#although he’s more protective and will HEADBUT on sight

[scrimblyscrorblo]

Parenting Advice

Sorry if my handwriting is a lil’ hard to read, I intended to use print and not cursive and immediately forgot the moment my pen touched the paper TT

#kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #artists on tumblr #demon slayer art #giyuu tomioka #kny giyuu #kny tomioka #tomioka giyuu #sanemi shinazugawa #kny sanemi #sanemi shinaguzawa #demon slayer sanemi #tanjiro kamado #demon slayer tanjiro #tanjiro kimetsu no yaiba #kny tanjirou #sanemi’s parenting advice #tanjiro doesn’t usually misbehave lmao #although he’s more protective and will HEADBUT on sight #he gets bored of playing and just picks up the sweeping brush TT #the way the pencil is visible is so annoying to me #I think it’s the paper #traditional fanart #traditional artist #traditional illustration #traditional art #traditional drawing

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

Scattered AU Masterpost Part 1

This is a collection of all material associated with the Scattered AU (read about the premise here)!

Join the new Discord server here

AU material under the cut (because this is growing super fast already)

Due to post length limit (which is apparently a thing), find Part 2 of this AU here.

A few ideas to get us started:

- Tango and Zedaph spawned relatively close to each other, but they haven't found each other yet and each think they are alone. They keep just barely missing each other in their exploration of the area. Maybe, with the powers of Zed's perfect sense of direction and Tango's laser-sharp perception skills, they'll finally stop walking circles around each other...maybe.

- Xisuma spawned alone, deep underground in a massive, confusing cave system. He desperately wants to figure out what's going on and how to fix it, but a bad run-in with the Warden damaged his helmet, leaving him unable to use admin commands.

- Mumbo spawned the farthest out of anyone, right next to a woodland mansion. He quickly realized that hoping to stumble across another person this far out is a lost cause, so he's trying to create some form of communication using a combination of redstone and Evoker magic. The Evoker isn't very helpful, and it isn't going well.

- Joe and Vintagebeef were the only ones to successfully spawn at spawn. They aren't really sure what's going on, but they've decided to build a small village as a base of operations while they figure it out (and to signal signs of life to anyone who might successfully find their way back)

- Cleo spawned in a village, and is currently hiding out in a house while trying to convince the villagers to trust her. Let's just say they aren't thrilled to have a zombie in their midst (and the iron golem is even less pleased)

- Impulse had the misfortune to spawn in a guardian temple. Between the guardians and the constant threat of drowning, he's been in a death loop since the world started.

- False and Stress spawned right next to each other. They figured out pretty early that something was wrong with regen, and using their combined strengths, they made it to the Nether to get ingredients for healing potions. They are now on a mission to find the others and distribute the potions to whoever needs them.

- Ren actually managed to travel a good distance back to the world center, before getting pretty badly injured. With no regen, and knowing he'll have to start the journey all over if he dies and respawns, he's decided to pull together a small base and take shelter while he waits to be found.

- Scar spawned on an outer End island, with no idea how to get back to the Overworld. He keeps finding strange glitches in his surroundings, and he swears he can hear soft Vex laughter whenever he turns his back...

- Keralis spawned in the Nether, and he is absolutely terrified.

That's all I have for ideas so far. The location of the others (and what happens next) is up to you!

Contributions so far:

- Bdubs spawns in the void, but he just doesn’t die. Maybe it’s spawn protection, maybe it’s the glitches, but he just keeps falling and falling and falling further from the bedrock, unable to do anything to help himself as he descends further into the void

- @fluffy-papaya

- After wandering around aimlessly for days or maybe weeks, Tango finds an automatic farm for... well... he's not sure, exactly. But he does know who built it- it's got Zedaph's mark all over it. So he stays there, fixing broken Redstone, trying to figure out what it does. And when Zedaph returns to collect melons (so that's what this thing is for), he finds Tango waiting for him.

- @rayveewrites

- Etho spawns in a underwater cave, but there is air in it and for some reason a shipwreck so he can get some wood and tools. But he has to get out to contact anyone because the reception in caves don't happen to be the best, little does he know just outside the cave is the monument where Impulse is, they're so close yet so far from one another

- anonymous

- Maybe Etho ended up spawning at the very top of a mountain, he could see far from up there and has a general idea of where he is, but no idea how to get down as all around him is powderd snow hiding ravines, and cliffs. . . And a few goats that Etho has narowly avoided getting headbutted by. (Etho went to the mountain after escaping the cave)

- @ciaravixen

- Welsknight spawned in the Nether

- (paraphrased) Ren fell down a ravine in the mountains on his journey to the world center, and decided to make a small cabin base rather than try to carry on injured. Doc spawned in those same mountains, and may find him eventually.

- anonymous

- Grian spawns on the tallest peak of the highest mountain. Surrounded by thick fog and almost ever-falling snow, with crevasses and cliffs that drops thousands of blocks to the ground around every corner. No trees, no life, and barely enough air to breath. It's so cold. A thin red sweater isn't nearly enough to keep him warm.... he's likely caught in a death loop for quite awhile as he refreeze over, and over, and over again. And when he does manage to climb down, an ice pillager lies in wait...

- @therainofsweetmelody

- Scar’s End spawn is on a single island- he can see other islands around him, but they’re just out of jump reach- he tried, and fell and died, and respawned back onto his little island with the whispering voices around him a tad louder, and the islands just a bit farther away. He stops trying to jump to them eventually, out of fear they’ll vanish and he won’t have anything to focus on besides the whisper of ice cold hands and wings on his skin

- anonymous

- Oh! Maybe since Xisuma’s admin helmet is broken and he’s unable to run any world commands, that means mob hermits like Cleo, Doc, and Jevin aren’t quite the same. Maybe Cleo locked herself in that house for the villagers protection as much as her own. Maybe Doc eventually joins a lone creeper pack. Who knows! -💧

- anonymous

- Zed and Tango spawned in the same jungle biome, explaining the melon farm and why they could be literally three blocks from each other and still not be aware of each other’s existence. -🟣

- The first thing Scar does once he first spawns in (besides from almost having a panic attack) is take a jump into the void. This of course does nothing. He checks out the rest of the end islands around him, and finds a rather large end city just in render distance. There should be treasure or something that could help him survive, right? -🟣

- Keralis was lucky enough to spawn in a warped forest biome and next to a basalt delta, so he’s got wood and stone. It takes a bit, but he gets full gold armor and finds his way to a nether fortress. He figures with the broken regen that the other hermits will try to go for potions. Maybe he finds Stress and False, maybe not. -🟣

- I apologize if I'm sending too many asks, please feel free to say if so! I'm just already so invested in this idea, and absolutely love where it's all going! Shattered au brainrot go brrrrr - anyways; Cub spawns in a valley within the messa. To one side an abandoned village covers the cliff, and to the other, mines drill deep into the rock. A stream luckily runs through the valley, though it's slowly drying up. He can hear strange sounds in the mines, and feels something in the village watching

- @/therainofsweetmelody

- what if the hermits caught in death loops start gaining scars and marks from all their deaths? like impulse had permanent scars from the guardians and grian’s hands are permanently blue from freezing to death all the time

- anonymous

- X finds some axoloyls in a lush cave and falls in love. He gets some wood from said cave and gets some buckets so he can keep them -🟣

- Cleo gets stuck in a death loop with the iron golem, who is blind to her not attacking the villagers. One of the smarter villagers realizes she’s not fighting back, and calls the golem off. -🟣

- (paraphrased) After the iron golem is called off, Stress and False find Cleo badly hurt in the village house. They make sure she's comfortable and safe before going to the Nether to get potions, where they find a battered Keralis and carry him back. They turn the house into a little hospital while they brew potions and take care of Cleo and Keralis until they're strong enough to move on.

- anonymous

- Stress and False have set up a Nether Portal near a Nether Fortress, for easy escape to the relative safety of the Overworld. Keralis has never been more relieved in his life than when he found that portal.

- @/rayveewrites

- Doc spawned a thousand blocks away from ren, not knowing hos friend was there he happened to go in that direction. He managed to get materials, tools and food for himself before he sees rens little hut

- anonymous

- Jevin was one of the luckier hermits, when it came to where he spawned. He woke up in the shallow green waters of a floral cave, illuminated by glowing rocks and berries. He wasn't... quite alone. Although no other hermits could be seen, he quickly found a small family of axolotl living in the closed-off cave. They became his companions as he tried to assess his situation, and served as comfort when he realised his communicator was almost useless. Being slime, the environment was very welcoming

- @/therainofsweetmelody

- Xb spawns in the middle of a desert, with not even a village in sight. While he's used to being in distant lands with limited resources, he's very much not used to it on the Hermitcraft server with limited contact to the others. As the nights go by and the sands grow more hostile thanks to never-burning husks, he grows more and more lonely.

-@/basaltdragon

- At first, Doc is elated when he spawns on a mountain surrounded by goats. That is, until he discovers that none of his fellow hermits are there with him. After being headbutted down the mountain into the snowy tundra below and left on precariously low health, he hunkers down in a nearby igloo. But it's not exactly easy in a food-scarce biome when his only contacts are two villagers and the horde of strays that gather outside each night...

-@crows-in-space

- in one sense of the word, scar is safe. There's enough chorus fruit on the island to keep him alive, and despite his concerns the enderman don't even bat an eye at him. Theoretically, he could survive for longer than many of the others. But the whispers keep nagging at him, pushing him closer and closer to the edge. Sure, he could survive, but how long could he stay on this deathly quiet piece of land before someone would find him? He can see the faint outline of an End City on one of the fading islands, and every passing moment it haunts him. If he could just give in for a moment, let the powers of the vex harness his body for just a few seconds, maybe he could make it over and gather some gear- maybe even an elytra- and then he'd be set. But fear and logic talk him out of it. He's made deals with the vex before, and that quick trip across the islands could put him in a much more dangerous position than only being stranded...

- @/crows-in-space

- What if after scar gives up, he finds his vex mask lying on the floor with a tag saying ‘do it, it’ll help you get across’ (shade's note: Scar does it)

- anonymous

- For the Scattered AU: Scar gets an elytra, and after much internal struggling he decides to take a chance and leap into the darkness for hope of finding another island. During his terrifying glide he hears a distant scream from the void that is so familiar, but he can't quite place it, and he's in no hurry to risk flying any lower to check it out. - M

- @petrichormeraki

- Iskall and doc's robotic eye glitch out so they don't have any depth vision, so no mater where they spawn, they Are bound to die a few times from missinterprating how far away an Arrow or trident is, and how fast something is coming at them.

- @/ciaravixen

- I initially thought of this for Ren, but since there was already an idea for him, it could probably work for Iskall instead; He spawns in the middle of a scorching desert. Dunes of sand for as far as the eye can see, with barely a cactus or dead Bush in between. No water, no life - only the ever-present heat of the sweltering sun, and the large skeletons everywhere. He manages to find an abandoned temple after days of dragging himself through the sand, and spies a desert village on the horizon

- @/therainofsweetmelody

- Scattered AU! The way the "not killing Bdubs in his own spawn in the void" glitches work is similar to the forgiving void mod works where when you hit the bottom of the void you are teleported to the top instead of taking damage, but since Bdubs can't see anything in the void he doesn't know this (beyond a constant falling) feeling until he manages to "fall forward" enough to find some end islands, he finds scar this way but is so excited to see him he died from fall damage right in front of him

- @theclockworkowl

- (Scattered AU) Piggybacking off the death loop scars ask, when/if Bdubs is rescued from the void, he's in ROUGH shape. His external limbs are blackened and freezing with frostbite from the void (voidbite?), and his bones are permanently weakened from his form being subjected to the cold abyss for so long. Bdubs needs to relearn gravity after falling for so long, and doesn't use elytra anymore. The solid ground under his feet is something he'll never sacrifice for convenience ever again. - M

- @/petrichomeraki

- Wels spawned in a giant crimson forest in the nether. Towering mushroom trees, thick red vines, with piglins and hoglins he constantly has to run away from. But he finds something.... interesting as he's exploring. A house has been built into a wall, a mixture of nether and overworld blocks. Stepping inside, someone clearly lives there - someone who's not a piglin. Imagine his surprise (and relief) when a certain familair knight walks through the door. "Helsknight?"

-@/therainofsweetmelody

- xB wakes up in a dripstone cavern. It's damp and cold and the spikes are very tall, forming a sort of natural cage around him. At the very least, zombies and mobs can't get through, but the longer he stays there, the weirder the sounds get. There... wasn't a new mob for the dripstone caves, right? Right? (i'm trying VERY hard not to do new hermit OR crossover headcanons for scattered au. i swear) ~@betweenlands

- Scattered AU! Everyone Etho dies He spawns in a new place, first it was the underwater cave, then it was the top of a mountain, but it wasn't until he spawned inside an ocean monument and saw impulse trying to escape just as he was dying he realise the importance of the pattern, He was cycling though each of the other hermits spawn locations, which made all the wierd almost hermit made wierdnes make sense, the underwater one was his but the mountain was Grian's spawn spot,

- @/theclockworkowl

- Can the hermits see death messages? (They can) I'm imagining the potential angst of that, where normal world messages (achievements, commands, deaths) go through just fine but the others can't chat. The helplessness of watching their friends' names endlessly filling the chat and having no idea where they are, having no clue how to help, not even being able to offer comfort.

- @/basaltdragon

- Someone had mentioned xisuma also ending up in a floral cavern with axolotl, right? What if this was the same cave Jevin found himself stuck in? After days and days of clawing at stone, xisuma finally breaks into a cavern filled with faint light. After discovering the friendly acolotls, he notices a strange blue mass floating in the water.... and is almost startled to death when he sees the skull faintly showing through the slime, and the familiar wobbly voice coming from it. "Xisuma?"

- Doc and Grian (and later on, ren) spawned on the same mountain. Grian, of course, at the very top: stuck in the endless snowpeak, towering high above the clouds. Doc, meanwhile, ended up at the base, surrounded by snow and goats and giant taiga trees as far as the eye could see. Once Ren got stuck in the ravine, he often heard a familiar scream before a sickening splat every now and again, as the ravine lies almost completely below the highest peak. He's afraid to check his communicator.

- @/therainofsweetmelody

- grian’s practically given up since there’s not much for him to do. there’s no food and his hands are too frozen to mine. a little fox stays by his side at least. he’s about to freeze again and his health is low and he hears crumching footsteps approaching. he assumes its the iceologer coming for him but instead he hears “grian?” and he can make out blurry figures before he passes out and wakes up wrapped up in a blanket infromt of a fire. (whoevers managed to find and rescue him is up to you :D) (Shade's notes: the person who found him was Doc, and he took him back to Ren's cabin to warm up)

- anonymous

- Scar isn't the only one changed by the time he reaches spawn. Impulse drags himself up onto land finally, breathing heavily, and there's something different about him. Sharper teeth. The shadow he casts more inconsistent. Always faintly smells like saltwater. And his eyes glow faintly, a pale washed-out non-color like light at the bottom of the ocean. Something suggesting nonhuman geometry. Something sleeping that had to reawaken to escape. ~@betweenlands

- Eventually, Etho spawns in a jungle. By a complete stroke of luck, he sees the smoke of a campfire. Tango and Zedaph are happy to see someone- anyone- else. Especially when it turns out Etho somehow managed to get the coordinates of a certain Ocean Temple. Sure, it's far, but they can make it. After all, there's an 'I' in team ZIT, and they aren't leaving him behind.

- @/rayveewrites

- (summary of a couple different writing peices) After escaping the Guardian Temple, Impulse set out to find any other Hermit he could. He has gained some unnerving qualities and abilities that he doesn't really understand, but he's trying not to think about that right now. After defeating several mobs he should not have been able to defeat with his level of progress, he now possesses one Totem of Undying. He met up with Zedaph, Tango, and Etho on their way to find him. They are now hosting him at their campsite and are glad he is safe, but Etho is unnerved and suspicious of his more unsettling attributes.

- I had sent this idea right after the inbox closed, rip. But anyways - what if mumbo ended up befriending the evokers and pilligers in the woodland mansion? Of course, it wouldnt be like that at first- the constant death to the axes and swords and magic, the growls and yelling and cursed glares. But he always came back to work on the redstone and evoker magic in a desperate attempt to contact the others. Eventually, the evoker stops sending their vex, and the pilligers stop swinging their weapons

- @/therainofsweetmelody

- (Scattered AU) After Scar gives in to the Vex. Bdubs is barely conscious to begin with; dying to the void so many times really took it out of him in every way possible. But when he is awake, what he sees makes him scared. Scar with faded, cold eyes. Scar with transparent wings, gone in a blink. Scar being able to do things he shouldn't. Scar says it's to get them out of there, but every day he gets a little paler, a little colder, and Bdubs grows more worried. - M

- @/petrichomeraki

- Perhaps xb and Iskall are on opposite ends of the same desert? On one side, high sand dunes covering miles, with a single desert temple and isolated desert village hidden amongst the cliffs and hills. On the other, the deep flatt valley next to a Mesa mountain, flat nothingness stretching far past the horizon. It would still take quite a long time for them to find each other, but at least there's a change they could meet... and, perhaps, over that mountain, cub could be somewhere in the mesa

-@/therainofsweetmelody

- Iskall and Xb eventually find each other in the desert. Sunburned, dehydrated, and sand-blasted, they hug when they first meet despite not knowing each other well. And they try their best not to die, because what are the chances they'll ever find each other again? Two heads are better than one for finding their way to the rest of the hermits.

-@/basaltdragon

- Its probably a week or so of falling before bdubs managed to move enough to finally see the end islands just barely rendering in the distance. As someone had mentioned, perhaps he became so hopeful that he missed his mark, hitting the ground with a sickening splat just blocks beside scar. It took bdubs almost another week to get forward enough to see the islands again. This time, he landed right on scar... sending the vex back to his spawn several islands away, and leaving bdubs alone for days

-@/therainofsweetmelody

- While Bdubs and Scar are more than happy to have found each other again, their moments together are tense and filled with gaps of uncomfortable silence. There's an unspoken agreement hanging over them: Scar doesn't question Bdubs' frozen and frail state, and Bdubs pretends not to notice how Scar's skin has gotten pale and ghost-like, or how he glances behind him often, like he's being followed by a shadow only he can see. Though of course, Bdubs does notice. The whole server does. Grian wakes up in a cold sweat from a dream of Scar's ruthless attempts to destroy the mycelium resistance. Cub feels his own ties to the vex magic acting up once again, now worrying more than ever what Scar may have encountered in this broken world. Even Mumbo's evoker friend begins acting different, though Mumbo can't seem to determine whether it's out of excitement or fear...

-@/crows-in-space

- Scattered AU After the Wels meeting Hels Headcanon I imagine maybe Hels offers a deal to insure his safety on the Hermitcraft Server in exchange for Wels safety in the Nether. Wels very reluctantly agrees adding to the deal that Hels won’t hurt anyone. To bad he didn’t notice his Evil counterpart cross his fingers while shaking on it.

- anonymous

- Scattered AU:  TFC spawns on the main end island, dragon and all. With out proper preparation he’s been stuck in a death loop since the world’s start. Sometimes, right before he dies, he wishes that the janky respon would de-age his body; he’s not the agile young man who could take down the dragon solo anymore.

- @liagrace-b

- Scattered!Grian can’t fly. His normal down-featherly wings look like every feather has been plucked off, leaving the very sensitive skin open to the elements. But the world’s code itself has altered the physics of the wings themselfs. Grian can feel how much heavier the wing structure sits on his back, meaning that they couldn’t let him glide even if fully feathered. Poor Grian hasn’t survived the freezing cold long enough to know if his feathers would grow back with enough time.

- anonymous

- EX somehow gets into the scattered mix. Spawning in the Deep Dark, the exiled admin is terrified, and will stop at nothing to find his brother. 🌙

- (Scattered AU) Scar and Bdubs, after months(?) of travel, make it to the Ender Dragon's island. Bdubs is scared for both of their lives; he is in no condition to fight, he can't even STAND, and he's so, so afraid to die and be condemned to falling forever in the void once again. Scar says nothing, only gently setting his friend down behind an obsidian pillar before his skin goes completely translucent, his eyes clouding white. (Paraphrased: Scar defeats the dragon, him and Bdubs meet up with TFC)

- @/petrichormeraki

- the plugins do not work, so singleplayer sleep is out. Beds do reset spawn point, so the Hermits who spawned in a place where they can get them would do well to make several and use them as checkpoints along their journey (and hope that they don't get broken, especially for those who had to escape death loops....)

- (my answer to some questions)

- Those trapped in death loops change, adapting until they aren't harmed anymore or till they escape. After all, what are players if not adaptable?

- @permafrost782

- Xisuma blames his broken helmet for being unable to admin, as some sort of comfort. But there is no comfort there. The truth is, not even Joe, Tango, Cub, or Hypno can access the chat, can even begin to run commands to fix what has gone wrong. If they could, they would have teleported everyone to 0,0 and reset the worldspawn. Those partnered with any of the admins feel a certain kind of hopelessness. Those without feel a different kind of hopeless.

- @/basaltdragon

- To add to the scattered AU: Though i had seen someone explain the void connecting to the end so Bdubs gets out of that fall, i had the thought of this; What if eventually the void loops around with the overworld's sky, so he's basically in a continuous loop if falling to his death and respawning in the void until he finally is lucky enough in his falls to get over water and live. After that he just has to stay alive otherwise he returns to the void..

-@aetosofvalla

- Somewhere, in the back of Scar’s vex-addled mind, there’s the worry of Jellie. Where is she? Is she with another hermit? Did she spawn in with another village again and will he have to find her again? -🟣

- (Scattered AU) Cub and Scar have been linked by the Vex ever since their deal. One day, Cub's iron armor burns against his skin all at once, and through the searing pain is a horrifying realization that Scar has given in. - M

-@/petrichormeraki

- After a while Cub gets the resources to build a nether portal, but then he finds his portal has connected with someone else's. He finds himself lost again, without access to the farms he's built or the resources he's gathered, but at least he knows a friend is close.

- anonymous

- The End duo come across another end city. There’s a boat at the far end. Scar flies up on delicate vex wings to get the spare elytra and other loot. They’ve been walking for far too long. He floats down (as if he had the slow-falling effect. There’s only health in the brewing stand. Bdubs’ worry for Scar increases) with an extra set of trousers, boots, an elytra, the potions and a pic. Scar offers the elytra to Bdubs. He refuses. It’ll take longer to walk, but he never wants to fall again🟣

- Mumbo gets caught up in redstone work and doesn't bother trying to find anyone else. So when another hermit finally finds him, he has to stop his evoker friend from attacking. Whether or not he's successful is another thing.

- Anonymous

- (Scattered AU) Consider. When Doc finds Grian on the mountain peak while exploring the terrain, a message sends through everyone's communicators. <Grian was blown up by a Creeper>. Doc doesn't get a death message that time, despite both of them suffering the consequences of a surprised Doc in a server where mob-oriented hermits are more volatile than they should be. Doc doesn't go looking for other hermits again after that, and Grian is shocked into numbness at the dawning realization that his monster friends might be so much worse off than he thought. - M

- @/petrichormeraki

A summary of where things stand so far

- scattered au pog!!! hypno is in a seemingly endless flowery field. it was nice at first, but there's no trees, no food, and hardly any water. the sun is so hot. flowers aren't filling. hypno thought he liked being alone.

- Anonymous

- Mumbo doesn’t succumb to the magic of the mansion like perhaps Cub and Scar have, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t entirely unaffected- his skin becomes a little more washed out, instincts a little more violent- he certainly can’t go into villages anymore, otherwise the iron golem will smash him to bits

- @/fluffy-papaya

- With Scar using Vex magic, the Vex turn their attention to Cub, trying to tempt him at every turn. More then once he's found his mask in one of his chests, staring up at him, or awoken in a cold sweat from a dream full of vex. So far, he's resisted the temptation. Wether that lasts is another question entirely.

-@/bat-connoisseur

- Maybe eventualy hypno realises Even flowers would need water to grow, or that the bees must have a bee hive somewhere around here, and the bee hive is always connected to a tree(I think thats the case in Minecraft). So he tries to find where the buzzing comes from and follow the bees around.

- @/ciaravixen

- cleo bases a lot of her identity around being a zombie, right? she probably isnt too happy to be cured. she probably cries all the time it takes her to heal. it had to be done, but that doesnt mean she has to like it. and she doesnt, not one little bit.

- Anonymous

- that ask about Mumbo not bothering to look for anyone got me thinking.... Mumbo getting too caught up in his work with the evokers to look for the others. Mumbo making friends with the illagers. Mumbo knowing that it's completely reasonable that nobody has found him yet, but still getting the creeping feeling that no one is coming for him. Mumbo spending all his time with his new friends because, after all, they're here, and the hermits aren't... All this to say that, when the hermits eventually do find him, he might not be very inclined to leave...

- @/crows-in-space

- At one point, Mumbo's new friends are just...watching him try to do his stuff, observing. Mumbo's getting increasingly frustrated when ne of the evokers watching him breaks off and hands him something. At first he thinks its a totem of undying, its shaped like one, but its strange. Made out of iron, and its eyes are diamonds instead of emeralds. Then it starts to burn his hands and he passes out from the pain. When he wakes, its gone and he moves on, a bit more wary of his 'friends'. Maybe it was a mean joke, or some kinda of strange inhiation for the mansion maybe Except next time he's frustrated, he thows his hands up annoyed and fangs rise out of the ground around him and snap at the air. He cries out, confused, before looking at his hands which almost look like they've been painted with gray paints. it wont come off. He seems mentally the same but now he starts to experiment with his new found abilities. Maybe they can help with his redstone or even find others.

- Anonymous

- after trying a poisonous flower, hypno respawns back in the field. this time, he tries walking in a different direction. maybe this is the way out.

- Anonymous

- The flowers in Hypno’s area are just so perfect... blooming dandelions don’t lose their seeds when he brushes against them, petals that are crushed underfoot quickly regain their shape- and if his mind wasn’t so affected, he would’ve noticed the flower he picked was quickly replaced by another

- @/fluffy-papaya

- The Moobloom has one unique feature: The ability to leave behind flowers in its path... that is, the ability to alter the world around it simply by walking. These flower plains are not particularly large, maybe eight or so chunks across in each direction, but glitched world generation spawned in a herd of mooblooms, and all they've been doing is walking around causing little distortions, one on top of the other. From the inside, where Hypno is standing, the plains go on forever. The air is thick with buttercup pollen that's slowly dulling his sense of space and time. He has to pull it together, somehow. Force the world to recognise that he's walking forwards in a straight line. Or he'll be wandering in circles forever...

- @/draconic-dreams

- another hermit- maybe beef? sees the edge of a deep, fragrant field. on the horizon, not far away, is hypno, walking in circles. he calls but he cannot hear beef. something tells the man not to go into that field- at least, not without a flint and steel. (Shade note: Beef and Joe saved Hypno and are currently sheltering him (unconscious) in their spawn sanctuary)

- anonymous

- Maybe if they went through the exit portal and it glitched but good. They don't think about the fact it should send them back to their spawns, Scar feels something at the back of his mind that very much isn't him tell him to change his mind, stay in this place becuase they'll just be trapped if they try to leave, but Bdubs grabs his arm and jumps in before Scar can say anything. For a second, blessed silence, Scar's mind feels clear and normal. then they show up at world spawn and scare theother

- anonymous

(Shade note: people at the spawn haven now include Joe, Beef, Hypno, TFC, Scar, and Bdubs)

- Once Keralis and Cleo are healed up, the village gang starts going to 0,0 to try to meet up with others. On the way, they find a flower forest (potentially the same one Hypno’s in). They find some mooblooms and fall in love (this was def not done bc I want some fluff, nope not at all /s) -🟣

- Mumbo receives a set of robes from his evoker friend. He’s loathe to get rid of his suit, but at the same time... well, all the better to fit in, right? This is a glitch and fluke anyway, and he might as well blend in if the illagers ever turn on him. That’s it. That’s the only reason he tosses the suit jacket into the fireplace, don’t be silly. It has nothing to do with the feeling that he just doesn’t want to leave...

- anonymous

- I’m imagining Shattered Impulse looking like the Fishman from Shape of Water + the teeth of an Angler fish and the ability to unhinge his jaw. Poor guy probably gets mistaken for a glitched mob when someone finds him.

- @/fandomrecycling

- Yes hello it's me again. After the pollen spells breaks for Hypno (and whoever else might have tried to save him beforehand...), he notices he's a little different. he can't always control how he moves, he doesn't like eye contact, and he takes an even bigger interest in his, well, interests than before. Basically Tourettic Hypno go brrr (I am tourettic so feel free to ask me clarification!)

- @/fireflower-dusk

- I don't think Keralis has been mentioned except for being in the nether so I would like to contribute that he spawned in that soul sand and skeleton biome that has almost nothing in it.

- anonymous

- Mumbo, being hundreds of thousands of blocks out from spawn, is the last hermit to be found. Even after the glitch was fixed, Mumbo was so caught up in his research and new abilities that he no longer felt it mattered. He'd been apart from the hermits for well over a year now; and a long time ago he gave up hope that they'd come back for him. This was, of course, until he woke up one morning to a disturbance outside. When he goes to check the source of the racket, he's left frozen in place at the sight of Iskall on his mansion's doorstep. And at the end of it all, despite Mumbo telling himself that he was better alone, Iskall's hand on his shoulder, reassuring that "Yes, I'm here, yes, I'm real, and no, I'm not leaving, you spoon." Is enough for Mumbo to break, clinging to Iskall as if he'd disappear at any moment, murmuring "I'm sorry" over and over like a broken record. -🧸

- Maybe after Wels and Hels make their deal, and Wels gets some gold gear and a respawn anchor to click, Hels shows him how to create a portal to Hels the place to which from there, they think they can get into the overworld. The only catch being that to get in to Hels the place you need to focus all of you emotions onto pure hatred and anger, but the question is could Wels do it?

- Anonymous

- Hels taunts Wels about how no one came to get him, and plants ideas about how this was done on purpose, about how he's the only one to spawn in the nether for a reason. He tells him the hermits want him gone. And Wels of course becomes angry but he becomes angry at Hels for trying to tell him his friends didn't care about him. He's also angry at himself though, maybe for thinking he hasn't done enough to make his friends want to keep him around. He is never mad at the hermits though, never them

- TFC's concerned. Even if he thinks it's great he found Bdubs and Scar, the latter shouldn't be able to just kill the ender dragon alone. TFC doesn't know much about Scar but the man can barely fly usually, why did he turn into a vex, anyway? vexes don't exist in the end. TFC need to ask, at least to make sure he's ok, but everytime he tries he stops in his track once the cold, icy blue eyes stare back at him. devoid of the usual warmth his green ones have.

- Anonymous

- (Scatter AU) Saw someone mention the other ops on the server and had a thought: Tango is a programmer with a specialty in game programming. He’s probably sitting at the campfire thinking of every single way the game must have been corrupted to cause this many problems. If he could just get into the code, maybe he could fix some of these problems. I’ll bet he’s driving himself a little crazy thinking of everything that could be done to fix the world and not being able to do anything...

- Anonymous

- Cub was lucky, he thinks. Seeing the many death messages in chat, he's torn between gratitude that he's ended up with what almost looks like a normal spawn, and worry for his friends. After gathering enough resources to stay reasonably safe, he knows what he has to do next. So when he encounters Xb, he eventually suggests he takes some resources and a bed he's salvaged from the abandoned village and heads towards 0,0, hoping there'll be someone there. (1/3)But as for him... well, there's an obvious place to head as far as he can see, for someone with a safe enough spawn point and the ability to gather resources. A place where he knows for sure he'll find someone else, someone who needs help. After all, unless this world is even more messed up that it seems, there's only one place where a player would be killed by the Ender dragon, and he knows exactly how to get there. (2/3) (Shade note: Him and xB were not successful in finding the Hermit who the mystery portal belonged to. They must have died in the Nether and returned to their spawn point. XB resists the idea that they split up, but he sees the logic in it and agrees to start the long journey for 0,0.) (pt. 3 was eaten by the inbox)

- Anonymous

- Maybe one of the reasons Cleo doesn't like being a human as much is because she had chronic pain (particularly in her back) when she was alive, and when she gets cured after meeting up with False, Stress, and Keralis, her back pain comes back (along with all the other pains of being alive)

-@/justme123abz

- Whenever Etho spawns, wherever Etho spawns, he takes it upon himself to tell each and every Hermit he can find to head towards 0,0. He's not sure why, but he believes that if they get everyone together, they can figure out how to fix the broken world.If there aren't any Hermits in sight, he'll make a sign out of whatever's avalible before going searching. It's a complete pain to try and build anything coherent out of sand and cactus, but he has to try. He has to get everyone together. It's their best hope. It's their only hope.Even Evil X. Even Hels. Everyone. He doesn't care about past grievances. They need to get through this. And their only option is to do it together. (Shade note: He doesn't stay with Team ZIT for long. He probably dies trying to protect them from something, knowing that it will only result in him finding another Hermit anyway. Even though he himself isn't making any progress toward the origin, he counts it as a victory every time he can guide one of his friends just a little bit closer.)

- Doc Ren and Grian himself thought that him being found and safe would fix everything right? yea no he has horrible fevor, he struggles to retain warmth depsite 2 feet from a fire, he's tired and has a hard time stay awake becuase on the mt he slept alot, he barley eats cuz he cant hold too much down rn. He cant stand being alone or he'll start to panic, ands he's just trying to ignore the new fox fetures he has desperately when he's aware enough to do. Doc and Ren have a hard time ahead of them.

- Anonymous

- Mumbo was trying to make a machine with redstone and evoker magic to contact the hermits right?so what if he did build the machine ad at first his only way to get the magic was to go annoy the evoker hoping he would try to hit him and instead hit the machine to power it. Plan backfired so many times because of the vex killing him before. So when Mumbo becomes apprentice he wants to try power the machine himself but it breaks because he can't control how much magic he uses yet.time to study magic

-@/artsarasp

- Etho dies with the Zit and ends up back in it. Next he ends up in X's spawn, there's no one around but he finds the bloody tunnel X punched himself, and races down it to see in the distance Xisuma and Jevin in a cave.He calls out to them, only to get overwhelmed by zombies that just spawned, He manages to gurgle out 0,0 before he dies again. (He's now determined to be the messenger of meetings, even willing to die on purpose to find them all). After that? Ren's old spawn, now he has to track ren

- anonymous

- I guess hypno’s been... hypnotizd 👉😎👉

- We need more Jevin and xisuma interaction content, be it fluff or angst, how aware is jevin by the time Xisuma gets there? How many axolotls do they take with them on the way to the surface?

- @/ciaravixen

(Shade comment: We need more Jevin and xisuma interaction content, be it fluff or angst, how aware is jevin by the time Xisuma gets there? How many axolotls do they take with them on the way to the surface? )

- Mumbo having to learn how to use the magic, the evoker will probably also try to teach him how to summon the vex, even if Mumbo really wants to just focus on the magic and not the evocation.What if he's able to summon Scar since he gave his name to the vex? just by accident and Mumbo gets so startled by Scar's new appearance that he immediately interrupts the evocation and makes Scar dissappear. Scar reappears where he was before confused cause for a moment he saw Mumbo?did he allucinante??

- @/artsarasp

- Scattered AU! So what if what happened with EX and Hels happened with old hermits to? Like Biffa, Generikb, Jessassin etc etc. Everyone is concerned as it is but then they see a death message from one of them and realize it's even worse then they thought.

- Anonymous

- Once Wels and Helssknight are in Hels the have to sneak around a lot. Hels isn’t as popular there as he had previously boasted, that’s why he had tried to take over the over world. Cue heart to heart talk before a Hels version of another hermit cuts them off. (Can you pick the Hermit I’m kinda stuck here)

- Anonymous

- Iskall must have not even known the direction he was walking from his desert spawn, so its purely by luck he ended up finding the mansion mumbo resides in- his cybernetic eye is fixed almost instantly upon his arrival by mumbo and iskall feels his hope fades as he realises they’re /so/ far from the hermits. I also guess he must be worried about whats happening to his friend right before him, mumbo wouldnt willingly give into the vex and evoker magic right? 1/2 But he isn’t so sure anymore, the days at the mansion are quiet and uncomfortable as Iskall has to be wary of the illagers that walk the halls, mumbo assures him of his safety, but theres no light in his eyes - he doubts the illagers welcomed mumbo at first- The usual banter isn’t there at all, its dead silence as mumbo keeps on working and Iskall can see how paler his skin becomes and the blue scars that litter his body 2/2

- Anonymous

- Etho died and respawned at the true spawn once. Beef was elated to see him and was afraid if he let him go, he would disappear. He didn’t want to lose his friend again. In the end, he does, he was actually with Etho when he dies, and he never lets the feeling go.

- @/harley-the-pancake

- aww poor etho! At least he's okay with this new role as messenger. Now i can just imagen he ends up at Ren's spawn and manages to track the man, nearly dying but staying alive and- thats a house in the distance! He goes over and nearly runs into Doc, who invites him in surprised and they catch each other up, their spawns and Etho's situation. They're overjoyed to hear about the others and Ethos glad to see them realtivly okay. Grian's condition is worrying however, changed and still weak (1) They agree they need to start heading to 0,0 but Ren is nervous about leaving safety, Doc wants them safe, and with Grian still sick and weak from laying in snow for weeks it'll take a bit until he's stable enough to travel (he'll probs have to be carried anyways). Etho stays for a few days at their insistence for rest, he wants to keep going there is more hermits out there he hasn't found, they are insistent that he take time to recover. Then, he lets himself die. Off to the next hermit! (2)

- Anonymous

- This is for the very very beginning, but maybe before False meets up with Cleo, she spawns in a warm ocean biome. Coral structures fill the water around her, and tropical fish dart between them. It would be almost peaceful, were it not for the fact that False was encased in a cage of coral.It’s a gamble every time. She has to try and smash her way out of her colorful prison before the tide rolls in, slow and steady water rising up her body and over her head. The water makes her movements clumsy and arduous as she tries to free herself, racing against time to escape the awful tide. (Pt 2) OH SORRY I HAD AN IDEA (this is from the coral False anon)What if Stress and False both spawn in that biome and they have to try and help each other out before the tide comes in?? Added angst if one of the times one manages to escape but the other doesn’t

- Anonymous

- (scattered au) Every time that a hermit dies the universe and the world file starts to corrupt, the way that things are going if everything doesn't go back to normal soon, then the world will crumble on itself with the hermits inside.

- Anonymous

- Admins log, day: ⬛⬛⬛ I've finally managed to find my way to the drip stone caves, weirdly I think I may have a good connection down here, I'll try to contact the others, if they haven't forgotten about me yet. (Shade note: Far away in the woodland mansion, Mumbo rubs his eyes and marks down another failure on his latest contraption. How long will it be until he can generate a signal? He has no way of knowing that, for a single moment, it worked. He stopped checking his communicator a long time ago, so he doesn't see the single message until much later: <Xisuma> can anyone hear me?)

- At some point Etho cycles round to Doc's spawn. His friend is long gone but there are five creepers in formation watching him. Waiting for something.It takes a moment for him to recall the trick of unfocusing his ears just right, so that their hisses resolve into words. He hasn't had to do it for years, after all. He hasn't run into General Spaz since he left Chocolate Island.“It'ssss been a while, Esssssho” the General says. “Let'sssss make a wager”The General reaches out for a handshake... it seems the glitch finally gave him a pair of arms.(ancient Etho lore go brrrr)

- Anonymous

- Both the snow and the void are cold, and getting stuck in there means getting frostbite a lot is fairly likely, so Grian and Bdubs would be unlikely to get out with all their fingers...

- @/bat-connoisseur

- Based on a little piece of this ask where it was mentioned that Hypno passed out only three steps outside the flower biome, I start to wonder, how long was he wandering in circles without food? Why did he collapse so immediately? Was the biome itself perhaps sustaining him? Keeping him "healthy" (if you could call it that) and alive? COULD he have starved to death if he hadn't been pulled out? Or would he have just kept walking? And walking. And walking...

-@/asexualbert

- An idea focusing on evil xisuma. He ended up spawning on the nether roof, stuck with nothing but mushrooms and bedrock as far as the eye can see. No communication, no water, no way out. He can probably eat the mushrooms, at the very least.... but there may be some bad side effects from it. It's disheartening and lonely up there, dying from starvation over. And over. And over. At one point, etho may have spawned there as well... but of course, he wouldnt last long. Condemned to endless roof...

-@/therainofsweetmelody

- Okay, hear me out: after Hypno’s been out of his illusion for a while, he starts to get headaches. He doesn’t think anything of it, until he wakes up one day with small horns growing and flowers in his hair. In conclusion: Moobloom!Hypno

- @/harley-the-pancake

Art:

- An Impulse

- A Grian

- A Guardian Impulse

- A Void Bdubs by @/sweetest-honeybee

- This Hypno by @/irys-97

- an Iskall and a Grian

- a fox Grian

- A Guardian Impulse

- a suffering Xisuma

- Mumbo and Evoker doodles

Writing:

Up. He needs to go up. He spawned too deep in the world, and though he'd heard of underground spawns there was no way, no way in the world that being so deep under was normal. Every cave he crawled up either came to a dead end or opened into a massive, mob-filled cavern, and somehow he still hadn't found even half a mineshaft. He could spend hours upon hours painfully clawing his way through the stone, but he keeps convincing himself it'll be faster to find a cave that leads to the surface. The pounding heartbeat of a warden stills rings in his ears, an ever-present reminder of his terrible luck. If only he could get some wood. Just a few planks, some torches. Anything. It's almost as if the stone doesn't want him to leave.

- @basaltdragon

- Buried by @arts-and-drafts

- Cleo grits her teeth and pulls a leather cap low over her head and stays on the outskirts of the taiga village, where the less scrupulous people go. She can't stay here long, if an iron golem catches her she's going to end up social spawning a bunch of less sapient friends and wiping out the village. The air is cold and thin out here, close to the mountains. The strays leave her alone. She's not sure how to feel about that. ~@betweenlands

- "A poem, by Impulse" by @/rayveewrites

- Pulse by @/arts-and-drafts

- Unnamed Impulse fic by @bat-connoisseur

- Another Impulse fic by @/betweenlands

- Don't think about it by me (@shadeswift99 )

- A poetic fic by @irys-97

- this short anon piece

- If I lose myself by @/arts-and-drafts

- Mountainside by @/basaltdragon

- Sleepwalk by @/betweenlands

- This Grian fic by @silverechosandsmileymasks

- A Jevin fic by @/basaltdragon

- This Hypno piece by @/fireflower-dusk

- This Iskall anon

- Alternate Impulse fic by @/rayveewrites

- Short Grian fic by @rk9-mew2

- an alternate headcanon for Mumbo

- This Xisuma fic by @/bat-connoisseur

#hcraft #hermitcraftheadcanons #hermitcraft #hermitblr #mod shade #masterpost #scattered au #long post

[nerdypanda3126]

Playing with Fire – Ch. 3

Luka and Marinette decide to be friends, Luka gets some much-needed sleep, and an uninvited guest shows up. 

Read on Ao3 

First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Later that evening, she waited for him as she watched the sky streak through with pink and purple from her spot by the window. As if on cue, Luka glided down from the roof and landed in the courtyard again, and her flames flickered to life around her. Of course, he would know the time of day the change hit as well as she did. 

She heard his footsteps coming up the stairs. When he saw her, he stopped, hanging in the doorway as if unsure if he should enter or not. There was a pause between them, as each waited for the other to say something. He tapped his slender fingers against the stone archway rhythmically. Finally, he sighed. 

"Um, earlier… you mentioned supplies," he said softly. "I can get you anything you want. All you have to do is ask." 

Her curiosity got the better of her. "How would you manage that?" 

"There's someone who passes through occasionally. A friend. I can give him a list." He glanced over to the corner and smirked. "I've already got pillows down."

She blushed all over again. He chuckled and came over to sit opposite her, dangling his leg just as she was.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he asked after a moment, following her line of sight out over the mountains.

He was probably talking about the view, but she was watching the fires flickering to life in the streets of her village down below and in the homes of everyone she knew and loved. Her parents would be sitting down to supper right about now. She wondered if he was right about them. What they would say if they knew of her fate. 

She hummed to avoid answering him. In the corner of her vision, she saw him look over at her, but she almost felt like if she didn't keep her eyes on it, the village would disappear entirely.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

She let out an incredulous scoff, smiling despite the traitorous tear that slipped down her cheek. 

"Whatever for?" 

"For… earlier. For trapping you here. For cursing you. For... everything." 

"You don't need to apologize, Luka." She wiped her cheeks hurriedly and sighed before she tore her eyes away to look at him. "You saved my life. I can't possibly repay you for that." 

She started to reach out to take his hand, but pulled back, remembering the effect she would have on him. Instead she tucked her hair back behind her ear. 

Maybe we can be friends,” she said shyly, “if you want.” 

He didn’t answer right away, and when she glanced up at him he was miles away, his eyes still on the horizon, his profile thrown into sharp relief from the fading light. When he turned to face her, she jumped like she’d been caught at something, and for the first time since she’d met him, his smile reached his eyes. 

“I’d like that.”

For some reason—she didn’t know if it was the low tone of his voice or those intense eyes or the way he sounded like he truly meant it—she blushed all the way to the roots of her hair. 

He released her quickly and leaned back to lay on the stone floor, dangling both his legs off the side and staring at the ceiling instead of at her. Without those eyes on her, her blush cooled and she let out a breath before she scooted back and mirrored his position. 

“Although I’m still half-expecting you to murder me in my sleep,” he muttered before he turned his head to look at her, his sideways grin entirely at odds with his words. 

She shrugged and scooted a bit closer to him so their heads were leaning together, not quite touching. “I’d at least wait until morning. Without pillows, you’re the comfiest thing here.” 

“Good to know. Maybe I’ll strike them from my list then, self-defense and all that.” 

A realization hit her as she stared up at the ceiling with him and she started giggling. “You know something? I didn’t even bring a weapon.” 

He let out a snort of laughter. “Some dragon killer you are.” As her giggles overtook her, he quirked his eyebrows and that teasing grin grew. “What were you gonna do, throw a bucket of water on me and expect me to go out like a candle?” 

She shoved his shoulder, completely beyond speech. At her brief touch, his eyes turned to slits again and he waved his forked tongue at her while he had it. 

“Though that still implies the foresight to bring a bucket of water, which you also neglected,” he continued. 

She waved at him to stop as a stitch started forming in her side, but he pushed on, apparently enjoying making her laugh. “No, no, I know, you thought you’d slay me with your feminine wiles.” He was laughing with her now. As she made to shove his shoulder again, he squirmed away. “You thought I’d fall so madly in love with you I’d die on the spot, that’s it, that’s what happened.”

She rolled over into his side, laughing harder than she ever had before, only partly intending to stop his tirade. His laughter faded into a soft hissing as his scales replaced the broad chest she’d been leaning on.   

Their laughter quieted together and she looked up at him. When he’d changed, he’d laid his head back again and closed his eyes and his bright blue fire was flaring in his throat. She shifted so she was more within his protective coil as his tail came up to curl around her. His wings were splayed out across the floor and she hesitated before she ran her hand over the delicate membrane. 

Something like a hum came out of him, although it was deep and rumbly. A purr? That wasn’t quite it either. She traced the ridges of the bones that stood up and he shivered before he grumbled good-naturedly and pulled them away from her, turning on his side instead with her tucked into the curve of his stomach. 

“What? Are you ticklish or something?” 

He kicked her lightly with his back claw, pretending it was because he was adjusting, but even in dragon form he had a wicked smirk. 

“Fine, keep your secrets. You’ve got like a thousand books on dragons. I’ll figure it out myself.”  

 She woke as the first rays of light streamed into the open window. Carefully, she extricated herself from the hold he had on her and managed to stand away from him before their bond forced them to switch. He didn’t even move, and if it weren’t for his heavy breathing she would’ve really worried about him. 

He made that humming sound again as she settled into place with him, already resigned to using him as a pillow until further notice. But he was comfortable, that hadn’t been a lie. And he was warm. She fell asleep easily, only a minute or two behind him. 

***

True to her word, she started in on her research as she let him sleep. And as it turned out, dragons could be ticklish. Hers definitely was. She tucked that knowledge away for the next time he was teasing her.

Her stomach grumbled about mid-morning, so she went out and gathered what she could within the limits of their tether. Based on his reaction yesterday, she didn’t think he’d be too happy if she woke him by yanking at it again. When she climbed back up, he’d shifted to pull his tail in between his claws,  but other than that, he was still solidly passed out. 

The journal tugged at her curiosity again. Her eyes slid over to him. The little pink forked tips of his tongue were just barely poking out between his lips. Completely out. She couldn’t help but smile. For all that huffing and grumbling he’d done yesterday, he was kind of cute as a dragon. 

Still, she didn’t want to sniff around in anything too personal unless he was willing to let her, so she hid it under a few different books and tried to pretend it wasn’t there. 

When dusk started to steal her light to read by, she snuck out again for food and came back to tuck herself into his coils again. Unconsciously, he tugged her to him and draped his wing over them both, making that humming noise again as his fire flared to life in his chest. 

When she woke up ahead of him again for the second day in a row, she really did worry. Was it normal for a dragon to sleep so long? Was it okay that he was? If not, if he was sick, if something was wrong with him, was there even anything she could do? 

And just like the other night, as soon as she was curled up against him with his heavy, rhythmic breathing under her, she fell straight asleep. 

***

She bent her head back to his books with an entirely different question to answer, keeping an eye on him the entire time, ignoring her grumbling stomach as the sun climbed its way through the sky. 

Finally, when the tower was just starting to cast a shadow on the clearing, he groaned and lifted himself up on his claws. He looked around blearily until he found her, then loped over to rest his chin on her shoulder. She pushed back from the table, eyeing the stacks of very flammable paper she’d been leafing through. 

“How long was I out?” His voice in her ear made her jump, even though she knew he was there. He straightened up to lay his hand on her shoulder instead. 

“Almost two days.” 

He hummed in response. It was different from the hum he made as a dragon, but reminded her so strongly of the noise he'd made when she was in his coils that her stomach did an odd little flip. She stood and turned to wrap her arms around his waist and hug him tightly, nuzzling into his shoulder as she did. He stiffened at first, surprised by her gesture, but laid his arm across her shoulders to return the hug.

“Don’t scare me like that,” she grumbled, headbutting him as she did to emphasize her point. “I thought you were actually dying or something.” 

He chuckled as he started rubbing her back in comforting circles. “I don’t think I’ve slept like that…” he started, then paused to think. “Ever. I’ve never slept like that before.” He looked down at her in his arms and smiled warmly. “I guess having my savior around really does help.” 

Without thinking about it, she reached up to trace the circles under his eyes. As she smoothed the pads of her thumbs over the fragile skin, she couldn’t tell for sure, but she thought they looked lighter. He certainly seemed more relaxed than he had been yesterday. 

"I'm glad you got some sleep." 

His cheeks warmed under her touch and he reached up to pull her hands away, stepping back as he did. Her blush answered his as she realized she'd been standing maybe a little too close to him. He cleared his throat and looked away, over to the table that was strewn with his books. 

"You've been busy." 

"Just reading. Catching up, you know." 

"Anything interesting?" 

She bit her lip as she hesitated. "Well, the one I'm interested in I haven't read yet." 

“Which one?” 

She pointed to her stack, unwilling to go near the stack of paper and set it aflame, but also unwilling to let go of his hand. He followed her direction and dug through the pile one-handed until he landed on the small leather bound journal.

"I forgot about this thing." He sat in her chair and she kept a hand on his shoulder as he flipped through the pages. "I wanted to learn to read and write. My friend, the one I told you about, he helped me. Although I have to admit I wasn't the best student." He chuckled again as he found a page that was ripped in half. "I had a temper, and a tendency towards tantrums. Honestly he probably taught me more about patience than anything else. Not intentionally, I'm sure, since patience is hardly in his vocabulary."  

Watching him flip through the pages, she could see it now, the illegible scrawl morphing itself into letters followed by words. Rips and holes and singed pages where he got frustrated, lessening as he got towards the end. 

"Do you care if I look at it?" she asked. 

He stiffened for a brief moment before he visibly relaxed and laid it back down on top of her pile. "If you want. There's not much there, really." 

"Lukaaaa!" Someone sang from below, loudly enough for it to carry up to them, and terribly off-key. 

"Speak of the devil," Luka muttered. 

Marinette turned her head to look out the window, but whoever was there was approaching from the other direction. 

"Is it your friend?" she asked.

“Come on, you great scaly beast! I know you can hear me, and I haven’t got all day!” 

Luka’s lips pressed together into that thin line, but also curved up into a smile. His thumb rubbed against her wrist lightly, apparently taking comfort from their joined hands. As an answer, he tugged her gently towards the stairs, and she followed, wondering who it was that could make him so instantly on edge and excited at the same time. 

When they got to the bottom, Luka stopped and turned back to her. “I have to warn you. He can be a little… well, odd. He…” He chuckled, embarrassed, before he continued. “He thinks he can see the future. Or, I don’t know, maybe he actually does, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. If you’re not sure what to say, do this—” He held up his free hand with his thumb tucked over his middle and ring fingers, his index and pinky extended all the way up. She mimicked the gesture and he nodded in satisfaction. 

“Perfect. It means…" He paused to think then shook his head. "Okay, honestly, I don’t know what it means. Some sort of music he swears is all the rage in the future." 

He stopped and looked at her, his eyes brighter than she'd ever seen them, and grinned before he took a quick breath in through his nose and let it out through his mouth and shook his shoulders as if settling his scales.

"Kid! Where you at? Seriously, you gonna make an old man—" 

The voice yelped before a thud resounded through the clearing and Luka hid a snicker behind his hand as he walked out with Marinette onto the stone path. 

#miraculous ladybug #ml fic #mlb fic #LBSC Exchange 2021 #lukanette #lukanette endgame #marinette dupain cheng #luka couffaine #dragon!luka #cursed!marinette #fic title: playing with fire

[fandomnerdespressourself]

If you think it’s love

Category: Fluff, Angsty asf, GN.Reader

Warnings: (っ∩_∩)っsoft , bad words, deep?, feelings, death, and blood

Gender neutral - I'm trying to keep my fix for all. If you see any mistakes pls tell me thank chu and enjoy. ^_^

Castiel x Reader

I can't stop loving you, my feelings somehow grow more. Each second, minute, hour, day, whether you're close or far, my love for you will never burn out. Love is to be said as ethereal, both heavenly and beautiful, but also destructive.

 Castiel ran behind y/n throughout the bunker, the boys were out for an errand. Once he reached them he wrapped his arms around them and lifted them up slightly spinning them both. At that moment y/n squealed feeling Castiel’s arms around them, a soft giggle left their lips. Once he set them down on their feet and turned them around they stared into each other's eyes. Ocean blue eyes on warm hot chocolate ones. Y/N put a hand on his cheek softly caressing it before moving their hand behind his ear to play with his soft hair. Cas stared down at y/n lovingly, he closed his eyes feeling comfort and warmth. He opened his eyes for a brief moment just to lean down and capture their lips with his own.

All of you that’s is you, keeps luring me in a way I can’t stay away no matter what. If I was able to find a way to stay away... My heart and soul will find a way to make it back to you. It'll always go back to you.

Castiel and y/n laid in bed cuddling, Cas drew small nothings on y/n’s exposed skin from their lower back. Soft music played in the background as the two couples enjoyed the calm, relaxing, and peaceful atmosphere. Castiel opened his eyes when a specific song came, he got up to put the volume up just a tad bit. Y/N stared at him confusingly thinking why did he move from their comfortable position. Cas then turned around and looked into their eyes holding his hand out for them,”d-do you..would you wan-.. doyouwannadancewitheme?” he asked, fumbling with his words at first before saying the question he wanted to ask quickly. A small but deep blush dusted on Cas’s cheeks. Y/n looked at him surprised and nodded. Y/N sat up gently taking his hand. Cas pulled them up carefully as if they’d break and pulled them close to him. Y/N chuckled softly as they noticed Cas struggling with where he should put his hands. Y/N moved them to their waist as the other held their hand. Y/N stepped closer and soon began to move, Cas quickly followed, both moved at a slow pace. In the middle of the song, y/n let go of Cas’s hand and laid their head against his chest. Cas looked down at them and moved his hand to their waist, pulling them closer. Their bodies were so close to each other, hardly any gap around. The pace didn’t speed up nor slowed more than it already was, it was the same pace. They both danced in peace and relaxed in y/n’s room while “It’s you by Henry playing in the background.”

I can't keep my gaze away from your beautiful eyes. How they bore deep into my eyes touching my soul every second within a minute. My gaze into your eyes turns into a soft admiring stare, I see my stars and Galaxies... My world in your soul. A whole perspective that is all you, so damn mesmerizing.

Castiel sat on the edge of the bed staring at the ground as he heard y/n walking back and forth. Soon he heard nothing he looked up and saw their hurt eyes staring at him as if he had kicked a puppy in front of them. “No explanation on why you’re leaving me?” they asked. Cas chewed the inside of his bottom lip before standing up, “I can’t tell you, as much as I'd like to I can’t I’m sorry I just want to pro-”

 “No don’t give me that! you know full well I can protect myself Castiel, whatever it is I can handle it-’

 “I never said you couldn't I just don’t want to put you in danger-”

 “My life is always in constant danger! I hunt monsters for g-”

“ I LOVE YOU OKAY... i- I can’t lose you,” he said, y/n stared at him in shock that was the first time they've heard I love you for him and the last. After a few seconds of quietness Castiel had to go, he went up to them and tried to kiss their forehead but y/n moved away and didn’t look at him. Castiel was hurt at their actions, but he understood, he looked at them for a small moment before walking out. Y/n stared at the wall closing their eyes as they heard the door close. After two minutes of just standing there in silence, their walls crashed down. Their emotions hit them like a tsunami, they grabbed a framed picture of Castiel and them before hurling it to the door. They sat down on the bed and slide down onto the ground crying.

I can't keep my touch away from yours

It brings me warmth, comfort, and protection.

I can't help but stare at you and I realize we aren't that different from each other as I see your soul from the outside.

Y/n poked their food with their fork, listening to Sam and Dean discuss a case up in Michigan. They played around with their food before looking up to see the brothers staring at them, worried and concern etched on their faces. “Sorry, what happened?”, y/n asked. Sam gave them a small smile, "we were just discussing the case over at Michigan. You up for it?" Y/n thought for a moment and nodded, "yeah, I'm down for it." After a few minutes, Sam's and Dean’s conversation resumed and y/n again was lost in thought, poking at their food. Dean looked over his eyebrows furrowed a bit, "okay, what's up?" Y/n looked up shaking their heads before mumbling that nothing was wrong, that they were just not hungry. Dean gave them a weird look once he heard their response, Sam's expression deepened in concern. Just as they were about to question them, y/n gave them a look to not ask, Sam and Dean understood tried their best to carry on their conversation occasionally looking over at y/n. After 5 minutes y/n mumbled a quick excuse me, they got up and put away their plate knowing that later one they would probably want it later.

Everything that is you shines so brightly as the stars do in the galaxy. As crazy it may sound, they lead me out into the light where you stand.

You're my candle. You’re the key out of this disaster my mind has created to prison me. We live in different worlds, with not much to say, every day is a storm that can make us stronger, but as we are apart and time passes it makes us weaker. Weaker in a way that our connection is fading, but will still faintly remain there. There's no way of knowing if it's the start of sunrise or if the midnight moon is up in the sky, for It's always dark. In an endless sea that drifts lost souls further apart, until they sink and disappear.

Sam, Dean, and y/n walked into an abandoned warehouse. Many in the town have reported sulfur smells and strange occurrences happening along with many going missing. Dean gave some signals motioning for Sam to go straight while y/n went to the right and Dean to the left. They all separated and searched the building. Gun in hand ready to shot, y/n’s eyes scanned the building before they were hit hard in the back of their heads making them fall unconscious. A soft groan escaped their lips as they regained consciousness. They heard their names being called and looked up with a slightly blurry vision of Sam and Dean asking them if they were okay. All three were tied up to a chair, y/n nodded slowly, their chin was then grabbed roughly pulling it upwards. A blurry figure came to view, they knew it was a demon. "Tsk you are my key to get your pathetic boyfriend down here." Y/n pulled their head back before thrusting their head forward headbutting the demon, "You bitch. Maybe I should speed up the process, gag them up we're about to have some fun with y/n." Screams began to echo throughout the warehouse as Sam and Dean moved in their chairs trying desperately to break free from that chains that were holding them down.

Warm hands, bodies together

Sleepless, restless nights

It's like it's a parallel universe, but it's not. It's not because we live in the same world, just different life and doings without you.

Although I love you, I fight battles within.

We all do, but I struggle to stay up

Sam and Dean looked down at Castiel with Y/n in his arms not knowing what to do. Castiel held them in his arms, the sight of his loved one was breaking him in so many unimaginable ways the pain so intense. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't even heal them. His grace had been through so much it had weakened. He tried his best to press down on their bleeding injury it was the best and only option he could do for now. Y/n had looked into his watery ocean blue eyes before looking down to see their injury, more tears streamed down their faces now realizing what it meant. Their condition was critical, there was no way they'd be getting out of here with them alive. Even now when the angel had killed all the demons in the warehouse. Y/n looked over at the two brothers, “take care of each other for me okay. It was fun hunting with you guys. Everything will be okay.” Sam and Dean knew best then to say something, Sam had tears streaming down his face, Dean was holding them in with a solemn expression. Y/n attention then moved over to the angel, their left hand reached up Castiel's face as their hand shook, "hey...l-look at me. I- it's okay." Their voice was shaky and getting weaker by the seconds. They slightly shifted and moaned in pain, they had to hurry, it was getting harder to breathe. "Castiel... take care of yourself for me okay, take care of Dean and Sam too. Don't feel guilty about this, it isn't your fault I know how you think. So much guilt on your shoulders I- ... You're strong and enough." A painful dry cough broke the silence afterward. Y/n looked into Castiel's eyes one last time before their hand fell as she whispered, 'I love-', ..but they never got to finish. Their warm hot chocolate eyes were now dull and lifeless. He pressed down on their injuries trying to stop the bleeding, but it was no use.. they were gone. His tears fell before shutting his eyes tightly wishing it was all a dream that he'd wake up and they'd still be here.. but as soon as he opened his now blue stormy eyes it had truly dawned to him that it was real and it wasn't a dream. His shoulders shook as harsh sobs echoed off the walls of the warehouse. The brothers flinched as they heard their best friend’s painful sobs.

They break me as I go into the shallow, only to be pulled in more and walk deeper in. Surrounded by the darkness, under a faint faint light far away you, you will see me, in my misery bringing myself down

Laughter echoed off the walls of the bunker’s kitchen, Dean was telling a story about a bar incident that happened back three weeks ago. Cas and Sam were laughing their asses off while Dean chuckled taking a sip of his beer. The night was wearing thin, Sam had gone to bed hours ago, Dean held his beer bottle upside down for a second to see if he had finished it. He glanced over at Castiel before standing up and picking up the mess mostly made by him. He walked over to Castiel and patted his shoulder making sure if he was okay. Castiel looked up giving Dean a small smile, “I’m heading to bed man, don’t stay up too late.” He patted his shoulder before walking out of the kitchen and to the hallways that take him to his room. Cas glanced around after half an hour and stood up. he cleaned the remaining of the mess, turned off the lights, and walked down the same hallways dean had to go to his room. Right as he was about to open his door he looked over to the side. Soon he found himself standing in front of y/n’s door, a room that hasn’t been touched for over two years. Cas reached for the doorknob and twisted it, right as he was about to push it open he stopped himself. He shook his head a somber expression took over his features. He released the doorknob and walked back to his room, taking a deep breath he closed the door releasing the air, and headed to bed.

You will see me, in my misery...

#castiel x reader #castiel x you #castiel x y/n #castiel imagine #supernatural x reader #supernatural x you #supernatural imagine

[creativitynchaos]

Little Spitfire

MC finds themselves rather fed up with moronic demons trying to intimidate them and shows some fighting spirit.

Warnings: some cursing, badly written fights and poor attempts at humour

The day had begun peacefully. MC had breakfast with the brothers, enjoying the typical morning banter. They had announced that they were planning to go shopping later, as it is their day off. Chaos ensued as the argument of who would accompany them began, the scene all to familiar to them. The brothers tended to always fight against one another, when it came to keeping their human company, especially during days off. With a sigh and a roll of their eyes, MC had slipped out of the dinning room, making their way back to their room, to get ready. As they had descended the main staircase, one of the brothers was already stood by the front door, waiting for them. With a smile on both their faces, the two made their way towards the Shopping District. Pulling out a list, MC had focused solely on rereading it, unaware of the gaze of a few lesser demons not too far from them, as they accidentally strolled away from their shopping partner, as he got distracted by a window display. Feeling a presence near them, MC had turned their head expecting the brother, only to come face to face with some creepy looking demon and two of his friends. "Would you look at the little human, confidently strolling through our territory." The demon spit out, his lips curling into an evil smirk,making MC cringe internally at how hard he was trying to be intimidating. "Why don't you entertain me, huh?" He asked, hand reaching out and grabbing onto their arm, ready to pull them closer. "He…."The demon brother, who had realised what was happening, began as he made his way towards the scene, when something made him freeze. "OH. FUCK. OFF. MATE."

LUCIFER The Avatar of Pride wasn't sure if he was more shocked or, well proud as he watched the scene play out before him. With barely a few seconds pause, the MC had shifted, twisting their own and grabbing onto the demons arm, they pulled him forward, kicking at his knees, sending the creep flying forward and landing on his face. Not even giving the other two a chance to react, MC spun on their heel, leg swinging as they kicked one of the other demons sending him toppling into the other one, the two landing in a pile of tangled limbs on the ground. With an annoyed huff, the human dusted themselves, still unaware of the admiring gaze of a certain black haired demon. Picking up their shopping list and bag from her ground MC sharply turned around only to smack their face straight into the sturdy chest of none other but Lucifer. "Are you alright, MC?" He asked, a proud smirk on his face as he glanced over the human, admiring the state they had left those lowly demons in. The first born had made sure to memorise their faces, so that he could have little 'chat' with them, about respecting whats his, but for now… "No thanks to you." MC huffed, a teasing grin on their lips as they glanced at the demons behind them, already scrambling up and turning to glare at the human, only to damn near shit themselves at the sight of Lucifer, protectively wrapping an around them. With a few pathetic squeals the demons had made a not so graceful but surely, a tactical retreat and run the fuck away, screaming. "Where were you anyway?" MC asked, shrugging off the situation and turning their gaze to Lucifer, gazing into his brilliant ruby eyes with curiosity. "I got you something." Lucifer answered with a chuckle handing a paper bag to MC. "Now, why don't we finish up here…" "We haven't even started!" MC called out, making the demon clear his throat. "Right. Then why don't we get the shopping done, and when we're back…" Lucifer corrected himself, leaning down as he tightened his hold on MC's shoulders, pulling them closer." …how about you show me some more of those moves, privately?" He whispered before pulling away, grabbing onto their shopping list and striding away in the direction of the relevant shops. MC stood there for a second, dumbfounded by the proposal, a soft blush on their cheeks as they grinned, moving to chase after the prideful demon with a laugh. "Is you head ever NOT in the gutter, Lucifer?" They asked, catching up and linking their arm with his, sending him a cheeky grin. It was going to be an interesting shopping trip.

MAMMON The Avatar of Greed laughed loudly as he stopped himself from running to MC's side and instead pulled out his D.D.D and started to film. "That's my human!!" He called out proudly. MC, ignoring the demons shenanigans, focused on the creeps before them. Grabbing onto the demons arms, they pulled him forwards, headbutting the demon and sending him stumbling backwards into his companions. The two went to catch him as MC  ran up kicking the stumbling demon in the chest causing the three to stumble backwards and into a fountain behind them. Now tangled in a soggy pile of limbs, the demons screamed curses at the human, as they turned around, spotting Mammon at the front of the gathering crowd. Walking right in front of him, MC had crossed their arms, sending a glare in the his direction. "Mammon…" MC growled out, annoyed." Did you chose filming a fight over helping me, in hopes that a video of a human beating up demons would earn you money?" They asked, tapping their foot on the ground. The white haired demon quickly hid his phone, laughing nervously. "W-what?! N-no, I-i just knew that there's no way my human would need help dealing with such wimps!" He stumbled an explanation, noticing the demons had managed to recover from their unexpected bath, and were approaching the unaware human. With a growl he grabbed MC's hand pulling them into his arms and turning to the demons, a powerful aura surrounding him as he glared at them from under his shades. "Mammon?"MC asked, surprised by the sudden hug, as they twisted in his embrace, arms wrapping around his slim waist, automatically as they finally noticed the moronic demons. The three stood there, frozen, eyes wide and blood draining from their faces. Mammon's aura was enough for them to realise it wasn't any demon they were dealing with, with a strange squeak escaping them, the three turned around, stumbling over themselves as they jumped straight back into the fountain, not daring to even glance at the pair as the strolled past. Mammon still holding tightly onto MC, as they hugged his waist with one arm a shiteating grin on their face." Awww, I knew you cared~" "S-shut up, you damn human!" The blue eyed demon mumbled, a flush visible across his handsome face, making MC's grin widen."L-like hell I'm gonna let some idiots touch ya'! I'm your first, so I obviously have to protect you." He huffed as he finally stopped walking. "Thaaaanks, Mammon~" MC said giving him one finally squeeze and pulling away, or trying to. The white haired demon wrapped an arm around them and leaned in closer. "We can discuss you payment later." He whispered, cheeks red, and then he let got and turned around to enter the shop, MC left behind, grinning happily.

LEVIATHAN "WHOA!!!" The all to familiar noise came from the Avatar of Envy as MC spun in their spot, kicking the demon in the side, making him let go of their arm. The purple haired male watched with wide eyes and mouth agape as his fav normie turned towards the other two demons, their fist cutting through air and smacking one in the face, making a small turn and slamming their elbow in the third ones gut. Levi could swear he could hear victory music playing as MC walked away from the three demons curled up on the ground, lightly flexing their wrist and rubbing their fingers, which were sore from the impact of the punch. They picked up their stuff and turned to the mesmerised otaku, as he began cheering excitedly. "Hey, there you are!" MC called out, as they approached, only to be pulled into a tight hug, their feet dangling in the air as Levi as spun them around. "WHOA! Whoa!!"Levi continued excitedly." You were, like, an anime protagonist!! I knew you were my Henry!!!" He spoke fast and loud, still holding them tightly. "L-levi!! Wait!" MC called out to no avail, as they wrapped their arms around the demons shoulders, clinging to him for dear life, although a smile played on their lips as they did. "Hey, we're not done yet, hand over the human." A voice called out, making Levi stop, he plopped MC down on the ground, his face turning serious and stern as he glared at the demon, a bit of his aura slipping out. The demons hesitated for a moment, flinching at the threatening aura but standing their ground." Give us the fucking human, nerd." The first demon snarled, taking a step forward, only to let out a yelp as MC kicked him again, from where they were still trapped in the third borns arms. They had a a scowl on their face and murder in their eyes. "Call him a nerd once more and they'll be scraping you of the fucking ground."They snarled, as Levi tightened his grip around them, stopping them from launching themselves at the three idiots. He sent them a death stare, making the three go pale. "You better get out here before I let them go…" He scoffed before smiling." And this time, I'll join them." He added, turning into his demon form, sending them stumbling over one another as they made their daring escape out of the Shopping District, turning many heads in the process. With the threat gone, the Avatar of Envy, changed back and relaxed his grip on his fav normie. He looked at them, a wide smile on his face. "Whoa! Badass Levi to the rescue!!!" MC cheered, wrapping their arms around him and squeezing tightly, making the demon flush but hug back. "It's mandatory for the Lord of Shadow to always have Henry's back." He said proudly, his cheeks flushed. "That's true friendship!" He stated, proudly. MC gave him one last squeeze before they let go, however as they turned to moved away, they felt a tug on their wrist. Turning around they turned to face Levi, as he stood there, blushing. "What's up, Levi?" "Um, h-how about you teach me some of those moves, later… in my room?" He mumbled, hair covering his eyes as he awaited a response. MC smiled as they blushed slightly, before moving forward and pecking Levi's cheek. "Sounds fun!" They cheered as they grabbed his arm and pulled them along, to get their shopping done as fast as possible.

SATAN The Avatar of Wrath did absolutely nothing to stop the situation before him, one hand on his hip as he stood there with a proud smile on his face. His green eyes observed with admiration as MC tugged the demon closer, kneeing him in the gut and pushing him away. Once done with the first one, they spun around, their heel connecting with another demons face, sending him flying on top of the first one. The third one grabbed onto them from behind, only to for his nose to forcefully get introduced with MC's head as they swung it back, smacking him. Rubbing their head, form the impact the human stood straight, looking at their handiwork, three demons groaning on the ground before them. Satan let out a chuckle as he approached MC, clapping. "Very skilfully done, MC."He admitted, as he gazed down at the lower demons, his face suddenly changing as they looked up at him, ready to fight again. His smile disappeared, a harsh glare taking over as he took MC's hand in his" Now, why don't you get out of my sight. If you plan on seeing tomorrow." He said, in a chilling but calm voice, before he walked around them, pulling MC along. The human observed the blond back of his head for a moment before stopping and pulling their hand away, crossing their arms instead." MC?" "Playing the White Knight a little too late, don't ya think?" They scoffed, a grin on their face as they raised an eyebrow. Satan turned around to face them, his smile back. "I'm doing no such thing." He chuckled as he came closer, taking MC's hand into his again." I didn't feel the need to intervene in a situation you had complete control over." He stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world."Although, I must admit,I didn't expect you to look so enchanting." He added, pulling MC's hand to his lips and kissing their knuckles, green eyes never leaving theirs. "That so?" "Of course. Now shall we get the shopping done, I am rather curious what else that body of yours is capable of." He purred before turning around, walking along as if nothing happened. MC rolled their eyes, as the Avatar of Wrath pulled them along, a smile tugging at their lips. "You are a cocky bastard, Satan." The huffed, picking up their pace to walk alongside the demon. The blond haired man, glanced at them, a smirk on their face, but said nothing, making MC squeeze his hand. "Isn't that one of the reasons you're so fond of me?" He asked softly, making MC laugh as they strolled together. "Well, I guess so."

ASMODEUS Asmo stood in place, dumbfounded as he watched what played out in front of him. Spinning around, MC swung their elbow into the demons chin, sending him stammering backwards and knocking into one of his friends. Whilst the two lay on the ground, they turned to the third demon, grabbing his shoulders and kneeing him in the stomach before pushing him atop the other two. "Wow!" Asmo finally spoke as he approached MC, clinging to their arm with a big smile on his face. They smiled at him, but were distracted as the demons began trying to untangle themselves. "Oh, guess they aren't done, yet!" "Just you wait till I get up, you filthy little bitch." The demon who had grabbed MC growled. The words made Asmos demeanour change, his smile dropped for a second, amber eyes becoming sharp and harsh as he let go of his human companion. He stepped forwards, a more sinister smile creeping onto his face, as he looked down at the lower demons."W-what?!" The demon asked, suddenly not feeling so confident, his anger seemed to disperse as he looked into the eyes of the Avatar of Lust. MC watched the demon, pondering whether they should intervene, but deciding against it.  With a sickly sweet smile, Asmo had raised his foot, pushing the pile of demon trash down the stairs as he gave them a little wave. "Bye bye!" He called out, in the midst of surprised screams as the three toppled down the staircase. MC stood there, wide eyes a startled laugh escaping them. "Asmo!" They called out in disbelief as the demon turned around facing them, his sweet and charming persona returning as he skipped back towards them. He began clinging onto MC's arm again, as he let out an innocent giggle." Acting all cute after that, huh?" MC asked in amusement as they picked up their list. Glancing down the stairs, they could see the three demons, laying there in a tangled mess, horrified and confused looks on their faces. "They got away lucky."Asmo said as he stepped in front of MC, grabbing their hands and squeezing as he moved closer and pecked their nose. "No one gets away with calling my beautiful, cute and stunning MC names like that." He said in a softer tone, making MC's heart skip a beat. They offered Asmo their arm, then proceeded to stroll down the Shopping District, when Asmo suddenly giggled. "Hmm, what is it, Asmo?" "Oh I was just wondering just how vigorous you get under different types of excitement."He chuckled as he winked at them, making MC let out a laugh as they shook their head. "Play your cards right and you might just find out." They hummed with a grin, before focusing on their shopping again.

BEELZEBUB

The tall, handsome and hungry was ready to throw down as soon as he saw the three lower demons harassing his dearest human. What happened in the next few moment, however, had shocked the Avatar of Gluttony so much, he damn near dropped his croissant. He stared, mouth wide open as MC   swung their leg, kicking the demon right in the babymaker, only to seal his fate with a knee to the face. Moving on from the first one, they kicked the other two in the shins, only to grab their head and smack them together. Letting go, the human watched as they toppled to the ground. With a huff they turned to walk away, only for the first demon to throw himself forward trying to grab them, or well, try to. He had barely managed to get near the human, when a large hand grabbed onto his clothes and threw him across the large space of the shopping district. MC watched in absolute wonder as the demon flew through air, like a giant trash bag with wings and land in a dumpster. They clapped as they turned to Beelzebub, who was calmly stood there, munching on his pastry as he glared at the other two demons. Intimidated by his size and demonstration of strength the two lesser demons ran, as fast as they could. "Are you OK, MC?" Beel asked, concern clouding his purple eyes, making MC smile at him and nod their head. "I'm okay, Beel. Thanks for having my back." They responded as they handed the orange haired demon the bag of pastries they were holding. He took the bag and began happily munching on the contents before stopping and looking at MC. Suddenly he pulled them into a tight bear hug, making them let out a surprised noise, muffled by having their face smothered in his sturdy chest. "I know you can handle yourself."He said, nuzzling his nose in their hair, a content smile on his face."But remember that I will always protect you, so don't try to handle things by yourself, okay?" He mumbled, hand stroking their head, fingers slightly tangling in their soft hair. "Mphmmhm!"MC mumbled into his chest, making him laugh as he pulled away, the tiniest bit, to allow them some room to breath and speak. MC took a big breath, wrapping their arms around Beels waist and squeezing him back, laughing." Bloody hell, Beel!" "Haha, sorry."He chuckled as he finally pulled away, taking MC's hand into his warm and big one, and turning to keep walking."Shall we get the shopping done?" "Well that's why we're here."MC said, grinning at him as they began walking again. Beelzebub was quiet for a moment before a grin appeared on his face and he turned to them. "Say MC, how about you join me for some private practice once we're home?" He asked, eyes sparkling." I could use a good work out buddy." "Oh, Beel…"MC hummed, shooting him a wink." I would love to."

BELPHEGOR

The Avatar of Sloth was conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to step in and show MC he could be bad ass and dependable. On the other, letting the MC do their thing, meant he didn't have to move a muscle. He stood there, unsure of what to do as the human before him huffed and smacked the demons hand away. Once free, they lunged forward putting him into a headlock, kicking his legs out from underneath him, before pushing him forward. The other two demons growled, stepping forward, only for one to kiss their fist, tripping over his fallen friend. The third demon, attempted a sneak attack, grabbing MC from behind, making the humans foot stomp on his, before they spun around, slamming their knee into the lesser demons crotch. With a pathetic whine, the demon stepped back, collapsing onto his knees, clutching his jewels. Belphegor chuckled as he picked up MC's stuff, 'accidentally' kicking one of the demons as he shot them a murderous look. "Now, how about you scram, whilst you're still breathing."He spat at them before he and MC strolled away from the scene, the perfect example of nonchalance. They walked quite a bit away from the beaten demons, when the blue haired demon began laughing. "Uh, Belphie?" MC called out, unsure what had gotten the sarcastic demon so amused."You good?" "Haha, it's just… you…"He mumbled as he turned to them and pulled them into a tight hug."Oh, a human beating the shit out of three demons. You are incredible."He said happily, snuggling his face into their warm neck, a chuckle escaping him every now and then. "Well, I'm soooo glad I provided such brilliant entertainment for you." They scoffed, a crooked grin on their face, as they placed a hand on his head, stroking his fluffy hair."Thanks so much for the help, by the way." "Aww, come on."He chuckled as he straightened up, looking into MC's eyes."Like you needed any help dealing with those assholes."He chuckled, as he pulled them along, after a moment of silence he turned to them again."Where did you learn that, anyway?" "Hm? Eh, just a couple scraps in the human world." They shrugged, avoiding eye contact, a sort of nostalgic look appearing on their face for a moment, before they grinned, clearing their throat."Gotta be able to look after yourself, sometimes no one else will." They shrugged, still grinning, making Belphie stop walking and pull them close. He smiled at them, his deep purple eyes sparkling with fondness. "I will always be there to back you up." He whispered, before kissing their cheek and pulling away. MC raised an eyebrow, a grin on their face as they moved forwards planting on his cheek. "Thanks, Belphie." They grinned, turning to keep walking. "Also, instead of wasting all that energy on fighting, how about we practice some moves at home?' He murmured into their ear, walking past and grabbing onto their wrist, pulling them along.

#obey me shall we date #obey me #obey me beelzebub #obey me mammon #obey me satan #obey me lucifer #obey me leviathan #obey me belphegor #obey me asmodeus

[saiilorstars]

It Had To Be You

Ch.28: Rogue Ending // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Female OC

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Belén and Barry enlist Snart to help them transport metahumans out of the city all while they continue to figure out how to move on from the fact Belén almost dated Cisco.

"In precisely two days the Particle Accelerator is set to get back online," Wells stood before Rayan and Angie "And knowing the Flash he will want to protect those inside the pipeline so he'll move them. That's when we strike."

"But I get Azul out?" Angie made sure to know before she was to do anything he asked. "He shouldn't die with the rest of the rodents you caught."

"You can do whatever you want with those metahumans - I could care less. I need to get back into the Accelerator and in the meanwhile you're going to keep good old STAR Labs busy. And do you hear me?" Thawne specifically looked at Rayan for that one. "Only keep them busy. You don't kill-"

"-your precious Flash, yes I understand," Rayan said plainly, though it seemed like he wasn't paying much attention. His eyes were locked on a water pipe above them that was dripping water. Every now and then some water drops were stopped midway and forced back into the pipe. "But my sister's free game and I so want to see her again."

Thawne watched him for a minute as the metahuman repeatedly shoved water back into the pipe. Though his health was deteriorating, Rayan was becoming much more skilled with his powers. His telekinesis was developing finely to the point of almost being able to control a human's actions. If he wanted to, Rayan could put up an interesting fight.

"Is your silent stare supposed to mean something?" Rayan asked without looking away from the pipe.

"I'm just wondering..." Thawne purposely trailed off.

Rayan's gaze shifted down to the man. "Wondering what?"

"If you could actually kill your own sister - your twin."

Thawne's smirk only irritated Rayan. "I'm sorry, your condescending-murdering self is asking me if I am capable of killing someone? Seriously?"

"You're talking about killing your own blood, Rayan. It's pretty cold. Can you look Belén in the eyes and kill her?"

"Spare me the talk," Rayan turned his back on the speedster. "I don't have siblings anymore, so...what happens will happen."

And he truly meant that.

~ 0 ~

The group except for Iris stood in the cortex listening to Cisco and his apparent discovery of Wells' old wheelchair. "I kept asking myself, why would Wells pretend to need a wheelchair?" Cisco made a round on the wheelchair, taking occasional sips of his soda.

"Sympathy, I suppose," Caitlin shrugged, everyone else agreeing with her with nods.

Cisco smirked. "That's what I thought at first, but he's the man in yellow. He's the Reverse-Flash. He's much smarter than that. Sympathy can't be the only reason."

"Yeah, it was a misdirect. Just like everything else Wells has done," Joe agreed, although they still didn't understand Cisco's point. "I mean, the last person we'd suspect to be the man in yellow is someone who lost the use of their legs."

"That's exactly right, Joe. Which is why I started messing around with the wheelchair," Cisco put down his soda on the floor and then turned over the wheelchair. He pulled a compartment lid out and revealed some sort of device stuck inside. "And that's when I found this."

"Daaaamn. You can't get that at Radio Shack," Joe's eyes widened.

"Looks like the tech inside Gideon…" Barry remarked as he looked at the device and only the device. Cisco didn't push him further.

"I measured the output, and this thing is kicking off serious juice. I mean, we're talking enough to power all of Central City."

"Why would Dr. Wells want something like that?" Belén quietly asked.

"I think this thing is some kind of battery…"

"Battery?"

"As in, Wells was using it to power himself. To gain more speed," Cisco gave a brief glance to Barry. "And that's why he's so much faster than you."

Barry, in return, gave a small nod of acknowledgement but nothing more. Cisco still didn't push.

One of the computers from the main desk began to beep with an alarm. Cisco rushed over with his soda back in hand and looked at the screen. "The accelerator, it's been reactivated!"

Caitlin hurried over to see for herself. "It can't be!"

"How is that possible? It blew up," Joe said what the remainder had been thinking of.

"It had to have been rebuilt," Caitlin theorized after checking more of the accelerator's state.

"That could...only be done by Wells, no?" Belén blinked, her stomach churning.

Caitlin agreed with Belén but was still having trouble seeing its logic. "Even if he did rebuild it, how did Dr. Wells turn the Particle Accelerator on?"

And then it clicked in Barry's mind. "He's here. That's why we couldn't find him. He's been inside S.T.A.R. Labs the whole time."

He and Joe hurried for the hallways. Cisco made to leave but warned Caitlin and Belén to stay behind. He rushed out but returned in a second for his soda, ignoring the odd looks from the two women.

Joe led the way into pipeline with a gun aimed ahead in case anything popped up. "Cisco, what did you bring in that orange soda for?"

"Whenever something happens with the Reverse-Flash, liquid floats in the air. You know, Barry's fish tank, Wells's champagne, remember that? If this does the same thing, we'll know that Wells is in there."

They stopped in front of the pipeline. Barry glanced at Cisco, for the first time, and nodded. "Do it."

Cisco placed a hand on the computer beside the pipeline to open it up. As the door lifted, the three stepped into the actual accelerator.

"Man... this... is... big," Joe couldn't help being astounded at the sight of the incredibly large particle accelerator.

Cisco froze when his soda began to rise in midair. "Oh, God. Guys…"

Wells sped right past them and of course Barry sped after him.

"Barry!" Joe turned after the two speedster that were already far gone.

'Prisoner release. Protocol initiated.'

Cisco saw one of the prison pods begin to love forwards. "Oh, no, no, no, no!"

It turned out to be Shawna's prison pod - aka Peek-a-boo - and soon as the pod lost its power, she disappeared. She reappeared behind Joe and headbutted him with his own gun before disappearing again. She reappeared on the other side of the pipeline and shot a machinery part that forced the door to close, leaving Cisco and Joe on the other side.

Caitlin and Belén had run down after the release protocol had been activated.

"Peek-a-boo," Shawna smirked at them.

Belén grabbed Caitlin's arm and yanked her down the hallway. But, Shawna appeared before them at the entrance of the building and kicked Belén back before hitting Caitlin over the head.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be stuck in that box?" Shawna kicked Caitlin on the stomach and watched as the brunette rolled on the floor.

"She didn't lock you up! I did!" Belén rushed forwards and tried punching Shawna old style. Shawna was well prepared for a basic fight and grabbed Belén by the hair, smacking the metahuman against the wall.

Belén hissed as she slid down the wall. Shawna grasped her by the neck and pinned her on the wall while aiming the gun at her. "Now you're the one who's gonna go into a box. In the ground!"

Belén could actually feel her skin prickling as it turned green. As of late, there were many things she was angry about and Shawna poked at the last bit of patience Belén had. Shawna flinched when Belén's hand grasped her arm.

"It's either the pod or the coffin for you," Belén warned before her vines drifted from her fingers to Shawna's wrist.

"Ew! What is that!?" Shawna freaked when the vines embedded on her skin. "Get it off me!" she cried while the vines crawled up her arm.

Belén smirked without even moving an inch. She was clearly enjoying her powers at work and was somewhat disappointed when Shawna was whacked on the head with a large, metal wrench courtesy of Iris.

"Those are some wicked powers you have," Iris admitted after a second. She could see the vines on Shawna's skin slowly disappearing now that they had no contact with Belén.

"New side and all," Belén reminded with a light shrug. She moved to help Caitlin from the floor when she groaned. "My head hurts."

"You may have a concussion," Caitlin predicted while she got up with Iris' help.

"Of course I do."

~0~

While Caitlin checked herself and Belén in the cortex, the rest went to return Shawna to her prison pod. Caitlin pulled the flashlight from Belén's eyes and set it over the metal table.

"I was right, you do have a concussion so…"

"Staying awake, got it," Belén nodded. She sighed after a moment and looked up at Caitlin. "Sorry I didn't get Shawna before she kicked you. I think I panicked in the beginning..."

"It's okay, it happens to all of us sometimes," Caitlin returned, looking very honest but Belén still blamed herself for letting things get that far.

"I've been off my game lately," Belén said even though she thought it was pretty obvious to everyone.

Caitlin smiled sadly, knowing how difficult things were for her friends at the moment. Despite the three having some unofficial agreement to continue working to capture Wells, Belén, Barry and Cisco didn't interact how they used to. It was all short, brief sentences when it came to speaking with Barry. Even between Belén and Cisco their conversations were short and brief because they didn't want to give Barry another reason to be upset.

"He'll come around," Caitlin put a comforting hand on Belén's arm.

"I don't know about that..." Belén mumbled.

"I hope," Belén said honestly. It'd been days, after all, since their fallout.

Their conversation was cut short when Joe and Iris brought in none other than Eddie from the pipeline. Cisco hurried in behind them and explained where they found the weakened detective. Caitlin immediately ran some exams on him in case Wells had done anything. After a thorough checkover, Caitlin concluded he was only a bit dehydrated and other than that he'd be fine. Barry returned after a long chase after Wells without success. Despite his tiredness, he was incredibly relieved to find Eddie had been found.

"Eddie, why did he take you?" Joe asked Eddie after everything had been settled.

"I don't know. He said that we're... family. Said his real name was Eobard Thawne," Eddie shook his head, still trying to come to terms with the idea of him and Wells being related.

"Eobard Thawne?" Cisco dreaded the familiarity of that name. "Just like in my dream."

"Did he say anything else?" Joe further asked. "I mean, anything that could help us figure out what he's really after?"

"I... he didn't say much," Eddie felt bad he couldn't be much help. "He just kept working on some tube."

"A tube? What did it look like?"

"Metallic, futuristic. He said it was the key to him getting back everything that was taken from him."

"The key?" Barry felt even more lost. "I don't understand."

"Wha... Yeah, I don't know. Look, I just want to go home. Is that okay?"

Caitlin gently removed the tape holding the IV needle on Eddie's hand. "Yes, of course."

Iris helped Eddie stand. "I'll make sure he gets some rest."

Barry waited until Iris and Eddie were gone to continue speaking. "What do you think Wells was talking about?"

But then the computer went off again and Cisco, once more, went to check on it. "Oh, no, no, no!" he said with widened eyes and ran out the room without so much of a hint of the problem.

"Did anyone else get free again?" Belén sighed as she came to the desk herself.

"What?" Barry said without thinking. Belén raised her head at him, surprised that had actually been directed at her.

Caitlin sensed the new awkwardness and made to cut it. "Wells initiated the release of a metahuman which turned out to be Shawna's. Belén and Iris got her though."

Barry's eyes widened as he now stared at Belén. There was a pang in her heart as she recognized the glint of worry in his eyes.

Cisco's voice cut through the silence that fell over in the room. Belén was startled to find the computer in front of her now serving as a video chat with Cisco. The man stood in front of a rock wall with a metal tube glowing blue sitting behind.

"Cisco?" Joe and the others moved to the desk to see as well.

"Um, are you seeing this? That's the tube Eddie was talking about," Cisco nodded to the device. "It's some sort of future power source. That's what's charging up the accelerator."

"Can you shut it down?" Barry inquired.

"Do you see a power button anywhere on this thing?" Cisco's sarcasm dripped in his words. "Dude, this thing is from the future. It's beyond me. I press, or touch, or cut the wrong thing, I could bring the whole building down."

"Okay," Barry saw his error and accepted it. "How long until it's fully functional?"

"Best I can tell, 36 hours."

Barry nodded. "That's when Wells will be back."

"Why would Dr. Wells want the Particle Accelerator to work again?" Belén asked, looking at the others for some answers. "I thought the whole point was to make it not work?"

No one could answer her question.

"And what about the metahumans still in their containment cells?" Joe asked and made the others think for a bit.

Cisco shivered as he got the idea. "They're toast."

"We put them down there and now their lives are in danger because of us," Caitlin sighed as she got to thinking of the true danger those people were in.

"Look, I think you all know I've never been a fan of this arrangement here. I thought the whole plan was to rehabilitate them and set them free," Joe sternly told the group.

"It was," Caitlin argued but under the man's look she added weakly, "We've been a little busy."

"Well, if they stay in there, the die," Belén stated and sighed, "And if we let them go, they destroy the city. So...what do we do about them?"

Barry had been thinking about for a couple minutes now and concluded his idea was the only one they had left. "We're gonna have to move them."

Joe gave him a look. "Move them where? Iron Heights can't handle meta-humans."

"You're right, but Lian Yu can."

"What the hell's a "Lian Yu?"

Before Barry could explain, Belén did. "Lian Yu is the island where Oliver was stranded for five years. I heard A.R.G.U.S built some sort of covert military prison on it." She met eyes with a surprised Barry and added for his benefit, "He told me a while ago."

Barry tore his eyes from her, not quite ready to have a conversation with her...much to her disappointment. "It's where we sent Captain Boomerang. Oliver keeps his worst criminals there. They won't be able to escape, and more importantly, they won't be able to hurt anybody."

"Great. So we ship them from one illegal black site to another?" Joe was still not convinced with this idea, but he suspected it wouldn't matter. "And how do we move them to Oliver's own private Alcatraz?"

"I'll call him," Barry said, standing from his chair. "Maybe he can help with transport. And Cisco... if we do this, nobody can get loose."

Cisco nodded. "I might have a way of getting them out of here safely."

"Alright, get on it," Barry instructed and Cisco agreed, getting a head start out of the room.

"Barr, this is insane," Joe shook his head.

"Joe, we have to do this."

"You don't think that if we start bussing super-villains through downtown, nobody's gonna notice?"

"Oh, they'll notice. That's where you'll come in," Barry couldn't help smile as he began to tell his next part of the plan.

~ 0 ~

The next day, Belén was sitting silently at her desk, meant to be writing an article for the week yet her screen barely contained a measly paragraph. She had mind clouded with all sorts of thoughts ranging from the Particle Accelerator to her missing sister to...Barry. She mindlessly tapped her pen on the edge of her desk as she wondered what kind of solutions she could offer in case their primary one would fail.

Hearing her cellphone ringing, Belén forced herself to pay attention. She looked at the caller and saw it was Cisco.

"H-hello?"

"Bells, listen, we need you to come in," Cisco began, and sounding disappointed Belén deduced their plan hadn't worked.

"We need another idea, don't we?"

"Yeah...Joe couldn't get the CCPD to work with them," Cisco sighed. "Barry's coming over to think again, but...it would be good if you came too."

"Yeah, yeah...okay, I'm coming," Belén hung up and put her phone down on the desk. She rubbed her face and faced her screen again.

"Hey," Iris stopped by her desk with some papers in her hands. "Look what just got dumped on my desk?" she waved her papers in the air, leaving Belén to guess.

"A new assignment?"

"Not my assignment," Iris rolled her eyes. "Spencer Young just got fired so I got her topic."

"She got fired?" Belén looked to the empty desk that once belonged to their co-worker. "Since when?"

"Since yesterday - where have you been?" Iris knew it was a dumb question to ask since Belén hadn't exactly been paying attention to her surroundings for days. "Larkin finally caught up with her lying words and fired her, soooo I now get her unfinished work."

"Well, serves her right for not being an honest journalist," Belén said with a careless shrug afterwards. She hardly passed words with the ex-employee and it was for a good reason: she was mean. "So what's the topic about?"

"A spree of robberies done with - and I quote-" Iris made a quotation mark in the air with one hand while the other held the paper to read from, "-a freeze ray gun, a firey gun, and a golden gun. Sound familiar?"

A big scowl came to Belén's face. "Seriously, the last thing we need is for the Rogues to be back."

"Mhm, I'll do some digging on them but I don't think they'll be doing any more crimes since their thing is to do a series of robberies then disappear," Iris put her papers back together.

"I'll pass on the message to the others just in case," Belén said once Iris got leaving. She returned to her computer with the intention of continuing on her assignment - this time for real - when an idea popped into her head. Oh, you're crazy.

She snagged her phone back from the desk and dialed for a different number.

~ 0 ~

Barry was shifting on the park bench he was sitting on. The mere place brought back memories that reminded Barry of what he didn't have at the moment. He wondered if this was a trick being played on him, just to toy with his mind. Well, he didn't have more time to think on it when he saw Belén walking up to him.

"You came," Belén said with a sigh of relief. She was worried that Barry wouldn't show up at the last moment because of their disagreements. While they hadn't exactly argued, it was still pretty clear they were not in the best places. Belén didn't want to push Barry into talking when he had shown no interest in doing the same.

"I said I would," Barry reminded and got up. "Though I don't think I can care for this precise stop," his eyes flickered to the nearby fountain.

"Sorry, I just...needed to talk in a place where no one would bother us," Belén said, biting her lip, "I think I have an idea on how to get the metahumans out of the city."

"You do?" Barry's eyebrows rose with curiosity.

"But I don't think you'll like it…"

"Let me hear it."

"Iris just told me the Rogues are back in the city," Belén knew it was a big thing to say so she started to ramble on her evidence, "There were recent crime scenes that left a specific evidence trail to them. The police are very sure that Captain Cold is back in the city and doing his usual spree of crimes - I mean there's been frozen part of buildings that only a cold gun can do along with the occasional golden trails which really means that his sister is with him this time-"

"Belén, breathe!" Barry had put his hands on her arms to stop her from her rapid rambling. Belén blinked and blushed as she saw him so up close. Barry had realized what he'd done and instantly let her go, taking even a step backwards to get his head clear. "Just...just take a pause and breathe," he repeated nervously.

Glumly, Belén continued on with her original plan. "I was thinking we could find Snart and ask for his help."

"What!?"

"Snart is the only one crazy and tough enough to help us with all these metas! And since Oliver's not answering I think this is our only option."

Barry stayed quiet as he thought about it. He had tried getting in contact with Stein and Ronnie too but couldn't get through. Without the CCPD's help either, they really didn't have much options left. "Okay," he gave in. "I'll find Snart and talk to him-"

"Nu-uh," Belén cut him off with a frown. "We will and before you open that mouth to tell me 'no', I'm reminding you that this was my idea."

"You are not going," Barry gave her a sharp look but Belén wasn't stepping down.

In fact, just to prove herself, she stepped closer to him again, looking up at him defiantly. "Who says?"

"Belén…" Barry forced himself to look down at her without backing down as well. But in reality, he was beginning to fall under her charmful gaze and scent. God, I miss her, was all that ran through his mind.

Belén's eyes flickered from his eyes to his lips, and continued to make her case. "It's my idea and I'm not letting you take it just like that. So either you take me with you, or you get to discover how mad a poisonous Azalea can get."

"Is that a threat?" Barry raised an eyebrow, feeling a tingle down his back as her lips stretched into a smirk.

"Take it however you'd like." Belén was pretty sure she was causing an effect on him judging by the fascinated look in Barry's eyes...and it made her feel pretty damn special knowing she was still the only one that could make him feel like that. "So, what's it going to be?"

Barry swallowed hard. "Well...lead the way, Miss Azalea."

~ 0 ~

It wasn't difficult to find out where Snart tended to spend some time after looking at some of the evidence left behind with the CCPD. Barry let Belén walk first into a solitary, pretty slum-looking bar where Leonard Snart was at. Barry didn't like the idea of having to bring Belén along but apparently he was out-charmed here.

Snart was able to sense their presence and turned from the counter with an unexpected smile. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the scarlet speedster." His eyes then flickered to the brunette woman and his smile turned to a smirk. "And shooter-girl."

"For real? I have a name," Belén frowned.

Barry didn't care for the interest Snart had in Belén and spoke over them to get things moving. "We need to talk."

With raised eyebrows, Snart moved over to them and took a casual seat on the edge of the pool table near them. "Oh? And you went looking for little ole me?"

"Shut up," Belén spoke over again. "We need your help with a problem."

"Mm, that's not the first time someone of yours asks for my help," Snart tilted his head her way with a knowing smile. Belén, startled, looked up at Barry out of reflex. Before Barry could snap at him, Snart went on. "Must be pretty desperate to come asking for my assistance, but I'll bite. What do you need?"

"Help transporting some people out of the city," Barry was able to say without showcasing his irritation with him.

"How many?"

"Six. Six very bad, very angry people who have powers."

"Powers, hmm? So you want me to what? Freeze the problem?" Snart looked at both who nodded their heads. "Protect you from them if anything goes wrong? First rule of business: always protect yourself. I'm not gonna help usher your enemies out of town."

"Oh, but you consorted with others to get what you want," Belén snapped. "Listen you're gonna do it because you need to do it."

"Oh, and why is that?" Snart feigned incredible interest in what she had to say, irritating both metahumans even more.

"These people are your enemies as well-"

"I doubt it-"

"They will destroy Central City which is your city as well," Belén paused, hoping he'd get the point but apparently not as he responded with a very easy 'not my problem'. "Imagine a city you can't rob because there's no more people to rob because they're all dead?"

Snart looked to the side, pausing to think. "It's a compelling argument. But if I'm gonna help you out. I'll need something in return."

"Yeah, we imagined," Barry rolled his eyes.

Snart pulled a pen from his jacket and moved to the nearest table. He got a menu and wrote down something which he then slid to Barry. "This."

Barry took one look and saw an outrageous amount of money. He laughed and looked at Snart. "No. this is impossible. We can't do that."

"Then I can't help you," Snart turned to leave when Belén angrily reached for his arm, and because she was angry her hand holding his arm turned green and scaly. Before Snart could realize, Barry lunged in a snap and yanked her hand from Snart's arm and kept it tightly shielded under his hand. They could not let her identity slip as well.

"There has to... Snart, there has to be something you want that we can get," Barry tried to reason with the man who keenly watching the two.

"Let me think about it," Snart only mildly relented. Perhaps there was something else, he just had to consider it more closely. With a wide smile, he turned to leave.

Almost as quick, Barry took Belén away as well. He stopped them in another part of the neighborhood to check her. She was breathing fast as he released her hand to reveal it was still its pretty bright green color.

"Barry, I-I-I didn't...I didn't mean to…" she tried to explain but Barry shook his head at her.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," he tried to soothe her, knowing that only calming her down would make her hand return to normal. "Just breathe, okay? Do that, c'mon," he mimicked the breathing pattern they had worked on long ago for these sorts of situations.

Belén quickly tried doing that but she kept remembering her slip that nearly cost her identity secret. "I-I'm s-s-sorry, I could have...I could have jeopardize it a-all I'm so sorry-"

Barry pulled her into a tight hug, a bit shaken himself from her reaction. He'd forgotten, honestly, that she was still trying to get a better control of her new side. He also remembered he had promised to help her get control no matter what. "It's going to be okay," he whispered, rubbing a hand over Belén's back.

~ 0 ~

After getting back to STAR Labs, Caitlin took Belén into one of the side rooms to give her another checkover to see if she'd been negatively affected by her sudden outburst of powers. Meanwhile, Cisco and Barry remained in the main cortex where the former had taken apart Wells' wheelchair along with its futuristic device in hopes of putting something together for their metahuman transfer. As Cisco worked, he kept glancing over at Barry who was keenly staring at the side room Belén and Caitlin were in. He hadn't muttered a word to Cisco.

Here goes nothing. Cisco took in a deep breath and spoke up to the metahuman while trying to pull something apart. "She really likes you, dude, make no doubt about that." Barry said nothing except briefly glancing back at him before returning his eyes to the side room. "Barry, c'mon, are you really going to let things end because I asked her out before you?"

"Cisco, I'm not doing this now," Barry crossed his arms and turned a bit to the side.

"Well tough because I don't know when to quit," Cisco put down the device he was working on and sighed again, this time speaking much more seriously. "I asked her out like four months after your coma, okay? She wasn't sure at first but she said yes and I took her to dinner at-"

Barry shook his head and turned to Cisco, making a face that just showcased his disapproval of this. "Cisco, I don't want to hear about this...date thing." That was the problem: his mind would only show him possible bits of Belén and Cisco dating. It was what made it difficult for him to talk to either of them. It's what made it hard to move on from it.

"You have to," Cisco adamantly replied. "You have to know what happened in order to finally move on."

Barry looked to the side without another word considering what Cisco believed was pretty correct. He was dying to know what exactly - and he meant exactly - what happened during that apparent date. Maybe it would help his mind in some way...

"We went to the movies, saw a funny movie and then we took a walk," Cisco continued. "It was fun, I'm not going to lie, because Bells is just so much fun to be around. She was cute-" Barry looked back at him with a warning expression but Cisco shrugged in response. "Hey, I'm not lying here. Your girlfriend's hot, okay? That's why I asked her out. But in the end, when we tried to kiss...we couldn't." And it did make Barry a little less concerned when he saw for himself how Cisco honestly seemed okay with it. "Bells and I realized we were friends, like best friends, and we liked that. Yeah, she's hot, as is Caitlin, as is Iris, - she's my attractive best friend who happened to end up going out with my other best friend. And I'm so happy for you two. Honest."

Barry sighed, shaking his head. "Cisco, I...it's just...it would've been better to hear from you first…"

"I know, and that's my bad, I accept it," Cisco raised a gloved hand. "I should've been a good friend and told you about this when you asked Caitlin and I to help you ask Bells out."

Barry stared at him and slowly began to smile. "But you were. Belén said she asked you not to say anything...and you didn't. You promised her and you kept it."

"Look, dude, I have never tried anything with her since our date," Cisco meant to clarify once and for all. "She's Bells, my best friend, and only my friend."

Barry nodded to show he acknowledged Cisco's words, but he didn't feel like he was quite there to be okay. "Thank you."

"Of course," Cisco hoped his words would allow Barry to talk with Belén now.

A couple minutes later, Caitlin brought out a much more calm Belén into the room. Barry turned back expectantly. "She's fine," Caitlin began, placing a hand on Belén's shoulder, "It's actually very interesting how some points of that other side can affect Belén and others don't."

"Yeah, trust me, it's not that interesting from my perspective," Belén admitted.

At that moment, Joe walked into the room, a hasty entrance, with narrowed eyes on the two metahumans. "What the hell were you two thinking calling Leonard Snart for help!?"

Barry winced and slowly turned around. He'd called Joe to explain their idea and needless to say the man was not happy.

Joe came right up to them. "Do we not remember who Snart is!?" Caitlin and Cisco slowly inched away from them back to the table Cisco was working with the device on.

"Joe, it was my idea," Belén stepped forwards. "Barry just went along with it."

"Which puts both of you at fault," Joe sternly responded. "Why would you do something so stupid?"

"Because, Joe, we have already tried everyone else. Look, you tried the CCPD. I tried Oliver. I even tried Ronnie and Dr. Stein," Barry, frustrated explained their lack of options. "And the Particle Accelerator goes online in…"

"16 hours," Cisco called.

"16 hours, Joe. I'm not willing to let the metas die, and we can't let them escape, either. So, like it or not, Snart, with his cold gun, is the only one that can stop them if Cisco's transportation does not hold."

"Then lucky for you I figured out what it is you can get me," Snart surprised them with his presence. Despite Joe initially pulling out a gun on him, Snart took a nice calm strode through the room, taking an observation. "Hello, Detective. Nice to see you again. Caitlin, Cisco." He came up to Barry and Belén with a smirk. "I thought about your proposal. You want my help, this is what I want. My fingerprints, dental records, DNA, criminal records, family tree, everything there is in this world concerning Leonard Snart. I want it destroyed. All of it. At CCPD, online, everywhere."

Belén stood there dumbfounded at such an outrageous price.

"The brass on this dude," Joe muttered. "You really think we'd do that for you?"

"Absolutely not-" Belén was midway turning him down when Barry cut her off with his own decision.

'I'll do it. If it's the only way, fine."

Belén whipped her head at him with widened eyes. Joe was in the same predicament and immediately ordered Barry to talk with him in the training room.

"I can't believe you're asking for that much," Belén snapped at Snart after being left alone. Caitlin and Cisco still remained there, half pretending to work and half ready to attack.

Snart smirked her way. "Then you're not as bright as you're made out to be."

"You don't know anything about me," Belén stepped forwards.

"I know about your family."

"Lies."

"Really? I know about your wayward brother," Snart loved the stunned reactions he got from everyone in the room. "I mean, I know my sister isn't exactly innocent but at least I know where she is. Can't say the same for you and your sister, though."

"Listen to me," Belén got in Snart's face, leaving Caitlin and Cisco in a little panic state because of how Snart might react, "I know damn well what my sister does behind my back - and I know that she worked with you - so you can put away your mighty attitude with me. I know that my family's rotten."

Snart raised an eyebrow at her, somewhat impressed. "Quite the burden you must carry, then...being the only good one left. Maybe you should think about switching, huh?"

"I would never," Belén stepped back. "It's more fun putting criminals like you away."

"Well, if this is it, you can tell your boyfriend I'll be waiting by the Algiers tonight for all my files. This criminal's not going anywhere!" he turned around and headed out of the room.

Belén's eyes flickered to Caitlin and Cisco. "It's going to be my fault if that guy ever rules the city."

"Maybe you should talk to Barry about it," Caitlin suggested but Belén scoffed.

"Please, he won't talk to me unless it's business and this would just be me telling him not to do something."

"Okay, how do you intend for this cold shoulder argument to end if neither of you get over it and talk?" Cisco moved for the desk where he left some of his licorice.

"Because he doesn't want to talk, Cisco! It's been days and...nothing."

"Well I just talked to him and he seemed ready...ish..."

Belén deadpanned him for a moment. "It's not funny, Cisco. And you know what? Maybe it's...it's just not going to get better."

"Belén..." Caitlin mildly gaped at her friend. "You don't actually...mean that, do you?"

"I don't know," Belén admitted. She brought her hands to her hair and sucked in a breath. "I've got family problems like there's no tomorrow and-and maybe it'd be easier to deal with things if I didn't drag Barry with me."

"Okay, you know that's not true," Caitlin looked over to Cisco for some help. The man seemed to be thinking about something and that clearly involved not talking for the moment. "Belén, I think you're just tired-"

"-it's a possibility," Belén let her hands fall to her sides. "But I mean...what if I talk to him and he can't get over the date? What if - what if he doesn't want to be with me anymore? Things could be over."

"Nope!" Cisco's sudden pop startled the two women. "Absolutely not, I will not have crazy talk in this room."

"Cisco, what-" Belén was cut off by Cisco coming over and grabbing her arm. "Where are we going!?" she asked when he started leading her out of the cortex, even looking back at Caitlin for some help.

"Cisco, what are you doing?" Caitlin rushed after them. "Cisco!"

"I'm knocking some sense into her!"

"With what!?" Belén exclaimed with actual fear in her tone.

"The future!"

Caitlin's eyes widened when she realized where Cisco was heading for. He brought them to Thawne's secret vault, and despite Caitlin's warning for him to think about it, Cisco opened the vault and yanked Belén in.

"This is Wells' creepy lair - why am I here?" Belén pretended to shiver.

"This is why," Cisco walked up to the small podium. "Glad I figured out how to bring it up," he mumbled as he passed his hand over the podium, bringing up the futuristic article to life.

"Woah..." Belén blinked. She crinkled her nose, however, when she read the title of the article and saw the subject of it. "No, hold on...what is this?"

"It's what we found a while ago," Cisco looked at Caitlin, "We don't really know what it means but...I think you'll see something pretty interesting."

"Apart from the fact this thing says Barry will go missing...not exactly sure what else is supposed to be 'interesting'," Belén walked up to the article to read, or at least try to skim since the words were pretty small. "This is from 2024..."

"It's the future, as of now," Caitlin came to stand beside her.

"Get out," Belén blinked with awe. "But...but he goes missing?" her hand came to rest over her heart as the fear started creeping over her. "Barry goes missing in the future?"

"Check out who wrote the article," Cisco nodded her to look underneath the byline.

It only took her a couple seconds to see her own name written there - well, her new name. "Oh...oh my...that's me," she pointed at it as if the other two hadn't already seen it. "Like...like..."

A big, teasing smile spread across Cisco's face. "As in your future married name?"

"Shut up," Belén said automatically, though the visible red on her face made it hard for Cisco not to keep smiling. Even Caitlin was having trouble keeping her smile hidden. "Francisco Ramon you better shut up."

"Belén, I get that you're scared to talk to Barry but this-" Cisco gestured at the article, "-proves that everything works out for you two. It means your destiny is to marry him."

Belén's eyes gazed over her name again. Annah-Belén Allen. Her heart may have skipped a beat or two. "It's not destiny," she said quietly, her eyes flickering between Caitlin and Cisco. "Destiny isn't what makes that happen," she pointed at her name. "It's my decision - it's our decision - to get married. But that could change at any time. What matters is what I want right now and what I really want is to go get my boyfriend back."

She smiled at her two friends and turned on her heels. She had somewhere to go.

~0~

Barry didn't know if he was purposely lingering in his lab to wait out the employees in the precinct and get the files for Snart...or if he was doing it to avoid being shouted at by Joe again. It wasn't like he wanted to steal but it was the only option they had left if they wanted help to transfer the metahumans. It was literally their only option left.

"Barry!" he flinched after hearing Belén's sharp call. She came striding into the lab with an air of confidence. "Barry Allen we are going to talk and we are going to talk now!"

"Um...okay..." Barry rubbed the side of his neck, somewhat afraid of her right now. "Uh-"

"-yes, I went on a date with Cisco, and yes it did involve hand holding and shared popcorn and a nice romantic dinner but it involved no kissing and the most important thing is that it didn't continue," Belén was aware she was rambling but if he was a speedster then he would be able to keep up with her. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it before but I thought it would just freak you out - which it did-" she gestured at their current situation, "-and I honestly thought it was irrelevant. Cisco is one of my best friends but you are the one I want to be with."

Barry considered speeding and make time stop just to think about everything she'd said. He stared at her silence, thinking about her words and...her. She seemed so determined and perhaps it was a misplaced determination because...

"I'm a jerk," he sighed.

Belén blinked. "What?" she'd been expecting a little more than just that.

"I'm a big jerk, and an idiot, and a lot of other things but I'll leave it at that," Barry sighed again. "In Iris' words: I am a drama queen. I overreacted about this whole...dating thing between you and Cisco. In my defense, it was kind of sprung out of nowhere and it-it is a very hard picture to get out of my head."

"Well see, I don't want you to just ignore it or bottle it in. I get that it's a weird thing - I'd probably be a little on the fence if you happened to date Caitlin before me. It's natural, but I don't want it to be the cause of our break up," Belén crossed her arms, that confidence of hers dwindling the more she thought about the potential outcomes of this talk. "I don't want us to break up, Barry. If you need time, I get that, but...I don't want it to be a permanent time."

"I don't need time," Barry said, easing some of her concerns. "I just need you right now." He felt a ping in his heart seeing her light up so quickly. "I'm sorry."

Belén's smile was so wide it could have cracked her face. She rushed up to him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her senseless. He missed her a lot.

A couple minutes passed before they pulled apart.

"I'm not letting you go for another couple minutes," Belén warned about her arms still clinging to Barry's neck. "In case you get any other ideas for arguments."

"I won't," Barry playfully rolled his eyes. "I know I was an idiot."

"A little," Belén lightly shrugged. "But it was a valid emotion to feel."

"It just...got me thinking, you know? What if it things had worked out with you and Cisco? Then I would've come back from my coma to a world where Bells...wasn't my Bells."

Belén's face warmed up. "You didn't even like me back then, Barry. We were just friends."

Barry rested his forehead against hers. "I believe that I would have fallen for you no matter what. Then what would I have done?"

"Best not to think like that," Belén chuckled. "Because it didn't happen and it's not happening. Besides, according to a certain article you neglected to tell me about, we sort of end up married and all that jazz..."

Barry almost choked on his saliva. "Wh-what?" he met Belén's straight face. "Y-you know about that?"

"Cisco showed it to me earlier. You must have given me one hell of a proposal if I ended up not hyphenating."

"U-uum..." Barry swallowed hard, knowing well his face was warming up now. "I didn't tell you because I thought it would freak you out. Most people don't like their future planned out like that."

"Yeah, but, I see that article as something that can happen if we-" she pointed between them, "-want it to happen, not if it wants it. And I may not be in the marrying stage but it is something I'd consider in the future."

"Really?" Barry was honestly surprised she was taking it so easily.

"You wouldn't?"

"Y-yeah I would," he said quickly, stammering it that Belén laughed. "It's not - it's not funny."

"Kind of is," Belén pulled him closer to where her lips brushed over hers when she spoke. "It's okay. I'd marry a funny dork if it was you."

"What? That's just rude-"

Belén chuckled and kissed him again.

~ 0 ~

The following day, once everything had been settled, Lisa and Leonard Snart met the rest of the group at STAR Labs who had also been infomred of their arrangement.

"Please tell me this is a joke," Caitlin couldn't stop gaping as she had the two Snart siblings in front of her and Cisco.

"Oh," Lisa pretended to pout, "you were right, Lenny. She is very uptight."

Caitlin's eyes widened. "I am not uptight!" she glanced at the others expecting to be backed up. Cisco and Belén looked away while Barry apologetically smiled her way. With a heavy irritation, Catilin looked back at the smirking Lisa. "You can't call me uptight!"

"Okay, there's no need to argue," Belén stepped in before poor Caitlin lost it. "We don't like each other - that much we can all accept - we just need to get through this one day."

Caitlin sighed and looked over to Barry, frowning. "Why are you two wearing your masks?" she gestured to the two metahumans who wore their respective suits. "Snart already knows who you are."

"And I promised I wouldn't tell anyone," Snart glanced at Lisa. "That includes my sister."

"Jerk," Lisa sarcastically spat.

"Trainwreck," responded Snart. He met eyes with Joe who'd remained silent throughout the entire morning. Joe just didn't agree with any of this and still thought neither Snart should be there. "Don't look so surprised, Detective. I am a man of my word."

"Yeah, you better be. Or I'm gonna make sure you're on that damn plane, too," Joe warned and turned to leave. There was much to do before they left with the metahumans.

"Hey, Cisco…" Lisa went after Cisco.

Cisco turned around with narrowed eyes. "Oh, hey, Captain Cold's evil sister."

"Aww. You're not still mad at me, are you?" Lisa feigned an apologetic pout as she got closer to him. "I really did enjoy kissing you."

"Hold the phone - you kissed her!?" it was Belén who caught the conversation and shot Cisco a look from across the room.

"Under duress-" Cisco motioned her to calm down.

"'Duress' my a-"

"Bells if I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous…" Barry sauntered up to her, distracting her from the continuing conversation between Cisco and Lisa. Still, Cisco led Lisa out of the cortex for safety reasons.

"Oh no, are we going to argue again?" Caitlin genuinely asked with concern.

"Don't worry, we made up," Belén said cheerfully. "I won't date any of his friends unless he makes new hot friends."

"I didn't say that!" Barry turned on her with a deep frown on his face.

"Shh!"

Caitlin smiled at the two. It was nice having them back to their regular selves; certainly more amusing.

~0~

When night settled over the city, everyone was set to go. Cisco had procured a moving truck that belonged to one of his uncles. He rigged its back to situate their six metahumans in the back who wouldn't have their powers for the duration of their trip. Getting to the warehouse was no problem as Barry made a clear pathway for them through the streets. It was the waiting part that would soon bring them trouble.

"Ferris Air? I thought this place got shut down," Snart remarked as he climbed off his motorcycle once they entered the solitary place where the ARGUS airplane was meant to be at any moment.

"It did. One of their test pilots disappeared," Barry distractedly responded as he stared out into the dark sky looking for the airplane.

Joe, Caitlin and Belén got out of their car and walked over to the two. "So what's the plan? I want to get this over with," Joe said.

"It should be here any minute," Barry promised. "Look, Joe, I know you don't agree with this…"

Joe shook his head. "Save it, Barr. I just want to get it done." He walked away.

As Caitlin followed in suit, Belén was left staring at Snart...who soon caught on and smirked.

"Something on your mind sweetheart?" he asked. Barry quickly looked at the two, confused.

Belén remained with a straight face. "Do you know where my sister is right now?"

"No I do not."

"And why would I believe you?"

"Because I don't particularly like your sister and would very much like to see you get your hands on her."

"I would never hurt my sister, Snart," Belén shook her head, but Snart just smirked.

"When your family goes rogue, you don't have much choices. Besides, she was willing to hurt you and your friends, why not pay her with the same coin?"

Belén stared at Snart without much words in mind. Snart knew he had won and turned for Barry. "Your A.R.G.U.S. friends aren't very prompt. Maybe that's why they've never been able to catch me."

Caitlin came to them once she caught sight of the airplane. "Look, there it is."

"Guys, guys!" Cisco ran out from the truck. "We have a problem. The damper's fluctuating. The rig's losing power. I don't know why."

Barry turned to him, panicking. "Wait, can you do something?"

"I'm trying!" Cisco frantically worked with his tablet.

An odd lightning crackled from the sky, but they knew better than that.

"Oh, God. Mardon," Joe recalled the terrible metahuman.

The airplane was struck by the lightning and crashed landed way across them. At the same time, the truck's backdoor flung open and the metahumans piled out ready for action.

"Trip's canceled!" Mardon cackled. "Take your last breath!"

Simmons shot red lasers towards the group, causing them to quickly disband towards hiding places. In the middle of her running, Belén crashed into Azul.

Gasping, Belén tried running in a different direction.

"Where are you going, Bells?" Azul shot a blast of ice towards her. Although it didn't directly hit her, the terror of the attack knocked her down. "We have a pending score to settle."

"Azalea!" Cisco shouted and made a move to go help her but he, Caitlin and Joe, were forced behind a car as they dealt with Mardon, Bivolo and Simmons.

"N-Noah!" Belén pushed the man off and tried punching him. Azul grasped her wrist and used it to twist her down to her back. Belén hissed with eyes screwed shut.

"I bet Rayan is gonna be real happy to see your ass dead," Azul smirked. "Too bad it'll be too easy."

Belén allowed her anger to take over again and with it her new side. Her skin became that emerald green, even her eyes seemed to shift towards a magenta color for a moment. "Or how about I bring you to him instead?" she surprised him with. Her nails gripped his wrist and pushed through his skin.

Her vines crept onto him, but unlike with Shawna, they grabbed him whole and threw him to the side.

"Let's settle the score, Azul. Once and for all!" she called and went after him.

Meanwhile, Barry was dealing with Nimbus who was trying to poison him with his noxious gas. He could see his friends and Belén needed help but everytime he tried getting back into the warehouse Nimbus threatened to kill him. He had to deal with Nimbus first, no options left.

Belén's started flinging pieces of vines as if they were shards, but Azul broke them with his icicles. He put his hands together and fired with an icy smoke that chilled the surroundings. Through the fog, Belén could see Simmons firing lasers at Barry who was attempting to get back in. She was also able to see Mardon strike him down with a rackling thunder.

"Boyfriend's going bye-bye," Azul laughed. "Just like you will."

Snart's words came back to Belén's mind. If they were so willing to hurt her, then what was stopping her from doing the same?

Belén charged forwards, clearing the chill with her own poison. She swung an angry fist at Azul, surprising him and knocking him down. Her vines crawled over her hands, forming sharp ends like daggers. She raised them up but before she brought them down, a streak of gold hit Azul and killed him.

Belén dropped her hands and whipped around to see Lisa holding her golden gun. In that moment, Belén realized what she'd been about to do and stepped away from the corpse. All the green faded from her skin, the magenta in her eyes disappearing too. Oh my God!

Snart himself shot Simmons with his cold gun, killing him instantly. "How about we call tonight a tie?" Snart addressed the remaining metahumans Mardon and Bivolo with his cold gun still aimed at them.

Bivolo aimed to whammy Snart when he felt a cold metal on the side of his head. Lisa had anticipated it and was threatening to cover him with gold just as Azul.

"I'd power down if you don't want me to melt your face."

"Let's all go our separate ways," Snart insisted and lowered his gun. "My name is Leonard Snart-"

"I know who you are," Mardon cut him off. Who didn't know if the famous Snart?

"Always pleased to meet a fan. Just remember who it was made sure you didn't get thrown on that plane bound for nowhere." Snart pointed out to the disastrous place and started in another direction.

"You're just letting us go?" Mardon couldn't buy it as he looked to the now-dead Simmons on the floor. "Why'd you shoot that guy?"

Snart shrugged."He owed me money."

Mardon frowned as Snart gave off an expectant look. "Mmm. What? You want a "thank you?"

"Who doesn't like a "thank you?""

"Thank you…?" Bivolo said slowly, still under the threat of Lisa's gun.

"You are so very welcome," Snart made it to where Barry had been left on the ground.

"You sabotaged the truck, didn't you?" Barry asked through a strained voice. He shifted on the ground, trying and failing to get up. "Why did you let them escape?"

"Because now they all owe me. And something tells me they'll be a lot more use to me as part of my rogues than rotting away in the North China sea."

"You gave us your word…"

Snart laughed and bent down beside him. "It's true, I did. But here's the thing. I'm a criminal and a liar, and I hurt people, and I rob them. What did you expect me to do? Not be what I am? I saw an opportunity to turn things to my advantage, and I did. Who you're really mad at is yourself. This is on you, Barry. Even your little girlfriend backed off at the last moment because she knew this could happen."

"Then why don't you just kill me?"

"Well, I guess you owe me one now, too. Good luck with... all of this." Snart straightened up and walked back towards his motorcycle. Before he did, he spotted Belén. He walked for her instead and met her glaring eyes. "Well, so much for not hurting people, huh?"

Belén frowned and made to go for him but at the last moment forced herself to stay still. These powers, with all its glory, were still uncontrollable at times. She needed to get a better handle on it.

~0~

After all had been done and, well, cleaned up, the group dejectedly returned to STAR Labs. Caitlin settled immediately into her medical expertise as she checked herself to make sure she was no longer under the effects of Bivolo's powers, then moved on to Belén and Barry. With Barry's quick healing powers, he was back in physical aptitude faster than she could finish the check up. Belén had less injuries but it would still take a while for her to get better again. So, despite being told to 'take it easy', when Caitlin finished with her, Belén got right up and went in search of her boyfriend who'd mysteriously gone missing after hearing they were all fine.

The Particle Accelerator was set to go off in just a couple of minutes so Belén knew Barry must be taking it far harder than anyone else right now.

"Hey," she playfully knocked on the side of the pipeline's threshold once she found him sitting down on the slightly raised floor.

"Bells, you're supposed to be resting," Barry got up to help her walk in. Despite not bearing severe injuries, she was still walking a bit slower.

"Barry, I'm fine - well, I'm going to be fine, you know," Belén said but let him lead her to where he'd been sitting at. "Caitlin says I just have some nasty bruises…"

"Painful ones," Barry noticed her wince when she put a hand over her back.

"It's fine," Belén insisted and turned her head at him. "I tried to kill someone so believe me, my physical injuries are the least of my worries."

Barry glanced at her, knowing this was probably going to haunt her for a while. "The powers took you over, it wasn't you out there."

"Except it was," Belén sighed. "I've been angry for a while. I'm angry that my brother has been spying on me, has been hurting me. I'm angry with Maritza about lying to me and hurting me too. I'm angry that my Dad got killed. I'm just angry, Barry, and I'm releasing it in ways that I didn't think I ever could. If Lisa hadn't shot Azul...I probably would have stabbed him."

Barry put his arm around her shoulders and brought her to his side. "We've been through a lot."

"Yeah..."

"Tonight was my fault, though. I've seen the way that Oliver does things, and he's not afraid to just do whatever it takes to get what he needs, and I thought that I could do that too. I thought I could just use Snart, but instead he used me."

"Well, to be fair, the whole idea was my idea…" Belén rubbed her arm.

"Yeah, but, Bells," Barry shifted to face her, "you didn't agree - you didn't want to agree to Snart's deal. You knew something like this could've happened because you...you were smart, you didn't fall for it. I did."

"I was being a scary-cat and you were being calculating," Belén offered an alternative way to see things. "I mean, yeah, okay, maybe you were trying to be a little too much like Oliver...which-" she leaned closer to him with a soft smile gracing her lips, "-I wouldn't like to see, honestly. The Arrow is the Arrow, and that's not the kind of hero I know you are. I'd rather you dealt with things the Flash way."

"Yeah, and how's that?" Barry tilted his head, a bit curious to know what she thought.

"Mm," Belén looked to the side as she came up with her answer. "You actually cared about whether or not those criminals lived or died. Oliver probably would've seen them as collateral damage. You don't do walks in the dark side, you shouldn't."

"Tell you what," Barry began a new proposal, "Next time I get a crazy idea to agree to a criminal's word...you snap me out of it by all means."

"Can I smack you?"

"Yes...if necessary."

"Okay, deal!"

Barry stared at the excited ombre-blonde a bit worried. "You, uh...you agreed a bit fast on that one…"

Belén chuckled. "Well, who doesn't jump on the opportunity to smack some sense into their boyfriend?" Barry wasn't exactly sure that was a good thing. Belén surprised him with a small kiss on the lips. "But if you don't do more dark-side experimenting, you can get one of these."

"That sounds absolutely fair," Barry instantly nodded his head. "And I promise you that we're going to continue that training."

"Okay," Belén nodded.

Suddenly, an alarm blared from the ceiling and soon they heard Cisco's voice calling them from the speakerphone.

"Guys... The Particle Accelerator is fully charged and online. Whatever Wells needs it for, it's ready."

Barry took Belén's hand and helped her up to her feet. "C'mon," he helped her walk out the room towards the cortex.

All the computers were raging with alarms as the Particle Accelerator prepared to activate yet again. No one knew what was meant to happen, but they knew one thing for sure was that Wells was returning. Taking precautions, Barry once again changed into his suit and stood ready by the computers.

"He wants you to go out there," Belén sighed once she caught sight of Wells walking in through the front gate like nothing.

"And I will," Barry said, not denying he needed this battle.

This was the part where Belén hated not being a speedster, because it meant she wouldn't be able to help him. "I don't want you to go out there alone," Belén knew she was speaking for everyone, especially Joe.

"I need to go. If I don't, he'll come in," Barry looked at the others and hoped they would see it the way he was. It was precaution, after all. He sped out of the room to go meet Wells.

"Hey, Wells isn't alone," Cisco said after noticing another figure in the screen.

"What?" Belén practically shoved Cisco to the side in order to look at the computers. He let it go on account of the situation (but her hand was actually pretty strong). "Oh absolutely not." The venom in her tone was uncharacteristic of her, even her stride for her own suit, but the moment the computer was available again, and Caitlin, Cisco and Joe saw who else was out there...they understood.

"Belén, hold on," Cisco came around the desk as fast as he could to stop her from leaving. "You can't go out there-"

"-pretty sure I just told Barry that and he had to go. Now it's my turn. Pixel is out there and I'll be damned if she lays a finger on Barry. Plus, she and I have another score to settle too."

"But Barry's not alone anymore," Caitlin pointed out. "Firestorm and the Arrow just showed up. Belén, it's okay to stay in here now."

Belén thought about it logically but despite knowing the numbers were in their favor, she couldn't just sit there and watch Pixel have her own fun against them. "Wells - or Thawne - brought her in because of me. He has no use for her except to taunt me."

"Then don't let him," Cisco put his hands on her shoulders.

Green crept across Belén's face and down her arms. "I can't, Cisco."

Her vines grabbed her suit from behind and together they disappeared. Cisco whirled around to Joe and Caitlin. "What do we do now!?"

"Hope neither of them gets killed," Joe despised that answer, and yet there was seriously nothing else they could do but that.

~ 0 ~

Pixel cackled while she actively dodged Oliver's arrows. "Bet you can't catch me!" her sing-song attitude irritated the hell out of the man. It appeared more like she was playing a game with them, and that's exactly what she was doing.

Well, the game was about to shift opponents.

Pixel was ducking as another arrow threatened to get her, and since her gaze was on Oliver she didn't notice the vines coming for her back. She yelped when the tendril squeezed her arms to her sides.

"I got her," Belén told Oliver and nodded for him to go help Barry. It seemed like Wells had thrown Firestorm quite far without his fire to protect him.

Pixel laughed, her shoulders shaking with her. "You got me? As if." She whipped her entire body around and pulled Belén with the vine. Her energy cut through the vines and gave her an opportunity to strike first.

Belén felt the connection of Pixel's hand with her chin and vowed the woman would get it now. She was done being Pixel's and Rayan's punching bag, their innocent doll. No more.

Belén retaliated with her poisonous smoke and while Pixel fought to keep her lungs clean, the ombre-blonde delivered a roundhouse kick that may or may not have earned her a cheer inside STAR Labs. "That felt good," she admitted to herself. She flinched, however, when she heard a loud clang and turned to see Wells' body landing against the fence, courtesy of Barry.

"That's the spirit! You can't stop me, Flash. And you never will," Wells smirked impossibly wide as he detached himself from the fence. Perhaps it was a game to him too.

Barry glared at him but said nothing in return. Instead, he took off for the side of building and got Wells to chase after him.

Pixel jumped to her feet and grabbed Belén in a choke-hold. "First, I'll kill you, and then I'll get Azul out and together we'll kill everyone in that building." She nodded at the building where the two speedster's lightning trails illuminated their eyes.

"Azul is dead!" Belén managed to say in-between gasps for air.

It was enough to cause distraction. "What!?" Pixel blinked.

Belén shoved her elbow into the woman's stomach, forcing Pixel to keel over in pain. Belén whirled around and didn't hesitate to throw another kick, this time getting Pixel right on the chin. "An eye for an eye!" she spat and thrust her vines forwards to tie the woman up.

Pixel growled and shrieked as vine after vine wrapped over her body. Belén worked fast to keep Pixel's powers from penetrating her vines, but her eyes were also flickering up to the building where the rest of the men were fighting. She flinched when Wells came crashing down onto a car but was relieved to see Oliver coming through with one specific arrow. A tranquilizer specifically made for a speedster.

Barry, Firestorm and Oliver soon gathered over the unconscious speedster, all wearing pretty proud smiles.

"Thanks, fellas," Barry said truthfully.

"No problem," Oliver nodded at him.

"Nice haircut. And I see we've abandoned our traditional green..." Barry mused now that he noticed Oliver's darker green suit.

"Green is such a good color though, isn't it?" Belén gestured to herself. "Any shade works."

Oliver smiled for a moment. He then looked over to Barry, back in his Oliver-seriousness way. "Look... I might need a favor from you."

"Wherever, whenever," Barry assured him. Oliver nodded once more then shot an arrow ahead to take him home.

"I'm guessing dear old Firestorm wants to see a Dr. Caitlin Snow?" Belén smirked at the fiery metahuman. "And one Clarissa?" her smirk, however, suddenly vanished as she started to convulse on the spot.

"Belén!?" Barry panicked and went for her only to feel a force pinning his feet to the ground.

Belén found it hard to breathe despite knowing there was nothing wrong with her. Her legs buckled and soon had her drop to her knees. "I-I can't - I can't move! I can't - ah!" her left shoulder lurched forwards.

Firestorm looked around and only spotted Pixel untangling herself from Belén's vines. Her entire body disappeared and re-formed across from them where a second figure was approaching. The entry gate was flung to the side without every being touched.

"It's over, Belén," Rayan came to a stop beside Pixel. "It's finally over for you."

Belén could hear her brother's voice but as much as she tried to get, take control of her body, she just couldn't. "Wh-wat's happening? Barry!?"

"Don't bother," Rayan balled his fists so that Belén, Barry and even Firestorm felt the true weight of his new ability. The metas shared screams of pain as they felt the insides of their bodies twisting.

Inside STAR Labs, there was a heavy panic of death.

"What is he doing!?" Joe turned to the two scientists in a hurry.

"I think...I think he's controlling their bodies," Caitlin did the best she could through a screen. She focused on Rayan's position and movements. "His telekinetic powers, in theory, can grant him the ability to control anything...including a human body."

"We gotta stop that before he kills them," Joe turned to go, his hand nearing the gun he carried.

"Pixel is going for Wells," Cisco's eyes widened. "Is it too late to call Oliver back? Maybe Nina?"

"I am going out there!" Joe took off and, panicked and afraid, Caitlin and Cisco ran after him.

"So sad," Pixel carelessly stepped around the three metas on the ground. "Azul may be dead but at least you'll be too." Her eyes twinkled at the sight of blood coming out from Belén's nose. "Maybe you can be first, Belén."

"Get the speedster and go," Rayan nodded towards Wells' unconscious body. There was a clear strain on his face from keeping three whole bodies down at the same time.

Pixel disappeared and reappeared by Thawne's side, and just as she was about to reach for his arm she heard the building's door open up. She looked over and smirked at the sight of the three non-metas. "Well, it's either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid of you to come out and play."

"Get the hell away from them," Joe held his gun directly at her, but seeing Rayan maintaining control over the others made it difficult to pick one.

Pixel saw it and smirked again. "Who would you shoot, Detective? Can you shoot one of us?"

"To save my kid, the hell I will," Joe cocked his gun at her since she was beginning to come for them now. "Back the hell up."

"Or what?" she demanded. She waved a hand and shot some of her electrical energy, making Joe drop the gun to the side. "Oh, no more weapons. What happens now, Detective?"

"Pixel! Get Thawne!" Rayan yelled in frustration. Blood was forming under his nose too and, if Caitlin was seeing right, at the corner of his eyes too.

"No, I want them dead too!" Pixel prepared to fire at the trio but her body was suddenly tackled down from a figure who dropped from the air. The two rolled over until it was Maritza who hovered over.

"You?" Pixel blinked in surprise. "Where the hell have you been!?"

Maritza punched the woman across the face. "That's for hurting my sister!" she then struck again. "And that's for trying to hurt the others!"

Pixel was groggy but her anger got her to focus fast. Her electrical energy connected with Plasticine's chest, throwing the woman to the side. "I knew you were a traitor," Pixel got up and wiped some of the blood from her busted lip. "Just like little sister over there."

"Maritza, what the hell are you doing?" Rayan managed to ask despite his ongoing struggle.

"Rayan, you have to stop!" Plasticine looked up from the ground. "We got it wrong - we got it so wrong! Wells was the enemy, not the Flash. You need to stop this!"

"You're betraying me too," Rayan nodded. "Then you can die too."

Maritza's eyes widened, knowing what was coming for her, so she built a wall with her purple mass to cover herself from whatever Rayan was going to throw at her. It was sturdy enough to deflect part of the wired fence, but not enough to protect her from the chunk of the car Thawne had fallen over. Maritza crashed on her back, her head taking a mighty blow. She groaned and brought a hand to her forehead, turning her head just a bit. When she opened her eyes she saw Joe's gun lying next to her.

She could hear the collective cries from her sister and the other two metas. "We need to stop!" Maritza snatched the gun and aimed it at Rayan then Pixel. She moved it between them, much like Joe had earlier.

"Please, you're going to shoot your own brother?" Rayan scoffed.

Maritza's eyes flickered to the smirking Pixel who was preparing to fire again. "Nope," she suddenly changed targets and shot Pixel. The platinum blonde clearly hadn't been expecting it - much less that Maritza had actually done it - as the bullet plunged right through her chest.

"Oh my God!" Caitlin exclaimed as Pixel's body collapsed on the ground. Joe and Cisco kept her back, though, since the match wasn't quite over.

Maritza seemed unfazed, but angry as hell, as she moved the gun back on Rayan. "Next one goes through your foot, Rayan. Let them go now."

Rayan looked at Maritza for a full minute, and since the pressure was taking a toll he needed to let them go. He raised his hands to show the telekinetic force was lifted. Maritza looked down at the three metas and was relieved to see Belén sucking in a deep breath.

"Like I said, this isn't over!" Rayan's snap brought her back. "You and Belén betrayed me. You'll pay with your lives, Maritza. That'll be on you."

Maritza watched Rayan turn to leave. Her younger brother was tired, easily seen, but to escape he was quick. Telekinesis wielded pipes against them to keep them busy and allow him the clear escape he wanted.

"Are you okay?" Barry helped Belén up to her feet, both having the same blood over their lips and chins.

"No..." Belén wiped the blood from her face and looked over to Maritza with uncertainty. Would Maritza fight them too and get away?

Maritza watched them all gather against her, and since she still held Joe's gun she knew what they were thinking. Slowly, she lowered the gun to the ground and straightened up with her hands in the air. The rest of the group exchanged glances amongst them, but it was Barry who sped and cuffed Maritza with meta-dampeners.

Still, Belén walked - wobbled since she was still getting control again - over. Barry watched her with concern - this could not be easy at all. Belén stopped just behind Maritza, her gaze looking straight ahead and not at her sister. She just couldn't right now.

"You're under arrest, Maritza Palayta," Belén swallowed hard and turned away from her sister.

#arrowverseocs #ocappreciation #the flash #barry allen #the flash imagines #barry allen imagines #the flash fics #barry allen fics #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: it had to be you

[enchantment1385]

The face of pure evil ~ The whole truth about Faeron’s dark passenger 

**To be warned, this is a long, and heavy going post, dealing with adult themes. If this even might possibly upset you, please don’t read it.**   Ever wonder where Faeron and Nico got their scars from? Or, why Faeron spent years pushing people away, despite being lonely? Ever wonder what I mean when I say, ‘Faeron, isn’t Faeron when he gets emotionally overloaded.’ Or,  ‘He’s terrified he will pull someone into his nightmares’?  You’re looking at him! This classy fella is Nicholas. He’s a slaver from Antiva, not to mention a class a psychopath who took a real shine to Faeron. He proceeds, even now in death, to torment, breakdown, beat, and abuse him, while whispering, it’s all in the name of his deep love for Faeron.  How the fuck is that possible?!  Well, let’s first go back to the start...

5 years before the events of the game - Faeron’s first love tragically died in a hunting accident. A warrior from his clan, an elf by the name of Necen, slipped and fell on the ice. Unfortunately, as he fell, his head hit against a rock and he broke his neck. He died instantly, while Faeron watched in horror, knowing that even with all his magic, he could do nothing to save him.  Not that this stopped him from trying, even to the point of following him to the beyond and begging Necen to come back with him.  Necen just gave Faeron a smile, a gentle kiss on the forehead, and told Faeron he knew that wasn’t possible, but that he loved him all the more for coming and saying goodbye.  As you can imagine, this sent Faeron into a massive depression. For months he did nothing but softly shrug and cry when asked how he was holding up. He felt he was lost, and that he was alone. 

4 years before the events of the game -  Through intense care from his family (Nico & Thalion) and his closest friends in the camp (who were best friends of Necen) a warrior named Leris, and a rogue named Jaralan, Faeron began to slowly piece himself back together.  Everyday was a challenge, but if there is one person in all of Thedas who can find beauty, and joy in the smallest of things, it’s Faeron.  Although he still hurt, he hated dwelling on the endless ‘what if’s’, he knew how hard everyone was trying, and he felt it was only fair to do the same. For them, for Necen, and for himself. 

3 and a half years before the events of the game - Faeron was still very young (21/22) and had been alone, in every sense, for the past 18 months. Although he wasn’t ready to share his heart again, he did feel that he could possibly be ready for the odd, one time trysts, providing he wouldn’t have to see that person again. He just didn’t feel ready for the guilt that brought with it. He felt that he was in some way using them, or misleading them, which is why he only had the one. That is, until...

3 years before the events of the game - Faeron was emotionally stronger. He could think, and even talk about Necen and smile. Instead of the infinite pain and emptiness that filled him, Faeron felt blessed for the time they did share together. Things really did seem to be on the up... Alas... It was only to be a short term reprieve before the real shit storm hit. On a fairly routine visit to one of the local towns for supplies for the camp, the twins met a man who helped them with a rather unpleasant merchant. This man invited them both for lunch for their inconvenience, and abuse they had suffered, this man was, Nicholas.  Nicholas introduced himself as a traveling businessman who was based in Antiva, yet traveled all of Thedas. He portrayed himself as a handsome and charming man, with money, influence, and stories of wondrous sights he had seen in his travels.  Nico, highly suspicious in nature, couldn’t shake this cold shiver every time she caught this man’s eye, although she couldn’t fully understand why.  Faeron, by contrast, overly trusting in nature, was enthralled and more than a little enraptured. Especially when the compliments began, then the lingering looks, the smallest of touches, the warmth of his breath that tickled his neck and ear as he whispered to him...  Nico cut the events short after a sick, uneasy feeling overcame her with it all, she warned Faeron not to get involved with Nicholas, made him promise he would never see him again. Faeron agreed. It was the only lie he ever told his sister in all his life, and also the biggest regret of his life.  The two had already arranged a meeting for the following night, a few hours away from the twins camp. Faeron truly believed that his sister’s fury was due to Nicholas being human... But Faeron didn’t plan to elope with him! Merely spend a few hours in his company, nothing more. Faeron had known love, and this, wasn’t it. It was lust, so much more simple and easily dealt with, so long as Faeron kept the others safe, where was the harm in that?  The harm first came in form of poison. A highly illegal toxin, brewed in Tervinter through equal parts alchemy and blood magic, it completely suppresses all magic and strength, while keeping it’s victim lucid. It also bound Faeron to Nicholas. You see... Nicholas hid part truths in every lie. He was a businessman, if you call the slave trade a business that is, but he was also a man who had  very dark desires, and made a lot of money from them.  Something about Faeron enraptured Nicholas, a ‘beautiful gem, in this harsh and ugly land’. But Nicholas was greedy, taking just one elf, no matter how beautiful, was not enough, he wanted the camp, and he was going to get Faeron to tell him where it was. This time not through trickery, but violence, and abuse. While I wont go into detail... Faeron was abused and beaten from sun down to predawn. The first of the scars was the deepest, a long running deep gash on the left side of his head and face. Nicholas hacked and ripped Faeron’s hip length hair off in chunks. As Faeron pulled away, Nicholas blade caught just by Faeron’s temple, in a panic, Faeron flinched as the blade was dragged downwards. Faeron heard the blade scape bone... He thought he was going to die, yet remained as defiant as any man could when he couldn’t even hold himself up anymore.  When Nico arrived through mere intuition, she saw the carnage, the blood, and her brother. She thought he was dead until he slowly turned a beaten and blood soaked face towards her. All he could mumble was he was so sorry, and to run. Run away, and don’t look back.  Nico lost all composure, her rage boiled over and she charged... She managed to kill 4 of his men, before she was subdued by a massive brute of a man Nicholas kept close, his hands so large he could hold Nico up by her head with just one of them. She headbutted the brute and broke his nose, but Nicholas quickly stepped in. Nico’s face exploded in more pain than she had ever felt. After years of indulging in his perversions, Nicholas knew how to hurt people, and good punch in just the right place could tear a face wide open, which it did. Nico was pretty, but mouthy, she needed to be reigned in and although he had never had to deal with anyone quite so fiery, he did enjoy a challenge, and seeing Faeron suddenly become so very complacent, so eager to exchange her pain for his own, excited him.  Faeron begged, and preyed, and pleaded, if not for his own life, then for his sister’s, and something heard him. Something as gentle as Faeron, something that felt afraid and sad at the sights of this... soul.  Then a sound echoed through that grove that chilled Faeron’s heart to ice. The sound of his father’s hunting horn. Thalion lavellan is a protective parent. Faeron going wondering, that was one thing, but for Nico to be worried enough to leave camp in the middle of the night? That, was not a common occurrence. Shortly after his daughter left, he followed.  What had started as ‘one night of passion’ had turned into the death of his family. Memories are fuzzy after this point for Faeron, he remembers feeling sick, and the ringing in his ears becoming so loud he thought he was going to go deaf. Then he remembers feeling... Nothing. But not in the same way as becoming unconscious, he was aware of the nothing, but he couldn’t say if he trapped in a small box, or stranded in a massive cavern it was just, nothing.  What Nico witnessed is the only time in her life she has ever been truly afraid. Faeron’s body exploded with light, when she looked back he was standing, and there was no way he should be. Not after the beatings he had taken, his body was so mottled with purples and blues that she could hardly see any of his soft rose gold skin anymore. Not after losing that much blood. He was barely clinging to life moments before, and now he stood and turned his gaze to what little remained of Nicholas’ men. With the smallest wave of his hand the men, now fleeing, were crushed with an invisible force. Faeron, or whatever this was, wasn’t content with the cracks of bones... The force kept crushing until the glade rained red. The bute was next, as he charged toward Faeron, he simply lifted one finger and he was halted in his tracks. Faeron lifted his body with magic and ripped him limb from limb. Nico for once, didn’t know what to do. She wanted these men dead, and felt no sympathy for their ends... But that thing... That wasn’t Faeron. Faeron couldn’t do what this thing was doing, he wouldn’t not ever. But that was no demon that she had ever seen either. It was Faeron, but it wasn’t.  Nicholas was furious. The gold that Faeron alone could have brought him, not to mention he would mere only ever ‘rent’ Faeron. He was to be his personal plaything, and now this mess. There was nothing for it now. He’d have to kill his pretty gem, and make his escape.  But, when the spirit of comfort becomes one of retribution, it is not easily slowed. Faeron vaguely remembers his face felt warm, he thinks he remembers smiling at feeling something, anything, and not the nothingness that was almost crushing him... He did smile. It was the most terrifying sight Nico has ever seen. The ‘warmth’ had been Nicholas’ blade catching his face, and the blood that followed. His body pulled back, but not in time. This is where the scar over his eye came from. Faeron caught Nicholas and pressed his head against the same tree he had been lashed to, and he pushed. He pushed until the very roots of the tree screamed, and he kept pushing. He pushed until an explosive bang echoed out around them and the air was filled with splinters of wood and bone. Then Faeron remembers feeling cold. When he finally began to blink and see vague shapes and colours he began to stagger. He could hear Nico... and his Father... He needed to get to them, but he didn’t know why. He felt heavy, and so cold now, and his mind felt fuzzy. Like his brain was wrapped in thick furs. He remembers asking for help and then... Then he was back in that glade, with Nicholas, reliving something he knew that shouldn’t be possible. He was trapped in his own nightmare for two weeks while his body slowly rebuilt itself. Even then, it was a complete unknown if or when he would ever awake, and if he did, in what state. You see, Faeron, being a dreamer usually could easily control his dreamscape, or anyone else’s he wanted. But this poison the ‘blood’ part of the blood magic, was Nicholas’s own. Although this was not a predicted effect, something, some part of that dark egomaniac had clung on to life inside of Faeron, something Nicholas found quite poetic. Now Faeron would always be his, forever. After all, no one could know him like he would now. And so he sits and hides in the shadows, waiting for Faeron to be broken down by life until he can overpower him for a short time, have his fun, hurt him, and say it’s because he loves him in a way no one else ever could.  Faeron is strong, and maybe the spirit of comfort gives him the strength to keep him in his little dark place, Faeron would rather die and take that monster with him than ever let him loose.  A small group in his camp harboured great feelings of anger and resentment towards him when the whisperings of what happened (to an extent) got around. The son of the keeper off for illicit trysts in the woods with a shem? A slaver. He deserved what he got, and they wanted to finish the job. This rebellion was quickly quelled after Nico declared to the camp she would kill any man, woman, or child that dare approach her twin, and she made it all to clear this was no empty threat. She also went on to express her digest at the fact they were so quick to condemn the one person who would give his life for any one of them. Still, even to this day, there are those who still carry a grudge towards Faeron for his actions. No one could hate him more than he hates himself though. He lied to his family. He put his people at risk. He went against his sister’s wishes. In hindsight, he sometimes wishes he hadn’t survived that night, but then making a mistake is easy, living with it... That’s the hard part.

From that day to this -  Ever since, Faeron has become much more solitary than ever before. He tries to make peace with himself, to find happiness in the happiness of others, but he knows he’s lonely, and he’s too scared to let anyone close. If anyone he loved was ever hurt because of him... It would end up killing him. He couldn’t cope, his mind would shatter like a mirror hitting the floor. When he’s pushed and strained emotionally to the point of breaking, that same aura infects him and he can’t control it. Except that energy, that inquisitive, once golden bright comfort, is tainted now too, infected with blood that isn’t it’s own.  But Faeron is just as gentle, just as kind as he always was, he is also emotionally and physically scared. This is why when he gives himself to someone it means everything to him. Not only has he found someone he loves so much he wants to be with them, he’s found someone he feels accepts him, fully. Even the flaws... Someone he trusts so fully as to know all of him, and to stop him if they needed to. Nico has read, and reread books, stolen enchanted charms, bribed, threatened, and beat people for a name of a lead of man who knows a man, all in hopes of finding a way of ridding this monster from her brother. So far - Nothing has helped, but that doesn’t mean she’s ever going to stop looking. She has also become far more protective since then. Almost losing her brother was enough for her to know, she can’t ever lose him. As much as he believes that she’s the strong one, Nico knows how strong, and brave her brother is, and how beautiful he is for still seeing all those little things that make him smile. A lesser person would have been broken, or full of bitterness and bile after what happened, but not Faeron. He’s still too trusting, too caring, and too foolish for his own good, and she thanks the creators for it. For the day that her foolish and sweet brother and his gentle heart no longer sees the beauty in the smallest of things, is the day Thedas becomes shrouded in darkness, and the day she lays down her blade.  

#faeron lavellan #nico lavellan #backstory #oc character development #now you know where they got the scars #and so much more #heavy going #now im sad #twinquisition #my pixel children #dragon age ocs #dragon age inquisition

[atopearth]

Samurai Love Ballad Party Part 8 - Oda Nobunaga Act 2

Not sure how keen I am for the shadow stories so I’m gonna go for the Act 2 stories first😄 Time for Nobunaga again!♥️ It’s so cute that the heroine knows how much Nobunaga loves his sweets so she prepared a lot more than he thought so that she could give them to the other retainers as well hahaha. Omgg, he’s declared that he’s going to take her to be his wife! Nobunaga’s and Mitsuhide’s differences seem to be more and more apparent now, with Nobunaga intent on destroying everything in his path to establish Divine Rule where everyone under him will be protected by him, whereas Mitsuhide wants Nobunaga to think about the people under him more and think about whether taking all this land and people is the priority or listening to what the people want is. Tbh, I don’t think either is wrong, mainly because, listening to the people are important, but that doesn’t mean you should give them everything they want, since what they want currently may not be something that will benefit them in the future. Nobunaga always looks towards the future, so, depending on how things go, who are we to know who is right?

Nice! He brought her to see his mother! Didn’t realise she was alive since she started living outside the castle after Nobunaga’s father died. Omg, his father was killed because a retainer betrayed him… And another reason for his drive is that he promised his father Divine Rule where there will be no more wars and no more blood shed. I guess the reason Nobunaga is so ruthless is because his father’s belief and trust in others led to his demise, so he can’t bear to allow the same thing to happen to him, therefore he can’t trust anyone besides himself. You can understand why Mitsuhide is so angry and worried, Nobunaga wants to rename the year?! And wants to exile the shogun?! Like, I know he means well with his ambition, but renaming the year practically means he’s the one reigning over the country, especially if named for him. Which also means that many people would go after him since it shows how much power he has.

I love how the heroine didn’t explicitly voice her views to Nobunaga since she knew that it wouldn’t be the way to get through to him, but instead showed it to him through the dessert she made with salt and sugar to show him how important opposite things can be to create something and still be in harmony. Nobunaga and Mitsuhide may have opposite views but they came all this way together, they shouldn’t lose sight of their goal. Kennyo sounds so dodgy lol. Having to see Nobunaga kill Shingen is really saddening, it’s something expected and inevitable, but still hard to swallow. The truce with Kennyo ending, the after effects of Shingen’s death, everything just isn’t going how it’s supposed to… Shingen was Nobunaga’s greatest adversary and it should’ve been his greatest accomplishment to defeat him and it should have brought about the Divine Rule and power he fought so hard for, and yet somehow Kennyo’s words have been slowly getting his own people to lose faith in Nobunaga… Not that it’s exactly bad since in essence, Nobunaga is restricting them from believing in this religion, but, considering the person that Kennyo is (master manipulator), he’s definitely not a trustworthy person to be the one sharing this religion, since it feels more like he’s trying to gather an army of people through it, rather than giving them the freedom they desire.

Considering their differences, it’s not surprising that Mitsuhide left, since Nobunaga is intent on erasing Hongan-ji where Kennyo resides and preaches his religion and Mitsuhide believes in giving the people freedom in believing in their respective god. It’s just saddening that it has come to this when their goals were the same all this time. Although I still feel that Kennyo wasn’t truly working to give happiness to the people, I do acknowledge that what he says has merit, and I’m sure Nobunaga does as well, strength alone cannot protect people, just like how continuous wars won’t bring about happiness… Not surprised that the townspeople are reacting so negatively to Nobunaga decimating Hongan-ji and trampling on what they view to be their freedom. I find it kinda funny that the townspeople refused to attend Nobunaga’s wedding but when they realised that the heroine was his wife, they decided to go celebrate because she’s such a good customer to them hahaha.

When Nobunaga expressed how appreciative he was of meeting her and being able to make her his wife, it was so heartwarming… He’s always been a man wrought with responsibility towards his men and the burdens of all these men that died for his cause, it’s nice that he’s met someone he can actually relax with. Nobunaga’s love for konpeito is so cute, that the first thing they do as a married couple is for the heroine to teach him how to make it hahaha. Never realised that it takes several days to make konpeito though! Lmao when Hideyoshi and the other retainers came to cheer him on making it🤣🤣 Nobunaga’s first words to the heroine “if you have the strength to cry, then you have the strength to do something about it” is something I admit that I very much agree with. You can see how much both Nobunaga and Mitsuhide appreciate each other for what they’ve done to further their ambitions, but…what are they planning to do now? Ohh, unification of the clans by bringing them all alongside their territories under his rule…

Why do I feel like Nobunaga is planning on making himself the bad guy by conquering all the territories and then hoping for Mitsuhide to kill him and take over so that people will applaud him as the man that stopped this demon conqueror or something..? And why do I have to be right..? I mean, he isn’t wrong that the wars won’t end until he falls considering all the things that he has done, but, seeing his letter to the heroine saying all this just breaks my heart and makes me cry😭😭 Nobunaga desired a peaceful world above everything, he thought that as long as he continued fighting and rid himself of all his enemies, that would come to be, but he was wrong, peace doesn’t come when you destroy everyone, but when you are able to unite everyone under you, of which he couldn’t do anymore because of how he settled everything with war and made everyone fear him more than respect him. It’s a hard thing to balance, isn’t it? You can’t not go to war when there’s so many enemies and differences, but the more you do it, the more the people think of you as a warmonger, it’s saddening, so very saddening….

Nobunaga is so cruel to Mitsuhide, he tricked him into staging this betrayal with him thinking that Nobunaga was going to hide away somewhere to produce an heir, but really, he was planning to commit suicide and forcefully turn Mitsuhide into the “hero” and truly bring about the Divine Rule because Nobunaga believes that only someone as kind and understanding as him can truly do so. Like, I agree that Nobunaga’s name only instills fear and disgust right now, but like Mitsuhide said, I don’t think that this has to be the way to go about things! I was about to say, how did the heroine safely get to Honno-ji considering there’s people fighting everywhere, well, I also didn’t think that her back would be ridden with arrows… Really shows how determined she was to save Nobunaga… I’m honestly really happy that Nobunaga hesitated in killing himself because of her, but so sad that everything still has to end up like this… The only happy thing is that they were able to die together… And that in their last moments, their hearts connected and Nobunaga could enjoy his favourite konpeito…

Btw, Nobunaga in a suit is niceee! (reincarnation happy ending btw) LOL when he forced her to meet up with him and then said a potato could dress better than her🥔😂 How very sweet of him to carry her home when she’s kinda tipsy and because she’s not used to heels, he even applied some cream on her feet so that it won’t get too swollen for the next day! Someone who is willing to touch another person’s feet is a keeper~~ y'know, if he wasn’t Nobunaga, I’d be like dang, he’s probably a player or a creep that thinks he can land any woman he wants! He’s already trying to get to her bed! Lmao that she accidentally headbutted him. I’ve never been the biggest fan of the present day reincarnation stuff but I did enjoy their little reunion, I still think them dying together was the perfect ending, but I can understand why they would want to put a happy ending though haha.

Overall, I really enjoyed this Act 2. I think it detailed well the struggles of Nobunaga, he thought that as long as he kept fighting against his enemies, defeating them in war, reigning at the top, he would be able to unify the country and prevent wars from happening ever again, but instead, he became a cruel warmonger in the eyes of his people, forcing him to realise and decide that what his people really needed at this time wasn’t a “monster” such as him, but a kind hero that will listen and care for them. It was pretty heart wrenching to read especially when everything fell into place near the end, but I really liked it. I really enjoyed it. It was sad, but seeing how much Nobunaga loved his people and the future of the country more than himself at all times really made me think he was such a great leader😭😭 I hope the other Act 2 stories are just as good, because I really loved this!

#samurai love ballad party

[anotherramblingfangirl]

“She of Sidhe”:

I decided to try write something based on a couple of the posts I did that were in turn based off of @zenxenophilia faeformers!

This is a testament here as to how when I say “I’ll just do a drabble”, it’s never as short as intended. 

All the same, I hope those who read enjoy!

“Well, hello there.” The thing that looked like a woman but wasn’t a woman spoke first, eyes surveying over lazily, like a cat considering whether it was worth pouncing on a mouse.

“I was not expecting any guests.” She leaned forward in her chair, hands resting on her chin.

One of the afore mentioned guests, felt a glint of sweat rolling down his face as he surveyed the place.

Nobody knew he was here. They couldn’t. Not with what he carried with him.

But that only meant that if something happened, that if the dark creature broke free and attacked, nobody would be able to happen him.

Fortunately, all that bound it here seemed to be attacked.

He would only be in any danger if he did not watch his words.

“What brings you to my humble abode?” A predatory smile.

 “I…I.” He gulped, shuffling the sleeping baby in his arms.

He had to do this, for her. Or she would never last even her first year in this place.

“My daughter…”

“Your daughter?” Was said incredulously, a peel of laugher let off.

“I can smell you both from here mortal. Smell and sense your delicious lives, and she is not your daughter.”

It was then that the man nearly lost her footing, for in the blink of an eye the sidhe had gone from sitting on her chair to mere inches away from him, sending him reeling backwards in a panic.

“Let me see her th-“ A yowl then as it thudded off something invisible, hands grasping it’s face in pain.

“You can’t threaten me here. Not in this place. You can do nothing!” He spoke up, voice wavering as he did something brave.

Laughter was not the response that he expected.

Dark laughter, growing louder and louder, distorting until it sounded like many, many voices at once, coming from just one mouth alone.

He wondered if those were the voices of those lives it had eaten.

Eaten, before Marissa had caught it.

 Marissa sheaved the blade in her sleeve, held in place by a series of leather straps

Sheaved the blade and then reached for two branches collected from a rowan tree and tucked one within each boot.

She would need all the protection she could get to catch this thing.

Then it was the matter of making her way to the home of the leanan sidhe and the husband it was slowly murdering.

Marissa scowled as she did so, becoming quickly aware that she was being watched.

She could see them.

From fluttery little glowy things dotting about to larger creatures, who lurked in the shadows.

She had always been able to see them even when nobody else could, something which has resulted in her unfortunately, incessantly, being bothered by the sordid lot of them.

Always having to get involved in their fae nonsense.

Ugh.

At least it had a practical use.

You had to take whatever footing you could if you wanted any chance at keeping any humans safe from the fae, never mind an entire village.

However, this sight especially concerned her.

Because with how many were nearby now, how many were watching…it’s like they knew what was about to happen.

And if they knew…then could-?

Marissa swore and hurried her steps.

“I can do nothing. Oh, but that isn’t quite true is it? If I was powerless you wouldn’t be here, sweating away. You’re desperate. You want something from me. Something for that…daughter of yours.”

It was back again, leaning as close as it could to the edge of its prison, trying for a glimpse at his sleeping child.

He has her twisted away as far as he could, refusing to let it have that glimpse.

“You don’t look human, I know you don’t. I want to know how you seem to.”

“Glamour. You want the infant glamoured.”

“She isn’t safe, not without it. They’ll kill her.”

“Oh certainly.  It’s why I find the whole business with changelings a rather nasty affair. Sending our own children off to fend for themselves against your kind who would burn us what chance they get.” The life drinker’s face turned quite foul at that, a seething hatred clear in its voice.

He couldn’t tell if it was sincere, but it affected him deeply all the same.

Affected him as he looked down at his sweet little fuzzy girl with her itsy horns, horns that had gashed his hand when she had tried to play by headbutting it.

As he felt through the blankets her tiny wings shift, as she seemed to dream of flying.

Innocent as to what would happen if she ever did.

 “And if they do, if they burn her, then that of her blood will know and burn every mortal here and curse the lands until not even weeds will grow. Until not even insects will be able to bear maggots to crawl your rotting corpses.”

The man couldn’t bring himself to speak for a moment, couldn’t bring himself to look away from his daughter either.

Not about the spoken fate of the village, no, still on the thought of his beloved child being burned like a witch.

But then he finally asked a question.

Then that of her blood-

“You know her blood, you know where she came from?” He didn’t want to give her up. It would kill him to do so. But if it meant she could be safe-

“I told you I could sense both of your lives. before you even opened that door, they were there just for me.”

    The door opened just about the moment that Marissa knocked, a blond, sullen looking woman at the doorway.

At least, she looked like that at a glance. But the human knew that if she looked close and concentrated hard enough, she would see something quite different.

Like she had before.

 “Mary! Hello? I wasn’t expecting any guests now. Not with…not with how my husband is.” Alice choked up at that point, burying her face as if the news that her target was dying somehow devastated her.

And her hunter played along, as if she did not know any different.

Just in case her fears were wrong and the Leanan Sidhe did not already know what her intentions were.

“I heard the news. Word travels fast.”

Word of a man suddenly drawn into near solitude by his new wife, of a man just as suddenly overcome with a sudden artistic vigour, one so intense that it was literally killing him.

“I’d like to visit Sam. See how he’s doing.”

Not a single lie in that statement for any fae to detect.

Alice sniffed

“I don’t want you to catch anything but…” She sniffled again, wiping a tear dripping from her eye.

“Samuel!” She called. “Samuel you have a guest! It’s Mary. Would you like me to let her in?”

A grunt was all that came back, but still his wife beckoned forwards taking it as a yes, stepping away from blocking the doorway.

And at the view given by that, Marissa harshly sucked in air through her teeth as she fought back a gasp.

It had gotten even worse since she had last been here.

Scrawls were all over the wall, all over the floors, furniture rearranged into rudimentary sculptures…everything was chaos.

And Sam himself was in the middle of it, with what looked like a knife in his hand, scraping away at the floor to carve even more art.

He just about looked like a ghost.

Eyes hollowed in with dark shadows shrouding them further and skin that looked like it hadn’t seen the sun in years.

“Sam?” She moved in slowly.

He grunted.

“It’s me. Mary.”

Please don’t correct her, please don’t correct her, please don’t correct her-

But he didn’t say anything at all.

No.

He was too far gone for that.

“He’s getting worse.” Alice warbled. “The doctors don’t know what’s wrong and no medicine is working. He’s just…wasting away.”

It was then that Marissa felt a vice like force as Alice hugged her from behind, burrowing it’s face into her shoulder, warbling continuing but this time she couldn’t tell what on Earth was being said.

She tried to shake the woman off, politely objecting and trying not to show her unease.

Was it part of the devastated wife act or a trap?

The grip tightening suggested strongly the latter.

She objected again, much more firmly as a final warning, now trying to access one of her hidden blades.

The grip tightened further.

And then she started to feel dizzy.

“You didn’t think you could outwit me, did you? That I’d just roll over and die like one of the lesser beasts you’ve dealt with? No, you’re in my house now Mary. My land.” Dozens of voices whispered into her ear as a dark creature raised its head.

“Not that Mary’s your real name, although the other mortals seem to accept it enough. A nickname, perhaps? I wonder what your true one is. Marianne? No? Mar-”

The villagers knew to go by any name given about her, knowing full well by know what she did, even if they didn’t quite understand.

Marissa meanwhile gave up trying to yank the blade out, it blocked from descending by the Alice’s arms.

She needed something, and she needed something now because otherwise, if this thing knew her name and used it…then she was already dead.

“What’s going on?” Sam said drowsily, as if in a dream.

All the while Marissa had to fight the fog that was now descending down upon her, to stay alert enough to grab any opportunity she could to get out of this grip.

“Marlene’s just feeling poorly darling.”

“Her name’s not Marl-“

And the intention that statement drew was all the distraction she needed.

She lifted her boot instead, yanked the rowan branch out of it and stabbed.

The sidhe howled, dropping her and clawing to remove it from her leg as Marissa removed a pouch from her belt and charged.

She pulled the string and shoved the rowan berries straight into her mouth.

Alice would not be able to say anything any time soon with that.

The shriek intensified along with a distinct burning smell, and Marissa was sent flying across the room, thwacking against the wall with a crunch.

She hit the ground with a roll, before meeting the eyes of the panting creature.

The disguise was completely gone now, she didn’t even have to try see through it, it eroded away by the rowan.

The fae could not use any magic with those in her system.

Not enough of a dampener to be able to kill her, but enough so that she could defeat her.

Meaning time to go on to the next part of this.

Marissa drew her blade and sprinted out the door, leaving behind a howling monster and a babbling victim of it.

Come chase me you murdering bastard

Don’t let me get away

Come chase me and see what a mere mortal can do

   “So, to answer your question- certainly.”

Oh, she knew exactly where the little sprog came from, even if she couldn’t get a good look at it.

A mighty shame.

She always had liked children.

“You don’t?” However, she wasn’t entirely inclined to believe the man trying to insinuate ignorance about the situation.

He was far too alive for that, surely.

And doing what he had was hardly something anyone, even powerful fae, could do by accident. Or on purpose at that, she would have thought.

“No! I found her!” He protested.

And strangely enough…that didn’t seem to be a lie.

“You…found her. Just like that?”

  Sure enough, when she was so close to making her way to the first trap set, the sidhe found her.

Although strangely enough, all the others who had been watching before had vanished.

Perhaps even they did not want to risk getting on the bad side of a life drinker.

And they actually had the option not to.

She on the other hand, did not.

And for that she now had burning talons, tearing into her back.

Marissa screamed in agony, whirling wildly to hit the thing and make it stop.

It caught her wrist and without a word at all broke it like a twig, sending the iron blade it held flying.

Her yells meanwhile, brought fellow villagers to their windows, peering out to see what was going on this time.

But not one stepped out to try help her.

It was lucky for her then that she had more than one blade, even if she did manage to only slightly slash her assailant.

That was still enough for it to loosen its grip and this time when it went to hit her again she was able to dodge.

The creature let off another snarl and lunged, but it was a beast that fought typically by use of dark magics, not brute force, and so unused to this method and without the advantage of coming from behind, it missed once more.

Unfortunately, though, Marissa missed the next blow she tried to land too, it going wild, the throbbing pain in her back proving to be one hell of a distraction.

Neither could land a solid hit on the other it seemed.

But surely enough, the fight kept pushing her back.

Back, to exactly where she wanted to be.

 The mortal really had apparently done exactly that.

Accidentally found an unseelie heir in the woods and just taken her home.

She doubted her Lord would be pleased about that.

Although…the fact that this man before her was carrying his child in the heart of a human settlement and still alive…he surely could not know.

Never would he willingly permit such a transgression, such a personal transgression at that, to occur.

Oh, she really had found herself in quite an embroiling situation, hadn’t she?

Finally.

An opportunity had handed itself on a platter.

 Finally, the opportunity arrived, Marissa had reached the propped-up sack.

She dropped down, grimacing as talons lightly grazed her faces, and sliced it open, sending grains spilling out of it.

The fairy stared in horror at the increasing mess, unhinged jaw opening and shutting and the edges of her darkened eyes twitching uneasily, before dropping down herself, moving to start counting.

Marissa gave the bag a kick for good measure, allowing even more to spill out and causing Alice to wail, before resuming her run for the next part.

Confident she’d bought herself the precious time needed to pull it off.

   “If you’re going to just play games and not tell me anything then…then we’re done! You hurt people and I want no more to do with you than I have to.” Was oh so bravely demanded.

“Or, can you do it? Can you help my daughter?”

“I can. My magic’s bound here but I know where you can get what you need to brew up a glamour.” She spoke in a voice best described as utterly bored.

He had only a moment to feel relief at that.

 ���But not for free.”

This was something he’d particularly dreading.

Wicked folk like them never gave anything for free, it was to be expected, but he feared what was to be asked for.

“Knowledge for knowledge mortal. It’s only fair. Or will you forsake your precious child because you don’t want to answer a question?”

The baby let out a cry then and he realised he’d been holding her tighter and tighter the whole time, now waking her up.

“I’d do anything for her.” He answered honestly, as he hurriedly tried to console her. Making reassuring sounds and gently rocking her, in a vain attempt to get her to fall back asleep.

His distraction at that meant he did not see the expression that response got him, but he swore he could feel it. 

Feel that look burning into him

“Anything?”

 Marissa was barely able to do anything at all, never mind run by the time she reached her home, breathing ragged and her face and back soaked with blood.

Blood, drip, drip, dripping onto the floor leaving an undeniable trail of red behind her to follow.

She wiped her hair away from her face, bloodied hand leaving a steak across that too as she did.

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out - get it together Faireborn. 

Especially as it was not long now.

Not long until the leanan sidhe was dealt with, so that it could never harm any humans again.

Not long until she could then go to the village doctor.

She just needed to wait a bit longer.

That was all.

…Although, as she took one last look around, knowing all the meticulous preparations she'd made to this place, she did have to think

...She was going to miss her home.

Even with the red stains all over it now.

Perhaps she should try treat that herself- ?

No. She had no idea what she was doing with things like that. 

Nor did she have enough time.

The grain would only hold the sidhe back so long, after all.

She would see her here soon enough.

 “Then let me see her. I can’t know how strong a glamour she needs if I don’t see her.”

A reluctant presentation was then given, although he refused to actually hand her over. She would just have to be looked at from afar.

The baby herself grumpily objected meanwhile, not understanding why she was suddenly being held out and not cuddled.

“She has wings too. Under the blanket.” He added on, thinking that probably relevant.

“It’s certainly a hard glamour you’ll need then. Not just a visual one.” The fae cooed at his daughter while answering, waggling its fingers at her.

“And what do I need to make that?” 

The assessment made, he once more retracted his daughter immediately.

 "Ah, ah." A finger wagged at him this time as it straightened itself back up.

"You've to answer my question first. Answer it fully and honestly without any games. Then I give you my answer."

"I don't know how to get you out of here. So you cannot ask me anything about that." Was warned and he could only thank all the stars that he didn't.

"I promise. I will not use my question to ask a way to escape. Or about how to harm anybody. You have my solemn word."

"Swear it by your true name." He'd seen Marissa hold fae to their word this way before, often to force them to leave the village.

He knew how it hand to done.

"I swear by my True Name."

...That...that was surprisingly easy?

"Then you have my word."

"Do you swear that by your true name?"

The point of no return.

"I do."

"Then tell me...what is that exactly?"

His blood turned to ice.

"What is what?" He hemmed.

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I'm asking for here. And I think you know the repercussions if you don't give it to me."

What he thought is that he might have just walked into a horrible trap.

 The inhuman howl, warped by a throat burned by poison, sounded out through the night, echoing into it over and over.

The grain's were counted and the hunt was back on.

Marissa gritted her teeth as she stood firm, staring at the door.

She refused to jump as claws broke through it, just as she refused to jump when it was ripped off of it's hinges entirely.

Instead she stared the transformed beast that ripped it off down.

Even as it charged.

She should have known not to charge.

The mortal did not seem to fear her.

She stood resolute, firm, not even flinching as she made her way through the house.

In hindsight, she blamed the rowan. The rowan, forced upon her, making it feel like her very insides were falling to pieces.

That's why she made the mistake.

That's why she was not more careful.

That's how the mortal was able to trap her.

Something that would not happen again, once she got out.

That's what she told herself, as the years trapped in the hunter's cabin ticked on by.

She would get her chance eventually. This would not last.

Especially not know, when she could sense others coming near her door.

A fae and a mortal, but it was not Marissa and her new Thundercracker, a pitiful excuse of a fae who followed the mortal around like a dog. With a dog too, at that.

No. Even they had not visited her for quite some time and now was no exception.

These people were new.

And they would be her salvation.

 Just as thought, the trap had proven to be Marissa's salvation.

The deed was done.

Screaming and howling and shrieking the thing banged and clawed and flung against the barrier, no matter how many times it was pushed back by it.

“Didn’t think you could outwit me, did you Alice? You’re in my home now.”

The sounds only intensified in response to that and Marissa skirted around the barrier as they did, clutching her ears as she made her way back outside the house.

Careful eyes on it the entire time, just in case.

And then, once cleared of it, she let out a weary sigh, as she kept on walking.

Villagers were exiting their houses now, seemingly having picked up on the fight now been ended and edging closer and closer towards her.

Villagers who were now safe.

Because it was over.

Another fae crisis averted.

…For now, at least.

Something else would eventually pop up. The fae always did.

And then it would be something else after that.

On and on until one day she didn’t win.

But today wasn’t that day.

Today, was a day of victory.

Humans had triumphed over the evil haunting their town.

Humans had won.

Something, as she was headed off towards the village doctor, to be immensely thankful for.

 "Thank you for your co-operation Doctor Sumdac. I think we're going to have a nice arrangement, you and I, going forth. Don't you?"

#Sari Sumdac #Isaac Sumdac #Marissa Faireborn #Alice #Pretender Alice #faeformers #transformers #I have no goddamn idea how I wrote this as fast as I did #it usually takes me eons #to write ANYTHING #I want to write #eons #civilisations will rise #by the time I have a chapter out #so idk how this happened #idk if that's a bad sign of quality #hope not #and hope I can maintain this speed in other projects #post by me #writing #long post

[blueplanettrash]

Teammates. Friends. Family.

Man, this took a while for me to get out but I got it done eventually. I hope you enjoy it! This is my 100th post on this blog and I’m fucking psyched guys. Enough of my happiness, here is some pain.

“Lance!” Someone screamed his name desperately behind him. Pidge. The muscles in his neck twitched, the urge to turn towards the voice was overwhelming. His stomach sank but he couldn’t look away from the ship that he was stepping towards, slowly but surely coming closer to it. Hot tears welled up in his eyes as he tried in vain to move any part of his body, but he kept marching to the open bay doors of Lotor’s ship. The prince himself stood smirking as he came closer and closer to him.

“Lance! What are doing?!” A different a voice screamed at him angrily. That was Keith. A quiet sob hitched out of his throat, although it didn’t register on his face. He didn’t even know why he was walking towards the ship. Or why none of the generals were keeping him away from it. Not even why he couldn’t move his body.

“Lance please!” Hunk. He couldn’t stand that he was the one that caused that much pain to be in his friend’s voice. His foot landed on the metal of the ship ramp, unwillingly he walked and stopped at Lotor’s side and turned to look back at the battle.

“Zethrid, we’re done here,” Lotor drawled, he gripped Lance’s face in his hand and drew him closer possessively. She grinned and slammed her hands into the ground, sending up a cloud of dirt and debris. It took less than a minute for the ship to rocket into the atmosphere and away from them.

“Lance!” Allura screamed, her eyes searching the skies for the ship.

“Everyone, get to your lions, we still have a chance of catching them,” Keith commanded running back to Black. He didn’t wait for any affirmations before he was rocketing into the skies in a vain attempt to get his teammate. He flew around the planet looking in all directions for the craft, no matter where he looked he couldn’t even find a clue to where they could have gone.

“What about Red?” Allura asked the coms. If only he was in Red right now, Black was fast but Red was like a missile. He wasn’t the red paladin though. In fact, they had just lost their red paladin. He didn’t know what to do, he was supposed to be their leader. Now, look what it had gotten them.

“Keith?” Hunk asked gently, “Did you get Lance?” He asked so innocently that Keith didn’t know if he could tell him so bluntly.

“Keith?” Pidge asked again after the moment of silence.

“He’s gone, Lotor has him now,”

Metal cuffs were a lot less kinky than he thought they would be. Especially after being mind fucked by a female version of Zarkon and kidnapped by an evil prince. He had walked himself onto the outpost planet, redressed into a pair of threadbare pants and held his arms up to be tied before he was released from the galra’s spell.

“So, you’re Lotor?” Lance asked the smirking galra in front of him.

“That I am,” he replied with a sharp grin. He circled Lance like a shark in the water.

“So what did you capture me for? Handsome looks? Right-hand man? Expert sharpshooter?” He asked with a sparkling grin.

“Your fragile mind,” Lotor responded crossing his arms. At Lance’s fallen smile, he let out a hum and stood in front of him again.

“Obviously you weren’t our first choice, we hoped for the leader or the Princess, anyone else really but it was much easier to get you on the ship instead,” he chuckled. He squeezed Lance’s cheeks in his claws bringing his face closer to his.

“Now, I want you to tell me about your alliances and bring me your lion,” he demanded. Lance laughed and ripped his face away from the prince.

“You really expect me to give up my friends just like that?” He barked out a laugh. Lotor only grinned in response, startling Lance and making him fall silent in confusion.

“Of course not, now we just get to have more fun,” he said ominously. Lance squinted his eyes in confusion but when he looked around the room more closely, he understood. There were weapons strewn about and from what he could tell they had been used before. Fear grew in his chest when Lotor picked up a whip from one of the counters and slowly started approaching him.

“I can’t wait to see you cry out paladin,” he smirked, the tightening hand on the handle squeaking. Lance pulled at the chains above his head, the need to flee overcoming any other emotion. He watched Lotor circle around until he couldn’t turn himself enough to see him anymore. He looked ahead shaking violently, unable to tell when he would first strike him.

“Still not ready to provide the information I seek?” Lotor asked with amusement. Although he was trembling with fear and already close to tears, his team was much more important to him than any pain they inflicted on him.

“No.”

“What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you,” Lotor sang from behind his back.

“No!” He shouted. Lotor laughed and Lance pulled at the chains, attempting to pull to his chest protectively.

“I can’t say I’m not disappointed, I thought you would have a least a bit of intelligence,”  he said with a sigh. His eyes shut and his muscles tensed up when he heard a whistling behind him. The whip cracked along his back, yelping he leapt forward and writhed in pain. The feeling was like nothing he ever had before, at least he couldn’t remember what the bomb had felt like.

“Oh, my, quite the reaction, paladin,” Lotor laughed. Lance couldn’t stop trying to twist the pain away from his back but he stopped when he heard Lotor’s voice. The violent trembling came back full force as he waited for the next strike. Sobs easily tumbled out of his throat and he cried out when the end of the whip cracked beside his ear, making him step to the side away from it.

“I’ve got more important matters to tend to, however,” Lotor said with a sigh, walking past Lance, the whip was nowhere in sight. Lance stared vacantly forward, shocked at the pain he was feeling. Lotor grinned, how long could this weak brat really last?

“Don’t worry, Axca will be along shortly to keep you company,” Lance’s head whipped over to face him. He didn’t know which general he was talking about, but he knew that it wouldn’t be good.

“This would be a lot less painful for you if you would tell us what we want to know,” Axca said calmly, watching Lance try to yank himself away from her. It was pathetic really, the only way out of those cuffs were if someone else removed them.

“Trust me, lady, I know,” Lance growled watching her warily. She sighed but stepped forward, a blade in her hand. He tried backing away from her still but the chain kept him in place. A long cut down his chest made him cry out and look at the expressionless face in front of him. He cried out as each cut became deeper than the one before.

“You don’t need to hurt,” she tried to reason with him. All he gave her was a snarl before he headbutted her. She yelled and stumbled backward holding her forehead in pain. Lance glared at her with an already bruising forehead and spit at her. She growled but calmly walked forward again but this time she circled around behind him like Lotor did before. When she saw the laceration on his back she pressed the blade of the knife to it, not yet putting pressure on it.

“I’m just trying to save you some suffering paladin, just tell us what we want to know,” she demanded. Lance shook his head vigorously and spat at her in anger.

“No! I won’t tell you!”

“Very well,” she cut into the meat in his back. She slashed down through the already made wound. Lance clenched his teeth hard enough to hear them creak in his skull. Tears had been falling since the first wound but he didn’t let it ruin his resolve. He had to stay strong for his team and try to find a way out of this prison. If Shiro was able to escape the Galra, he had at least a chance of making it out.

“Is there something on your mind?” Axca asked breaking him out of his internal pep talk. He smirked even though he knew she couldn’t see his face.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” he replied smugly. The blade didn’t go back on his skin and he waited in confused silence. His eyes widened when he heard the telltale whistle. He couldn’t help the shriek that escaped his mouth when the leather landed on his skin. Sweat and tears dropped to the floor as the pain ricocheted up his spine. He gasped in a wet breath but wasn’t able to calm himself before another lash came down.

She lashed across the cut she made already made, they burned like nothing before. He leaned forward trying to suck in breathes but it felt like he was breathing through a straw. Lash after lash and it didn’t seem like she was ready to stop yet. He sobbed loudly, not even trying to flinch away knowing that she would be able to get to him. Whatever was running down his back was making his wounds sting and he wanted more than anything to be back in the Castle and wake up as if this was all a terrible dream.

“Are you ready to tell yet?” Axca asked tugging his head up by his hair to face her. When had she gotten in front of him?

“No, they’re my teammates,”

He didn’t want to know how she had learned so much about the human body, and he wasn’t about to ask either. She had already made him lose the strength in his legs, and was now dangling solely from his wrists.

“You do realize that Axca is the nicest one out of all of us,” Ezor smiled looking up and down at her handiwork. After weeks watching Axca calm, monotoned voice and face, it was creepy to see Ezor watching him with a constant smile.

“She also seems to care about humans a lot,” she said with a finger to her chin in thought. She shrugged and turned her attention back to Lance. “Unlucky for you, I don’t care that much,”

Lance looked at her with a raised eyebrow, she didn’t seem like she could cause any more damage then Axca could. For one, she wasn’t even holding a weapon. She pouted when she saw the look on his face and walked closer. She grabbed his leg and brought it closer to her chest and with a clean move dislocated his ankle. For a second the pain didn’t register and he looked at the bump in his skin in shock. Tears once again sprung to his eyes and he let out a loud shriek.

“This is only the beginning, anything you’d like to tell me?” Ezor asked with a wink. He shakily looked up at her, his breath whistling between his teeth and he shook his head resolutely. She grumbled and let his foot hit the ground with a thump. He cried out and put his weight on the other instead.

“Anything come to mind?” He ignored her focusing on his ankle, which was turning an impressive shade of blue. Without a second more to rest, she lifted up his other leg, making him lean on his injured foot. She watched him squirm and try to stifle his emotions to appear strong. As soon as he regained his composure, she smirked and twisted the ankle. He couldn’t even try to hit her anymore, his hands above his head and both feet injured.

“How about now?” She asked when she dropped his leg. He ignored her and tried to alleviate the pain by pulling himself up by the chains. She struck out with a kick, catching him in the stomach and making himself drop his full weight back to his feet. He wailed and looked at her in fear, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

“How. About. Now?” She growled. He looked at her with terror but in his eyes, there was still a fierce determination.

“No, they’re my friends,”

He swung limply from the chains and stared down at the ground. It was about time that Ezor came around, it had been another few weeks since she had switched out for Axca. Like before he had gotten used to her methods of torture, and could now deal with the pain of dislocating and relocating bones. He shuddered still able to fell the aches deep in his skin. Was the team going to come for him soon? He didn’t know how much more of this he could take.

He looked up at the door when he heard booming footsteps come closer. His eyes widened when he fully realized the only person who could be making those steps. His feet slipped on the floor, bones still aching as he scooted away from the door. It swung open to reveal Zethrid’s menacing grin.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun paladin,” she smirked and grabbed his entire neck in one massive hand. He choked and froze going limp in her hand. Her laugh resounded through the room and she chucked him away, making his wrists catch painfully in the cuffs and yank on his shoulders.

“You really should have told Axca or Ezor what you know,” she grinned cracking her knuckles. He closed his eyes, terrified about what she was going to do.

He wanted to go back to the Castle.

He wanted to see everyone again.

He didn’t want to die here.

I don’t want to die.

Zethrid laughed as he began sobbing in front of her. Gasps tearing out of his throat so harshly that he choked. Her hand grasped around the bottom of his chin and yanked it up to look in her eyes.

“Ready to break paladin?” His eyes dulled looking at her smug face. He would never give them up, they were too important to him and the universe, but now he was ready to die for them. He was about to tell her just that when a small tingle began in the back of his mind. He had felt this same tingle so many times, it was hard not to cheer and laugh in Zethrid’s face.

It was Blue. A second tingle came into his mind, smaller but still present. Red.

They came for him, they were here to get him. They didn’t forget about him. He could go home.

“Well, paladin?” He had almost forgotten that he was being held in his happiness. He gave her a small smile which left her feeling baffled.

“No, they’re my family,” he said softly. She growled and pulled her fist back but before it could connect the screeching of metal pierced their ears. The wall now had a giant blue paw through it. Her roar echoed through the room and she smashed her head through the hole. Allura flew out her whip in hand but instead tackling Zethrid with a roar of her own. Another screech of metal sounded and Red’s head appeared next to Blue’s.

“My favourite girl and my favourite boy, what a gift,” he muttered looking over at the two. Keith sprinted out of Red’s mouth, his bayard in hand.

“Lance!”

“Hey mullet, what’s shaking?” he asked with a grin. Keith quickly cut the chains and caught him before he fell to the ground. He clutched onto Keith’s armour with numb hands and let himself be hauled up into his arms.

“Allura!” He yelled. Lance looked over to see her with her whip around the galra’s neck, choking her out. She looked over and back at the general at her mercy, she growled but let the line loosen. They ran back to the lions and were quickly in the sky.

“Did you get Lance?” Hunk asked frantically. Keith smiled and looked over his shoulder to where Lance was lying on the ground, covered in blankets and looking a little more at ease.

“Yeah we got him,” he said with a little smile. There were sighs of relief from the rest of the team. It had been a long and devastating number of weeks for the team. Nothing that would compare to what Lance had been through but the reality of living without Lance was nothing like what they expected. Within a week, there was a general air of sadness and depression. There was no one to break the awkward air or cheer them up when times got especially bleak. For the first time, they knew what it felt like to lose their heart. They didn’t know what Lance had gone through, or how long it was going to take for him to heal, but one this was for certain.

Lotor was going to get what’s coming to him.

Stories Masterlist

#vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender #lance mcclain #lance #keith #keith kogane #allura #hunk garrett #hunk #pidge gunderson #pidge #langst #angst #lotor #prince lotor #zethrid #axca #ezor #narti #lance whump #whump #torture #fanfic

[kickassfu]

The Cursed Treasure

This was my contribution to klaroline winter wonderland for the wonderful @honestgrins I’m really happy you liked it ^^ I have to thank @garglyswoof for all of her incredible help on what stuff was missing and what fit or not, @gooddame for helping me out how to end the story and giving me ideas, and @austennerdita2533 for being excited with me lol Couldn’t have done it without u guys!

On AO3 and FF.

The Cursed Treasure

It almost seemed like a choreographed dance, with their feet light and fast, and their swords clashing. A duck here, a feint there, round and round they went, neither of them winning the fight. It mattered not that the ship was being blown all around them, or that the blood of their dying companions seeped into the wood as they kept their focus on each other. She wasn’t about to die over a moment of distraction, and apparently he was even more cold-blooded than she - not a speck of worry etched into his features, but a touch of delight and madness shone through his blue tempest eyes. Somehow in the midst of death and fire, he seemed to be having fun, and if she were to be completely honest, so was she.

“Caroline, the ship is sinking, we need to leave.” her first mate yelled as she stabbed a soldier in the chest, but as much as Caroline would like to leave this hellish wreck, she wasn’t about to turn her back towards him , it would mean instant death.

“Caroline is it? How delightful.” he said, never stopping his attack.

“Captain Caroline Forbes, pleasure to make your acquaintance. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d rather leave the epilogue to this story for another time.” she answered, parrying his sword with style, and smiling all the while.

Taking a step forward, he parried her strikes until her back was against a wall; their faces so close their lips almost touched, he whispered “I’m not very much into leaving things to chance I’m afraid, so I don’t think I’m letting you go so easily. I quite enjoy you love.”

“I apologize, but I don’t feel the same,” she shrugged and headbutted him hard enough he stumbled back, without giving him a chance to get his bearings, a pirate from behind him hit his head with the hilt of his sword knocking him out.

“So being the pirate I am you’ll have to forgive me for not playing fair. Bye, random soldier, you were slightly entertaining.” Caroline said unapologetically, and as she walked away from the sinking ship she blew him a kiss.

XXX

- 3 Years Later -

The bar was full; yelling and cursing abound, pirates and less respectable folk hanged around making their messes and getting drunk - the usual merrymaking with the casual fist fight, after all their blood ran hot and their brains slow. Caroline sat in the corner, drinking peacefully and not minding the usual ruckus - completely alone with her thoughts - although her crew was never too far from her. Some of them were scattered throughout the place always keeping an eye on her - lest she make trouble and the wrong person ended up dead or worse .

Pirating had been her life since she was but a child, thriving in it, loving it. A deadbeat man who happened to be a semi-famous pirate didn’t make for much of a father, but in turn she got a big family - yes, they were pirates, rough and mean, but they loved her as if she was theirs and took care of her when her parents didn’t. It was no wonder she followed their lead, gained as much knowledge as she could and went her own way; some of them sticking with her when she put together her crew, some stayed with her father, and others she had met along the way, becoming as important to her, as any other crewmember. So of course, everyone was protective of their Captain, mostly because she was the one that kept them all together, and for most, their savior and family. They would lay down their lives for her faster than the rum runs out on a pirate’s ship, because they had no doubt she’d do the same for all of them.

So when a man approached her, they all took notice and were ready to jump in, if necessary , but he didn’t seem to care about how they stared at him, and Caroline almost smiled at his carelessness. Not even looking up, she took another sip of rum and ignored him.

“This is a rather glum welcome for someone you almost killed, I think I deserve something a bit more exciting, wouldn’t you say love?”

That voice - she knew that voice - it stuck with her for some unknown reason. The way it coiled around someone’s heart in its fake innocence, and squeezed it until it stopped, was something unforgettable. No matter how brief their encounter had been, she had never managed to shake him off, “I kill a fair amount of people.”

“I bet you do, but it seems you failed to do the same to me.”

Looking up she rolled her eyes, “I wasn’t trying to kill you, if I was I would have stabbed you, but I didn’t . At most, you can say I left you to die.”

“Ah yes, how truly kind of you.”

“The point is moot, you’re alive and well, aren’t you? If you came for a rematch, sorry to say I’m not in the mood.”

“Not at all, I just came to pay a visit. I couldn’t forget you, and now that I’m going to spend more time in your waters, and hopefully will run into you more often, I just thought I needed to pay my respects.” smirking, he winks and mockingly bows, “Goodbye love.”

“Captain Caroline Forbes!” she insists; Caroline wasn’t a fan of the pet names, and she deserved recognition for who she was, and what she had accomplished.

“I would think you’d rather be called Captain Caroline Sparrow , but I guess I was wrong. Not a fan of your dad I suppose, guess we have that in common.”

“Who are you ?”

“I’m Klaus, just a lowly pirate.” he said, walking away, and leaving her in utter confusion.

A navy man turned pirate, and someone that knew who she truly was? Klaus was proving to be more dangerous than she had anticipated, and she was slightly intrigued. Whether he was friend or foe, Caroline would figure out eventually, and if she was being honest she was looking forward to meeting him again. Klaus , a lowly pirate he was definitely not. No worries, they’d meet again.

XXX

“Are you sure this is the right Island?”

After weeks of sailing they had reached their destination. The voyage had been rough; the winds had been against them, the storms almost never ceasing to torment them, and the sea as always, the fickle lover, that gave and took at its whim. It was an enormous Island, - apparently deserted, but you never knew - the trees seemed to engulf the whole island, the sight was slightly terrifying and in part mesmerizing, although the energy surrounding it was ominous and strange. She was sure .

“Yes Bonnie, I’m sure. Believe it or not I can read a treasure map.”, it was a bit old and fragile, but still readable, and Caroline would never make such a rookie mistake.

“It’s not the treasure map I have issues with, it’s that old compass you stole from your dad; it doesn’t even work properly.”

Feeling a little attacked, by how she clung to sentimental things - even if they were pretty useless - Caroline tried to stop that topic of conversation, “You worry too much, you’re a pirate now, live a little .”

“Says the person that likes planning everything perfectly, and gets mad when something’s out of place.”

“I am...flexible.” as Bonnie stared holes into her soul, Caroline gave in, “Fine, I’m just emotionally attached to this compass, and even if it drives me crazy sometimes, I can still work with it.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Bonnie smiled, shrugging at her little confession; after all she knew Caroline better than anyone else, and would always be there to make her see reason when emotions blinded her, and to let her be emotional when she closed herself off. It had been a lonely life, before Caroline had found her, and Bonnie wouldn’t trade the freedom of pirating for anything else.

Rolling her eyes, Caroline changed her attention to all of her crewmates, “Gentlemen, ladies, and all in between, we have reached our destination. This treasure shall be ours for the taking.”

“What about the curse? ”

“Enzo, since when do you care? Besides, every treasure is cursed, precisely because no one wants it stolen.” Caroline answered, not in the mood for superstitions.

“Come on Captain, you’ve seen things, you’ve heard stories, from all those years spent on that ship.”

“Even if that were true, for the one treasure that is actually cursed, there are thousands that are not. So we will be going , you can stay and take care of the ship if it pleases you.”

“As if I’d ever let my dear Captain go to dangerous places without me, who will have your back if not me?” Enzo winked at her, he’d follow her to the end of the Earth if he had to. If not for her, he wouldn’t be alive after all.

“Bonnie, or really anyone else, although I can take care of myself too.” Caroline joked.

“Now you’re breaking my heart.”

“You’ll get over it. Pirates, prepare the boats, we’ll be departing soon.”

XXX

As soon as her feet hit the sand, Caroline felt something was off , and drew her sword instinctively. Her crew, as always, following her lead with no questioning. She went forward carefully, not knowing what could pop up, but feeling certain that something would.

What she wasn’t expecting to see was Klaus - and a few other people she couldn’t recognize as quickly - run away from the forest and towards them, with seemingly no intent to battle them. Everyone seemed afraid of something , but not Klaus, he looked intrigued, almost delighted with the situation. Caroline wasn’t sure what they were running away from, but she wondered if Klaus had a death wish, always finding comfort in the midst of horribly dangerous situations. Not that she couldn’t relate sometimes - to emerge victor when the odds were against you, was an indescribable high.

The sight that followed was something completely unexpected, and for some reason - maybe the absurdity of it all - made Caroline laugh. Skeletons, walking - well, running - skeletons were chasing them, and very effectively killing the slower ones. Her crew stared at her in disbelief and she stopped laughing, grounding her feet and ready to destroy those measly bones.

“Hack away at them, until all their joints are disconnected and they can no longer move. And if that doesn’t work, burn them. If that doesn’t work, well...we’ll go from there, if it comes to that.”

“I was right after all Captain, the treasure is cursed.” even Enzo was surprised by the validity of his concerns.

“If the only curse is the treasure being guarded by bones, we’re in luck, because I am not giving up my bounty for something as silly as this.”

“Aye aye Captain.” they all screamed in unison.

Klaus’ eyes and hers met, and he smiled, knowing that somehow she had his back, and if not, she was welcome to try and stab it. Turning around, he started fighting those monsters once again, only one other person staying behind with him, while the rest of those fools ran away.

“This is the last time I listen to you, I told you this treasure was not to be messed with. I warned you. I even showed you a million better things to steal or do, but no, you have to go where you might be killed. Nik, you’re an idiot.”

“Says my reckless little brother. You still came.”

“I thought if you should die, it must be by my hands.” Kol said ducking, swinging so hard the skull of the thing went flying off.

“Thank you, that’s comforting at least.” Klaus grunted, trying to push off two skeletons from him at the same time.

Cutting an arm off, Kol pivoted out of another monster’s way, taking both of its legs off and then its head. By now he was huffing and puffing, tired of this dance he needed more excitement, something interesting to talk about, “This wasn’t just about the treasure, it was about a girl as well, wasn’t it? The blonde tasty little thing you were staring at? You knew she would be here, and wanted to take her treasure, taunt her, and eventually bed her. Not sure you understand how courtship works, but doing that would probably get you a slap, not sex.”

“Watch your tongue, before I remove it.”, Klaus had been growing more irritable with each word out of Kol’s mouth, and imagined it was his face on the skeleton he was currently skewering and smashing to pieces.

“I’d like to see you try.” Kol taunted, the exhaustion almost ebbing away compared to how much fun it was teasing his older brother.

From the corner of his eyes he could see Caroline swing her sword with incredible accuracy, taking down monster after monster, as if she was almost dancing to the sound of the wind. For a second he got distracted by the vision that was her, and got nicked by the rusty sword of one of the skeletons attacking him, not even flinching he kicked the thing back as hard as he could, and kept fighting. Knowing now wasn’t the time to have his attention stolen by the enigmatic pirate, that consumed his every thought.

XXX

Everyone was exhausted, but things had seemingly calmed down; the monsters seemed to be gone for good - but Caroline was not about to let down her guard, not just yet. It had been surprisingly easy to fight off, and she didn’t trust any of it. Suddenly, all her fears came true; people started falling down, for no apparent reason. She had to be strong, to not show any weakness, she was their Captain after all. It wasn’t easy though, seeing her crew, her family, on the sand groaning in pain. Bending down, Caroline checked Enzo’s forehead, it was deathly hot, once again having to swallow her fear, she then checked for any injuries and lo and behold, a scratch on his neck pulsing black.

“How bad is it?” seeing the look on Caroline’s face Enzo continued, trying to lighten the mood, “Is my face still pretty?”

“Was it ever?” she joked along, smiling in relief. Looking around, she saw Bonnie taking care of everyone she could get to, giving instructions to anyone still standing; getting up she gave two soft slaps on Enzo’s face, “I’ll be back, don’t move.”

“I’ll try my best.”

Bonnie was special , there was a little bit of witch in her and if there was ever any problem, Caroline trusted no one better to figure something out. Pulling her away from everyone, Caroline said, faking optimism “I’m here for some good news.”

“Turn around and come back later, I don’t have any for you.”

“Bonnie.”

“It might be poison, it might be mystical, it’s probably a bit of both, and I need time to figure things out.”

“I don’t think they have much, and I’m not losing anyone. Tell me what to do, and I will get it done.”

“We need to leave. If this is supernatural, it will probably be purged from their body when they get far away enough, and I’ll figure a way to deal with the poison. We shouldn’t stay here any longer.”

“People have died, I am not leaving without that treasure. Grab everyone, put them in the ship and I’ll be back shortly. If I’m not here in half an hour, leave.”

“You’re the Captain, we’re not going to leave you stranded here. You have to come with us.”

“I’m the Captain, and I’m ordering you to follow my orders. Do it, Bonnie.” Caroline said, but couldn’t help but whisper her true feelings, “Please .”

“Fine, if you’re not back in time, you’ll swim back even if it kills you.”

“Sounds about right.”

Hugging her Captain, her friend and family, Bonnie whispered, “ Come back. ”

“I will . Go.”

Readying herself, she took one last look at her crew, and walked into the forest of death. They needed this gold, and by the Gods, Caroline would get it. Curse or no curse, her blood was too strong to die here.

XXX

“I’m not leaving without the treasure.”

“Nik, are you daft? We need to leave, you’re hurt and I’m not carrying your arse out of here.”

“I’m fine, I’m not on the ground am I? I’m going.”

“Well then I’m…” Kol’s eyes caught sight of the most intriguing woman, and his basest desires won out, “sadly, not going with you. It seems my help is needed elsewhere. Good luck brother.”

He felt for the poor soul who had to deal with his brother, but at least it wasn’t his problem anymore. Looking around Klaus saw Caroline leave, and followed her. Maybe he’d leave this cursed island not with one treasure, but two.

Jogging to her side he teased her, “Why would you leave without me love? Thinking of stealing that pesky little treasure for yourself?”

“If it wasn’t for me, you’d be dead by now, some appreciation would be nice. The bounty is mine, and I’ll kill you before you get close to it.” her smile was cold, and razor sharp.

“I just thought it dangerous, you walking around all by yourself, what if more skeletons appear, or god forbid, something infinitely more nefarious.”

“Something like you?”

“I wouldn’t ever dream of hurting you.” Klaus said honestly, and the truth behind his words stunned even him.

“As if I could ever trust you.”, Caroline was a pirate, trusting people came sparingly and with difficulty and Klaus used to be from the navy - her enemy .

“I happen to be a very trustworthy chap, ask anyone.”

“You must think me dumb, but that pretty face of yours won’t fool me.”

“You think I’m pretty?” flirting, he stood in front of her face, - his fingers lifting her chin - inches away from her open lips.

Slapping away his hand, she kept walking, “I think you’re dangerous.”

“Dangerously pretty?” he was fairly certain, that out of the two, Caroline was infinitely more dangerous to him than he could ever be to her, but he still felt the pull to her side and the truth of the matter was that he always was partial to a little bit of danger.

“I would rather be attacked by a dozen monsters than deal with you. You’re exhausting. ”

“Then why are you smiling?”

Caroline hadn’t even noticed she was smiling, “I wasn’t, you’re delirious.” after looking up at him she saw how pale he looked, sweat dripping from his forehead in an unnatural way, “Actually, you do appear quite sickly.”

“I’m fine, we have gold to find, let’s move quicker.” it was his turn to try and change the subject, but he doubted she’d let it go.

“Wait a second.” she grabbed his hand - it was hot, and sweating - and pulled him towards her, reaching up to feel his face, “ You were hurt too .”

“You’re imagining things, sweetheart.”

“I bet I could kill you right now, without breaking a sweat.”

“Is that so? Want to bet?”

Rolling her eyes, she kept walking, “Stop distracting me, I don’t have time to deal with you. If you fall down, I’m not dragging you back with me.”

How could she be worried about someone she hardly knew, someone that could be quite irritating and more than a bit dangerous. It didn’t matter, she would keep an eye on him; just her luck having to take care of someone else when she was tight for time.

They walked in silence for a while, until she spoke up again, “Did you manage reach this far?”

“Now you have time for me again? I’m honored.”

“Ugh, fine.” he sounded like a child sulking, and Caroline was not in the mood to deal with anyone’s tantrum.

“No, we were pretty much attacked as soon as we walked into the forest.” he answered truthfully, his words falling on deaf ears as she was so concentrated on her ancient little treasure map.

“There it is.” Caroline said excitedly, her map never once betraying her expectations. It was a waterfall, behind it there was supposed to be a hidden cave, and then X marked the spot. Going in, both of them got drenched, there were several chests, and for one second she got reckless, and walked forward with her guard down. The ground buckled under her, and suddenly she was falling into a pit full of spikes, until a hand grabbed her arm.

“Careful there, don’t go dying on me before our re-match.”

“You saved me.” she couldn’t believe it; not that he had saved her, but that she wasn’t as surprised as she should be. In the depths of her being, Caroline thought Klaus’ words carried weight and honesty - that he’d never betray her, and that made him even more fatal.

“You sound surprised.” he said strained; his fever had been going up and his strength down since they had begun their little adventure, and only with his willpower he pulled her back out.

Caroline lied, “I still don’t trust you.”

Klaus laughed, of course, even after all this, she - a pirate - didn’t trust him . “How are you going to take all these trunks with you? The most I can take right now, is a few coins.”

“I’ll take what I can, as long as I don’t go back empty handed, I’m fine with it.”

Opening up the chests, - carefully - she filled her pockets as much as she could, and filled her sack as much as she could carry; it was heavy, but she could handle it. Klaus on the other hand, couldn’t carry as much, but still took a pretty good haul. Caroline should be thinking that he’d still find a way to double cross her, and steal her bounty, but she couldn’t even fathom it anymore. She was in trouble.

XXX

He was basically dragging himself along, trying to look strong and failing miserably, trying to keep up with her. Suddenly, Klaus dropped to the floor, and Caroline stopped in her tracks, “Get up Klaus, I told you I’d leave you to die. You’re not doing this.”

He was completely unresponsive, and she considered it, she really did - she was a damn pirate, for Gods’ sake - but she couldn’t go through with it. Dropping her very lovely sack full of gold, - she cried a little - and put his arm around her neck, dragging him along with her.

“I will kill you after this, I promise.”

Caroline reached the beach, and they weren’t there. She had taken too long, and now Klaus would probably die. Throwing him on the sand, she sat next to him. She knew he had to have a ship, but he wasn’t awake, and he obviously didn’t have enough time for her to go look for it, and his cowardly friends might have stolen it anyway, so what was even the point?

Waking up, his insides felt like they were on fire, his head as if it was splitting apart, and he thought this really might be the way that he died - how bland . Still, he noticed Caroline by his side, that she hadn’t left him behind after all and smiled, and that surprised him - she did have a soft spot for him after all.

“Sparrow, I have a dying wish.”

“To die by my hand instead? Because if you call me that again, that’s what will happen.”, she half joked; he was still alive, and all of sudden she didn’t mind him calling her that name, it was inconsequential.

“Being killed by you doesn’t sound all that bad. But no, just one kiss from the most beautiful and fascinating woman, I have ever met.”

“She sounds delightful, I’d love to meet her.”

“Caroline, we both know you’re not against it, so stop pretending. I’m dying anyway, it won’t hurt you.”

She felt for him, and she knew kissing him would hurt her for a multitude of reasons, but she couldn’t let him die without ever tasting his wicked lips, and so she granted his wish. Caressing his fevered face, her lips touched his dry ones; it was soft and kind, as if sending him off to the next world with tender love, and not consuming passion.

She regretted it, as soon as someone cleaned their throats behind them.

“I told her not to interrupt, Nik. That you would rather die in the arms of your lovely angel of destruction, than to be rescued, but I couldn’t stop her.”

“You didn’t think I’d actually leave you behind.”

“Bonnie!” Caroline basically ran into her arms, and hugged her.

“Still in pain over here.” Klaus said; his head hurt even more, now that Caroline had basically let it fall helplessly against the rough sand.

“I’ll help.” Kol said tiredly, picking his brother up.

XXX

- A Few Days Later -

“Are you feeling better now?” Caroline asked, feeling his forehead - it was colder now but still warm.

“I’d feel better if you k-”

“Well, I need to go check on my crew, so you have fun.”

Grabbing her hand before she could leave, Klaus laughed, “I’m just kidding love, we have time for that later.”

“I think you’re still delirious.” she commented, sitting back down on the bed, next to his lying body.

“You enjoyed that kiss as much as I did, Sparrow.”

“That only happened because you were dying.”

“Then I will just have to do that, again, and again, and again, until you can be honest with both of us.” he shrugged unconcerned, near death wasn't as terrifying as not being able to be by her side and bask in her light.

“Good luck with that.” Caroline laughed, wondering if his words rang true, and anticipating his future actions.

Their hands were still linked, and he kissed the back of hers tenderly, “We have time, and we both know you value my life more than you do gold, and you’re a pirate.”

If he was offering, she had no reason to refuse. He was right, she had chosen him; his life had more weight in her heart than the gold she needed, and so returning the favor she kissed his knuckles, “Then from now on your life is mine.”

“It has been since the day you almost killed me.”

#klaroline #klaroline drabble #klaroline fanfiction #klaroline winter wonderland #caroline forbes #klaus mikaelson #kc #kc fic #kc drabble #mine #my ficlet #my ficlets #honestgrins

[lady-bertrams-pug]

Erejean, even numbers 2-24!

Holy shit this is gonna take a while. I’ll try to answer all of these for canonverse!

2. How’s their team work? Do they share well?I like to think that while in combat or a critical situation they team up well and have each other’s back. During planning or afterwards however... there’s a lot of headbutting which isn’t really on topic but their terrible way of showing they care and worry about the other.

4. First impression of each other? Was it love at first sight?Good lord no XD. Jean thinks Eren’s a self-righteous maniac with wall to wall anger issues, and Eren thinks Jean is a spoiled brat who only looks out for himself.

6. Any tasks that are always left to one person?Eren is a lot more diligent when it comes to keeping quarters tidy and folding sheets with military precision. Jean can’t deny he comes from a family where he had to take zero responsibility, and although he tries, Eren always ends up re-doing all the chores Jean did a half-assed job at. On the other hand, Jean is the one who makes sure Eren eats properly - Eren tends to forget eating until he nearly passes out and then stuffs himself stupid.

8. What do the like best about their partner?Jean loves Eren’s compassion and determination, and it spurs him on when he’s in a funk. Eren loves the quiet kindness in Jean that shows a lot more in his deeds than in his words.

10. Who drives? Cooks? Does the handiwork? Cleans? Pays the bills? Handles the public?Okay so for this I have to switch to modern au. Jean is a more level-headed driver while Eren frequently gets struck by road rage. He’s also good at cooking and feeding his bae is the greatest for him. Handiwork? They both suck terribly at it so they are infamous among the local professionals who have to repair their botched up home improvements. Eren does most of the cleaning and gets the odd surprise blowjob in return when he complains too much about Jean being such a slob. Bills are handled by Jean, who also always knows their savings and account balance down to the last cent. He’s the one who organizes their calendar, remembers to send birthday cards on time, and does the polite chitchat at parties. Eren would much rather hang out with his buddies and a keg of beer and is awful at hiding it.

12.  Is there a wedding? What was the proposal like? Any kind of honeymoon?Honestly I don’t see them being big in romantic gestures. Maybe in a modern au they would marry and adopt kids. The proposal would probably something that one of them accidentally blurted out in a completetly inappropriate moment.

14. Anything they both dread?Titans Spiders and other creepy-crawlies. It’s always Mikasa or Annie who come to their rescue.

16. Do they keep secrets? Lie? Cheat?Both value their relationship, or friendship in general, too high to ruin it with lies or secrets. (I’m not counting in small see-though stuff like “Did you eat the cookies I made for Armin’s birthday???” *wipes crumbs from chin* “Erm, cookies? What cookies? Nope. Don’t look at me like that.”). Cheating is also out of question. If one of them did happen to develop feelings for someone else, they’d sit down an talk it through.

18. What are their dates like? How long do/did they date? Do they ever feel the need to take a break from each other?Spare and undisturbed time is rare, and they try to sneak off as much as possible. I see Jean smuggling some food out of the kitchen so they can picnic, cuddle and nap.

20. What does their home look like? Their room?(Again, modern au) They have a ton of family and friends photos everywhere, and the living/family room is set up for gaming and movie marathons with the whole bunch. Jean would love to have a kitchen that’s large enough for a dining area and he likes company when he cooks. The bedroom is rather sparse so it’s easier to keep tidy, but don’t look in the closet. The closet is a graveyard of old sporting equipment and tangles Christmas fairy lights.

22. Does their work ever interfere with the relationship?In canon, obviously yes. They have to make choices, and they can’t afford to let themselves be led by personal feelings. It’s a hard lesson for both to learn. It’s also hard to do their job not knowing where the other is, or if he’s safe and alive.

24. Any doubts about the relationship?I think arguing over priorities and risks is inevitable. Both want to protect their partner, while at the same time not wanting to be protected. Sometimes it’s frustrating and they feel like they’re running in circles. Plus the unethical and morally grey things they’re forced to do take their toll - both have bouts of self loathing and tend to project it onto others. So they have phases where they’re bitter and resentful and need some time alone to calm down and think.

#ask meme #paring meme #erejean #gray-x-natsus-matching-hip-scars

[athingofvikings]

Chapter 16: Bindings...

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Chapter 16: Bindings...

It is generally agreed upon by historians that the moment where King Magnus Olofsson began to truly assert his own authority over Einar Thambarskelfir's was the first attempted assassination of Hiccup Haddock and Astrid Hofferson, on their first state visit to Magnus's court in 1041. While Einar remained high in the young monarch's councils with his considerable political power and influence, his grip on the young king only continued to loosen.  Given Einar's desires for power, this became the primary source of conflict between the two of them over the ensuing years.  

Magnus's growth away from Einar's control, however, took time.  There is no significant debate that Einar's decisions were the instigating force behind, for example, the marital alliances for both Magnus and Wulfhild.  In that specific case, while Magnus could have resisted the directives of his regent, it is generally agreed that doing so would have caused an open rift within his court, especially given the later developments and innovations by Haddock that openly terrified Einar and the other nobles.

—Corpus Historiae Berkiae, 1396

 The table reverberated as the ax thudded into the wood.  

Magnus loomed over the war-ax, its handle sticking into the air, and glared at the worried thane.

"I want them found!" he half-shouted. "I want to know how they got in, who they were, and if there are any more of them!"

Hiccup looked at the blank spot on the wall of the great hall where the ax had hung and raised an eyebrow.  

Toothless nuzzled up next to him, and looked at the quivering ax with disfavor.  

Across the table, the thane said, "We're looking, sire, but… due to the condition of the bodies…" He glanced at Toothless, who looked back inscrutably.  "Due to the condition of the bodies… identification is proving… difficult."

Magnus gave the thane a narrow-eyed, flinty glare.  "I am hearing excuses, not progress.  This is an attack on my hospitality and my honor and my allies.  Find those who are responsible.  And I want the guard doubled!"

The thane nodded, bowed, and left, moving briskly away from the angry dragons.  The room currently resembled a kicked-over anthill.  The other Hooligans and their dragons were all present and agitated, staff and courtiers were milling about on various tasks, and a noticeable air of tension hung from the rafters.  Lunch was being picked over by people bolting down a plate and then quickly going about their business.  Hiccup and Astrid were at the high table, flanked by Toothless and Stormfly, having just come back in from the side room where the healer had treated them and dressed in clothes borrowed from Magnus's and Wulfhild's wardrobes.

Magnus hissed out an angry sigh.  He then reached down and hauled the ax free of the table's wood with a heave.

Toothless, eyes narrowed, hissed at the sight of the blade.

"Yeah, bud, I know," Hiccup said, patting Toothless's broad head from where he sat, with Astrid half-cuddling in his lap for mutual comfort.  

Magnus turned, met Toothless's eyes, nodded his head and put the ax back on the wall hooks apologetically. "My father's war-ax, named Hel. My apologies, Toothless, if I discomforted you."

Toothless rustled and nodded after a moment's pause.

"Thank you," Magnus said, smiling slightly.

Toothless made his little bark-laugh, hopped over, and headbutted Magnus in a friendly manner.  

"Aye, thank you for saving my friend," the king said, rubbing Toothless's head.

Toothless purred. However, rather than luxuriate in the touch, as the dragon would normally do—he'd been cadging back-scratches from Magnus all morning—he turned back and curled around Hiccup and Astrid protectively.

Hiccup reached out and patted Toothless.  "I know that I said this already, bud, but great timing.  Thanks."

Toothless rumbled a bit and sniffed at the bandages on his back.

Then sneezed.

Astrid gave a pained moan of agreement.  "Yeah, that paste stinks, doesn't it, Toothless?"

Toothless stuck out his tongue and made a disgusted face at the astringent smell of the ointment.  Stormfly seconded it.  

The Nadder wasn't terribly happy at the moment; Astrid's wounds had been much worse than Hiccup's, and when the healer had been stitching Astrid up, she'd been hissing angrily and flaring her nostrils and frill with each exclamation of pain from Astrid.  And that was only after she and Toothless had only let Magnus's healer approach when Astrid and Hiccup had demanded that they let the fellow in to treat their wounds. The two dragons had stood outside the door to the side chamber while the healer had treated them in private.  

With a pained sigh, Hiccup turned to examine Astrid's bandages underneath the linen smock and robe borrowed from Wulfhild.  His own wounds were minimal—a long, thin cut up the length of his back that wouldn't require stitches, and a cracked rib from when he had hit the piling. Astrid's wounds, though, worried him deeply.  The spaulders' harness had deflected the attacker's knife enough that it had essentially skipped lightly across her ribs, cutting a shallow wound across her upper chest.  The real damage had come from when it had plunged into her upper right arm, carving a wound over an inch deep perhaps two fingerwidths below the spaulders' metal plates. That had required stitches.

Even more agonizing, their clothes had been a complete loss for wearing, between the blood, knife holes and river mud.  Magnus and Wulfhild had raided their wardrobes for them while the healer had worked… and they'd had to cut Astrid free of her tunic because of her arm, which hadn't made her happy.  But trying to take it off normally, especially with the spaulders' harness in the way, had made her scream.  

So now she was wearing a calf-length plain linen smock and a knee-length woolen yellow robe embroidered with flowers and bees, and a borrowed pair of his own trousers.  He, over the multiple layers of linen bandages around his waist and chest, had one of Magnus spare tunics and his last pair of trousers.  He fingered the borrowed shirt; it was soft linen, dyed green, but either the ointment or something they cleaned the shirts with smelled odd to him.  

A matronly-looking woman entered the hall, bearing knotted string and the other accoutrements of the tailor's trade.  Spotting the tense dragons, she stiffened, but Magnus made an emphatic motion for her to approach the high table.  She did so, although she kept glancing at Toothless and Stormfly hesitantly.  

"Hiccup, Astrid, this is Tailor Helga," Magnus said.  "Helga, you've worked wonders with the sorts of damage I've done to my clothes.  Do you think that you could repair… well… this?"  He held up Hiccup's tunic, which had a tear going up the back stretching from kidneys to shoulders and outlined in drying blood, and featured river-mud stains on the hem and sleeves, still damp from the river water.

"Maybe?" she said dubiously, taking it.  

"And this?" Magnus held up Astrid's blood-stained and torn tunic and trousers, a questioning hope in his eyes.  One whole side was soaked through in a solid sheet of drying red-brown, while a wide spray of droplets from the attacker had soaked through the rest of the garment. The armwarmers had been a complete loss, but the pteruges could be cleaned with little problem.

Helga pursed her lips. "Aye, but I won't promise miracles. Whose blood is that?"

"Some of mine… but mostly the other guy's," Astrid said smartly, quirking an eyebrow.  She was holding very still, though; they'd learned the hard way that moving too much right now was a recipe for utter agony for her.

Helga's eyebrows rose. "I see.  Well, I'll do my best, young shieldmaid, but no promises for you either."

Astrid nodded, biting her lip, the skin around her eyes white with pain.  "At least it was my day-to-day outfit, and not my formal one."  Hiccup frowned.  She was putting on a brave face, but he knew that she loved that tunic.

Magnus, off to the side, suddenly called out, "Oh, thank the Lord!  Father Michael, over here please!"

Hiccup looked up to see that the priest had entered the hall.  As he walked towards his king, his robes were swishing around him, and he glanced at Hiccup and Astrid.  His eyes narrowed in disapproval when he saw them, making Hiccup wonder what the issue was. Then a bunch of possible options all volunteered themselves.  

From the priest's perspective, this could look improper in a variety of ways—maybe it was the cuddling between unmarried sweethearts, or it could be the robe, which rode up high on Astrid's legs, due to the height difference between her and Wulfhild.  Or it could be the fact that she was obviously wearing Hiccup's distinctive trousers, with the leather-backed inseams.  Yeah…

He gave a hesitant forced smile to the priest and a half-hearted wave as Helga bowed and left with their damaged clothes bundled under her arm.

The priest's face still set in disapproval, he turned to Magnus and bowed.  "Yes, milord king?"

"My guests here have come under attack in my own household.  I wish for you to bestow the blessings of Christ upon them, so that they may have a healthy and speedy recovery from their wounds," Magnus said formally.

The priest froze for a moment.  Then, speaking precisely, he said, "Milord, that would not be appropriate."

Magnus's good humor vanished.  "And why not?"

Hiccup suddenly remembered from their voyage the sight of seeing a thunderstorm grow and develop in the sky over the North Sea.

The priest, however, stood his ground and said, "Milord, they are not followers of Christ. Giving his blessing to those that do not follow him—"

Magnus slammed his palm down on the table.  "Christ is strong and protects those in need!"  He pointed at Hiccup and Astrid.  "They are in need of his blessing!"

Astrid looked at Hiccup with a wide-eyed and puzzled look, which quickly turned into a hiss of pain. He returned the puzzled look.  No, he had no idea what the issue was.  Why not just ask Eir for a blessing of healing? Then he remembered that they only followed one god here.  He chewed on his lip.  No wonder the priest was holding back the god's blessing—the god, being all by himself, must be terribly overworked helping out his own worshipers, much less outsiders.  

"Milord, it is not proper—"

"God is good! God is kind!"  

"Sire, please, understand what you are asking!"

Eyes darting in thought, Magnus set his jaw, and then said in a note of triumph, "And God told us to treat the stranger well, and take them in as if the stranger was Himself!"  He again waved his hand towards Hiccup and Astrid, and his voice hardened.  "And if you don't do for them as you would do for the least of us, as instructed by God, then you can go away as God said to depart from Him!"  This last was said in an air of menace that Hiccup did not understand at all.

The priest blanched and stared at Magnus, who stared right back.

After perhaps half a minute, the priest cracked, and looked away.  

Then, muttering slightly to himself, the priest plodded over and gave a long and involved blessing in that language that Hiccup did not recognize, and then marched off.  

As they continued to wait for news and progress, Magnus continued to pace and fume, promising the pair of them bloody retribution for the attack.  

After the third poorly-hidden pained moan in the space of a few minutes, Hiccup leaned over and asked Astrid quietly, "Love… why don't you go lie down?"

She gave him a flat look filled with such menace that he unwillingly recalled that moment in the arena during their semi-final exam.

"I'm staying right here."

Hiccup sighed. Vikings.  Stubbornness issues.  Right.

After perhaps another quarter hour, Roald walked into the great hall, back straight, his ax sheathed on his back.  The gaming companion of—dear gods, had it just been this morning?—had been erased beneath the stoicism of a thane on his sworn duty.  Hiccup watched him as he approached his king and knelt to one knee.

"Have you found something?"

"Aye, sire. Thane Oskar Sverresson is missing from his post… and he matches one of the two bodies," he reported in a hard voice.  "And the other body matches his brother.  I have sent a squad to their home to investigate."

"Good.  You may rise."  Roald got to his feet, as Magnus looked contemplative, but still furious.

Then he turned to Hiccup and Astrid in an abrupt fluid motion, sending the cloak around his shoulders swirling in a billow of fabric, and went to one knee as the cloak settled around him.  As he bowed his head to Hiccup and Astrid, Hiccup heard many voices in the great hall gasp in shock.

"My friend, my lady, I stand before you forsworn.  My honor is besmirched by my household.  I swore to give you hospitality and protection, and my own house thanes have attacked you.  How can I redeem my honor in your eyes?"

Astrid's jaw hung open, and Hiccup felt his own eyes go wide and round.  Everyone was staring at the king.  Maidservants were standing still, slackjawed, stacks of cordwood or dishes in hand.  The marshal and the regent looked stunned.  The regent had a hand over his mouth, while his son had clapped his hand to his forehead.  Yngvarr, near the door, was looking thoughtful, tugging at his ear with a smile growing on his face, while Sigvatr the skald had backed against the wall, looking intrigued.  The priest was watching, his eyebrows raised high.  

The moment passed, and Astrid hopped to her own feet and wobbled a little.  A hiss of indrawn breath and a lack of her normal grace were the only indications of her pain.  Hiccup followed suit just as quickly, even as his back wound screamed at him in protest.  No way was he going to remain seated when Magnus was genuflecting like this.

Then the whole room turned to focus on them.

Eep.

As the silence extended, Hiccup started thinking very quickly.  Panic was quick, wasn't it?

"We can hardly blame you, uh, for the actions of a renegade oathbreaker, my, my friend," he managed.  "You have been perfectly hospitable, and you have done what any man would do in the face of such an insult.  You," Hiccup flicked his eyes back and forth frantically as he searched for the right words, "You have my trust and faith that you will act appropriately and with honor going forward.  This was an attack on you as much as it was an attack on the two of us.  Treat with us as you have done already, and I will say that you are truly 'the Good.'"  He coughed and said, in a much more pleading—and quieter—tone, "Now can you please stand up?  You're making people nervous."

Magnus stood, and people relaxed a bit, and said, in a voice that projected to the whole hall, "Thank you, my friend."  Still grimacing, though, he looked at the two of them, and said, "If you will accept that as my apology, then I will back it up with deed as well as word."

Hiccup could see Einar develop a look of dread—like that of his own dad watching an impending catastrophe from the bad old days—even from this distance across the room.  

Magnus turned to the priest and said, "Father Michael, I require your witness."  As the priest walked forward, Magnus stood, his jaw set, clearly thinking over words.  

With the priest before him, Magnus spoke.  "Before all assembled, I swear on the blood of Christ that this man, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third of Berk, and his lady and Master of Dragons, Astrid Hákonsdoittor of the Hoffersons, are my sworn allies.  An attack on them shall be as an attack on me or my family.  Any who shall lift a hand against them will have it cut off by me.  Thus I swear my oath."

Hiccup felt his blood pool to somewhere around his foot, while the expression on Einar's face was pretty easily interpreted as No, you hot-blooded fool!

Meanwhile, the rest of the hall was reacting as well.  Wulfhild was hopping up and down on the balls of her feet and clapping her hands, and she wasn't alone in that—most of the servants and thanes were doing much the same. Sigvatr the skald was applauding and beaming at his young king, and looked like he was memorizing the moment for some future saga.  Still others were staring wide-eyed at what had just happened, like it hadn't sunk in yet, while a few were looking horrified.

Well.  

That made the negotiations easier.  Hiccup had already been working towards getting a mutual defense treaty worked out, after all.  Now… well, all of that effort wasn't superfluous, but parts of it had just become unnecessary.  

More importantly, though, was the fact that Magnus had just basically sworn to protect Berk, and Berk's future chief, in a completely one-sided oath.

Oh, yeah, that wasn't going to come back to haunt either of them later, yeah.  For sure.

Magnus turned to Hiccup and Astrid.  "My friend.  My lady. Do you accept my oath?"

Feeling a little trapped, because what could they do?  Say no and humiliate their friend in front of his court?  Hiccup and Astrid shared a glance and then turning back, nodded.

Thinking fast, Hiccup replied, "And as you swear, we swear the same to you.  My friend."  He extended his hand, and Magnus shook it, firmly, before hauling Hiccup into an embrace and pounding him on the back.

Hiccup gasped and bit out, "Watch the ribs!"

Magnus instantly let go, looking a little sheepish.  "Apologies.  Caught up in the moment."

The assembled people in the great hall were applauding, even the ones that were just entering and clearly had no idea what was going on, caught up in the drama of the moment as well.

Smiling at them, Hiccup leaned in to the King and whispered, "That was a bit foolish."

"Meant every word."

Hiccup shook his head as Astrid moved forward and took Hiccup's hand at his side.

"Well.  Um.  So, I think that that settles most of our negotiations.  Doesn't it?"

"Oh.  I suppose," Magnus said in a tone of sudden bemused realization.

"Well, once we're healed up a bit, want to come back to Berk with us and get started on that dragon training?" Hiccup asked as the room continued to applaud.

Magnus grinned. "Yes.  Please."

###

Gobber watched critically as the young smith worked the iron on the anvil.  To his credit, the former thrall wasn't letting nervousness get to him overmuch; he'd only made three mistakes of note so far, two of which he'd recognized in time to keep the ax-head he was forging from being ruined. The third mistake—unevenly upsetting the metal where he would be putting the eye, which would have resulted in the cheeks around the eye being uneven and weakening the joint, and making the ax-head likely to break and fly off the haft when swung—he'd corrected when Gobber had pointed it out.

Watching the dark-haired young man work the forge, his hair cropped close to his scalp and shining with sweat,  Gobber did his best to avoid comparing him to Hiccup.  His apprentice was in a league of his own when it came to forge work, and the comparison would do nobody any credit.

Even if Hiccup had been making better ax-heads by the time he was thirteen.  

On his own merits, Murchadh was a half-decent smith, that much he had to allow.  Gobber suspected that he'd been an enthralled assistant to a senior smith.  He had probably primarily been used for the scutwork, like brushing off the fire scale, handing over tools, and managing the fire—all of which he noticed the lad doing with panache.

But Gobber would happily let Niddhog gnaw on his entrails for a few afternoons rather than stick the lad back into his old role that he'd served as a collared thrall (and, yes, Gobber knew that he had seen twenty-six winters; Gobber had seen fifty-two, so he could still call him a lad).  Hence his little test to see what the lad could do.  

As the finished ax-head hissed into the quenching bucket, Murchadh looked up at Gobber, a cringing half-smile on his face.  "I know I made—"

Gobber cut him off with a raised hand.  "Lad. Yeh need not worry that I'll holler and beat yeh.  Yeh need some polish and more training, yeah, but I'll give yeh that.  This was to see where you stood, and to get an idea of yer skills."  He crossed his arms and gave a wry smile.  "So my job's still secure.  A master smith yeh ain't, but we both knew that.  So yeh'll work as my assistant, which I'll need, with Hiccup having other demands on his time, and I'll teach yeh some of my skills as we go. But yeh know yer way around the forge, and that's good enough for me."  He leaned forward.  "That good for yeh?"

Murchadh nodded enthusiastically.  "Yes, yes, of course!"  He gave a deep bow.  "Thank you for this…" he waved his arms to indicate the smithy, "and this," and he pointed to his calloused neck.  

"Never yeh mind," Gobber said fondly.  "I may not have the same passion against it as Stoick and the others do, but I still find the idea of a man or woman held in thrall to be detestable." He leaned back against the workbench. "Now, duty calls; I've evaluated yeh, as yer skills fall in my turf, but now I get to put on my steward hat and go check in on the others too."

Murchadh nodded energetically.  

"So, in the meantime," Gobber smiled, "How about yeh get yerself settled down a bit more?"

"Huh?"

"Well, all yeh got are the clothes on yer back, right?  You've got bed rights and food rights, being in the tribe, but yeh might want to think about something more permanent than the barracks."  The cramped spare hall had found new life as visitor accommodations, and now as a place for the freemen.  However, it was designed for short-term occupancy, long on practicality and short on comfort, back from the bad old days of being emergency post-raid housing for homeless Hooligans.

Murchadh blinked. "Huh?  How?  All I've got are the clothes on my back, and you just hired me!"

"Oh, right," Gobber said with a mischievous smile.  He reached into his purse and extracted a small handful of copper coins, which he tossed to Murchadh.  "That's for the ax-head yeh just made for me."

Murchadh, having caught the coins reflexively, almost dropped them in shock.  "What?!"

"Yeh made me an ax-head.  There's yer pay for it."  He fished out another small handful of copper.  "Matter of fact, if yeh can take it to the carvers for a haft, I'd be most appreciative.  Here," he handed over the coins to Murchadh, who accepted them, looking stunned, "this should cover the costs, and yeh keep the change.  Take it to Woodnut clan Thorston; he does good work and won't overcharge yeh."

"I… you're paying me for my audition work?!"

"Why not?  Yeh did the work, it'll be a good ax, and yeh'll need some basic personal stuff anyway.  If yer done before I get back, feel free to make nails," Gobber pointed to a small stack of barstock, "and I'll pay yeh for them too."

Murchadh, moving a bit numbly, walked out the door, holding the ax-head in one hand and his pay in the other.  

Gobber smiled to himself, satisfied.  Woodnut wouldn't accept a single one of the coins coming his way.  Not from a newly freed thrall, not when his father, wife, and son-in-law had all once worn collars themselves.  

He wondered if Murchadh would even notice, given how numb he was, when Woodnut would give him back the entire sum as change.  

His musings were cut short as there was a wavering knock on the door.  Opening it, he saw Oisin there, the even-younger freedman with claimed mason skills, looking hesitant.  

"Umm… you're Gobber the smith, right?" he asked.

Gobber nodded gravely.

Oisin held up a small leather purse.  "Rolf clan Jorgenson said that I needed my own set of chisels if I was going to be of any use to him and paid me this for the carving work I did for him."

"Well, lad, come in, and let's get yeh outfitted, shall we?  We could use more masons around here.  Now, would yeh like iron chisels, or Gronckle teeth?"

"What's the difference?"

"Well…" Gobber started to lay out his small stock of chisels for stone, mentally discounting them by about half as he went through them.

He might not be as passionate about it as Stoick… but he'd charge a new freedman full price on the day that Hel claimed him.  

###

Astrid sat across from Fishwings and Horsefeathers as they scribed out accounts of what had happened.

"So Toothless scooped both of you out of the river and brought you right here?" Fishwings asked.

Astrid nodded, and immediately regretted the motion.  She went to hold her hands to her head, but hissed in pain as her arm wound protested. She could feel the stitches as little lines of fire through her skin, and the wound as a pulsing, burning hole in her arm, and it was getting increasingly hard to ignore.  When she'd hopped to her feet earlier for Magnus's dramatic gesture, the pain had nearly undone her.  

But there was no way that she was leaving Hiccup alone right now.  

"Sorry, Astrid, but you know how grand-auntie is about the tribal archives," Horsefeathers said. "Got to write it down while it's still fresh."

She gave him as strong a glare as she could under the circumstances.  It wasn't as effective as normal, as he just shrugged apologetically, rather than immediately offering a more fevered forgiveness.  

"Um… excuse me?"

Both of the Ingermans looked up as Astrid turned towards the hesitant voice.  

Wulfhild was standing behind her and looking intrigued.  Behind her was Stormfly, looking protective, but she'd allowed the princess to approach, which was something.

"Can I ask what you're writing?" Wulfhild asked politely.

"An account of what just happened, for the tribal archives," Fishwings said, her charcoal stick running over the parchment, the tested focus of her typically-cranky tone only partially offset by her attempt to stay polite and diplomatic.

"Tribal archives?" Wulfhild asked in a puzzled tone.  "Don't you have skalds?"

"Aye, we do," Horsefeathers said, "but we learned the hard way that skalds can die just as easily as anyone.  But books kept safe are much harder to lose in a battle—and, even better, my brother can read books without pestering the skalds over and over."  He waggled his bushy blond eyebrows and cocked his head towards where the twins were talking with Sigvatr animatedly off in the corner of the hall.  

"But…" Wulfhild looked puzzled.  "So are you two both writing up the same thing? Why send two scribes?  Wouldn't one of you suffice?"

Fishwings snorted. "No, I'm writing up the stuff on the attack while my brother is handling the treaty and negotiations.  My handwriting's better, too.  And the only reason why Astrid here isn't doing the writing herself is because she had the bad taste to get herself stabbed in her writing arm and thought that it would be funny to draw things instead with her off arm."

Astrid giggled at that. It was so true.  The look on Fishwings' face when she had drawn stick-figure drawings of the attackers and Toothless swooping down to the rescue had been worth the effort of using her off-hand.  Fishwings had taken the parchment away from her at that.  

Wulfhild turned to her, surprise on her face.

Astrid shrugged, and hid a grimace of pain as best she could.  "What?  She insisted that I write down what happened.  So I did."

Fishwings grumbled something unflattering.  

"Well, umm… I was just surprised," Wulfhild said.  

"'Bout what?" Astrid asked, grinning.

"Umm… that you and Fishwings here can both read and write."

"Why not?" Fishwings said aggressively, and leaned in, a harsh smile on her face.  "Can't you?"

"I can… a bit," Wulfhild said, folding her arms in front of her defensively.  "But women aren't really ever taught.  The fact that you both know how—"

"We all can, actually," Fishwings said with a bit of an edge to it.  She smiled sourly.  "Doesn't help to write stuff down in books if you can't read it, now does it?"

Wulfhild looked stunned, but before she could say anything in response, Roald and his squad of thanes marched back into the hall, looking grim.  Conversations died as they approached their king, and everyone was watching.  Snotlout even stood on top of one of the benches—or maybe tables, it was hard to be sure—so that he could see.  

Magnus turned from where he had been talking with Hiccup, and said to the thanes, "Report."

"The entire house was ransacked, sire, as if they had packed in a hurry to leave.  There wasn't a single scrap of food or coin anywhere in the entire place; their sea chests were gone, as were their personal weapons and kit.  They had even dug up something from underneath the floorboards, looked to be the size of a book or small chest.  The hearthstone's ashes were cold, and there were burned parchments in the ash."

"Wonderful," Magnus said sarcastically.  "Find where they fled to.  You have my authority to search ships for the traitors before they leave."

The thane bowed and left with his men for the harbor.

Tailor Helga passed them on the way in.  There was a pair of younger women following in her wake, both laden with bolts of cloth, while Helga was carrying a basket filled with the tools of the tailor's trade.

Magnus, seeing her, pointed her to where Astrid was standing.  He then took Hiccup by the wrist and pulled him over, so that they all met by the Ingerman siblings.  Toothless followed after them, sending people scurrying back.  Snotlout, eying the girls, followed in their wake.  

As Helga approached, Astrid whispered to Stormfly to let them close.  The Nadder chittered for a moment, considering, and then nodded.  

"Helga…" Magnus said, looking her and her assistants up and down.  "I take it that the news in your area is not good?"

"We might be able to save the lad's, but the lass's are only going to be fit for doing field labor where stains won't be an issue," Helga said bluntly.  

Astrid slumped.  She had liked that tunic.  Her mother and aunts had made it for her special, with wool that they'd spun themselves and blue dyes bought from Trader Johann.  

Magnus said gruffly, "I take it that you could make something new?"  He coughed.  "Stormfly here needs exercising, if nothing else, and she can't exactly do so in her full formal wear."

"Aye, milord. Actually…" she gave a slight smile. "I had a thought that you might find interesting…"

"Oh?"

She reached back and pulled a folded bolt of blue cloth from one of her assistants.  Holding it up for the king's inspection, she said, "With your permission, sire, I'd use this for crafting Lady Astrid's new tunic."

Magnus looked at the cloth, blinked, and grinned.  "I think that is a wonderful idea!"  He turned to Astrid.  "Milady, could you come here, please?"

Quirking an eyebrow, Astrid approached, and felt both Stormfly and Wulfhild walking behind her. One of the tailoring assistants—a young blond woman maybe her age—looked terrified, while the other, a young girl with curly black hair and dusky skin, looked awed.  If she hadn't been laden down with bolts of wool, linen, and whatever that other material was, she probably would have been trying to give Stormfly or Toothless a nice tummy rub.  

Behind the girl, she could see that Snotlout was making reaching motions; she shot him a warning look. He looked confused and lifted his hands with a what? gesture.  

Turning back, Astrid looked at the odd fabric that both the young girl and Helga were holding.  It shimmered and looked as finely woven as the best linen, and was patterned in some way that she couldn't make out, due to the folds in the bolt.  

Seeing her curious look, Helga grinned broadly and said, "Ah, so you have never seen such cloth before, I'd wager!"

"No… I haven't," Astrid said slowly.  

Next to her, Hiccup put an arm around her waist and shook his head in agreement.  "Same here.  What is it?"

"Roman silk, milord," Helga said with a grin.  "Sheer, soft, and worthy of a Norse lord—or lady."  She shook out the bolt she had picked from the pile her beaming assistant was carrying, and it unfolded itself into a lustrous curtain.

Astrid gave a little gasp as the patterns became clear, and she thought that she heard both Hiccup and Snotlout give similar sounds of surprise.

The blue of the cloth was embellished with a gorgeous pattern of dragons.  The Great Tree of Yggdrasil wound its way in circles as wide as her hand across the cloth, the pattern picked out in gorgeous reds and greens, vivid atop the blue.  In the circles of the Tree, groups of dragons were embroidered or woven into the fabric, done in red, green and gold.

"I… wow.  No, you can't be serious," Astrid said. "For me?"

"I can be, and I am," Magnus said.  "If you'll let Helga take your measurements, I'm sure that she'll produce something suitable for you."

"King Magnus, I can't… wearing something made from that on Stormfly wouldn't be practical!"

"Oh, I suppose." He shrugged and turned to Helga, who had taken out her knotted string when Astrid wasn't looking.  "Two outfits for Milady Astrid, then.  One from the silk, and one from a nice wool."

"Aye, sire," Helga said with a wink.  "And perhaps the same for young sir here?  While my old eyes don't mind the view—"

Hiccup flushed scarlet, and Astrid smirked.

"—it'll take some time before his tunic is ready for wear again."

Magnus nodded, grinning. "Aye, do that."

She looked to Hiccup, who wilted a little.  

"Wuss," she teased.  

He rolled his eyes. "Magnus, are you—"

"Yes, I'm sure. That's my silk and cloth, and I'll do with it as I see fit.  And getting you both fitted is what I'd like to see."

Astrid waggled her eyebrows at the opening.  "I'm glad that this is as it seams."

Hiccup groaned and gave her a pained look, while Magnus cocked his head, confused.

"Don't mind Astrid, she's just trying to needle me," Hiccup said in a false whisper.

Now Magnus got it; he covered his eyes with his hand, and his chest started to shake with restrained laughter.

"Oh, darn, he caught me," Astrid said with a grin.

A surprised snort from Snotlout made her turn and see that he was standing by the pile of fabric that had been put on the table at some point when she hadn't been paying attention, a piece of the silk hanging from his hands and surprise at her on his face. The blond-haired girl was standing nearby with a wax tablet and stylus.

Before she could do anything preemptive about Snotlout standing within range of a young woman, Hiccup replied, "Okay, let's buckle down—"

"Yarn it, I can't help if I'm biased," she interrupted, which made Helga shoot her a dirty look as she tried to restrain her own laughter.  Snotlout was giggling off to the side, having moved away with a piece of silk in his hands, and Wulfhild was making little gasping laughs behind her.

Hiccup was obviously searching for a reply, and she grinned and struck.  "Now that we've completely lost the thread of this conversation and warped things, let's button up and let the nice tailor get to work."

Hiccup's jaw dropped, followed a moment later by his head sagging.  "I surrender.  You won this one."

She beamed and started to hold her arms up for Helga to loop the knotted string around her, only for the pain from her wound to cut through the pleasant moment like a bucket of ice-water to the face.  Filled with knives.  

Arms back at her side, she caught Snotlout's eye; he was still looking at her, perplexed, the stolen silk dangling from one hand.  She thrust her chin at him, irrationally angry that he'd seen her do wordplay like that. For Bragi's sake, it was the first time she'd done that when it wasn't just her and Hiccup in private!

Then a gentle hand patted her left shoulder, and she turned to see Wulfhild, her face filled with concern. "You okay?" she asked, and she could see Magnus behind Wulfhild, his own face asking the same question wordlessly.

Oh.

Right.

Friends that she felt comfortable around, not just Hiccup.  

When had that happened?

 ###

Fishlegs sat in the side chamber of the Rookery, a piece of parchment tacked to a board on his lap, a charcoal stick in his hands.  Eyebrows knitted together in thought, he dashed off another line in the stanza.

"No, no, that doesn't scan—"

"Um… Sir… Fishlegs?" a quiet voice called out to him.

He blinked and looked up from his spot on the floor.  Heather was standing at the entrance to the chamber from the main tunnel complex, holding a tray of food.

"Yes?" he asked, and then his stomach rumbled.

"Well… I applied to work at the mead hall, like that Gobber fellow suggested, and… well…" she thrust out the tray.  "I made this to show them what I could do, and they said that I could have it."

Fishlegs pulled himself to his feet.  "What… oh wow."  He sniffed, and his mouth started to water, as his stomach impolitely reminded him that breakfast had been hours ago…

Heather smiled shyly at him. "I… I was a little scared to walk in here, to be honest.  But Gobber showed me where to go and where to find you."

Fishlegs took the tray and sniffed greedily.  Honey-glazed vegetables, simmered lambsquarters with a pat of fresh butter and some salt, a steaming loaf of bread, and a small bowl of fish in some kind of cream sauce.  

"You made this?" he asked, delicately taking a piece of the fish and finding it flaky and tender.  And delicious, tasting of herbs and the rich cream.  He gave a soft moan.  

"I… I was a cook for the king of Vedrarfjord," she said quietly.  Then she smiled softly.  "This was just the basic stuff that I could do with what they gave me as a test.  Well, really, it's the leftovers.  That head cook, um… um…"

"Magnhild clan Jorgenson," Fishlegs offered helpfully, between bites of the tasty fish.

"Yeah, thanks, well, she put out a bunch of things to see what I could do, and what she didn't eat is there."

Pausing before he finished the last of the fish, he said, "Um… did you get to eat any?" Here he was, trying to treat her with respect, and he was already taking the food out of her mouth.

She gave him a weak, hesitant smile.  "I did. Umm… well, I should get going back to the mead hall.  I need to help with dinner!"  She went to the door.  "See you later?"

He tore open the bread roll and poured the creamy sauce onto the steaming insides.  "Count on it!"

He paused as she reached the door.  Maybe she was the spy?  The food might be a way to get into his good graces, and he worked right with the dragons.

"Hey, Heather?"

She froze. "Yes?"

"Why?"

"Why…?"

"Why'd you bring me this?  You could have given it to Gobber, or to one of the other cooks, or just eaten it yourself. Why?"

She gave him a hesitant and wan smile.  "I… um… well…"  She took a deep breath.  "Hi, Fishlegs.  I'm Heather, former thrall of a brutal king, and you're the guy that they said that I was going to be given to."

"So why do you ever want to see me again?" he asked in response, his suspicion mounting.

"Because…" she blushed and coughed.  "Because you were nice to me.  And it's a small island.  And because, even before the Chief said I was free… you were being kind and polite."

"But why not?"

She gave him a sad smile. "The fact that you can ask that… shows that you're worth trying to make friends with."

Fishlegs processed that for a moment, memories of stories from people absently rubbing at their necks running through his head.  And then he flushed, his face heating such that he was surprised that the parchment wasn't bursting into flames.

"Oh."

She leaned against the rough rock of the entrance and crossed her arms, looking at him with that same sad smile.  "So… I hope that this isn't being too forward… but… will you be my friend?"

Still blushing, he nodded. "Happily.  Um… so…"

"I should get going. Enjoy the lambsquarters!  They should be nice and tender!"

Fishlegs spooned up some of the warm leafy greens and took a bite.  

As he chewed, enjoying the delicious meal, he looked over the parchment, and the half-done poem on it. He wanted to welcome the newcomers to his home… and one in particular, especially now.  

And… she didn't feel like a spy.  Oh, sure, he wasn't going to go around showing her all of their secrets, but she was so young…

Okay, so was he, but it seemed more likely that one of the older ones, the more experienced ones, would be the spy.  Brogan, that cranky chandler, struck him as a prime suspect.  He clearly didn't like it here, so why was he staying?

Taking a bite of the bread topped with cream, he contemplated the next line of his poem with a critical eye.

###

Roald approached Hiccup and Magnus and went to one knee.  "I'm sorry, sire, sir, but it appears that Thane Oskar's household boarded a trader's ship yesterday and sailed with the evening tide… and the harbormaster does not know where they went."

Magnus hissed through his teeth and turned to Hiccup.  "Could we find them from the air?  Like you did for the Vedrarfjord ships."

Hiccup took a deep breath and grimaced at the pain in his rib.  "Possibly, but they have a larger head start and, unlike the Vedrarfjord ships, we don't know where they're going.  North?  South? West?  Also, that search took nearly a hundred dragons and riders, and we only have ten."  He shook his head.  "We could try, but I doubt it would work."

Magnus grimaced and then nodded.  "Plus, you and Astrid are in no condition to ride."

"Well…" Astrid started to say.

"You are in no condition to ride, milady," Magnus said intently, and she inhaled sharply and nodded.  As Magnus turned away, she rolled her eyes at Hiccup, and then clutched at her arm near the wound, turning a bit green with pain.

Her moan didn't go unnoticed.

Magnus turned. "Where is my healer!?"

Ten minutes later, the healer, shooting anxious looks at a much calmer Stormfly, had Astrid's arm in a sling.

"Don't move it overmuch," he said, "or you might tear the muscle more.  Also, for both of you, check your wounds every day; if they start to feel warm or smell as if they've turned, call for me straightaway."

Hiccup nodded, and Astrid gave a curt sound of understanding.

"Good.  Now, I imagine that that wound is paining you, so I have just the thing…" he reached into his basket and pulled out a covered soapstone mug about the size of Hiccup's doubled fists.  Once Healer Jørgen pulled the cover off, it let loose steam and a smell that made bile rise at the back of Hiccup's throat.  Heedless of the stench, he held the brew out to Astrid.  "This should help with the pain."

Astrid eyed it dubiously. "What is it?"

"Something to help with the pain, as I said."

Eyebrows raised in skepticism, she took the mug, raised it to her lips, and took a sip.

And promptly spewed it out, coughing, and handed the mug back to him.  

"By, ack, by the gods, it tastes worse than it smells!  No, thank you!  I'll deal with the pain!"

Jørgen looked at her and said, "And here I thought that you were a tough warrior."

Hiccup grimaced and shrank back a little.  This was going to be messy.  

Astrid glared at him and put her hand on her hip.  "Are you questioning my prowess?"

"No… but I would have thought that a warrior would be tough enough to handle a little nasty taste."

Glaring at him, she snatched the mug out of his hands and drank the whole thing in two pulls. Hiccup's stomach roiled in sympathy as he watched.  

Handing the mug back to the healer, and visibly trying to keep the potion down with deep breaths, she said, "Satisfied that I'm a warrior?"

He shrugged. "Didn't doubt it, but I've found that works every time."

She glared at him, and then turned pale, fighting down a retching noise.  

"The nausea should pass shortly," Jørgen said cheerfully.  "You might feel lightheaded or dizzy, and might want to go lie down—"

The glare that she gave him contained such peril that the marshal started to applaud.

"—or not, as you see fit.  Hopefully it should last through the rest of the day or so.  Don't do any heavy drinking while you're under the effects, though."

She nodded, and turned a little green at the motion.

Jørgen turned to Hiccup and Magnus.  "If she starts to babble or act like she can't feel any pain, please try to restrain her and fetch me immediately."

"Is that a risk?" Hiccup asked worriedly.

"Not especially, but it has been known to happen, especially when I give it to berserkers."

An appalled half-smile rose to Hiccup's face, and he glanced at Astrid.  Her as a berserker…

Eeep.

She caught his glance and gave him a sardonic half-lidded look, and mimed a punch to his shoulder.

"Well, with that, I'll take my leave.  Sire," Jørgen said, addressing this last with a nod of the head to Magnus.  Magnus nodded in turn and dismissed the healer with a wave.  

The afternoon wore on from there.  A summer thunderstorm moved in, and the rain sounded on the roof.  Astrid's color improved, and she managed to keep the potion down, which did apparently work on helping her with the pain.  Toothless and Stormfly gradually calmed down from their tail-swishing, smoke-snorting, hissing levels of anger and worry. Toothless even took a short nap—curled up around Hiccup such that there was no way to get out short of climbing over the sleeping dragon encircling him.  Board games were brought out, and the hours passed calmly, between reports from Roald and the other thanes about their investigation, and their lack of progress.  The oathbreakers hadn't spoken to anybody, hadn't dropped any hints of their plans, not even to their neighbors.  They'd packed up, gotten on a ship, and left behind the two brothers.  They, in turn, had come up to the fort in the morning, and taken their chance when he and Astrid had gone off alone.

Hiccup looked up from the game board between him and Magnus as the door to the hall opened, and the sound and smell of a summer rainstorm entered in a gust of warm damp air. Roald entered again, dripping water on the flagstones and rushes of the floor, and approached Magnus.  Going to one knee, he said, "My king.  I am sorry, but I must report my failure to you. My men and I have searched the city from top to bottom.  We questioned the oathbreakers' associates and extended clan.  None knew of their plans or what caused them to break their oaths to you.  While we found malcontents, they knew nothing of this attack beyond rumor.  I can only conclude that the conspirators themselves have moved beyond our reach."  He bowed his head.  

"Rise, Thane Roald. You have done your best, and that is no shame," Magnus said.  "I appreciate your efforts to safeguard my honor."

"As I have sworn to, milord," Roald said as he stood.  "Unlike others, I know the weight and value of my oaths."

"Well then, I have something for you to do," Magnus said.

"Anything, milord."

Magnus turned to Hiccup. "I've been thinking."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "Good habit, but it'll get you into trouble, I've noticed."

Astrid poked him in the side—thankfully on the other side from the broken rib—and he yelped.

Magnus snorted and said, "While I am satisfied with Thane Roald's efforts, I am choosing to err on the side of caution.  With no offense intended, Roald, I think some additional precautions are in order."

"That seems wise, milord," Roald said, nodding approvingly.  "My pride is not so fragile as to not take some nicks and dings."

"Thank you, Roald. So what I'm going to do, Hiccup, is move yours and Astrid's rooms into my wing. That way, you'll be behind my personal guard, and closer to Healer Jørgen, should you need him, and it frees up the rooms that you're staying in now for me to billet some additional thanes in, to guard the rest of your delegation."  He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Is that acceptable to you?"

Hiccup paused, rocking back on his heel a bit.  After thinking it over for a moment, he nodded.  "If you think it's a good idea…"

"I do.  And for that matter, I'd like Toothless and Stormfly in there as well…" he gave an apologetic look to Roald, "just in case."

Roald winced, but nodded.

"Excellent," Magnus said.  "Roald, would you see to that?"

The thane nodded and bowed, and then left.

The room was abuzz with whispers.  People were casting surreptitious glances at him and the other riders, and others from the household staff were coming in and lingering before they went.  

Hiccup tried to ignore the whispers as Magnus pulled him into a new game that Hiccup had never seen before.  This one involved pieces in two colors attempting to race around the board, which was decorated with two dozen long triangles pointing in towards the center; these were the playing field, it seemed.  Dice determined how far the pieces could move between the triangles, and the goal was to get your pieces to the opposite side and then off the board. Complicating matters was that you could bump someone else's singular chit off of the board and sending it back to their start, but two pieces blocked that move.  

Other games were brought out, and people started playing; Wulfhild challenged Astrid to a game of draughts, Horsefeathers got pulled into a game of hnefatafl, and his sister spectated (and made rude comments). Others, like Snotlout, left the hall, escorted either by thanes or by their dragons.  

Rolling a two and a five, Hiccup frowned, looked at the board, and moved two of his pieces from their stacks forward onto the same triangle.  "I've noticed that you have a lot of games to play around here," he said observationally.  

"Long winter nights," Magnus said with a smirk as he rolled a one and a four.  "Have to have something to do, or start going mad."

Hiccup snorted. "I can see that."

Magnus moved his pieces, and Toothless, watching them play, sidled up next to their table, arranging himself such that both of the young men could reach down and pet him.

As Hiccup scritched his friend's broad head with his left hand, he sighed in gratitude. "Thanks bud."

Magnus grinned at him as he knocked one of Hiccup's lonely pieces off of the board.  "I second the motion.  Thank you, Toothless, for my friend and my honor."

Toothless made a happy little bark that Hiccup easily understood.

You're welcome.

###

Following the squad of three thanes into the Hooligans' wing of the fort, Snotlout looked them over appraisingly.  Oathbreakers attacking his cousin.  Wow.  Snotlout knew that Hiccup could be infuriating, but that… that was a whole other level of messed up.  

But that was what Hiccup did.  

Mess things up.

The thanes were all talking in shock over the betrayal of one of their own, and talk quickly turned to discussion of the fate of the remainder of the traitors' household.

"If they're smart, they'll go as far away as they can manage," suggested one, the youngest, with a magnificent golden beard and an even more extravagant braid.  

Another shook his head, sending his long light brown hair, streaked with white, swaying. "No.  Go too far, and they'll be the only Norsemen in the area, and will stick out like sore thumbs."  He held up his hand, which was missing half of his smallest finger and part of the ring finger.  "Iceland is too small; strangers will be easily noticed.  Same for Greenland. Harthacnut is recruiting for his Thingmen, but they're only three thousand, and our lord will definitely inquire there.  Nay, their best option is to flee south for lands not of the Norse."

The third thane, with dark hair cut neatly and styled, his beard bound in tight braids, snorted at that. "To where?  The Rus' would send them right back, in little boxes a piece at a time, for oathbreaking.  And I came back from Greece only a year ago; they may try to flee there, thinking to escape our lord's justice, but let me tell you, they won't be the first to have that thought.  The empress wouldn't even hear of it; as you well know, we police our own there, and Magnus's uncle is high in the Guard's ranks."  He smiled grimly.  "If they tried to present themselves…  well, I hope that they do."

The thanes noticed that Snotlout was watching them and waved him over.  "So, dragon rider, why do you think our fellows broke their oaths?"

Snotlout shrugged. "I don't know.  I mean, that's the sort of things you see in the stories that tell you why oathbreaking is such a bad idea.  I mean, even Loki didn't do that sort of thing. He always used loopholes."

"That's right, for sure," the second thane said, nodding.  "Hold to your oaths or be forsworn.  But this… this was not being forsworn because you were caught between two oaths, or broke your word unwitting.  No, this was active treachery, betrayal of the worst sort. This was something that not even Loki Liesmith would contemplate."

The third one spat. "Aye.  They deserve to be cast into the lake of fire where old Lucifer will teach them the errors of their ways."  Snotlout gave him an odd look, but before he could ask, the older thane spat again and said, "No matter the why.  They still did it.  And it was only because of the dragon that they failed."  He looked at Snotlout.  "Is your steed that loyal to you, milord?"

Snotlout shrugged and nodded.  "Eh. Most days.  It's like any friendship.  Some days, you're best buddies, the other days… not so much. But he's loyal like anything, and I'm sure that if someone tried to mess with me, he'd be right there."

Suddenly, without warning, Snotlout found himself in a grapple, his arm twisted behind him, and he yelped loudly in pain and surprise.

"What the—!"

There was a scraping noise on the outside of the wall, and then the shutters on the window exploded inward, showering the room with wooden fragments.  Hookfang's tooth-laden head burst past the window, and the slight chill of the rain vanished as little spurts of flame jetted from his nose, scorching the wood of the floor to blackness.  

The thane let him go instantly and tried to hide behind Snotlout.  

"Aye, aye, it was a test!  Call him off! I meant no harm!"

Snotlout shrugged, grinning, and walked over to coo at Hookfang, who calmed down after a moment. Hookfang took a moment to assure himself of his rider's health with an astringent lick, and then tried to retreat his head through the window.

Except that he was stuck, his horns hitting the wood above the window.

Snotlout turned and looked at the three thanes, who were staring in awe.

"Are you three going to help me get him out of there or not?"

They rushed in, and, a moment later, Hookfang was freed of the window frame's little trap, each of the four of them taking one of the horns and gently guiding it out past the edge.

Hookfang crooned at him and flew off back to the rooftop.

Then Snotlout noticed that his bed had been set on fire, and was now smoldering and giving off little puffs of black and gray smoke as the straw and feathers burned with a noxious stink.

"Oh, come on!"

The second thane quickly said, his expression a mix of awe and fear, "We'll get you a replacement, milord!  Quick!"

They scrambled off, carrying away the smoldering bed and mattress, as Snotlout, with a sigh, popped open his sea chest and rooted around for his sewing kit.  He'd lost a few dragon-scales off of his armor, and it needed some repairs if he wanted to be able to ride Hookfang safely when he lit off his fire-aura.  

Taking a seat on the chest and popping off his boots, he set to work.  He found the gap that had let the heat in with ease, and taking the spool of cured dragon-leather thong, he stitched a few new scales onto the leather backing to cover the gap.  

As he worked, he considered that silk that Hiccup was going to get a new suit made from.  The small piece he had taken was so fine and soft, patterned with some kind of creature that looked like a cross between an eagle and a cat.  What to do with it, he didn't know, but maybe he could get some plain silk to line his suit with?  That would be nice…

Holding the repaired suit out at arm's length, he gave it a critical eye.  The new scales didn't precisely match the coloration of the surrounding scales, and while it didn't exactly look like a patch, it was definitely a bit off.  

The door reopened as he held the suit out, to reveal the three thanes with a bedframe and new mattress, the one at the front holding two of the legs, while the pair at the back were holding one leg apiece, plus other things under their arms.  

The thane carrying the foot of the bed paused at the sight of the suit—and was nearly knocked over by his two fellows carrying the back, who hadn't been expecting the sudden stop.

"Ay, ay!  Hold on!" he called back, and they maneuvered the bed into the room as Snotlout watched, smirking slightly.  

The thanes put the bed down with a thump and turned to look at him.  With a smile, the pair who had been holding up the back of the bed presented a small keg and a string of tankards.  "After my little test, I thought an apology might be in order.  Up for a drink, milord?"

Snotlout grinned. "Definitely!"

The cask was breached, and the fine ale poured into the tankards and passed around.  Snotlout was about to take a sip when he realized that the three thanes were waiting on him to make a toast.  

Holding up his tankard, Snotlout called, "Skál!" and was echoed by the three older men.

They sat and drank, Snotlout taking a seat on the new bed, and the three men variously sat on the floor, perched on his sea chest, or leaned up against the wall.  

After a moment, the one on the sea chest turned and looked at his dragon-scale armor lying there. Whistling, he said, "I have to say, that's a fine piece of kit there, lad."

Snotlout preened. He'd made it himself.  "Isn't it great?  When Hookfang shed his scales a few months back, I saved what I could, cured the leather, and made that."

The one on the floor blinked hard at that.  "That's real dragon-scales there?  That's worth a fortune!"

A shrug.  "Only if you don't already ride a dragon," Snotlout said.  It didn't hurt to reinforce exactly how much the dragons were worth to these foreigners.

The thane on the sea chest gave a long look at the armor and then at Snotlout.  Shaking his head, he took a long drink from his tankard. "Wondrous times.  Wondrous times indeed."  

"Aye," said the one seated on the floor, who was the one that had grappled Snotlout in the first place.  He gave a polite nod.  "I'm Vlademar, young sir.  It's an honor."

"Oddmund," introduced the one on the sea chest.  

"Mikael," said the one standing by the wall, holding up his tankard in a salute.  

Shrugging and smiling, "Well, I'm Snotlout."

"Aye, lad," Oddmund said.  "We was told."  He slapped his knee.  "Ah, I have lived much and traveled far, but God still has wonders for me to see! Thank you, lad, for giving me such sights to see!"

Snotlout reveled in the man's regard.  "So, what have you seen out there?"

Vlademar gave a chortle from his spot on the floor.  "Nah, young rider, we've all heard each others' stories.  Give us some fresh ones from dragonback!"

Not needing further prompting, Snotlout started to tell the tale of the raid on Brycgstow.

"…so we hit them just as the dawn was getting ready to break, flying up the river and over their walls in a matter of moments.  The night watch were wetting themselves, and the only one that got a shot off got his head split open by one of my aunties.  We ripped down the main gates with digging dragons, dropping rubble into the road to keep the carts from running, while Fritjof's dragon—the big two-headed one—blew up the main barracks hall with a quarter of the garrison still in it." He took a drink of his ale. "One of their officers managed to get organized inside of the mint, though.  So they couldn't come out without us waiting like a cat by the mouse hole, but they were waiting by the door."

"So what did you do?"

"Went through the wall instead," Snotlout said with false modesty.  "Well, two walls.  A few of them managed to challenge me," he swung his free arm to indicate the frenetic hand-to-hand, "but between me and Hookfang, they didn't have a chance."

The three thanes applauded. "You should be proud, young sir," Oddmund said, satisfied.  "Cracking open a burh, much less with no casualties… it's an accomplishment."

"Thank you, thank you!" Snotlout bowed.  "And, yeah, it was.  The officer that was in that mint was a real hardass, too.  Even when the walls came down around him, he didn't panic." He toasted with his tankard. "Fritjof took him down, and he died well."

"Hear hear!" said Vlademar, grinning.  "Well, young dragon-rider, I might not have gone a-viking, but I did take oath to old King Olaf, after he fled to the court of Yaroslav the Wise, as his sister-in-law's husband.  Old thane Roald picked me after a contest of prowess to be part of young Magnus's personal guard, before the rest of his father's thanes left with the king to regain his throne… God… eleven years ago now?  But they died at Stiklestad, and we were left there, until Jarls Einar and Kálfr came and found us."  He took a drink.  "And then we came back and restored Magnus to his father's throne, kicking out Cnut's usurpers, who fled."

Snotlout leaned in, grinning.  "Were there any big battles?"

"Sadly no.  The entire kingdom was up in arms against them. Viceroy Svein," he said the name with a sneer, "was inspired by his half-brother Harthacnut's reign over the Danes, and decided to tighten the screws that much more."

"Aye," chimed in Oddmund, scowling.  "I heard about the new taxes and laws from my brother; my farm—my father's farm, at the time—was nearly confiscated.  I barely missed inheriting from my father because I was in Greece at the time, and managed to return home before his passing, otherwise the farm would have gone to the King."

"Not to your brother?" Snotlout asked, appalled.

"No, young sir. And if my brother had gone to fetch me instead of sending a message that our father was passing, he would have needed the permission of Svein and his mother—or his own properties would have been forfeited to them."  He snorted in derision.  "Imagine how eagerly they would have given that permission!"

"Eaugh…" said Snotlout.  "Thank the gods that you got rid of him!"

"Aye!  And Magnus repealed the lot when he returned!  No more having to give the Danish usurpers a bucket of butter," Oddmund indicated a bucket two feet across with his hands, "a measure of malt," the space between his hands grew wider, "and the thigh of a three-year-old ox for Yule!"

"What the… what kind of crazy… that's ridiculous!  What kind of a tax was that?"

"The kind that every hearth-keeper with land in the kingdom of Norway had to pay for five years, young sir!"

Snotlout grimaced.  

Oddmund continued. "So when Magnus came back and repealed them all, and settled here in my own homeland, I came and took oath to him, having known his father and his uncle as men worthy of my oath.  And then the young lad went and showed that he himself was a good man as well."

"His uncle?  What happened to him?" Snotlout asked.

"Oh, I served with him down in Greece, in the Varangian Guard.  He gave me leave, personally, to return home to see my father before he passed and to claim my inheritance."  He sighed slightly, a wistful smile on his face. "I do admit, though, that I do miss Greece at times."

"Aye, when the cold wind howls through the cracks in the door and the sun shyly peeks above the horizon," Mikael interjected with a warm smile.  

"Ayep.  Not going to deny it.  Ah, Greece… it is a warm and verdant land, bathed in the sun, with Miklagård as its crown jewel."

Snotlout quirked an eyebrow. They called their great city… the large city?  Okay.

Oddmund continued while Snotlout mused on the name.  "Even in the depths of winter, the water is only cool, not cold, and the lands blanketed in green…"  He gave a happy sigh of remembrance.  "I was there for ten years before lord Harald came.  I first took service with Basil the Bulgar Slayer two years before he passed.  A giant of a man, one of the greats; I saw him only in his twilight, and he was still… awe-inspiring.  War, rulership… anything he turned his hands to, blossomed."  He reached into his tunic and pulled out a golden chain. Dangling from it was a golden cross three or four inches high, embellished with jewels.  

Snotlout's eyes went round at the wealth in front of him.  He'd taken a similar necklace off of one of the officers at Brycgstow, but that had been maybe half the size and on a leather thong.

"Aye, young sir," Oddmund said, smiling softly.  "When Basil passed, we Varangians were granted leave to loot the palace, in recognition of our stalwart duty in keeping him alive to three score and seven.  I took this as part of my share, and kept it alone out of the whole coffer that I had taken, in remembrance of the great lord that he had been."  He gave a dismissive shrug as he put the cross back into his tunic.  "When Basil's brother died three years later, we were given the same right once again, but Constantine… was not his brother.  I have no keepsake of his reign.  He was not worthy of it.  But I still remember the times I was there… ahh… the smell of the warm sea air—a bare month past Yule, mind you!—off of the Golden Horn…"

Snotlout, his eyes wide and round at the image of the wealth that Oddmund had casually mentioned, that the necklace was just a part, asked in a choked voice, "So… tell me more about Greece?"  

Oddmund grinned and took a drink from his tankard, while Mikael said, "I was there most recently, on trade.  The venture turned sour from Pecheng bandits on the route home, but I can say that Oddmund barely tells a tenth of the glory of Miklagård."  He grinned, lost in his own memories.  "The city—which they say is the largest and greatest in the whole of the world, and I have no reason to doubt them—lies right next to a strait between two great seas, and controls the  pathways between them.  It is a crossroads unequaled, place of trade and commerce and glory and gold…" He waved his tankard about so energetically that some of the ale sloshed over the side, spattering Vlademar with it. Ignoring the younger thane's scowl, Mikael continued, "When old Rome fell, its glory lived on in the east, and the center of it all is Miklagård!"  He toasted enthusiastically, spattering Vlademar again with the ale.  With an irritated cry, the seated thane reached forward, grabbed one of Snotlout's boots from the floor and flung it at the other thane, striking him in the gut.

Laughter broke out for a moment as the two thanes had a mock duel with Snotlout's boots, each of them trying to whack the other on the head with one of the smelly bits of footwear. Snotlout and Oddmund cheered and held their sides as the absurd fight took place, finally ending as Vlademar managed to batter his way past Mikael's arms and clout him firmly around the head. The two dueling thanes were also laughing, their cheeks red.  Mikael refilled Vlademar's tankard as his forfeit, and the pair swapped places.

Once they had all calmed down, Snotlout, tears of laughter still streaming somewhat from his eyes, asked, "Sounds like an amazing place."

"Oh, lad, I wish that I could take you there and show you," Oddmund said, and then a smile slowly bloomed on his face.  "Oh… my…"  He reached out and grasped Snotlout by the hand.  "Lad, you could… could take your dragon and… and fly about the greatness of that city!  See the Hagia Sophia from the air, the great walls that have never been breached by siege! They would welcome you and give you rank and honor among the Guard!"

Something twisted within Snotlout at his words.  Rank and honor… He glanced at the angular lump under Oddmund's tunic.  And gold.

"Would they?"

Oddmund looked him over and then gave a lopsided grin.  "Aye, lad, they would.  You have led men, and know what it is to fight.  You come from a tradition of warriors with few peers, from what we have heard of your tribe's war with the dragons, and, oh, yes, you ride a dragon."

Mikael and Vlademar chimed in with, "Hear hear!" and a toast.

"But they'd have dozens of thanes al—"

"Not dozens.  Thousands," Oddmund interrupted.

"Thousands!?  No, you've got to be joking.  Where would there be room for everyone else?"

Mikael and Oddmund shared an amused look and burst out laughing.  

"We call it Miklagård for a reason, young Snotlout.  Your village is, what, a few hundred souls?"  Snotlout nodded.  "Large for a village, and Nidaros is perhaps three or four times that, counting the visitors and outlying farms." He waved his arms around, as if to indicate the settled valley.  "The Guard alone numbers ten thousand housecarls, all in personal service to the Emperor and Empress."

Snotlout felt his eyes bulge out as he tried to picture that many people.  "But… but… then where is everyone else?  They'd overrun the place!"

Mikael snorted. "Not hardly.  I did say that it was the grandest city in the whole of the world, did I not?  The Guard may number ten thousand… and they are only one part in thirty, perhaps one part in fifty, of the whole of the city behind the great walls."

Snotlout froze, trying to imagine such a vastness, in land and in people.  

"And the great city itself is only a small portion of the whole of the Empire," Oddmund said. He gave another lopsided grin. "And you would be the only dragon rider in the whole of it."

"But I couldn't just go—!"

"Why not?" Oddmund asked reasonably, his cheeks a bit pinked from the laughter and the ale. "Have a girl waiting at home for you, I take it?"

Snotlout froze, feeling like he'd been punched in the gut.

"No… I… don't."

"He was casting eyes at Sir Hiccup's girl earlier," Vlademar said sagely.

Despite his best efforts, Snotlout couldn't get Thor's lightning to come and strike down the too-wise thane with his glare at the man.

"Ahhhh…" Oddmund said in a tone of understanding.  "Small village, few girls… and the other man got there first?"

Snotlout gave a brief cry of anguish and hung his head, his fingers clenching around his tankard, which spilled a bit on the floor.

A gentle hand took the tankard, and he felt a pat on the shoulder.  "Aye, lad, I understand," Oddmund said. "But then, I have to ask… why not go?"

"Mayhap his chief will need him to go a-viking again," Mikael offered.  "He's shown a skill for it."

Snotlout slumped and moaned.

Sounding surprised, Mikael asked, "Lad, what's wrong?"

"I'm forbidden from leading more dragon-riders a-viking," Snotlout said woodenly.  "I swore it on my honor to my chief."

The three thanes looked at each other, wide-eyed and shocked.  

"What nonsense is this?" Mikael asked.

"Hiccup's.  He gave this whole idea of not wanting to convince the dragons that they need to steal for us again and crap like that."

"Feh," said Vlademar.  "Yet his dragon seemed to have little problem understanding that he was in trouble when he burned Oskar to a blackened crisp."

Oddmund had a thoughtful look on his face.  "Well, lad, you promised not to lead riders a-viking on raids, aye?"

Snotlout nodded. "More or less, yeah."

"Then you could take up with the Guard with no issue.  They're housecarls for the Emperor; they don't go a-viking on their own—they go aconquering, at the behest of the Emperor."

"I…" Snotlout started to speak, and then paused as thoughts occurred to him.  Yes, he had pledged his honor and his word to Hiccup and Stoick.  And how had they thanked him?  By charting a course straight into disaster.  

Maybe… maybe this was his chance.  His chance to show them that he'd been right…  

Vlademar gave him a sympathetic and wry look.  "Lad. Look, we are not going to tie you to a mast and ship yeh down to Greece."  He glanced at the broken window shutters, one of them still hanging forlornly from the leather hinge.  "Aside from it being a spectacularly bad idea for our own oaths, I imagine that yonder beastie would… object to that."

All four of them snorted.

"But, aye, I am a second son myself, and watched the object of my affections go into the arms of another man.  And I look back now and I see that if I had stayed… I would have stayed.  Stayed a second son, stayed in a small river village, beholden to my older brother." He held his arms out, showing his fine tunic and badge of office.  "Now… I am a trusted thane of a king."

Oddmund nodded in agreement. "Aye, lad.  Staying home… you'll curdle on yourself like bad cheese. Spread your wings.  Spread your dragon's wings.  Go to Miklagård; one of my nephews is preparing to leave soon, and you could perhaps go with him."  He reached out and gave a friendly pat to Snotlout's shoulder with one hand, and handed him back his tankard with the other.  "Here, lad, you're going to be just one rider among many—and one forbidden from showing his prowess, too.  There…"  his eyes grew distant and a smile sprouted on his face.  "There, we are from far-off lands, tinged with the exotic, we serve their Emperor, we win glory on the battlefield…"  His eyes refocused on Snotlout's.  "Aye, lord rider, if your prospects at home are truly as dire as they seem… make your way to the Varangian Guard, and they will welcome you, welcome you with open arms."

"And that's not all that will be opened!" Mikael offered with a sly grin.

"Well, that goes without saying," Oddmund said in good humor, waggling his eyebrows at Snotlout and giving him a wink.

Snotlout huffed. "Are the girls there pretty?" he asked after a moment.  

Mikael gave a cheerful little laugh.  "Oh, aye, they are.  With hair the shade of a raven's wing, in a glorious abundance of curls or in waves like the crest of the sea, and lips made for kissing…"

Oddmund gave a sigh, clearly visiting fond memories.  "Aye. The girls there welcome the men of the Guard.  And with a dragon, you would certainly find yourself of much interest to them. Imagine, la—milord.  You could go from being one rider among many, to the general of a great empire."

A vision struck Snotlout, of himself, older, grizzled, riding atop Hookfang's back at the head of a vast army, moving towards Berk to protect it against another group of dragon riders, whose dragons had come from Hiccup's foolish attempts at peace and his unwise and ill-advised breaking of Berk's monopoly.  He imagined himself driving off the invaders with nerve and steel and strength.  

He imagined Hiccup grateful for saving him and the tribe.

…and Astrid leaving his cousin and coming to him as a hero.

Lifting the tankard to his lips, he took a great swallow of the ale against the lump in his throat and said, "Tell me more about the Guard."

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Author's Notes: One of the longest chapters so far in this fic, with 13k+ word count; I think that this one will be at the upper limit for chapter size, and the only reason I didn't break it in two was that there wasn't a good spot to do so.  In other good news, I'm starting to get ahead of my buffer again, and hope to have a generous padding ahead of my schedule within the next few weeks.  I'm also intending to put up the first "chapter" of my appendices on AO3 soon (probably within the week).  Additionally, I'm hoping to recruit one or more new beta readers.  Details are here: https://athingofvikings.tumblr.com/post/162895682290/call-for-beta-readers  (and I'll remove this bit from the AN when I've got my "Machete Squad" up to full strength).  

In other news, there is a non-zero chance that I might be taking a week or two off from posting in early August; I'm getting married and going on my honeymoon with my fiancee, and while I love you all to bits, that does take precedence ;)  So that's going to depend on how hectic things are over the next few weeks.  

Beyond that, thank you to everyone that's been reading, and especially to those leaving comments!  I'm so glad that you're enjoying the story thus far!

#httyd #httyd fanfiction #httyd fandom #a thing of vikings #how to train your dragon #hiccstrid