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delu-jean · 3 years

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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧: 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐔𝐩 𝐓𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮

(Jea x fem!/reader) -> Angst -> 4.2k

XII > XIV

You and Reiner picked some flowers. They lay in one of the baskets you brought. They sat beautifully, making you reminisce the night Jean had given you that violet. Though these flowers were a lot larger, and the hue was more vibrant, the meaning behind that violet shone brighter than those characteristics combined. You grinned at such a thought, while Reiner kept on climbing the tree.

You felt bad since you weren’t helping him gather the apples. Someone needed to hold the basket, making sure they didn’t touch the ground. Since the tree was becoming more barren as the years passed, the less fruit it would bear. So, you had to make sure no apples went to waste. Still, watching him do all of that hard work made you feel guilty. He reassured you (before), saying that it was better for him to actually do something right (since he trampled a lot of plants when picking flowers). So you let him be. Watching as each fruit fell.

“It’s been a while...do you remember this place, Y/n?”

“Of course I do…” you then gazed at the scenery in front of you. Being reminded of that one moment, that last moment you had felt such peace in Marely. The moment where Bertholdt had scurried to get you, the moment where you never thought that things would take such a turn.

You looked at Reiner to see the guilt which struck him. Not only that, but the guilt then crept onto you. That peace was one which could never come back, along with Bertholdt himself. You felt burdened to say the least. Knowing how his best friend had died, yet not being allowed to tell him (since Jean’s cover would blow). It saddened you knowing how much weight was on his shoulders. Never knowing what had truly happened, but instead, escaping with survivor’s guilt.

“Ah, two coming!”

“Got it!” you caught them in your basket. Time passed as more apples stacked. He then decided to break the silence once again.

“Do you ever wish that we could be kids again?”

“Of course I do,” he nods in agreement.

“If I could change one thing...just one of the many things in our childhood...it would be the fate we held in the military. Wishing things could have been different, and that you all could’ve been here,” you noticed how he didn’t say “we,” but instead said “you.” That meant he had wished you were all here, but not necessarily himself. You were going to question him, until he spoke yet again.

“For Bertholdt to see such a sight. To see how grown the both of us have become, and...to see his family...just once more. Maybe even confess to Annie if he had the guts to,” you saw the pained expression he had which made you feel the same.

“Bertholdt would be happy for us, especially since we’ve grown so much with the time given.”

---

“Yeah...I guess so,” he then picked the last of the apples and came down. In the process, one of the better apples fell, cracking with the contact of the ground. Funny enough, it reminded you of Bertholdt. Since he unfortunately was one, if not, the sweetest apple. One who just had to fall far from the tree above.

You both stepped into your house. Feeling tired as your arms limped, along with Reiner’s. You started to look around, wanting to see if Jean was at home. Lurking through the bedroom, and even checking your closet. Unfortunately (for you) he wasn’t. It’s almost as if he was gone with the wind. You felt a little bummed as Reiner stepped into the kitchen. Placing the baskets down, and washing his hands (readying himself for the session yet to come). He then asked you in a loud tone, hoping you would hear.

“What are you doing Y/n?”

“Oh, I’m looking for a pot!” you shouted back.

“In your bedroom?”

“Haha, yeah,” you were still feeling upset...but then remembered that you were the person who told him to leave (secretly regretting it qwq).

You then walked over to Reiner, ready to help him make the pie. You both washed the apples, peeled, and chopped them. Reiner was a little klutzy with the knife, handling it like a weapon in battle. You found it quite funny, and guided his hands. Hoping he wouldn’t cut himself. To your surprise he didn’t, and ended up seasoning the fruit with different spices, sugars, and ingredients. When that was done, you put him in charge of kneading the crust. You (of course) mixed and measured the ingredients, and after doing so, told him to be gentle with the dough. Hoping his rough hands would maintain, and not ruin such a delicacy.

You started to heat the filling as you monitored him from afar. He really was a quick learner, yet still needed to work on some of his skills. You wondered how Jean would’ve made the pie. If he would’ve added his own flare, or crust designs. Just thinking about it made you excited, hoping you both could someday. Reiner then started to roll, and place the crust. You both then finished your tasks. Thrilled with the results of your hard work.

“Phew, thanks for your help Reiner.”

“No problem. That was...a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

“Mhm...oh yeah! I left some filling here for you. I tasted it and thought it wasn’t sweet enough, but I kept it that way since you know...Bertholdt preferred ‘natural’ sugars,” you smirked as Reiner tried a spoonful.

“Haha, yup. Reminds me of Bertholdt. Also it's really tasty.”

“That’s good! Okay, let’s put it away now,” you put both the filling, and crust away. Letting both rest separately so you could bake them tomorrow (before meeting the families).

“I’ll pop it in the oven before leaving.”

“Sounds good. Thanks for letting me help...or contribute at least. Sorry if I was a nuisance.”

“Haha no, thanks for helping in general. Two pairs of hands are better than one, and you gave loads of help,” he then smiled, slipping his coat and shoes on.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

“No, I insist. I’ll come instead. You’ve been walking me home a LOT as of recently. Let me come get ya instead,” he seemed hesitant when you answered. Not sure as to why, you tried asking hoping you could hear his reasons. But instead he pestered you, insisting on grabbing you instead. Now you could understand Jean (in some way). Not being able to understand him directly...was making you feel frustrated. Not only that, but you weren’t able to understand why he was acting like that.

Regardless, you eventually gave it. Though you found it suspicious, you decided to say no more. Not wanting to add tension, and instead, respecting his choice.

“Okay fine. Get me near ten-ish?”

---

“Alright, sounds good.”

You got up, did your morning routine, got dressed, and had a filling meal. Each year, you and Reiner didn’t wear anything formal. Rather, you both stuck with a simple semi-formal outfit (didn’t want to be too formal, nor too casual). You never wore the same clothing, but rather, switched it up while trying to stay coordinated. This year, you decided to match in white, and beige. You wore a dress shirt, your sleeves puffed, filled with lace, two ribbons (on each side), a beige skirt which reached your legs, and a straw hat. While Reiner wore a beige cardigan, beige slacks, a dress shirt, along with a fleece vest. Though it was a semi-hot day, it was hotter than cold. So he decided to hold his cardigan for the majority of the time. He also brought a black leather watch, and a brown fedora (type of hat). You decided not to go all out since you wanted your interactions to seem civil. Nothing up top to make the families feel comfortable.

You first went to the Galliard’s. Porco was home and didn’t seem happy with Reiner being there. Though there was some awkward tension, Reiner did his best to ignore any dirty glances. Trying to remember this visit wasn’t about Porco, but instead, Marcel.

“You know, Marcel was a boy with less aspirations for himself, but instead for the people around him,” Mr. Galliard stated.

Last night, Jean didn’t make his way back. You were a tad sad. Not being able to sleep with him there...felt unnatural. You really didn’t feel at ease in your own home. Constantly wondering where he was, if he was okay, or if he really had business. You honestly weren’t sure, but regardless, tried sleeping since today was important.

“I never saw my son as a child, rather, the embodiment of an adult. One with the thoughts, and responsibility of a grown man. I felt, and still do feel guilty though...he never got the chance to be one. To experience the childhood he should have.”

“Mhm,” you nodded after he said that.

“I truly regret not making him live the life of a child, and it pains me that he was instead forced to be an adult,” his wife then put a hand on her husband’s. Giving him a stare out of grief, yet relief as she then eyed the both of you.

“If my son had seen where you both are, he would be proud. He would be amazed with the work you both put in, and know that we are as well. We’ve seen the work Reiner puts in with Porco, doing his best to serve Marley with their titans. Along with you, Y/n. As you encourage and guide the Eldians to be the best they can. Both in the battlefield, and themselves personally. We truly are indebted, and hope you two will continue in the work you do for as long as possible.”

“Ah I see, I’m glad our efforts have paid off. I have to agree though, Marcel truly was a great person-”

“Tch,” Porco snarled as his mother then elbowed him. Reiner then continued to talk. Telling the three about the gift chosen, how you both thought it would suit Marcel, and who he was. Not just a comrade, but a dear friend as well. The pendant shone beautifully, and had a glint just like Marcel’s. The framing around the jewel caved around like it was a crown. Smooth, and precise edges, along with a clean finishing. The back also had an engraving of his name, along with leather straps which could detach. Framed in the box it came with and accompanied by two letters.

“You can read them whenever you would like. Although, I do recommend doing so when alone,” you told them, and then made your way to the door. Porco decided to escort you out. Though both you, and Reiner expected a cold gesture, he instead gave you an unexpected one.

“Thanks...for the gift. It means a lot.”

---

“Yes of course, no need to thank us,” Reiner responded for the door to then shut.

You both went to Annie’s house, hoping her father would be home. To your dismay...he wasn’t there...like always (on that day specifically). You tried knocking the door yet again, but to your “shock,” there’s no response. You see...on this day specifically, he refused to see either of you. He knew that your gestures were filled with good intent, but just...couldn’t bring himself to do it. He would always see you both whenever else, knowing that the topic wouldn’t arise.

“Let’s get going...Mrs. Hoover is expecting us.”

---

“Got it...Y/n.”

Still, it saddened you to say the least. The poor man was so hurt, and he couldn’t bring up the topic. Though you wanted to console him, even with the time given, it seemed like it wasn’t going to happen. You placed the box on his doorstep, leaving a note telling him of the gift, and why you chose it. Hoping he would keep it with him, and store it safely.

“Ah Y/n, Reiner! I haven’t seen you both in a while! Come, come inside!” Bertholdt’s mother said, for the both of you to enter their house. Pulling out chairs while her husband did the same. His father then started to brew tea, while the three of you (Reiner, you, and Mrs. Hoover) sat down.

“How have you been?”

“And I as well,” Mr. Hoover then placed the tea. The two lovers smiled at each other, and then sat beside one another. You were glad they weren’t in tears, nor upset. His parents (surprisingly) seemed to have taken his death unexpectedly. Not as something light hearted, nor sympathetic, but rather...very “well” in your opinion. They mourned when you had returned with no trail of Bertholdt, but got themselves together. Making good of his passing instead of sulking.

Reiner then pulled out the basket of apples, handing it to them. While you showed the bouquet full of flowers. You also held the pie in your hands while his mother went to grab a vase.

“It looks lovely Y/n, I’m assuming you used the apples?”

“Oh, I’ve been well,” you responded.

“Yes ma'am. Bertholdt’s favourite.”

“Speaking of my dear son, my one and only child… Oh how he loved such delicacies. I wish I made him more when he was with us. Not only that, but he was one himself, and I wished we would’ve handled him with more care. Being more fragile with such a thing….”

You see, his parents were really invested into the whole “Honorary Marleyin,” and “warrior candidate” events. They just wanted their son to exceed, and to know that he could go above and beyond. But in said process, instead of doing that...it gave the opposite effect. Making him feel less if anything. He knew they loved him, but their encouragement...seemed more discouraging to Bertholdt if anything. Disregarding his feelings, and thoughts to the opposition, convincing him that he was strong enough and could do it.

Never considering his doubts, nor fears. Instead, brushing them off and telling him he could excel. There was no comfort whatsoever, instead, expectations and tension which were burdened to him...and him alone.

“That was probably why he was so timid...because of how we treated him…. I truly do regret such a thing, but I was relieved to hear how he was a great and loving person to the both of you. Even if we didn’t get what “we wanted” from him, he received the things that he wanted for himself. Pushing himself to his limits, and persevering...without us.”

“Yes, he truly was an amazing person. The closest friend I’ve ever had,” Reiner said with a sincere tone. The father then stepped in, saying:

“Bertholdt would’ve loved to see how you both had grown to be so mature, understanding, and great in general.”

“Since he loved you both so dearly, he also would’ve been glad at the decision you two are making, about becoming one. Also, congratulations on that. I hope you both have the happiest of times while you can. Though, I won’t lie, I wished Y/n were the one to marry Bertholdt (she said jokingly). But even so, I’m happy for both of you. Reiner, you’ve got yourself one lucky lady, and Y/n, you a lucky man.”

“Yeah...I guess so,” Reiner responded.

---

You then thought to yourself. Would Bertholdt actually be content with the engagement? Though his mother had thought “yes,” you had thought “no.” He probably would’ve opposed, saying that the marriage would’ve been pointless, and unsettling. That being the case, his opinion gave you yet another reason for your opposition.

You both were done for the day, and were relieved for that. You were glad that two out of the three were there, liked the gifts given, and that you were able to show respect towards your comrades. So being that, you both were now walking. Yes, your destination would be home, but you weren’t sure as to what detours would be made. Both you and Reiner actually. One thing you were sure about, was that the man beside you seemed frustrated. Even though he should've relaxed since your tasks had just finished.

“Y/n, I don’t want to assume...but…were you the person who might’ve leaked things?”

“Oh...no. It wouldn’t make sense for me to, in all honesty…”

But then at the same time, she might’ve assumed so because of how long you were taking. Thinking you must’ve made a decision (by now) and just didn’t want to be vocal about it. Of course, that wasn’t the case and you made it clear to Reiner. He then decided to switch up the conversation, trying to avert from the unwanted thought.

“I forgot to ask, but were you able to get home safely that night?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“That means...oh gosh,” that’s when you both realized that the only person who could’ve, and would’ve done so...was his mother. You also remembered what Alexandra said, about his mother being ecstatic about the engagement. That point secured your thoughts. She was probably very excited, and had no malicious intent involved. She just wanted the best for her son, and you as well (thinking Reiner was the best for you). Regardless, it kind of annoyed you. Especially since you hadn’t made the decision, and she inferred you had instead of asking/confirming.

“That’s good.”

“And you?”

“Yeah, I did. I walked Gabi home first, then made my way.”

“Ahh I see,” yout both walked further for him to ask:

“Where were you the morning after? I thought you’d be at HQ, like you always are.”

“Ah well…” you couldn’t tell him about Jean, so instead, told him about Alexandra.

“Well, a friend of mine came over. We caught up and….” you couldn’t say that you were talking about him (his looks to be more specific), so instead, brought up the first few things which came to mind.

“She um, congratulated me.”

“Oh really?” he seemed glad and you went on.

“Not only that, but that most of the town knows…and that your mother seems ecstatic.”

“Oh no…” You then saw a burdensome look on his face.

“Haha yeah. She also asked if I had a wedding dress, or ring. Which I found kind of funny-” He immediately cut in.

“So what was your response?”

“That I have neither.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hm?...the real question is, what do you mean Reiner?” you then stared at the gentleman, awaiting for his answer.

“Oh...it’s just that...you do have one.”

“What?..”

“Not a dress of course, but a ring.”

He then Proceeded to tell you that he did have one ready. He felt guilty knowing that you had told her “no.” He thought that maybe you had felt bad, being that your answer was “no,” even though he did have one prepared. After all, ladies did take marriage as a big deal. And even though it was one out of friendship, he didn’t want to make you feel left out. Being considerate of such a big event.

Though you could’ve (and most likely would’ve) married someone after Reiner, it still was your first wedding. And your first anything should always be taken seriously.

“If I knew you were going to be bombarded with the other ladies bothering you...I would’ve given it sooner,” he fished a box out of his pocket, and handed it to you.

You then opened it to see a fairly modest design. It was a simple gold band. One with a centered jewel in an oval shape. There were also two other smaller stones which accompanied the ring, and the band sat in a black, velvet box. It was a very beautiful ring, and Reiner could tell you liked it (based on how you sat in awe). He was glad he got such a ring, knowing how simple you could be, and that it seemed to suit your personality.

“I’m sorry for not being able to get you better, but I hope that it’ll be enough for you to show other ladies. And hopefully...you don’t feel the need to humble yourself when with others,” you could feel the sincerity coming from him, and were thankful. But...you ultimately just...couldn’t accept such a gesture.

“I’m sorry Reiner...but I can’t accept this.”

“Oh, why is that?”

“I just...can’t,” he then took the hint, and instead asked:

“Is it because you aren’t sure yet?” you then nodded, not giving him anymore context. He also did the same. Nodding and letting you be.

“But I insist...you should keep it.”

“Oh, really? And why is that?”

“Well haha, my mother will pester me less. But of course, only if you want. If not, I can take it back. I understand your decisions, and will respect them for when you’re ready.”

---

“You know what...sure, why not,” you didn’t want to be rude, and you also wanted to be less of a burden.

After receiving the box, Reiner does what he thinks is best. He shields you from others on your walk through town. Although they found his gestures quite adorable, he thought the opposite, but was glad there was no attention regarding the ring. Covering the box made you tense less, and his efforts were greatly appreciated. He understood the townspeople's intentions, but didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.

“Hey reiner...when it comes to deciding, how much time do you think I have?”

“According to what my mother said...maybe a couple months. That is...if you want to have a um...child of course. If not, really whenever. As long as I don’t die,” he chuckled and you nod, laughing yourself.

“I see, well...I’ll be sure to relay my decision whenever.”

You took notice of how tired Reiner was. His eyes drowsy, posture limp, and in general, was very out of energy. You decided to halt, stopping in front of him. Making his pace lessen as you stood still.

“Why do you look so tired? I know it’s not because of any drills,” you laughed as he looked to the side.

“Don’t worry too much about it...it’s nothing.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Come on Reiner...tell me! I feel like I play a part in it…. I’m not sure as to what, but yeah,” he then looked back at you. Though he contemplated his thoughts, he decided to be honest.

“Okay fine. As of recently, I've been pushed around by my mother, a couple elders, along with the civilians, and troops in general. Meeting whenever my mother arranged things, taking the time to accept gifts, being congratulated, and having conversations even when I don’t have the time. Though it should be fun, it’s really not. Especially when the warriors are on my ass for being late, and then I show up to meetings with a bunch of gifts. At first they were okay with everything, but as time progressed, they were uh...pissed with my appearances.”

You felt bad. Your delay was really taking a toll on Reiner, yet you felt like you couldn’t give him your answer. The pressure was immense, you would be letting people down, and the Braun’s would be in an awkward (gossip-ish) position after your rejection. But then again, you didn’t want to marry him anymore. You had Jean now, plus, Reiner was only doing his best since he wanted to make things right. Being your friend, trying to help build a future that might satisfy you when he’s gone. Imagining you living alone without benefits he could’ve provided, made him feel guilty. He already put you through so much, and although this wasn’t a huge step to redemption, it was one skid closer.

But honestly, you cared less (for the marriage, not his efforts). If you said no, the entire thing would be off his plate. Yet...you felt bad seeing how much effort he put in. You saying no would mean all of that effort being drawn to waste. You then decided to ask him what he would do with both responses. Towards both rejection, and the acceptance of his proposal.

“Reiner...what would you do if I said yes?”

“To my proposal?”

“Mhm.”

“Well I would marry you,” he smirked at such an obvious question. Not making fun of you, rather, just pointing out the obvious.

“Oh...yeah haha. Anything else though?”

“Maybe have a child...I mean of course, like I said...it’s up to you” seemed embarrassed to bring up the subject, which made you laugh.

“Okay...then what would you do if I said no?”

“Honestly I’m not sure, but, if that’s what will make you happy, so be it. If you want to love someone else, I won't stop you. If you want to love yourself, and you alone, I will support you. No matter what you do...I just want to be a good friend is all. Make up for all I’ve done.”

Just through that, you saw how serious Reiner was when taking this path to redemption. Though, not in the way you would have both envisioned, he was truly trying his best. Being a good friend, and doing his best to get you what, and where you needed to go. You were very touched by his sincerity, and words in general. Reiner was truly a great friend. Though questionable at times, and it would take time for you to wholeheartedly trust him, he was getting there. And would probably at one point.

“Thanks Reiner.”

“No need to. I’m content either way, so it’s really up to you.”

XII > XIV

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xbladekitkat85 · 3 years

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Do You Remember Now?

Summary: It's Peter's birthday and everyone is planning on a surprise when he wakes up. Except there's a huge problem. Peter's gone missing.

Word count: 4k+

Warnings: Descriptions of violence, swearing, ANGST, mentions of dealing with grief.

A/N: I haven't really written angst before so I don't know how hard it's going to hit. I did tear up at one part while typing so maybe it's a bit heavy???

Peter's disappearance happened when everyone least expected it. It was the morning of his birthday, and all the heroes of the universe were going to be there. It would have been the first reunion in over 5 years where everyone was available to come, Asgardians and Guardians as well. Everyone was going to sneak into Peter's room to wake him up with a collective shout of "SURPRISE!" and pop an unnecessary amount of party poppers all over the room.

Tony peeked inside first to make sure that Peter was still asleep before beckoning everyone inside. But he felt a cold draft flowing from the crack between the door and the doorframe that shouldn't have been possible due to the picture windows.

He entered the room to find the window cut open and various items belonging to Peter scattered on the floor. There was no sign of Peter himself and the excited feeling that Tony had all morning quickly twisted into something he had felt only when Pepper had been taken years ago by Killian.

It was the feeling of debilitating fear.

Tony felt a wave of nausea hit him as various scenarios all ran through his head, each with Peter hurt, scared, or possibly even dead.

Pepper was the first to notice Tony hadn't come to get everyone. He came out of Peter's room after a few minutes more of waiting. But he wasn't acting like the excited father he was only moments before.

"Tony, what's wrong?" She asked, feeling anxiety building up with each second of silence.

Tony turned to look at everyone with a haunted look in his eyes. Pepper recognized it as the same expression he had when he had returned from space after fighting Thanos. Something was horribly wrong, and it had to do with Peter.

"Tony, talk to me. What's happening." Pepper asked gently despite the worry she felt.

"Peter's not there." He whispered hoarsely and turned to look at her. "Pep, we can't lose him again."

Morgan, Carter and Harley had heard what Tony said and they all felt a sharp stab of fear and worry. Morgan felt tears burning in her eyes, and buried her face in Carter's shoulder for a moment to compose herself. Carter held her close and stroked her hair while Harley walked into Peter's room to see it for himself.

Harley looked around the entire space. He checked the closet, the hammock near the ceiling, and the bathroom adjacent to Peter's room to no avail.

"FRIDAY, show me the tower's security activity from 11pm last night up until dad opened Peter's door." Harley requested.

But to everyone's shock, there was no familiar response of, "Sure thing boss." from the speakers throughout the tower.

FRIDAY was out of commission. That meant that somebody had been able to shut down an AI made by Tony Stark, which is no easy feat. This meant someone skilled was behind it and most likely planned the kidnapping with extreme scrutiny.

Nothing about the situation was remotely close to how everyone thought this day was going to go.

"We need to get Friday back online ASAP." Morgan shakily said. "If we are able to access the security cameras, there's a chance we might be able to find a clue."

Carter glanced at Morgan and saw the pain and worry in her eyes, and gently took her hand and squeezed it to reassure her. She squeezed it back to acknowledge his presence.

"Morgan, Harley, and Carter, come with me to my lab. Nat, you reach out to any contacts who may know something. Carol, this is a long shot, but I want you to ask off world allies if they have any clues as well." Tony ordered. "Everyone else start looking around the tower for clues of any sort. If you see anything remotely suspicious, make a note of it."

*Time skip*

Nobody had been able to find a trace of a clue regarding Peter's whereabouts.

Not any of Tony's extensive connections had an idea. Natasha's contacts hadn't heard any chatter about a kidnapping or hostage. Carol came up empty from every person she had asked but that wasn't unexpected.

Morgan had been back to school and Carter was supportive whenever she needed reassurance. But after a month of no news, or leads, she was starting to lose the little hope she had left. Peter would promise her before every mission, that he would come home safe and sound. But this time he hadn't come home. She didn't even know where he had gone.

Harley became fixated on building tracking devices, scanners, homing beacons, anything that could help find his brother. Harley had promised to always help Peter if he was in a pinch, regardless of how annoying he could be sometimes.

Tony had shut himself in his lab to fix FRIDAY and go through everything he could think of that could offer some sort of sign, a clue, a word, literally anything to bring Peter back home. He had invented time travel to bring him back so why couldn't he do something as simple as finding a clue? Peter would probably point out an error in his work that would solve his problem but now that wasn't possible.

Pepper busied herself by concentrating on running Stark Industries. Whenever she got the chance, she would drag Tony and Harley out of their labs to eat meals with her. God knows those two would forget to eat if nobody reminded them that food and water was an essential part of living. Peter would usually take care of that but since his disappearance, she took up the job.

Everyone felt a piece of their family was missing. But nobody said his name out loud, even though everyone thought about him.

It just hurt too much to hear his name knowing that by now he was likely dead. That he was never coming home.

And time would continue to pass, as the pain of losing Peter would too.

Until one day, on a mission, everything changed.

*6 months after Peter's disappearance*

HYDRA had suddenly resurfaced with no warnings whatsoever.

They had set off Tony's alert system designed to warn of threats, and a group immediately suited up. Having HYDRA stirring up trouble was never a good sign, especially since they were supposed to be gone. But as the saying goes, "Cut one head off, two more take it's place."

The team that had gone to check out the threat consisted of the original 6 Avengers as well as Harley, Bucky, Kate, and Wanda. Upon arriving at the location that had set off the alarm, they noticed that another group of people were there as well. One person among them in particular stood out to the OG Avengers. Before anyone could make a move, all the Avengers were suddenly knocked down, and tied up so they couldn't move.

"Hey, I found these guys lurking around. Who are they?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

"Yo-Yo, you can let them go. We're friends. Well, at least most of us are, those three I haven't met. It's alright."

All the OG 6 Avengers felt a cold shock run through their bodies. That voice belonged to someone they thought was dead since the Battle of New York.

"Agent Coulson?" Tony asked in shock.

"It's former Director actually and yes, I'm alive." Coulson replied, as everyone was untied by Yo-Yo.

"There's no way." Natasha said as she stood up. "Fury would have said something sooner. And when were you Director of SHIELD?"

"I'm sorry, Nat, but he meant to keep it a secret from all of you. Me being resurrected." Coulson said with regret in his voice. "Said that if you knew, it would have distracted you from your goal."

"Steve, who is this guy?" Bucky asked in confusion.

Coulson's eyes widened in a very comical way when he noticed who had just spoken.

"Sergeant Barnes. It's an honor to meet you." He said, holding out a hand to shake.

Bucky took Coulson's hand to shake and noticed that his hand was not a real hand.

"Your hand... It's mechanical isn't it?" Bucky asked curiously.

"How much has happened with you since we last saw each other?" Steve asked.

"A lot. And we'll talk about it later after we take care of this HYDRA base. I assume that's why you're all here." Coulson said, gesturing to the other group.

"Yes, well, let's introduce the new members of our teams and then make a plan." Steve said.

Coulson informed his team of the change of plans. Everyone on Coulson's team met up for introductions.

"Daisy Johnson, aka Quake. She has the ability to manipulate natural vibrations as well as generate concussive blasts of vibrating air. Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez. She is able to travel at superhuman speeds within the timeframe of a beat of her heart before she bounces back. Hence the nickname, Yo-Yo. Melinda May, expert martial artist, pilot and empath. Mack, Deke, and FitzSimmons are on the Bus right now. You'll meet them later."

Everyone on Tony's side acknowledged their names and took note of their abilities and powers.

"Ok, for the new faces on our side, we have Barnes, the Winter Soldier, who you already know, Wanda, she's got telekinesis and can read minds, Kate, she's Clint's protege, slash eventual replacement and Harley, my oldest kid, who built his own suit." Tony said, introducing the group.

Daisy leaned over to Yo-Yo.

"Tony Stark has kids?" She whispered.

"How the hell would I know?" She responded. "I'm not the former groupie member here."

Daisy glared half heartedly at her.

"I said it was one time!"

"Not my fault you got drunk and told me that story." She shot back.

"Hey, focus we're not here to argue." May interrupted. "We have a mission."

Everyone quickly formed a plan and they all entered the base.

Yo-Yo ran through the halls to assess the amount of security as well as any potentially dangerous weapons. When she was done, she gave the report to Coulson and Tony so they could split their team accordingly.

"May, Harley, Kate, Captain Rogers, Wanda, and I will be one group. Daisy, Yo-Yo, Nat, Clint, Sergeant Barnes, and Tony will be the other. " Coulson explained. "Dr. Banner will be here on comms just in case. I've synced the signal our comms travel on so we're on the same channel. We're going to be split up, so only call for help if necessary. We have about equal amounts of power on each side, so take advantage of every opportunity if need be. Let's go."

Everyone nodded and headed off with their respective groups to raid the base.

(A/N Tony's team will be written in bold and Coulson's team in regular text to avoid unnecessary writing)

Wanda lead the group through the hallways, with May taking out the first few guards easily. Coulson shot ICER bullets at the ones May couldn't focus on while Harley made sure every guard was unconscious. Cap and Kate ran ahead to scout out the next few corridors and the rest of the group quickly followed.

Daisy knocked down the first wave of guards and Yo-Yo tied all of them up while Nat, Clint, Tony and Bucky advanced deeper into the building. A group of guards wielding batons and handguns immediately appeared in their path, blocking the way. Clint shot arrows into the walls that released smoke to obscure the soldiers vision and aim. Tony took advantage of their disorientated state and used heat signature seeking taser blasts to knock them out.

Cap almost got a punch to the face while he rounded a corner but he leaned to the side, barley avoiding it. Kate quickly rushed in and used the man's momentum to flip him over her shoulder into the wall while Cap recovered and punched another soldier trying to attack Kate from behind.

"Thanks." She said, a bit out of breath.

"No problem. Incoming from both sides, get ready." He replied, standing nearly back to back with Kate.

"You got it, Cap." She said, readying her bow.

He threw his shield at the closest guard while Kate shot multiple electric arrows at the hallway in front of her, effectively creating a bolt of electricity that hit multiple targets. They quickly rotated in sync and they repeated the same attacks as before, with Cap taking out the last of the soldiers in his way and Kate knocking out hers.

Tony watched Yo-Yo as she sped forward to scout the next hallway. He couldn't help but think of Pietro Maximoff, and how similar their powers seemed to be. Of course, Yo-Yo bounced back while Pietro didn't. He just kept going forward and never looked back.

Before he could even blink she had returned to the group.

"There's about a dozen guards outside a set of reinforced double doors." She said. "They're guarding something important."

"That's why we're here though. HYDRA has some weapon or something they plan on using, right?" Daisy asked. "Why else would they have resurfaced?"

"It's never a good sign when there's that much security outside an already pretty secure door." Clint added.

"They couldn't have possibly made anything more dangerous than supersoldiers." Bucky muttered.

"I wouldn't put it past HYDRA to find a way to do it." Nat said. "We got to make a plan. We can't just charge in."

Coulson's group had reached the end of the last hallway on their side. There wasn't anything at all to take as evidence or to destroy.

"It can't just be a dead end." Coulson said in disbelief. "There's gotta be a secret door or something at least."

Harley snorted at his complaint.

"I mean that's would I would have done." Kate said thoughtfully. "There wasn't anything of importance on our side of the base. So it makes sense that there's something we're missing."

Cap walked forward and proceeded to rap his knuckles on the wall.

"Whatcha doing there Cap?" Harley joked. "Hoping the secret door will open if you politely knock?"

Cap had moved to the left wall and knocked on it as well.

"He's checking to see if any of the walls sound more hollow than the others." May interjected. "It's a smart idea. It could reveal a hidden room or passage that isn't visible to the naked eye."

Wanda turned to Harley with a raised brow.

"Hey, can't you scan through walls with your suit? That would make this go a lot faster." She asked sarcastically.

Harley froze and everyone turned to look at him.

"Yeah, that would have made this a lot easier." Coulson said wryly.

"I'll get on it." Harley said sheepishly.

He scanned all the walls around them and eventually started walking in another direction.

"This way. There's a room further this way that I can't see through with the scanner. It seems to be lined with lead, which means x-ray scanners won't do the job. Whatever we need to find must be there." He said.

Everyone quickly followed Harley's lead as he walked down the halls, eventually leading them to where the other group had gathered in front of heavy looking doors. The soldiers that had presumably been standing guard were incapacitated on the floor.

(End of bold/regular text switches)

The entire group was preparing to enter the room they stood in front of. Whatever HYDRA had been working on had to be here. Nowhere else in the building had anything significant and this was the final stop.

The door had a keypad that required a passcode as well as a biometric scan. Of course, they could try using the guards to try to pass the retinal scan but there wasn't any guarantee they had access. Of course, they had to deal with the code as well. Maybe physical force would work.

Tony scanned the door's material and found that it was capable of taking the strongest hit from his and Harley's suit combined.

"All right, does anyone else have any brilliant ideas on how to enter this room?" He asked "I don't have enough firepower for this door."

Coulson turned to Daisy and nodded his head.

"Do your thing." He said.

She rolled her eyes and approached the keypad to the door and forced the device to open, revealing circuit boards and wires.

"What is she doing?" Harley asked in confusion. "I thought she could blast through stuff?"

Daisy took out a small tablet and hooked it to the keypad, quickly typing out code and breaking through the security.

"You're lucky I still carry a tablet, Coulson. We would have been in trouble otherwise."

Tony was impressed and slightly scared of how fast she broke through HYDRA's mainframe of security. He made a mental note to update his security system as well as FRIDAY's firewalls.

After a couple minutes of rapid typing, the door opened with a hiss of cold air.

"Remind me to change all my passwords on my social media." Harley said to his suit's AI.

"All right, lets see what HYDRA has been working on." Coulson announced. "Prepare yourselves for anything."

They walked into the room and immediately, everyone noticed the change of temperature compared to the rest of the base.

FRIDAY informed Tony that it was 10 degrees in the room and understandably, everyone was shivering.

Tony walked a bit further and then stopped suddenly. He felt his blood run colder than the room itself.

Coulson had said to be prepared for anything but he clearly didn't have this in mind of the things he needed to steel himself for.

"Oh my god." Kate whispered. "Is it?"

"Peter?" Harley asked in disbelief.

Tony's son was in the corner of the room, curled up in the fetal position, and unresponsive to the world around him.

"FRIDAY, scan for any vital signs." Tony asked desperately.

"He's got a pulse, but I believe he may be in a comatose state. He is also dehydrated and malnourished."

Coulson's team didn't know who this Peter was, but they knew based on everyone else's reaction that he was someone who had been missing for a long time.

"FitzSimmons, do you read me?" Coulson said into his earpiece.

"Yes sir, what's wrong?" Jemma's voice replied.

"We need you to set up the medbay immediately. Get an IV drip sufficient for dehydration as well as malnutrition." Coulson ordered. "We also need heat lamps, if you got any."

"Right away sir." She replied.

Steve picked Peter up and everyone followed him out of the base, back to safety.

*Time skip to returning to New York*

Morgan had been in the middle of a meeting for student council when her watch buzzed. Although it wasn't unusual for that to happen, this time it was buzzing in a pattern that meant there was an emergency that she could not ignore.

"May I be excused to go to the bathroom?" She asked the teacher, who nodded her approval.

She grabbed the hall pass and made her way to the bathroom and checked to see what the message was.

The message was from Harley and what he had sent broken down the walls of composure she had been building for 6 months.

Morgan, we found Peter. We're almost back to the tower and mom's picking you and Carter up. We'll tell you more when you get here.

She sank to the floor and started to sob.

How was this possible?

Where had he been?

How was he alive?

Was he still alive?

More and more questions ran through her head and she finally calmed down enough to exit the bathroom without looking like she had just had a breakdown. When she walked back into the classroom she was handed a summons to leave early.

She arrived at the attendance office and Carter was already there, waiting for her with Pepper by his side.

They all hugged for a good long while and they all cried a bit before Happy started to drive to the tower to meet up with everyone.

"Mom? Is he alive?" Morgan asked hoarsely.

She was silent for a bit before replying.

"He's alive but he's in a coma of sorts."

"Do we know why?" Carter asked.

"Dad said it was extensive exposure to frigid temperatures and that the spider DNA caused him to hibernate because of it." She answered.

"Do we know when he's supposed to wake up?" Carter questioned.

"I don't know honey." Pepper said honestly. "We have to hope for the best."

Morgan felt her heart sink in her chest as they pulled into the parking garage.

Everyone got out as soon as the car was parked and rushed to the elevator.

"FRIDAY, take us to the medbay where Peter is." Pepper said.

"Right away miss." She replied.

They made it to the medbay in record time and rushed to Peter's bedside, where he was still asleep.

Morgan almost didn't recognize that it was Peter in the bed.

His face was unnaturally pale and gaunt and he had lost weight, his frame looking thinner and weaker because of it. His hair was longer than she had ever seen it before and was tangled in knots. He had multiple bruises scattered around his body that should have been healed.

Tony and Harley walked into the room soon after and Morgan hugged them both extra tightly as she let out months worth of fear and anxiety in the form of tears.

"Shhhh, Maguna, it's ok, he's home." Tony whispered. "Breathe, you have to breathe."

"I thought he was dead." She sobbed into his chest.

"I know, but he's here now, everything's going to be ok." Tony reassured her gently.

Carter and Pepper joined in the hug and they all comforted each other.

Peter was finally home, where he belonged.

And he was about to wake up from his slumber.

"Hello?" a voice said, cracking in the middle of the word. "Where 'm I?"

Harley turned his head towards Peter so fast he almost gave himself whiplash.

"He's awake!" He said.

Everyone let go from the hug to gather around Peter's bed.

"Peter, are you ok? How do you feel?" Carter asked.

Peter turned to look at Carter.

"Who're you?" He asked confusedly.

Peter looked at all the people standing by his bed.

"Who are you guys?" He asked. "What am I doing here?"

Everyone's hearts collectively sank at his question.

Peter didn't remember anyone in this room. He couldn't recall his family. What had HYDRA done to him?

"Peter, we're your family." Morgan explained shakily. "I'm Morgan, your little sister. That's Harley, your brother, Carter, my boyfriend. That's mom and dad over there. Don't you remember at all?"

Morgan's voice broke as she asked him that question.

Peter looked at everyone's faces, one by one, trying his best to remember them but he couldn't. His memories were blank with a capital 'B'.

"Maybe photos or videos might help?" Carter offered weakly.

"FRIDAY pull up video footage from the folder, Family Shenanigans."

FRIDAY displayed footage from the timeframe that the Avengers were playing pool in the rec room.

Tony was on a team with Carter and Harley and Morgan were on the other. Peter and Pepper were watching them play from the side.

"Come on Harley, you can do better than that!" Tony teased as he put chalk on his cue stick. "Morgan's been carrying your team the whole game."

"No way, I've hit at least half of our balls in the pockets!" Harley protested, even though he knew he was spouting bullshit.

"I've done two behind the back shots and made them, how many have you done?" Morgan piped in, absolutely decimating Harley, the Roast King himself.

Everyone burst out laughing at her comeback and Tony immediately fell to the floor from laughter and pounded his fist on the ground.

Morgan had never seen her dad laugh so hard at something, let alone everyone else, including Natasha, who usually never let more than a chuckle out when she found something hilarious.

"WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON ANYWAY?!" Harley yelled at her over all the laughter.

"That's my sister!" Peter said proudly, with tears of laughter in his eyes.

Friday played other videos taken during random moments, as well as displaying photos. Everyone took turns explaining what had happened that day and why it was special. Peter asked questions here and there and everyone answered patiently and with extra detail to help.

Eventually, they had gone through the entire folder and Morgan glanced at Peter to see if there was a flicker of recognition at all.

"Do you remember now?" She asked him softly.

Peter had tears in his eyes as he answered.

"I'm so sorry." He said.

Morgan wanted to scream her heart out. He still didn't remember his family. She didn't know if he ever would.

"I've been gone so long, and HYDRA erased my memories. But you guys were able to find me before they could finish the job for good." He said, finishing what he had wanted to say. "I do remember you guys. I can't believe I ever forgot how much everyone here means to me."

Pepper let out a gasp as she nearly tackled him in a hug. Everyone felt a huge weight lift from their shoulders as Peter laughed weakly at everyone's faces.

"Peter, don't you ever scare us like that again!" Harley scolded with tears running down his face.

"That was a shitty thing to do, seriously." Carter said, annoyed but mostly relieved that Peter was back.

"Peter, never forget how much we love you." Tony said, wiping a tear away from his cheek.

"I can't believe you're back." Morgan said, smiling despite the fact she was still crying a bit.

"I'm here, and I won't be leaving you guys like that again." Peter replied. "I mean, I'm bedridden at the moment anyway."

Everyone groaned at his joke before a group hug formed around Peter.

Everything was as it should always have been.

A/N: Here's a little fun fact about this chapter, the part where Morgan roasts Harley is based on something that happened within my family a couple years ago. In my family's version, I was on a team with my cousin and my dad and another cousin were on the other team. The dialogue is basically word for word what happened. I roasted my cousin, and my everyone started laughing, and my dad literally fell to the floor and was pounding his fist on the ground.

Taglist: @frostedgiant

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brimmingwithautism · 3 years

Text

Nail Painting for Idiot Sorcerers and Tired Lesbians

Archive Link Here

Fushiguro threw himself against the window for the third time, forcing his skinny shoulders under the frame so he could push the old hinges as high as they could go. Nobara sighed from her position on the floor, a bottle of dark green nail polish already open and fumigating the broom closet the school had given her as a room.

“Itadori will be here in a minute, he can brute force his way through,” she said as her teammate once again slumped over in defeat. It’s not even that she minded the smell of acetone so much, but she doubted Fushiguro would stick around if they couldn’t get any amount of fresh air in. Well, she thought with a vicious little smirk, he might if Itadori asked him to.

As if sensing her thoughts, Fushiguro twisted his neck around to glare at her. “I still don’t understand why we aren’t training.” He had his uniform on even though it was the weekend, shoes laced tight and muscles tensed. As far as Nobara could figure, her teammate never relaxed, something that had only gotten worse after Itadori died, then came back, then nearly died again in the exchange event with Kyoto.

But Nobara had also picked up on the fact that Fushiguro had been involved in the world of sorcery and curses for years, maybe most of his life. It was her solemn duty to teach him how to chillax once in a goddamn while, regardless of how grumpy he got. And he could get pretty grumpy, a fun fact she was learning day by day.

She didn’t say any of that, though, because she didn’t just go around spilling her feelings like that to teenage boys who couldn’t even understand their own moods. She stuck her tongue out instead and started the first careful pull of the brush over her pinkie finger. Her hands were rough, of course, and getting rougher every day in Tokyo. She knew this. She allowed this.

But she also wanted them to be beautiful. Nobara was getting better at the balancing act since coming to Tokyo: making the decisions she could and dealing with the ones she couldn’t. She had a black eye given to her from Panda yesterday that she couldn’t control but the hammer she had swung at his wrist in retaliation was something she could give back in return.

Plusses and minuses. Choices and sacrifices. Pretty nails and a stinky room - Nobara was learning.

The window opened with a deafening screech by the time she had started on her middle finger. Fushiguro gave a pleased grunt. She put down the bottle in her unpainted hand long enough to give off a couple victory snaps that were only half-sarcastic. It was impressive he got it open at all considering Gojou-sensei had told her that he himself glued the windows down years ago as a prank on another student.

“Can I get back to training now?” he asked even as he sat down on the floor next to her. Nobara didn’t want to sit on the floor, but she knew it would be easier than trying to convince her teammates to get on the bed with her - and she couldn’t shake the paranoid feeling that once they did get on the bed Gojou-sensei would pop through the window to accuse them of youthful troublemaking. She just assumed he really had nothing better to do.

For Gojou-sensei it would be a coat of white polish, she thinks, or maybe bright blue with a sparkling silver accent nail. She knew she wouldn’t find a color to match his eyes, though, something that would frustrate her.

Fushiguro was an easy choice: black. It’s the only thing she could even get near his hands without him scuttling away and it went well with his whole “I’ve been in my goth phase for years now” look. Even still, pushing the bottle of jet black polish towards him only garnered a huff and a set of shifty eyes. It didn’t matter - she still had a secret weapon.

For a while they sat in silence, the only sound the wind as she went down her left hand and started on her right. Nobara had never really had male friends before, honestly didn’t think they were worth more than the time it took to bully them off the swings at recess, but she liked Fushiguro.

He was quiet, which was always nice, but he wasn’t scared of noise, which was practical. He took Itadori’s brash personality and Nobara’s absolutely charming personality in stride, content to let them fill the space around him. He was quiet with his kindness as well, but it was there in the way he made the meatballs Itadori taught him, the way he saved her life in that cursed domain all those weeks ago.

Nobara wasn’t nice like that, she knew. But she could paint nails.

When Itadori eventually did bother to show up it was through her now-open window, thirty minutes late. He practically leapt through, landing hard on her floor before rapidly crawling under her bed. His sudden entrance surprised her enough that her brush went wide and painted her cuticles more than her fingernail. Fushiguro dragged himself so he could poke his head up enough to see through the window while Itadori seemed to be trying to claw Nobara’s duvet off her bed for another layer of protection.

She nailed him in the eye with her comb, prompting the most dignified yelp she’d heard in her life, but the sound of Fushiguro hitting the desk was enough to make her turn. Eyes wide, he only had to whisper one word to send her diving along with Itadori under the bed: Panda.

If he saw them, it didn’t matter how many days they had already trained this week — they were training again. Ears straining, eyes wide, Nobara shook her hands as frantically and silently as possible in case she ended up needing to fight with only the base layer on. It wasn’t fair, they were barely even dried yet!

There was a shadow cast on the floor through the open window as a lumbering form wandered past the building, calling out Itadori’s name. Fushiguro became one with the floor as he silently slid under the bed as well; he was smart enough to drag the nail polish with him.

The shadow grew ever larger until Nobara could see the white head of Panda peering through the window, sniffing experimentally. “Inumaki, it looks like they finally managed to get the window open!”

Another tuft of white hair poked its way through the window with a muttered “Salmon,” before withdrawing once again. Panda left a few seconds later, swiping at his nose and complaining about the smell of nail polish.

Nobara, now unfortunately squeezed in the narrow space under her bed with both her teammates and a duvet, gave the quietest sigh of relief that she could before trying to maneuver her body down and out. It was slow going given her unwillingness to touch anything with her hands and mostly left her wriggling around like a worm on a hot sidewalk as Itadori giggled into his scarf.

“Shut up!” she hissed, hitting him with her wrist.

“Oh, that’s a pretty color!” he exclaimed, grabbing her hand. “Did you do it to match Maki-san’s hair?”

The headlock she put him into was a purely instinctual response and therefore NOT her fault, even if it did manage to get the wet polish on her right hand all over Itadori’s cheek. It ended with Fushiguro divebombing them with the duvet to muffle the choking sounds, leading to an uncomfortable tangle of limbs that ended with both boys blushing and Nobara lamenting her ruined paint job.

Getting out from under the bed was an exercise in frustration and more worm-like movements that Nobara would take to her grave. Fushiguro took lookout once more, but after a thumbs up all three of them managed to wrangle themselves to a circle on the floor with the nail polish once again.

“So!” Nobara started, because it was her idea, “Fushiguro is getting black nails and Itadori can have pink. It should match with your dye job.” The bottle she held up to his head wasn’t perfect, but she thought it was pretty enough. Itadori confirmed this when he snatched it from her hands with a wide grin.

Her other teammate pouted but took the bottle of black polish as well, falling to a combination of Nobara’s fearless leadership and Itadori’s enthusiasm.

The way they were so obviously crushing on each other made Nobara feel better about her choice in polish - Maki-san wouldn’t think it was creepy, right? It was just a nice color, really, and it didn’t have to be any deeper than that.

She methodically wiped away any mess off her hands and began once again to paint her nails, paying close attention to making them neat. Itadori didn’t seem to mind the mess he made on his hands, and Nobara was glad she had plenty of remover on hand. Her other teammate managed to paint his nails perfectly on the first try, but Nobara was resolved to not even look at him so she wouldn’t get angry about it. She mostly succeeded.

“But Kugisaki, won’t we all mess up our nails tomorrow in training anyway?” Itadori asked after about five minutes of blissful silence.

Nobara gave another paranoid peek out the window as she considered the question. “We can put on a top coat to protect it some, but it’ll probably get dirty, yeah.” She inspected her left hand in the light, tilting it from side to side before blowing on her fingers lightly. It looked better than it did before.

Fushiguro, fed up with the disaster next to him, grabbed the pink polish and started painting Itadori’s right hand, entirely oblivious to the violent blush that stained Itadori’s face. “Then why,” he asked, moving his canvas into a better position, “Are we bothering to put in on in the first place?’

“Because I like it when my nails look good.” And you need a break. And Itadori needs to be around people again. And we need to do something other than train and fight for a day. “And you guys desperately need my fashion advice.”

Right hand finished, she thought with satisfaction. Time to dry and then put on another layer. She was debating about trying to do additional details or designs but she knew Fushiguro was right - they would be destroyed in training tomorrow.

And she would do it again. And again. She made the decision, she painted the nails, she fucked them up later trying to avoid Maki-san’s endless arsenal of weaponry.

Itadori bounced his knees up and down as he sat criss-cross waiting for his hand back. He always had energy with whatever he did. Nobara had never seen him still, not really; she was still lying unconscious in the car when they picked his body up and she had never gone to see him in the morgue. It didn’t feel right considering that they had barely known each other. Considering Nobara hadn’t been able to help him at all.

His finger on her nose pulled her from her thoughts. “Hey, Kugisaki, is liking Fushiguro’s cousin breaking the bro code or not?”

“I am not your bro!” she shouted with enough presence of mind to lash out with her feet instead of her hands. Her kick to his abdomen did nothing, unfortunately, his stupid abs absorbing the blow without even having the hand that was being painted shake.

Fushiguro huffed. “Can we not talk about your crush on Maki while I”m still here?”

“Would you rather talk about your crush?” she retorted. Again, both her teammates turned beet red, and again, both her teammates were completely oblivious. The only reason she hadn’t gone right out and said anything was because their entire situation was too funny to cut short prematurely.

She picked up her bottle of polish with a grin and began the second coat. Itadori started to furiously blow on his fingers in the background, though Nobara thought that the heat still coming off his face was enough to dry his hands in seconds.

“Are you doing a second layer?” she asked Fushiguro as he sat still, not moving to leave but not moving to continue painting either.

“Kugisaki-san,” he mumbled, looking off to the side. It was uncharacteristic for him to look embarrassed like that considering Nobara had seen him say the stupidest things with the straightest face, so she didn’t interrupt. “Maki doesn’t paint her nails.”

Oh, she thought.

He really is kind.

Pinky finger done, then the ring finger. “Whether or not I have a crush on Maki-”

“But you do,” Itadori sang gleefully.

“Shut up! Whether or not I have a crush on Maki-san is immaterial - I’m painting my nails because I want to.” She grinned at her teammates before deflating again. “The color is just a coincidence.”

Itadori made another little crow of victory at her admission. “You’re really cool, Kugisaki!”

“Watch your nails!”

The next half hour or so managed to actually be some measure of peaceful as Fushiguro and Nobara traded off painting their own nails and Itadori’s. Panda never came around again, and if she thought she saw a flash of white hair pass by the window, she didn’t say anything. And neither did Inumaki-san.

Itadori complained enough about not being able to use the nail polish himself so she let him apply the clear topcoat to her fingers, confident enough that he couldn’t stain her work with that. When he grabbed her hands, twisting her wrist to look at the callouses on her palms, she didn’t stop him, just raised her eyebrows.

She knew he wasn’t hitting on her, a comfort she didn’t take for granted. As much as she denied her crush on Maki-san (It was just because her senior was cool!), it was still surprising every time she heard her teammates joke about it in a kind manner.

“Kugisaki,” he eventually said after about five seconds of solemn reflection, “When did you learn to fight curses?”

Nobara opened her mouth automatically before closing it again, letting herself think about the answer. Fushiguro was also looking at her, head tilted in the way that meant he was absorbing every single word to an uncomfortable degree.

“I was young,” she eventually said. She drew her story together in her head as Itadori resumed painting her nails, trying to decide what would matter to her teammates and what wouldn’t.

“There was a curse on the swingset of my school, one that only I could see. I wasn’t scared, really, mostly annoyed that it was interrupting recess.” She blinked and could almost see the shape of it crawling on her dresser: a long spindly mess of mulch-brown legs and protruding eyes. It carried itself over all the equipment, tripping or pushing children along the way. “The teachers didn’t believe me but my dad did. My aunt lived with us and she was a sorcerer, B-Grade, but she was on a job at the time so he told me to just read inside during recess so I could avoid it.”

Itadori laughed at that. “You tried to beat it up, didn’t you?”

“Of course! My aunt used throwing knives in a technique almost like mine - I didn’t know it at the time. All I knew was my dad worked as a carpenter and he had a mallet in his toolshed that was light enough to swing around.

“I carried it in my backpack the next day and after school, I went to the playground and beat that ugly little curse’s face in. It was beyond weak, thankfully, but at the time I felt like I was a superhero. When my aunt came home the next day I told her everything and demanded she start training me, so she did.”

She freed her hands from Itadori and gave them to Fushiguro to clean up all the excess topcoat that was hanging around her cuticles. “She painted her nails before and after every mission and she let me pick the colors.”

She stopped there. She had answered the question in full, told Itadori and Fushiguro more about herself than she knew about them, but she still wanted to go on.

Her aunt was gone a lot, traveling around all the country towns exorcising the curses that no one else noticed. But she raised Nobara when she could, not a mom but a mentor. An idol, almost, with the way Nobara used to look at her. She had always been so cool: short hair, leather jackets, heavy work boots that matched her father’s construction shoes perfectly. And her nails were always bright and colorful and fun.

Her aunt wanted to be an exorcist so she was. She didn’t want to get married so she stayed single. And on a job that should have been routine, she made the choice to save a family and then she didn’t come home.

Nobara, who was barely able to land her nails with precision at the time, had been too numb to cry when her father had told her. Saori had already gone by then, a wound Nobara had been stubbornly ignoring, but this was an absence that was too wide to even think about.

What made up a life? What made up Nobara when everyone was gone, leaving her in a town that drove away anyone it didn’t understand? Her aunt had never minded, had been too strong to mind the sneers that followed her when she stuck around between jobs, but Nobara wasn’t strong like that yet.

Nobara was eleven.

Or, she was.

But now she was older and her attacks always landed and she made her own choices exactly like her aunt did.

Nobara didn’t need to say this though. She needed to finish painting Itadori’s nails so they could sneak out to dinner in order to avoid more evening training with the second years.

Fushiguro finished applying the topcoat to his own nails with a bemused look, like he still couldn’t believe he bothered painting them at all.

“Hey Itadori,” she whispered as loudly as possible, “Fushiguro kinda looks like one of his dogs right now.”

Itadori did a perfect imitation head tilt in response that had both of them rolling on the floor and Fushiguro did his best to seem grumpy. The fact that he was still hanging out with them ruined the effect a bit. Her plan to make them calm down was going perfectly! Next was a nice dinner out (that she would make them pay for) and maybe some retail thera-

“Oi!” came a call from out the window.

Itadori fell completely flat on the floor out of instinct and Fushiguro wasn’t moving, so it was up to Nobara to make her way over. In the four steps it took to reach the window she mourned her dreams of Tokyo sushi and late-night shopping: Maki-san was standing three feet away and staring directly at her.

“Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey,” she said, poking her head out and leaning on the windowsill. Maki-san wasn’t wearing her jersey, at least, but the glint in her eye told Nobara that Maki-san knew she had been hiding. It wasn’t fair how put together she still looked after what was probably a full day of training: Maki-san really was the worst kind of jock.

“Let me see your nails,” Maki-san said with a snap, causing Nobara to reel backward in surprise and almost trip over her duvet which the boys had left on the floor. She saved herself though - letting her senior see her fall over like that after all the training they had already gone through would be a nightmare.

Maki-san laughed, tilting her head back (in a way that was completely unfair!). “If you first-years are going to skip training so you can all paint your nails together, I at least want to see if you did a good job.”

Nobara blushed, or maybe she had been blushing the entire time, but dutifully stuck her hands out for Maki-san to see. She was seriously regretting the color choice now, but she had to be brave! It was her decision to use the color so it was her decision to be completely embarrassed in front of the coolest girl Nobara had ever met.

Cool hands grabbed her own, pulling her forward so Maki-san could get a better look at all three of them’s combined efforts. Nobara turned away so she wouldn't have to look at Maki-san’s only to find her room empty, Fushiguro and Itadori apparently having fled like the traitors they are. All that was left was a small note on the ground with the phrase “Good luck!” and a grinning Itadori with a thumbs up. For a second she let herself be impressed with how quickly he drew the picture.

She still made the choice to kill her teammates the next time she saw them.

“Ah, Maki-san, well, Fushiguto and Itadori needed the break, you know? And they were too dumb to know it so I had to take charge. And it was team bonding, which is actually a kind of training!” Nobara was very much not noticing that Maki-san was still holding her hand. In fact, Nobara was noticing everything else in the world. Was this what Gojou-sensei felt like?

“I like the color,” Maki-san said, after an excruciating fifteen seconds of study. “Do you have more?”

…

(She could never make fun of Fushiguro and Itadori again.)

“YES!” she screamed and then stopped. “Yes,” she repeated at a normal human volume. “Would you like me to paint your nails?”

Maki-san stepped forward, closer and closer until Nobara had to back up as once again someone came through her window, though Maki-san did it with much more grace than Itadori.

Nobara, with the UTMOST grace and poise, did her best to discreetly kick her fallen duvet over the note and Maki-san was too kind to say anything about it.

Instead she grinned, mouth sharp and eyes bright, a cocky set to her hips and shoulders that Nobara couldn’t help but admire. “If you’re offering, sure, but I’m thinking of a different color.”

Maki-san sat on the bed, confident to the last, so Nobara picked up all her polish bottles from the floor and followed. “If you want black I should warn you that you’re going to match Fushiguro.”

Maki-san patted the seat next to her and laughed. “Nah,” she said, holding up her own calloused hands to the light, “I was wondering if maybe you had an orange. Something that matches your hair.”

#jjk fanfic #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #kugisaki nobara #itadori yuuji #fushiguro megumi #my writing

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7-wonders · 4 years

Text

Down the Rabbit Hole

Summary: You make a decision about your stay at the enchanted manor, but at what cost?

Other works in the Beauty and the Beast!Duncan Shepherd AU: Wilted Roses Smell Just as Sweet | This Place of Wrath and Tears | A Gentleman’s Guide to Wooing Your Prisoner | This Cruel Trick of Fate

Mallory sneaks you food an hour or so after the Beast’s rage left you in tears. Incredibly grateful for the meal (”sorry it’s just bread and soup,” Mallory had said, “I’ll try and get you more later.”), the rage that’s been slowly building in you since the encounter spills over while you’re eating.

“Do you have any particular attachment to him?” you ask, receiving nothing but a snort in response. “Okay, good. What the fuck is wrong with him? Like, what gives him the right to act like that?”

Although you can’t see Mallory, you just know that she agrees with you as she attempts to form an answer. “I know that wasn’t the best first impression of him, but-”

“‘But’ what? Because it certainly doesn’t seem like there’s any redeeming qualities to him.”

Mallory sighs, trying very hard to not agree with you. “I promise he’s not always like that. Once you’ve both had the chance to calm down, you’ll see that he’s...”

“What, even more of a jackass than he already is?” Scoffing, you move off of the bed to stare forlornly out the window at the rain falling outside.

“I know he didn’t do anything to help his case, but when you get to know him, he really is a nice person.”

You whirl around to face Mallory’s voice, an idea forming in the meantime. “I don’t want to get to know him! I don’t even want to be here! I want to finish this stupid sentence, go home, and forget all about this nightmare.”

“I know you don’t, and I’m so sorry that you are. But it’s only a couple of months, alright? Trust me when I say that the time will go by in the blink of an eye.”

A flush of shame comes over you as you remember that, no matter how terrible this situation is for you, Mallory’s been dealing with the same one for much longer. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

“It’s alright, I know today has been stressful for you.” The weight of a hand comes down on your shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. You really wish you could see Mallory right now. “I’ll leave you alone to decompress, okay?”

“Okay,” you say. It’s still trippy to watch the tray of food look as though it’s floating through the air, and you can’t see yourself ever getting used to that. Once the door closes and you have a moment to yourself, your earlier train of thought returns. You don’t have to get used to it.

The room which has been designated as yours is only on the second floor, and it doesn’t look to be that high up from the ground. With the multitude of blankets on the bed that is supposed to be yours, you can very easily make a rope to reach the bottom. Mallory may have said that everybody was trapped here, but that surely just applies to the house and everybody who’s now invisible. After all, Jim was thrown out with no problems. If you can just escape the manor, then you can find your way back to the main road and be home free. It’s a simple plan, but you need to act now before someone comes to check on you again.

Ripping the blankets onto the floor, you hastily begin to knot the ends together until they start to form a makeshift rope. Thankfully, the closet in the corner is more than stocked for when you run out of your original material, and it becomes long enough to make it across the room and out the window. You use the bedpost as an anchor, wrapping one end of the rope around the wood and tying it together before giving it a couple of good yanks to make sure it can support your weight. Once you’re sure that you won’t fall and break something due to the rope breaking (you can’t be sure that you won’t fall, but at least it won’t be from the rope), you lead it to hang out of the window.

The rain pelts your skin like a bunch of small, icy knives the moment you lean out of the window to check the height. Pulling your hood up over your head, you give one last glance at the room that very well could have been your prison, were you not so determined. “Adios, motherfucker,” you mutter before hiking a leg up over the windowsill and beginning to climb down the side of the wall.

You were right; it wasn’t that far of a climb to get to the bottom. When your feet hit the ground, you immediately begin to move, no time to stop and wax poetic about your current situation. The shadows provide cover for you as you stick close to the wall, body on high alert for any potential obstacles. You break into a run upon reaching the front of the manor, the lights at your back becoming fainter as you get further from the prison.

Unfortunately, what seemed like an easy plan becomes more complicated by the second. What was a mildly irritating rain at first becomes a torrential downpour, soaking through your clothes and making it impossible to see more than a couple of feet in front of you. If you had thought you were cold when you were hiking to find Jim, you must not have known true cold. You’re freezing, and even shoving your hands in your pockets doesn’t help to stave off what is bound to become frostbite. Somehow, even impending hypothermia isn’t the worst of your problems.

You can’t reach the edge of the property. The closer you get, the farther away the bridge you had crossed less than a day before seems to become. No matter how fast you run, or which way you try to approach the edge, you can’t get there. An hour must pass before your willpower finally runs out, falling to your knees in a mixture of exhaustion and defeat. You try to haul yourself back to your feet, but can only manage to roll onto your back. Your teeth are chattering hard enough that you almost worry you’ll crack a tooth, but you can’t seem to find the energy to care.

A break in the clouds allows you to see up at the night sky. The moon is a crescent, but it’s huge, sitting above you like a beacon for wayward sailors and animals migrating. Dully, you realize that this is the same moon that Jim’s seeing. Wherever he is, he’s safe; your sacrifice won’t be in vain. Nothing, not even death, can separate you from your best friend. It’s a comforting thought, and your blue-tinged lips turn up into a smile.

Of course, you aren’t even allowed to go gentle into that good night. A large hand that’s more of a paw than a hand digs into the fabric of your jacket, hauling you up and over a shoulder. Although your eyelashes are frozen, you can still see that there’s an actual figure carrying you. A pair of fierce blue eyes look up when they sense you looking down at him.

“Shit,” you mutter through teeth that are still chattering.

“Yeah, ‘shit.’“ Although his voice is still deep and growly, it lacks the immense anger it had previously held.

“I--”

“Just shut up until I can get you warmed up again.” You heed his words, choosing instead to try and soak up as much of his body heat as you can. He’s like a furnace, and you would actually be enjoying this were you not on the verge of freezing to death.

You’re back in the manor in the blink of an eye, or at least far faster than when you were trying to escape. The Beast brings you into a large sitting room, setting you on a couch that’s already piled with blankets. Ignoring you, he goes to work at starting a fire in the fireplace, giving you time to look him over in the light for the first time.

He’s smaller than you had originally thought, his voice making him appear eight feet tall. In reality, he’s probably around six feet tall. His unkempt brown hair, in desperate need of a cut, looks more like fur now. A pair of shiny black horns jut out from the top of his head, and you can see the claws on his hands as he strikes a match. Everything about him, all the way down to his tattered rags that were once clothes, is beastly, except for those eyes. They’re the one thing about him that reminds you that, at one time, he was human.

“Take your clothes off,” he speaks up, jarring you from your daze.

“You’re not even going to buy me dinner first?” you joke, numb fingers fumbling with the zipper of your jacket regardless.

“They’re wet. You’ll warm up faster without them on.” Thankfully, he remains facing the fire, giving you the opportunity to strip until you’re in just your bra and panties. Throwing a blanket over your body, you clear your throat to let him know that you’re semi-decent. “Come over here.”

“Why?”

He glares at you. “Because I said so. Bring the blankets, too.”

You have to awkwardly crawl/shuffle towards the fire, but it’s worth it. You can almost feel the ice locking your joints in position melting, and you audibly sigh. The Beast begins to pile more blankets on top of you, and slowly, the chattering begins to subside.

“I have to admit, your makeshift rope certainly impressed me.”

You laugh slightly, still remaining acutely aware of who’s next to you. “Why couldn’t I...?”

“The curse. Nobody can leave the land once you’re trapped here.”

“But Jim was able to leave.”

“You took his place, (Y/N).”

“You know my name?”

He nods. “I heard Jim yell it enough to have it painfully engraved in my memory.”

You scoff, but have to admit that Jim has a way of making sure people don’t forget what he says. “Okay, but the three month prison sentence. Who decides how long people are stuck here for?”

The Beast glowers, and you know you’ve struck a nerve. “You should rest. Your stupidity put you through quite the ordeal tonight.”

He’s right, you probably should rest. You lay down on your side, huddled up towards the fire as you glance up at the Beast. “I’m really not supposed to fall asleep when recovering from something like near-hypothermia.”

“I know.”

You smile, snuggling under the blankets and closing your eyes. “Just, if I do stop breathing, promise me you’ll make some halfhearted effort to save me.”

With that, you fall asleep, the captor who’s just as trapped as you keeping watch over you until the fire’s nearly died out and the soft rays of dawn begin to peek through the windows.

#Duncan Shepherd #duncan shepherd x reader #duncan shepherd imagine #hoc #hoc imagine #house of cards #house of cards imagine #Beauty and the Beast AU

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knight-ingale · 4 years

Text

Chapter 5, Near-Death-Experience

Heyyy y’all! Sorry, I wanted to post earlier today (and with an update/warning so y’all could see it was coming) but a lot of... stuff(?) has happened this weekend. Hope you all enjoy regardless! ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*---~---~---~---~---~---~--- *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

“So,” you ask, leaning into the middle console, “What happened?” Bella purses her lips for a moment.

“Um… a lot?” She starts, eyes still locked on the road, “He said ‘hi’ to me at the beginning of class, I guess, so that was new.” You nod, “He also called me Bella instead of Isabella, but no one else has done that? Like… he even corrected Mr. Banner when he called me Isabella.” You shrug, holding your head in your hand as you lean back against your door.

“Maybe since we’ve been here for a bit, he heard from everyone else you like being called Bella?” Bella nods, though her expression was disbelieving.

“Maybe,” she concedes, “But I don’t think so?” You shrug, making a movement with your other hand to queue her onwards. “He asked me a lot of questions, I guess. He tried to make small-talk about the snow at first, but I don’t like snow. He figured it was difficult for me to live here in Forks. Said I was ‘hard to read’ for some reason.” You shrug again, though she couldn’t see it.

“Well, he doesn’t really know you, right? Just because Mom and I can read you doesn’t mean someone new can, I suppose.” She sighs,

“That makes sense, I guess. But… there’s something else.” You lean away from your door to sit up straight.

“Well?” you prompt after a short silence, “What is it?” Bella’s fingers tap against the wheel anxiously.

“Well… have you noticed his eyes? The color change, I mean.” You freeze. Edward’s eyes had changed too? You noticed Jasper’s since he sat next to you, but you hadn’t noticed his brother’s change from across the room during lunch. Bella glances at you, “What? What’s wrong?” You shuffle in your seat, leaning back against the door with your arm.

“Well… I just.. I noticed the same thing with his brother, Jasper. He sits next to me in Psych. His eyes used to be really dark. Like, really dark. Now they kind of match his hair, like a golden color. I didn’t say anything about it, but it’s kinda weird.” Bella is obviously surprised by your comment.

You drive the short rest of the drive home in contemplative silence.

You’re able to get most of your homework done before dinner, and Bella helps you with the Algebra after dinner. Dinner, speaking of, was the usual silence you were now used to. You doodled for a while before you decided to go to bed.

The next day, you woke up to a surprise. The overcast, green-tinted light you were used to waking up to had cleared into bright, filtered light. You got dressed before you looked out the window and walked back to your closet to get your boots. On the other side of the glass, there was a snowy and frozen wonderland. Fern-like designs of frost hugged the edges of the glass on your window, every needle was coated in crystalline ice. The driveway had become an ice-trail of possible future concussions and a trip to the ER.

You came downstairs to see Bella making a bowl of cereal. You gasped in horror when you saw her drink orange juice straight from the carton while making your own cereal when she finished her own bowl. Bella sat in her chair practically vibrating with nervous energy as she waited for you to be done with your breakfast.

“What’s with you?” You ask, shoveling another spoonful of Cheerios into your mouth while Bella gathers her thoughts.

“I guess I’m just, kind of excited?” You nearly choked on your cereal. Y/n Swan, the beloved sister, died by shocking news and breakfast. A little ball of dread reappeared in the pit of your stomach.

“Excuse me,” you ask, still coughing a little bit, “But why on Earth?” You already knew the answer as soon as she nearly killed you with your own surprise and food, but you asked anyway.

“I… Agh, I know it’s stupid!” Your sister admits sheepishly, “But… I guess to see him.” You scoffed, this time not nearly dying.

“Yup, sounds very, very stupid. You shouldn’t trust someone who lies about their eyes,” You note, raising your eyebrows at Bella. She nods her head, but you can tell her attitude hasn’t changed much. You sigh and finish off your milk before standing to rinse your bowl out in the sink. You and Bella grab your bags and prepare to leave, fearing the worst for the journey ahead.

You guided Bella to the very front of the truck, holding onto each other as supports to make the short way to the truck. It was only when you and your sister parted to go to your respective sides of the vehicle when Bella nearly toppled. Luckily, she caught the mirror of the door on the way down to steady herself. You laughed, relieved when you both made it into the cab without injury. Bella wasn’t nearly as amused.

Bella drove carefully through the icy streets without difficulty, but still slowly, which you were glad for. The last thing you needed was for your father to show up at the site of a crash after carving a path of destruction through town. Despite this, the little lump of dread on your stomach was growing bigger and heavier.

When you made it to school, you got out of the warm cab, you noticed Bella stop at the back of the truck. You make your way to her side curiously. Did she find something on the ground? Standing beside her, you see what she’s looking at. Thin, silver snow chains had been fixed to your tires. You realized, like Bella seemingly had, that Charlie had gotten up early and put them on the truck for the both of you. This small act stunned you. Your mother had never done anything like this to take care of you, in fact, Bella had always been the one to take safety measures and care for you. Bella leans up, tears welling up in her eyes. You lay a hand on her shoulder and try to smile through the mini-wave of emotions.

A loud noise abruptly tears through the quiet air of the parking lot. You turn your head to see behind you a large, dark blue van skidding on the icy blacktop, and it’s headed right towards you and Bella.

You knew you wouldn’t have any time to run, you wouldn’t even have time to push Bella out of the way.

Nothing was in slow motion, but you were fast enough to manage one maybe final act.

You turned to Bella, her brown eyes wide and looking off away from the van at the crowd, and wrapped your arms behind her. One arm reached up and held the top of her head, the other crossed from one shoulder to hold the other. You were already on the outside, Bella was between you and the corner of the truck. You knew you were going to die. The chances of being pinned between the truck and a van probably weren’t very high, but maybe you’d be enough of a barrier to at least get your sister out alive? You hoped so.

Right before you expected to be smashed by the oncoming Frisbee-ing vehicle, you were pushed. You felt your wrist, the one behind Bella’s head, hit the concrete with sharp pain. Something cold and hard was pinning your back down. You hadn’t even blinked when you realized you were on the ground next to a tan car Bella had parked next to. You barely had time to look up and see two white hands thrust forward to stop the van from hitting you, pushing into an already deep dent in the side of the body. Then, like a blur, one hand reached to hold under the van and the other pulling you away, your legs swinging and hitting the tire of the car beside you.

And then, it was over. For a moment, it was silent after the van settled and the glass popped. After that short silence, pandemonium. Many voices started yelling at once, the most you could understand was several people yelling your names. That was when you realized there was someone else there. You looked back behind you to see none other than the bagel-hater himself, Edward Cullen, holding you against his side, you sandwiched between both him and yourself clutching Bella to you.

“Bella?” He repeats, “Are you alright?” Bella groans and tries to escape both of your grasps, but you held onto her, as did Edward.

“I’m fine,” she groans. She looks up to you and realizes who you were being held against and immediately struggles to sit up against you. You help her sit up gently with Edward’s white hand guiding her back.

“Be careful,” he warns her, “I think you hit your head.” Bella reaches a hand up to her head, placing her hands against a spot above her left ear.

“Ow.” Bella mumbles, sounding surprised. You sat up as fully as you could and gently looked about Bella’s face, your hands holding her jaw as you searched for any more irritated spots of impact or scrapes. Thankfully, she seemed fine.

“That’s what I thought,” Edward hums, almost sounding amused? If you weren’t in the head space of just trying to make sure you and your sister were alright, you probably would have at least turned to glare at Edward, maybe even yell. Bella mumbles, still wincing as she held onto the side of her head,

“How in the…?” She shakes her head and her voice trails off before looking back up, “How did you get over here so fast?” Edward makes an expression of what you knew to be feigned-confusion,

“I was right next to you, Bella,” he says, his voice no longer exhibiting a humorous inflection. You steady Bella as she begins to push away to sit up and Edward unwinds his arms from around your side and Bella’s and scoots as far as he can in the very limited space in between the far too-close vehicles. You turned your back to press against the side of the tan car behind you, one hand on your sister's shoulder as you both looked over to the boy beside you. The way he was looking at you and Bella was bizarrely off-putting. The way he almost looked to be sincerely confused, he truly wore the expression of authentic befuddlement, but not quite. You looked into the golden hues of his eyes and knew that couldn’t be right. His gaze was too hard, too much like he was pleading you to just stay quiet or just go with it. He wasn’t confused. He knew exactly what had happened and what Bella was asking.

Edward shifts his gaze to you, his expression slightly harder in some way, guarded perhaps?

You’re snapped out of your speculative train of thought by voices. Now that everything had stopped, you realized there was screaming. Different voices screaming Bella’s name, screaming your name. Funnily enough, you weren’t able to pick out anyone calling for the Cullen boy beside you in the noise.

A crowd rushes up to the vehicles, crying faces and yelling greet you as you look up to them all.

“Stay put!” Someone instructs loudly, but you can’t see who.

“Get Tyler out of the van!” Someone else shouted. There is a dizzying amount of movement around the vehicles as you look back to Bella as she tries to stand up. Both your hand and Edwards place themselves on opposite shoulders before she can elevate herself.

“Somebody said to stay put just now Bells,” You remind softly as she lowers back down the few centimetres.

“But it’s cooold,” she whines. Edward snickers behind you, but Bella cuts him off, “You were over there. You were by your car...” her voice trails off once again as she looks up into his eyes. Edward drops his smile and instead presses his lips into a hard and narrows his eyes, frowning ever-so slightly.

“No, I wasn’t.”

“I saw you,” Bella insists. Over the argument you hear deeper voices, teachers, arriving to the scene.

“Bella, I was standing with you, I pulled you out of the way.” It seemed he was trying with all his silent might to convince your sister other from the truth. Bella breaks her gaze from Edward’s and looks at you. You could practically see the vicious curiosity burning behind her brown eyes. You turn to look at Edward and realize he had been staring at you. His nearly pleading gaze making contact with your own vision causes a strange panic to stir in your chest.

“You… you couldn’t have been there.” You say, “You weren’t there even when I turned and grabbed Bella…” Edward, obviously displeased with your answer, looks between you and your sister with a guarded panic,

“Bella, Y/n, please,” he pleads softly. For some reason, his gentle voice aggravates the panic already present in the back of our mind, though you can’t tell why it did.

“Why?” Bella almost glares at the boy across from her. Obviously, you were alone in your sudden feeling of alarm.

“Trust me,” you begs again, his forceful gaze shifting from Bella to you before returning back to your sister.

“Will you promise to explain everything to me later?” Edward lets out a sharp sigh at your sisters continued pressing,

“Fine,” he snaps.

“Fine,” Bella echoes with her own angry tone.

You look between the two teenagers with worry. The far off sirens were finally in the parking lot. You could see flashing red and blue lights reflecting off of the wet asphalt and snow and edges of the vehicles around you. Through the wailing sirens and abrupt feeling of panic, you have a feeling the rest of the day was going to be a disaster. Though, how much worse could it get from here?

Turns out, much worse.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*---~---~---~---~---~---~--- *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Tags: @twilight-loveer, @rushiruby

#twilight #twilight fanfiction #twilight fandom #twilight saga #twilight x reader #x reader #x y/n #Jacob Black #jacob black x reader

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pvtrichors · 3 years

Text

MENA MASSOUD , 29 , HE/HIM/HIS , CIS MAN | hey is that RAMESES "RA" EL AYOUBI ? i think i’ve seen the 26 year old walking around THE EIGHT , so i guess that means they’re a KOOK right ? apparently if the weather’s right, you can find them LAUGHING THE LOUDEST FROM THE FAR CORNER OF THE PARTY , which makes sense since they’ve got the whole thing about them PURPOSELY LEANING IN TO THE CONFUSION BETWEEN WANTING TO FIGHT OR FUCK HIM, THE WHISPER OF FINGERS ON PIANO KEYS AT 3 AM & CHASING THE BOTTOM OF A BOTTLE. if people had background music , their song would definitely be EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES BY PANIC! AT THE DISCO

His parents were convinced that they were being blessed when they were finally given a male heir, someone to carry on their prestigious name. Now, he was very much capable of doing that for them, but that meant he had to want to, and the inclination to actually settle down rarely appealed to him, mostly in spirit, rather than commitment issues (surprise, surprise), but people rarely seemed to stick around him long enough to figure that one out. He hides it well, after all, and instead let's everyone sink their own ship, or even leans into the villain that he is painted as. It's easier to embrace the rumors than it is to fight them, after all.

The one thing those rumors don't know, is that his career choice, wasn't even good enough for those same parents. He just returned from college, and the degree's that should have been hanging in his mother's study were instead boxed up in the closet of his house. You know the one, the one that all the parties are held at, but no one ever remembers actually seeing him, the one that is big enough to throw a banger but never big enough to give space to out run the ugliness of your own truth when you are left inside of it for too long. That's right, you guessed it: both mommy and daddy have agreed to pay their son to stay quiet and tucked away, in his own right, because apparently his passion wasn't quite as acceptable as they would have liked.

While it is easy to see the physical glow up, there has been a slight change in some of his behavior since his return almost four months ago, but it's very hard to put your finger on. Again, most people don't really care enough to figure it out, but it's there. Maybe it's the lingering sadness behind red rimmed eyes, or maybe it's the way he never looks too long unless he's grinning, his mouth always a better focus (for many reasons), than his heart.

WC: There are very few people in life that will stick with you, but when they do, god they never really do go away. As pretentious as Ra's parents are, they embraced "helping" the community by hiring themselves pogue's to help with several things around the house, including cooking, cleaning, and basic tasks neither of them seemed to have time for. That being said, there was one family that always seemed to be called on, for one reason or another. Since both parents were sometimes called on for projects, their kids ended up coming with them. At first, they would play together, but eventually, he was breaking things around the house just to make the family some money, and to bring his friend back around (it's not like he could outright ask them to head to the cut back then). So, their childhood was spent together, and even after that, until he ended up heading off to college. After the farewell party, and the night that they spent on the roof of his parents second home, talking about the mixture of the past, and fear for the future, and him of course dipping back inside to find relief in the keys of the grand piano (writing what ended up jokingly being "their song"), there wasn't much to say. Now, he's back, without supervision, and stripped of the excuse to break something just to have it fixed by their family, or is he?

The thing about being your parents favorite, about being the apple of their eye, is that you never really expect to find out what it feels like to fall from the family style grace they created. Perhaps it was telling when they didn’t even realize what he was studying, or maybe it should have been, but he lived in ignorant bliss for the most of the time that he was away. It wasn’t until the closing ceremonies were being finished, the gowns were being bought, the degrees were being delivered, that they seemed to actually pay attention to their so called pride and joy.

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here. Giving it a proper rewind, things were normal, or as normal as one could have expected, growing up. Then again, normal was a relative word when you took their wealth into consideration. There was always a divide on the island, the loudest note playing on the classism that existed between them all, but thankfully he was never really too susceptible to the pull of peer pressure, or perhaps it was the rebellion that did it. Again, his parents didn’t even pay enough attention to him to notice that he hung out with a healthy mixture of people, one that would eventually probably come back to bite them in the ass.

Granted, he was well aware of where he should be, and what he should be, at all times. That, however, didn’t meant that he was above attending an extra benefit in his mothers name, wearing a designer suit that could have paid a pogue’s rent five times over, to smooth things over. That was all when he was younger, though, and eventually, the only attention he seemed to get was when they were stopping in to tell him to be careful who he associated with, to make sure that his parents friends didn’t start to talk if they caught him making out with someone “undesirable”, or sneaking out to a few choice parties in the cut.

It wasn’t until he went to college, until he was removed from all of this, that he really began to notice how fucked up the dynamic at home suite home seemed, suite, because that’s what that shit always was. Regardless, his eyes were opened whether he liked it or not, and returning to his usual patterns of sneaking in and out of the beds of his peers, or forgetting that he wasn’t a priority for...well... anyone, anymore, might be a little bit harder now that he seems to have went and (albeit inconfuckingviently) grown a little more of a conscience than before. Well, that paired with the fact that he was now very much on his own, or, given the keys to his own downfall, truly.

Honestly, I wrote three intros and I don’t have anything left to dress this lil bitch’s life up into something pretty, but I DO have the energy to plot and shout about him, so come slide into my DM’s and talk nice to me.

#banks.intro #❪ ⠀ 🌱⠀ ┆ ❝ THROUGH THE TREES I WILL FIND YOU & I WILL HEAL THE RUINS LEFT INSIDE YOU. ❞ ╱ ⠀ ABOUT. ⠀ ❫

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itsomgitsgreenblogging · 4 years

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Labor of Love Chapter 3: A Critical Role Fanfic

Alright everyone, I’m back again with another chapter of Labor of Love...my longest chapter yet, but mostly for plot reasons. There were definitely some moving parts I had to arrange. Thank you again, to everyone who has been so supportive about this fic! Your comments, likes, kudos, and reblogs have given me all the life.

Enjoy!

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Read Ch1 and Ch 2 on Tumblr

Preview:

Essek took another sip of his tea as he gazed out the expansive windows of the Towers...the apartment building he lived in that was considered one of the nicer rental properties. Essek lived in a loft apartment, a spacious and airy abode-if not a little cold and impersonal. Essek usually didn’t mind that, seeing as he really only came home to eat and sleep and little else besides putting his stuff somewhere. (He did have a nice walk-in closet that he kept organized by color and style that he was exceedingly proud of, but that was neither here nor there.) Any apartment would have been fine, but what had attracted him to this place were the windows...large and taking up the wall almost completely. It gave him the view of the busy city that never slept in the eternal night, the buildings still bustling with activity, the cars that glided and moved like they were alive, the subway car that would always appear and roll across tracks from the depths only to disappear once more. Usually there was something soothing about being able to sit at his kitchen island with a mug of something warm and just...gaze outside. But that night, he felt chilled, and was determined to hold his mug just a little tighter to leech the warmth into his fingertips.

Essek was just getting settled when his phone vibrated. Essek looked at it, saw the person who was calling him and frowned.

"What?" Essek asked, as he raised the phone to his ear.

"Let me in please."

Essek sighed and went to press the buzzer. It took a minute or two before there was a knock at Essek's door, and Verin appeared in his apartment. He was carrying a duffle bag, because of course he was and was still wearing his police uniform. Essek scowled at the sight and cringed as Verin haphazardly threw the duffle bag by his glass coffee table.

"This is not a bed and breakfast," Essek told him shortly, leaning against the wall by the door. Verin stopped and seemed to actually look at him for the first time since arriving.

"What? Were you expecting somebody?" Verin asked, sounding surprised and Essek looked down at his own outfit. He was wearing a pair of joggers and a crop top he wouldn't have anyone catch him dead in...though he didn’t care about Verin. Verin registered to Essek somewhere on the scale between ant and worm. Regardless, Essek still felt his face twist.

"Do I look like I'm expecting someone?" Essek asked exasperatedly, raising his mug to his lips again and taking a sip. It was supposed to be some soothing blend that was popular, but Essek as usual found it flat and tasteless. It was really just the warmth he was after...as well as just something to fill the time.

"I don't know what your girlfriend likes."

"Shows what you know about me," Essek snorted into the steam, hoping the scent of green tea would soothe him...it didn’t. "I was just having some time to myself...alone."

"You mean, like always?"

"Verin, seriously, what did you need besides daring me to murder you?" Essek asked, leveling a glare at his brother.

"I've been working for like, 48 hours straight. I just need a shower and maybe an hour or two to trance. I'm begging you here."

"You mean working on the thing I'm telling you not to bother with?"

"Yes, that. It's important."

"Go home then."

"I have to drive like, 45 minutes to an hour with traffic. Come on."

"Your girlfriend must not be happy with you," Essek observed with a sniff as he perched up on a stool by his island once more. Verin sighed deeply, palming the back of his neck awkwardly.

"No...she's not. So please, Essek?"

"Fine, just be quick about it."

"Thank you," Verin breathed out, obviously relieved before walking off to the small side hallway.

"Second door on the right!" Essek called after him.

"Got it!"

Essek sat there now, taking vengeful gulps from his mug. Girlfriend, he thought to himself, what a joke. But now that he was thinking about it, Quana had said something similar the day before yesterday. He hadn't ever "come out" to anyone as it were. Essek didn't really see the point in that mental exercise. It didn't change anything. After all, Essek hadn't even had a boyfriend before. A few late night fumblings that he hadn't enjoyed, yes. But he had sworn the whole thing off a while ago, it made things neater and more organized. He supposed the other added effect was he was essentially a stranger in everyone's life, but that wasn't a bad thing in his day to day dealings.

Verin appeared again, showered and in sweats, and yanked open Essek's fridge derailing Essek's train of thought completely.

"What did I say about my apartment not being a bed and breakfast?" Essek reminded him with a huff, slamming down his mug. He was probably being dramatic, but this was his apartment. This was his space and Verin was just...rooting around like the little vermin he was. It reminded him of when they used to share a room as children...until Verin had found Essek’s journal and read it out loud to their older sister and Essek cast grease on him. It was one of those rare moments that his mother’s punishment fit the crime. They had been separated after that.

"Holy shit, Essek. You've got like nothing in your fridge," Verin said with a horrified look before yanking open the freezer. "You don't even have pizza rolls."

"Seriously, Verin? I will not desecrate my taste buds with pizza rolls."

"What do you even eat, man?"

"The souls of the innocent. Now if you are going to completely disregard what I said? Fine. Beggars can't be choosers, eat some plums or something," Essek said, lobbing a fruit from the bowl in front of him at Verin's head. He caught it easily. Of course he did. The bastard. "I know you still have Mother hide your fruit in chocolate syrup, but…"

"Oh fuck off Essek," Verin said with a roll of his eyes and taking a bite of the plum. "I'm still doing my thing, by the way. You haven't scared me off."

"If you are here to gloat about your goodness like some kind of Luxon missionary find a hotel room please," Essek said with his chin held high. "I really don't care and I know trying to convince you is an exercise in futility."

"Of course you care, you are the biggest liar I've ever had the misfortune of knowing," Verin said as he leaned against the counter.

"You are right, I care, only because of the head ache it'll cause me in the long run, but I know that you don't care about being reasonable so go ahead. Crash and burn. I give you my permission."

"I don't need your permission," Verin sighed before taking another look at Essek. "How are you, by the way?"

"Fine," Essek answered shortly. "Busy."

"You are always busy, but...are you getting out? At all?"

"No. I'm not. I'm busy."

"Essek...seriously?"

"I don't know what you want me to say."

"I dunno...lie to me and tell me you are doing great?"

"Fine, I'm doing great."

"No, don't do that. That smile creeps me out."

"Good."

"I mean...have you put any thought into dating? At all?"

"Because clearly that's going well for you," Essek said sarcastically. Verin gave him a stern look.

"I know you don't like it, but I do worry about you," Verin said softly, tapping the island thoughtfully. "I hate you most of the time, because you are a bastard. But I do worry about you."

"And it would make you feel better if I dated? How?"

"I dunno...that you would have someone. It doesn't matter who. I don't even know if you have any friends."

"Where is this all coming from?" Essek asked as he blinked at his younger brother.

"Essek...you literally haven't talked to me in months. The last time was Harvest Close. Your call gave me a fucking heart attack."

"Well good, it appears my scheme to kill you and assert my dominance as the better child is all going according to plan."

"You see, the thing about you is I don't know if you are being serious or not so let me just say, if you did kill me, don’t think I wouldn’t haunt you for the rest of your life. And that would be worse because you hate having people around. So really? Just shooting yourself in the foot."

“Verin, eat your damn plum and then go trance.”

“Whatever,” Verin scoffed, but seemed content to do just that as he settled on the couch and lay down. He tossed the decorative blanket Essek had placed just so over his legs with little care, and shut his eyes. Essek massaged his aching temples, before walking over to the light switch and dimming it all the way. He looked out the window, just once more. The cold light of Rosohna continued to shine, regardless of how Essek felt about it.

___

Essek called the bakery the next day.

This was normally how things went. He had to call places and walk the ever treacherous line of being polite but also demanding. After all, no one could turn down Leylas Kryn, but it also had to be kept a serious affair no matter what. The last thing that anyone wanted was for the paparazzi to catch wind of what they were doing and cause a whole ruckus. On the other hand it was also important to note that any business that had Leylas Kryn’s attention would suddenly be in the national spotlight. Spa treatments she did became sensations, unknown fashion designers became national icons, while workouts she commited to became trends. And in this case? Maybe a bakery would be bigger than just a bakery.

He stared at the muffin on his desk. Beauregard had pressed it into his hands that morning with his daily order, rolling her eyes as she said it was on the house. It tempted him, standing as a monument to his weakness. Some secret part of him didn’t want to call...didn’t want to change the thing that had slowly but surely integrated itself into his routine. But he pressed the number into his phone and dialed regardless.

Farewell to his tiny hiding hole, Essek thought as the phone rang. Really it was what they deserved, the least he could do for what a lovely group they were...the least he could do for Caleb. Perhaps it didn’t mean anything for him, Essek was just another face in the crowd...he wasn’t anyone special to him. But Essek could still almost taste sunlight on the tip of his tongue...

The line clicked and connected on the other end.

“Xhorhaus Bakery, this is Veth speaking, how can I help you?” Veth’s shrill voice came over the line.

“Hello, this is Essek Theylss calling from the Xhorhassian Cultural Institute, how are you doing today?” Essek asked with his patent work voice. He heard a pregnant pause on the other side of the line, and a short intake of breath.

“Hello…?” Veth said, sounding very suspicious. “Good? Are we in trouble?”

Essek blinked. Oh. He had never given them his last name, he had only told Jester. Essek wasn’t a super common name, but also wasn’t uncommon either. It was name lifted from the pages of a famous collection of folktales that was housed in the national museum (though he was pretty sure his mother had just opened up a book of names and picked the first one her finger landed on). Essek remembered looking it up as a child; it was derived from either the Undercommon word “eszaph” or “eszak”which meant ”alike” or “worry”. Essek had always thought that “eszak” suited him more. Regardless, there would always be at least one or two other Esseks in a school...though their names were usually spelled “Essik” or “Essic” to mark them as unique and special, and he couldn’t imagine a worse fate. Thankfully his mother had always been a traditionalist in that regard, though it made it hard to stomach her for other reasons.

“No, of course not,” Essek said with his friendly-laugh, the one that set people at ease. “I’m calling on behalf of Leylas Kryn and her partner Quana Kryn who are interested in utilizing your services to cater a cake for their Vow Renewal.”

“What? Really-sh!” Essek could hear Veth talk off to the side. “Jester get Caleb-!”

“Is now not a good time?” Essek asked, heart pounding in his ears, hoping to get the conversation back on track (trying desperately not to think about Caleb’s voice in his ear because he didn’t want that, he couldn’t handle that).

“No! Now’s a perfect time, uh, what were you thinking? Of a time?”

“It will have to be after your usual closing hours, for the utmost privacy of the Kryns. And we will have to send over papers that ask for a nondisclosure until it is determined whether the service will be utilized, is that agreeable?”

“Yes! Yes of course, sh! Fjord--shutthefuckup--!”

“Very well then, the Kryns have availability tonight or the 13th of this month between the times of seven to eight. Do either of those times work for you?”

“Tonight! Of course we’ll be happy with the appointment tonight.”

“Wonderful,” Essek said, voice trained into a smile. “Would you prefer fax, paper, or magical means of receiving the forms?”

Essek worked out the details and received the signed nondisclosure forms from the fax machine, officially booking in the appointment to Leylas’ schedule. By the time he got off the phone with Veth he felt like he had run a whole marathon. But he looked at the forms that had been signed...and the elegant script caught his attention. Caleb Widogast. He ran his fingers over the copy, taking a moment to trace the loops and lines. It felt oddly intimate in the strangest way...but Essek shook his head resolutely to scatter those thoughts. It wasn’t intimate, he was just being desperate and needy over a kind stranger.

Essek finally picked up the muffin and took a bite, his first taste of food all day. Essek knew the enchantment on the muffins were supposed to keep them from going stale, the perfect spell for early morning rushes and office meetings. And yet he still couldn’t get over it. Buttery and moist, crumbling and melting into his mouth...bursting with bright cranberries in every bright and sweet-zesty oranges in the muffin itself and in the drizzle that lingered on the tongue...and the echo of lemon that strengthened. Of course lemon, Essek thought, annoyed at himself. Always lemon. He wouldn’t be able to even look at a lemon the same way again without thinking of him. But even that couldn’t sour the cripplingly good flavor in his mouth, made stronger with the coffee it was paired with.

Essek called Leylas’ event planner and confirmed that everything was fine to go for tonight, and then scooped up the papers and his tome-pad and walked over to Kryn's office. Her secretary motioned for him to knock, and so he did so carefully.

“Come in,” came Leylas’ voice, and Essek walked into her spacious office. The whole office was styled similarly to the rest of the building, modern and minimalist and with a muted color palette. Leylas looked up, swiveling her chair in order to see Essek better from where she was sitting. “Did you make an appointment to this bakery then?”

“Yes, you should see it on your schedule for tonight considering you had a gap in your calendar and you were hoping to do this sooner rather than later,” Essek said, pulling up the details on his tome-pad and giving Leylas the papers to look at. She skimmed them, seemed content, and then put them in the box that would go to legal. “You will both arrive at seven, be given time to design your wedding cake. This was explained to be that you should come up with ideas about the shape of the cake, colors, flowers you may want-”

“Flowers on a cake?”

“I was told that they craft them out of sugar.”

“How interesting,” Leylas said as she tapped her nail against her arm.

“Also, any specific enchantments you may want on the cake itself. They will explain the options there, but as someone who has sampled the enchantments, no matter what you pick you will not be disappointed. After that you will have time to taste the different standard flavors they offer, or conferences to come up with your own.”

“I see, Quana and I shall talk about it,” Leylas said as she gazed back at her computer. “And you will be coming as well, won’t you?”

“I...what?” Essek asked, surprised. “Your Vow Renewal Planner is going.”

“Of course she is, but, I also trust your opinion as well,” Leylas said as she leaned back in her chair. “I also suppose we are going to be taste testing a bunch of flavors aren’t we? I know how much you enjoy sweets.”

“I don’t enjoy sweets,” Essek said with a frown.

“Right,” she said with a knowing look that almost made Essek bristle but it didn’t...only because he was so well trained to bottle every emotion he had ever felt in his own life and carefully package them away into a neat box which then went into the pit where his soul probably was supposed to be.

“I enjoy the coffee there,” Essek said simply as he closed his tome-pad. “As do you and Mrs. Kryn. But if you would like me to accompany you, I will do so of course.”

“Then be ready to go at 6:30 then,” Leylas said, dismissing him with a wave. Essek stepped out of the room and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking a breath, before walking down with the second copies of the legal forms that he would file in the Kryns’ personal collection.

He didn’t like mixing business with pleasure at the best of times, he liked his days separated cleanly into professional-time and Essek time. Any moment it was blurred was honestly stressful in a very vague and strange way, because Essek wasn’t sure who he was meant to be. Though that sounded philosophical, he meant that in quite a literal sense. On a day to day basis Essek had no sense of cognitive dissonance with who Essek-at-work was and who Essek-not-at-work, but when they were in close quarters it made things strange and made social interactions bizarre. People didn’t tend to enjoy the company of Essek-not-at-work, and certainly that was not who Leylas and Quana expected, so Essek-at-work was who would be going with them to the bakery.

At the appointed time, Essek followed Quana and Leylas in his own car. The planner, a young drow woman named Nedna had accompanied the Kryns and appeared with them in the back of their car as the driver opened the door for them. As their bodyguard, a huge minotaur named Sunbreaker Ulomon (yes, Ulomon was his name. No, he wasn’t sure if he had been given the name Sunbreaker or had just given it to himself like a pit-fighter) waited outside the door. Just before any of them could move, there was movement and the sound of running.

“Welcome to Xhorhaus Bakery!” Jester greeted nearly bursting out of the back door in her enthusiasm. “We are so happy to have you! My name’s Jester and-”

She stopped, staring at Essek for a moment, before picking up again as if she had never missed a beat.

“-and Caleb and Veth are in the office. I’ll be bringing you back there!” Jester said.

“Of course,” Leylas said, and hooked her arm with Quana’s as they walked forward. Nedna was casting an extremely judgemental look towards everything as they walked through the front door. Essek pretended that his tome-pad was very interesting as they entered the office where Veth was settling down some books and Caleb was reading over something. He looked up, smiled at Leylas and Quana before blinking rapidly at the sight of him, raking over his face in a way that made Essek tense up. He didn’t have anything on his face, because he always looked in his mirror before he got out of his car. He was dressed in a suit and jacket, just as he usually was.

He wasn’t expecting you here, Essek reminded him. Don’t think anything of it.

“Hello, Mr. Widogast,” Leylas said moving through the space easily and taking his hand, “I am Leylas Kryn, this is my wife Quana, event planner Nedna Mirimm, and my assistant Essek Theylss.”

“It is an honor to meet you,” Caleb said sincerely, taking all of their hands in a handshake. He faltered at the sight of Essek before offering out his hand.

“It is nice to see you again, Mr. Widogast,” Essek said with a soft hopefully-comforting smile, taking Caleb’s hand and giving it a quick shake before releasing it. He definitely was not thinking about how Caleb’s hand felt so warm, and it was large and calloused and strong from spell working and bread-kneading. Those thoughts, of course, didn’t bubble up in his head like breath escaping the lungs. “Though this time in my more professional capacity as opposed to a regular frequenter.”

“It’s nice to see you too,” Caleb agreed, though he looked strangely flustered. For a second he held his own hand, before he turned back to the others. “So you are here about a cake, ja? Take a seat and let's get started. I am assuming you have come here with specifics about the occasion.”

“The Vow Renewal itself will be a rather private affair,” Leylas explained, and Essek resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He supposed 200 guests out of all the important people in the world was “private” but still, it was rather misleading when you put it like that. He typed out a note to make sure that Caleb and those who would be focusing on the cake were made aware. “Though of course it is our day, it is also important for the country as a whole as you can imagine.”

“Of course,” Veth said. “Very important. Extremely important.”

“What is your theme?” Caleb asked curiously.

“I believe the word we were using was celestial, correct Quana?” Leylas asked Quana.

“Yes, considering how much our faith means to us,” Quana said, giving Leylas’ hand a fond squeeze. Their affection was something so easily given, Essek couldn’t help but prickle with some emotion he couldn’t quite name. He wasn’t sure he had ever felt it before...though his own emotions tended to be distant relatives rather than constant companions. All of this feeling he had been doing lately was the exception, not the rule.

“I have reference pictures here of decorations and also of the Kryn’s ceremonial and reception attire,” Nedna said, sliding the folder over for Caleb and Veth to see. “Those are for your reference.”

“How wonderful,” Caleb said with an earnest look at all the materials in the folder. “For your cake, what exactly were you thinking of in terms of how many tiers?”

“As this is a new tradition we were hoping for your expert opinion on the topic,” Leylas said.

“Well, traditionally you would want one tier per forty guests. So if your ceremony will have, let’s say, 100 guests in attendance you would have three tiers. You add another tier for each forty guests. Or, of course, we can always do a smaller cake and cater additional cupcakes or a dessert bar,” Caleb explained, drawing it out on the sketch paper to demonstrate what he meant.

“For all the guests, a six tiered cake then,” Nedna said before sniffing. “How do you get a cake so big to stand?”

“We have different methods of construction as well as a system of dowels we place to add support. Now in terms of design…”

They spoke through the design of the cake, with Essek jotting down the most pressing notes. Geometric designs, silver and metallic accents, the flowers to match the ones chosen for the ceremony. Nedna was actually in charge of this, but still, it never hurt to be thorough. Of course there was no real budget, after all, whatever the Kryns wanted they got. But Essek did keep a close eye on the notes about the cost as laid out on the sheet to tally up a price. They were a small business, it was imperative that they were paid appropriately for their services.

“Essek! Pssst!”

Essek looked up from his notes to see Jester’s hand gesticulating wildly at him. Essek sighed.

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” Essek said, and Leylas nodded to give him permission to go. Essek turned the corner and immediately saw all of them around it squatting like they had been listening in to the conversation...and he didn’t doubt they had. He planted his hands on his hips, in a strange reenactment of an old nanny of his. "What?"

"We should be asking the questions!" Beau hissed at him. "What the fuck are you doing here with the Bright Queen?"

"I'm an assistant," Essek said.

"So she's the super secret awesome person you work for?" Jester asked, sounding delighted.

"She would be," Essek admitted.

"That's so cool," Jester said with a dreamy sigh.

"Who is she, again?" Caduceus asked curiously. Essek blinked in surprise, but Caduceus continued to look at Essek with an open honest expression. “I’m sorry, was that a weird question?”

“Of course not. Leylas Kryn is the Bright Queen...she is the Queen of this country, though she no longer has any powers...she gave that up when Xhorhas became a parliamentary government,” Essek explained, giving his best intern’s-first-day spiel to them. “Her partner Quana Kryn is the Dusk Captain, the ceremonial head of military. Right now they are the heads of the Xhorhassian Cultural Institute, which is a government organization whose mission is to preserve and promote our culture. It manages approximately 1,000 organizations such as museums, manors, and other cultural and historical landmarks.”

“That’s wonderful,” Caduceus said. “It is truly an honor to be preserving one’s way of life, and to respect the history behind it.”

History is written by the winners and rewritten to serve one’s needs, Essek thought dismissively. It is an exercise in semantics where we attempt to construct morals and understandings through our thin veils of experience, in a world that is rarely concerned with such things. The subject on the whole is just a breeding ground for those with personal deficits...almost as bad as those who involved themselves willingly with business and economics.

“It is an honor to be working with them,” is what Essek said with an eternally soft smile. For a moment Caduceus’ expression furrowed like he was deep in thought, before it passed.

“So your last name is Theylss? Isn’t that one of the important families in this city?” Fjord asked curiously.

“Ah, yes, it would be,” Essek said. “My family occupies a certain station in this city.”

“So you are like a super duper important person?” Jester asked. “Like nobility or something?”

“Not since the formal den system was eradicated, no. That was a bit before I was born,” Essek said with a dismissive wave.

“When were you born...by the way?” Beau asked suspiciously.

“I am one hundred and twenty years old,” Essek said, “for your kind I would be classified as a young adult.”

“Not too old then,” Jester said with a giggle, to which Yasha gave her a little poke in the side.

“Too old for what?” Essek asked, confused.

“Oh nothing! Nothing!” Jester said, fluttering her eyelashes coquettishly.

“Was there anything else you needed me for?” Essek asked.

“Nothing, nothing, wouldn’t want to keep you too long, just wanted to say hello,” Fjord said, giving them all a look. Beau looked a bit put-out, Caduceus was still looking at him strangely, while Jester seemed to be enjoying her own private joke. Yasha gave him a shrug, and Essek took that as his dismissal.

Essek returned into the room, just as Veth brought out a tray of samples. Each slice resembled little finger sandwiches. There were two sets of ten laid out before them on the small mismatched dishes and plates Essek had come to associate with the bakery, each of varying colors and varieties.

“These are our wedding cake flavors. You can of course feel free to request different combinations without cost, but specialty flavors and special requests will cost more based on the ingredients needed to be purchased and the rarity of those ingredients. I’ve also separated them into categories. Over here we have our most popular flavors,” Caleb pointed to a set of three, “next to that are four of our spring wedding suggestions, and then we have others what we call wild card flavors.”

“I pick those ones!” Veth said, sounding very proud of herself. “The cups are of different types of frostings and fillings that you can have. Is there anything you would like to start with?”

“Let’s start with the wild card,” Quana said and with a nod from Leylas, Veth placed the three tiny cakes in front of both Leylas and Quana, as well as in front of him and Nedna.

“Our first offerings are a honey-lavender cake, orange-lemon cake, and our matcha cake…”

_________

“Essek,” Leylas said as she fixed the collar of her jacket. “It was a very good suggestion. I look forward to what they do with it. Very well done, as usual.”

“Thank you,” Essek said, as he opened the door to their car for them, she slid in next to her wife, who was lounging back and settled an arm around her. Leylas cuddled into her, almost imperceptibly. “Have a good night.”

The car drove off the curb, and Essek heard the tapping of Nedna’s nails against the screen of her own phone.

“That was all very sweet,” Nedna commented idly, eyes violet against the streetlights and the slick asphalt. “And well played, Essek.”

“I haven’t the slightest idea as to what you are referring to,” Essek said, giving her a sidelong look. “If you felt that I was stepping on your toes, that was not my intention. I was merely hoping to offer a suggestion to my employer.”

Silence hung in the air, strangely thick against Essek’s skin. Nedna wasn't responding and Essek did his best not to look at her. Perhaps if he didn't look she wouldn't continue the conversation-

“That’s my driver,” Nedna said, motioning to the black car rolling down the street, dashing any hope he had to escape this conversation in some way unscathed. “But I can always cancel him, send him to pick up my sister. We could have dinner, perhaps? Or something to drink? Nothing so sweet though. I think we’ve both had enough sweets for one day, haven’t we?”

Essek couldn't help but look at her now. She was gazing at him intently, expression hungry and gaze hot against Essek's skin. Ah. This again. Essek hated that, when people stared at him like they could peel back his skin and find what they desired under the surface. They just didn't understand that Essek didn't have anything they wanted in the cage of his body, that whatever they saw in him was just a figment of their own imaginations.

“I’m not hungry,” Essek said flatly.

“You don’t need to be to take me out to dinner,” Nedna said, reaching out to touch his arm. Essek resisted the urge to jerk away from her. He hated things like this. You always had to walk the delicate line, be kind enough to avoid insult, but stern enough to avoid a repeat performance. Everything is politics, his mother’s voice reminded him. Grin and bear it, no Essek, smile in a way that doesn’t make you look like you smelled something awful-

“As much as I appreciate the offer,” Essek said, plucking her hand from his arm. He gave it a soft pat, before releasing her. “I will have to refuse, I am unfortunately far too busy.”

“I see,” Nedna said as the car rolled up. Her expression was something pinched and sour. “A pity.”

On that note, she entered the car which pulled out with a puff of white smoke. Essek sighed, unable to contain his shiver as he rubbed his gloved hands together for warmth. Finally, his day was over. He could go home and relax. The idea was so intoxicating to him that he didn’t even realize that someone was bounding up to him until Jester was almost on top of him.

“Oh my goodness! Essek!” Jester gasped, nearly wiggling with excitement, she threw her arms around him in a hug. Essek felt his breath choke in his lungs because she was soft and warm against him. “Thank you so much! This is going to be so great for the bakery!”

“I don’t know what you are thanking me for, but you are welcome,” Essek said, extricating himself from her embrace as quickly as possible. His skin felt like it was on fire, even though she hadn’t even touched any, and for some reason he wanted her to do it again. It was so bewildering a sensation that he almost missed the next words stated to him.

“You were the one who brought them here, correct?” Caduceus asked, wrapping a fuzzy pink scarf around his own neck. “That was very thoughtful of you.”

“Oh, no, I-”

“You shouldn’t bother lying to Caduceus,” Yasha said, the giant woman quietly approaching. “He can always tell.”

“It is true,” Jester said very seriously before her giant grin broke through like the sun. “Essek. I just had the most amazing idea!”

“What?” Essek said, trying to keep up with her boundless enthusiasm but feeling like he was lagging at least three miles behind.

“The rest of them took Fjord’s car, but this is your car right?”

“Right?”

“The God Squad,” Jester said, forming her hands into a “g” and then a “s”, “was just going to take a taxi to the place, but you should totally join us!”

“Where?” Essek said, feeling dizzy from trying to follow her train of thought.

“Karaoke!” Jester chirped.

“...karaoke?” Essek repeated numbly.

“Does he know what karaoke is?” Yasha asked Caduceus quietly, who just shrugged.

“I know what it is,” Essek said, too befuddled to hide his snippiness. “You want me...to bring you to a karaoke bar.”

“No, join us,” Jester said, motioning to them in a wild manner, much like a mother attempting to goad her child back into her arms after swimming too far off shore. “It’ll be so much fun, Essek! Come on, please? Everyone will love having you there!”

A part of Essek, the rational part, wanted him to say no. After all, none of this was appropriate. They didn’t even know him...he didn’t understand why they would even think to include him in this. But the other part of Essek...the part that was strangely starved thought...it couldn’t possibly be that bad of an idea? After all, what could go wrong?

“The one on second or the one of Ridgecrest Avenue?” Essek asked.

_______

“H̶̱͈̱̘̋ä̷̟̖́̓̒͜ǹ̴̮̰͕̱d̸̖̯͇͊̏̐s̷͙̜̚,̴̩̲̀̆͒ ̶̹͓́́͜͜t̷͇̜̤̱̋̔̈́ơ̷̰ȕ̵͍͖͊c̴̡͔̜̓̈́ḧ̶̩̑i̶̦̥̭̖͝n̷̪̾g̵͓͙̓̒ ̶͖̗̫̈́̓ḫ̸̀͐̾a̵̝̘̥͒̐ǹ̸̼̥͆d̶͈̓s̵͉̄͠, ̸/R̷̞̍̄͐e̸̯͛̓͛a̷̩͗̇̉̄ͅc̷̰̀̽̒̆h̵̼̜̼͆͌̆͝i̶̛͕̙͔̦̿̎̇ņ̷̦̀̆̄͝g̵͉̼̻̈́͜ ̶̳̱̹́͝o̸͓͂̏̑u̶͔͛͝t̴̰̭̺͈̀͋,̶̳̪͓̋́ ̴̳̝̄t̴̪̬͙̆ȍ̴̡͖̾̐ú̴̟̯̕͜ć̷̺͗̀͠h̸̜͙͐͒̉́ǐ̸̩̙̝n̵̡͓̺̩̈́͒͘g̸̢̤̜̻͌͑̎ ̸̭̹̼̹̿́̐͌m̴̱̑̋e̴̟̘̓,̶̺͓͌ ̸̖̩̝̆t̶̛̬̦̙̃̒̉ô̵̧̬͇͖̽̈́̕u̶̗͙̹͋̏̕͜͠c̷̤̗̾͋̕͜͠ḧ̷̢̛̤́ͅi̸̡͖̠̾̋͑n̷̜̠͓̖̓g̷͙̔̀̊̾ ̶͙̜̞̹̾͋͊y̷̛̩͂̈͜o̵̧̬̼̎͐͝ú̵͈̥̤…!” Everyone at the karaoke place sang loudly, miming reaching out and grasping onto each other dramatically. Essek had been told by Veth and Beauregard that this was apparently an Empire classic, by some tiefling bard named Ni’al Deamound. Apparently everyone else knew it too, as this was a bar filled with immigrants from the Empire, which was strange since it was in the original abyssal.

“S̸̞̟̍w̷̰̫͛̀̀̈͜e̴̞̬͖͊̔͜ẽ̵͙͖͔̖̌t̵̳̒̄̍̕ ̴̭̳̳̪̐̒C̶̮̻̊̀͝ȁ̷̤̐͐̏r̶̭̤̤̫͛̉͂o̴̖̲̖͚̔l̵̟̙͗͘͝͝i̸͍̫̚ͅn̶̙̭̑̀͋ë̸̦̞́͐̈́͝!” Veth nearly screeched into the microphone, as the crowd at the karaoke placed cheered.

“̶̨̦̔̆͜ͅB̵͙͇̈́͑͜A̷̯̦̖̼͋̀ ̴̧̟̦̜͛͛̑̇B̵̖̬͓͙̊̉̕A̸̮͖͆́ ̵̦͒B̶̡̺̆̔A̵͚̹͐̕!̷̱̩̆͗̑!̷̎͑͐̄ͅ!̵̮͛̇” The rest of the Mighty Nein shouted back.

“̷̦̊G̵̠͎̳͔̑o̴̞̩̎̾͛ơ̷͙͉̯͓̆͋d̵̲̥̫̘̍͐̈́ ̸̩͌̑̈́̿t̷̜̠͉͔͑̀͆į̷̝͠m̵̥̩̦̤̽̍̑e̶͚͇̒ş̷̓̉͌̾ ̷̢̜̈́͂̈́͒n̶͔͒͆̿͝e̸̛̖̼͋̓̈v̷̮͓̍͊͝ḙ̸̛͓̹̥͑̋r̵̹̪̎ ̶̟́͠ͅͅs̵̺̭͗́ͅȇ̵̙̒̾̈́e̵̱̞̙̥̓͑͝m̷̛̬͝é̵͚̫̿ḋ̶̜̮͒̃ͅ ̸̭̹͙͒͐̽ş̸̯̉͌͑̀o̴̒͛̆̾͜ ̵̻͓̦̓g̸̱̏o̴̡̓̇o̷̮̟̣̅͒d̷̢̳̬̓̅!”

“̷̭̆S̷̪̼͋͊͒̓Ò̴̢̬̏̈́͂ ̷̙͉̪̈́G̴̞̪͛͊O̵̻͈̝͎͐O̴̹̩͕̤͛̆̊D̷̦̆̈͒!̶̨͚̱̘͛̅̑̈́ ̵͖̪̲̈͂̎͑Ș̸̲̈́O̵̘̙̠͙̾ ̸͉͙̱̫͘Ġ̸͈̠̍͒Ơ̸͉͓͖̏̈́ͅO̵̧͖̞̓̕D̷̨͒̐!̵͙̄̔͘ ̸̤̼̥̃̔S̵͙̘̄̾͜Ǫ̴̖̟̩̀ ̶̥͖̦̥͗̐̔̌G̸͉͚̦̽̆̋Ò̷̳͍̭̜Ǫ̸̹͙̭́̓D̷̨̜̩͍͆̂!̵̱̹̩̎͌́͝” The Mighty Nein chanted, which would have been concerning...depending on the situation. The song ended with a raucous applause as someone else took the strage, yodeling through a Scanlan Shorthalt classic, “Eye of the Goliath”. Essek was mostly zoned out, and was startled as Caleb sat down next to him with a drink in his hands. He had spent most of his time there just absorbing the company and the conversation, contributing only when asked a direct question. Essek hadn’t ever been the most sociable person, and he found himself suddenly anchored by Caleb’s company.

“Care for another drink?” Caleb asked, settling it down in front of himself, it was a glass of beer, a stout perhaps? Essek wasn’t too versed in drinks unless they were light and fruity cocktails. “I don’t mind running back to the bar for another one.”

“No, no, I have to drive,” Essek said, cradling the same cocktail he had been drinking the whole time he had been there. “Though, I’ll probably need to grab something to eat on my way home...I don’t have anything in my fridge.”

“You ought to come with us back to our place,” Beauregard said, plopping down on the other side of the booth and taking a long sip from her glass. A look passed between her and Caleb that Essek didn’t understand. “After we go to karaoke we normally have a snack party.”

“Beau, smile more invitingly,” Fjord coached, and Beauregard’s expression tightened into an unnatural smile.

“I couldn’t impose, just this has been very kind,” Essek said, waving them off.

“It’s the least we can do,” Fjord argued. “This is going to be huge for us.”

“We would love to have you,” Caleb promised, with a smile that spread so handsomely across his face. “We were going to get going anyways relatively soon. I think Jester wanted to sing one more song-”

“Essek you should totally sing with me!” Jester called from the front of the line. “We can do a duet!”

“Ah, no, I don’t sing!” Essek called back.

“Beau? Yasha?” Jester called back and both ladies looked at each other before shrugging and going up to join Jester for a rousing rendition of Marion Lavorre’s single “Ladies’ Night”, with shockingly accurate choreography to the music video if Essek recalled correctly.

“Will you come?” Caleb asked, sounding hopeful.

“I...if you don’t mind,” Essek said, downing the rest of his cocktail in hopes that it would soothe his suddenly dry throat.

Essek managed to drive the so-called God Squad to the house the Mighty Nein owned without getting into a car accident despite Jester’s constant narration (with the exception of Veth, who apparently lived in a smaller house down the street with her husband and son). It was decently sized in a relatively nice part of the city that was lined with vermaloc trees and brownstones, indigenous and hearty enough to survive the eternal night of the city. Essek was surprised, though he wasn’t sure what he had expected it wasn’t this.

“Everyone grab what they’ve been working on, it’s munchies party time!” Jester shouted out Essek’s window, nearly jumping out of it as it was still moving. Essek parked behind Fjord’s car in the driveway and admired the home. It was painted a lovely maroon and settled on a light stone foundation, a traditional style to this area and yet it seemed warm and inviting.

“You have a lovely place,” Essek commented as the half-orc locked his car. He looked up at the house proudly, following Essek’s own gaze.

“We were pretty lucky to get it,” Fjord hummed. “It was a bit of a fixer-upper, but we’ve put a lot of work into it and it’s paid off.”

“It was the pit money,” Yasha added softly.

“Pit money?” Essek repeated incredulously. “You were pit fighters?”

“That’s actually how we met,” Caleb said as he idled up besides them as Beau opened the door. “We were all earning a bit of extra money in the pits at Alfied, and then we realized we could be much more successful as a group. That’s how we got the name, the Mighty Nein.”

“Group pit fighting is much more dangerous,” Essek observed. Pit fighting was a nationally recognized sport, derived from the business of the old adventuring parties of old. Groups of fighters or individuals would fight each other or magical beasts in tournaments, and betting on such events was a whole industry in it of itself.

“But, extremely lucrative,” Caleb said. “We had a decent winning streak going, built up enough funds to put the down payment on the bakery as well as this place when we finally made it over the border.”

“You are all an interesting group of individuals,” Essek noted.

“Unfortunately that’s not even the half of it,” Caleb chuckled, the sound warmed Essek all the way through as they walked up the steps and entered the house.

The house itself was a study in the concept of lived-in, in a way that magazines glossed over or attempted to replicate with certain air that was not present. Every nook and cranny was full of things, collectable porcelain cats or tea cups, mismatched loveseats and a couch layered with handmade quilts and decorative pillows of different shades, shininess, and fur. Paintings (done in Jester’s characteristic style and raunchiness, seashells and plants decorated the walls. The kitchen itself was spacious and with a generous island with a slab of what looked like marble along the side. Dried herbs were hung by the window with racks of pots and pans and other utensils.

“I’m gonna grab the pickles from downstairs,” Caduceus was calling from the top basement step. “What’s the plan? Does anyone want my kimchi?”

“I’ll help Cad,” Fjord offered as he plodded over to the basement door. “I think I’m gonna grab the kombucha we made too.”

“Oh! I do! Also, Caleb, do you still have some of the bread you made this morning? Let’s have a grilled cheese party!” Veth offered as she opened the fridge and began pulling out a large assortment of ingredients. “Whose making sides?”

“We got you,” Beau said before Jester joined her and they fist bumped. Immediately they pulled out something from underneath the island and unfolded a seperate table.

“Are you comfortable in the kitchen?” Caleb asked, and Essek realized that he was talking to him. He had just been standing there by the coat rack, taking everything in.

“Uh...enough to survive,” Essek said, though, even that was doubtful.

“Why don’t you join Yasha, she’s very good at prepping ingredients,” Caleb said as he tied an apron around his waist, and Essek looked towards the larger woman who nodded at him.

“Of course,” Essek said, hoping to find some sense of himself with a smaller task.

And so Essek was set to work, chopping vegetables and also various meats. Yasha stopped him a few times to correct the way he was slicing a vegetable, and Essek committed to watching her in an attempt to learn something. She handled a knife with a sense of ease and finesse that Essek hadn’t expected but was determined to copy. It also provided a good distraction from Essek staring at Caleb...though he often found his eyes drawn to Caleb regardless. He moved effortless through the kitchen, slicing homemade loaves of bread, frying, popping trays in the oven, tasting when someone put a spoon to his mouth and dispensing advice. He and Veth worked like a well oiled machine, in fact, all the Mighty Nein did, moving with a kind of partnership that seemed to Essek to be as organic as moving limbs. But more than that, his shoulders and arms made a pretty picture…

“Alright! Grilled cheese party is complete! Let’s eat!” Fjord said, grasping the platter filled with the sandwiches as Beau and Jester finished placing down the sides in the living room. Caleb patted to the cushion next to him on the couch, and Essek sat down in it woodenly. He could have never done something like this at home as a child, Essek thought. Eating dinner in the living room? What if something spilled on the rug or ruined the chairs or the couch? And yet, none of them seemed concerned in the least.

“Essek’s our guest, he gets to pick the sandwich he wants,” Caduceus seemed to remind the group as Veth swatted at Fjord’s hand who stuck his tongue out at her.

“No, don’t worry. You all pick what you like, I’ll just take whatever is left,” Essek said, staring at the mountain of foods in front of him with hesitance. Caduceus poured the drink into his glass, and smiled at Essek.

“Would you like a suggestion, perhaps?” Caleb asked with a soft look that soothed his soul. Caleb reached over to scoop one of the sandwiches off the tray and placed it gently there, he also carefully placed the salad that Beauregard and Jester had made. “This is perhaps my favorite post-drinking food. It’s called a Croque-Madame. I made the bread myself, so I hope you enjoy it.”

Essek, a bit daunted by the giant sandwich on his plate, stared at it in awe. It really was a thing of beauty, toasted bread oozing with cheese, covered with a browned bechamel sauce, and topped with a perfectly fried egg that popped with the lightest touch as Essek cut into the sandwich with his knife. Essek carved out a bite, and brought it to his mouth and nearly melted right there. The bread itself was a revelation, flavorful (in the tangy way that only good bread was) and light with a certain open texture you just couldn’t get in the supermarket. The cheese was earthy and nutty and melty while contrasted with the smoky-sweet-salty of the ham, and the unexpected warm spice and perfect dash of mustard...completely rounded out with oozing golden yolk and the sprinkling of herbes de provence. Essek took his next bites alternating the vingerary-acidic charred cabbage-and-scallion slaw that Jester and Beau had made, as well as the broccoli-parmesan-anchovy bake that Fjord and Veth were nearly fighting over.

“I don’t know how you manage it...to make everything taste so good,” Essek said, taking a long sip of kombucha. He yawned, feeling so full he couldn’t take another bite. Essek looked up to see Caleb looking at him, with an intense expression that had Essek nearly blushing. Ah, it was rude to yawn at the table.

“Food always tastes better when we are eating together,” Caleb noted, looking at the lively table they were surrounded by. The grilled cheese on Caleb’s plate was half eaten, and Essek looked at his own in realization.

“I took your sandwich, didn’t I?” Essek said. “I’m sorry, I-”

“No, watching you enjoy it was enough for me,” Caleb promised.

“Here-” Essek said, spearing a forkful and lifting it before he realized what he was doing. Essek cringed, opened his mouth to apologize. But instead of refusing and turning away, Caleb leaned down and took the bite. Eyes fluttering for a moment, cheeks warmed through as he seemed to consider the flavor deeply. Essek was watching his mouth, he really couldn’t look away as Caleb’s tongue sweeped out for a moment and he caught a drop of the sauce on his thumb. Oh Gods, Essek thought desperately, looking away quickly, as if just looking at Caleb could burn. How did this man even turn chewing into the sexiest thing that Essek had ever seen? It should be a crime.

“Perhaps my best yet,” Caleb said with a tender look, blue eyes darkened.

“That I don’t doubt,” Essek murmured, taking another lazy sip. Really, the conversation was lively but soft. This whole house was filled with something soothing...the imperceptible thing that made the bakery feel so alive and comforting...settling in his belly like the food that nourished him. Essek wondered what it was as he let his heavy eyelids sink with his train of thought. If Caleb could find a way to bottle it up...Essek was sure it would sell for a fortune. He would find a way...just as everything he touched became magic...

Leaned against something warm, and feeling just the gentlest touch brush his forehead, Essek’s thoughts drifted off into the gentle darkness.

#critical role #critical role fanfic #shadowgast

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jaspitch · 4 years

Text

Five Nightguards At Freddys

Night 1- Storm's Archives

Somehow she knew she had to do it. Make it through the night running around the pizzeria, nobody with her, without any power, or a damn flashlight. Storm had never wanted to work at this shitty pizzeria. But oh no, "We gotta stay to keep Michael safe!" Since when had September ever actually cared about Mike anyways?!

So after surviving only three and a half hours on limited power because the generator wasn't worth crap, Storm found herself in complete darkness. When Freddy had started thumping his way towards the office, Storm knew she couldn't just die like this. So, what's the next best thing? Yep, running into party room four and hiding under a table. It was easy, especially considering she was a short stack, 5'4 to be exact.

However, her special uniform seemed to illuminate her. The jacket, which was oversized and a dark blue due to her ranked status by Henry (Executive manager's first aid), had kept her warm, sure. However, because of her small frame, it would hang right before her knees. Which not only meant it caught on things when she moved, but tripped her up, and the blue was somehow seeable in the pitch dark.

Longing for the original, but less warm, baby blue and gray uniform, seemed stupid. And it would be, if Freddy wasn't currently staring at her, his hand having moved the tablecloth up, and Storm trying her best to untangle the end of her jacket from some ribbons that had been swept under the table. As the brown bear reached over, Storm finally untangled the damn sweater and bolted from underneath the table, running for the entrance to the party room.

Man, weren’t Wednesdays just the best? She kept running down the hallway, hearing the metal of most likely Freddy follow her at a decently slow pace. She turned down another hallway, just to be met with a dead end: the janitor’s closet. Now sweating buckets, Storm started to frantically look around. Something caught her eye in the corner. Looking to it with her dark blue eyes, a small ray of hope blossomed in her chest. It was, by far, the most beautiful thing to be stowed upon her. A vent. A vent that could hold someone at least 6′6 with a weight of 350 lbs. Thank the Lord.

When her hand touched the metal, she drew it back. It was fucking burning hot! The heater was supposed to be off after hours! Her only guess was that Fritz left it on again. Regardless, Storm sucked in a deep breath, and then pulled on the metal, which surprisingly gave in and came off. Dropping the damned hatch, Storm jumped a bit and climbed into the large vent. At first, she felt as if she were burning alive, but that almost went away within ten seconds. Almsot as if on que, Freddy passed by, his eyes glowing a light white. They were pupil sized and had black floating around them. Since when had his eyes not been blue? That just fueled the thought of the pizzeria being haunted.

Eventually the mascot walked away, creaking and groaning as he did so. Sighing, she squinted at her black watch, which lit up with a green light when she tapped it twice. The bright light dialated her pupils and aggrivated her eyes, but she got over it. The time was 4:38. Great, it’s only been what, an hour or so? Staying in the vent wasn’t possible, along with her body heat and extra warm uniform, the heater was starting to overheat the nineteen year old. After checking to make sure the coast was clear, Storm jumped out and placed the vent hatch back on. That, of course, took a good ten minutes because the thing kept turning sideways and not sitting straight.

Finally free from her heated domain, Storm went flying towards the office to try and find the flashlight she had dropped when Freddy had entered the room. After searching for a few minutes, she found the flashlight, noticing the glass had a small crack in it. Whatever, Henry could fix that after he found her dismembered body inside one of the mascot suits. It wouldn’t be a surprise if she didn’t see sunlight. Deciding that staying in the room would be smart, Storm sat under the table, dusting a few cobwebs from her jacket as she glanced from under her hiding spot. This place was the abolute worst, especilly in the dark. Fuck, forget the creepy atmosphere when the lights were on.

With plenty of time to think, Storm started to think of the people in her life. Tall, slender, September Charles. He was the best friend a person could ask for. Despite being self-centered and a total introvert, he did anything Storm asked him to do. Play video games all day despite both of them having work? Sure. Going to a party with only druggies, alchoholics, and underage kids? Yep, perfect. Aside from that, he was especially handsome. That thought made a light blush dust Storm’s cheeks. September had somewhat messy, yet silky, shoulder length ginger-brown hair and stunning bright orangish-brownish eyes. He had thin-framed green glasses that sat beautifully on his lightly tanned face. Everything about him was amazing.

Who else was there to think about? Mike, alright, her mind flew to Mike. He was her other best friend, who by the way, was in some sort of rivalry with September. Beautiful black hair that was shoulder length, matching his bright blue eyes. He was more of an outrovert, but still kept to himself because of how judgemental people were. Storm remembered the first time she saw him at college- struggling with a math course in the multipurpose room. She had been reading a baking guide for lullaberry pie when she had noticed the taller male run a hand through his silky black hair in frustration. Scooting closer, she noted the advanced algebra course he was taking. Which happened to be the same one she had taken last year. “Hey, need some help?” Storm finally asked, making the blue-eyed male look up. “What?”

“Do you need some help? I’d be happy to, that math course is a bit difficult, huh?” Although Mike had been hesitant at first, he eventually got used to her helping him every Monday and Friday. So when she had graduated after taking a one year Doctorate course, Mike had been left alone. That is, until he got her number and address and started doing zoom calls. Of course they sometimes showed up at each others places. Storm had been laughing her ass off when Mike stepped into her large house, his eyes had widened and jaw dropped. Due to her mother being insanely wealthy (and also gone all the time after divorcing Storm’s dad), she had left all of her assets to her after dying.

It was almost as funny when September and Mike had met. While chilling at a caffe, Mike walked in, catching the eyes of Storm. September noticed this and raised an eyebrow, asking in his deep, monotone voice, “You know this guy?” She nodded and got up, skipping over to him. After inviting him to her table and paying for his carmel macchiato (He complained about her paying but she didn’t care), they both sat down. A flash of recognition crossed both men’s faces before they both gave eachother a glare. She found out that day that September had been one of the people who had completely ignored Mike all while making him look bad. They had both been in the library when they met, standing in line to check out science books. When somebody who had been goofing around behind Mike pushed him, he knocked into the brunette (who was part of the ‘popular clique’) and pushed the books out of his hands.

Turning around with a fierce glare, September recognised Mike from his science and law classes, then picked up his books, looked back to the black haired male and said, “Why don’t you watch where you’re going, Retard? I don’t want to contract your disease. “ After that, whenever Mike tried to say anything, even ‘sorry’, September would only say one word. “Disease.” That eventually went away when they were forced to get along. Didn’t mean when she wasn’t around that they wouldn’t be at eachothers’ throats.

A creak forced Storm from her thoughts, making her look up. Two orange three-toed feet were walking past, the weird ‘ahHaRgHhA’ sound coming from withing the chiken’s beak. She no doubtly had her head to the side, twitching and spazzing out. Just as she thought her luck could get no worse, the bell rang and the lights flickered on. Storm, now sick and tired of this shit, scrambled from her hiding place, flipped off Chica, and ran towards the doors. William with his beautiful red bow that held his equally gorgeous purple hair was just unlcking the door as Storm rushed by. “Fucking fix this,” is all she said before handing the flashlight over.

After a one hour drive to her property in a brand new red comaro (Yeah, she’s rich and is only working for fun, duh. Jk, she’s just working there until Mike quits, which means she and September can quit, and then move onto software design.), the small female ran into her house, changed into some comfy sweats and a t-shirt, then fell into her silky soft bedsheets. As soon as her head hit the pillows, she fell asleep, snuggly and warm.

Storm’s Archive ends here.

#FNAF Archives1

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markleesthighs · 5 years

Text

Black Mamba | Chapter 3

Pairings: Reader x Mark Lee, Reader x Hendery, Reader x Jaehyun, feat. ot21

Genre: NCT mafia!au, angst, fluff, light smut (suggestive), comical

Warnings: Swearing, A LOT of flashbacks, passive-aggressiveness

Words: 3.045k

【 ❶ ❷ ➂ ❹ ❺ ❻ ❼】

Chapter 3 - Moving On

Seoul, Korea, a week after Valentine’s Day 2023

One week. One week since your heartbroken, one week since you’ve lost your love and heart to a man full of shit. You had never stepped foot into Mark’s bedroom since and have taken off your necklace you had kept on for three years was now in a box in your bedside dresser locked away forever. You both never talked with each other since that night and kept it strictly professional.

You focused on your work and have helped succeed almost 80% of the missions since last week. You also found yourself accepting more assassination missions wanting to get out of the mansion. You also got closer to Hendery, and it would not have been a shock to see that Mark took notice to that. He always gazed at you looking at you laughing over something Hendery said or when you let him come into the lab with you to look at what you were working on. He became a really close friend to you since that night.

You came back from an assassination, riding on your motorbike with your helmet on. You rode into the garage and took off your helmet and walked into the mansion and you heard the voice of the guys from the main entrance looking through the windows.

“Who is that?”

“She’s pretty.”

“I wonder when he broke the news to her.”

“Bet Mark bought her that necklace.”

“Ha, I bet he bought her everything she is wearing.”

You immediately knew who they were talking about, a/n (any name). Mark finally decided to bring her to the mansion and show her what he really does for work. You are going to assume its some spoiled brat who only wants Mark for money and his dick. You put your helmet down along with the others in your closet and started to walk down to greet whoever this a/n is. All the guys and Mark immediately stopped talking when they saw you, hearing the clicking of your boots approaching them. They all moved out of your way, and you made eye contact with Mark and a/n. Mark looked at you in panic and awkwardness, awaiting your reaction. I guess Mark thought you wouldn’t be at the mansion by now and try to sneak her in the mansion without you noticing. You reached out a hand to a/n.

“Hello, I am y/n, nice to meet you.”

“Hi! OMG, I LOVE your outfit.”

“Thank you, I’ve heard so much about you.”

You noticed her necklace, it was the same exact one Mark gave you, same letter engraving, the same pendant that you wore for three years.

“How do you know Mark?”

“Oh, Mark?”

You put an arm around his shoulder and gave him a noogie.

“I’ve known this idiot for four years, we are practically family, right, Mark?”

“y-yeah, family.”

She looked somewhat intimidated by you. You had a perfect, healthy body (all bodies are beautiful :)), friendly with all of the guys, and appeared to be a goddess to her.

“Oh, don’t worry about me, if I were to date anyone of these dumbasses it would be Hendery or Jaehyun.”

Both of their faces immediately lit up, and they started to laugh and hit each other

“Hey! That doesn’t mean I would date you, I would only do so if I were forced to by Mark.”

They both calmed down, and a/n seemed to calm down from her worries.

“Y/n why don’t you take a/n for a tour?” Mark said.

You fake smiled and said

“Sure, I would LOVE to.”

The guys and Mark soon dispersed back to their work while you led her around the entire mansion, explaining where everything is.

“So this the main entrance, obviously with high tech security, and has loaded guns and missiles built into its walls to ensure safety.”

“From what?”

“People trying to kill us.”

“This is the kitchen, living, and dining room, we don’t spend much time in the living or dining room since we are all busy 24/7. We also have a personal, professional chef and maid service for you if you feel like it.”

“So if I want anything I can get it?”

“Yes…”

“The floor below is mainly the garage, which you can’t have access to since you are not allowed to leave without Mark, another member, or a bodyguard.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Whatever,” you thought.

“If you go upstairs, this is the floor where the most work happens, and YOU MUST knock on the door before going in, understood?”

She nodded as you continued.

“If you look out here, you can see our bathhouses inspired by Japanese onsens, and you will go into the women’s side, not the men’s side. You can also see our outdoor and indoor shooting ranges where we train our trainees to shoot. Here on this floor, you will find all of our conference rooms and offices, if you look at the end of the hallway on the right that’s Mark’s office, you can feel free to pop in if you’d like. If you need any help, ask Taeyong, whose office is the last door on the right. If you look left, you will see the weaponry and technology labs, my lab is all the way at the end. However, you are NOT allowed inside.”

“Why not?”

“First, you physically can’t come in, and I don’t want anyone or you knocking on the door thinking you can, it has a facial and fingerprint scanner impossible to hack. Only Mark and I can access or allow anyone in. Second, Mark wants you to be safe, so he wants you to stay away from this lab so you can’t get hurt when we are testing weapons.”

“Aww, he’s so sweet.”

You roll your eyes so hard that you might hurt your skull of how annoying she is.

“This is the third floor, where all of the bedroom quarters are, this is where we all sleep, and you will be sleeping in Mark’s room.”

You walked her to Mark’s room and hesitated to open the door getting flashbacks of that night.

“Um, are you going to open the door?”

“Yeah I was, I was just making sure no one was in there.”

You swung the door open and let her walk around, looking at his room. It smelled just as you remembered, musk, cigarettes, and whiskey. You saw as nothing changed except the picture of you two were replaced by her and presents given by you were nowhere to be found. The one thing you still saw was the wall. The wall he threw you into was slightly dented and would only be noticed if you knew what happened there.

“Alright let’s go” (before you start crying at least)

“Okay!!”

She was WAY too peppy and energetic for your type, you have NO IDEA how Mark found her attractive, heck even started dating this chick. You led her through the rest of the house and eventually ended the tour.

“This concludes the tour any questions?”

“Uhhhh, yeah! What do I get to do!”

“HA, nothing.”

“W-what?”

“Listen, you are here to keep Mark happy, pick up a hobby or something. At least make yourself useful here.”

You left her in the elevator walking to your lab exhausted from talking to her and continued working for the rest of the day. You needed a bath and steam, so you headed to the bathhouses to relax for your tiring day. It was still snowing out, and the contrast of the cold breeze and the hot water and steam made you feel extremely relaxed.

You kept thinking in your thoughts about a/n, and how she magically seduced Mark. You also thought if Mark was really over you, or needed to distract himself. But nonetheless, you hoped Mark was happy since you still cared about him and would always support whatever he does with his life.

That was until you heard a crashing in your bathhouse. You immediately got out and put on your robe with a dagger, a throwing knife, and a gun equipped in your pockets. You held your gun and saw the shadow in the changing room who knocked over all of the buckets and towels. You prepared to protect yourself as you put them into a chokehold with your gun to their head.

“If you move or speak you will die got it?”

“y-y/n it’s just me.”

“What are you doing in here?”

“A/N??? WHAT THE HELL YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME!”

“I-I just came to take a bath.”

“Well, a WARNING could have been nice.”

You calmly removed her from her chokehold and walked back to the outdoor onsen to have some steam and she soon followed shortly. She didn’t get in, but she looked around for a bit.

“What do you do around here?”

“You get in and relax, this is usually the time where I can clear my head, but you decided to come along.”

She then hopped in and sat across from you.

“So, do you like anyone here?”

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t know you are surrounded but so many handsome guys, I’m surprised you’re not dating one of them.”

“Why so you can cheat on Mark with one of them?”

“What? No. Never.”

“Well, I’m sorry I’m focused on my work, so I don’t have time for dating.”

“Oh. Have you ever thought about it?”

“No…not any of them are my type.”

You then got out since you’ve been in the onsen bath for too long and felt light-headed.

“BYEEEE I’LL SEE YOU TOMORROW!!!”

You waved and had a cold shower before you left. You felt better after and walked back into the mansion to find Mark reading on the couch, looking like he was waiting for his girlfriend.

“Oh, y/n, I have something for you.”

Mark got up and handed you an envelope with gold lettering with your name on it. You took it and opened if, in front of him, it read “25th Annual Masquerade Ball.” You remembered this ball since you remember your parents attending one every year. Mark was telling you that every member of NCT was required to attend, protect, and enjoy others and themselves.

He told you a fashion designer will come and take your measurements for your custom mask and ball gown. You remembered attending this ball with Mark several times. Even if he was busy, he still promised to give you a dance and never forgot his promise. You have memories of those magical nights, but this is the first time you are going solo. You walked away, but before you entered your room, you heard Mark’s laughing from the living room. You missed that, hearing his laugh and making him smile, it was a bittersweet feeling.

Every morning regardless of the weather, you do a morning run before you work on anything. You wake up really early to go on your run, so you are not disturbed by others in the morning. However, you didn’t realize that someone as looking for you. A/n actually asked a maid where you were. When you returned, she looked at you in awe, after your workout, you looked even more like a Goddess compared to her.

“How was your run?”

“Fine.”

“I was wondering if us girls wanted to hang out today since I have nothing to do here.”

“But unlike you, I have work to do here, so you run along and pick some flowers.”

You walked away with maids holding water, towels, and your change of clothes before heading into the lab. In the lab, your eyes met the invitation again, reminding yourself that the Masquerade Ball is coming up and the fashion designer was coming to see you today. Since you had a fitting around your lunchtime, you decided to design some Masquerade Ball friendly weapons. Gun holsters, knife pockets, tracking devices, earpieces, and night vision lenses. Soon after, you were called for your fitting and walked to the garage, got on your motorbike, and rode off to the fashion designers workshop. You arrived and went up to the top floor to meet a similar face who’s designed all of your outfits to the years prior to the ball.

It felt awkward, but, you kept calm during the entire fitting. While you were doing your fitting, you looked around and saw Mark’s and a/n’s outfit designs on the wall, matching in a beautiful navy blue and gold theme. You never matched Mark at these balls, since you kept your love hidden. The designer decided on a red dress with a golden snake necklace and golden embroidery. He would tell you he would send everyone’s outfits early for you to input any proper equipment or defenses.

It wouldn’t take long, it would just be a quick sew and an add on. You had given him the blueprints of the weapons prior so he can highlight and sew in pockets for special items like poison gas. He showed the masks that fit your special requests and accommodations. They had trackers, analyzers, and night vision mode when you looked through it. They also had an x-ray option to see what weapons the person is currently carrying (only for your mask). They also were secret gas masks and could see through smoke bombs. You soon left your fitting and rode back in peace, knowing that the gala will be left in good hands.

A week later, you were sent everyone’s outfits in a vast array of colors from black to yellow. You equipped everyone’s outfits until you hesitated at Mark’s. It was beautiful, and you knew how good he would look in it. It had golden vines across his navy suit jacket. You looked at a/n’s dress thinking how the dress could have been yours, that if things had worked out differently, you would be wearing this dress. This dress should be your dress, not hers.

You were about to burn the dress when you realized how selfish you were being. It’s Mark’s first time going to a ball with a date, and it’s not like he’s unhappy with her, he smiles all the time around her. You delicately placed her dress down, put a tracking device, dagger, and an alarm system connected to Mark, to know when she’s not within the eyesight of Mark. Your dress, you made sure it could be ripped off for any emergency. The skirt part can rip off and reveal your black pants underneath equipped with everything you needed, guns, knives, bombs, and ammo.

You sent the maids to deliver the suits and dresses to all the NCT members, while trainees were either working or have the night off (depending on how well they did on their tests). You also started talking to Hendery more and more, and now you both became very close friends. Mark did notice this and started to fill up Hendery’s schedule so you couldn’t see him often. You both would eat together, and he would hang out with you in the lab on late nights and bring you tea to keep you working. It would not be surprising if you didn’t say you started to warm up to him, or heck even likes him. He was there for you when you needed it, and you trusted him with your heart.

That night you were tired from all of your work you lied down on your bed and thought about Hendery. You wondered if he felt the same way or even liked you. You remembered when he seems excited when you said you would date him, maybe that’s a sign? You told Hendery all of your worries and concerns, and he was there to listen and comfort you. You two also occasionally had sleepovers in your room, pushing each other playing Mario Kart or watching sad romance dramas. He was like a best friend that you loved more. Since your break up with Mark, it’s been a long time since you’ve had a genuine best friend.

Sure, Mark was your best friend (that you dated), but a person to hang out with and spend your free time with was lovely. Yeah, the other guys are still your friends, but they are always super busy and can’t even catch a break with you. The only reason why Hendery can is that he is the head of his own department, and has other people working under him to do his work. Hendery strictly just reports what he gets from his peers. He works in the medicine and health department, which was in another building, to prevent sickness from spreading and allow a separate hospital for NCT.

You didn’t feel like that lonely child anymore, you felt love. Those same fuzzy warm feelings for Mark resonated within Hendery, but were you ever going to tell him? If he doesn’t feel the same thing what is going to happen?

You took a quick shower and changed, continuing to lay on your bed, thinking. Just as you were in your own thoughts, you heard a knock at your door. You got up to answer it, and speak of the devil, its Hendery. He walked in a little nervous and sat down on the bed.

“What’s up Hendery?”

“H-hey y/n, can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“Do you w-want to come with me to the Masquerade Ball?”

“...”

“A-as f-friends of course...if that makes you feel comfortable.”

“...”

“I-I know you are still hurt from Mark, so I figured you should still enjoy the ball regardless.”

“T-thank you, I would love to go with you Hendery.”

“R-really??”

You then pecked his cheek, which made him blush a crimson red on his cheeks.

“You can also consider me your date then.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

He then hugged you before saying goodbye and goodnight, and you somehow lost all of your worries and fell asleep peacefully.

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ackervida · 4 years

Text

Flames of Nirvana, ch 2

TW: This story will contain strong language, canon-typical violence, implied/mentions of rape, mentions of suicide, abuse, suicide attempts and explicit sexual content. It is manga compliant up until chapter 128, so there will be spoilers!

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23990044/chapters/57707902

Summary: In the heat of a never ending war, Levi finds himself recruiting a compromised spy. But the war outside is nothing compared to their own inner battles, and hand in hand, they find the strength to conquer them one by one. And the world follows.

Pairing: Levi x Reader

Chapter 1: https://ackervida.tumblr.com/post/617128447226101760/flames-of-nirvana-ch-1

Chapter 2

“Miss F/N.”

She mumbled something unintelligible, turning on her other side. Thankfully, her ribs had healed enough to prevent her from wheezing in pain with the movement – the lack of bandages around her face also made sleeping so much more comfortable, when F/N finally ended up succumbing to it. She hated it with every fiber of her being, yet there wasn’t much else for her to do during the past month other than sleep.

“Miss F/N, you have to wake up.”

F/N sighed, opening an eye to look at Falco’s cute little face. He and the other kiddo around, Gabi, had been taking turns bringing her meals and various other things in the past weeks. Apparently, they wanted to be helpful to the older soldiers, since they still had a year left before they could properly enroll in the military. F/N was saddened when they’d revealed this ambition to her, but in a way she could understand – once you’ve been on the frontlines, it was very difficult to sit idly, regardless of your age.

She had to admit, waking up to two adorable kids was much more pleasant than having the doctor come in – she hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, but F/N couldn’t quite stomach him. He had a bad habit of making her feel like she was exaggerating the pain she was in, his ‘routine’ examinations involved a suspicious amount of roaming hands and he’d kept her bedridden all this time – she knew from Falco and Gabi that the other three survivors had already been cleared, recovering in their new home, the Marleyan barracks. She had yet to even be allowed to walk, which was already becoming increasingly preposterous – she’d tried it unsupervised at night, and she was just fine. Also, a part of her was intrigued by the prospect of meeting her fellow renegades. In the chaos of the sewers, F/N hadn’t even managed to get a glimpse of their faces, and they hadn’t set foot inside her assigned room, not even after being discharged. She sometimes wondered if they held resentment for her for some reason, but then she remembered that only the higher ranking soldiers had introduced themselves: Hange, Magath and, implicitly, Levi.

F/N had been surprised when Levi finally made the proposition for her to join their forces. She had expected to put the information she possessed to good use, yes, but she was still nothing more than a compromised spy. She was useless in the field, since her identity was known. And yet, Levi had insisted – she didn’t have to be a spy, she could be a soldier.

All of her subsequent doubts had been promptly put down.

Her knowledge of weaponry was limited? She could learn.

Never used mobility gear in her life? There was a first for anything.

Her hand-to-hand combat skills were mediocre? He would teach her himself.

F/N couldn’t figure out why he was so adamant, but she’d agreed. Of course she had. She’d thought there was no purpose left for her, no reason for her to still be alive, nothing of use she could still provide. If even one person thought otherwise, though, then she would try her very best to prove them right.

If only she could get the fuck out of that bed.

“Hey, Falco,” she greeted through a yawn, stretching her nearly atrophied limbs. “How are you today?”

“Good,” he smiled, setting a tray on her nightstand. “It’s my birthday, actually,” he added shyly.

F/N gasped loudly, patting him on the head. She tried not to let her lack of nails bother her too much – it was strange, but not permanent. “Happy birthday! What are you doing here, then? Why aren’t you celebrating?”

“Well, I want to. But I’m waiting for everyone to come back to base. I thought I’d make cake for everybody.”

F/N hummed – indeed, she had received no visits from anyone other than Falco, Gabi and her insufferable doctor during the past couple of days. Not even from Levi, who visited her almost every day. They must have left for an assignment.

“You know how to bake a cake?” she asked with a small smile, gratefully accepting the bowl of soup. Cauliflower soup again, F/N couldn’t help but notice, chuckling quietly to herself. One of these days, she’d have to finally admit to Levi that she hated it with a passion, and her order at the teashop had been predetermined. She was, however, too hungry to be fussy – her appetite had finally returned.

Falco blushed at the question. “Um, I’ve never done it before...”

“Hmm,” F/N pondered for a moment, an idea slowly forming in her head. “Have you asked Gabi for help?”

Bless his little heart. One had to have lived in a cave to fail to notice the sweet, budding romance between those two, for the boy turned crimson at her question.

“S-She’s in town too. U-Um, don’t tell her I know, but I think she’s buying me a present.”

F/N very nearly cooed. These two were a big part of the reason why she managed to pull herself together in the past weeks – after all, who could mope around a couple of sweethearts?

She grinned, her eyes holding a mischievous glimmer. “So, there is no one around here for now?”

“The soldiers assigned for guard duty are here, and Mister Adam, Mister Joey and Miss Anya-“

“Mhmm. Well, in that case, I have a deal for you.”

Falco cocked his head in confusion. “A deal?”

F/N motioned for him to come closer, so she could whisper in his ear. “If you get me out of the infirmary, I’ll help you bake that cake.”

The boy gasped, his eyes turning wide. “But you’re not allowed to-“

“-Get out of bed, I know. But that’s ridiculous at this point. I can move just fine, but no one here wants to believe me,” she explained, employing a strategic little pout. Falco obviously felt for her, but he was still reluctant, she could tell.

“I don’t know… I don’t want to upset Captain Levi… He’s scary.”

F/N raised a brow at that. “Is he now? I think he’s actually quite nice.”

The poor boy was momentarily too stumped to offer a reply to that, so F/N shook her head and gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. I’m a big girl, if anyone gets upset then I will be the one dealing with them, not you. Plus, I can make a mean chocolate cake.”

Falco finally agreed, and she thanked him by excitedly ruffling his hair. For the first time in… longer than she could remember, she actually felt giddy for something.

And, true to her word, F/N easily stood on her own feet and began rummaging around the room to find a decent set of clothing – the short, transparent white robes she was constantly given to wear were another reason she couldn’t stand the doctor’s guts. In fact, Falco turned around so quickly he nearly popped a vein in his neck – he was used to seeing her lying in bed, covered by the sheets. He hadn’t expected… this.

“Could you keep watch outside, please? We don’t want to get caught before the fun even begins,” F/N said tactfully. As expected, the boy barely uttered an affirmative response before practically bolting outside.

She giggled to herself, then exhaled a breath of relief upon opening the small closet next to the window. Thank goodness. F/N quickly grabbed some fresh underwear, black leggings and a light blue, button-up shirt and walked into the attached bathroom. She was incredibly thankful for her little deal with Gabi – after a particularly unpleasant incident with her doctor, F/N had made a secret arrangement with the girl. F/N started bathing by herself, while Gabi claimed she had taken onto those duties for her – the young woman hadn’t divulged the real reason behind it, opting to just tell her that she wanted to at least do something by herself, but it was a welcome change regardless.

After a quick cleanup and a check on her remaining bandages, F/N spared one look in the mirror. She wasn’t a doctor, but this looked like a nice recovery to her. Admittedly, there were still a few injuries that needed further healing and she was still a little bit underweight, but those problems could be solved outside of this hellhole of a room. Maybe it was because her mental state was finally showing improvement, but F/N had had enough at this point.

“All clear?” she asked, poking her head outside the room. It was as if even the air itself was different, fresher.

“Let’s go,” said Falco, taking the lead and quietly, but quickly leading her somewhere. She made a point of remembering the various turns, gazing at the corridors and attached doors with interest. The infirmary seemed to be attached to the barracks, which was a bit strange to her – there were special areas destined for everything in Starke – but somehow, although bare, this place felt much more welcoming.

They ended up in a spacious area, filled with tables and chairs, and F/N realized it must be a sort of common room. Modest, but charming. She instantly loved it.

“The kitchen is here,” Falco said quietly, taking this sneaking-around business very seriously and opening another door. F/N chuckled, but raised her brows in appreciation upon stepping inside. It was quite large, and there were numerous labeled boxes neatly stocked in easily accessible places. All the pots, pans and kitchen utensils had a designated place, and there wasn’t a single dirty spoon in the entire kitchen.

“Wow, it’s so tidy,” she couldn’t help but say in awe. After all, unlike Starke, where they had people specially assigned for cleaning duties, Marley covered that by soldier rotation as far as she knew. They must be a very neat bunch, and in her experience, soldiers were anything but.

Falco turned to her, wearing a very serious expression. “Captain Levi always wants everything to be perfectly clean. It’s how it’s been ever since he moved here.”

“Oh?” F/N tilted her head, admittedly amused by this revelation. She couldn’t help but wonder where that particular quirk of his stemmed from.

“We’re going to have to clean everything before he gets here, and clean it right.”

She couldn’t help but burst into giggles. Why was the poor boy so scared of Levi? Yes, the way he said things could be coarse, but F/N hadn’t once heard a malicious word come out of the man’s mouth since she’d met him.

“Miss F/N! I’m serious!”

“Okay, okay,” she raised her hands defensively, containing her mirth for his sake. “We’ll clean everything, three times. Now let’s see, there’s flour, eggs, cocoa…”

“Wow,” Falco gaped for the umpteenth time, staring at the tall, delicious looking cake. F/N, who was having much more fun than she felt comfortable admitting, had decided to go all out and form cute little patterns in the chocolate buttercream.

“It looks so good!”

The entire place admittedly smelled amazing, and F/N smiled. The scent brought back happy memories, a welcome change from what she’d lived in recent times. She applied the last detail and sent Falco a knowing look. “Do you want to lick the spoon?”

“Can I??”

“Well, I’ll be,” an unfamiliar voice made them both jolt and turn around, only to meet three different pairs of eyes.

“Whoa, that is massive!” a blue eyed, young man whistled, jogging ahead of the other two individuals to get a better look. He was tall, skinny and had a pale complexion, with a tuft of curly brown hair. “This is the surprise you were talking about, Falco?”

“It’s better!” the boy laughed, his eyes closing in bliss as he licked the gooey wooden spoon clean. “Miss F/N, this is delicious!”

Her name seemed to spark recognition in all of them, which led to a rather uncomfortable moment of them staring at her, while she understood who exactly they were.

“It’s good to finally meet you,” F/N eventually said, testing the waters more than anything. “You all seem to have recovered nicely.”

“Wait – you were discharged?” the same young man exclaimed, as if in disbelief. Upon giving him a better look, there were no traces of physical wounds that she could see, and F/N realized he must have been the one who’d been lucky enough not to get whipped before the Starkans fled. “They said your doctor wanted to keep you in bed for another two months.”

F/N simply shrugged. “Well, I disagreed with that.”

“I-I’m Joey,” he extended his hand, as if just remembering that they had yet to properly acquaint themselves, although they knew of each other. “Joey Fawkes.”

She smiled politely, accepting the handshake. The other, older man then approached her and F/N could immediately tell that, whatever was weighing down on his soul, he wasn’t coping well. The frown etched on his features wasn’t one of ill will, she could see that in his expressive brown eyes – he was just incredibly sad.

The man, whom she identified to be Adam, didn’t introduce himself or offer a handshake. Instead, after paying her one look, he reached out and scooped some buttercream off the cake with his finger.

Deep down, that gesture irked F/N, but she didn’t let it show.

“Not too sweet,” he commented with a surprisingly smooth voice. She offered a smile.

“It’s good,” Adam said, after which he walked straight to the gas stove and set a kettle on the flame, probably in order to make coffee or tea.

“Don’t mind him,” Anya whispered in her ear, laying a strong arm on her shoulder and speaking their mother tongue. “He still hasn’t gotten used to being here… and it’s not a happy story.”

F/N hummed in understanding, watching him with a sympathetic look.

“So why the hell haven’t you been discharged yet, sugar? You’re stick thin, but other than that you seem fine,” the woman said louder, in a rough Marleyan, grabbing her by the shoulders and staring at her up and down. Anya seemed to have a long scar through her lips and down her chin, but it had healed quite nicely from the looks of it.

F/N shrugged, not really eager to get into the topic concerning her doctor, especially around Falco.

“Ah, I’m not really sure. I guess doctor Meyer wants to clear me when I’m fully healed.”

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, for Anya’s face instantly darkened – it was quite a scary sight. Next to her, Joey drew in a nervous breath.

“Meyer? Isn’t that the one you socked in the family jewels?” he asked Anya innocently. The brunette harrumphed.

“Stuck up piece of shit who can’t keep his hands to himself? You’ve been assigned to him? And you haven’t kicked him in the dick?”

“Err,” F/N didn’t quite know how to respond, the whole subject making her extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed. She was not exactly used to having the liberty to issue complaints regarding other people’s treatment of her body. That seemed to become apparent, for Anya and Joey both regarded her with sudden understanding.

“Look, doll, I know you were in the espionage unit and I know what that means. But that’s over and done with now. Someone acts in a way you don’t like, you should say something. Or sucker punch them,” Anya said, adding the last part as an afterthought, as if she were talking about daisies. “Actually, Joey here trained to be a field medic and he’s pretty damn good. You can take a look at her, yeah?”

“Sure,” he grinned, white teeth showing. “If you’re okay with that, F/N. We should all have each other’s backs, after all.”

“Thanks,” F/N replied, a little bit too quickly. She recognized that they were trying to be helpful, but unfortunately the little pep talk only made her feel like a deer in headlights – it wasn’t a matter she was in any way happy to discuss, and she felt exposed. “I appreciate it, but I’m fine, really. I really should, ah, get started on cleaning this place though, huh Falco? I made a huge mess,” F/N forced herself to laugh, escaping the conversation altogether. Thankfully, Falco pretended to have not heard the exchange and nodded vigorously. He intended to get started on the dishes in the sink, yet F/N playfully pushed him away with her hip.

“Birthday boys don’t have to do cleanup,” she chided. “Also, shouldn’t your friends be back by now?”

“No!” surprisingly, all three of her compatriots yelled vehemently. F/N cocked her head to the side in befuddlement, but caught Adam, who was sipping his black coffee, subtly gesturing towards the door and then making a flashing motion with his hand.

Ahh, okay. She got it.

“How about we all clean together?” Joey proposed excitedly, not giving Falco enough time to properly question the outburst. “We’ll get it done faster and there’s less of a chance Captain Levi will have your heads!”

“What the hell is up with that?” F/N mumbled quietly to herself, but shook her head and joined the enthusiastic agreement. She grabbed a broom and got to work.

They were almost done, when Joey began a series of intense (and quite hilarious) gestures behind Falco’s back. F/N had to cover her smile with her hand.

“Why don’t you all take a break and hang out in the mess hall? I’ll finish in here,” she offered.

“Are you sure, Miss F/N?”

“Yes, yes, go on ahead,” the young woman waved him off, already taking her strategic position behind the cake. It was a good thing she’d had the inspiration to place it on a wheeled cart in the first place – there was no way she could carry something so heavy with her injuries.

“Alright, then,” Falco agreed with a wide smile. “Thank you again, Miss F/N!”

Anya inconspicuously passed her an object as she left, and F/N couldn’t help the happy giggle that escaped her mouth upon hearing the loud cheer that echoed as soon as they made their entrance into the mess hall. Falco was a great kid, he deserved it.

She quickly took the twelve candles out of the bag Anya had dropped into her hand and began placing them neatly on the cake. She lit them all with matchsticks and then, grimacing in pain from the effort, she pushed the cart into the mess hall.

Completely aware that her presence would be met with shock, F/N instantly began singing a birthday song, which they all had no choice but to join. She could still feel that she was being stared at, but this was Falco’s moment – and, anyway, she forgot all about it when she saw him being squished by Gabi in a tight hug. It was too cute.

“Make a wish and blow the candles!”

He did just that, and then he accepted his birthday wishes with a beaming face. “Can we all have cake now, Miss F/N?”

Gabi stared with wide eyes. “It looks so good!”

“You have no idea!”

“The hell are you doing here?” F/N faced the inevitable, turning towards Levi halfway even as she began serving slices. She decided to take her chances and be a bit cheeky, offering him a plate.

“I made birthday cake.”

Predictably, he did not find her dry humor tasteful, but Hange stepped in before the Captain could respond.

“Anya told me you’ve been having the same trouble as her with Dr. Meyer?”

F/N exhaled through her nose. She’d wished to be able to weasel herself out of the situation without having to talk about it, she really had.

“What?”

“It’s nothing serious. I feel fine and I wanted to get out of bed. Obviously that wasn’t such a horrible idea, since I haven’t dropped dead yet.”

Unlike Anya, Hange immediately tuned in to her reluctance to speak of it and F/N was grateful that she dropped it. “I’ll go ahead and make the arrangements for you to be cleared then.”

“Thank you.”

The bespectacled scientist gave her a warm smile and, true to her word, walked out. Levi clicked his tongue.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Oh, hi!” F/N cheerfully greeted Levi’s former squad as they all came over to get their slices. “This is your team, right?” she addressed Levi, purposely ignoring his question. He grumbled something about it not being so officially anymore, obviously annoyed that she’d deflected him.

“How do you know?” Armin asked, raising a brow. “I mean, we weren’t allowed to visit you per doctor’s orders.”

“He talks about you guys a lot,” F/N grinned, eyeing each one of them for a moment. “Let’s see… Armin, Jean, Mikasa and Connie?”

“…Right,” said Connie, on behalf of all of them. “I didn’t know you liked us enough to talk about us, Captain.”

“Piss off, brats.”

F/N tried to contain her laughter when they did exactly as he said, but apparently she failed.

“Something funny?”

“No. It’s just,” she relented, not wanting to get on his nerves for evading two questions in a row. “Everyone seems to be so scared of you.”

“Tch.”

“Poor Falco was manic about cleaning the kitchen.”

Levi deadpanned, walking past her. F/N blinked for a moment, after which she had to hold her aching sides from the force of her laughter, following him back into the kitchen. She couldn’t believe it – he’d actually walked there to check if it was clean?

“At least it’s not despicable,” was the verdict.

She leaned against a sparkling clean counter, mirth dancing in her eyes. “Oh?”

“The wooden spoons are in the wrong place, there are condensation marks on the oven door and you missed a few crumbs on the floor.”

F/N watched as he moved around, fixing the errors he spoke of.

“Hmm. So what would happen if everything weren’t spotlessly clean?”

Levi cocked his head at her, momentarily halting his actions. He didn’t speak right away. “Why wouldn’t it be, if it can be? We’re not pigs, so why live like them.”

“Have you lived like a pig before?” she prodded him further, observing the way he methodically wiped the oven door. It definitely didn’t look like something compulsive since he didn’t seem to think twice about getting dirty when the situation required it - it was probably a control issue.

The Captain sent her a look. “Are you trying to pick my brain again?”

F/N lifted her hands in surrender. She couldn’t help it sometimes – it was her natural charisma, coupled with her compassionate demeanor which made her easy to open up to that had gotten her recruited in the first place, and now that she possessed an entire arsenal of techniques, it was difficult not to employ them without thinking.

“You’re awfully curious about others for someone who barely talks about herself.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to prod.”

“That wasn’t my point,” Levi countered. However, he seemed to decide that pushing her was just as futile as her pushing him, so the Captain changed his approach. “Are you getting along well with the others?”

F/N tilted her head, offering a small shrug. “They’ve been kind to me so far.”

“Tch. I’d be surprised if they weren’t – they wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

F/N gazed at him with a small, genuine smile. From day one, he’d found ways to pepper in comments that would help build her up. So small that you could blink and miss them, and yet meaningful all the same. He didn’t have to, just like he didn’t have to save her from the sewers, and yet he did. Maybe it was hard to see for others, but she hadn’t specialized in reading people for nothing; in his own way, he was one of the kindest people she’d ever met.

“That wasn’t what I meant though,” Levi continued, unaware of the gentle expression in her eyes as she regarded him. “Could you see yourself working with them?”

That took her slightly off-guard. Crossing her arms over her chest, F/N walked over until she was at eye level with him and she lifted both eyebrows inquisitively. “What could you possibly have in mind that includes a special ops soldier, an engineer, a medic and a spy?”

Levi met her stare directly, and F/N instantly realized that there wasn’t a shroud of doubt in his mind regarding his idea. “A squad.”

“You still feel guilty about her, don’t you?” Hange’s quiet voice snapped Levi out of his haze. Uncharacteristically, he’d allowed his mind to wander, and it appeared that his gaze had decided to remain on F/N. She was seated alongside her compatriots, listening to Joey and Anya’s animated talk patiently and occasionally pitching in to say something or to try to include Adam in the conversation.

Levi had allowed Hange to drag him to breakfast that morning, even though it wasn’t his favorite activity after his routinely sleepless nights, and as the scientist placed a number of files on the table, he began to understand why.

He sighed in reply to her question, reading some lines from the files fugitively – he’d already done it a hundred and three times. “I wouldn’t call it guilt.”

“Hmm. Then what is it?”

The Captain clicked his tongue, his features showing his internal struggle to put his thoughts into words. “We’ve dealt with spies before, but she’s different. It’s like she can snap her fingers and get inside my head – she got me thinking about why I’m so adamant about cleaning, for fuck’s sake.”

Hange couldn’t help but chuckle, despite the off-put glare she received for it. “Oh? And why are you so adamant about cleaning?”

“I don’t fucking know. I didn’t let her get that far. Maybe it would have made me turn upside down and start living like a slob instead, how should I know,” he said dryly, a shiver going down his spine even as the words came out of his mouth. He’d never given it a second thought until F/N had implied it may have something to do with his upbringing – now he couldn’t stop thinking about it. A part of him wanted to know, a part of him was terrified of it. It was infuriating.

“Well, for one, the spies we’ve dealt with before were kids who simply infiltrated our ranks. She has a different kind of training. Are you concerned she has ulterior motives?”

“She’s given me no reason to think that.”

“Ah. So that’s what it is then. You’re scared she might, but she’s too good for you to realize it,” Hange deduced. Levi didn’t give her verbal confirmation, but it wasn’t like she needed any. “You’re not used to anyone being able to figure you out – not in such a short amount of time, at least – and you’re also not used to actually being interested in what someone has to say. I’m not saying we won’t continue to monitor all of them carefully, but maybe you should give her a bit more credit?”

Levi took some time to mull over his friend’s words, and ultimately he grunted in reluctant agreement. After all, since it had been decided that all four of the Starkan renegades would come to form a cohesive unit under his command, he would have plenty of time to make sure they were all loyal to their new allegiance. He just couldn’t help but feel a nagging discomfort – unlike the others, who were fairly easy for him to understand, talking with F/N sometimes felt like he was talking to a brick wall. She was cooperative, yet she was probably more adept than even Erwin at weaseling her way out of subjects she didn’t want to discuss. The fact that she could read him so easily while it was so hard for him to understand her also didn’t help.

“Well, since all of them have been discharged now, I think it’s time to get down to business, don’t you?” Hange brought him back to the present again, munching on a slice of buttered toast. Levi hadn’t commented on it, but deep down he found it endearing that Hange had discovered a passionate infatuation with all things dairy since they’d relocated to Marley. After all, animal products had been considered a luxury for the better part of their lives.

“Right,” he agreed. They’d convened that the interrogation process could wait until the newest additions to their forces were at least mostly recovered, their files now containing only the background the four of them had provided during the past month. Levi’s eyes annoyingly rested on F/N’s file first, where it was written that the twenty-four year old had grown up in a very high-profile family of politicians and her recruitment had occurred on the same day that Victor Baal came to power. That had interrupted her superior studies, which revolved around history and politics – fitting, Levi had to admit. The details pertaining to her family and her experience in the Starkan espionage unit were still blank, while the reason for her treason was decidedly obvious.

Next, he glanced at Joey’s file. He was the oldest of five, and at twenty years of age he’d decided to use his natural caregiving skills in order to join the army and get a better salary to support the rest of his orphaned siblings. Five years later, despite a lack of superior medical education, he was deemed proficient enough to be sent on the frontlines – at the same time, however, Baal’s rise to power had prompted him to quickly make arrangements to leave the military. That proved impossible, and all he managed to do was get his family out of the country and into Marley before being caught and facing trial.

In fact, that had been the soldiers’ assignment the previous day – they’d verified the address that Joey had given them, indeed meeting four kids ranging from ten to twenty years of age living in a cramped little space. Reiner had taken it upon himself to find a better living arrangement for them, and although Joey hadn’t been allowed to visit them himself, they were toying with the idea to allow it in the foreseeable future.

Adam seemed to only open up to Hange for some reason, and he hadn’t offered much other than his initial explanation – he didn’t like talking about it, and he hated being so far away from the possibility of finding his daughters even more. He was the one Levi was most concerned about – the Captain knew he would place his own interests over theirs in a heartbeat, and that was something he needed to control carefully.

Lastly, Anya was the most straightforward story. She disagreed with everything regarding Baal’s regime, she had no immediate family to worry about and she had none of Joey’s prudent nature or F/N’s finesse. The forty year old had snapped one day, killing her teammates as well as her squad leader in plain view. Apparently – and she was quite proud of this – eight soldiers had been required to finally detain her. She’d been in the special ops, so Levi was quite glad that at least one of them possessed fighting skills of high caliber.

“Do you want to do it the same way as last time? I talk with the men and leave the ladies to you?”

“No,” Levi replied after giving it some thought. “I think we should all do it, including the brats. They’re suspicious and they’re avoiding them.”

Levi couldn’t blame them – whether from the Paradise or Marleyan side, all younger soldiers were quietly distrustful of the four Starkans. They’d all experienced betrayal, so it was only natural. The only reason they hadn’t spoken of it was their respect for their Captain and Commander, and Magath respectively. Levi knew them well enough, however (his brats, at least), and their compassion always warmed them up. They’d lost so much, but they hadn’t lost that part of themselves yet.

“Alright, then. We’ll start after breakfast.”

Magath opened the door and F/N offered Joey a warm smile as he walked out. The young man was quite obviously worn out from the experience, but his blue eyes stubbornly remained bright. He returned the gesture, patting her on the shoulder as he walked past.

“You’ll feel better at the end,” he tried to encourage her. F/N didn’t quite believe it would be so, but she appreciated his words regardless.

She was the last to walk into the spacious office, and by this time it was already late afternoon. Embarrassingly, her stomach had begun singing with hunger – it was ridiculous, how her appetite had soared in the past days. She hoped her guts wouldn’t holler during the following ordeal, but then again F/N guessed she had bigger things to worry about.

She couldn’t hide or escape anymore – she’d have to talk. And no matter how much time she spent steeling herself outside that door, she knew how badly her vulnerability was going to affect her.

Although she knew better than to think it would be of any help, F/N straightened her shoulders and held her head up high as she took her seat, gazing at the faces surrounding her. They ranged from conflicted to disheartened to downright bored, if the blonde girl sitting cross legged on the windowsill was any indication.

F/N opened her mouth to say something that, for her own sake, would lighten the atmosphere and alleviate those heavy stares, but her stomach beat her to it by releasing the loudest growl she had ever heard coming out of her own damn self. She turned crimson.

Connie was the first to burst into laughter, followed by Jean, Hange, Reiner, and soon enough most inhabitants of the room were at the very least turning away to hide a smile, like Levi was.

“Me too,” said Annie, and even though she was dead serious, her inference only amplified the general hilarity. Connie sent her a sly look.

“What’s that, Annie? You want some pie?”

“Sorry, Annie,” added Reiner, despite the murderously sour expression on her face. “I seem to remember you’ve already eaten all the pie on the continent.”

“…Do we have pie or not?” F/N found it an appropriate time to pitch in, causing them to burst into laughter all over again because she wasn’t even aware of the inside joke.

“Alright, alright,” Magath waved his hands. “We’ll resume this after dinner.”

Walking into the mess hall, F/N was a bit disappointed that her compatriots weren’t there. She could understand they may all need time to themselves right then, but she wasn’t momentarily sure where to take a seat after getting her potato stew and leftover slice of cake from the day before. Her eyes searched for Levi, but found Jean’s waving hand instead.

Accepting the invitation with a small smile, she sat next to him and facing Mikasa. Out of all of them, she was the least talkative, and F/N couldn’t pretend that she didn’t know why. She had yet to reveal it, but she’d been obliged to study information pertaining to all of them.

“Thanks for the cue back there, we were all starving,” was Jean’s opening line, to which F/N released a soft snort.

“I can’t take credit. I’ve been hungry nonstop recently,” she admitted in Eldian, momentarily shocking them. They shared a few glances and visibly, albeit unconsciously relaxed, making F/N smile to herself – people always underestimated the power of language and how speaking one’s mother tongue could make them feel at home.

“I used to know someone like that,” Connie chuckled lightly, though the mirth didn’t reach his eyes. Instead, he gazed at the food wistfully. “Potato stew and chocolate cake… Sasha would have loved this.”

Their eyes all drooped with heartache and yet they smiled, as if they didn’t know which emotion was stronger – their grief or their affection for whomever they were remembering. Mikasa hummed, bringing a spoonful of cake to her lips.

“Sasha would have needed to be tied up over this.”

Her comment prompted a series of mild, approbatory chuckles to commence around the table, after which Armin leaned back and sighed.

“It’s so strange, isn’t it? Not long ago, all the people in this hall were on opposite sides of the battlefield, killing each other and those dear to them. Now we’re laughing together and eating the same food. I’m… still not used to it, if I’m honest.”

No one had a reply at the ready for him, so F/N sighed. “I know it probably won’t help, but it’s better food than anything in Starke.”

Her change of subject seemed to be a welcome one, for their eyes rested on her with interest.

“Oh, really? Somehow I expected everything to be better there,” Jean stated, not without bitterness in his tone.

F/N hummed negatively. “No. Not anymore, at least. Food isn’t viewed as something to be enjoyed or something to bond over. You have a strict plan made according to your body and what it is expected to achieve, and if that plan entails eating a piece of beef with porridge, then you’re eating a piece of beef with porridge.”

“Not anymore?” Armin questioned, always perceptive. “You mean since Victor Baal came to power?”

“Right. Things used to be very different, as I’m sure you’ve been told.”

They had been, and still there was curiosity lingering in their eyes. Connie opened his mouth to ask a question, however he was cut short by Levi appearing beside them.

“Come on, brats. We don’t have all day.”

F/N raised a brow at him. “Am I a brat, too?” she asked, just for the sake of it, because she was about to experience an unpleasant range of emotions soon enough and at least right then she still retained her sense of humor.

“You’re a pain in my ass,” was his deadpan, obviously sarcastic answer. She couldn’t help but grin, despite the looks she received for it – his sense of humor was crude, dry, but somehow it got the job done.

That small instance of relief was, however, short lived. Soon enough, she was back in the chair and there was no delaying it anymore.

The first question reached her ears, and she had no choice but to speak.

#levi x reader #levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman #levi ackerman fanfiction #aot levi #aot x reader #captain levi #captain levi x reader #snk levi #shingeki no kyoujin fanfiction #attack on titan #aot fanfiction

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joyofcrime-elinorhigh · 5 years

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Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular REVIEW:

Hello there, everybody. My name is JoyofCrimeArt and Halloween is right around the corner. Enjoy it while you can because the minute Halloween is over you know that big business and mass media are going to start bombarding us with Christmas music and advertisements twenty four seven, (assuming they even wait that long.) But regardless of that THIS time of year is celebrated with candy, pumpkin spiced everything, and of course Halloween specials. You got your Charlie Brown's and your Over the Garden Wall's and such, but if you ever watched Cartoon Network during the month of October during the early to mid two thousands their is one special you must of at least glimpsed at least once. That special is Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular!.......Ah, I see what you did there, it's a pun on... yeah, well played special.

In case you don't know Scary Godmother is an animated CGI Halloween TV special created by Rainmaker Entertainment in 2004. It is based on the children's book and comic series of the same name created by Jill Thompson. This special was a staple of Halloween on Cartoon network for many years and even got a sequel entitled "Scary Godmother: Jimmy's Revenge" the following year. Now is this special any good. Ehhh-Ye-No....Sorta? Let's talk about it. The first thing you'll notice about this film is it's animation. It's...not the best looking by today's standards for sure. CGI from this era is definitely dated by this point, but it's hard to blame the special for it's animation given that it was only 2004. Plus the special does offer up it's own sort of style in many respects. The character designs on the humans aren't very good, as a lot of the time they do just looked like pallet swapped versions of the same model, but the designs of the actual monsters later in the special are really creative looking, just like in the books. Plus they do this neat thing where a lot of the backgrounds will be hand drawn illustrations and certain props will have a cool "pop-up book" element to them. So yeah, the animation is pretty dated, but I'm glad that they did something to make it have it's own unique look. So I can forgive it for the most part. The special opens up on Halloween night as we see three kids, Daryl, Bert, and Katie dressed in Halloween garb outside of the haunted "Spookhouse." Katie is dressed up as a cat, which is sensible enough, but Daryl is dressed up as a piece of candy, Bert is a baseball driver in his SUV. It's dumb and cheesy but in a charming and kinda amusing kind of way. Anyway, then we Jimmy appear on top on a tombstone dressed in his devil pajamas, but he is quickly knocked off of the stone be the light from a flashlight held by his younger cousin, Hannah, our main protagonist for the story. Now here is where things start to get a bit odd. Jimmy asks why Hannah is flashing the flashlight around, and then the three other kids jump in calling for a "flashback." Now some fourth wall humor isn't the weird thing, but what's weird is the fact that we don't actually get any real "flashback." instead we get a scene of the characters reenacting a scene where Hannah's parents give Hannah the flashlight with Daryl and Katie playing the part of Hannah's parents. But the thing is, 1.) Jimmy and Hannah clearly came to the Spookhouse separately from the other three kids because they show up afterwards, so there's no way that Katie and Daryl could of known the specifics of how Hannah got the flashlight. 2.) Jimmy was in the flashback, picking Hannah up before going trick-or-treating! So how was he confused by Hannah's flashlight? He saw Hannah's parents give the flashlight to Hannah! I mean I suppose he might not have been paying much attention to what Hannah was doing since Jimmy wasn't in the exact shot where Hannah's Dad (played by Daryl.) gave Hannah the flashlight, but still! Also then there's like this wipe, where Hannah comments that that was close to how it all went down. With, Bert even being annoyed he didn't have a role in the flashback, so I'm not even sure if that scene even happened at all! It's hard to explain but it's a really bizarre scene. Point is, Hannah's dad gave Hannah the flashlight, saying that light from a flashlight could scare away monsters. Anyway, while Hannah is off flashing her flashlight around Jimmy talks to his friends. Jimmy comes with the idea to trick Hannah into enetering the old Spookhouse. That way Hannah would run home scared and they could trick-or-treat without her, since there "big kids" and she isn't. The other three are against it at first but end up being tempted into evil by the silly devil hoodie clad little boy. So they tell Hannah that there is a monster in the Spookhouse, and every Halloween the new kid must go inside and give the monster a piece of candy or else the monster will come out and eat every kid in the world. So Hannah goes into the house, and is tricked into thinking the house is full of monster due to Jimmy's amazing work at creating hand shadows.

I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE OR HOW GOOD YOU ARE, HANDS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY! Anyway the big kids run outside the house leaving Hannah in, holding down the door knob so she can't run away. Even though the whole plan was to make her run away. They just want to traumatized the kid a little more. Y'know, for the lol's and such. Anyway Hannah starts crying until suddenly her Scary Godmother appears! Hannah is at first to sad to even notice this, but eventually Scary Godmother is able to get her attention. Now you may be wondering what is a Scary Godmother, and the answer to that is obvious! It's..um...I guess there like Fairy Godparent's but...spoopier? Or something? I dunno, it's not really touched upon much. All that matter's is that Scary Godmother is going to kidnap-I mean-invites Hannah to her home on the "Fright Side" for her Halloween party, so she can introduce Hannah to all of her monster friends in order to help her get over her fear of monsters. We get this weird scene where Scary Godmother has Hannah get on her broom and they fly up the chimney and into the sky to get to the Fright Side. They fly through this weird cloud monsters mouth and then end up there, but what I don't get is if Hannah flew up the chimney how come none of the big kids saw her? Also later in the film they don't seem to need to fly back in order to get back into the Spookhouse. I figured that the Fright Side was tied to the Spookhouse but they seem to be flying away from the house in order to get there. WHAT ARE THE RULES HERE! NO, YOU'RE OVER THINKING THIS! Anywho they end up in Scary Godmother's house located on in the Fright Side. I like the design of the house, it oozes Halloween and the pop up book aesthetic really shines here. Scary Godmother begins introducing Hannah to all of her friends. Starting with her "Broommate." (Yeah, I hope you like puns, cause you're going to be getting a lot before this 44 minute film is over.) Mr. Pettibones, a Skeleton who lives in peoples closets. Much like Pearl from Steven Universe his main personality trait...is being really gay. *OH MY GOD, IT WAS A JOKE, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME STEVEN UNIVERSE FANS* I swear as a kid I never got the joke that he was suppose to be a skeleton "in the closet." but it's actually kinda clever looking back on it now. And all joking aside he's not a bad character. He does act as the sassy gay best friend to Scary Godmother but he is a funny character who has a role in the story. He's the one setting up most of the party. Mr. Pettibones also explains more to Hannah that not all monsters are bad. We then cut back to Deryl, Bert, Katie and Jimmy waiting outside of the house waiting for Hannah to come out screaming, annoyed that it's taking so long and-OMG WHAT THE HECK!

We get a Black Hannah and what I think is just a literal clone of Katie, except she's in a bee costume. Who cares about this story, I want to know about the secret underground cloning lab that exists in this town! Anyway as I said the big kids are waiting for Hannah and Daryl and Katie are trading candy, because they decided to trick-or-treat a little before meeting up with the rest of the gang. Katie offers Deryl a piece of candy for "three kisses." And they go in to kiss before Bert interrupts them. I wonder where this romantic subplot will lead........ (It leads nowhere.) Back on the Fright Side it's time for Hannah to meet another one of Scary Godmother's monster friends. This time a werewolf (or is it wolf man?) named Harry. Harry is...pretty much the worse. He's dumb, arrogant, rude, and overall self absorbed, with food being the main thing on his mind as he mooches off all of his friends. And I'm not saying this as an insult to the film, because the film acknowledges it! Nobody in the film likes this guy! And to be fair he's not too annoying to the audience, as he seems far more annoying to the characters in the film, but still. It's weird why they even bother inviting this guy. Even when Harry isn't doing something wrong everyone at the party seems to have disdain for him, which in some ways makes me actually feel bad for him. But then he does something else selfish or annoying to make me feel less sympathy towards him, which I guess is good since the film isn't trying to make him sympathetic I guess? You'll see more as I go forward with the review, but yeah. Harry is THAT guy. The guy we all know, the friend that we don't like but we just got to put up with. Harry goes up to Hannah thinking that she is an actress in his favorite "Skelevision" show. (Ha Ha! The puns have returned!) I wonder where this subplot of Harry thinking Hannah is an actress will lead........ (It leads nowhere.) Though I do appreciate the film diverting from the cliche "Vampires vs Werewolves" rivalry, instead opting for a "Skeletons vs Werewolves" rivalry, which makes a lot more sense when you think about it. Though this rivalry probably has less with race and more with everyone hating Harry. So after that it's time for the next guest to arrive. We get the vampiric couple of Count Max, Ruby, and their son Orson. Wait a minute....Max....Ruby....

MY GOD! Scary Godmother invites the vampires in. (Because vampires can't enter a house uninvited.) and Hannah starts befriending Orson. It's a really cute scene and makes some great use of a rotating camera angles. Orson is also really fun with his awkward childishness contrasting the fact that he is a vampire. Hannah and Orson's friendship just feels like a genuine friendship in the way kids there age becomes friend. (Also it's a better love story then Twilight, am I right? Yuk Yuk Yuk?) Oh and there's also a pointless chase scene...moving on. Also throughout the film Harry keeps becoming incapacitated. First he get's peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth making him unable to talk earlier in the special, and then he get's hypnotized into a trance by Count Max. We then get our next guest, the monster named Bug-A-Boo. A giant multi-eyed fanged monster. I love his design due to it's uniqueness and while he's not actually scary looking to the audience, if you where to imagine this thing being in the real world it would be terrifying. And Hannah agrees with me as Bug-A-Boo is the monster that causes her to finally freak out. And can you blame her. One of his teeth is the SIZE OF HANNAH!

Also there's a genuinely funny bit with Hannah screaming, then Scary Godmother telling her to breath. She breaths and then starts screaming again. Good stuff. Anyway another chase scene begins and Hannah tries to shine the flashlight on Bug-A-Boo. Only to find out it doesn't have any effect. Scary Godmother lies to Hannah telling her that flashlights only work on monsters who live in the closet, not under the bed. Hannah says she wants Bug-A-Boo to leave and he begins to comply. This is when she see's that looks don't matter, and that Bug-A-Boo is actually nice. Though is he that nice? We learn that his job is to scare children by hiding under there beds, which is pretty much the same thing that the big kids do to Hannah, and their treated as the villains. Also do you think whatever company Bug-A-Boo works for is a rival company with Monsters Inc? With all of the guest arrived the monsters and Hannah begin their Halloween party. We cut back to the big kids and theirs a bizarrely funny bit with a Bert saying that his "Door is ajar." there's no logical reason I find it funny, but I do. Also that cut to the big kids lasted exactly 19 and a half seconds and only exists to do the "Door is ajar" bit. WORTH IT! Then we get a very brief dance sequence with the monsters and then cut BACK to the big kids. Because...why not? The night is ending and the big kids have, for all intensive purposes ended. Katie wants to go an rescue Hannah but Jimmy is insistent on waiting for her to come out of the house on her own. Jimmy you're plan isn't very good! You have your little cousin run into an old abandoned house that has a frickin' GRAVE YARD it it's front yard, and then spend like, hours, waiting for her to run out. Why not just go in there and see if she's scared? If she is she'll probably agree to have you take her home. I means she's must of been there for a while since all of the houses are turning there lights off, so if she wasn't scared before what would make you think that she's be scared now. What do you think she's been doing this whole time?! You wasted your whole Halloween on faulty logic! If you wanted to get more Trick-or-Treating done you should of just cut your loses and given up long before now! But no, you still hold on to this plan. What is she was attacked by a murderous clown or something!? Who knows what kind of non supernatural threats could be inside this creepy old house. Jimmy you are so stupid!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgxYUxqcg1Q

Ugh! So anyway Jimmy says that they should continue with his idiotic plan because he's the leader, and all of the big kids get into an argument on who the leader is. There's a bit decide to do a vote on who should be leader and they each get one vote each. Bert and Jimmy vote for themselves and Katie and Daryl vote for each other. (Which is a cute moment and the one of the only bits of continuation for their "romantic subplot.") Then if that wasn't pointless enough we get a scene of Bert demanding recounts and Daryl recounting the votes. Granted the scene is kinda funny, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't pointless. Back in the Fright Side we get more interactions between our colorful cast of characters, and we get to see a bit more of Hannah and Orson and also some interactions with Max and Ruby. We get to see Max is sort of introverted and behind the times. He wants to be, in his own words, "groovy." I like Count Max a lot because of this and most lines from him get a pretty good laugh out of me. He's kinda like a less silly version Count Dracula from the Hotel Transylvania series. Again, it's good stuff. So then it turned out that Harry, the Scumbag Steve of the monster world, has eaten all of the buffet. (Though in Harry's defense, before this scene none of the other monsters where letting him eat any of the buffet, which does seem a bit unfair. It further goes to show how odd it is that they even invited him if he wasn't even allowed to partake.) So now that there's no food left And thus Bug-A-Boo suggests that they should order pizza. And thus we begin the pizza sub plot! I call it the sub plot because the whole pizza scene takes up a total of four minutes (not counting the cut back to the big kids that occurs in the middle of said subplot.) and contributes almost nothing to the story! I know that four minutes does not sound like much, and it really isn't, but consider the fact that the special is only 44 minutes long. So that's an eleventh of your whole story! Keep that in mind. So we then get a scene where we learn that Bug-A-Boo and Hannah both like pizza with extra cheese and olives on it. Further cementing that fact that Bug-A-Boo is nice and doesn't eat little girls. Proving that no matter how different people look or act we can all bond over are love for pizza. World peace is truly a possibility here folks. So they have Harry order the pizza's because they clearly haven't learned there lesson by this point and he ordered twelve pizza's, and Scary Godmother doesn't have enough money to pay for it. There's a funny bit where the pizza delivery boy offers to give them the pizza's on the house is Scary Godmother gives him her soul, but she declines. Scary Godmother, Mr. Pettibones, and Hannah try to get some money by taking all the money that got stuck to Bug-A-Boo from being under the beds all day. Hooray for stealing money from your friends! (Which he accidentally stole from children!) Also the pizza's are said to cost about 200 dollars, and Hannah even mentions finding a 50 dollar bill. I know Bug-A-Boo goes under a lot of kids beds but how many kids who are young enough to be scared of monsters under the bed really have that much money under there beds. Even I've never seen a fifty dollar bill before, and I'm way older then those kids would be! So then Scary Godmother chastises Harry for buying to many pizza's, telling him that he's going to make it up to her by working for her until he makes up the money. This is actually a major plot point in the second special, if you can believe that. Also Harry doesn't get any of the pizza. Poor Harry. If only he wasn't so darn awful I wouldn't feel so conflicted in feeling bad for him! There's also a funny joke where Count Max recalls an old conversation he had. "-But other then that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the show!" It's funny because her husband was shot right in front of her...oh, now I've bummed myself out. Then Hannah tells the monsters why she's here, and gives Bug-A-Boo a piece of candy in exchange for not eating everyone in the world and that's when the monsters tell Hannah that she had been lied to by Jimmy. We also learn that Jimmy is one of the kids on Bug-A-Boo's route and that even big kids get scared. Then Scary Godmother comes up with a plan to get back at Jimmy. It's time to go Toy Story on those fools. Outside the Spookhouse the big kids finally decide to enter the house, even though by now they seem scared to enter it themselves, which would make a logical reason why they didn't go in to get Hannah by now, except they where in the Spookhouse earlier in the film when Jimmy was making his magical shadow puppets. They walk inside and see Orson, thinking he's just a kid in a costume. Orson get's mad that they don't think that he's a vampire and called out his parents form the closet, as Count Max and Ruby say that there going to eat the big kids. They run in fear from the actual vampires and end up coming across all the other monsters all threatening to eat the kids. Harry ends up actually trying to eat Daryl thinking that he's a actual piece of candy. So that's one potential human casualty that could of occurred as part of this plan. They then find Hannah and Hannah uses her flashlight to "defeat" the monsters, as every time she points the flashlight at one of the monsters they pretend to die. Scary Godmother even frickin' melts. The big kids end up running out of the house scared and Scary Godmother gives Hannah a magic key, telling her that if she ever wants to return to the Fright Side she can, and all that she would have to do is use that key on any door. Jimmy asks if Hannah wants to hold his hand for "her protection" and she agrees. The special ends on the valuable moral that "Revenge is great!" So in conclusion, is Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular any good, and is it worth watching? Ehhhhhh, I think it depends on who you are. This special, from a technical standpoint, isn't that great. There are a ton of flaws with it. The animation is dated, the special is overall pretty plotless, there is a ton of filler, and some of the choices made by the characters don't make to much sense. So if you want a special that is better on a more technical level, one with better story, animation, ect. then this special probably won't be your cup of cider. But if you have nostalgia for the special, or if you don't mind some cheesiness and just want a fun but kinda dumb special that will put you in the Halloween mood, you might end up enjoying it. I had more fun watching this special for this review then I expecting to be honest with you. So maybe consider checking it out sometime. What do you think of Scary Godmother? What do you think of the sequel (which I hope to review next Halloween, from what I remember it's one of the few sequels that is better than the first one, though that not that difficult considering this special.) Leave your thoughts in the comments down bellow, I love to hear what you guys think. Any suggestions for things I should review. Suggest them down bellow and maybe I'll do em' if I find them interesting enough. Please fav, follow, and comment if you like my review and have a great day and Happy Halloween! ...Oh, and did you know that Scary Godmother is played by Rarity from MLP:FIM? And Hannah is Princess Cadance? It's weird. (I do not own any of the images or videos in this review all credit goes to there original owners.)

#Scary Godmother #Cartoon Reviews #Halloween #2000's #Review

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blueangelicrose · 5 years

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A New Beginning: Chapter 6: Secret Family History Revealed and The First Day of Work

A very long time ago, even before Joan and her sister were born, a quiet but not so secret war was raging on between two dimensions. These dimensions are called Heaven and Hell. Heaven, as everyone knows, is the home dimension of the Creator of all things, the angels (his loyal workers), and other beings that has either lived or has just been created and cannot die. And Hell, of course like everyone knows, is a unholy dimension that God, the Creator, created in order to hold the first fallen angel, Lucifer, also known as the Devil. Hell is not only the home of the Devil, but also his evil minions, souls of the damned, and other fallen angels. But what everyone didn't know were all the battles that were fought in this eternal war. One of these battles was about to change the tide of the war, and for the better.

During this one particular battle, a Dark Cupid, who he and his family are considered as nobles in Hell, fell from the sky and crashed to the Earth. He was greatly wounded from a stab wound to the side of his stomach from an Angel's sword. That said Angel came right after him to finish him off. And as the Angel was about to execute the finishing blow, the Dark Cupid pleaded to the Angel to please let him live. He told him that he was going to be a new father and he had to be there for his family. He also said that he, his family, and close friends that were practically family never really had total loyalty and respect for the Devil. He explained that they tried various ways of trying to escape his grasp but to no avail. He even tried to avoid going to battle altogether. But the Devil said that since he and his family and friends were on the verge of being eradicated by the Devil himself, due to their many attempts of escape. And if he didn't participate in this battle and war, it would only ensure their fate. He and his loved ones were always dreaming of either living separately from the Devil's rule or even better yet, finding salvation from God and living in peace.

So the Dark Cupid asked if the angel could spare him his life and let him return to his family, then he and his loved ones would swear total allegiance to God. The angel was dumbfounded. He never heard anything like this before from someone like him. The angel wasn't totally for sure if he was telling the truth or not. Dark beings from Hell are notorious liars and can't be trusted. But something in the angel told him that he COULD trust him. Then, the angel had an idea. He told the Dark Cupid that if he helped him in this endeavour, he would not only serve under the name of God but he also wanted him to promise that, when the time comes, one of his descendants would marry and have a family with one of his descendants. It would be proof that things CAN change for the better, and someday, change the way everyone saw things. The Dark Cupid was surprised at his demands, but agreed anyways. Soon enough the angel healed him and helped him evacuate his loved ones to a safe place where even the Devil couldn't get a hold of them.

The Dark Cupid asked the angel if it was okay to do this behind God's back. But the angel told him that He already knows and was quite fine with it. The angel also told him that God is all-knowing and works in mysterious ways. So if He says it's okay, then He has a plan for both the Dark Cupid and his loved ones. The angel held out a box with beautiful designs on it and told the Dark Cupid that if he felt completely sure about this, then he would open the box and part of God's power and blessings would transform him and his loved ones. Making them part of the Heavenly Kingdom forever. The Dark Cupid looked at the box, then his loved ones, back at the box, and then at the angel. All his loved ones smiled and said it was okay. The angel also said that it wouldn't cause him or his loved ones any harm and that from now on, God would always protect them. The Dark Cupid felt reassured and opened the box, and like as the angel said, they were completely transformed and were turned into servants of God.

And as time progressed, the descendants of both the Dark Cupid family and the Angel's family fulfilled the promise that was made oh-so long ago, and as a result came the most beautiful and lovely twins that would change the course of history forever. But even the most perfect looking people have their struggles. Like, for instance, starting a new but temporary job. But in Joan's case, it was a job at the Devil's Casino! The very being that her ancestors tried so hard to escape from! And now she's working for him! But fortunately for her, it was only temporary. As long as she earned enough money to pay back the debt and get her locket back, she would endure it.

King Dice showed Joan and Adrian around and then quickly lead them to their rooms. Their rooms were spacious and very lavish. Everything to the floor, the furniture, the beds, and to the ceiling was gorgeous. The only thing was, was that both their rooms were at opposite sides of two entirely different wings of the building. Dice had let them get settled in and told them to hurry up and get changed then meet him in the lobby in about a half hour. When he left, Joan quickly pulled out a magical telecommunications compact mirror and informed her superiors of what had happened. Let's just say that her superiors were less than pleased, to put it lightly. But as they were about to scold Joan, they suddenly received a message from God. The message said that it was okay, as long as she didn't do anything that would cause trouble for the Heavenly Council. And to keep in constant contact with them and report anything suspicious that the Devil might be cooking up. Joan and, reluctantly, the Council agreed upon the terms that God had set. Then as she signed off, she looked through her closet, and found her new uniform. She sighed deeply and said, "Let's get this over with."

Within the half hour they came to the lobby in their uniforms ready to work. Joan's uniform was a classic white blouse with a deep scarlet red feminine vest with shiny gold colored buttons on the front of the vest. She also had a black feminine styled pants and shiny, classy, but feminine looking black closed toed shoes. And to not attract any attention to herself, she wore her hair in a business styled bun held together with a very strong clip. She also wore her thick glasses so that no one could easily recognize her. And as for Adrian, he wore a men's white long sleeved shirt with a brown vest that had shiny gold buttons on the front. He also wore a men's black long sleeved pants and had black, shiny, and classic looking closed toed shoes. He didn't really need to disguise himself since he didn't have a high risk of being discovered of being an angelic reconnaissance agent.

As they stood there in the lobby, King Dice came over to them and said, "Ah! So both of you CAN follow orders without messing up. At least.....for now. Anywho, these are your fellow colleagues that you will be working with from now on, or at least until you repay your debt." Behind him was a crowd of people(?) all in uniforms. Some of them she recognized right off the bat. Like the Tipsy Troop, also known as the Glass Trio, Mr. Wheezy, Victoria Doll, Phear Lap, Chips Bettigan, and of course, the Cup Bros. There was also a bunch of demon waiters and dealers as well. Not to mention a few imps crawling here and there. She recognized the demon waiter that helped her and Adrian to their table, and gave him a gentle smile. She also recognized the annoying little imp that swiped her locket from her. She gave the imp an sharp but angry looking glare so intense and quick, that even though the imp was only able to catch a glimpse of it, he still shuddered from fear and hid behind the demon waiter that she smiled at. And since the look she gave to the imp was so quick, no one else noticed it but him. Which left the demon waiter confused at why the imp was hiding behind him. Dice himself wondered why the imp suddenly got scared and continued with the introductions. "Ok-ay-? Well then, *ahem*, well these are our two new recruits. Though they'll only be temporarily working here, I expect that you all, regardless of their circumstances, to treat them like anyone else here working for the casino. Is that understood?"

Whispers filled the room, wondering why the boss didn't take their souls if they were in debt. Speculations, accusations, and rumors started to form in hundreds. Joan figured that this would happen and was prepared to endure the worst. Besides, she's been through this numerous times that it's all become numbing to her. The one thing that she was worried about was Adrian. He was pretty sensitive when it came to bullying. He was picked on when he was young by other kids because he was considered as a monster rather than a normal living being. It was very traumatizing for him. It even effects him till this very day. Though he doesn't cry like a baby like he did back then, he still feels like he might throw up or lose it whenever people start to either whisper about him or try to pick a fight with him. And since Joan was the only one who protected him since he was a kid from the bullies, she felt obligated to try to fend off as many troublesome people as she could. Who might either try to make him sick in the stomach or might put themselves in jeopardy just by setting him off and lighting their butts on fire.

Joan looked over at Adrian seeing if he was okay. But he was just barely holding in his anxiety and clenching his fists so hard that it could obliterate a walnut. She was about to reach over to his hand and try to calm him down, when she suddenly heard an accusation that sent her anger through the roof. "I bet the only reason that her soul wasn't taken by the boss was because she must've somehow seduced him into sparing her and that guy's life. She must've used a powerful seduction spell or something. I mean, just look at them. They might look like just normal joes but I bet that's just a ruse. I bet they're so powerful, especially the chick, that they've come here to just to see how they can ruin the business. I mean, did you hear what she did to the machines? She knocked the boss's spell right out of the games! And now that she's in, she's going to make this place go bankrupt! She and her good for nothing friend are nothing but trouble! Not to mention, suspicious looking freaks of nature!" Joan grew silent, then clenched her fists and her teeth in full rage. She located the person(?) that said this and marched right up to him, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and yanked him up so close to her face that not even her thick glasses couldn't hide her black and glowing icy blue eyes. Joan replied to his little comment about her and Adrian with low growling tone in her voice, "You, of all people, have no right to judge in who a person is. Especially on how they look! You ain't no prince charming either buddy! And by the way, the day that I would use a seduction spell on scum like your boss, would be the day that swine takes to the skies! So I don't want to hear any of your crap on how we got here or how we're going to get out! So, if I were you, I would shut your trap before you get in more trouble than you're already in. Got it, pal?!" The nervous demon frantically shook his head in agreement, while shivering with fear. King Dice told her to put him down immediately and walk away. She silently clicked her tongue and rudely but bluntly released the demon from her grasp. As she walked back to Adrian, she took one last glance at the trembling demon. She then silently gave him a deadly and heart stopping toothy sideways smile. And she made sure to show her fang in her smile, while at the same time, revealing her scary demon-like eyes from the uncovered edge of her glasses. And lastly gave a silent but rememberable evil like laugh. The demon was so frightened that he almost passed out. As she returned to Adrian she whispered into his ear a calming spell to help calm his nerves. As the spell took effect, he was able to regain his senses. He whispered to her his thanks and she whispered back to him, "You're welcome, you're like family to me after all. I'll always be there for you. You're like a brother to me. Always remember that." Adrian smiled and whispered, "I will, and again, thanks."

Joan, in turn, smiled back. Then she turned her attention towards King Dice and asked where their station was and what they were going to do. King Dice was hesitant at first, but then replied, "Your first jobs are to wait the tables with the Cup Brothers. And please, try not to kill each other or threaten the customers. (Even if both of the employees and the customers are annoying as Hell)." Joan turned her attention towards the Cup Bros. and fixated her gaze on Cuphead. He had a nervous smile on his face and was nervously waving hello. Joan thought that she must've scared him and gave him the impression that she was a scary person. But despite what she and everyone else thought of herself, Cuphead was actually thinking the opposite. He thought, "Shoot! She was so cool when she did that! I need to say hi to her to make her feel welcome! Uhhh...how do I talk again? Crap! She's walking over to me already! Think idiot! Say something! You're just standing there smiling and waving nervously like a complete idiot! This never happened to me before! I need to get my act together and talk to her! Think Cuphead! Think!" While he was deep in thought, Mugman spoke up and greeted Joan and Adrian and showed them what to do. And at the same time, dragging Cuphead by the arm while he was still in shock trying to think of a way to talk to her. Unfortunately, by the time he was able to gather his senses and courage to talk to her, her shift had ended and already went back to her room. Cuphead paused for what seemed like forever, but in reality was only five minutes. Mugman and King Dice looked at Cuphead and then at each other with this indifferent look on their faces. King Dice finally raised a brow and a cocky smile and said, "Well well~....looks like Cuphead's spring time has finally come!" Mugman looked at King Dice and asked if he was serious. "Well just go over and ask him yourself." Mugman quietly snuck up behind him and did a fake cough/insult to get Cuphead's attention. " *Cough* *cough*, Earth to idiot in love, *cough* *cough*" Cuphead finally snapped out of it and yelled, "You were so cool! What's your name?!"

To Be Continued....

End of chapter 6. To be continued in chapter 7.

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redsdesktop · 6 years

Text

Deviant Dynamics: Revolution

Chapter 25

Masterlist

Warnings: None, some blood mention.

Connor had decided to take the questioning to the interrogation room, Conrad seemed to encourage it as the alpha didn't want Connor to around such a scene and what it represented. He knew what Conrad was thinking, it could've been Connor, though Connor highly doubted a basic model android could physically get the better of him, he could understand Conrad's fears. However, Conrad wasn't about to send Connor off alone, so Collin had tagged along with Connor. The epsilon currently leaning against the wall near the door, letting Connor do the questioning since he was more even tempered about it than Collin and plus it wasn't as if they were interrogating a criminal. Only a witness.

The basic issue PC200 police android sat politely in the chair, his hands on the table, clasped lightly together. The android's stress meter was steadily at zero, even with blood splattered over his pale skin. It was slightly concerning but what he pulled up from the file stated that the android was still a machine, unable to deviate for some reason. The PC200 claimed it was a malfunction, he had been in Cyberlife Tower for repairs during the first revolution, so it was possible he was equipped with a more protective software to prevent the virus. Connor sighed and sat down in a chair across the table, he wanted to get this wrapped up so he could mull over this whole ordeal and try to puzzle it out. He wanted to know everything he could and he doubted the newly changed alpha would be in any shape to talk.

"So, what do you do during the night shift?' Connor started with something easy to set a base to his investigation.

"I do most of the menial tasks that allow the detectives and other officers the freedom to do more advanced jobs without worrying about the small stuff. If request, I also guard crime scenes to keep people off them until the detectives arrive. Though, if anyone requests something else of me, I will do it as long as its within my programming." The android named Fiver explained, his tone even, neutral. It was difficult to tell if the android felt any emotion at all but he didn't sound mechanical either, kind and gentle as if designed to keep any situation calm.

"What were you doing during the time of the murder?" Connor pressed, trying to get a read on the android, but there was nothing, it was like talking to a machine. There was no scent, no presence to be felt, it was like the android didn't exist. He couldn't help but to wonder why. Androids started as betas, often scenting of something aqua based, though for an extra fee, a human could've bought an android with a custom scent. Connor just hadn't heard of one without one, maybe it was because it was easier not to contaminant a crime scene?

"I had just recently finished making physical copies of today's reports and was filing them away in the storage room. Would you like to access my video file of it?" The police android offered, though a civilian android wouldn't have recording capabilities, a police android would to store evidence. When Connor nodded, Fiver stood up and moved over to the one sided glass, his skin peeling back to reveal white plating before placing it on the glass surface. The window shifted to a video feed from the police android's point of view. It started in the copier room, a small room that held the printers and copiers along with various other supplies that hadn't fit in the supply closet.

When the recording started, Fiver picked up a small stack of papers from the copier and stepped out of the room, bumping into another android and nearly dropping his papers. "Pardon me, I didn't see you." The calm voice replied but the android didn't say anything, simply walked past him and Fiver's gaze followed after him, logging the identification and cleared the android as part of the custodians hired recently by Captain Fowler. With that in order, Fiver moved down the hall towards the back of the building where file storage was set. The room was dim and cramped with file cabinets but everything looked organized as Fiver seemed to know exactly which cabinet to go to and which drawer to open.

He'd been in the process of sliding a folder into the drawer when he heard a muffled scream, making him look up, unable to quite process what it had been. His task changed from filing to investigating and he left the papers on the floor and moved out of the storage room. He didn't seem to run, his system seemed to be on alert, warning him to be careful. A alert popped up on screen, indicating the scent of charred cedar wood but he had logged no alpha personnel on staff for the night. So he followed the scent to the operator room, which he came across the sight that was familiar to Connor. The android he'd seen previously was over the remains of the body and didn't seem to really notice Fiver.The task on the screen shifted from investigate to apprehend the criminal.

Within an instant the video blurred, showing signs of a struggle between the androids, likely the cause of why the PC200 was bloodied as well as they rolled around on the floor, fighting for dominance. In the end of the struggle, Fiver had the alpha android pinned, using his police programing and hand to hand combat to win out over alpha aggression. With the murderer in cuffs, Fiver had stood up and alerted the Captain and had remained standing in the operator room until Connor had arrived. In present time, Fiver removed his hand from the glass and returned to his seat, unconcerned by Collin's stare watching his every move. With a omega murder and an attack on Connor within twenty four hours, Collin wasn't taking any risks.

"Do you have all the information you need from me, Detective?" The PC200 android asked, his tone wasn't impatient, simply curious if he could prove further use to the more upgraded models. With two custodian staff down, it would fall onto him to clean up the crime scene after the detectives finished investigating it. It would be a task and a half but Fiver hadn't complained about it. Connor frowned and leaned back in his chair to mull over what he'd seen. He knew alphas could be aggressive, but to go through this extent was unheard of. Well, not completely, during Connor's research during his simulation, he had gained information about sub-dynamics and an alpha murdering an omega sounded like the work of an upsilon.

Upsilons were hyper aggressive alphas, more animal than human, they tended to hunt down omegas violently, unable to control themselves. Most of the notable killers in history had been upsilons and knowing this was concerning. He couldn't write down anything as permanent, he would have to see the android who had done this first to see what exactly they were. Regardless, if they were an alpha or upsilon, a murder couldn't simply be apologized for, especially while under such stressful tensions between androids and humans. Humans who hated deviants would use this murder against them, so they couldn't use excuses such as they had no control over their emotions. Connor would have to ask Markus what they should do, but Connor could only think of one solution. Deactivation.

"You're free to go, but make sure you keep your guard up for anything irregular around androids here. Including yourself." Connor stood up and Fiver followed after, Collin motioned to the window, the human officer behind it released the lock on the door to allow them to exit. Connor had a lot to think about, two androids in the police station had deviated in their dynamics, both janitors, was this the pattern? Maybe he should interrogate the other janitors to see if there was anything out of sorts with them. Though it was likely no fault of their own as Connor already knew who the real culprit was. Kamski had been behind it in his simulation, so it was possible that he was behind this in reality. If not then he should have information about it. Just getting it out of the man would be the difficult part.

Connor made his way towards the bullpen, Fiver went the other way, leaving the eldest android with Collin. He was grateful for his presence, he didn't really feel comfortable being alone at the moment. With Conrad busy investigating the scene with Hank, Connor needed Collin with him. Taking a seat, Collin dragged his own chair over so he could sit beside his omega, able to catch the scent of Connor's stress. Connor ignored his or worries and turned on his terminal, once it was booted up, Connor immediately typed up a message requesting an audience with Kamski. With the creator of androids, one never knew if the man would force Connor to wait or respond immediately. The eccentric man worked on his own schedule and everyone else had to work around him.

It didn't take long thankfully before he received a call on his terminal, tapping the screen Connor answered it, bringing up Kamski's face, it appeared the man was in his lab again from the white washed walls and a few empty androids hanging from the wall. "Ah, Connor, with how much we've been seeing each other I'm beginning to think you like me." Kamski teased, his gaze shifting over to Collin who was pointedly glaring at the man on the screen. "And Collin, both sons who disappointed Cyberlife, how are things going on your end?" Collin jerked his head away at the casual insult, clenching his jaw as he restrained himself from snapping. Connor gave Kamski a lopsided smile, ignoring the insult completely.

"I would like to say its going well, Kamski, but I wouldn't be calling you if it was, you already know that. I've had two incidents involving androids deviating into alphas, do you have any information on this?" Connor asked, knowing how to deal with Kamski, it was better not to bite at his bait, to play right into his hands as much as possible. Connor knew it was impossible to completely avoid Kamski's dealings, but it was best not to be too willing.

"I feel like you're implying I'm the culprit here, Connor. You wound me, really." Kamski put his hands over his heart, but didn't look hurt or insulted in the slightest. Connor raised his brows as if silently asking Kamski to prove him wrong, which he hoped the man didn't. If Kamski wasn't behind this then Connor had a whole new set of problems. "I may have had a hand in the creation of the dynamic deviation, but I'm not the only one who can spread it. I mean, why would I deviate two androids into alphas in a workplace where one of my omega creations works at?" He sounded innocent but he also sounded like he was hiding something, as if he was either guilty of doing it or maybe he was just entertained by it.

"If I were you Connor, I'd be careful. Never know who you can trust these days."

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