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#because she knew she was meant to die so she went to fight
redflagshipwriter · 2 months
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Mamabat- enter Jason 1/2
MASTERPOST
The air was different with Cass, now. Danny felt a little anxious as he followed her to the study after breakfast. Something about her was serious-determined-protective. 
She always felt protective towards him. That was why he'd followed her in the first place. Some ghosts lied, but they couldn't do it with their aura. He knew what she really felt for him. 
“Sit?” She asked him. She gestured at the big squashy chair. Danny did without complaint. Cass perched behind him and started dragging her fingers through his hair, relaxing him.
Man. She was good at this. Top tier mothering, right here. Danny went limp. 
“I'm worried,” Cass broke the silence. She didn't sound worried. She never really did. Her voice was quiet and serious, but still kind. Her thumbs dug into his scalp. He pushed his head back against it. Bliss. “Barbara made you sad. Because you miss your sister?”
Danny tensed. 
‘I should have figured that Batman would track me down.’
Maybe he had known, if he was honest with himself. It didn't hit him like a shock.
“Tim thinks your name is Fenton,” she added, brutally sensible as always. And yup, that was it. No point in denying it. “Declared dead. In danger?”
He sucked in air through his teeth. He wasn't going to lie to her. 
“Worried,” she repeated. 
He thought about it. He really did. Danny bit his lip. 
She was liminal. That probably meant she'd come really close to death, in at least one sense of the word. Would that mean she was desensitized to it, or extra paranoid?
…It was hard to imagine Cass over or under reacting to a possible danger. She was just so steady. But would she see him as a possible danger if she knew what he was, what he really was? 
He could feel it out before he took a plunge with the whole truth.
Maybe it was wrong. Maybe it was invasive. She didn't seem to realize that she was liminal. That meant she definitely didn't realize how much she was communicating to him under her words and gestures. 
But Danny deliberately tuned into her quiet aural communication and tested the waters. “Tim is right, I'm Danny Fenton,” he said. He knew he was too tense. She would definitely feel it. But what could he do about that? He was nervous. “I… Maybe I did die.”
Her heart dropped to her stomach. He could feel the crush of grief on her heart. 
But it didn’t wash away the thudding repetition of love-protect-my darling. There was no suspicion, no guilt, no fear. It was just pain for his sake, with no calculation about how to solve a sudden problem. 
God. He wanted so badly for that to have been how his parents reacted. His eyes started to sting.
Danny sniffled. He thought it was safe to tell her. “I died,” he corrected, and he knew he was right when Cass made a little wounded sound and leaned her body into him, aiming to comfort. “Not then, but a couple years ago. I’m different now, and it’s uh… It’s dangerous to be this way.”
“Affects?” Cass asked quietly. She started to pet his hair again. “Mood? Health?”
“...Huh,” he said, because that was a sensible question he hadn’t expected. If he really thought about his mood and emotions before and after the accident: “Yeah, uh, there’s sometimes a mood thing. I might be a little more aggressive than I was before? And I can get kind of intense sometimes.”
He had thought that was basically just a reaction to having a whole bunch of new threats in his life. But would pre-electrocution Danny have been able to actually stand and fight Skulker? He had genuinely been afraid of the jocks. Maybe… Maybe he was different. Sure, Sam and Jazz were up for shooting ghosts with Fenton tech. Would he have been if he was just human? 
…He didn’t really think so.
Oof. Well, that wasn’t exactly great for his sense of self.
Cass shook him lightly. “Health?” she repeated.
Danny forced down that revelation to deal with later. He didn’t like acknowledging that he was kind of a chicken by nature, but historically, there wasn’t much evidence of bravery pre-mortem. “Uh, my heart rate is really slow, body temp is low, so I can’t really afford to go to a doctor for a checkup,” he said. “Uh, sometimes I’ve got none at all and my hair turns white.” He paused there. That was- that was enough, yeah? He was going to be honest with her because she deserved honesty from him. But that didn’t mean he had to explain the whole great beyond and his inhuman status.
“Sounds like Jason,” Cass said, after a long silence.
Danny short-circuited. “Wait, what?” He craned to look at her. “Who?”
Cass darted forward to kiss his forehead. “Little brother,” she said cheerfully. “Want to meet him?”
Uh, yeah. Danny nodded vigorously, wondering what the hell she was on about. “Do you mean he died?” 
“Died,” Cass agreed, getting out her phone and tapping away at it rapidly.
“Not like, heart stopped for a minute on the operating table and he was revived, or what?” Danny pressed.
“Dead in the ground, came back later,” Cass said. “Dead for months. Now, very crabby.”
Danny balked. “What?”
“White hair too,” she said. Then her face did something funny. “I think he dyed it recently,” she said. 
Danny huffed a laugh. “If it’s the same thing as mine, you can’t dye it.” He saw her look over his head for white streaks. He didn’t correct her line of thought.
He hadn’t thought that anything could top the anticipation of meeting Batman. But Danny had to admit the rest of the day was a wash. Apparently Jason couldn’t make it until the evening, about an hour before patrol.
Danny nearly paced a line into the carpet. He had enough energy to do that now, even without ecto. He was getting soooo much food here. A guy couldn’t even stress out for an hour without someone coming by to make sure he had fruit and yogurt or a hot drink.
He didn’t need someone to come and tell him that the much anticipated Jason had shown up. Danny knew it when he went to take a sip of cruelty-free chocolate milk (hand delivered by the most frightening child in the world) and choked on vapor.
Damian gave him a glare and snatched the drink away. “Are you incapable of drinking beverages?” he demanded. His face looked so goddamn cross but he was just worried.
Danny managed a smile. “No, went down the wrong pipe, sorry.”
Damian didn’t seem to even see the fog, so- so that meant that either he was really unobservant or he wasn’t liminal enough to see it the way people did in Amity. That was a small blessing. Danny appreciated it and he took back his drink to have something to hold onto.
That was a whole ass ghost. That was a whole ghost coming onto the property, one that felt big and mad and old. Danny smacked his lips, disconcerted. 
He, uh, didn’t know what to expect from this.
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gay-dorito-dust · 11 months
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Tag list: @sh-tposter2021 @casmosmoon @hoesindifferentshows @daffodildelight @stuckinaoaktree @this-is-music @good-so @farleyis @starksdaughter20
Part 1
It has been a couple of days since your confession and Hobie was conflicted on whether he should rip the preverbal bandaid off and tell you of his secret identity, and possibly putting you at risk for potentially dangerous circumstances in the future, or keep you in the dark for a little while longer until he felt brave enough with himself and his situation to come forward; After all personal relationships -whether platonic or romantic- and Spider-Man never went well together. It was a sacrifice placed upon the shoulders of all variations who were chosen to dawn the mask of Spider-Man.
For if the legacy of being Spider-Man was a death sentence to those who are close, Hobie doesn’t want you death to be treated as his ‘canon event’ or whatever hand fisted bullshit excuse Miguel was trying to ram down everyone’s throats in order to justify in allowing a loved one of theirs to die. Hobie refuses that being the case and due to his righteous mistrust of Miguel, he kept your name out of his mouth unless it was within the presence of the few he could trust; Miles, Pavitr and Gwen.
‘So they have a crush on you.’ Pavitr began.
‘Yeah.’
‘And you have a crush on them.’ Miles jumped in.
‘Ain’t no point in hiding it.’ Hobie cooly replied because why should he bother hiding the obvious.
‘So…what’re you going to do about it?’ Gwen finishes and Hobie only shrugs in response, ‘dunno.’
Pavitr made an face of exaggerated shock and looks over at Miles and Gwen, who were already expecting this reaction from him as they exchanged looks with him, before looking back at Hobie. ‘Dunno, the person you like has expressed that they like you too-‘ ‘-it wasn’t me they were talking to Pav, it was Spider-Man, clear difference. No need to rom-com it.’ Pavitr waved his comment away and continues on his tangent, ‘they like you, you like them and your response to all that is; Dunno?!’ Hobie -again- shrugs. He really didn’t know what to do, yes the feelings between you two were mutual but that didn’t mean he was going to risk your safety over them; no matter how deeply he feels them to the point where the mere idea of you being put at risk because of him acting out of his selfishness in having you, made him physically hurt.
Hobie would rather enact upon his selfishness in a way that meant letting you go and moving on to someone who wasn’t going to be putting your life in constant danger, whilst also getting to shamelessly cling onto some part of you in the process; even if that meant just being your friend, even though he already knew that wasn’t what you wanted. ‘What do you want me to do Pavitr?’ Hobie began, ‘Go up to them and be like ‘remember the talk you had with Spider-Man up on the roof? Yeah that was me and no I’m not having a laugh because I like you too.’ He made a face at this, ‘nah I’d rather them call me a nonce for the rest of my life, well that is if they still want me in their life afterwards for lying to them this entire time.’ He murmurs the last part to himself mostly and it was silent for a while as he, Pavitr, Gwen and Miles sat on what has been said.
The later three shared a look between them as Hobie looked at a picture of the two of you that he kept within the pockets of his vest, smiling softly to himself as the echos of your laughter ran in his head like a melody he could set his soul adrift to on his most sleepless of nights. It was obvious to Gwen, Pavitr and Miles that Hobie held you close to his chest, right where his heart is; Gwen in particular was aware of how much of an impact you had on Hobie from the times she spent at his place and it was obvious as to where it was that you touched as Hobie made it apparent to keep it that way. You’ve made a home for yourself within Hobie’s heart and she knew that he’d fight to keep you in his life.
‘Hobie,’ he lifted his eyes to meet theirs, ‘would you rather be afraid to tell them who you are for the rest of your life, or tell them while you still have the chance because from what you’ve already told us about y/n, they wouldn’t hate you or call you a nonce, whatever that is.’ Miles mumbled under his breath as Hobie raised his brows, ‘has it crossed your mind at all that you might just overthinking all this? Not to say the fear ain’t real, what I’m trying to get at is this; you should pursue what makes you happiest, regardless of the fears you may have because in the end isn’t it better to have love and lost then to have never have loved at all?’
Hobie mulled on Miles’ advice once he got back to his reality before finding himself standing on that very same rooftop where his conflict began, looking down as he clutched his mask between both hands in contempt, so much so that he didn’t even hear your voice call out to him until you were right next to him. ‘Hobie? Everything alright?’ He had told you prior to meet up on the rooftop of some abandoned apartment complex that you were more then camisole with at this point, but the way he said it made you feel as though there was something eating away at your best friend and you weren’t about to let him go through anything alone without you.
Upon realising how close you were to him, Hobie was slick enough to hide his mask behind his back when he addressed you, stuffing it into his back pocket so that you wouldn’t get overly curious as to his hand placement but then again you were always as observant as him when he noticed the way your eyes lingered, like you already knew what this was about; to which Hobie wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case for it would make this situation a lot easier for you to process what you already knew. ‘Yeah, everything’s cool, why is it that you think somethings up?’ The raise of your brows only told Hobie that you weren’t buying it, ‘oh I think there is but it looks to me that you need a little prompting.’ and without missing a beat your hand was halfway to reaching for his back pocket when he caught your wrist, holding it there as he looked at you incredulously. ‘The hell was that for knobhead.’
You shrugged, ‘like I said, you needed prompting otherwise you wouldn’t be defending whatever’s in your back pocket so adamantly as you are now.’ You were smart, Hobie had to give you that as he lets go of your wrist and decides to quit the unnecessary prolonging and pulled out the mask from his back pocket, chucking it into your awaiting hands as he then sat himself near to the edge with his back facing you so he couldn’t see the look upon your face when you say, ‘so this is what you were hiding from me…I knew Spider-Man felt too familiar and now I know why.’ He heard your footsteps get closer before stopping all together as you sat yourself next to him.
You were both silent but it was a silence loud enough to dampen out anything else in that moment and Hobie didn’t know where this silence would lead to, and neither did you as you were now realising that you had confessed your feelings to your best friend without knowing it; which was already enough to take in but for that friend to also be spider-man was a whole other thing to unpack. Where you mad that he didn’t tell you? No, not even in the slightest but you were more worried then you could ever be mad, after all you just found out your crush and best friend was spider-man for fuck sakes so of course you’d be more worried for his well being. ‘Here,’ you tell him, holding out his mask for him to take, ‘you can have it back.’ Hobie did as you asked and took his mask back, but before it was fully in his grasp you yanked it away from his reach, causing him to look at you.
‘Give it.’ He tells you straightforwardly but you stood your ground as you pressed a finger to your cheek, ‘not until you tell me something first; did you know I had a crush on you prior.’ Hobie shrugs. ‘No, honestly it wasn’t until but you admitted that you liked me that somethings started to make sense.’ You hummed, content with his answer but you weren’t through quite yet. ‘Do you…feel the same.’ You once again asked but this time your voice wasn’t as steady and strong, it was fearful and hesitant; something Hobie never wants you to be when near him.
‘Of course I do, I thought I made it obvious when I personally dealt with those who chatted shit about you behind you back, I thought it was obvious that when I let you into my heart, that there would be no way that I was letting you go but with this,’ he gestured to the mask in your outstretched hand, ‘made it all the more harder for me to do that without putting you in danger; I was hiding this other life from you to protect you but you were always too observant for your own good but it’s one of the many things I love about you.’ Hobie admits, happy he finally got it off of his chest. After hearing all that, you gave him back his mask and rested your head against his shoulder, murmuring, ‘your such a hassle.’
Hobie smiled for what felt like the first time in a long while throughout this whole situation and slugged his arm over your shoulder before resting his head on top of yours, ‘yeah but I’m your hassle.’ He says before pressing a kiss to your head, feeling you as you snuggle into his side, smiling to yourself, ‘how unfortunate.’ You say half heartedly as Hobie joins in, ‘yeah, poor you.’
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lightlycareless · 4 months
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Hiii, can i request a scenario on how naoya (when he has reached a point where he loves wife!reader from an arranged marriage) would react to one day not being greeted at all when he comes home? It is completely silent, no response as he calls for her and is getting a bit worried as he starts searching the rooms. But then he sees her laying on the couch, shivering and sweating from a cold that’s so intense she’s barely lucid and can’t even tell he’s there and talking to her
Heya!!
So... I took some liberties when writing this, kind of went a completely different route (the sick part, alongside worried Naoya still remains though), it just occurred to me when reading your ask, but I hope it's still of your liking 🥺!!!
anyways, here are the warnings: mentions of death, miscarriage, a very concerned and overprotective Naoya, a bit of fluff, and everyone wants to spoil you rotten lol.
And without further ado, happy reading!
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“Y/N, I’m home!”
Home.
A word he never really cared for, always considering it sappy, alongside the fondness that was usually assigned to it, which Naoya couldn’t think of as nothing but ridiculous, if not hilariously overrated.
For many years, Naoya thought that a home was simply the place that one was raised in and that’s about it. Nothing of the sentimentality others liked to apply to it, brag about it…
Until, of course, he finally came to understand what the word meant; why it was so special, and why it was important to have one.
A home wasn’t made by the people he knew as family, blood related, found in the place he was forced to be in since he was born, and probably die in—no; it’s the one that was made by the people of his choice, people he met through his course of life, connected with, and now, cherished.
Amongst them, you.
He considered himself lucky to have found the love of his life, a concept he considered so… foreign, impossible for someone like him, if not a stupidity of delusional people desiring more from life.
So was Naoya destined to think for the rest of his existence, condemned by his same family to live a life of loneliness, hatred, and die the same way.
But you’d come to show him otherwise, shockingly, and unexpectedly, and in such a way he couldn’t even put up a fight, completely surrendering to you and the wonderful feelings that being in love with you provided.
Now that he’s experienced them, he couldn’t find the reason as to why his family would ever reproach such beautiful thing as harshly as they did—or that he believed them in the first place…
Well, that’s not something that bothers him anymore; the Zen’in clan could continue on in their hard stuck ways for all he cared; he, on the other hand, plans to spend the rest of his days alongside the woman of his dreams, starting by today, finally back in your arms after days of being pulled into pointless missions after pointless missions, which he would not hear of for a few weeks—having earned a well-deserved break for his consistently good performance.
Naoya even prepared accordingly for the occasion, having bought gifts from all the places he’d been to, as well as ideated ways to distract you from the boring estate and his nagging relatives he knows you don’t enjoy being around with, only tolerating them because they were, well, your in-laws, his family—with exceptions of those you do get along, and for them, he’s grateful that they do.
Ah, he couldn’t wait to see you, your face, and the adorable way it brightens up whenever receiving him.
To tell you of his day while resting his head on your lap, with you passing your fingers through his hair, gently soothing his stresses away as you reassure him that he’s the best sorcerer out there, he’s just… unlucky to bump into lesser talented ones.
Get something to eat too, he’d like his favorite for a start, miso soup—and perhaps have you feed it to him? God, it’s been a while since both have done that, and it’s not because he doesn’t like doing it, or you for that matter, but rather, he doesn’t want to risk being seen by others, it has to be in the utmost privacy, after all! He isn’t to be vulnerable in front of his family!!
Oh, he needs wishes to see you—right now. And he’s absolutely sure you’re feeling the same way…
If so… why hadn’t you responded? Why hadn’t you come to receive him in the same manner you’ve always done?
Naoya knows that his schedule can be a bit… unpredictable, making it difficult for you to know exactly when he’ll come back home—but even then, it didn’t take you that long to meet him after announcing his return.
You’d always come to the entrance, no matter if it happened right that moment, or a bit later; you just… did.
But today… it seems that you opted to break the routine by taking far longer than you usually do.
He’d remain attentive to his surroundings, hoping to either hear your approaching footsteps or voice softly calling for him at a distance, yet as time went on, he was received with neither…. And Naoya only begins to grow more worried.
Your husband tries to not jump to the worst conclusion just yet, opting to think that you were perhaps simply caught up tending to the house, maybe even partaking in an unwanted conversation with one of his relatives and having trouble brushing them off—for no matter the times you’d reminded them that your husband was back, and you needed to be there to receive him, still acted as if it wasn’t that important.
Things that implied that even when running late, you were still ok.
Yet…
“Y/N!” Naoya calls once again, hoping for a change…
Silence.
It’s by this time that he decides it’s better to search for you than to stand around and wait for you to magically appear.
Naoya begins by going into the main wing, eyes scanning through the gardens, your usual place of leisure when not busy, where you’d calmly enjoy the diligently tended for flowers (the ones he had changed to your favorite as soon as he found out which ones they were) while snacking on something, or in the company of your loyal staff—if that were the case of your absence, he understood why you didn’t answer.
But he wouldn’t find you near any of the gardens, or anywhere in fact! A statement that weighed even heavier upon finding out that the staff was in the same predicament as him, for when he asked a nearby servant of your whereabouts, he was received with the following answer:
“We haven’t seen her” Naoya’s heart sinks.
“What do you mean you haven’t seen her?” he breathes. “Where could my wife—did she—did she leave the estate?”
No. You… didn’t. Because that’s not what you told him you’d be doing a few hours ago, after letting you know he was on his way back home; if anything, you replied with how excited you were to see him again and that you’d be eagerly waiting for him!
So obviously, their words didn’t make sense. But if so… where were you?
Naoya now frantically searched for you through every wing, room, space, chamber, closet, just— anywhere, literally anywhere you could be while repeatedly calling out your name in hopes of getting a response, or even a glimpse of you; he doesn’t care what at that point, he’s happy with either!
Yet, the longer he went on without an answer, the bigger his sorrow became, to the point where his mind was machinating nothing but the worst-case scenarios, slowly losing his inhibitions as he repeatedly wondered Where were you? How come no one has seen you? Did he have to escalate this situation?
Just—Where are you, Y/N?!
Thankfully, there would be no need to pursue bigger solutions for he’d get his answer soon enough after entering the east wing, passing through the living quarters, and arriving to the laundry room, one of the last places he’d thought you’d be—rightfully guessing so, for you were there, apparently washing whatever garments you had pending, which you hadn’t been able to wash due to a variety of unknown reasons…
But far from feeling elated to have found you, Naoya felt as if whatever he had left of his heart was effectively broken, which felt short compared to the way he found you.
“Y/N!”
The sight that received him is one that will remain imprinted in the back of mind: you were laying on the floor, on your side, tightly clutching to your stomach as you breathed heavily, eyes tightly shut while groaning in what Naoya could only interpret as pain.
As if his worries weren’t through the roof at that point, this last conclusion is what urged Naoya to hastily make way to your side, swiftly kneeling to your level as he calls out for you once more.
“Y/N—Y/N” He’d breathe, firmly yet carefully placing his hands over you with intentions of picking you up, but his hold falters when his fingers briefly graze your skin, making him gasp in return. “Y/N you’re—you’re burning!”
This would be the only time you’d respond to him, barely able to move your head onto his direction, slightly opening your eyes to see him, a gaze that shows how much pain you were going through, barely able to understand what was going on, except for gently breathing the word that makes his heart squeeze out in pain.
“Na—Naoya…”
Any hesitation is effectively thrown out the window by that point, picking you up and rushing you towards their shared bedroom, all while barking orders to the nearby staff, demanding them to call for a doctor, as quickly as possible, unless they wanted to be jobless by the end of the day!
The staff reacts accordingly, and a few minutes later, the family doctor arrives to the estate, guided to your room and seeing that you were already being tended to, or at least that’s the idea he gets from the dampened towel on your forehead, undoubtedly in efforts of lowering your fever—which unfortunately, had been for nothing.
Well, he was there now, and he didn’t waste time either to get to work, quickly assessing your condition by the apparent symptoms, starting by your temperature, the color of your skin, and even the way you reacted to him while doing so, completely uncooperative—apparently, whatever put you in this state had evoked great instability from you, thus the doctor found it necessary to put you under sedatives.
But even when he was able to quickly gain control of the situation, the doctor still couldn’t arrive at a proper conclusion, less when the people around you had an even smaller idea of what struck you.
“I—I don’t know.” Naoya would respond, angrily, frustrated—and rightfully so. How come none of the servants had noticed your absence? Or worse, hadn’t seen anything that could hint as to what your sickness was about?! “Can’t you just—help her?!”
“That’s what I’m trying—I can’t help her if I don’t know what I’m dealing with.” The doctor responded as calmly as he could, but even he had to admit that everyone’s seeming ignorance annoyed him as well. “But I can still say that this seems much more than just a simple… sickness.”
“What do you mean?” Naoya frowns, the doctor looks at the nearby servants, tasked to be on stand-by if needed.
“I’d like to discuss this in private.” He tells them.
The servants don’t wait for Naoya to repeat the order before they’re already out the room and away from their earshot; a request that while didn’t raise any concerns from Naoya —if anything, he was glad their pesky, useless presence, was finally away from you— the doctor’s face was quick to convince your husband that something far worse than what met the eye.
And this made Naoya’s nerves reach a new limit.
“I told you; I don’t know what happened—” Your husband is quick to defend, believing the doctor was to interrogate him once more, only to be interrupted.
“You don’t need to tell me for me to know what happened.” He interjects, Naoya’s eyes widen.
“I’m lost.” Naoya scowls. “Stop talking cryptically and get on with it!”
“I’ve seen these symptoms before, Naoya. And as I said, these are not from a simple sickness, an allergy or any of the matter” He takes a deep breath. “I heavily suspect she was intoxicated—and not accidentally, but rather, intentionally.”
“Excuse me?” Naoya frowns.  “I told you to stop talking in riddles, say what you—”
“Poisoned, Naoya. I believe your wife was poisoned.”
Naoya’s world comes to a screeching halt.
You…
You were poisoned.
According to the doctor, you—You were attacked, besieged, with malicious intents.
Taken advantage of in the one place you’d never be on edge, your home, the same one he had repeatedly reassured your father that you’d be safe in—the Zen’in estate, home to the prestigious Zen’in clan! There was no safer place in the whole world! There couldn’t!
No one— no one wouldn’t dare do such a thing here—they knew better! Naoya would force them to now better…
Yet, someone dared to commit this transgression against you.
And to make it all worse….
Almost got away with it.
Who would even think of doing such transgression against you?! You?!
You had no quarrels with anyone, and even when you did, you handled things in such an amicable way just so you’d live peacefully, free of nonsensical arguments—you had no space for them in your life!
And yet, this still happened, and right underneath his nose….
There’s no doubt that he’ll put an investigation into order to find the bastard responsible for your suffering, and once he does, he’ll make him regret his existence, to the point he’ll have him begging for mercy—and even then, it wouldn’t be enough for Naoya.
However, that is something that will have to wait until he knows you’re safe, healthier, which the doctor had slowly began to help you with by giving you something that will immediately trap the poison from being further absorbed by your blood—activated charcoal, so he remembers— as well as some other prescriptions for side effects he wishes to prevent.
“Your wife was very lucky to survive, have you waited a second more—”
“I wasn’t waiting.” Your husband immediately responds, offended by his wording. “I wasn’t aware of this until I returned.”
The doctor presses his lips together, taking notice that throughout his whole visit, Naoya has never left your side, nor freed your hands from his.
“And I’m not surprised.” He silently admits.
Naoya hates the notion the doctor was implying, that this was an inside job. But considering the odd behavior of the staff, their seeming ignorance of your location and your status… it all pointed to that same conclusion.
The boiling fury inside him grows bigger.
“How could this be?” Naoya seethes.
How could someone get this far, this close to you, and no one suspecting a thing?
Your husband might’ve reproached the way the doctor expressed himself, but there was an undeniable truth behind them; he truly was lucky to have gotten back home just when he did, for had he taken a second longer, just one, you could’ve die—
Outside of that, the second most important question regarding this whole situation was…where was your staff? Why, of all days, were they absent?
Naoya is confident that if Mariya, your closest confidant, had been around, this would’ve never happened in the first place; the moment she saw anything out of the ordinary, she would’ve pulled all the stops and acted accordingly.
Yet, she was nowhere to be seen, and this makes Naoya both highly suspicious, and furious.
Where was she?  Where are the rest? Why would they leave you in your most needed time? Did they plan this? Plot against you?! Where the hell could they possibly—
“They’re going to be away for the weekend to visit their families.”
He suddenly remembers; you told him so earlier that week through a text.
“Will you be ok?” Naoya also remembers asking; he didn’t feel happy knowing you’d be alone without your most trusted staff.
“It’s just a few days, Naoya. Besides, they deserve a break! I don’t want them to get tired of me, you know?”  you laugh. “But you better come back quickly, ok? Just because they’re not around doesn’t mean I like being alone…”
“I won’t take long. I promise.”
If only he’d kept his word…
Well, if that was to be the answer to their absence, then it wasn’t fair to hold any level of animosity towards them, a weight being lifted from his burdened shoulders upon realizing your staff could strill be trusted in.  
Now all that was left to worry about is finding the culprit… and the status of that too.
“Is she ok?” Naoya would ask.
“She is, I managed to—”
“No, I mean… that.” Naoya’s voice hints to a silent agreement between the two. “Is… that ok?”
The doctor quickly catches what he means, affirming so by a nod. His reassurance lifts an immeasurable weight from his heart, even greater than the alleged betrayal of Mariya and the rest. One less thing to worry about.
“What now, then?”
“Since the damage was limited, to say the least, it won’t be necessary to move her to a hospital, however—”
She’s still in danger. Naoya concludes. More so if the attack came from someone inside… And what makes him think that just because he’s back they’ll stop trying?
If anything, seeing how close they got, they could try once again!
The mere thought is enough to push him into taking what is perhaps the most radical decision he could’ve taken in this situation, something that might come to torment him in the future, but until then, he won’t care, not even a bit; not when he had your safety to worry about:
That is… Naoya fired everyone, effective immediately.
He took no heed if any of them had been serving the family for years, if they were close friends of his father, or if their livelihood would be affected— Naoya just wanted them out of his sight, the estate, and as soon as possible, less they wanted to receive more of his anger, before continuing with the rest of his plan.
Due to the gravity of said situation, Naoya knew he had to contact your family; he also knew that you would’ve refuted the idea as soon as he mentioned it to you, not wanting to worry them if you’ve truly been attacked, but he couldn’t do this to your father; not when he was amongst the few people in the world he knew had your wellbeing as utmost priority— as well as holding a great amount of respect and appreciation for him, specifically for the way he welcomed him into your family.
Eiichi, your father, had to admit that getting a call from the Zen’in estate that didn’t come from you surely surprised him beyond any comprehension, and yet, that would be nothing compared to the shock he’d get upon knowing the motive behind said call; Naoya swore he almost heard your father passing out, or at least, in the process of.
“Poisoned?!”  Eiichi gasped, tightly clutching onto the phone—he might’ve as well passed out and dived into a nightmare! “Is she ok?! Where is she right now?”
“At the estate, with me—the doctor didn’t think it necessary for her to be hospitalized since he was able to stop the poison from spreading any further, but she still needs rest.”
“And the baby?”  the referenced secret between Naoya and the doctor; your pregnancy.
“Fine.” He breathes, swallowing. “The doctor didn’t tell me of any damage done to the baby…  but I’m—I’m still taking her to the doctor, just—just to be sure.”
“How could this happen?” Eiichi laments, heart breaking not only for you, but for Naoya as well. Your father knew all too well what it was to lose the love of his life, a pain that he would never desire on anyone, not even his own enemies…
One that he could slowly begin to hear in Naoya’s voice; oh, he could only imagine the pain he was going through, or what waited for him if he had lost not only you, but his child too.
But, well, the worst is over… at least for now.
“Someone from the staff did it.” Naoya declares, Eiichi’s heart sinks even further. “But I’ve taken care of it, I’ve fired everyone.”
And your father, contrary to Naoya’s relatives, did not question him. If anything, he seconded his decision, because had he been in your husband’s shoes, he would’ve done the same thing.
“Was her staff involved?” Your father asks, feeling a slight… anger with the idea that the ones you greatly cherished could’ve plotted against you.
“No, they were not; in fact, they were out of the estate when all this went down.” Naoya responds. “But I know that if they had been here, this would’ve never happened in the first place.”
“Bring her here, with me.” Eiichi immediately suggested, Naoya blinks, startled by the idea, if not against it.
“Father—"
“We can take care of her while she’s recuperating, take her to the doctor too. I’ll make sure that she has everything she needs. And not to misjudge your staff, or lack of, but the people here would never hurt her—they’ve known her since she was a child! There won’t be another safer place for her to be than here, Naoya. At least…  until she’s better.”
Previously, Naoya would’ve questioned the veracity of his words, done all he could to prove you were much better with him, but after this occurrence… he had to agree.
As much as it hurt him to know you’d be away from him, especially when you were pregnant… he knew this was the right decision to make. He couldn’t expose you to another similar situation—not even if he got a completely new staff… or if you didn’t want to leave.
So, Naoya accepts Eiichi’s suggestion, alongside buying him a ticket for the earliest available flight to Kyoto; a few hours later, your father would arrive to the estate, rushing to your side, keeping you company while tending to your every need as Naoya prepared everything for your departure.
When you eventually regained consciousness, you were (although a bit surprised) overwhelmingly elated to see your father visiting you, for it had been so long since you’d seen him, probably around the time you announced your pregnancy!
However, that excitement would soon diminish when Naoya told you why he was there… alongside the cryptic explanation of your “sickness.”
“It was an allergy.” Naoya would say, not wanting to stress you by the fact that you were intentionally poisoned, although that excuse did little to stop you from doing so. “Rare, but it can happen, especially with pregnant women.”
“An allergy…? But I didn’t…” you frown.
“It happened to your mother, once.” Eiichi followed Naoya’s lead. He hated lying to you, but… he concurred that keeping you safe, both mentally and physically, was worth doing so. “It’s nothing but hormonal changes, so don’t worry much about it.”
“I guess…” you frown, pressing your lips. “But that still doesn’t explain why I have to leave.”
“We need to check what caused your allergy” Naoya responds. “It might be something about the food, the flowers, or even the wood; I rather you be safe than to go through that scare again.”
“But is… all this really necessary?” Naoya gives you a tight smile and a nod. “Naoya, I—"
“It’s not all bad, Y/N.” Naoya says.
“Besides, don’t you want to spend time with your papa? It’s been so long since I’ve spent time with my adorable pumpkin!” Eiichi laments.
“Dad!” you gasp, flustered by his words. “Don’t—don’t say that in front of Naoya…”
“What? It’s true! And that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I learned I’m going to be a grandfather!”
“Stop it!” your face becomes redder. “You’re embarrassing me!”
Naoya chuckles; it’s not like he’s seen you in… worse situations. Or better?
“But… I guess a visit is overdue.” You eventually concede, Naoya and your father sigh out of relief. “Though what about Mariya, Haruko, and Hitomi?”
“They’ll go with you, if you want.” Naoya says; he doubts they’ll say no, especially after knowing of the whole fiasco that occurred when away, might even offer themselves before he suggests the idea.
“If I didn’t know any better, sounds like you want me gone.” You jest, Naoya frowns. “It’s a joke, of course…”
“There’s nothing more I would like than you staying here, but until we figure out what caused that reaction from you, I’d rather not risk it.”
“It’s only temporary, Y/N. Besides, look—I brought you gifts!” Eiichi says, taking out the bag he brought from home seemingly out of nowhere, filled with things he knew you’d love, such as sweets, your favorite mochi’s of course, alongside some plushies that would always brighten your day when you were a child. “And there’s much more back home…”
Naoya can’t help but feel relieved you had your father for support, but at the same time, a bit jealous and, well, threatened. Not for bad reasons, of course, it was simply because how the hell did he not think of bringing you gifts first?!
“Dad… you’re embarrassing me in front of Naoya.”
“Ah, that’s a parent’s bane, isn’t it? To always embarrass their children—you’ll see what I mean when you both have your baby.”
Perhaps the main reason why you ended up agreeing to leave was because your pregnancy did not seem affected by your supposed allergy; had it been you would’ve refused to leave your husband’s side!
… Well, you still would’ve refused either way, but perhaps a bit more. You hate the idea of being away from the father of your child for too long, after all.
“I don’t think so—Naoya and I are going to be the cool parents, you’ll see.”
“That’s what your mom and I thought, and look at me now, can’t even say anything without you telling me I’m embarrassing you!” Eiichi says, you chuckle.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, mom was cool! You were always the funny one!”
Naoya smiles.
Now he knows for sure that there’s no safer place for you to be in than with your family, even if that were to be on the other side of the country…
After Naoya prepared everything for your departure, the three eventually made way to the exit, where you and your father would bid their last goodbyes.
“Won’t you accompany me?” you ask, a slight pout on your face, he smiles in hopes to cheer you up, but really, he felt miserable.
“I want to, but I can’t.” He explains. “I have to deal with this as fast as possible if you’re to come back quickly.”
“… Will you visit me over there, at least?” you frown.
“Yes. As soon as I have a chance, I’ll go see you.” Naoya promises.
It had all been too soon, just a few hours ago he arrived at the estate, and now, you’re leaving. Naoya laments that he couldn’t spend a day with you before your departure… but he guesses this to be a rightful sacrifice for your well-being.
“I wouldn’t dream of keeping away from my wife and baby for too long.”
At those words, Eiichi couldn’t help but frown out of sorrow.
It wasn’t fair that neither of you had been able to enjoy this wonderful occasion as you should.
He still remembers the excitement in your voice, the glint in your eye, and the beaming smile on your lips when announcing your pregnancy—alongside the nerves that came with it, of course, which Eiichi eased by reminding you and Naoya that their enthusiasm was nothing but indicative they were already on their way of becoming the loving and supportive parents their baby needed.
But as excited as both were, Eiichi had to cruelly put a stop to their celebrations, especially after Naobito was made aware of this, who wished to proceed by announcing the news to the whole community.
“I have to disagree, Naobito.” Eiichi would be the first to reject the idea, much to everyone’s surprise—yours, specifically.
“And why is that?” He’d ask back, not understanding why the father of the expecting mother, of all people, would be the one to reject so.
“It’s best if Y/N keeps her pregnancy a secret, at least… until it’s undeniably noticeable.”
“But… why, dad?” you asked. This was a moment of absolute joy, to be treated as such! So why did he intend to keep it a secret? Was he… disappointed?
No. Never. He was nothing but happy to see you happy and become a grandfather himself for the first time in his life!
But as a man of his years, he’s learned to be cautious of how said blessings are to be celebrated, as well as seen his fair share of happiness turn sour… things that Eiichi would rather take upon him than allow them to ever befall you.
“Because there’s people out there that might try to hurt you—or the baby.”  He’d explain. “Naobito cannot not deny this, but if anyone hears that you’re pregnant with the Zen’in heir’s baby, those that want to hurt the Zen’in clan, or our family, will see this as the perfect opportunity to do so.”
“I’d never allow such thing, rest assured, there’s no safer place than—” Naoya quickly interjects, wanting to reassure your father, but Eiichi was set on his warnings.
“I wouldn’t have said this if I didn’t see it myself.” Eiichi reminds him, Naoya swallows. “We live in a highly competitive world due to the nature of our families; I’ve lost my wife because of this! And I’d be damned to allow it to happen again to my daughter.”
He hated to remind you of the harsh truth; hated to see how your face would sadden, the excitement for your first child, his first grandchild, quickly disappearing…
“Why would someone do that?” you murmur, frowning.
“They wouldn’t dare—I’ll make sure of it.” Naoya hisses.
Eiichi remained silent, sad for you and your husband. Because even if you’ve experienced first-hand what it is to lose someone through these matters, both have yet to fully understand the extremes those supposedly loyal to them can go to if properly incited. Especially for someone who had so much to lose, just as the elite members of prestigious Zen’in clan.
Even then, your father would not allow such pain to reach you, not the same way it almost did to him and your mother, so, he insisted you keep these news secret from the world—and if you must, only if you must, reveal it to your most faithful ones; the rest could learn when your stomach was too big to deny.
If you do so, keep your baby hidden from the world, safe from those that harbor nothing but pain and sorrow… all will be fine. Eiichi promises so.
Or so, that’s what everyone hoped would’ve happened, because if there’s one thing to be learned from this incident, is that no matter how cautious you were, word of your pregnancy still managed to land in the wrong ears, and now, were actively against it.
The question no longer pertained as to how, but rather, who; who was the author of this terrible act?
The notion that someone of Naoya’s relatives, indirectly informed through Naobito’s… drunken rambles, soon crosses the minds of your father and husband. If so, it would make sense as to why they’d use an innocent staff member to do the deed, keep their hands clean of the whole situation, instead of going to bigger extremes.
It’s the most probable of the theories, but they could not annul the following: jealousy from the servants.
Naoya considered that statement to be the most delusional one your father could’ve gathered, but he’d be wise to remember how others perceive him—or more like what he represented. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched that others would desire what he had, or him, in some cases. And naturally, you’re an obstacle to that goal, your baby even more so…
It wasn’t fair, but it was your reality.
Nonetheless, Eiichi and Naoya will still do whatever it takes to keep you safe.
“It’s just for a few days, pumpkin.” Your father would say upon seeing the sadness in your face, which remained even when reassured that Naoya would be with you as soon as possible. “Besides, you’re going to see your brother and sister too—they’ve missed you very much, you know? They’ve been wanting to spoil you and their future niece, or nephew!”
You smile, it’s good that even when in the storm, your family is still able to exude happiness. You could only imagine how enthusiastic they’d be when the baby was finally here.
“I know… I missed them too.” You admit, before looking over to Naoya one last time. “Well… I hope that whatever is keeping you here is quickly dealt with.”
“You won’t even notice I’m gone.” Naoya promises, placing a kiss on your forehead. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about anything—before you know it, you’ll be back at the estate, with me.”
That’s a promise he unfortunately, doesn’t know if will become true inside the promised timeline, but will do anything in his power so it does.
Either way, it’s safe to say that Naoya did manage to keep one part of his promise—and that would be the one where he reassured you wouldn’t even notice his absence, done through sending you endless amounts of gifts, every day, effectively filling your room to the brim with all things he’d knew you’d like, and some for baby too: from clothes for you, to cute onesies he’d like his baby to wear when she was finally here.
“You still think the baby is going to be a girl?” you’d ask through one of the many videocalls he’d make—one daily, at the very least. “Wait a minute… you better not have spoiled me!”
“I just know” He reiterates with shrug; you roll your eyes. “If not, then I’ll have lots of things to return.”
“Well, if it’s worth anything, I also feel like our baby is going to be a girl.” You smile, warming up Naoya’s heart. “I can’t wait to meet her—I just know she’s going to have your eyes!”
“Or yours, I hope.” He longs, you blush. “Have you been eating well, my love?”
“Yes; and no allergies yet.” You explain, Naoya feels relieved—at least the problem didn’t follow you there. “Maybe I was just unlucky that day, Naoya… Are you sure I can’t return to the estate yet?”
“Not until I’m sure you’re going to be safe here.” Naoya responds, and while his words are meant to be comforting, you can’t shake off the sense that something worse happened; that something far bigger than a simple allergy had struck you, specially with the way your staff and family would act around you, going as far as denying you of any information pertaining to the Zen’in.
But… if your husband had a reason to not say anything now, then the best you could do is trust him. The truth will come out eventually, you suppose. So instead you could focus on other pressing matters.
“Well, at least don’t send me too many gifts.” You continued. “While I appreciate them, between you and my father, I don’t think my house has enough room to store all the things you’ve both given me.”
“Who’s given you more things? Me or your dad?” Naoya nonchalantly asks, you gasp.
“Naoya! That’s not the—take it seriously! Control yourself with the gifts, ok?” you say, he chuckles, but ends up agreeing; at least until the topic has quieted down, because there’s no way in hell he’s going to let your father win the upper hand like that one day ever again. “Or at least save them to when I’m back at the estate… which I hope is soon.”
“Almost there.” Naoya says. “Just a few more things, and we’ll be together once again.”
… even if the answer was to be the same, you still needed to ask.
“Is… everything ok?”
Not precisely, not when he has yet to find out the one responsible for all this…
But he’s gotten a lead, an idea of where to start, of who to hunt—which he knows he’ll find in record time thanks to the fury he harbors, further motivating him to do this as quickly and precisely as possible just so he’d have you back home, with him.
“Nothing you should worry about.” He reiterates. “Just keep focusing on your health, the baby, and not doing anything strenuous.”
“I’m just pregnant, Naoya… nothing extraordinary. I still want to help around., you know?”
“I know, and you’ll be able to do that and more in due time, but for now, keep safe, for me, ok? And our little mochi.”
“When will I see you again?” you ask again, hoping that perhaps this time around, the answer will be different.
“Soon.” He promises. “Soon, my love.”
Once he deals with the bastard that hurt you.
Naoya will give them nothing but a glimpse of the sorrow and pain they’d put you through, his fury—make their life a living hell, make them regret the foolish idea that they could ever get away from it; and still, he doesn’t think he’ll be satisfied with his revenge.
He’d want more, he’d want everyone to know that his family are not ones to mess around with.
He’d burn the whole world to set the message across if necessary—and that would only be the bare minimum for you, the love of his life, and now, his baby…
His home.
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chemdisaster · 4 months
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secret life joel has seriously got me so fucked up
it's something about how in 3rd life he was all alone, he had his dogs and his all-consuming propensity for destruction and that was that. he had the taste of fire climbing up his throat, the smoke that clouded his vision and turned everything red, and that was all he ever needed, no alliance ever meant a thing to him beyond how it would eventually look when it went up in flames. then in last life he made attempts at something resembling genuine connection, but they fell through and so he fell back on what he knew, what was familiar. he made alliances that only went as far as the shared blood they could draw, willingly relinquished himself to the comfort of loneliness and death, and ended up being damn good at it. he had his fingers with the red dripping from them and not much more, and he never asked for more, either. all he really had was himself and the fire. and he was fine staying like that, everything was as it was meant to be, it was fine.
but then came double life and etho and the relation ship, and suddenly joel had something to fight for, a cause and a direction for the destruction, and when the relation ship burnt it was a conscious, purpose-filled decision to let his own blaze explode outwards and reduce everything else to embers and smouldering ash. joel said, "the ship burns, everything burns," and even when his words came true in the cruellest way possible, when everything burnt and he and etho followed, in the spills of swirling lava, amidst their sizzling remains that quickly dissolved into nothingness, something had changed.
and then came limited life and the bad boys, and at this point joel had known what it was to be wanted and to want, and maybe he never expected the bad boys to matter as much as they did in the end, but it happened before he'd even had time to notice, slowly and then all at once, and there was no denying now that he cared. and this time when he died, it was reckless and desperate and with one name playing on repeat in his ears until the sky came down and he heard nothing at all. he died wanting to stay alive, in a world where suffering and loss grew on you like fungi until it was all you ever knew how to feel, joel died with something to live for and something to die for.
and now here he is. in secret life. and you'd think someone like joel, someone who never really asked for connection, someone who knows how to stay himself with nothing but an army of wolves surrounding him, would get burnt once or twice and close himself right off, go back to doing what he knows and what works. but for someone so accustomed to loneliness that he wears it like a second skin, joel remains startlingly willing to put himself out there. he remembers the bad boys, screams when jimmy dies and gives grian hearts and tells him he would always help him out. he, despite the complicated nature of their relationship and the way they always seem to go for each other in fights, despite how he's made sure to put on an air of being unaffected when it comes to their memories, nevertheless gets in a boat with etho and openly tells him that he still cares, it's just - it's just. when pearl is green and he is yellow, he purposely throws away his guess to ensure that she is safe around him. joel, the character who you'd think would be most likely to spurn every alliance and go back to fighting for himself only because if he doesn't, no one else will - joel, despite all that, is actively trying to be more, more than what he is and what he already knows how to be.
you can see it in how he is as a red life, too. in every previous season, to the point where other lifers have made note of it, joel has become imprudent, excessively reckless and rash when he's gone down to red. in contrast to secret life, where he's more or less calmly completing tasks, gathering resources and preparing himself for possible eventualities. his actions this go around are step-by-step, organised and calculated in a way they weren't before. and obviously part of that is to do with the nature of this season, there isn't much room to be reckless when everything you do has to correspond with what's in your book. and tomorrow is life day, probably the last session, and who knows what's going to happen. but still, it cannot be denied that joel's demeanour has changed to be more collected this time - especially impressive if you remember that he's lost three people he loved already.
over the course of the life series joel has been learning what it is to love and be loyal and fully and unquestionably open yourself up to someone. despite getting hurt over and over again, something that by all rights should have warned him off from getting close to people forever, he's instead taken everything good about those relationships and carried it with him. in a world that pushes everyone to fall to the same character flaws, he's found space for growth and healing, and that is so beautiful it hurts.
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It’s hilarious how Vaggie made herself a ‘sinner’.
How that linked her up with Charlie is such a weird, round about truthful way, even when she was lying by omission about it.
And how amazingly dumb it all makes Adam and Lute look.
Thousands of helpless souls killed by her, but she didn’t do anything ‘wrong’ until she wondered if what she was doing was right. The divine powers in her life only took her wings and condemned her to hell after she doubted their orders, their idea of justice, and quietly chose not to completely follow them.
“You fucked up” they tell her “your mistake” she “left the band” “tried for a solo career". It’s so pathetic. They're so butthurt over the idea of one of their own having a mind of her own.
It’s also so funny, because they spin her simple act of whispering “Go, run. Now!” to demon kid she’d been holding at spear point like it was big defiant move- which makes it into one- even though she never challenged them openly, or threatened them.
Hell, Lute’s “You always were weak” plus exorcist Vaggie always frowning while her murder sisters all grin with glee as they kill sinners- it paints a picture of Vaggie never having been as into exterminations as she ‘should’ have been. Too weak to be a proper exorcist no matter how good at killing she was, not just “the traitor” but also “the failure”.
And she was scared of that. She didn’t want anyone seeing her spare that child, whispered her words to them in a back alley, out of sight.
She was scared of what would happen and didn’t even fight it when Lute took her eye and wings- she was scared and no threat in any tangible way, but apparently refusing to do one single murder is enough to freak Adam and Lute the fuck out.
One woman. Doesn’t do exactly what she’s told. After who knows how many decades of being one of the “top girls” at murder, a “bad bitch” named after “the best thing ever”, and they still get spooked by that tiny moment when she wasn’t under their total control. Like it's such a betrayal to them, her daring to so much as think this level of violence isn’t justified actually, and for a split second act on that thought.
It’s an instant ticket to ousting her from the exorcists AND from heaven, while they fly the fuck off again.
“If angels can do whatever, and remain in the sky-”
and they do. After doing that to one of their own. They did that, to someone who was supposedly meant to be in heaven. They didn’t wait for divine justice- took it, and her eye, and her wings, and her halo, into their own hands and tore them away from her. Then happily, they spend the next three years up in heaven, slurping smoothies and doing more murder sprees.
until Vaggie comes strolling back with the princess of hell, there supporting her girlfriend and the idea that all the shit she did for so long really was and IS wrong.
oh and Adam and Lute are pisssssssed about it. They take her being there PERSONALLY, wanna solve it with VIOLENCE
She hurts them without even trying. Without even noticing they're there.
They're told to fix the princess of hell situation and they have no concept of forgiveness, of caring about sinners, so they guess (rightly) that Vaggie hasn't told Charlie about her past and bet (wrongly) that Charlie would never forgive her if she knew, and also assumed (rightly) that Vaggie would be terrified of that
But they don't get that she's scared of hurting Charlie. Of Charlie being hurt by her. It's a selfless thing. That's her whole PROBLEM.
Her running to hold Charlie after the reveal- her NOT breaking down when Charlie takes alone time in the aftermath, respecting that right up until she thinks Charlie's actively in danger- afraid FOR Charlie when the deal with Alastor is made, no crumbling that Charlie went to someone else for help, when being helpful to Charlie is basically her raison d'étre- agreeing to go alone to an overlord, after learning she can DIE and THIS OVERLORD knows how to do it- all this for the sake of Charlie's dream, their shared goal, their hotel. Their friends, resigned to despair in the hotel lobby, losing hope and maybe hours away from losing their lives
No shit she was never going to bow down to the blackmail?? It'd be like turning herself inside out. Charlie isn't just some "little hottie" or whatever, they're partners. They're in this together. Even when Charlie out loud doubts if that's true, it still is.
Lute and Adam don't GET what it means, that Charlie assumed Vaggie was a sinner already. That the thing she'd be hurt about was the lying, not the murder. She was scared of not really being loved by Vaggie- of everything else wonderful between them being a lie too, all that support and faith empty empty- she wasn't afraid of loving Vaggie, whoever Vaggie had been, she was afraid of who Vaggie might be now and that she'd never really believed in Charlie at all.
Charlie was angry at the thought that Vaggie didn't think she would've accepted her. The idea of not really being understood or trusted by Vaggie, that's what hurt.
And it goes against everything Lute and Adam are, Charlie actually caring about sinners while knowing what they've done- about an exorcist after finding out who they'd been- really trusting that people can change. Lute and Adam hear her say it and see her stand up for it and they just want her to shut up and die
again though, no shit she was going to stick with Vaggie after the truth came out, in the end. Once she had a moment to take a breath and step out of her head long enough for a reality check
Vaggie didn’t say to Charlie what she'd done or who she'd been. But she’s been and keeps doing what she can to follow that idea, unvoiced, from that day when she couldn’t kill a sinner- something Charlie didn't know about but now knows must have happened- A final death means no second chance and no worth as a person, but Vaggie didn’t think that, even before meeting Charlie she didn't think that.
She's always been on Charlie's side. They were on the same side before they ever set eyes on each other. All this time, for three whole years, and now she's off to go find a way to protect everything they've built together.
"-words are cheap, but actions, they speak the truth"
Charlie never really stopped trusting her. Maybe she wondered if she should, but even then, she had Vaggie go to Carmilla to find the key that might save them all.
"She killed an exorcist in the last extermination. She knows how they can be harmed."
"But… I- I didn't even know that was possible."
"If you did, would you have told me?"
So Charlie asked. A pretty painful thing to say- and she said it even as she sent an angel to go find out a way to hurt other angels.
She DID trust that Vaggie WOULD tell her.
The irony of all this happening thanks to Adam and Lute trying to keep it from happening, and all of it leading up to Vaggie getting back part of what they took from her, because now she doesn't need them or heaven to be an angel anymore.
Charlie has faith in her. Enough to send her off on an important mission even after Vaggie hurt her- and send her right to the person who end up helping Vaggie get back her wings.
“The rules are shades of gray when you don’t do as you say”
Vaggie’s new fucking wings are gray when Lute sees them. When Vaggie’s standing over her, sparing her life, her wings and that one, fucking unexplained stripe separating her from the other exorcists, all of it is GRAY.
That visual gut punch of, you’re. Fucking. Wrong. You’re wrong about sinners, you’re wrong about supposedly protecting heaven, you’re wrong thinking you can just DO this shit. That imagery of an angel who DIDN’T stay in the sky because she DIDN’T think being angel meant everything she did had to be right- who’s here in hell, trying to protect sinners from heaven’s slaughter-
And Lute wanted Vaggie to “correct” HER “mistake”? Vaggie’s???
That’s Lute, admitting that people in hell can get second chances and make up for what they did. Admitting that “Sinful filth” like Vaggie can be redeemed in some way, by following Lute’s version of what’s right.
But wasn’t her and Adam’s whole thing the idea of blowing your shot? Getting no other chance after it?  
Oh yeah. Vaggie doesn’t believe that though. Not for sinners like her, not for angels like her.
She let’s Lute live. She does it to make Lute suffer, but there are a lot of ways to make someone suffer- an eye for an eye for example- and Vaggie chooses the one that doesn’t hurt Lute more than it has to, that leaves her alive, and leaves Lute’s suffering to be something completely of Lute’s own making (a HELL of Lute's own making, if you will) (Lute choosing to tear her OWN arm off to continue the fight-).
She's totally dismissive of the woman who was just going after her remaining eye like a dog after a bone.
Why is it that nothing Adam and Lute to do her matters?
Why don’t THEY matter to her at all?
Walking right past them, being so done with them up in heaven, not caving to the blackmail, only being worried about Charlie afterwards, not letting that crack in their relationship stop her from doing what she can for their hotel, Lute threatening to take her other eye and BLIND her just making her snark- even the vague threat to Charlie only gives Vaggie the oomf she needed to defend herself.
“Pathetic” she calls Lute. She’s right- they’re so pathetic, both them, Adam and Lute. They’re so scared of being wrong. So pissy over the idea of being less than great and perfect.
It breaks them. Adam’s last words are him having a meltdown in the face of not actually being hot shit. Where’s his respect, he wails, they should all be worshiping him! But they’re not. One of his random decedents stabs him to death because he would’ve done the same to her, and one of the last things he hears is Vaggie- the fuck up, the traitor, his former grumpy top girl Vagina- whooping with glee as he dies.
And Lute lives knowing that could’ve been her, too.
If it wasn't for Vaggie.
Being not all that didn’t break Vaggie. Finding out she was wrong got her to stop and think and change, not run straight on blindly into a fight that ends up with her (with HIM) dead.
Why does she go from terrified of Lute and Adam, to dismissive and annoyed and just all around not caring about them at all?
They gave up all her respect for them when they demanded the death of a child.
The father of humanity wanted a child killed. A helpless, whimpering kid, sacrificed to his ego and bruised pride, and for shits and giggles. His first lieutenant saw failing to do so as a sin worthy of hell. All this over a child. How could she ever take them seriously after that.  
She came down from high and chased the child and held a blade over them on divine command.
Then, somehow, she saw the HORNS in her own shadow above them- even though she wasn’t WEARING her MASK, and she stopped.
She was her own messenger angel.
She chose to give the child mercy, and became the sacrifice herself.
Vaggie stuck it to the man. Didn’t steal that life. And, terrified of what would happen to her next, acted selflessly. The same thing that got her left behind in hell should have earned her place in heaven, according to Adam-
heaven was shit to her though. Made her into a soldier. Sent her to kill and kill and kill. Taught her trust on the battlefield- in heaven, of all fucking places-
Timeline wise we see her very first smile when she meets Charlie. When a stranger does- again- the bare minimum for someone else.
When she’s back up in heaven later she isn’t wistful, just angry, uncomfortable, annoyed. She isn’t happy there. It’s not home to her, like her and Charlie’s room back at the hotel is. Why should it be? What good did she ever find in herself up there?
Down here though, she's happy. Hell is where her heaven started. So I guess in the end, she did find what she’d earned after all. Or it, Charlie, found her.
When “The rules are shades of gray…”
Sometimes they’re wrong, and you have to break them.  
People like Lute and Adam would rather crack under the pressure and die instead, but not Vaggie. They're out for blood. She's out for love.
Sucks to be them~
275 notes · View notes
lowtaperfeyd · 27 days
Note
Feyd x diplomatic reader, think padme but she doesn't want to change feyd. Reader is the go to for diplomatic issues in lower houses/ minor politics and yet for all her words and actions when arranged to marry feyd she doesn't want to change him. " you would fight for me and defend me if needed it is only right I do the same, why try and change you when I respect who you are".
Uxorious Duties
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen x fem!reader
author's note: slightly submissive feyd, but not sexual? Yes please!
warnings: death, mentions of death, blood, normal dune things, house harkonnen
wc: 1158
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Being sent to Geidi Prime was not surprising for (Y/N). She was a go to for the emperor to send to planets and sort out political issues. The part she didn’t expect was being arranged to marry Feyd-Rautha. His actions were the surprising part. The way he fought and his prowess in and out of the arena. He was overconfident, even arrogant. But, since he was going to be the new governor of Arrakis. Why not give him a wife who could take care of business when he is off slaughtering. After all, is that not the duties of a wife? 
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As (Y/N) was sitting in the mammoth Harkonnen dining room eating breakfast alone, she started to look over the letters she was sent from people who thought her marriage was a death sentence. That it was only good for securing a short alliance with houses that the Harkonnens wanted to import from. Everything went along the lines of, 
Your husband will kill you once you’re not of service. You’re nothing but a pawn for him.
Think twice before asking for mercy. That will make it more amusing when they kill you. 
You should've gotten away from the emperor when you had the chance.  Other places need you more. 
While she knew what she was getting herself into, the acceptance that she would die, at the hands of her husband, disturbed her.
Those feelings washed away when she watched him fight. It was entertaining for everyone watching and for Feyd-Rautha himself. But, for (Y/N), it was a testament of what he would do for his wife. The wedding day vows of him not letting anyone hurt her, touch her, or disrespect her. Because sure, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen was a harmful man who wasn’t afraid to kill, but that meant his wife could say whatever she wanted, no matter how vehemently, and who she said it to, could not disagree, out of fear for their life. It only took one time for this to be instilled, two days after they had gotten married. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Na-Baroness Harkonnen, while your idea for this trading route is good. Compared to others it’s mediocre at best.” The imperial advisor scoffed, “Who ever said it was your place to make these things?” 
The other people at the sides of the table chuckled along with what he was saying. But (Y/N) knuckles were tensing up at just how hard she was gripping the arm of her chair at the head of the table. White hot anger flashed through her mind and over her eyes.  
The advisor kept on going, mocking her ideas and diminishing her accomplishments on other planets, saying they were mere flukes and shouldn’t have been taken seriously.
“... and your marriage to the Na-Baron,” he snorted out, not realizing that he was walking through the door now to listen in on what his wife had to say, “he chose an alien from a different planet, not a Harkonnen highborn. At least that shows to us you won’t be around for much longer, so we don’t have to look at your atrocious ideas anymore!” He finished, guffawing. 
“Are you done?” replied (Y/N), smirking, as she saw the angry look on her husband’s face, “because I think there is someone behind who would like to speak with you.” 
As the advisor turned around he saw Feyd-Rautha glaring at him. Before could say anything, Feyd grabbed him by the neck and threw him against the wall.
From the outside of the room, you could only hear the screaming of the poor advisor, who had dared to speak badly about the Na-Baron's new wife, as he had his head stomped in by the Na-Baron’s boot. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The letters now seemed irrelevant to her now. She had a good life so far on Geidi Prime. She had respected and she had earned it too. But it did help to have a husband who invoked fear in those around him. Speaking of her husband, the doors opened and in walked Feyd. 
“Why are you here?” She questioned while looking up from her assortment of papers, letters, and documents, “Why aren’t you training?” 
“I finished early,” He uttered as he began to walk closer to the table with his bloodied knife still in his hands.
“While I don't mind you sitting with me,” She said, not surprised at the fact her husband had a knife that was covered in blood, “please clean your weapons off before coming to visit.” 
Feyd reluctantly took a cloth that was on the table and wrapped it around the knife before setting it down. 
“You say you don’t want to change me and yet you make me follow your rules.” Feyd retorted in slight irritation. 
“Rules don’t necessarily imply change, Feyd.” She responded, “I just don’t want blood on the table while eating. Iron is a very important part of one's diet, I don’t prefer it in the form of blood.” (Y/N) joked. 
“Then what do you want me to change!” he shouted angry at his wife for not asking him for anything, including change. Because he knew that’s something she strived for and he just wanted to make his wife happy. 
(Y/N) was not scared by his outburst, she had been witness to many of them, but none of them pointed at her before. 
“I don’t want to change you, Feyd,” She said as she got up from the table to walk to him, “you would fight for me, defend me if I needed it.” She stopped right in front of him and gently grabbed his forearm, “why should I try to change you when I respect who you are?” 
Feyd looked at his wife who treated him like an asset to herself. It surprised Feyd because he had never heard her say something about why she needed him. Only the reasons why she didn’t. But even then it wasn’t words that came from her, voices from other planets. The confession of his wife tugged at a place in his chest, a feeling that he hadn’t felt before. He took his rough hands that were calloused from fights and placed them on the soft skin of his wife’s jaw near her ears. 
“Then use me as your sword if someone needs slashing,” he whispered as he laid his forehead against his wife’s, “and use me when someone disagrees with your ideas and plans.” he continued softly, “If someone chooses not to hear you; I will make them, no matter the cost.” 
“Thank you” (Y/N) said softly, knowing she had that man right where she wanted him to be. She now knew that Arrakis would be hers if asked. And it was in her cards and plans to ask soon to take over spice production when they would leave, under the guise of allowing him to hunt down a well known fighter.        
And why would he say no to her?                   
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drak3n · 3 months
Text
THE NEMESIS
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ꨄ. SYNOPSIS: love and hate are so close to each other for a reason.
ꨄ. CONTENT WARNINGS: slow burn, angst, hurt/comfort, friends to strangers to lovers, neglectful parents, love triangles, high school drama, fights, swift mention of a bloody & bruised nose, reader was a misunderstood bully, makeup sex, breeding kink, unprotected sex
ꨄ. SENA'S NOTE: sorry for my inactivity y'all, a lot has been happening lately. anyways, this is over 5k words long so enjoy!
bold italic quotes = letter excerpts
PROLOGUE. | SERIES MASTERLIST.
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
“it’s embarrassing to admit this, really. after all this time we’ve been apart from each other.”
atsumu and you didn’t always hate each other.
truthfully, you had started off getting along really well, even better than you’d gotten along with osamu. it was something no one could explain, until it all fell apart.
your story went all the way back to your second year of middle school, where the miyas had to move due to the twins’ mother having found a job on the other side of the prefecture. that meant the twins had to transfer schools as well.
it wasn’t like either of the two had difficulties at adapting to their new environments, given that they were quite popular because of their athleticism and their looks. even at their new school, their talent for volleyball made them climb up the ladder of fame in no time.
this is where you came in. a mean, popular girl who had no qualms about making other kids feel worse about themselves. everyone was careful not to cross paths with you or get on your bad side, afraid of your wrath.
the twins had been warned about your presence that lingered like a devil on the school grounds. “she hates boys who are loud and eccentric,” a classmate had told the two, and the younger twin shot a pointed look at the older, which made him glare back at him.
“the hell are ya starin’ at me for, samu!?”
“nothin’.”
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
“you were the first person to approach me, although you knew what others thought of me. we were kids back then, but i haven’t forgotten.”
it was both a blessing and a curse to be avoided by everyone. you had your peace and no one was there to mess with you, but at times, it was really boring.
lunch breaks had to be the worst. if you ate your lunch at the hall, everyone would avoid you like the pest. you’d have a table that ten students could use, for yourself.
it was cold outside today, but you still sat on the bench in the yard, ignoring your growling stomach. your mother hadn’t been packing you lunch in a while, and you couldn’t find anything to shove into your bag last minute in the morning.
counting the coins you found in the pockets of your thin coat, you determined with a frown that it was nowhere near enough to buy even a cereal bar.
you could just bully some of the juniors into giving you money or their lunch. before you could stand up and march towards an innocent group of schoolkids playing tag on the other side of the yard, someone sat next to you.
your eyes narrowed at the sight of one of the new kids. you had no idea which of the two it was, given that you couldn’t distinguish a difference between them, and frankly, you didn’t really care. neither of the two shared a class with you anyway.
“hi, i’m atsumu, the older and cool twin!” he introduced himself, running a chubby hand through his thick, brown hair parted on the right. come to think of it, their hair was parted on different sides.
“whad’ya have for lunch? wanna swap? you can have my vegetables and cheese sandwich.” your eyes wandered down to the open box in his lap, filled with delicious bread and vegetables that made your mouth water. you haven’t even had breakfast this morning.
“why are you talking to me?” big, brown eyes widened at you dismissing him, when other girls would die for his attention. “i’ve already eaten.”
the loud growling of your stomach made you clutch your upper body, cheeks flaring in shame as the brunette grinned.
“liar! ya can have mine, y’know. here ya go.”
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
“you were so obnoxious and insufferable to most, but i didn’t see that. i couldn’t care less about what you were like, when you were so nice to me.”
it hadn’t taken you too long to finally notice other differences between the twins. because sometimes when standing in front of either of them, you couldn’t quite tell if the part was on the left or right.
osamu’s eyes were a dark gray, while atsumu’s were brown, like molten chocolate. atsumu would always sound excited, his voice distinguishable from miles away, while osamu was more reserved and preferred calmness.
except for when the two were together, of course. atsumu was quite against introducing you to him, complaining to you that people always ended up liking his brother more, much to his chagrin.
but you were so alone all the time, so he dragged you along to watch him practice one day.
“hey… is that that girl?”
your body language was tense, the discomfort written all over your face as you gazed holes into the floors of the gym, where teammates of the twins were whispering among each other.
“i don’t think they want me here.” you didn’t look sad when you said it, nor did you look upset, it seemed like you’d already accepted it. atsumu had known you for weeks, and osamu had just met you, but it was the first time the two stepped up to defend someone instead of bickering at each other like they did all the time.
“hey, ya pricks! are ya not ashamed to be pickin’ on a girl?”
it had resulted in a fight, with the other members of the volleyball team complaining loudly about how atsumu was such a loudmouth despite being new, telling him to shut up.
it was the wrong timing perhaps, because punches started being thrown, but as you intervened and kicked the boys who dared to lay a hand on either of the twins, a feeling of fuzzy warmth spread inside of you as you could only think of the boy who shared his lunches with you.
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
“sometimes, i wish i could go back to relive those days. what i wouldn’t do to have you share one of your lunchboxes with me or have you include me in your life one more time.”
middle school seemed to pass in a blur, and you three graduated together, already knowing you’d be attending the same high school.
neither of you had the best grades or the best reputation, but at the end of the day, you happily held the certificates in your hands, having the twins’ parents snap photos of you three. one of those photos that had been taken that day, with atsumu and you shyly standing next to each other, would soon be framed and placed on your nightstand.
your parents didn’t attend. the sight of all students being hugged, kissed and celebrated by their families, while you were on your own chipped away at your heart.
“hey!” atsumu’s loud voice pulled you out of your train of thoughts, and he pointed at his parents looking through osamu’s report while smiling. “what’re ya bein’ so gloomy for? my parents are waitin’!”
with furrowed brows, you stared at the brunette, not quite understanding what he meant by that. you were going to head home, why would mr. and mrs. miya be waiting for you?
“we’re goin’ to this great barbecue place at the mall!” atsumu had told you about it before, the miyas had a tradition of going there for birthdays or other celebrations. it almost made you envious, because you didn’t have that.
“is that so?” you smiled at him, “have fun, tsumu. i’ll see you after the holidays.”
before you could turn around and leave, the boy tugged at your sleeve, pulling you back and towards his parents. you were stunned.
“i saved up all year to pay for yer meal! made my parents reserve an extra seat for you!”
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
“it all went to hell when my pride got in the way. when you started hanging out with that girl, and i felt threatened by her.”
it was in your second year of high school when things had started shifting between you two. you were more than used to the fans who went crazy for the two, which progressively started getting unbearable at some point.
flooded lockers with letters and chocolates they’d share with you, countless confessions you’d hear and see, and girls bombarding you with favors of getting them closer to either of the twins.
you could live with that. after all, they weren’t popular for no reason. they were handsome, very much so, and they were volleyball prodigies, scoring countless points for inarizaki at each game.
there was one girl who had gotten atsumu’s attention as much as he had gotten hers. they were in the same class, too. it was osamu who told you they had started hanging out when you were surprised about them going to get lunch together, with him nudging her side and making her chuckle.
you had woken up half an hour earlier just to prepare a lunchbox you could share with the blonde. but at the end of the day, you sullenly sat at the same table with osamu and the rest of the team, staring at the untouched food. the atmosphere was awkward, and the boys exchanged glances, clueless as to if they should speak up and ask you what’s wrong.
“that looks really good.” of course suna was the first to talk, narrow eyes peering over at your lunch. “why aren’t ya eatin’ it?”
aran shook his head at the middle blocker’s directness, and osamu frowned when you shoved the pink box towards suna, no more having an appetite after watching atsumu and that girl sitting together. “you can have it.”
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
“jealousy is truly an ugly thing. so is love. it makes you do questionable things. but all i wanted was to protect you from heartbreak, even if it was at the expense of my own heart.”
the more time atsumu spent with her, the more worried you got. especially since there was some sort of sixth sense telling you that she was bad news.
you hated her for taking atsumu away from you, yes. but if she had been good for him, you would’ve accepted it, no matter how difficult. it was just that you knew she was no good.
“‘samu, i heard her talking to her girl friends in the dressing rooms after P.E.” you had bolted to osamu’s desk before the class would start, hair disheveled from the former class, and you were out of breath.
the younger miya quirked a thick brow at your words, “emma, you mean?” you nodded frantically, “she’s just using him for popularity. said she wants to dump him when he gets famous after high school, and she does too.”
osamu wasn’t really interested in entertaining any drama, especially when it came to his annoying brother. he could see how concerned you were for him though, and he couldn’t blame you for it. atsumu was very important to you, after all.
“are ya sure?” it wasn’t like he didn’t believe you. he just thought it might be a stretch. how was emma going to lead atsumu on for over a year, and how could she be so sure that he was going to be famous after high school?
“maybe she was just kiddin’. are ya sure you’re not just jealous?”
you were biting your lip, looking truly troubled. you did not want to ruin things, but you had to help atsumu get away from that bitch. you could not allow her to ruin him.
“‘samu, i—”
“atsumu is 17. neither of us should have t’tell him what to do. he has to learn himself.”
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
“i had never planned on taking osamu’s advice from the second i heard it. in my mind, the only reasonable thing was to make her stay away from you.”
it was exactly a week later after gym class that you cornered the same girl against the lockers. no one else was around, and with a hand against her mouth, you made sure she didn’t call for any help.
“what are you—” a surprised squeal left her lips when you slammed her back against the locker one more time, to make her shut up. with wide eyes, she looked into yours that were void of any emotion.
she knew who you were. the twin’s childhood friend, atsumu’s close friend. too close for the brunette’s liking.
“listen,” you warned her, glowering at her like she was your worst enemy, “i know what you’re plannin’. i will tell you this this just this once: stay away from him.”
you thought it would have been enough to seperate those two, to keep atsumu safe. to have him back.
of course it wouldn’t be. you couldn’t have known. it wasn’t until the very next day that it all backfired. when you entered the school grounds in the morning, school bag thrown over your shoulder and lunch prepared in hopes of getting to spend time with atsumu today after a long time, you soon noticed that something was off.
everyone was staring at you, whispering and gossiping. it was an all-too familiar sight to you, it was nothing new. ignoring it all, you proceeded to your locker that was next to atsumu’s. just to be greeted by emma leaning against yours, arms crossed in front of her chest as she wore a hoodie you’d recognize anywhere. it belonged to atsumu.
“move,” you gritted your teeth as you forced your eyes away from the hoodie, ready to shove her aside. “or what?” she feigned a pout, kicking against the locker to get everyone’s attention on you two, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “gonna threaten and hurt me again to get what ya want? because you can’t handle that he never wanted you?”
everything around you got quiet, students looking at each other in disbelief, and your hands clenched into tight fists. still, you kept quiet, knowing it would be bad if you caved in first.
“oh wait, could it be?” she suddenly clapped her hands together, chuckling while you deadpanned at her, seemingly unaffected by her attitude, when in reality, you were boiling from the inside out. “did you really think he’d choose you over me? he would never stoop so low! in fact, he actually told me you were not—”
everything happened fast after that. she was on the floor before she could blink, screaming as your enraged self was on top of her, seeing red. it was when you were at the principal’s office with cotton up your bleeding and bruised nose, and the scratches on your cheeks from when emma’s friends had dragged you off of her, that you finally realized what you’d done.
it only filled you with regret when atsumu came to cradle a crying, hurt emma in his arms, yelling at you to never, ever look at either of the two again.
maybe you should have listened to osamu, after all.
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
“school after that was hell for me, understandably. i couldn’t blame anyone for not talking to me anymore, most of all, you. i didn’t have the right to be hurt by you taking emma to that barbecue place with your parents after high school graduation… but i cried a lot that day.”
osamu had tried to get atsumu to talk to you again. to not be so mad at you. but the blonde was blind to the eyes and deaf to whatever his brother would tell him, so he eventually gave up on that, too.
you were too prideful and hurt to approach atsumu either, pretending that you hated him for having done this to you. he was the cause that you were a loser again. that you lost the only people you had in your life.
couldn’t he just have treasured you more?
it was on the day of your high school graduation that you asked the younger twin to talk for just a minute. gray-haired boy looked down at you, round eyes blinking multiple times as you offered him a small smile.
“i just wanted to let you know that i’m moving to tokyo for college.” he just stared at you, knowing very damn well you weren’t in the mood to smile like you were doing right now. “i heard you’re opening a shop soon. maybe our paths will cross again one day.”
when osamu didn’t say anything, you took it as a hue to leave, again having neither of your parents to share your success of having graduated with you. you rummaged in your bag before you could leave though, holding a letter in your hand that your fingers were itching to hand to him. “can you just give this to—”
actually, no. it didn’t matter.
with glassy eyes, you dropped the envelope back into your bag, zipping it shut. “forget it. take care, ‘samu.”
you cried on your entire way home, until you went to sleep that night.
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
“i regret not having given osamu that letter to this day, even years later. i’ve just recently added these paragraphs, because i’ve made up my mind to make this letter reach you anyway.”
the volleyball match playing on the tv served as background noise while you went through the cleaned kitchen at the hotel restaurant you’d worked at. everyone else had left already, and all that was done was to check the inventory and make sure everything was where it should be.
while checking off certain tasks you had to make sure were done, you halfway listened to the interviews after the match was over. it hadn’t even dawned on you that it was his team that had played today.
“is there anything you want to tell your fans after the great victory today, miya-san?”
your entire body froze, pen dropping on the list as your tired eyes wandered to the television. he looked breathtaking as ever, even when he was covered in sweat.
“i wanna say somethin’ to a certain someone, actually.” his grin made your heart stop, baring his pearly whites as his voice was slightly hoarse from all the yelling on the court. “i’m sure she’s watchin’ this right now.”
the reporter looked at atsumu with a curious, bright smile as she waited for him to continue, microphone right below his panting mouth. “who’s the lucky woman?” she questioned, which made him beam at the cameras.
you didn’t feel addressed, too certain that he had another lover he wanted to say something to. about to turn the tv off and announce your work as done for the night, you were stopped when he opened his mouth again.
“my nemesis, you could say,” he took a deep breath after answering the shorter woman’s question, “i got your letter. you know where i’ll be!”
this couldn’t be a coincidence. you had missed today’s airing of TO ALL THE MEN YOU’VE LOVED BEFORE, and they had confirmed that atsumu had gotten the letter. it had to be you, there was no way he meant someone else.
after a quick research, you found out that the match was indeed aired live and had taken place in hyogo, where both of you had grown up in. where you had moved back to after college, because tokyo wasn’t your home, hyogo was.
you knew exactly which place atsumu hinted at, and like a flash, you passed by the hotel lobby to speed towards the location.
it hadn’t even taken you ten minutes to arrive at the school gates of inarizaki high school. it had been a stupid pinky promises between you two while you were still on talking term; to meet where things ended, shall they ever end.
standing at that spot made your gut churn with negative and positive feelings. things had ended indeed, heartbreakingly so. but perhaps this was a chance to make up again. to start from zero.
you waited for at least an hour, you were sure. time didn’t seem to pass like this, and the more you grew aware that it didn’t, the more agitated you became.
what if he didn’t show up?
what if he showed up, just to tell you to go fuck yourself?
“what am i even doing?” you laughed breathlessly, fiddling with the car keys in your pocket. you should just leave. this was absolutely stupid and delusional of you, to actually hope you were going to make up.
“hey.”
stopping in your tracks, you grew aware of the person dressed in black, standing in front of you. they were wearing a mask and had a hood over their head, and they could’ve just been a criminal about to rob you of your money, but you’d recognize those eyes and that voice from anywhere.
this time, you didn’t wait. you didn’t let your pride hold you back as you ran into his arms, dwarfed up by his massive body that had just gotten even bigger over the years. his arms caged you in his form, swallowing all your sobs and cries in his fluffy, black hoodie as he stood still, rubbing the back of your head in soothing circles.
he was there. atsumu actually came. he came to see you. he didn’t hate you anymore.
“i’m so sorry,” you cried for the fiftieth time in five minutes, barely able to pull away as snot and tears ran down your exhausted face. his heart broke at the sight, his own eyes blurring with a wave of tears. “i’m sorry for everything, ‘tsumu. please, please forgive—”
with gentle, warm hands placed on your damp cheeks, tracing over the scars that had been left on you from that fight, he shushed you. “it’s okay.” you hated the mask for muffling his beautiful voice, and you felt your heart crack when a tear slid down his eye, disappearing under the mask. “i’m the one who should be sorry. i was the worst to you. you didn’t deserve any of it.”
he started sniffling, and your mind went blank, eyes wide as you grabbed onto his hands, shaking him softly. “no, no,” you begged him, “i don’t want you to cry. please don’t cry. i made a mistake, i messed it up, not you!”
the setter found himself melting at your touches, letting you pull off his hood and pull down his mask to reveal his face under the night sky. his lips wobbled, nose and cheeks reddening as tears fell from his big, brown hues.
“i deserved your hatred, ‘tsumu.” your hands were cold on his skin as you wiped his tears the second you saw them. he shook his head, “don’t say that. how could i ever hate you?”
with your fingers interlaced, both of you still in a daze, squeezing each other’s hand so tightly to realize that this was real, you took him to your place. because neither of you wanted to let go.
atsumu could cry when he saw the picture of you two from your middle school graduation in one of your cupboards on the wall next to the tv in your living room. what did make him break down was seeing that one hairpin he’d gifted you on your 13th birthday right in front of the framed picture.
“‘samu never stopped talking about you and how sad you looked at our high school graduation.” his reddened eyes didn’t leave the picture even when you stood next to him, almost as if he was too ashamed to look at you. “i’m really sorry. i truly am.”
you smiled up at him nostalgically, like you’d always do back then. he caught it from his peripheral, and it made his heart skip a beat. “we were teenagers, ‘tsumu,” you assured him while your hand traced over his broad shoulders. “things happen. i think i had to lose you to grow up and realize things.”
his body finally turned to you to face you. his hair was a softer, lighter blonde now, nearly white. it looked fluffier, too. his cheekbones were more sculpted, and you could feel the slightest stubble on his chin.
no matter how many years would pass, you’d always be in love with each and every version of atsumu.
“realize what?” his features were soft, thick eyebrows raising in question while you looked away bashfully. you’d written it in the letter. he just wanted you to say it out loud, because he was dying to hear you say it.
“atsumu, i…” you started, playing with the collar of his hoodie. he stopped breathing. “i’ve been in love with you since forever. since the very first time you shared your lunch with me.”
the cat was out of the bag. you exhaled a shaky breath, and before you could muster up the courage to look back at the now professional athlete, he beat you to it. atsumu was always bold. he took what he wanted, with no shame. he made you realize this once again when he planted his lips on you immediately after tilting your face up.
one short kiss was enough for you to ask more. now that you had him in your arms again, you wanted all of him. you had waited so long for the impossible to happen. and now that you finally had it…
“‘tsumu. kiss me again, please.”
so he did. again and again. to show you how sorry he was, to show you that he hadn’t meant any of the crap he had pulled on you years ago. he was a dumb prick, and he won’t ever forgive himself for what he’d done. he had missed out on so much with you, and he saw that one more time when you were seated on his lap in the dim living room, hovering above him needily.
you were all he ever needed. it felt like now he had you back again, a gap had been filled inside of him. one that nothing and no one was able to fill. no one could ever replace you, no emma, no girl, no one.
every kiss and touch was followed by him muttering apologies into your skin, worshipping your skin like it was holy. handling you with utmost care like you were made out of porcelain. he watched you fall apart from him just fondling you through your clothes.
“p—please, i need—” you sucked in a breath when you felt his bulge pressing through his sweatpants, prodding at your slacks. “need you, please. want to be yours.”
atsumu hummed into your neck as his strong hands carefully took off your blouse, revealing your bra-clad chest. “y’look so sexy in these clothes,” he mumbled, admiring the sight of you shakily unbuttoning your pants. “wanna see you in them every day when you go to work and when you come home.”
you whined at his lowly spoken words, letting him help you take off your pants. your clammy hands tugged at his hoodie and sweatpants that were soon gone as well, pooling at the floor.
atsumu’s body looked absolutely gorgeous. the second it was revealed to you, you traced your fingers over every ridge and cranny of his arms and upper body, sucking marks on and kissing his supple, firm skin that was still so soft.
“baby,” atsumu huffed, feeling his cock twitching at every single movement of yours. you were driving him crazy. “lemme do the rest, kay? i want tonight t’be all about you.”
nodding softly, you waited with bated breath as atsumu unclasped your bra and let it thud to the floor, joining the rest of your clothes. the way he licked his lips and groaned made you soak through your panties. moans and whimpers freely spilled from your glossy mouth once he latched his soft lips onto one of the mounds, while his hand paid attention to the other, twirling your hardened nipple between warm fingers.
“perfect tits,” he panted into your chest, looking up to meet your gaze as he licked his wet lips. “yer perfect, darlin’. everything about you is.” stammering pleas for atsumu to continue while you ran your fingers through his soft strands, you shuddered upon his unoccupied hand wandering down your stomach, until it settled at the hem of your lace panties.
“want me to go on, baby?”
his eyes were blown wide in lust and desire, fingers digging into your skin enough to leave marks. you bit your lip, whimpering through your teeth as you nodded. “yes, please, atsumu...”
atsumu knew you were wet from how you’d soaked the front of his light gray boxers, but actually feeling how aroused you were made him utter curses. it was so much, and you produced even more slick with just a single touch. how fucking adorable.
“so, so wet,” he groaned as one of his fingers slipped inside your clenching hole so easily, “fuck, so tight n’ warm. yer gonna make me cum, princess. fuck…”
he couldn’t wait to feel you around his cock. couldn’t wait to be engulfed by your warmth, to feel all of you. with big, wide eyes, he watched as you came undone on his fingers in just a minute, clutching his bare, sculpted shoulders while you creamed on his long digits. it was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen, and he wanted more.
“‘tsumu—” your thighs were shaking, and you kissed his jaw sloppily. “wan’ me to suck you off?” you couldn’t be serious. atsumu was literally seconds from creaming in his boxers, and you offered a blowjob to him so sweetly? he had to physically keep you in place to stop your hips from moving.
“no, i wanna feel your pretty pussy ‘round my dick,” he panted, and you obediently reached your deft fingers to pull at the waistband of his boxers. despite both of you being very desperate and impatient, you still took the time to take off each other’s underwear.
it was the need to be connected without anything disrupting you, rather than to ravage each other. although you were aware that if atsumu wasn’t going to dick you down in this very moment, you were going to explode.
you saw a glimpse of atsumu’s girthy and gorgeous cock before it started disappearing inside of your awaiting cunt. his hands gripped your hips tightly, keeping you still, while you mewled and sighed into his neck.
“how d’ya feel, angel?” atsumu’s voice was serene, calm, as he enjoyed the warmth he was buried inside of to the hilt. he was never going to let you go again, ever. “f—feels… so full,” you whined, raising your head from his shoulder to look into his eyes. “y’re so big, ‘tsumu. so warm. love it.”
leaning back against the back of the couch, the blonde started a sensual and slow pace, and you felt so overwhelmed that you didn’t know any better than to kiss him. moving your hips back and forth with his hands guiding you, you swallowed each other’s moans of passion and love, tongues clashing and lips molding together and becoming one.
atsumu and you were made for each other. you were made to be with him. you were each other’s destiny.
“i love you,” you started crying when the sensation started building inside of your gut, threatening to snap. “love you s’much, ‘tsumu. i love you so much.” atsumu kissed your tears away, listening to you babbling confessions and apologies as you kept clenching around him as if you wanted him inside of you forever.
“i love you too,” he grunted, punctuating his words with harder and faster snaps of his hips against your heat. the sounds of squelches and moans echoed across your apartment that had been empty and devoid of life and love for years. “will never let you go again. i’m so sorry.”
atsumu knew he was nearing his release, and his eyes frantically looked for yours, sweat clinging to his forehead and body as his hair stuck to his face. you were cross-eyed, digging your nails into his shoulders as if you wanted him even closer.
“need t’cum inside of you, angel,” atsumu hissed the more you tightened around him, nearly trapping him inside of you. “can i fill you up? please, please…”
nodding mindlessly, you wrapped your arms around atsumu’s neck, working you both towards a release. you were the first to cave in, hips stilling as you let out a high-pitched moan while waves of white came crashing down.
with a slack jaw and eyes rolled back into his skull, atsumu started releasing spurts of his warm seed into your womb, cock twitching until his balls were empty while you relished in his warmth he had shared with you.
neither of you moved, not even minutes later, feeling like you have melted into one body. the silence in the apartment finally felt peaceful instead of haunting, the second pair of eyes in it filling you with a sense of home.
atsumu’s fingers combed through your damp hair while you laid your head on his built chest, listening to his calming heartbeat. it was a matter of time till this tranquil moment was going to vanish.
“i must say, thinking about you having fought for me is really hot—” you cut him off by pinching the tender skin on his chest, which made him yelp. “ow!”
“i hate you, atsumu.”
you knew damn well you didn’t.
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
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shadowandlightt · 3 months
Text
Of Nightmares and Memories /five/ Azriel X reader
Series Warnings: Kidnapping. Mistreatment. Cursing. Pining. Violence. Depression. Talks of suicide. Eventual smut
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four
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They came not an hour later. You hid in your rooms like the coward you accused Tamlin of being. They didn’t put up a fight as Amerantha’s men, Rhys included, hauled them off towards the mountain. It left you in a state of dismay. Because with Tamlin gone, and the Faebane slowly leaving your system, there was no reason for you to stay here in Spring. You could easily run back to the night court and hide in one of the cabins your family owned. You could easily hide in the mountains and pray that one day Amerantha would meet her match. 
Only you couldn’t bring yourself to leave. One day you tried, only to turn and vomit in the rose bushes. You then turned around and went back to your rooms and crawled under your covers. You stayed there and didn’t move for the rest of the day. 
On the third day, Feyre showed back up. Much to your surprise, claiming to love Tamlin and willing to go under the mountain to save him. You rolled your eyes, but knew that love well. Because you would have given your wings if it meant seeing Az again. 
“She’ll kill you,” You say from your spot at the kitchen doors, “The second she realizes you’re there, she’ll kill you. But she’ll draw it out, make it slow and painful.”
“Not helping,” Alis hissed at you. 
“Who are you?” Feyre whips to face you. 
You only smirk, “A friend. That’s all you need to know. Rhys might be your only hope.” 
“Rhysand is a brute.”
“Perhaps,” You shrug, “But he wants out from under Amerantha as much as the next, only he has the power to make it happen.”
“What are you saying?” She questions. 
“If he comes to you with a bargain, take it,” You tell her, “It could just save your life. Play his games, it might just save you from hers.” 
“Don’t be a fool,” Alis said, “Don’t make any bargains.”
“Fine then, die and damn us all.”
“Why are you trying to help me?” Feyre asks. 
“Because, dear human, I want to go home,” you said almost wistfully, “And I can’t as long as that bitch is in power.” 
“Where is home for you?” 
“The Night Court. But I’ve been held here for hundreds of years.” 
“How old are you?” Her voice shook as she asked. 
You only laughed and shook your head, “My age is of no concern to you. I’m not even sure I know it anymore anyway.”
Alis sighs from behind Feyre and gathers some supplies. you  watch her carefully, wondering if she’s eager to send the poor human to her death, or if she hates the idea as much as you do. But you can only hope that Rhys will help her in any way that he can. You can only hope that he wants out as much as you think he does. 
“If you ever feel alone, look towards the shadows,” You explain, “I’m not promising I’ll be there. But if I feel I can risk it-” 
“Now that would be foolish,” Alis adds. 
“Thank you, Alis,” I hiss back, “You should go, now. Mother knows what that Bitch has done to your precious Tamlin.”
The idea of him getting his happy ending made you sick again. The idea of him being able to be happy when he’s caused so much suffering….you almost couldn’t handle it. But if this meant Rhys and the other members of the Night Court could be free then you had to allow it to happen. You had to try to aid the young girl in any way that you could. 
“Stick to the shadows,” You tell her, “You won’t get far once you enter, but always listen. And keep your wits about you.”
“Thank you,” She said in earnest. 
You watched from the broken front door as Alis led her away. You weren’t sure you’d ever see the human again, but you weren’t sad to see her go. It felt like leading a lamb to the slaughter, but it had to be done. There wasn’t another choice. Not if you wanted to survive, not if you wanted everyone to be free again. 
Each day you flung your powers out further and further, urging your shadows just a little further. They whispered back to you, telling you of what was happening under the mountain. How Feyre was dying, sick with fever and how Rhys came forth with a bargain. She headed your advice and took the bargain, marking her with a tattoo and a bond with Rhys. 
Each day you tried to find a way to contact your brother, but you knew you couldn’t risk it. There was no way you could reach his mind from so far away, not with the lingering effects of years of Faebane still in your system. 
You prayed that maybe Feyre would tell him about you and he would figure it out for himself and come for you once all of this was over. You prayed and prayed. There was nothing but silence. No news came. Your shadows were skittish, growing restless waiting for Amerantha to do something. 
You lost weight from not eating. The lack of food would kill you eventually, and maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. If Valaris parished and there was nothing left of the people you called family- no one left but Rhys who thought you were dead anyway…would death be so bad? It could all be over finally, and maybe the Mother would be so kind as to bring you back to Az in the next life. 
Three months. A mere blip in your young life, but feeling like a lifetime nonetheless. It took three long months before you saw three figures coming up the road. They were moving fast, all three of them. Feyre, it seemed, was no longer human. Your shadows neglected to tell you that when they said she’d survived and Amerantha did not. 
You made your way downstairs, towards the door which you’d managed to somewhat fix. None of them looked worse for wear, but you knew whatever Feyre had been through would stay with her for a long time. And Tamlin had the ornate ability to simply sweep things under the rug and forget about them. He would do the same with her. 
She looked High Fae, smelled like it too. With traces of my brother. So small, almost undetectable, but there. Shimmering like the bond you knew they had. You wondered when he would call in his bargain, when he would take her away from this place and show her the splendor of the Night Court, the beauty of it. 
“You’re still here,” Tamlin stopped, a scowl forming, “I set you free.”
“You set me free, perhaps, but I would have died before I made it back to my own Court. Safer to stay here until I could contact my brother.”
“That won’t be happening,” Tamlin said slyly, “Feyre, darling, why don’t you go inside with Lucien. I’ll be inside in a moment.”
Your eyes narrowed as she did as she was told. Lucien spared you a glance, pity swirling in his eye. It made a pit form in your stomach. You wouldn’t be leaving the Spring Court, you realized. You would be forced to stay here until the day you died, or until Tamlin finally decided to kill you. 
Maybe you would make it your mission to push him as far as you could so he would kill you. Maybe then you could finally know peace, and not whatever it was that you knew now. 
“I thought I was going to free you,” Tamlin took a step towards you, “But then your brother made that Bargain with Feyre, and made me look like a fool under the mountain.” 
“So once again, I’m to become your bargaining chip?” I question, “What? Me for Feyre?” 
“Perhaps.”
“I could mist you,” You hiss. 
“Ah, but you can’t,” Tamlin laughs, “Because even after all this time, the Faebane is still in your system. You can’t even winnow, because if you could, you would’ve left by now.” 
He surges forward and grips your cheeks in his hand. You yelp in pain before going completely still. You won’t let him have the satisfaction of seeing you in pain, or anything. He doesn’t deserve the satisfaction of it. 
“You, little one, are going to be here for a very long time,” He squeezed your face harder, “And I’m going to enjoy finally breaking you.”
Little did he know, you were already broken. 
“Go to hell,” You spit out. 
“I was already there,” He smirked, “It didn’t take.” 
“He’ll kill you once he finds out,” You force out, “And I’ll watch and laugh.” 
“I’m counting on him trying.”
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candycandy00 · 7 months
Text
Human - A Gojo x Reader Fanfic
You’re a human-shaped cat girl curse in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Part 2
Notes: I got the idea for this after watching the latest episode and loving how they used horror movie music when Gojo was stalking Jogo. So this has horror elements.
Smut. 18+. VERY DARK FIC! Noncon/Rape! Torture! Pain! Gojo being a sadistic freak! Don’t read this if any of those things bother you! Reader doesn’t die but she goes through hell. You’ve been warned!
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You had always loved humans. You loved the way they laughed, the way they moved, the way they loved each other so fiercely. From the moment you came into being, you longed to be human. 
You were a curse, and you were supposed to hate humans, to kill them. But you’d never harmed one in your lifetime. It was a blessing that you looked like them. The only visible difference was that you had furry cat ears and a long cat tail. In recent years you noticed young humans wearing fake cat ears as fashion accessories, and you loved it. Mainly because it meant you could walk among them and those that could see you wouldn’t even blink upon seeing your ears. 
You didn’t even need the ears to hear. You had a set of “human ears” as well, which you got your auditory information from. 
Over the past few months, you had even made friends with a couple of human girls who attended a college in the city. You looked around the same age as them, so you blended in well. 
This year, for Halloween, they invited you to come with them to Shibuya for a huge party in the streets. You were reluctant to go to big public places with them, for fear that they would introduce you to someone who couldn’t see you. But this Halloween party sounded so fun! And you could let your tail show and everyone would assume it was part of your costume. 
Your friends helped you pick out a dress to wear. It was black, to match your ears, slinky, with a slit up the side and thin straps at your shoulders. Your friends called it “sexy” and said it complimented your figure. 
On Halloween night, the evening had started out great, but of course it all went to hell pretty quickly. You saw the veil coming down, tried to hurry your friends along to escape without revealing what you knew, what you were, but it was too late. Your friends were sucked down into the subway station, and though you checked and found that you could leave the barrier if you wanted, you couldn’t abandon them. 
So you traveled down to where they were. You spotted some curses along the way but they ignored you, perhaps assuming you were on their side. You found your two friends standing in a corner, their hands clasped together in fear. When they saw you, relief broke out across their faces and they pulled you into an embrace. You didn’t know what was going on, but you had to protect them. 
It wasn’t long before a sorcerer showed up. You saw him hovering above the crowd like a god. He was tall, with snow white hair and a blindfold over his eyes. Even in a sea of humans dressed in outlandish costumes, he would have stuck out even if he were walking among them. There was something imposing about him. Something frightening. 
Then the curses came, and a fight broke out. Or more accurately, a massacre. The curses were killing humans to distract and frazzle the sorcerer, and you quickly ushered your friends to a far corner, as far away from the carnage as possible. You told them to remain there and keep their heads down while you went to check the situation. They didn’t want you to go, they were afraid for you, but you had to find out what was happening. 
When you got a little closer to the train tracks, you saw the sorcerer standing above everyone else, and watched him slowly pull his blindfold down. You saw the most haunting, beautiful, glowing eyes you’d ever seen. The sight took your breath away. And then, the real massacre began. 
The sorcerer dove in among the curses, ripping them apart, laughing with sadistic glee, eyes wild and crazed, mouth open in a terrifying smile. He was beautiful. He was monstrous. He was a nightmare come to life. 
What scared you most of all was how much he enjoyed it. This wasn’t a job for him, a duty. It was pure, unfiltered pleasure. He loved it. He loved the way their bodies ripped at the seams, the way their blood flowed and splashed, the cries of terror and pain. 
You retreated back to your friends, planning to shield them if anything went wrong. The action quickly died down. Whatever plan the curses had for the sorcerer failed. He’d slaughtered them all. You sensed the barrier come down, and you knew your friends would be safe. You also knew you had to flee. The sorcerer probably sensed you at some point, and your fear was that he would mistake you as being with the ones he’d killed, the ones who’d tried to kill him. 
When you had the chance, you took off, running up the subway tunnel, into the darkness, shedding your high heeled human shoes as you went. You found a small maintenance room along the way and went inside. It was dark and empty, and there was nothing but a table, desk, chair, and a couple of lockers in the room. You squeezed into one of the lockers and dampened your cursed energy as low as possible, then waited. If enough time passed, you would feel safe in assuming the sorcerer hadn’t noticed you or at least hadn’t considered you worth pursuing. 
You hid there, holding your breath, trying not to move an inch. But then you heard the door open, and your heart stopped. You listened as heavy footsteps walked into the room. You covered your mouth with your hand as tears trickled down your face. You just saw what this man could do to curses, what he enjoyed doing to curses. You didn’t stand a chance. 
The door to your locker flung open, and you were met with the most horrifying, unhinged grin you’d ever seen, wild, shimmering blue eyes boring into you. 
“There you are!” His voice was deep, with a distinctly gleeful tone. 
He grabbed a handful of your hair and tore you from the locker. “I’m not with those other curses,” you were crying, wanting to make that clear as soon as possible, “I don’t even know them!”
The sorcerer pulled your face closer to his and sneered at you. “So you just happened to be in the same place at the same time?”
You realized how bad it looked. “Please wait! I’ve never hurt humans! I love humans!”
He laughed then. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that before.”
Your whole body was trembling with fright, your face wet with tears. You were pulled against him, and you felt a bulge through his pants. Killing the curses had left him aroused. He really was a sadist! His face had turned cold and emotionless. You didn’t know which expression was more terrifying. 
You tried to pull away from him, and his hand slipped from your hair. He grabbed at one of your ears, and it sent a jolt of sensation through you. 
Your ears were incredibly sensitive to both pleasure and pain. When they were touched, it was almost as intense as as being touched between your legs. As his fingers closed over your ear, a moan escaped you. 
He froze. You clamped your hand over your mouth. You glanced up at his face, and you saw a flicker of surprise. He gave your ear a light squeeze, as if to experiment. Your entire body jerked, and your hand did nothing to contain another humiliating sound coming from your mouth. Your breaths became quicker. You squirmed and clamped your thighs together, trying to block out the pleasure emanating from your ear. 
You heard his voice say, “Seriously?” You glanced up and saw a wicked grin on his face, a strange look in those glimmering eyes. His thumb stroked over your ear, softly, and you couldn’t hold back your mewling cries. 
His eyes shifted down to your chest, as if just noticing your shape, the way your breasts heaved beneath the thin fabric of your dress, the way your cleavage nearly spilled out of the low neckline. His free hand slid one narrow strap down your shoulder, exposing one breast, making you whimper in shame. Then he was roughly grabbing the rounded flesh. 
He chuckled. “Why the fuck does a curse have a body like this?”
Your hands were frozen at your sides. You were too afraid to move. You had no choice but to let him molest you as he kept stroking your ear. He seemed to enjoy your distress, that violent, bloodthirsty look still in his eyes. But there was something else there, something that scared you even more. Lust. 
The hand groping your chest moved down, then slid under the slit in your dress, shoving itself between your trembling thighs. He laughed again. “I guess curses don’t wear panties,” he said, his fingers opening your folds and rubbing the small, sensitive nub inside. 
Your body jolted again, pleasure rippling through you. You tried to pull away again, despite your fear, but his hand left your ear and grabbed hold of your tail. 
You screamed. Your tail was more sensitive than your ears, and the harshness of his hand coiling your tail around it and squeezing hard made you see stars. He loosened his grip slightly, now rubbing your tail in a more sensual motion. You could feel the pleasure building again, with his hands stroking both your tail and your clit. You tried to fight it, tried to contain your pitiful moans, tried not to look at those lovely, eerie eyes that were watching your face. But you had always been a weak curse, in many ways. 
“Ahhhhh!”
The cry of ecstasy broke free from your lips, and your body spasmed as you collapsed. His hands held you up, still stroking your quivering flesh and your shaking tail, even as you panted and leaned your head over onto his chest in exhaustion. 
You heard him laugh. “I’ve never seen a curse cum before,” he was saying, his voice so close it sent chills down your spine. “Thanks for the show, but the fun’s over now.”
Fun? What part of this was fun? But within seconds you realized the humiliation you just suffered was fun compared to what he planned to do with you. His hand tightened suddenly on your tail, and just as suddenly, he ripped it off. 
Blood sprayed behind you. The pain was blinding, unimaginable, unbearable. You began to fall forward, but he caught you by your hair, holding you upright. You couldn’t even scream, your mouth opening and closing as you gasped for air. 
“Guess I found your weak point,” he said in a light hearted tone. 
When you finally regained your voice, after your body began slowly regenerating your tail, you pleaded with him. 
“Please let me go! I’m scared!”
He used your hair to turn your head so that you faced him. “And you think all those humans you guys murdered weren’t scared?”
“I didn’t kill anyone! I told you, I love humans!”
His grin faded. “Why would a curse love humans?”
You whimpered as his grip on your hair tightened. He reached up his other hand and roughly grabbed an ear, making you jump and cry out. “Because I want to be human,” you finally said, shuddering with sobs. 
He laughed again, a cruel laugh that made you hate him as much as you feared him. “That’s hilarious,” he said, then suddenly he grabbed a hold of your dress and completely ripped it from your body. You yelled out in surprise, then tried to cover yourself. He pulled your hands away from your body and shoved you onto the metal table in the middle of the room. 
You were on your back, completely bare, the gaping wound where your tail once was trying to close around the tiny nub you’d regenerated. You kicked wildly, thrashing about to try to keep him from climbing on top of you, but it was no use. He was immeasurably stronger than you. He straddled you, his knees on either side of your body. He looked down at you with a mixture of desire and disgust. 
Then, he unbuckled his belt and opened his pants. You were shaking your head before he even pulled out his massive cock, still rock hard from his earlier rampage. “Please, no…” 
“Shut up,” he told you, scooting back on the table to give himself enough room to shove your legs apart. “Stop trying to act human. It’s grossing me out.”
So you laid there, crying and shaking, as he took you. His thrusts were violent, satisfying his lust for your body as well as his lust for hurting curses. He was destroying you. That’s what it felt like. His hands were on your breasts, squeezing far too hard, then on your hips, gripping them with bruising fingers, then finally on your ears. 
Surprisingly, his touch there started out gentle. He caressed them softly with his fingers, and you couldn’t resist the pleasure it caused. You let out little whimpering moans and shivered under his ministrations. He grinned down at you, seeming amused by the fact that he could make you feel this way even as he raped you. 
After a few minutes of mortifying pleasure that left your heart and body confused, when you were on the edge of another orgasm, he suddenly gripped one of your ears tightly, and pulled. You cried out in pain, looking up at him with tear filled eyes. “Please, don’t!”
His face shifted. His grin was maniacal, his eyes deranged, as he oh so slowly pulled your hyper sensitive ear from your head. You screamed, clawing at him then nearly blacking out from the pain. All the while, he was still fucking you. 
One of his hands moved to your other ear, stroking it again in an almost loving fashion. You didn’t have the strength to fight or resist. You could only allow the totally conflicting sensations to wash over you in waves. The white hot pain of your ripped off ear and his cock tearing through you, and the mind melting pleasure of his soft fingers on your remaining ear. 
Eventually he leaned forward, his fully clothed body pressing against your nude one, and pressed his lips to your ear. He ran his tongue over it, gently, and it felt like your entire body was being stimulated. You came with a loud, whining moan, your back arching involuntarily against him. When you looked up, he was smiling down at you, not the frightening grin he’d been wearing, but a strangely kind one. In your hazy, half conscious state, you thought he looked like an angel. 
Then, he ripped your other ear off. 
Your eyes widened, your mouth opening in a soundless scream, your torn body clenching around him. And that’s when you felt his warm cum shooting deeply inside you. “You’ll never be human,” he whispered as he filled you with his seed. 
He pulled out and got off the table, zipping his pants and fixing his belt. He ran a hand through his hair and glanced at you. The anger and the bloodlust were gone from his eyes, he’d fucked it all into you and left it there. As if he had come down from a high, he stood quietly for a moment, staring at your wrecked body. He opened his mouth to say something, but the door to the room burst open, cutting him off. 
Your two friends ran inside, one of them clutching your discarded shoes. They must have seen them in the tunnel and come looking for you. Even after all the blood and violence they’d seen tonight, they still walked down a dark, scary tunnel to find you! 
The looks on their faces were horrific. They ran past the sorcerer and to your side, one of them yanking off her jacket to cover you with it. Then they rounded on him. 
“You sick fuck! What did you do to her?!”
“Rapist! Monster!”
They were screaming, tears on their own faces. You tried to sit up, to tell them to run away. Sorcerers didn’t attack humans as a general rule, but this one was such a terror that you didn’t know what he would do to two human girls who had interrupted his fun. 
He looked at them with bewilderment on his face. He gestured toward you and said, “She’s… your friend?”
“Of course she is,” one of them cried. She was digging around in her purse for something, then pulled out a small pink canister. “Stay the fuck away from her or I’ll mace you in the fucking face!”
You were sitting up on the table, with effort. Everything hurt. “Get behind me,” you told them. 
“No,” the one holding the mace said, “you’re always protecting us! You think we didn’t notice?”
The other girl was standing firmly in between you and the sorcerer. “We’ll protect you this time!”
He looked at them, at the can of mace trembling in the girl’s hand. They were scared, but they refused to back down. 
Several different emotions seemed to pass over his face. Confusion, realization, shock, horror… guilt? Was he just now realizing that he’d brutalized an innocent creature? Had he really thought you deserved whatever punishment he dished out because he assumed you’d killed humans? He didn’t say anything, he simply looked at you with a pained expression, and then he was gone, so fast none of you saw him leave. 
Your friends turned to you. “Let’s get you home. Do you need a hospital, or can you heal yourself?”
You blinked at them. Your ears were already growing back. “How did you know I can heal?”
They glanced at each other. “We’ve known you were different for a while now. We don’t know exactly how you’re different, but we think it’s amazing!”
You pulled them both into a hug, tears in your eyes. They were the silver lining in your life. They made you feel human, and that sadistic sorcerer could never take that from you. 
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Text
I have another idea for a story, but I once again don't know what to write, so I'm building a skeleton.
It's a DC x DP x ML crossover. Damien, Marinette, and Danny are triplets born into the LoA. From birth, they were taught to not see each other as siblings but as rivals for Ra's attention. When they were five, they were dipped (more like dropped) into the pits for the first time. Danny never comes back out. The second time was when they were six. Damien and Marinette came back from a mission gravely injured. Marinette doesn't come back out. Damien becomes the sole heir.
As one can imagine, Danny and Marinette aren't dead but simply taken to where they were needed at the time. That being said, things for these two characters go mostly according to their respective shows after they integrate into society. With the exception that the two of them are more competent and don't fight like rabid raccoons. But things take a dark turn when they turn sixteen.
Marinette
. After finding out that his father is Hawkmoth, Adrien is unable to carry the weight of being the holder of the cat Miraculous, as he doesn't want to fight his father and gives it to Ladybug. He promptly moves to the States to further his modeling career. Marinette, unable to find someone else worthy to be the holder of the cat Miraculous, stores it away and becomes the sole hero of Paris (with occasional helpers). But because of this, her two lives get more intertwined, and she is forced into a corner where she has to choose between being Ladybuy or Marinette.
. But she doesn't get a chance as Hawkmoth is dethroned and replaced by an even greater threat. She is forced to take on the persona of LadyNoir. Her life crumbles as she tries her hardest to balance her life as a hero and a person. She tries to save everyone but someone always ends up getting hurt. Whether it be her as Marinette, clinging to what little of her life is left. Or her as LadyNoir, with no choice but to watch innocent civilians die because she couldn't think of a better plan that could've saved everyone.
. It gets to the point where she makes an unforgivable wish. But every wish has a cost. She only finds out the price when she is forced to stand behind an invisible wall and watch as her life replays before her eyes, the film slowly burning away till there's nothing left. She cries as she falls into an ocean of familiar Lazarus green.
Danny
. Danny's life is also crumbling around him as he struggles to separate his human life from his ghost half. But after becoming the Ghost King, things only became more complicated and even more dangerous as more ghosts started coming through the portal to challenge him for the crown. And while he would really love to give it away, the guys that kept fighting him for it are very clearly evil. So he has to keep fighting, winning, and solidifying his position as the King of the Infinite Realms. But with every win comes a newfound power. Power he doesn't want. Power that scares him.
. It gets to the point when Danny has to drop out of school. He wasn't even scoring double digits anymore so what was the sense of keeping him? But Danny couldn't stay home either, it was too dangerous as his ghost and human halves were slowly becoming one. And his parents' obsession was slowly becoming a threat to him. He thought he had the solution. He was going to shut down the portal and leave Amity Park.
. It was perfect really, as no ghost portal meant no ghost. And he couldn't be vivisected if neither the GIW nor his parents could catch him. He talked the plan over with team phantom and they reluctantly agreed. The ghost portal is destroyed, and Danny leaves Amity and files over Elmerton and a few other towns. But after flying for a while, Danny gets to a sort of border where nothing meets... NOTHING. On the other side was just an infinite void. Nothing.
. Danny slowly realizes that in this world, all he knew was Amity Park. He never actually traveled or went on field trips. Never went to visit extended family nor did any visit. No one 'new' ever came to Amity Park because they were all just nearby. He learned no relevant history besides Amity Park because there was nothing outside of Amity Park. When the realization had finally set in the world began to crumble into the void and it became a race against him and the void.
. Danny knew that he was fast but the void was faster, and before he knew it he was back in Amity. He was going to warn them and try to save as many people as he could. But saw something in their eyes. They already knew. Danny watched how teary eyes and big smiles, everyone and everything he loved crumbled into the void, fading into nothingness.
Scientists across the galaxy, the universe even, often theorize about how everything came to be. Well, it didn't start with a bang, that's for sure. 'Well then how did it start?' you might ask.
Well..., it started with some tears and a scream.
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Can we get one where someone says something really hurtful to reader while in the ring (that wasn’t scripted, and it surprised everyone even the one who said it because it wasn’t meant to be said?) and Rhea supports Reader back stage? Comfort plssss
Slight Misunderstandings
Rhea Ripley x Reader
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It was almost as if the world stopped for a second. Everyone in the audience, everyone in the ring, everyone backstage, even you, stopped to look at Edge as he stood in the middle of the arena with a mic in his hand. The smirk he had on his face was quickly wiped off as he realised what he’d done, the silence making him feel like he would cripple under such spotlight. You just stood in the middle of the runway, with the intention of getting backstage just like what the script said for you to do.
You didn’t have a clue what to say back. Do you even say anything back? You wanted to scream and shout at him, throw the mic you had in your hand at him, but you just couldn’t. You stood frozen looking at him with wide eyes thinking about what he said, completely different to what you’d actually be in the ring. When you did manage to process everything, you dropped the mic and continued your walk backstage, everyone suddenly booing Edge when they saw how defeated you were.
Yeah, you won the match. But what was it worth when Edge managed to ruin every ounce of pride within you. He took it, shrivelled it up, and made it die like paper in fire. Your win suddenly meant nothing to you, even thought seconds before it had meant the world.
Walking backstage was probably the worst part. People were silent, not clapping like they usually do. Even Triple H was silent, a expression that could only be described as an apology apparent on his face. The belt around your waist? Meaningless once again.
Your weak feet dragged you quickly to get away from everyone, the last thing you wanted to do was be within people who only served you pity. No one really knew what to say, because congratulations would only make you want to get away from everyone even more.
It wasn’t until you felt hands against your waist, pushing you quicker towards the locker rooms, that you snapped out of your daze. A slight distraction that made your throat close up when you noticed who it was. Rhea led you away from people, her hands never leaving your body as she did so. She knew the second she turned you around you’d start crying, and she tried to do that away from as many people as possible.
“I didn’t know he was going to say that.”
She locked the door and hugged you tight, kissing the top of your head as she nodded.
“Nobody did. He wasn’t meant to.”
Only then did you let a tear fall. Everything you accomplished seemed to just crumble under your feet. A single comment made you want to disappear forever. Rhea knew that though, her hands never stopped hugging your waist, letting you cry the emotions out so you didn’t have to do it alone. You love her for that, but the indescribable feeling of sadness never went away.
“Hey, shh, shh.” She soothed, peeling you away from her, her hands cupping your face firmly but softly. “Don’t let him take this away from you. You can cry about it any other day, okay? Enjoy this,” she pointed to the belt around your waist. “Because this is once and people will try and drag you down every single day. Don’t let him win.” She wiped the tears off your cheeks and dried your eyes with her sleeve, smiling gently down at you as you melted into her touch.
“I’ll beat his ass for you next week when the Judgement Day fights him, okay? Don’t cry, babe. He’s not worth it.”
You nodded and sniffed, feeling her kiss your forehead before she let go of you. Thankfully, the only media you had to do was a small interview with some woman who knew exactly how to make you forget about Edge, but other than that, all media was on tomorrow.
The trip back to the hotel was quiet but calm. Rhea made sure to make you feel okay every second of the night and never failed to mention your big win. Eventually, all was okay. But that was only because Rhea was there to make sure you were alright
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THE END.
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n3ptoonz · 5 months
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Could you do some mk Headcanons (anyone you feel motivated to write about) where their meet the dark version of reader from Dark!Shang Tsung’s timeline, maybe their conflicted because their version of the reader died
randomly selected mk1 character hcs: how kitana, kenshi, mileena, scorpion, li mei, and shang tsung react to the version of their s/o's dark clone post death
this is creative asf ty anon 🫢
warnings: canon typical violence and angst that's about it (gonna hit y'all with the punk tactics)
the dialogue portions are meant to be read in the context of before you and character fight
enjoy!
Kitana
When you appeared in her line of vision, she was immediately heartbroken. She couldn't believe her late partner came back like this after so many years
You died sacrificing yourself for her to live in this timeline. you worked for the royal family for all these years, just to have to take an arrow to the chest due to an assassination attempt
Your skin now had cracks all over it and your eyes glowed red, standing by dark shang tsung's side with a mocking smirk behind your mask. Kitana could barely recognize you and you were only intrigued that she wasn't dead in this timeline
Kitana looked at you with tears in her eyes. The same person who took an arrow so she could live on. She had already taken out clones that looked like her, hell even ones that looked like her own sister and mother. Second pain to that was seeing you approach her with mischievous and evil intent.
"You...gave your life for me...and now you live on as an evil pawn for a man like Shang Tsung?"
"I did? What an idiot. In my timeline, I'm the one who assassinated you, and I still have no remorse."
Kenshi Takahashi
Post losing his eyesight, he could only ever think about how he lost you. How he wasn't quick enough in getting you out of being involved with the Yakuza. How he was one step behind
You died a brutal death simply because you were his partner, and they couldn't risk leaving you alive to tell the story of them torturing you for information, so they took care of it themselves to send a message. And boy, did it send a message
So now, in dark Shang Tsung's timeline, you are resentful of him and want your revenge. However, it was very conflicting for Kenshi: Did he take this version of you out now because he knows you don't actually feel like this? Or...die by your clone's hands to be reunited with the love of his life?
Kenshi stood before you with Sento in hand, but frozen in place. The sound of your voice, the complete change in your demeanor, and even down to how you used to walk (he always knew when you were coming because of the way your footsteps sounded), he was utterly devastated. He only had himself to blame for this moment in time.
"I'm...I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. It's all my fault."
"No need to apologize, past love, I took you out in my timeline, now I've come to finish the job in yours."
Mileena
You died in Mileena's arms. How? Well, you were a little too late in grabbing the serum that calms her down and she went crazy on the closest person to her, literally
Upon barely clinging onto dear life you were able to inject her, but you had lost too much blood. So by the time she came to you were gone. She hadn't cried and wailed this much since her father
Now, as she pointed her Sai at your neck, she didn't know what to do. Even if she turned right now, she couldn't handle killing you in the same exact way two times in a row. Even if evil you was trying to kill her
Mileena breathed heavily as she could feel herself turning, desperately trying to stop herself from mauling you to death. But the way you taunted her made half of her want to turn even quicker, knowing full well this is the dark version of you spewing nonsense to piss her off.
"Come on, Empress, turn. Rip my face off like you did before."
"I don't want to...but if my hand is forced, so be it!"
Scorpion
You guessed it. The classic partner and son loss. You fought tirelessly to defend your home and the Shirai Ryu, but it just wasn't enough. Kuai was also just one step too late
Once he got to you, there lied your lifeless body clutching your son in your arms with a sword through your back. If he just hadn't gone on that mission that day when you said you were worried of being attacked...
Now, the dark version of you relished in the pain and sorrow in his eyes. In your timeline, he was the one that died and you trained your son to be a killing machine
Scorpion's head hung low upon hearing what you've done in your timeline. All this time he promised if he could just see you again, he would apologize profusely and even give his own life for you to come back. But looking at you now, seeing you again with an evil smile and empty eyes you've never worn before made him want to take it all back.
"Want to know something funny? You were the one that died in front of me, and I got our son to do it."
"Training Satoshi to be a killing machine is a sin that not even hellfire can take care of."
Li Mei
You died while on a mission in Li Mei's place to find and gather information that would be of use to the royal house and their next moves on taking down a clan that was after it
Li Mei hasn't properly recovered since. Even to the point where she'll go on solo missions just to avoid anybody else getting hurt. She took extra shifts and extended her personal training time just to keep her mind, but at the end of the day she still crumbled
Now the evil version of you isn't even in the Sun Do. In fact, you actively try to take them down every chance you get just to get to the Li Mei in your timeline--which worked
Li Mei took a fighting stance as soon as you showed up. A piece of her heart broke at the thought of intentionally having to hurt you, but she knew you were long gone now with no shot of saving grace. You dangled your weapon in front of her and showed not one sign of fear.
"You were an esteemed member of the Sun Do, and now you are proudly a disgrace."
"I'll do it again one thousand times over and you can't stop me."
Shang Tsung
Surprisingly, he didn't betray you or kill you himself. You captured the sorcerer's heart, and that was the problem. His followers didn't like how much attention you got, so they formed an organization and took you out when they followed you on a mission
Since then he was on a rampage. He wreaked as much havoc as he could, convinced it was some outside source that held something against him. He only got stronger with anger and deep rooted sadness he couldn't process
Now you blamed him for letting you die when he could've prevented it. Hell, sometimes you felt like it was his idea and his way of getting rid of you as if you were a hindrance to his plans
Shang Tsung couldn't believe his eyes. You, who started walking towards him after you linked arms with his own dark clone. Every emotion he had ever felt bubbled to the surface the second he saw your face. Hurt, anger, sorrow, but mostly confusion. However, knowing the kind of man Shang Tsung was, he wouldn't think twice to rid of your evil clone for good.
"Whoever took you from me will pay, but I will kill you myself before I die by your tainted hands."
"Aw, how the evil sorcerer calls the dark soul 'tainted'"
-
thank you for reading! man this was SOMETHING but it was fun i don't typically write angst
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imtryingbuck · 6 months
Text
Birdie
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Pairing: Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader
Summary: The team lose their friend (I’m bad at summaries sorry)
Word count: 1,532
Warnings: Angst. My terrible attempt at a fight scene. 
Masterlist   Series Masterlist
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Her hand slowly came up to her face, removing the bottom half of her mask then the glasses.
They couldn’t believe it.
They didn’t want to believe it.
“Y/n?”
~~~
Bucky’s heart was in his throat, his eyebrows raised and pulled together.
It can’t be he repeated in his head, he watched her die, he watched as the Hulk picked up the rubble and threw them like they weighed nothing. He held her in his arms the whole way home trying to attack the people who took her cold lifeless body away from his arms.
Frozen in place in the middle of the road he didn’t want to believe it, it couldn’t have been her. Yes this woman standing in front of them all posture upright and ready to attack had their friends face, same colour eyes, the same scar on her lip from the time Y/n fell over whacking her face off the kitchen counter busting her lip wide open, the exact same scar that went across her eyebrow from where she was beaten many missions before her untimely demise - she had copied Steve’s words ‘I can do this all day’ which was accurately true, making everyone who heard her through her comms laugh.
The three things wrong with this woman who was standing in front of them was, one - her eyes were so dark, nothing like Y/n who’s eyes were always so bright and full of life, joy and wonder. Two - their friend, their crazy friend who always made everyone laugh, their friend who always had their best interests at heart would never ever let anyone hurt them, taking bullets and hits just for them, let alone try and attack them. And three, their friend was dead.
“Is…is that Y-Y/n?” Clint’s raspy voice sounded through their comms.
Bucky watched as her head tilted ever so slightly to the left, his whole body went rigid as he knew what that head tilt meant.
She was about to attack.
And sure enough six individual 10 inch claws came out of her knuckles.
“What do we do?” Nat questioned.
“We can’t hurt her!” Tony says.
“Wanda control her!” Orders Steve.
Bless the redheads heart, she was trying. And failing. “I-I’m trying!”
Little bird/Y/n’s eyes shifted from Bucky to Wanda and before any of them could do anything Wanda was thrown backwards.
Like idiots they took their eyes off of the woman all in black, when they turned around the panic they already felt amplified by a thousand.
She was no longer there.
“Clint you’ve got a visual?” Steve asks.
“No…”
They heard a high pitch screeching sound of metal against metal scraping together from behind them, they turn to face that way when they hear the sound again from their original position.
“She’s toying with us”
“I’ve got a visual” Clint speaks.
“Clear shot?” Steve asks.
“What? You can’t be serious!” Bucky all but shouts.
“We injure her and then we’ll grab-“
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you” The voice that they hadn’t heard in real time for 6 long painful years suddenly says just as she appears in front of them. 
“Y/n?” Whispered Bucky.
Her eyes flickered ever so slightly but they all catch it. “Buck say her name again” Steve says.
And he does, this time they all see a flash of recognition in her eyes “Metal man talk to her” Tony tells him.
Taking in a deep breath he slowly breaths out, “Y/n? I know you’re in there doll, I can see it. It’s okay I promise. Please come back to me-us, it’s oka-“
The look on her face of her remembering vanished, along with their hope. “You must take out the strongest first in order to succeed” Winking at them, she throws Steve into a car.
Thor was then thrown.
Then Nat.
Then Sam and Tony at the same time.
Then Bruce.
Keeping them all pinned along with Wanda she stared down Bucky then smirked. “You’re the strongest you know?”
“Why didn’t you throw me first then?”
“Because… you’re the one that makes me stronger. Always have. Always will.”
“Y/n you can come back from thi-“
“Like you once said Solider, it always ends in a fight. And that’s what we shall do”
Before he even had the chance to talk some sense into her or move position she launched herself at him, throwing punch after punch to his face and body causing him to grunt in pain.
“Fight. Back. Soldat” Each word ending with a hard blow to his face.
“No” Bucky rasped out. He doesn’t want to fight back, even when they use to train together he always went easy on her - not because he was scared to hurt her but because the thought of laying a hand on her in a violent way made him feel sick to his stomach.
“Fight or die”
For Bucky it was an easy choice. Didn’t even have to think about it. Didn’t even hesitate to go to his knees, he blanked out the shouting from behind him. “You’re going to have to kill me Y/n/n because I’m not going to fight you”
Her eyes squinted and one eyebrow raised up “Coward”. She spat out. 
“You’re the one hesitating now Y/n… what does that make you?” Bucky could tell that the woman he loves was still there and trying to break through, well he hoped he could see it and it wasn’t just his hopefulness playing tricks on him.
“If killing me brings you back to our friends then doll, do it. Please”
Her face hardened as she stared him down, her stance faltered. As she squared her shoulders she looked around at the people she had pinned down. “I-I don’t want to do this but you’re my mission. So fight back”
“Okay, okay I’ll do it” He gets up slowly, he hopes that what he’s about to do is all worth it.
He throws the first punch, then the next and the next. His stomach turns at his actions but he continues to fight the love of his life.
Spitting blood out of her mouth, with her left leg she kicks him in his stomach, making him fly backwards landing just a few inches away from Steve. She makes her way towards them as he jumps up onto his feet, they meet in the middle and continue to throw punches and kicks at each other.
The Avengers hearts were beating rapidly as they watch their friends try and kill one another.
Due to the super soldier serum coursing through their veins neither one backs down, neither one grows tired.
Her claws come out and he gulps, he tries to use his vibranium arm as protection against her adamantium claws knowing his arm is stronger.
Bucky had managed to dodge the umpteenth attack when her claws dug in and sliced him across his stomach causing him to scream out in agony, he dropped to his knee’s clutching his stomach with both hands. A lone tear drops from his bright blue eyes as he looked at her.
“It’s okay…”
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Y/n dropped to the floor and scrambled backwards, her eyes bounced from Bucky’s to her claws - that were covered in his blood, looking at them in horror and disgust.
“It’s okay” He kept repeating to her, he could see that it was her and not the puppet Hydra had created.
“Bucky? Bucky I’m so sorry, oh my God, what have I done, I’m sorry” His heart broke for the last time at the pain in her voice.
The team were finally able to move, their invisible chains letting them go, they all made their way to Bucky’s aide.
“I’m so sor-sorry”
Tony slowly put one foot in front of the other towards the girl who he had unofficially adopted, whose whole body shook with sobs “Sweetheart, can I ask you a question?” Their friends looked puzzled at him.
“W-w-what?”
“What’s your nickname for Bucky?”
“Buckaroo”
Tony released a strangled noise, between a laugh and a sob. “It’s okay sweetheart, look at me, he’ll be okay I promise and so will you”
“No no no I hurt hi-him”
“He’s okay Y/n/n I promise” He got closer to her and dropped to his knees “Ca-can I hold you?” He sees the hesitation in her eyes before she nodded, he didn’t waste any time in pulling her into his arms. Holding her closer and tighter as he humanly could, he couldn’t help himself from crying. For 6 years he’s not been able to touch her, to give her a hug. He cries with her, softly telling her ‘everything will be okay’.
Despite the pain that Bucky feels in his stomach he doesn’t stop the smile from forming on his split lips or the tears from falling.
They all stand there watching Tony cling on to their friend who they thought they had lost 6 years prior.
None of them had a dry face. None of them knew that when they woke up this morning they were going to be reunited with their friend.
Their friend, a huge part of their blended and mismatched family was alive and back.
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Tags: @bethexo07 @doublebassallie @vicmc624 @cyberficlya @elijahssuit @learisa @unaxv @sapphirebarnes
~ banner credit goes to @sweetpeapod ~
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myymi · 2 months
Text
Sonic never thought running too fast would ever be a problem. If you went fast enough nothing could be able to stop you.
Tails had been nagging him about it for a while though, scolding him every time he ran straight into a fight without stopping to think of what might happen.
It didn't matter to him though. Even if he somehow got hurt, it'd eventually heal and he'd be back on the run in no time.
But now that he was on his knees, cradling his brother as he desperately tried to stop the red from staining the white fur on his chest, he really wished he had listened.
The only reason this happened was because he ran too fast. He didn't stop to check for any sort of traps or hidden badniks, far too focused on beating Eggman so they could all go home.
He never thought that going too fast could get someone else hurt.
He still wasn't sure what happened. All he knew was that he spindashed into a motobug, then a laser fired and a horrible, loud scream followed.
It took him two seconds to realize it was his brother that screamed. He could feel his heart stop beating as he watched the fox drop to his knees, his paws clutching his chest.
Sonic had the kit in his hold a second later, whispering about a million apologies to him. Knuckles and Amy decided to deal with the combat, letting the hedgehog take care of the youngest.
They had managed to drag Eggman's attention to another area, which meant that the two brothers were alone.
Sonic had tried to pick the kid up to take him to a hospital, but Tails refused. He begged the older not to take him anywhere near a hospital.
He wanted to die in his brother's arms, not in a hospital bed.
Sonic tried to tell him that he wasn't going to die. They just needed to get to someone who could help him and it'd be fine.
But then Tails showed him his communicator.
The screen was colored in the brightest, most headache-inducing shade of red he's ever seen.
Written in a bright white text were the words, ‘!Vital Organ Critically Damaged!’
That was the message that was programmed to show if they were ever too injured to receive medical attention. Going to a doctor would be useless, they wouldn't be able to save him.
So Sonic just held him instead. He had called Knuckles and Amy a few seconds ago so they could come see him.
Tails whimpered and pushed into the hedgehog, clinging onto his chest.
“Just a little longer, buddy.” Sonic whispered, trying his best to keep his tears from falling as he held the fox tighter. He couldn't cry right now, Tails didn't deserve to see that.
His ears twitched at the sound of footsteps approaching. He turned to watch as Knuckles and Amy ran up to them with matching horrified expressions.
Amy dropped in front of them to grip the youngest’s paws, “Oh, Tails..” It was easy to see that she had already been crying, but her eyes grew wet once again.
Knuckles kneeled at Tails’ head, but stayed silent. He placed his paw on the back of the kit’s head, gently rubbing it with his thumb.
It wasn't long until a soft rumble filled the air. It was shaky and it stumbled every now and then, but it was there. And it broke Sonic's heart.
Tails was purring to try and comfort them. Even while he was dying, he decided to put his siblings first.
“I'm scared.” Tails admitted quietly, closing his eyes as he hid his face in his brother's shoulder.
“I know, bud.” The hedgehog ignored the way his voice wavered. He's not sure how much longer he can hold back his tears.
“You'll be okay, little one.” Sonic's never heard such a gentle voice come from the guardian, but he guesses that's because it was saved for moments like this. “Your fight is over. You can rest now.”
“I–I don't wanna go.” Sonic bit down on his tongue at the sound of Tails’s small, broken voice. Every whimper or whine that came from the youngest broke his already shattered heart even more.
He could feel a tear run down his face. He was going to just let it fall, but Amy reached over and gently wiped it away.
“Think of it this way,” She whispered, her gaze moving back to the eight year old, “You can always keep an eye on Sonic now and yell at him for pulling stupid stunts.”
That at least managed to put a smile on the fox’s muzzle, even if it was small.
The air fell silent around them. Sonic knew that other people had gathered around them by now. They were in Station Square after all, there's always people staring.
“Guys?” Amy’s hold on the youngest’s paws tightened at the quiet voice. He was basically whispering, too weak to talk any louder. “Please—Please look after each o-other.”
“Don't you worry about us, keed.” The response was natural. It's what he always said whenever Tails got too worried about them. It was sweet, but he tended to ignore his own needs when he focused on his siblings.
“We’ll be alright, bud.” Knuckles said, still continuing his gentle petting. The fox whimpered at the nickname. He wished he could hear Knuckles say it more.
“I'll keep these boys in line,” Amy promised, smiling at the kid despite the tears streaming down her face.
“We love you, kiddo.” Sonic whispered, nuzzling the younger’s head. He hated how he could feel the strength in his little brother's body fade out.
The small paw that had been clutching his chest finally let go, limply falling to the ground as the little fox released his final breath.
Sonic curled around the lifeless body, hiding his face away in the soft, golden fur as his tears began to fall down his face now that the hedgehog had stopped trying to hold them in.
Knuckles pulled Amy into a hug as she began sobbing. He ignored his own tears that trailed down his muzzle as he embraced his little sister.
Losing someone during a battle had always been a possibility, they all knew that.
But even so, none of them ever expected their youngest brother to be the first.
It wasn't right. He should've been the last of them to leave Mobius, not the first. He was far too young to be taken from them already.
But there was nothing they could do about it now.
Tails was gone.
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sodamnradd · 7 months
Text
Hermione Granger was going to die on his operating table.
Fuck.
Draco paced the room and tried to ignore the ghostly girl lying unconscious a few feet away.
Potter was the only person keeping Draco here and, if Granger died under his care, it was all over. The Order would blame him for her death.
“What am I meant to do with you now?” he mumbled, glaring at his patient.
He touched Granger’s pulse and felt it fading. Her skin was cold and clammy. Even her hair seemed deflated, giving up the good fight.
There was no other way.
“Don’t worry,” he murmured, feeling a flash of remorse for the fate he was bestowing on her. “I’ll make sure you don’t fall in love with me.”
--
The Order promoted Draco to main headquarters. He had his own room and went to bed with a full stomach every night. Sometimes, there was even beer.
But Draco would have slept in moth infested sheets again and eaten stale cereal for dinner every night if it meant staying away from her.
After her miraculous recovery, Granger visited him in the medical wing. Often.
The first time to thank him for saving her life. The second to borrow a book she spotted on his desk, swapping it for one of her own. The third to return his book and tell him about all the ways it had pissed her off. Before he knew it, she’d cajoled Draco into a war-time book club, reading all the books Granger bartered off other Order members.
She started confiding in him about odd things that were happening to her.
“It’s not my problem,” he cut her off, popping open his collar as the room grew three notches too hot.
“But you’re my healer.”
“I’m not your healer. I’m just a healer. A reluctant one. Your idiot friends won’t let me do much else.”
“Help me find out what’s wrong with me, and I’ll have them reassign you.”
“No.”
She was insufferably stubborn.
“See how I did that?” she asked one afternoon, squashing a fly with her palm and resuscitating it seconds later. “That’s odd.”
“That’s magic.” He feigned disinterest, swatting the irritating fly. “Couldn’t you have let it die?” Sometimes Draco wished he had.
“It’s like holding sand in my hands. I have a handful of seconds to decide whether to preserve its life or let it trickle out—Are you even listening to me?”
“I’m counting inventory.”
“Stuff your blasted inventory. This is serious!”
He made her concerns seem trivial, shooing her off and demanding she mind his office hours.
Yet she always came back, always wanted to hear his expert opinion on why Dark Magic was so easy now, why she was quicker than Harry at casting off Dementors, why she didn’t need her wand to perform magic anymore.
One evening she visited him, devastated. “Tell me why I can’t stand letting anyone touch me.”
Red mist filled Draco’s vision, noting her rumpled figure. The state of Granger’s hair was an old joke by now, but he could tell someone’s fingers had been raking through it. Her shirt was misbuttoned. She looked messy and fierce and unbearably debauched.
“It certainly looks like someone tried,” he mumbled, trying to choke down the emotion that rocked through his chest.
“Tell me, Malfoy.”
“How am I supposed to know?”
“Because you’re all I think about!” she exploded. Her face went crimson.
She cleared her throat. “I know my own body. You did something to me that night, didn’t you? When I was injured.”
She stormed forwards, poking him in the chest. “What did you do?”
He snatched her fingers in his fist. It was like he was pure whisky, and she an Incendio spell, set astray. “Fuck.” He dropped her hand at once.
Granger leapt away too, gasping. “Did that just…?”
“You almost died,” he said, physically restraining himself from reaching for her again. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“Malfoy?” Her voice was little more than a croak, her eyes too wide and innocent. Looking at him like-like—
He had to look away. “I split my magical core and gave you half.”
“Like a Horcrux?”
“It wasn’t my soul. But magic is binding in its own way.”
“What do you mean binding?”
“As in, you can tap into it now. It’s yours.”
“So I have my own magic and half of yours?”
He shrugged.
Granger’s mouth fell agape. “How do I return it to you?”
“It’s irrevocable.”
Realisation dawned on her face. “So, all of this,” she wagged a finger between them, “is because of your spell?”
“There’s no ‘this’.” He repeated the gesture. “It’s you and it’s me. Separate.”
She shook her head. “Don’t lie.”
“I’m not—”
“You looked like you wanted to commit murder when I walked in just then.”
He shifted his gaze, jaw clenching. “My magic recognizes itself in you. It’s… possessive.”
“And mine recognizes you,” she concluded. “It doesn’t like me being with anyone else. You knew this would happen?”
“Should I have let you die instead?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted, and Draco tried not to wince. “Is this it, then? We’re bound to each other for the rest of our lives?”
He couldn’t stand looking at her anymore. Remorsefully, he replied, “This is it.”
(883 words, prompt: soulmates from @dhrmonth)
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willalove75 · 7 months
Text
Alcina's New Maid Pt. 17 Lady Dimitrescu x Reader
Summary: You have your final few days of training and the morning of the meeting finally arrives.
Warnings: 18+ minors DNI. Very brief mention of suicide (while talking about Donna's past and her parents). No details mentioned, just mentioning the act itself. If you want to skip that part, skip to the dialogue after the paragraph starting with **.
Tags: fluff, light angst
Notes: Part 17! Sorry for the teeny tiny cliffhanger but we were reaching 5k words so I had to cut it off. Next chapter will dive straight into the meeting! Also, I re-read most of this the other day but I'm sick and don't have the mental capacity to go over it again so apologies for any errors!
Click here for the rest of the series
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The following morning Cassandra woke you up before sunrise again for your last full day of training. Once you were warmed up she started sparring with you again and showing you different ways to get out of different kinds of grapples.
After breakfast she brought out one of her old daggers and handed it to you and taught you how to use it properly now that Karl was making you one of your own. Cassandra showed you how to wield it, and the different ways you can use it for defense and the occasional attack. Once she was satisfied with your movements she ran inside and grabbed a wooden dagger and used that to spar with you.
The first hour of the sparring session ended with her poking you with her wooden dagger in at least eight different places that would kill you. She grabbed Dani and used her as a model to point out where the main arteries in the body were and how to hit them to either kill your opponent or cause massive damage.
She continued sparring with you and teaching you how to block the most important parts of your body to avoid death or severe injury. After a few hours you were finally getting the hang of it and you decided to take a quick break for lunch. Zina brought out your lunches again and Bela and Daniela joined the two of you, all of you eating in the courtyard.
When you finished eating Cassandra quizzed you on the locations of the major arteries again and had you practice sheathing and unsheathing your dagger while you digested. After about an hour it was back to sparring. Once more you sparred with Bela and Daniela but this time they had the wooden dagger. Bela was hard to hit due to her defensive nature and you were able to get a few hits on Daniela because her moves were so erratic and chaotic. None of the hits you landed would have done much damage - no less kill someone - but the fact that you were able to hit her at all meant you were progressing well.
"Okay, now you'll have mother, Aunt Donna and Uncle Karl there to help you if shit goes sideways so you won't have to fight Miranda alone." Cassandra says.
"Which is a good thing because if you fought her alone you would definitely die." Daniela adds in.
"Oh yeah, without a doubt. You'd be super fucked. But even with the three of them Miranda is still stupid strong so it'll still be a really hard fight. Lets team up, you and Dani and me and Bela and we'll do a team match. This will encompass everything, grapples, defense, the daggers, you gotta be on your toes."
The match started and Daniela immediately went after Bela and Cassandra headed directly for you. You were able to fight her off for a decent amount of time before she grappled you. When you realized her grip on you was too strong you were able to grab your dagger and stab her in the leg and get out of it. Even though you missed the artery it was still enough damage to knock her off her game for a moment and get out of her grip.
It felt wrong attacking the girls. Even though you knew a stab like that was the equivalent of a papercut to them. Attacking them wasn't something you enjoyed. Although if you were being honest, attacking anyone wasn't something you enjoyed so at least when you go to stab someone else when they attack you you won't feel as bad as you do when you stab one of the girls.
Bela was able to knock Daniela down and headed over to you to assist Cassandra. Two on one was tough and you didn't last long at all. Although you lasted longer than you thought you would - meaning you were able to fight them off for about a minute instead of immediately being subdued. Bela managed to pin you down and when Daniela finally got over to you, Cassandra was quick to pin her, winning them the match.
The sound of applause rang through the air as Alcina walked over.
"Well done girls. Cassandra, your swordsmanship with the dagger was fantastic, Bela, wonderful defense, Daniela, I don't know how you always manage to keep your sisters on their toes, even after all of these years. And draga, you did a fantastic job, you held your own well. I'm very proud of all of you." She says with a smile. "Now girls, go get washed up, dinner will be soon."
The girls swarm up to give their mother kisses on her cheek and head inside. Alcina walks over to one of the benches and sits down. She pulls you into her lap and holds you close.
"I am very impressed draga mea, truly."
"You are?"
"Yes, I saw you stab Cassandra in the leg to get out of her grasp. Your quick thinking was impressive my love."
"Thanks. I really hope a fight doesn't break out at the meeting. It's one thing sparring with the girls, but with Miranda? I don't know, it makes me nervous."
"It makes me nervous too draga mea. But I'll be there with you and I won't let anything happen to you. Donna and Karl also swore to help protect you so you will be okay." She says.
"I'd hate to be the reason anyone got hurt."
Alcina kisses you on the head and you look up into her golden eyes. She smiles down at you and places a knuckle under your chin and leans down, capturing you lips with hers.
"I won't let anything happen to you, draga mea. I promise." She whispers against your lips.
"I know." You reply before kissing her again.
Alcina nuzzles you and the dinner bell rings.
The two of you walk into the dining room and the girls swarm in. Hunger hits you the moment you smell the delicious food and as soon as your plate it piled you dig in.
Alcina lets you sleep in a little the next morning and just as you're getting dressed the breakfast bell rings. After breakfast Cassandra reviews some of the things she's taught you over the last few days and the two of you finish up right before lunch.
The rest of the day goes by pretty quickly. Cassandra does another quick review with you after dinner and once the two of you are finished you head into your room and find Alcina drawing herself a bath.
"Ah, draga, there you are. How was it?"
"It was good, I was able to retain almost everything she taught me."
"Good, I'm glad to hear it. Would you like to join me?" She asks as she finishes taking off the rest of her clothes and steps into the tub.
You nod and pull off your clothes and toss them in the hamper. Alcina lifts you into the tub and sits you down in her lap with your back against her chest. Once you're comfortable you let out a sigh and lean into her. Alcina wraps her arms around you and kisses your neck.
You're completely enveloped by her, by her scent, by the feeling of her skin against yours, her warm breath skating across your neck. As stressed as you are over tomorrow's meeting you can't help but feel relaxed in her arms. When you're with her like this you feel more safe than you ever have in your life. Even after everything - all of the pain, the hurt, the heartbreak, she's still the one that brings you more comfort than anyone else ever has. If you tried making sense of it you'd surely get a migraine. But right here, in her arms, you're safe. And that's all that matters.
"How are you feeling about tomorrow?" You ask her.
"It's difficult to know how to feel when I don't know what her intentions are, draga. If it were solely about the hunters I would say I am prepared and looking forward to coming up with a plan to deal with them. Although yes, the hunters will certainly be discussed because they are a topic of concern, I know Miranda and I know she's not asking you to be there to solely take notes."
"Are you afraid of her?"
Alcina pauses for a moment to contemplate your question as her fingers mindlessly trace patterns across your skin.
"Yes and no."
"How so?"
"I am not afraid of her for myself. She is incredibly powerful and even though it would not be easy, she could certainly kill me. But I know she won't. She needs myself and the rest of the lords to keep the village under her thumb as she searches for her perfect vessel. And since I do most of the work she knows that killing me would be a mistake. But I fear for the day that she deems us unnecessary because when that day comes, she won't hesitate killing all of us. Her power is nearly limitless and I have no doubt that she will do anything and everything to succeed in finding a suitable vessel for Eva. Even if it means destroying everything around her to do so. Until then she will do whatever she feels is necessary to keep us, the lords, in line. I'm also worried that she is going to try and hurt you to hurt me. I wouldn't put it past her to do something like that again and that scares me, draga mea."
She sighs and holds you tight, nuzzling her nose into your hair. As you take in her words, the word "again" sticks out.
"What do you mean 'again?'"
"Lets finish up in here and I'll tell you in bed."
You nod and you both finish bathing. After drying off and putting on pajamas you crawl into bed and curl under Alcina's chin. Alcina holds you close and continues.
"Many years ago, decades ago at this point, Karl had a paramour. It wasn't someone he truly loved but he did care for them. They were a worker at his factory and the two of them began spending time together. Karl began slacking off to spend more time with them; Mother Miranda got wind of it and she was less than pleased. One day they went missing. Mother Miranda called a meeting and none of us knew why until we arrived and saw Karl's paramour chained down at her feet. She said they were nothing but a nuisance and they were only causing trouble, distracting Karl from her goal of finding a perfect vessel. She ordered Karl to kill them and he refused. Mother Miranda was going to kill them but instead I offered. Karl was furious but I knew that whatever Miranda was going to do, she was going to make them suffer horrifically because Karl refused her. She relented and I was the one who killed them. It was the only time I ever apologized to someone before I killed them. They knew that this was a mercy kill and that Miranda would have done much worse so it was also the only time someone had thanked me for doing it. Miranda was pleased and allowed me to take their body back to the castle to do what I pleased with it. Karl came over the next day and he was so angry, he thought I drained their blood and turned them into one of the vineyards scarecrows. But I didn't, instead I cleared a small spot on the edge of the woods and had them buried. Karl was grateful and after we had a conversation he understood why I did what I did. Karl was still relatively new and hadn't seen Miranda's wrath like I had. He knew refusing her would anger her but he didn't realize she would have taken it out on their paramour instead of himself."
"Is that why he hates Miranda?"
"One of the reasons. He hated her well before that incident. She had kidnapped him and infected him with the cadou when she found out that he was one of the descendants of the four founders of the village. He never got a say in the matter like I did. She just took him and forced it upon him."
"That's so horrible. Why didn't he just leave after he got the cadou?"
"It's difficult to explain but in the end he wasn't able to. Miranda would have hunted him down. Once we were given the cadou, whether or not we had a choice in the matter, we were forced to stay. She was also able to influence him to stay."
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone takes to the cadou differently. I have a theory that those with a higher affinity to the cadou are less affected by Miranda's control. To a certain extent, Miranda controls the mold because her powers were given to her by the Black God, which is where the mold comes from. Since the cadou contains the mold, by extension Miranda has a certain amount of control over it."
"So can she control you?"
"Not necessarily. I believe she has a certain amount of influence over me, but no, she cannot control me because I have a higher affinity to it. For example, the moroaicǎ and lycans have almost no affinity to the cadou so Miranda can control them if she wanted to. In the past she has, but she generally she views them as a waste of time so she gave Karl the job of overseeing the lycans and myself the moroaicǎ."
"So how can you tell who does and doesn't have a higher affinity to it?"
"My theory is that the more mutated the subject, the less affinity they have towards it. The moroaicǎ and lycans are at the bottom, they are the most mutated and most easily controllable therefore have the lowest affinity. Next comes Salvatore, whom you haven't met yet. He is severely mutated and will do anything to please Miranda. Next I believe is Donna. Although her only mutation is on her face, she is very mentally unstable which leads me to believe that Miranda can more easily influence her."
"How is she mentally unstable?"
Alcina lets out a sigh as her fingers dance across your skin.
**"It is quite a tragic story. Many years ago, before she received the cadou, her sister, Claudia, died. Donna was very young when it happened and her parents were unable to deal with the death of their child so they committed suicide together leaving Donna all alone."
"Oh my god, that's horrible."
"It was horrific. After they died she isolated herself and developed severe depression and anxiety. When she received the cadou, she took part of hers and put it into Angie and now primarily uses Angie to speak when she's around mixed company."
"Wait, so Donna is that chaotic?"
Alcina laughs and shakes her head.
"Gods no, Donna uses Angie to speak but the cadou granted Angie her own personality. Part of me believes some of the things Angie says are the thoughts Donna would never say out loud but that is just mere speculation."
"So how do you know when it's Donna talking or Angie?"
"Donna's voice comes through Angie."
"Oh, got it."
"Yes. So because of Donna's mental illness, she is more easily influenced by Miranda but since her and I have formed and alliance that influence has been fading."
"How about you and Karl?"
"Based on my mutation theory, I would be next given," Alcina gestures to her body. "and Miranda does have some influence over me, but not much. I have retained enough of my own cognitive abilities to not fall completely under her influence. There are times where I can feel her influence and if I so chose to I can ignore it. But the pull is there."
"Is it hard to ignore?"
"In the beginning it was, but now not so much."
"Can she tell when you ignore it?"
"Yes, but only because when I do, I am not doing what she wants so she knows her influence on me has failed. Whether she knows I consciously ignore her or not is still a mystery."
"So Karl has the highest affinity to the cadou?"
"As much as I loathe to admit it, yes. Which is also why I refuse to relay this theory to him because I would never hear the end of it. But he has no visible physical mutations, at least that I am aware of. And he hates Miranda more than any of us. He refuses to do anything she asks unless it directly benefits him and he has no desire for her acceptance or approval."
"Do you have any desire for her acceptance or approval?"
Alcina pauses for a moment and you look up at her. She has a faraway look in her eyes before she looks down at you and sighs.
"Truthfully? Yes." You feel the hairs on your arms raise at her answer. Not that you're completely surprised, but hearing her say it out loud makes it real, too real. "It's complicated. There is a part of me that yearns for her acceptance. There's a part of me that's willing to do nearly anything for her. I understand how ridiculous that may sound but after so many years of being under her rule, it's difficult to not want acceptance from the person who essentially created you. And since she rarely shows her approval of anyone the thought of being one of the few becomes almost addicting. She has done a lot for me. She saved my life, although it was under false pretenses. Still, I am still alive because of her. She gifted me the girls, gave me the castle, the vineyard, and the business so I had a way of supporting myself. She has done a lot for me, for my family. In a way in feel indebted to her for those things. But at the same time I hate her. I can't stand what she's done to me, how she's manipulated me and used me over the years." She tightens her grip around you as she thinks back on her past history with Miranda. "I despise how she treats my daughters poorly. I hate that after everything I do for her, after everything I've done, she still views me the same as the rest of them. It aggravates me to no end."
"So you hate her, but at the same time you want to be her favorite? You know that sounds crazy, right?"
Alcina chuckles and rolls her eyes at you.
"I said is was complex, draga."
"Complex is an understatement." You say with a laugh.
Alcina shakes her head and runs her fingers through your hair. An unsettling energy fills the room as the two of you think about tomorrow's meeting.
"Even though I feel that pull of her influence, even though I crave her acceptance, I will never let her hurt you. I don't want you to think for a moment that I won't do everything I possibly can to protect you, draga."
"I know." You say, cuddling into her more.
"Good. Now try and get some sleep draga mea. Tomorrow is going to be a long day."
Her fingers comb through your hair and you feel her nails scratching at your scalp. She holds you a little closer after pulling the duvet over the both of you.
Even though you're tired you can't seem to fall asleep. Anxiety begins to creep its was into your chest and you cling to Alcina a little tighter.
"Rest, draga. I can hear your heartbeat from a mile away."
"I'm sorry, I'm just nervous."
"So am I, but you need to sleep."
"I can't."
Alcina lays you on top of her, resting your head on her chest. One of her large hands scratches at your scalp as the other traces patterns across your back.
"Close your eyes, draga mea. I have you. I will protect you, I promise."
"I know you will. And I love you so much for that."
"I love you too."
Alcina starts singing, her fingers moving perfectly in time with the song and your eyes start to flutter shut. Even though you don't know what song it is since it's in Romanian, whatever she's singing is soothing and begins to lull you to sleep.
Alcina hears your breathing and heartrate settle and knows you finally drifted off. She finds herself having a hard time falling asleep - she's too anxious about tomorrow's meeting. But the soft sounds of your snores help her to relax and a little while later she dozes off into a restful sleep.
The following morning you wake up in the same exact position you fell asleep in; laying on top of Alcina with her arms wrapped tightly around you. Alcina feels you stir in her arms and brushes the hair away from your eyes.
"Good morning, draga mea." She says with a kiss to your head.
"Good morning." You say with a yawn as you stretch out on top of her and curl back up in her arms. "Did you stay here all night or did you get up to work and pull me back on top of you when you came back to bed?"
"No, draga." She says with a chuckle. "I stayed here all night with you."
You didn't say anything in response, just a light chuckle and then you nuzzled your face into her neck. Here in bed, in her arms, it was safe. You were safe. There wasn't a single part of either of you that wanted to get out of bed this morning. Neither of you wanting to leave the comfort and safety of each others embrace. The thought of starting the day made you a little anxious but after taking a deep breath and filling you nose with the scent of Alcina's skin and shampoo, your anxiety melted away and you relaxed into her.
"Can we stay here forever?" You asked as your lips brushed against her skin while your face was buried into her neck.
"I wish, draga mea. I wish." She sighed.
Reluctantly, the two of you finally got out of bed. The meeting was taking place in the chapel at the castle shortly after breakfast so both you and Alcina started getting yourselves ready for the day.
Alcina put on her usual floor-length cream dress, leather gloves, pearls, and her hat. The two of you decided that it was best that you wore the uniform that her handmaidens normally wear. She was sure that Miranda knew the relationship between the two of you was past the point of you just being her handmaid but in order to keep appearances up you both decided wearing the uniform was the way to go.
Once Alcina was finished fixing her hair and makeup the two of you headed down to the dining room for breakfast. Just as you were walking in the girls swarmed in and appeared in their seats.
"Good morning mother!" The girls said in unison.
"Good morning daughters." She said.
You could tell the girls wanted to ask how you and Alcina were feeling about the meeting but none of them dared to. They could tell Alcina was already on edge and they didn't want to make her worse. The nerves in your belly slowly but surely began to build as the time to leave creeped closer. Even though you weren't hungry you forced yourself to eat a decent meal because you knew you were going to need the energy.
Breakfast was quiet and the tension in the air steadily built as the time passed. Every so often you would look over at Alcina and every time you did you noticed she was further and further away mentally. You could tell that her mind was heavily focused on the meeting and that the newspaper in her hand was just a front. The only reason you knew that was because she stayed on the same page throughout the entire meal yet burned through at least four cigarettes. She looked as if she was rereading the same sentence over and over again as her mind wandered. By the time breakfast was over her eyebrows were so closely knit together they nearly became one.
When the girls finished eating they all kissed their mother on the cheek and wished her luck at the meeting. Daniela and Bela gave you a hug before they left and Cassandra punched you on the shoulder and mumbled "don't die." before swarming away.
As the girls left Zina entered the dining room.
"Pardon me, my Lady." She said to Alcina, whose eyes were back on the newspaper. "Lady Beneviento and Lord Moreau have arrived."
Alcina looked up and nodded before taking a sharp inhale and putting the paper down. She took one final drag of her cigarette before putting it out in the ashtray and downed the rest of her wine in one large gulp. Removing the napkin sitting on her lap, she carefully dabbed the corners of her lips and looked towards you and back to Zina.
"I made sure the chapel was stocked with extra wine. One bottle of sanguis virginis and the rest of your finest vintage, my Lady."
"Thank you Zina, your fine attention to detail never goes unnoticed."
"My pleasure, my Lady."
"Ready, draga?" Alcina asks you. You nod in response and she stands up. "We shall be off then."
As Alcina walks past Zina, Zina hands her her cigarette holder with a lit cigarette already sitting at the end. Alcina nods at Zina with a small smile and leaves. As you walk past Zina she stops you by putting her hand on your shoulder.
"Be careful." She whispers with a small squeeze before removing her hand and heading back towards the kitchen.
Alcina expertly guides you through the castle halls. Once you leave the main part of the castle you notice that the halls are less ornate. The smooth stone walls slowly turn more jagged and unkept and the cracks in the floor grow until the stones beneath your feet are uneven. You've never seen any part of the castle in such a state of despair before. Alcina doesn't say a word the entire time. The juxtaposition of her and your current surroundings is a fascinating one. Her steps are purposeful and she's as elegant as ever as she strides through her domain. Alcina is a woman of elegance, of nobility, she's a queen roaming the halls of her castle. Yet the current surroundings show evidence of disarray. The further down the hall you walk the worse it gets. Alcina would never let the main areas of the castle look like this. If a spec of dust is left behind she throws a fit. You wonder why she's allowed this area to fall apart so much, seemingly without care.
She leads you to a large door and turns towards you. As you finish taking in your surroundings you look up at her. There must have been a look of confusion on your face as you took in the crumbling walls around you because you hear Alcina sigh.
"As you know, I take pride in keeping my castle in top shape so I am sure the passageway has been rather out of the ordinary." You nod your head in response. "This side of the castle sustained extensive damage during the war and I was never able to properly conduct the repairs. The dilapidated state ended up keeping wandering maids away and it warded off unwanted visitors. It was far too much trouble to repair it and since it provided almost guaranteed privacy for these meetings I allowed it to remain in such a despicable state."
"Got it. That makes sense." You say with a small smile. Alcina returns the gesture but her smile doesn't reach her eyes.
She takes a deep breath and exhales. Her eyes stay on the floor and she looks like she is having trouble saying something.
"Are you okay?" You ask.
"Yes. I have something to ask of you, and I hate that I have to ask this of you."
"What is it?"
"In order to attempt to keep appearances up, I don't think it would be wise for you to," she pauses for a moment. "for you to call me Alcina during the meeting." She says quietly. Her eyes flick up to yours and they're filled with concern. "I know we are well past formalities but I'm worried about Miranda as it is and if she hears you call me by my given name, I fear it will make things worse."
Alcina starts to ramble a little and you take a step forward and reach out to grab her hand.
"Hey," you say, looking into her eyes. "I get it, it's okay. I promise."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course, my Lady." You say with a smirk.
Alcina releases a breath that sounds like a sigh of relief and she cups your face with her hand.
"I truly don't know what I ever did in my life to deserve you, draga mea." She whispers.
The two of you share a moment as you gaze into each others eyes. Angie's cackle rings out on the other side of the door, effectively ruining the moment the two of you were having. Alcina closes her eyes and takes a grounding breath before adjusting her posture and putting her "countess" mask back on.
"Stay by my side and do not do anything unless I give you the okay. Understand?"
"Yes, my Lady."
She nods in approval and looks at the door and back to you.
"Shall we?" She asks.
You nod in response and she pulls a key out of the band around her hat. The door unlocks with a soft "click" and swings open. Alcina returns the key and she ducks under the doorframe, making her way into the chapel.
"Here goes nothing." You think to yourself before following behind her.
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