation in those terms, the lack of communication, the lack of well-being checks, are astounding.

“Senator Amidala,” Mace says as the door opens. “Duchess Satine. We’re ready to see you now.”

Ahsoka watches them go in, and wishes, not for the first time, to be a fly on the wall.

*****

“I understand that the Jedi are still new to running an entire army,” Padme says. “But this is beyond inexcusable.”

Both Jedi look shocked.

“You sent two of your best generals on an incredibly dangerous mission - a mission that you were well aware would be detrimental to one of them in a deep way. You could have sent others-”

“Yourself, said you,” Yoda interrupts. “Two of the best, they are.”

“You could have sent backup,” Padme says.

“It was an undercover mission,” Mace tells them. “One that was done on the fly. I don’t understand why the two of you are so incensed. Other than your obvious feelings for Skywalker and Kenobi.”

“You do not win wars by breaking your soldiers,” Satine snaps. “Nor do you win wars by letting your personal feelings for those men color your judgement.”

“Know not of what you speak, we do,” Yoda grumbles.

“Oh no?” Satine asks. “So the two of you haven’t harbored deep resentment for Master Kenobi over his decision to train Skywalker. Or for Skywalker himself for daring to be here in the first place?”

“That is not your concern,” Mace tells them uncomfortably.

“It is my concern,” Padme snaps. “As a member of the Senate.”

“I think you two are the ones whose judgement is clouded,” Mace tells them. “By your feelings for Generals Kenobi and Skywalker.”

“Listen to me,” Satine says, rising to her feet. “Despite being a pacifist, I am still a Mandalorian. I know how to fight and win wars, and it is not by putting your soldiers in emotionally compromising situations to test their loyalty to your way of life. And it is not by turning a blind eye when they suffer.”

“We do not-”

“Obi-Wan could not attain a healing trance,” Satine cuts Mace off. “He is the best of you. Your most esteemed and respected Jedi, and he couldn’t do it because of what he’d been through. Skywalker? Your...what does Obi call him? Your chosen one? Curled up in a corner, catatonic from facing the prospect of becoming a slave once more. If ignoring their needs is how you treat the people who are on your side, and under your direction, I’d absolutely loath to see how you treat your enemies.”

“Duchess-”

“And the further along this war goes, the more I am reminded of how right I was to keep my people out of it,” she goes on. “You have no idea what you’re doing, and if you lose this war, and try to pass the blame to the men and women who have suffered so greatly to fight it? I will drag both of you to the senate, and have you charged with war crimes, because all four of us in this room know that this situation is just the latest in a long line of mistakes that cost lives.”

Silence falls over the chambers, and as Satine sits down, Padme gets to her feet, looking at Mace and Yoda with sad eyes.

“As you’re likely aware, Anakin and I are still very close,” she says. “His life before the Jedi Order was troubling at best, and horrific at its worst. Why would you put him in this situation? Why would you compromise one of your most valuable players in this war?”

“Balance, he must learn,” Yoda tells her. “To face his past. To face his fears?”

“On your terms,” Padme snaps. “Forcing him to face things he may not be ready to. That is not how you build someone’s character, that is how you tear them apart. Which is what I have seen happen time and time again throughout the course of this war, and not just to Anakin, but to so many of your generals. Masters, what are you doing? Why are you - and the Chancellor, for that matter - forcing people under your command, and in your care, to tear themselves apart to prove themselves to you?”

They have no answer for her, as she knew they would not.

“I’ll be staying the rest of the evening,” she tells them. “To make certain that Anakin is alright. As I know Duchess Satine will be here to check in on Obi-Wan. To do what you yourselves seem to think is unnecessary for your soldiers.”

“Yes, so you can aid Skywalker in breaking the code more than you already have,” Mace accuses her.

“Maybe in the face of war and death and destruction, your precious code doesn’t mean as much as you think it does,” Padme shoots back viciously. “And maybe your attachment to it will be your own downfall. Masters.”

With that, she leaves the chambers, Satine following after her.

*****

Yoda doesn’t sleep that night.

He tries, but ultimately, it’s no use. He tries meditating as well, but he receives no answers; no comfort.

And so he wanders the Temple halls, taking comfort in the feeling through the Force of his students, but it’s hard to to take too much of that comfort when there are troubled presences down the hall.

He thinks about the argument from that afternoon, and how harsh they had all been to each other. Senator Amidala has always been a champion of the Jedi. For her to be so adamantly against so many of their recent decisions... her concerns must be genuine, no matter what her relationship with Skywalker is.

When the Senator and the Duchess had left, Mace had been quick to point out that they do not know the Jedi ways the way they think they do. That the Jedi have done their best in what has been consistently a no-win situation.

But knowing that two of their most successful generals had come back to them, for lack of a better word, broken, and no one had bothered to pay more attention...that Padawan Tano’s concerns had been so easily dismissed...

“Been so blind, have we?” he asks himself softly, as he steps into the gardens. “To the needs of our own?”

He settles into the grass and gazes to the sky, watching ships move towards the stars, thinking of Senator Amidala’s words. She’d pointed out that it isn’t only the Council who have who have consistently put the Jedi in these horrific situations.

The Chancellor.

“Hm,” Yoda grunts to himself.

“Master?”

Yoda turns, finding Skywalker slowly walking out into the gardens. Even in the dim lights around them, he can tell that the young man’s skin is pale, as if he’s been sick.

“Feeling better are you, Young Skywalker?”

“Getting there,” Anakin tells him, shame in his voice. “I...I know that Padme said a lot of things to you-”

“Always appreciated is the Senator’s point of view,” Yoda cuts him off. “Much to think about she gave me.” He looks up at and waves him over. “Come. Sit.”

Anakin settles down with him in the grass, watching him curiously.

“Hm,” Yoda muses. “Not easy, have we made things for you, hm?”

Anakin says nothing.

“Against your training, was I,” Yoda admits. “Worried, I was, about training someone so old. Someone with a past such as yours. Trust you, I did not.”

He watches the younger Jedi, who still says nothing.

“Worry for you, I still do,” Yoda tells him. “But proven yourself you have, time and again. Deserve to be in the order, you do. Despite your relationship with the senator.”

Anakin’s eyes widen in surprise. “Master, I-”

Yoda lifts a hand to stop him. “Get through this war, we must, in any way we can, with hearts and souls intact.” He gives a short sigh. “Difficult, this last mission was. For you and for Obi-Wan. Evident that should have been from the start. Blind, I was, to your troubles. More time to heal you both will need. Another week, you will rest.”

“But Master-”

“Argue, you will not,” Yoda says firmly, poking him with his walking stick. “Rest tonight, then meet me for mediation in the morning, you will.”

“Yes...yes, Master.”

*****

“You have quite the champion in the Duchess,” Mace tells Obi-Wan as he settles down onto the floor of the meditation chamber.

Obi-Wan can’t help a slight grin, his eyes still closed. “She is a very passionate woman.”

“Do you agree with her?” Mace asks. “That the Jedi have botched this war? Have lost our way?”

Obi-Wan’s eyes open slowly as he thinks about it. “Certainly, we’ve had our missteps. But we do our best...on the other hand...Anakin came back from this mission and promptly blacked out in a corner for three days. So we may want to reconsider some of our methods.”

“Are we certain that’s the truth?”

“Are you insinuating that my former apprentice lied about having a traumatic episode?” Obi-Wan asks, clearly puzzled. “You honestly trust Anakin so little that you think he would do that?”

“I don’t trust the Chancellor,” Mace corrects him. “And he has Skywalker in his pocket.”

“Anakin is one of us,” Obi-Wan insists. “And if you distrust the Chancellor so much, then you know where your energies should be directed.” He closes his eyes again. “If you’re truly concerned with the Chancellor’s actions and motives, then I will help you look into it.”

Mace stays quiet for a moment before responding. “I will take you up on that.” He goes silent again for a moment before tilting his head at the younger man. “Are you feeling better?”

“I am getting there,” Obi-Wan tells him. “At the very least, I’m now able to achieve a healing trance, which has helped immensely.”

“...Because of the Duchess.”

“Because there was someone who cared enough to worry about my well-being,” Obi-Wan corrects him. “Ahsoka came to the Council for guidance, and when that failed, she went to the Duchess and the Senator. She saved Anakin and I from a much grimmer healing process from all of this. I’m very grateful to her.”

Mace snorts softly. “That was a very good side-step.”

“Yes, I’m rather proud of it, myself.”

*****

“What did you say to Yoda, exactly?”

Padme shrugs daintily as she smooths out her dress a couple of days later. She’d stayed the night at the Temple, and so had Satine, she knew, to make certain Anakin and Obi-Wan were in good enough shape to manage on their own.

“I...may have pointed out a few things to him and Master Windu that they may have...missed,” she tells Anakin innocently as she turns to him. “It’s up to them what they do with that.”

“Uh-huh,” he nods, watching her as she gets ready to leave. He reaches out, taking her hand, holding it gently. “Thank you for being here. If you hadn’t come, I might still be curled up in the corner.”

Padme strokes his hair gently. “You should thank Ahsoka. She came and got us.”

Anakin nods and wraps his arms around her, holding her tightly. “I’ll be here an extra week. I’ll try to come see you.”

She smiles and leans up, kissing him gently. “Rest, Ani.”

“I rest easier with you,” He admits, not letting her go quite yet.

Padme closes her eyes, and holds him just as tightly.

****

“You could stay a little longer,” Obi-Wan comments. “I wouldn’t mind.”

Satine gives a soft laugh as they walk arm-in-arm to the front doors of the Temple. “I’m well aware, My Darling. But I have responsibilities elsewhere, and you have more healing to do.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Funny, how often that’s the case,” she teases him as they stop in front of the doors. “You will comm me later to let me know how you are doing. If the Council give you any problems, I want you to inform me right away, and I’ll-”

“Come to the rescue, yes I know,” Obi-Wan chuckles. “But I’ll be fine. Both Anakin and I will be fine. And hopefully the next time I see you, it will be under much happier circumstances.”

She takes a breath and nods, taking his hands and holding them tightly. “I worry about you. You know I do.”

“Yes.”

“And this incident, with slavers…”

“Was not one I will soon forget,” Obi-Wan admits. “But one I can cope with. Because I have good friends to help me.”

“Yes,” she says softly. “Friends.”

Obi-Wan strokes her jaw gently and leans in, kissing her cheek. “I promise to contact you tonight with an update.”

Satine nods. “Good. Then we’ll talk later.”

He watches her leave and takes a deep breath, wishing he could say more (as he always does when Satine is around).

When he turns to go back to his quarters, he finds Anakin and Ahsoka standing behind him, waiting for him.

“Hello, Master Obi-Wan,” Ahsoka grins. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Yes, and it’s all thanks to you,”

“I...I didn’t-”

“You did,” Anakin interrupts her. “You went to the Council, and then went to Padme and Satine when that didn’t pan out. So I think we owe you.”

“Yes, I agree,” Obi-Wan nods, stroking his beard.

“Maybe...milkshakes at Dex’s?” Ahsoka asks hopefully. “For a month?”

Anakin laughs and nudges her with an elbow. “Let’s start with today, and go from there.”

She smiles at them, glad to him them back, at least at partial-strength. “Deal.”

END.

#fic #au #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #anidala #obi-wan kenobi #satine kryze #obitine #ahsoka tano #yoda #mace windu #Trying to strike a balance between the fact that the Jedi made bad choices but aren't actually bad people is a thing I strive to do #Salves of the Republic arc

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villainousshakespeare · 4 years

Text

Offerings

Loki/OFC one shot

Rated M: Angst, tooth rotting fluff, love, some light smut,

Summary: Laek is a healer from Alfheim sent to Asgard to train under Eir. She is lonely on so alien a world, with no one to talk to and all her dreams of adventure on hold. When she begins to receive gifts from a secret source, she cannot begin to imagine who has left them, or why.

**Set before the events of Thor I, when Loki was still a sweet (if mischievous) untraumatized soul.

I have been feeling a bit blue this weekend, and wanted to write something angsty and tooth-achingly sweet. This was the result. I hope you like it!!!

@arch-venus25 @caffiend-queen @ciaodarknessmyheart @devilish--doll @hiddlesholic @hopelessromanticspoonie @izhunny @just-the-hiddles @kellatron55 @myoxisbroken @nonsensicalobsessions @poetic-fiasco @shiningloki @yespolkadotkitty

*If I ever tag you and you want off a tag list, please let me know!

OFFERINGS

She did not belong here. The thought echoed like a silent scream through Laek's mind, try as she might to suppress it. Looking around her, at this strange world she'd been thrust into, it was all she could do not to weep. Laek knew she was being self indulgent and melodramatic, but she could not seem to help herself. What, after all, was a young woman like herself, born and raised to heal the injuries of men and gods, doing in a realm that celebrated war?

All around her, men and women dressed in armor, encased in and carrying the steel that was designed to do harm to one another. The air filled with the clang of weapons on a constant basis, accompanied by cries as blade edges found their homes in flesh. Even wielded as they were here in practice, mistakes were bound to be made, injuries acquired. They celebrated scars here, badges of honor for the noble race that elevated all that she had been raised to strive against.

It was not that she was a pacifist. Laek knew that there were things worth fighting for, causes that she would die to defend. It was just that the level of worship here accorded brute strength, the ability to maim and kill, was out of all proportion to her mind. Surely, surely, she thought, there were other skills of equal value.

She had been brought here to train in her arts, for it was on Asgard that the Goddess Eir, worshiped above all by healers such as herself, resided. It made sense, in its way. Where else would she be more needed than on this barbaric world. And Laek was learning much and more from the blessed Goddess. Her own powers and knowledge were still green, if great in latent strength. Laek was the strongest natural healer to be born to her people in generations, but at just 700 years old she had much still to learn. It was thought that 100 years under the watchful eye of Eir would be exactly what was needed to nurture her gift. 100 years. She had been here for one month, and already she wanted to throw herself off the much vaunted rainbow bridge to escape.

It would be easier, she often thought, if she didn't look so different on top of all else. She was smaller than most of these Asgardians, both in height and body mass, and her clothing was soft and flowing rather than hard and protective. Her pale gold hair she kept long, after the fashion of her Alfar people, braided across her temples and tied with ribbon woven through. Under a high brow, her wide, tilted eyes shaded different colors, from gold to green to crystal, depending on her mood, an embarrassment to her now that she found them so often a cloudy grey that gave away her discontent.

Laek was not mistreated, of course. Eir and her acolytes were kind to her, in their fashion. But the Goddess was old, dry, and set in her ways. The All Mother, Frigga, had pulled her aside upon her arrival in a most kindly manner, telling Laek that her door was always open, should the young healer need to talk. Occasionally she had thought of taking her up on that offer, but in truth she was more than a little intimidated by the regal Goddess that ruled Asgard at her husband's side, and her courage had failed her every time. Odin himself flat out terrified her, as did their two sons, the golden Thor and the sleek, dark but pale Loki. She watched them, but never dared approach.

And so Laek spent her time in a somber routine. In the mornings she would rise, bathe, dress, and report to the infirmary. Once there, she would spend the early half of the day tending to the sick and injured, attending on Eir and absorbing as much knowledge as she could at the healer's side. In the afternoon, she would head to the library, where all of the written knowledge of all 9 realms was stored in the pages of books and scrolls, a collection that had no rival in any universe. She would loose herself there for hours in reading, studying healing or simply learning about the customs and practices of other places, places she longed in her secret, adventurer's heart to see for herself one day.

She ate her meals at the end of a table in the great feast hall, alone amidst a sea of strangers. At night, she retired to her chambers to an early rest, often walking in the moonlit garden beneath her rooms, where she could pretend for a moment that she were home and at peace.

It was in the library one afternoon, in the beginning of her second month, that the first token appeared. She had found her eyes glazing over as she studied a text on blood transfusions, and in an attempt to rouse her mind had gotten up and wandered to the section that contained dwarfish riddles, pulling a book at random to bring back to her seat.

When she returned to her bench, her breath caught in her chest. There, lying atop the open tome that had so sedated her, was a pale blue crystal. The stone, smooth to the touch and oval in shape, had a pure clarity that made the sparkling fire at its depth shine so brightly it looked like the evening star. Laek had seen many such stones in her time, for they came from her home, from Alfheim, but never one so perfect, so incandescent.

Dropping the riddle book, she had picked it up with trembling hands, and then, unable to do anything else, had run to her rooms, thrown herself on her bed and wept, clutching it to her breast. It was home, a talisman of all that she missed in this strange land.

She had asked the next day, in a shy, anxious voice, if the librarian on duty had seen where it had come from, who had left it. In response, she had gotten a terse "no" and a lecture on leaving her books unshelved when she was finished with them.

Eight days later, she had been walking in the garden as the first stars rose, blue stone secreted into her pocket so she could feel it cool against her hand. When she reached her favorite bench where she always stopped to gaze up at an unobstructed view of the heavens through a circle of elder trees, she found a flower. Placed carefully in the exact center of the bench, it was a perfect red rose, a flower that she had only read of until then. It grew on neither Asgard nor Alfheim, but was prized on Midgard for its beauty. She raised it to her nose and inhaled the lovely aroma, a soft smile coming to her lips.

After the rose, it had been a snowflake, perfectly preserved between two pieces of glass found in her cubby in the healer's quarters. Larger than any she had ever seen, she knew it could only come from Jotunheim, home of the fearsome Frost Giant. How anyone could have gotten it, let alone why they would have left it for her was a mystery she couldn't begin to explain. Still, the gesture touched her deeply. Someone had noticed her, other than to sneer or pity. Someone was being kind. She only wished she knew who it was.

Laek began to hope for the small tokens, to take greater note of her surroundings in case some small item were to be slipped in. It was a good thing, too, as she could easily have injured herself had she accidentally sat on the twisted puzzle box made of small metal daggers that had obviously come from Nidavellir. She spent all that night unlocking it, to find a bright green gem set on a silver chain within.

The tokens made Laek's life exciting again. Oh, she knew how pathetic that sounded, but she didn't care. She had a friend, even if they didn't make themselves known to her. Every time she searched the area where a gift was deposited, there was the same result. No one had seen anything. No trace was to be found of the person who had left them.

When they stopped, she was devastated. Three weeks went by, and there was nothing. Not in any of the places she frequented. As time went on and no further offerings of friendship appeared, Laek grew despondent. Perhaps whoever it was had found a new game, a new way to pass the time that did not involve the strange Liosalfar who was all alone on Asgard. On the day that marked a month passing with no new token, Laek begged off early from the infirmary, pleading fatigue of her own, and returned to her quarters. She knew it was silly to feel so bereft, but she could not help it.

She was aware something was wrong the moment she opened the door to her outer chamber and her eyes shifted to amber. She had magic deep within her, at her very core. A warding over her rooms, her sanctuary, was a automatic outcrop of that magic. She could tell beyond a shadow of doubt when someone had breached that warding, no matter how subtle the magic the intruder had used. Tiptoeing silently, she made her way towards her bedroom, where a quiet rustling could be heard. Opening the door, her eyes went to a figure standing over her bed.

"Frjosa!" she said, arm twisting out towards the intruder, who instantly froze in place.

With a pounding heart, Laek pushed door the rest of the way open and gaped in stunned disbelief. There, next to her bed, was the frozen form of Loki, Prince of Asgard, Odinson. She had caught him just raising his head, his green eyes wide with surprise as the spell hit him. His hair, dark and straight, brushed against the collar of his green tunic ornamented with gold. One elegant, long fingered hand was extended towards her pillow, and in it was grasped a rolled up piece of parchment tied with a green ribbon.

"What in all the Nine?" Laek said allowed, staring at the frozen prince.

Why would he be in her room? It made sense in one way, only a strong sorcerer would have been able to break her wards and enter. She knew he was known for his mischief, had he had some prank in mind to play on the unsuspecting foreigner thrust into their midst? With his mastery of magic, he could pull any number of tricks on her.

Shaking her head in confusion, Laek made a small motion with her fingers, and unfroze his body, still, however, containing him within a parameter of limited space.

"My Lady," he gasped, a flush of red suffusing his cheeks. "I pray, forgive me my intrusion."

"You," she said, stupidly.

"I am Loki," he told her, sketching a courtly bow.

"Yes, I know," she replied with a little laugh, feeling her eyes shade to blue as she blushed. He was royalty and handsome as sin, she could hardly not know who he was. "I am Laek of Alfheim. But I suppose you know that, since you are in my room."

"I do," he admitted with a small nod of his head. "Again, a thousand apologies for my trespass."

"But why are you trespassing?" she asked, tilting her head as she stared at his handsome frame. She could feel his magic pulsing from him, attempting to find a chink in the stasis field she had him trapped in. Only in her own chambers would she be able to confine one as strong as he she knew.

"I don't suppose you would believe this is a shortcut to the armory?" he asked with a devastating smile.

"Through my bedroom? I think not."

"Ah, well then."

"What is that you have in your hand?" she demanded, noticing how he was attempting to hide it behind his back.

"Nothing," he said shortly, blushing again.

"It is not nothing!" she approached him warily, as one would a cornered animal. She knew he could do no magic, not bound as she had him, but that did not mean he could not use physical strength should she come too close. Against that, she had no defense unless she chose to freeze him again, and such a course would not yield the answers she sought.

"Your magic work is commendable," he praised her, sending a spark of something warm shooting through her. "Normally I could break a spell such as this in a matter of seconds, but your construction is seamless."

"You are in my nest," she shrugged, inching closer. "It is the way of our kind to protect our homes."

"Perhaps you could teach me," he smiled again, unleashing a lethal charm for one so young. She felt her own lips begin to tilt up, struggled to get them under control.

"Perhaps," she said non-committaly. "Once I know your intentions."

With speed that she knew surprised others not of her race, Laek's hand shot out and snatched the scroll from his hand. He made an unconscious noise of protest, but she had it out of his reach before he could grab it back. Was it a spell, she wondered? Some joke he sought to play on her? Biting her lower lip, she untied the ribbon and unscrolled the crackly parchment.

Her eyes widened with shock as she read the words written in an ornate, ancient hand. It was Vanir in origin and dialect, but the words were not a sorcerous incantation, but rather a poem; a rather romantic, lyrical poem set in a forest by night.

"I meant to be gone before you found that," he stammered. "I had no wish to embarrass you."

"You!" she breathed, realization hitting her. "You are the one who left all the tokens for me!"

Her left hand dipped into her pocket to grasp the blue stone, while her right flew to the green gem around her neck. Her eyes flicked to her bedside table, where the rose stood in a crystal bud vase next to the pressed snow.

"I did," he admitted, not meeting her eyes. "I ran out of locations to leave them for you. You go so few places. It took me weeks to breach your warding and make my way in here. I never expected you to return so soon. It is not your normal habbit."

He was babbling, she realized. As though he were the nervous one.

"Why?" she asked, at last. "Why leave them for me?"

"You seemed so lonely," he said, arms coming across his chest and head ducking down defensively. "Always by yourself, not really fitting in here. It caught my attention."

"It did?"

"Yes," he said softly. "I know a bit what that is like. Let us say, it piqued my curiosity. An easy thing to do, in truth. I watched you often in the library. I spend a portion of most days there. Tracked what you read. It seemed you had a desire to see the worlds."

"I do," she admitted. "I always have."

"I know a bit about that too. I know of course that you are here for study, and what a demanding teacher Eir can be. I trained under her for a century or so myself you see. I thought, if you could not go to the world, perhaps the world, or a small representation of it, could come to you."

"A stone from Alfheim, a snowflake from Jotunheim, a puzzle and gem from Nidavellir, a rose from Midgard, and a poem from Vaniheim. You went to all of those places? Found these things?"

"I did," he said, as though it were nothing. "It is easy enough if you know how. I admit, I was stumped as to what I would do when I reached Helheim on my list. Even I might have difficulty breaking in and out of there."

"Again, why?" she asked, staring at him with wonder. "It must have been so difficult. Why go to all that trouble? You might have just talked to me."

"I like a challenge," he said proudly, lifting his chin. After a moment though, his eyes dropped. "And I did not know if such an overture would be accepted. I am not... well liked or understood on Asgard."

"That makes two of us," she laughed, a bit breathlessly.

"I suppose it does," he replied, chuckling himself. "My dear Laek, do you think you might undo the stasis barrier? While it is causing me no physical distress, the wound to my pride is nigh on unbearable."

"Of course!" she said at once, moving her hand in a lateral swipe that dissolved magic.

"Thank you," he said with a deep breath of relief.

"I liked the gifts," she told him quietly, suddenly feeling shy now that he was free.

"Did you?" he asked, stepping towards her.

"They are all that has made these past months bearable on this planet."

"You are all that has made the past months bearable," he said, gazing into her eyes in a way that made her breath catch. "Before you arrived, I was miserable. Nothing changed, everyone was the same. Then you appeared, and I couldn't breath. I wanted... needed to know you."

"Me?" she she breathed in awe.

"You. Have you no idea how beautiful you are? And then to discover you were smart as well, gifted in magic, and curious to boot? For the first time in centuries there was someone in this accursed realm besides my mother who I thought I might understand. Who I wanted to know. To know in so many ways."

"You could have said hello," she said, feeling far out of her depth as he stood so near to her, took her hand in his.

"I could have," he said. "I chose not to. Can you forgive me?"

"Yes," she said simply, willing in that moment to forgive him any sin.

"Will you let me kiss you?" it was the uncertainty in his voice that touched her the most. He honestly didn't know if she would allow it.

"Yes," she said again, transfixed.

He was slow, gentle. His lips touched hers softly at first, brushing against her like silk. When she tilted her head towards him, he sighed into the kiss and gently lapped against her lips with his tongue. Laek opened her mouth willingly to him, inviting him to explore, to taste her. His arm came around her waist and pulled her flush against him as her fingers fanned out over his chest. He at last pulled away from her, leaving little nipping kisses on her lower lip as he did.

"Minn svass," he murmured as he gazed at her. "Your eyes are crystal."

Laek blushed crimson. She could tell from his smug voice that he knew what crystal meant. Her truest color. She wanted him. Wanted him desperately.

"Do not be embarrassed, sweetheart," he smiled. "Mine would be too."

As he took a step away from her, her eyes drifted downward and she saw the proof of his words, tenting his trousers.

"I would not disrespect you," he told her in a rough voice. "Would court you as your station deserves."

Laek bit her lower lip, struggling for words, always a problem for her when her emotions ran high.

"Could you not disrespect me just for one day?" she asked at last, flashing him a nervous smile.

A slow, wide grin spread over Loki's face as he stepped back towards her, pulled her into his embrace.

"I can do that," he practically growled at her.

He was kissing her then with a newfound ferocity, claiming her mouth, her neck, anywhere he could find flesh. Her hands fumbled at the hem of his tunic, and he raised his arms to help her pull it off. Her dress quickly followed, and he tumbled her down onto the obliging mattress just inches away.

"So beautiful," he groaned, eyes wandering her body where she lay naked before him. "Delicate as a flower and all for me."

"Loki," she panted as he devested himself of his trousers and stood before her in all his glorious nakedness.

She guided him into her, sweet and wet and open to his invasion. Her slim legs rose to wrap themselves around his hips as he buried himself within her walls. He had wanted her for so long, the beautiful, alien woman who had captured his interest from first glance. The reality was even more perfect than he had imagined. She was soft yet supple, molding around him as he thrust within her. He could feel the magic that was part of her very being, and it mingled with his own in a way that made their coupling more intimate than he had ever known it could be. When he felt her walls clamp down around him, felt his own release pump warm and strong inside her, filling her, it was with an intensity he had never experienced before. He cried out her name, almost as though in prayer, heard his own name called back with equal urgency and bliss.

When at last they could breath again without panting, Laek lay cradled in Loki's arms, head resting on his slim, muscular chest. One of his hands toyed lightly with the stone around her neck, and she smiled at the thought of him finding it for her.

"Promise me," he said to her, "that you will wear this always."

"I promise," she told him without hesitation.

"Tomorrow I begin to court you officially," he reminded her.

"I look forward to it," she smiled at him with a dreamy smile. The smile faded after a moment as her crystal eyes sought his green. "Loki, I have been so lonely."

"Think not on that, love," he told her, covering her with his body. "I am with you now, and you will never have to be alone again."

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spooky-z · 4 years

Text

The Soulmate AU [2]

Maribat by @ozmav

I didn't get much into the first part about their relationship (of the couple and with other people), so here's a post about it.

DAMIAN:

At 8, Damian, influenced by Marinette, manages to escape from the League to Batfam.

Not before stopping by to finally meet the girl in person. Of course.

Marinette's parents are relieved to know her little girl's soulmate, but also in a panic, as he has no shame in talking about his life with the League of Assassins.

"I don't want to be secret between us, since one day Marinette and I are getting married."

They accept. Bad. But they accept and try to be understanding.

He spends a week living with the Dupain-Cheng before deciding it was time to meet his father.

Marinette is sad. One week was too little and she wanted him safe by her side, not in a place where she could do nothing to help.

She attaches a discreet bracelet to the boy's wrist, claiming to be a lucky charm,and shows an equal resting on her pale wrist.

They say goodbye.

When Damian arrives in Gotham and meets Bruce, the man seems not at all surprised to learn that he had a son and that this son was coming to stay.

(The League and Talia had gone looking for Damian in Gotham, but were unable to find him.)

"Typical. She thinks she can predict my movements. I'm much smarter than that.” Damian snorts contemptuously and Mari laughs softly beside him.

She was by his side the whole trip. Only disappearing when she slept.

His relationship with Bruce and his brothers had a rocky beginning.

Damian was very closed and volatile.

Shoot first, ask questions later.

But our strawberry shortcake aka Marinette, with Alfred's help (even though the man didn't know he was helping her) managed to soften him enough to make things work.

Jonathan and Damian meet for the first time on duty.

Batman and Robin on patrol when Superman appears with Superboy and is dislike at first glance.

What changes after they meet again at school and Jonathan remembers Damian through Adrien's memories.

Best Friends Distributing Chaos Through Metropolis ™

He lives in Gotham with his father and siblings until he is 15, when he decides that living away from his soulmate is no longer working and signs up for an exchange in Paris.

MARINETTE:

Despite having a soulmate trained to be a assassin, she lived a normal, sweet childhood.

She had classmates, but also had her best friends: Kim and Sabrina.

Mari also becomes friends with Adrien at six.

The two know each other thanks to a visit from the Agreste family to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

It is instant friendship! And families encourage both.

(Gabriel more for not wanting Adrien too close to Chloe).

Because soulmates are rare, she has been harassed by people (other children and adults)

Which didn't last long, because it was no wonder, she was Damian Al-Ghul Wayne's soulmate.

Marinette never depended on Damian for dangerous skills.

Things like steal, act, observe and gymnastics.

She was a very observant child, able to understand things that not even her parents were capable of before she pointed out the evidence.

She still wants to be a designer, this time with Gabriel's support.

But there was also a part (she didn't know if it was because of Damian) that simply wanted to fight off the Paris criminals.

The relationship with her parents is the best. They don't hide anything from each other because trust is a serious thing in this family.

When Damian goes to Paris and they meet in person for the first time, she makes a point of feeding him sweets, since his diet in the League was very strict.

She introduced Damian to Sabrina, Adrien and Kim at a picnic with the families.

(To Adrien's soulmate too and it was a mess)

At 9, she convinces Emilie that Adrien would learn much more from studying at a school like her.

They go to school together and she teaches Adrien some ways to fight that her parents wouldn't approve of, but she knew would be useful in the future.

Mari is fucking smart.

She and Adrien are fucking scary together.

Chloe avoids them even if Sabrina is their friend.

Everyone thinks she and Adrien are soulmates (except Sabrina and Kim, who had already met Damian).

At thirteen, on the first day of school a drunk man broke into the school assaulting one of the teachers who tried to kindly ask him to leave...

That day was marked "Never mess with Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

JONATHAN:

He lived part of his childhood living on his grandparents' farm.

He always knew who his father and mother were, so being half alien wasn't something he didn't know about.

No one really believed that he had a soulmate (even if his eyes proved otherwise) because of his alien heritage.

He learned Kryptonian as he grew older.

As well as his powers and abilities.

After his parents decide to stop hiding, they move to Metropolis and Jon starts studying at a private school.

The signs of his soulmate only became evident after Jonathan recognized the face and model names on billboards.

And he had never been interested in modeling or the fashion world.

Then came the dreams.

Dreams of photo shoot, a green-eyed blonde woman and a stern-looking skinny man. Both French.

The first thought had been that he was going crazy.

The second, that he was developing a new power.

This continued until the "Swap" and he understood what was going on.

He and Adrien become best friends (first).

His classmates liked to tease him that Jonathan spent so much time “talking to himself”

His parents found the boy's innocent joy so cute.

He “introduces” Adrien to his parents and the boy blushes with Lois's attention.

Clark too, since please, it was Superman there.

Romantic feelings only come at 10 (for both), but they only start dating at 13.

Damian is his best friend, since he understands his situation very well.

He is the one who puts the idea in Damian's mind to take the exchange in Paris.

Convince the parents is a little harder than Bruce Wayne, but he manages.

Imagine the disaster that will be Paris in the hands of these four.

ADRIEN:

Having met Marinette much earlier than in canon and becoming her best friend, he has a drastic change of character here.

Although his pacifist side remains firm, it is not as strong as in canon.

Jonathan's bonus for being his soul mate as well, as it directly affects his behavior.

Influenced by Marinette, he is not taken in by Chloe's crazy and childish ideas

He even tries to help the girl, knowing that her bad behavior was more to draw attention, since her parents were far from exemplary parents, but she runs away from him as soon as she finds out that he is friends with Mari.

He makes other friends, but none compare to Marinette, Jonathan and Damian.

Learning to fight and growing a backbone was something he enjoyed, but baking was his passion.

Mr. Dupain really wanted to be able to adopt the boy.

He cried when he could see Jonathan for the first time.

When his mother dies in a car accident, he is 12 years old.

Adrien goes into shock.

He didn't eat, didn't talk, didn't sleep.

Jonathan was panicking that they were in distant countries, different continents.

Adrien did not react.

It went on like this until Marinette decided that was enough of it and broke into the Agreste mansion, sparing not even a glance at Gabriel.

Adrien was forced to shower, put on clean clothes, comb the hair, eat, brush the teeth and cry.

Yes, forced to cry.

Marinette knew that in order for him to get out of the nest of dark thoughts (which Jonathan had warned her), he needed to vent all that was trapped.

The day had been long, the night even more so.

It took months, but he managed to return to normal gradually. With the help of his friends, Adrien was able to suffer his grief in the least painful way possible.

When Gabriel decides it's best for Adrien to be home schooled again and fill the boy's schedule with photo essays, Marinette gets angry.

Or maybe it was Damian. Or both together. Anyway,

When Gabriel decides to be a dick, Marinette threatens to report the man to the police for child exploitation.

He tries to dissuade Marinette by threatening her back, but Adrien supports her and confronts his father.

OTHER THINGS:

Because of Adrien's “rebellion”, Gabriel decides to do nothing at the moment, but devises plans to change that.

What he doesn't know is that Marinette, with Damian's help, Jonathan, her parents, is two steps ahead of him. Waiting for his first slip.

Damian does not introduce Marinette to Batfam, he avoids, but the girl insists until one day she introduces herself and he just stands by his arms crossed and annoyed.

Jason and Marinette become best friends for Damian's chagrin and Bruce's happiness.

(Jason was having a hard time... and Marinette was being the light at the end of the tunnel for Bruce.)

The first time they make the "Swap" at Wayne Mansion, everyone is horrified to watch Damian spin happily around the kitchen, all smiles, while decorating Batfam-themed cupcakes.

Timothy had recorded and sent it to all family friends.

When Gabriel tries to force Adrien to do a late-night photo shoot on a school day, Jonathan curses the man with all the low vocabulary he has learned living on the farm.

His parents are not proud to find the boy at 3am cursing loudly in the kitchen, but understand his frustration.

Adrien is the one who anchors Jonathan's powers, so he doesn't lose too much control.

Alya and Lila will die a slow and painful death in this au.

And I say that not for Damian but for Tikki.

I will make one for the kwamis and soon I will post the fanfiction!

[tag list]

@sassydepression @emjrabbitwolf @actual-disaster-human @mystery-5-5 @thequestionablyhuman @alexresides @officiallyathiana @interobanginyourmom @2sunchild2 @vixen-uchiha @timetomakeanewwish @ranger-gothamite @thanks-captain-obvious @wargraymon0709 @krispydefendorpolice @chocolatecatstheron @kazjaurelia @lysslovsanime @fandomkitty8 @g-arya @zerotosiki @bananaapplewaffle @graduatedmelon @schrodingers25 @queencommonsense @mindfulmagics @michellemagic @kceedraws @littleblue5mcdork @be-happy-every-day-please @razzledazzle247

#soulmate au #daminette #damian #damian x marinette #maribat #jondrien #ml salt #miraculous ladybug

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hermitcraftheadcanons · 4 years

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Hello Internet, welcome to GAME THEORY, where instead of putting a joke here I want to ask you a question. It's time to talk UNDERTALE.

Now I don't think I've ever gotten this many requests to cover a theory, (no requests times no requests is still no requests.) Anyway, across my tumblr dashboard, NO ONE has asked for this. And honestly, I'm disappointed. True loyal theorists will know that Undertale is my favorite game of all time.

Undertale is a game where every character, from goat mom to grind fodder has a sympathetic design and a unique personality, motivations, goals, fears. Whether you're saving or slaughtering them, the game makes you feel something every time you enter an encounter. But to me, one character stood out amongst all the rest. SANS. A skeleton named after the font, Comic Sans. ANYWAYS, Sans is, well, there's a lot of mystery around this guy. And before we get into it, let me put up a very special spoiler warning: UNDERTALE is a game best experienced blind. So if you haven't played it, pause your reading of this and come back after you've finished. I PROMISE YOU, I PROMISE you won't regret it. Alright, so everyone out of the pool and ready for the adult swim? Good. Because I'm feeling pretty determined to get to the bottom of Sans' mystery. So just to recap for those of you who haven't played the game and ignored the SPOILER WARNING, or just need a refresher, Sans is one of the two skeletal brothers who appears in the game. His partner is Papyrus, a loud, goofy trap lover also named after a font. But in the world of Undertale their origins are a big question mark. All you really know is what's given to us by a shopkeeper in Snowdin, who explains that Sans and Papyrus, quote, “just showed up one day and asserted themselves.” Weird, right? What's more is that, well, Papyrus is just kinda the goofy sidekick. Sans is much more complex.

He likes fart jokes, but he's also incredibly powerful and deadly serious. Not only is his boss battle the hardest in the game, he's one of the only characters who has knowledge and power over space and time. He can take shortcuts around the world through ridiculous routes. Even is walking through walls. He also acknowledges that he's only one of infinite versions of himself, making self-aware commentary of the various timelines that you've played through in the game. He can even count the number of times he's killed you. He acts like an arbiter of this world, passing out judgements on the player's actions in the game, even explaining the secrets of EXP and LOVE, or EXECUTION POINTS and LEVELS OF VIOLENCE, just to clarify. In short, he just doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the world of monsters. But then, what, or who, is he? Well, the idea that he doesn't belong in the underworld seems to be correct.

The evidence seems to point to the fact that he WAS, in fact, formerly a surface dweller. In the true pacifist ending of the game, as the group looks out onto the horizon, Papyrus asks Sans about the giant ball in the sky. Sans says, quote, “we call that the sun.” This is important because A, the usage of the word WE, and knowledge of the sun shows that Sans has a kinship or knowledge with other humans, and B, that despite he and Papyrus both being skeletons, or, supposedly, brothers, and apparently appeared in underworld at the same time, they CLEARLY have two very different histories. Why would Papyrus not know the name of the sun but Sans would?

We get further clues to Sans' origins as we hear him say multiple times he wants to "go home" or "go back." He says as much during his dinner date scene at the Mettaton hotel. He notices that the player wants to go home and says, quote, "I know the feeling." He then continues, "maybe sometimes it's better to take what's given to you." As though he ended up in the underworld by accident. AND in a genocide run during his boss fight he says, quote, "look, I gave up trying to go back a long time ago." End quote. And before you say he means going back to the surface world, that's clearly not the full story. His very next line of dialogue is, "and getting to the surface doesn't really appeal anymore either." Key word here is “EITHER.” Yes, he seems to hail from the surface and wants to go back, but based on his dialogue he no longer considers it his home. It's as though the surface world he once knew is gone, as though he's from a different time. It's pretty intriguing. So we're left with a being that appeared out of nowhere, presumably from being from the human surface, but from a different time period, who seemingly has the power to teleport. That's a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.

But here's where things get REALLY interesting. Sans has a hidden workshop that takes a fair amount of searching to find. You could say it takes a lot of DETERMINATION to unlock. Anyways, obligatory determination references aside, as you start to look for this easter egg Sans gives you a key to his room and says "it's time you learn the truth." After some searching you find the workshop which contains items that leave even more questions. A photo album featuring Sans and a bunch of smiling people you don't recognize, a badge, blueprints with illegible handwriting, and a broken machine hidden behind a curtain. In the latest update, one more detail was added. A hand-drawn picture of 3 smiling faces with the words “don't forget.”

So, what does it all mean? Well a lot of Undertale theorists have been linking these details to a feature to a character named W.D Gaster. A ghostly character who never truly appears in the game. Honestly, covering him is a theory all unto itself, and probably one best saved for another day. Even still, none of the Gaster theories I've seen have been able to explain all the details. In particular, the photo album, and the badge. And that's what kept nagging me as I researched Undertale. A badge? That one in particular really stuck out to me. Why would such an oddly specific item to be hidden in the huge easter egg of a room? Something that supposedly reveals the truth about Sans? Badges just aren't important in Undertale. Then it hit me. What if this badge isn't from Undertale? What if this badge is from a completely different series? And was, in fact, the most important badge in the history of gaming? One of the Iskall patreon badges.

Now, for those of you wondering what I'm talking about, the Iskall Patreon Badges are a pivotal item from Iskall’s patreon. You know, the one on Hermitcraft. Anyway, the Iskall Patreon Badges are a really important part of Iskall’s character. So I asked myself; what if the badge in Sans' drawer was ONE OF THOSE EXACT badges? Well first off, it made Undertale connected to my favorite youtuber, thereby making it even COOLER, but that's still a pretty big logical leap. I needed more. Let me tell you, as I started looking, more and more pieces started to fit into place.

In Hermitcraft Season 6, there are three Architechs. (This was before Stress joined in season 7.) These 3 were Iskall, Grian and MumboJumbo. And what does Sans happen to have in his other drawer? A photo album with pictures of Sans with people you don't recognize. Of course you don't know them, they're not characters present in Undertale. And note the word that's used here, PEOPLE you don't recognize. Not underworld monsters. So that's 2 items oddly linked to the Hermitcraft series.

But then, how do the blueprints and broken machine fit in? Well, in the final stretch of Hermitcraft, Iskall is the only one who hasn’t died since the Demise game, so he sells his own body to the highest bidder. Except, it comes with a cost. Everyone is poor. As a result, and with the help of ImpulseSV, the Architechs (minus Mumbo,) are forced to finally kill Iskall, ending his streak since the beginning of demise. I watched this episode in 2020 and I'm not ashamed to admit that when I first saw this scene, I cried. It's DEVASTATING.

Iskall says goodbye to his friends, his co-workers, this character you've grown to love and care about is suddenly promising to sacrifice his life. For all he knows, there is no possibility of him being able to come back after his Demise. It's this incredibly dark departure in the final moments of what was otherwise a fun, quirky, and colorful Season 6.

So what does all of this have to do with Undertale? A LOT, actually. But the first thing you need to know is that the hermits are known for their, let's say, unique written linguistic style.

That would explain the illegible handwriting on the blueprints. And the machine? I think a broken infinity portal is behind that curtain. Now that may seem like a stretch, but it actually explains a lot.

If Sans wound up in Undertale via whacky infinity portal hyjinx, it could provide a reason for why he's a skeleton. He used the machine as organic matter and suffered the consequences. Not killing him, but turning at least a part of him into a pile of bones. That could also explain why Sans has given up hope for going home. Remember the infinity portal is a time machine. By being in the underworld, he's not only in a different place, but based on how he talks, he's also in a different time, with no hope of travelling back to the time he came from. This could theoretically happen. It turned Scar into a wizard and completely disintegrated Welsknight, so the rules are… Flimsy at best.

But the crossovers between Hermitcraft and Undertale continue. In Grian’s episode, (EDIT IN TIMESTAMP) he mentions he’s amazed that Iskall only escaped his demise with a lost arm. He says Iskall had “a lot of determination to not die for real,” and that he’s going to continue to study this. Seems awfully similar to the same experiments happening in Undertale around the trait of determination, no? Especially since so much has shown that Sans was a key player in those experiments.

But I'm sure you also want physical evidence right? Well don't worry, because I have plenty. Take a look at Iskall and Sans side by side. Iskall’s left eye is replaced with a diamond loupe. Sans’ left eye glows blue when he’s mad. Both have extremely chill yet are known for their jokes and, dare I say, laugh.

In short, we have some incredibly strong proof that the Hermitcraft Cinematic Universe, (HCU) is somehow connected to the Undertale world, which brings us back to our initial question, WHO IS SANS?

Well, what if we took it one final step and said that Sans happened to be Iskall from Hermitcraft? Sent through the Infinity Portal at the end of season 6 to go to Season 7, carrying an Iskall Patreon Badge and his photo album. Not only do all the items in the workshop suddenly fit, but so does Sans’ behavior.

Remember, Sans can seemingly travel extremely quickly. And Iskall just happens to have an elytra, a device that allows people to travel hundreds of metres extremely quickly. This even explains why Sans bleeds when you finally hit him. He is, or at least, WAS, a human.

Oh and finally, Sans shares two out of five letters with the name Iskall. That's just a fun one. I thought it was worth mentioning.

But if there was any doubt, we have to look no further than the creator's previous work. Toby Fox, the man behind Undertale is actually DocM77, the creator of every hermit (besides Scar.) Now, if Toby Fox, the creator of Undertale, is also DocM77, creator of Iskall, we know they will most definitely share a universe. Which brings us back to Undertale. 2 faces, with “don't forget” written on it? It's Iskall, trying to remember his 2 friends. In short, Undertale is a continuation of Toby’s version of Hermitcraft Season 6, with Iskall never being able to get home, adopting the name Sans. The pieces all just seem to fit. Now all we need is an appearance from Ethoslab and we’ve got ourselves a true sequel.

But hey, that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY! THANKS FOR WATCHING!

#hcraft #hermitcraftheadcanons #iskall85 #iskall #TheScience!#posted 11.05.20 #long post #please note this is literally a copy paste of the actual script #with some changes #but yeah actual cred to Matt on this one

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37-children-of-the-dreams · 3 years

Text

Day #30: I'm A Blue Blood, Make You Sign A Prenup

Okay, this title was because I thought it would be funny. I mean, Korkie would never make Crosshair sign a prenup. Korkie knows Crosshair has two things, his armor and rifle, and Korkie is the one with all the money. Basically, Korkie's the rich housewife and Crosshair is the hardworking breadwinner. And Fennec's their adoptive sister.

(Suicide Mention, Clonephobic Bo-Katan incoming)

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Fennec was pacing back and forth in the bunks. She knows there was no way Korkie's aunt would be at Kalevala. Korkie stated himself that Bo-Katan was busy becoming Mandalore's regent. Yet, it did sit well that they might actually meet up with the aunt. They did let Amis, Lagos and Soniee go without much of a threat of death if they tell Bo-Katan, and Bo-Katan does know Korkie has been running around the galaxy with a clone for a lover.

Well, fiancé. They had to announce their next 'great' idea that would literally kill everyone, but Korkie if they step on Kalevala. She knows love can make anyone forget their problems or make them do stupid stuff, but this is grade-A level insanity even for Fennec. She has never fought an entire pack of Mandos.

"Fennecky," her father called. "I know you're worried, but we has to trust those two."

"I know," Fennec agreed. "But I have issues with their idea. I mean, they've only known each other for months. They can't just marry right off the bat."

"We know that," Kristal Shand said. "But at least they've known each other for months and not days. I still remember the last girl who did that, divorced instantly after a week."

"I get that, but this is different. Korkie's clan does not remarry once they divorce. They run away from Kalevala for life, or commit suicide. And worst of all, Bo-Katan hates clones."

"And so do multiple people who were affected by the Clone Wars," Luka said. "I am effected by it too and I can't really find anything to hate Crosshair. Which is funny because he does give off the most antisocial aura I've ever known."

"Well, Mandalorians have a much bigger reason to hate them. The clones were made by a Mandalorian bounty hunter who made enemies with the Death Watch and the New Mandalorians. Also, they stole Mandalore from Bo-Katan when the War ended because the Empire said so."

"So Korkie really did chose the worst fiancé," Kristal sighed. "But he doesn't seem to hate Crosshair."

"He was put under house-arrest by Bo-Katan. He saw Crosshair and said 'that's the one' because he knew he'd be out of a prison with Crosshair as his ticket out. He's too happy with how they met than with the consequence of why he left."

Fennec's parents were ready to argue again with Korkie entered the bunk room.

"We're about land near my old home," Korkie announced. "Nanny Rana knows we're here because we have an old communicator to the head of the house."

"I'd like to say I'm happy," Fennec started. "But what happens if Bo-Katan comes?"

"She can't do much without causing a huge scandal between us. If she thinks I'm married, then she can't do anything but agree that it happened. Yet, if she forces me to divorcing Crosshair, then she knows what happens next."

"Which is?"

"You'll know. Which is funny because I don't."

Korkie left the Shands in confusion. Fennec knows Crosshair takes most of the Jedi craziness, but that does not mean he understands it. Luka has an idea, but he thought it'd too dark to tell Fennec his theory. As for Kristal, she didn't want Korkie and Crosshair to part ways after everything. They went outside the bunk and saw the multiple deserts that made Kalevala famous on Mandalore's maps.

Korkie was smiling as he saw the familiar desert near his home. Sure, it wasn't the best place to live as a duke, but this was his home and he had so much memories here. This was actually the winter home of the Kryzes if they wanted to get away and visit their homeworld. Yet, his mother made it his home away from Mandalore because it was the safest place possible. Which was ironic because the entire area covering his home was toxic desert. How he lived to adulthood being raised here must have been the will of the Force.

"I'm just going to say this," Crosshair started. "I hated coming here when we met. The place is covered in toxic desert and the only safe place is that mansion. How did you, Nanny Rana and the birds survived living here?"

"Oh, that," Korkie giggled. "I've adapted to the atmosphere surprisingly. Nanny Rana has her breath mask and visitors have mask ready for them. As for the birds, evolution."

Fennec looked at Korkie with concern for her parents. They never had to deal with toxic deserts before and having to adapt living with a breath mask was making her anxious.

"Fennec," Korkie said. "The mansion is breathable and the air is in good quality. It's the desert once you've reach the borders. We have markers that states where to where masks. Also, multiple House Kryze homes have dozens of breath mask. You're family will be fine as long as they don't venture off the marked path."

"I'm going to trust you on this," Fennec noted. "I just hope your Nanny Rana doesn't kick us out."

"It's not the nanny you should be worried about," Crosshair chimed. "It's the birds. They gave out the ugliest looks to me when I took Korkie away."

Fennec shrugged in agreement, but really she doesn't know what to expect.

The ship landed near the mansion. Nanny Rana had a basket full of food with her and the birds were flapping their wings in happiness. Korkie was visiting and he brought friends. And two refugees for Rana to take care of. Rana laughed at the thought. It was just some months and Korkie was already making most of his new freedom.

"Nanny Rana!" Korkie shouted as he ran to her.

"Korkie!" Rana cried.

Nanny and child hugged each other for a long moment. It's been a long time and they were in need for a check up. Crosshair got out next and strutted to Rana as if he owns the place. Rana saw this a funny challenge and just squeezed him with a hug making Crosshair gasp in confusion. Fennec and her parents came last and gave Rana a respectful bow before being bear hugged by the Mandalorian nanny.

"Oh when Korkie said he'd bring more friends," Rana said. "I thought he meant just Crosshair and a new pet."

"Not happening," Crosshair inserted.

The birds gave him an angry tweet. Crosshair rolled his eyes as a green bird placed himself on the clone's head.

"Which one was this?" he pointed to the bird.

"That's Chiffon," Korkie answered. "I think he's okay with you."

Crosshair grabbed the small ball of feather and placed him on Korkie's shoulders. Chiffon tweeted in happiness and cuddled Korkie's face. The rest of the birds noted it as their time to perch on the former duke. In seconds, Korkie was covered as Crosshair took a toothpick and shook his head back and forth.

"Well," Rana said. "Let's get in the house. The birds missed Korkie, and Crosshair, be a dear and try to get along with them. They're your boyfriend's pets."

Crosshair wanted to protest but saw how happy Korkie was being covered with his old pets. He sighed and just let Rana give them a tour of the mansion.

"The house is centuries years ago," Rana explained. "It's the safest one of the houses because of the toxic terrain. No idiot comes here without precaution. Which Korkie was taught in a young age. Because you're staying here, I'm going to teach you where we grow our crops, where we take baths and relaxation and of course where we hide in case of another Kryze feud."

"Kryze feud?" Luka asked.

"The Kryzes were not always pacifist. They were warlords and they've been through all the Civil Wars. They made their homes as strong as beskar to protect the heirs. Which meant Korkie still had to learn where to survive here."

"It wasn't much," Korkie assured. "The training was during peace times. Yet, since the world is once again at war, you might have to learn it better than me."

"It's not that bad," Rana agreed. "You'll get the hang of it in months. The only reason it was hard is because of the multiple secret tunnels here."

"Secret tunnels?" Crosshair asked.

"Yes, secret tunnels. They are everywhere. You might be near one right now and don't know about it, but you don't need it."

"Why?"

"Because you have Korkie. Even if Bo-Katan came here and demanded Korkie to be put under another round of house arrest, she can't stop him from actually using a tunnel and running back to you."

Crosshair smiled. The birds chirped in agreement. They hated Crosshair before, but sensing a change, a good change, in Crosshair made they agree that he's not a bad person anymore.

Crosshair stopped at the end of the tour. Rana looked at him and smiled as Korkie blushed to a shade of red. The last place they were entering was the indoor glass garden. The same one Korkie and Crosshair met. The one that changed their entire lives.

"The nostalgia is kicking, isn't it?" Rana laughed.

"Just open the door," Crosshair ordered.

Rana opened the door and the birds flew from Korkie to the tree where the two ate their first feast. The Shands were amazed by the sheer greenery the garden had. The rest of the land was barren and had nothing, but here was an oasis of color.

"A long time ago," Korkie started as he walked to the tree. "A Kryze fell in love with someone who could never smile. That Kryze made the mansion for his wife, but she never smiled. She came from a place filled with rich grass and plants of every color. She watched the birds and wondered why they were the only colored creatures in the land. For his love, he made this garden that never lost its color and could rival the birds. The wife finally smiled and they lived a fulfilling life with the garden never losing its color."

Chiffon was flapping his small wings again and was about to stop on Crosshair's head when a huge red bird of prey snatched Chiffon. The red bird placed Chiffon on a branch and screeched at Crosshair.

"What is that?" Crosshair pointed.

"Oh, hi Ronan," Korkie greeted the red bird. "He's weirdly the same species as Chiffon and the rest of the birds, but like Chiffon, he has mutation."

"Which is?" Fennec asked.

"Being extra aggressive to anyone he hates. Which is mostly every being he knows, excluding Chiffon."

"Why's that?" Crosshair asked.

"Because Chiffon give him his part of the bird feed when they were younger," Rana explained. "Ronan accepted it and they're mates."

At cue Chiffon peeped as Ronan screeched again.

"They kind of remind me of you two," Kristal said at Crosshair and Korkie.

Korkie blushed harder and Crosshair shrugged it off. They were nothing like the birds.

Rana lead the group back to the house and into the dining room.

"I made non-spicy meals for everyone!" she exclaimed.

Crosshair and Fennec sighed in relief. The dinner was great and they had tons of stories to tell Rana that made her laugh. As the hours went by, Rana took the Shands to their new rooms and Fennec to her own room.

"It's not much," Rana said. "It was once Korkie's great-aunt's room. She never liked being a lady and became a warrior. She'd liked you had she lived."

"How did she die?" Fennec asked.

"In blaze of glory fighting a squad of enemies in battle. Basically she got bombed in the back fighting for her home."

Fennec nodded. She hoped one day she'd die in such an amazing way. She entered the room and paid her respects to the former owner at her painting.

Rana left Fennec and found the men petting the birds at the garden. They were already wearing sleep wear and looking at the stars.

"It's getting late," Rana said.

"I want Crosshair to see the stars," Korkie explained. "They're the most beautiful thing to see in the garden at night."

"He's not wrong," Crosshair said. "But I think I found something better than the stars."

Rana smiled and left them. She was smiling but not for long. Korkie got out of the garden with Crosshair following him. Korkie saw the familiar light of a jetpack and wanted to cry. He ran to the main entrance and stopped.

He hated what he'll do next. He just got back and Rana approved of his relationship with Crosshair. Crosshair got to him and placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not afraid," Crosshair said. "And I will be here for you."

Korkie took a breath and opened the door. In front of him was the one person he never wanted to meet again.

"Hello there, Lady Bo-Katan."

#korkie kryze #korkie kenobi #crosshair #clone trooper crosshair #korkie x crosshair #fennec shand #star wars #the bad batch #hello there #fanfic

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dreamycastaway · 5 years

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Opposites Attract

Gardener!Aziraphale x Nanny!Crowley for @nim-lock!! Thank you for the prompt!!

“They were almost exact opposites of each other,” Warlock began, and, knowing that his friends would probably take this to mean that his Nanny was thin and all angles, while his gardener was soft and round, or that she was stern and he was gentle, immediately clarified his statement: “and not just in the way you’re thinking of. I mean, she literally told me I would ‘rule when Earth’s destroyed’ and he told me I ‘must never destroy the Earth.’” He shook his head. “Why would you say either of those things to a child?”

It was eleven years and change since the apocalypse was narrowly averted by four eleven year olds, with a bit of help from two lovers who wouldn’t admit it, two people who were remarkably bad at their jobs, and two people who found themselves in the midst of something they rather would not have been dragged into. For the most part, everyone had gotten on with their lives, either being in the know concerning what had not happened and breathing a sigh of relief that it had not, or not being in the know about anything, and being remarkably unaffected by how close they had come to Rapture. Only one person could not be sorted neatly into one of these two categories: Warlock Dowling.

Warlock Dowling, now a young man, had done relatively well for himself in the second half of his life. He had done relatively well in the first half of his life, too, but he had not done it for himself. Warlock would later recall that on his eleventh birthday, it was as if a switch had flipped inside him and he decided he wanted to stop being such a menace. On both counts, Warlock Dowling was wrong. What Warlock had realized was that the world ought to be cherished and that he ought to embrace being human, and he had realized this some days after his eleventh birthday. But the human mind is fickle and overly dependent upon heuristics, and the mind of a child all the more so.

It was now eleven years and one day since Warlock Dowling had somehow come to the realization that, in no uncertain terms, he didn’t want to be a brat anymore. This decision had served him well thus far with everyone but his parents and their ilk, whose misplaced disappointment in this son began with his decision at eleven and change to not be a brat anymore, and was then compounded by his decision at sixteen to tell them he was bisexual, his decision at eighteen to go to Oxford instead of West Point, and his decision at twenty to become a vegetarian and announce that he considered himself a pacifist. His parents’ disappointment upset him, but he had accepted it with as much grace as a twenty-two-year-old was able.

It was all of these monumental decisions plus several hundred smaller ones that had brought Warlock Dowling to where he was now: crammed in with six friends at a small table in the King’s Arms pub, celebrating his belated birthday over pints and pies. They had been there for a while now, as made obvious by the empty glasses, the red faces, and the wide smiles that would make their mouths sore in the morning. As is typical on the eve of a graduation, they had spent the last several hours reminiscing. Having run out of stories about their college years, but still trapped in the sticky embrace of nostalgia, the young adults had turned to childhood stories.

“Oh, Warlock, tell them about that nanny of yours.” Warlock looked across the table to see his best friend of four years sipping the last bit of her drink, incredulity already starting to take hold on her face as she remembered all the ridiculous stories Warlock had told her their first year.

“Yeah, alright,” he smiled. “But I’ve got to tell them all about Brother Francis too. He’s half of why it was all so weird.”

“How could I forget about Francis! Was he even a monk?” She flashed Warlock the type of grin exchanged between old friends who are proud to know each other well.

“Honestly, I … don’t think so. And I think “Nanny” might actually have been, like, a drag persona or something.”

Even with the storytelling chops of a young man who had read everything he could get his hands on even before he decided to study English Literature at Oxford, and had written quite a bit besides, it was still difficult to get the story started. How do you manage to capture a childhood defined by the constant presence of two of the strangest people you’d ever met, while keeping it short enough to tell your friends over drinks?

“They were almost exact opposites of each other,” he began, and, knowing that his friends would probably take this to mean that his Nanny was thin and all angles, while his gardener was soft and round, or that she was stern and he was gentle, immediately clarified his statement: “and notjust in the way you’re thinking of. I mean, she literally told me I would ‘rule when Earth’s destroyed’ and he told me I ‘must never destroy the Earth.’” He shook his head. “Why would you say either of those things to a child?”

“Jeez. They must have hated each other even worse than your parents.”

Warlock grimaced a little at the jab, but quickly decided he wasn’t going to let his parents get in the way of enjoying his birthday party. “You’d think, right? But I actually think they were … in love?”

His friends snorted and giggled.

“No, really! Like, okay, I had this plant when I was six, right? And …”

As the storytelling got underway, the young Mr. Dowling felt as if he were back in his six-year-old body, toddling through the gardens in his soon-to-be-unpolished little loafers, his ridiculous-for-a-six-year-old American flag lapel pin reflecting sunlight in a rather obnoxious way. He was holding something close to his chest, in a way that clearly was more for his own comfort than the object’s safety.

“Brother Francis!” he yelled, a few tears starting to stream down his face. “Brother Francis!” He called out again as he approached the kind old man, rather more sobbing than yelling at this point.

“Young Master Warlock!” Brother Francis turned around, gray eyes twinkling as they always did. “Why, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Anthony,” Warlock cried. “I think … I think he’s dead.”

A moment of panic passed over Brother Francis’ face, for reasons incredibly obvious to anyone knowing who Brother Francis really was. Luckily, it went unnoticed by the inconsolable child, who was far more concerned with wiping the tears off his face and shoving the object he had been clutching towards the gardener than he was with parsing the micro-expressions of the much older man.

The object, as it turned out, was a half-dead Venus Fly Trap in an all-black terracotta pot.

“Oh, Anthony!” Brother Francis said, recalling the plant he had given to Warlock earlier this week. “Yes, Anthony, of course.” He looked at the plant, pretending to know anything about plants, praying that what he said next would be true. “Anthony’s going to be just fine, Master Warlock.”

“Really?” Warlock said through blubbering tears.

“Yes. Why don’t I look after him tonight, hmm?”

“Okay…”

“Go ahead and tell him you’ll be back for him tomorrow afternoon, hmm?” The gardener paused, and patted Warlock reassuringly on the back. “And then go enjoy this beautiful Saturday and I’ll watch over him until tonight, when I can take him to the plant doctor.”

Warlock nodded resolutely, imagining that this is how “the troops” his father talked about so often must feel when they cross the threshold into field hospitals, bearing their wounded comrades. He leaned down to whisper some reassuring words to Anthony, hugged the gardener, and ran off into the Saturday afternoon.

Unbeknownst to anyone besides the two of them, Nanny and Brother Francis met every other Saturday night, under the pretense of discussing how they felt their plan was coming along. Frequently, there were other, unspoken agenda items, of varying degrees of excitement. Tonight, the first thing on the docket was Anthony.

Nanny was circling Brother Francis in a way that would have rather reminded the in-the-know onlooker of the demon Crowley. “You … gave him a plant named Anthony?” Nanny asked, trying desperately to keep any tone out of her tone of voice. She mostly succeeded at seeming neutral, helped immeasurably by her dark glasses.

A smirk that looked as if it would be more at home on the face of the angel Aziraphale began to play on Brother Francis’ lips. “Yes. You can imagine how horrified I was when he told me Anthony was dead.”

“But … Anthony is my name.”

“Yes, well. I told you I’d get used to it. I guess I’ve grown rather too fond of it.”

Nanny had stopped her serpentine walking, and was now standing across from the gardener with Anthony on the table between them. “Why a Fly Trap?”

“I read in a parenting column that teaching children to raise plants can help instill a sense of responsibility and care. And I figured, what with him liking dinosaurs and their teeth so much …” Neither being could stifle their chuckle. The Almighty’s little joke about a race of giant lizards ruling the planet got funnier with every passing year, and every passing human that believed it. “Besides, I know how Dagon and Beelzebub hate these things … I thought you might get quite a kick out of it.” This earned him an uproarious laugh from Nanny, who found herself almost doubled over by the thought of Beelzebub’s face if they knew the Anti-Christ was raising a Fly Trap.

Nanny feigned wiping a tear from below her glasses, and the old man across from her looked at her expectantly. “So?”

“So … what?”

The gardener exhaled, irritated at being put in the position of explaining something so obvious. “So, can you heal this plant?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Warlock told me you were going to ‘take him to the plant doctor,’” Nanny teased. “Besides … healing is rather too ‘good’ a thing for me to do, isn’t it?”

Brother Francis’ face had not been built to express annoyance, but it was trying its hardest nonetheless. He knew that Nanny had quite a green thumb, and he wasn’t sure why this particular task was seeming to drag on like a live reading of James Joyce’s Ulysses. He opened his mouth with the intention of expressing his aggravation, but thought better of it at the last minute, deciding to take the high road. “Please.”

“Fine.” She looked at the pot, well aware that what she was about to do would not be a hellish influence on the boy’s life. “Never was able to say ‘no’ to you,” she mumbled. The second half of her thought: though it seems to be much of what you say to me lingered on her mind as she leaned down towards the plant.

Given the other similarities between Nanny and the demon Crowley, one would have expected her to start yelling at the Fly Trap, screaming at it that she knew it could do better. Unfortunately, shouting threats at plants was a rather unsuitable gardening technique for a clandestine meeting in the middle of the night, and Nanny was forced to resort to softly, but sternly, telling Anthony the Fly Trap that she wasn’t angry, she was just disappointed.

She pushed the Fly Trap back towards the gardener. “I think it’ll shape up now.” She paused. “But it does need more sunlight. You can tell Warlock it’s doctor’s orders.”

Relief that he had not lied to the child about the plant being alright spread across Brother Francis’ face. He looked down on the already perkier Fly Trap. “Oh, thank you! You know, sometimes I think you should have been the gardener.”

Nanny and Brother Francis were opposites in a great many ways, but perhaps one of their most difficult differences was that Brother Francis tended to say things without thinking when he was overjoyed, and Nanny tended to say things without thinking when she was angry. Brother Francis had not been thinking when he suggested that Nanny should have been a gardener, and as he watched her purse her already thin lips into an even tighter line, he knew he had made a mistake. He took in a deep breath and blinked slowly, waiting for the sound of Nanny screaming or the greenhouse door slamming behind her. Instead, he heard one small, stifled sob.

A quiet “oh” escaped his lips, full of sadness, and he quickly stepped around the table to embrace his companion. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he said over and over again as she stood limp in his arms, crying softly.

No one else on the face of the Earth could have understood that long before this being had been Nanny or Crowley, he had once been a gardener, in the first and finest Garden there had ever been. It had been his apple tree that had been so powerful that the Almighty had deemed it forbidden. He had been so proud of his tree, the Tree of Everything. It was by praising his horticultural chops that Lucifer had convinced the Gardener to hear him out in the first place. The rest, of course, is history – the beginning of his sauntering vaguely downwards.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the muttering continued, Brother Francis’ voice breaking as he tried to contain his own tears. He knew better than to ask for forgiveness, to use that word his friend hated so much. He was almost certain that this would be, at the very least, the end of their colleagueship in the Dowling home. He was deeply worried that that would certainly foreshadow the end of the world. He would not allow himself to give in to the fear that this may be the end of their friendship.

As Brother Francis teetered on the edge of panic, he heard his companion take a shuddering breath. He stepped back a few inches, holding his breath as he waited for Nanny’s verdict.

“It’s okay, Angel.” She said, the first time she had called him that since they had arrived here. “It’s okay,” she repeated, and the two of them let the tension fall away from their shoulders. “I’m just glad no one else was here to see that.”

What neither Nanny or Brother Francis had realized was that someone else had been there to see it – none other than young Warlock, who had snuck out of bed in hopes of catching a glimpse of the mysterious plant doctor.

Luckily for the nanny and the gardener, he had not understood most of what he had observed. The boy tiptoed back towards the house, carrying the weight of the exciting new secret that his Nanny was apparently moonlighting as a plant doctor named Anthony. And that his Nanny and his gardener were somehow, despite all their differences, deeply and unchangeably in love.

“So … what happened to them?” The question from across the table pulled Warlock out of his hazy reminiscence and back to the cramped pub table.

He shrugged. “They just both … disappeared one day.”

His friends stared back at him in stunned silence. “Did you look for them?”

“I guess, but I was eleven. The fact they hadn’t told anyone I asked that they were leaving basically put a stop to my detective work.”

“Did you ever see them again?”

“I … don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“Oh, he ‘doesn’t think so’. You hear that lads? Warlock’s life is so damn weird, he’s not sure if he’s run into the weirdest two people I’ve ever heard of, who happened to disappear under mysterious circumstances.” His friends laughed. “Maybe you’ve had enough to drink, Warlock.” Warlock looked down at his several empty beer glasses, and agreed that he probably had had enough to drink.

As the conversation moved on to other people’s much more typical nannies and babysitters, Warlock remembered the odd second-hand bookstore he had stumbled into a few months ago. It had seemed to him to be owned by a husband and husband team – one of whom was thin and all angles, one of whom was soft and round. They had been helping each other into their coats and chattering about what the lunch special at the Ritz might be this time of year when he walked in. This normally wouldn’t have stood out to him much – secondhand bookstores tended to contain all sorts of people.

What had stood out to the young man was that while his back was turned to the till as he browsed, he had been almost certain he heard the shorter of the two say softly to the taller “Look, Anthony, Sweetheart, it’s Warlock Dowling. He’s all grown up.”

Warlock spun around, his mouth forming the question before he even knew what he was asking. “Brother Francis?” But the shop was empty. On the register was a small, handwritten note: “Out to lunch. May return later.”

#good omens #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #nanny!crowley #brother francis #gardener!aziraphale #anthony j crowley #warlock dowling #in which i write warlock as a good person as an adult because i CAN!!#dreamy writes

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