#but his little brain speaker contraption is there

[rattlung]

i like the fact that at gortash's little workspace thing underneath mind flayer colony, there's a potion of see invisibility bcuz i like to think that he gets pissy abt durge's baby blanket granting invisibility after a kill. bro got jumpscared one too many times

#durgetash #the dark urge #enver gortash #i don't actually know if that's his workspace or balth's #but his little brain speaker contraption is there #although it's only balth's notes #BUT he complains abt gort leaving skull shavings everywhere so they might just be like underfunded teachers who've gotta share a classroom #also just the idea of gort and durge hanging out down there while gort develops the brain device is strangely domestic

[em-writes-stuff]

gas mask + cage

day 4 of two weeks of whump @promptsforyourwhumpfic

hero, villain and vigilante

warnings: drugging, captivity

558 words

---

Villain kicks against the bars of the cage, rattling the door slightly. He huffs loudly, trying to catch his breath in the tiny space. It presses against his sides, the bars digging into his arms and legs. 

Vigilante smiles and pours two cups of coffee, “You’ll have to ignore him, he hasn’t any manners.” 

Hero nods once and takes a small sip from his cup, “It’s not a problem.” 

Villain mumbles through the mask Vigilante had strapped to his face and they both ignore him. 

They go on about the weather and how Vigilante’s garden isn’t doing as well as it was last year. Hero dismisses her when she says it’s probably her fault, instead blaming the drought. 

Villain kicks out again, this time nearly popping the door open. Vigilante shoots up from her chair and slams it shut, closing it on Villain’s ankle. He cries out, yanking his leg away from the door and hitting his knee on the top of the cage. He yelps again and Hero chuckles. 

“You know, Vigilante. I’ve been trying to ignore it, but I would love to know what’s on his face.” 

She smiles cruelly and points to a small vat next to the cage. “That’s a mix of rubbing alcohol and bleach. Do you know what that makes?” 

Hero shakes his head.

“Chloroform. It’s great! One click of this button-” he slams his palm down on the button and Villain’s eyes go wide, he shakes his head furiously- “And he’s out in a few minutes.” 

Hero claps and watches as the gas mask hisses with Villain’s every breath. “You’re so clever. How’d you even figure that out?” 

“Oh, I wouldn’t say clever. I spent a lot of time alone when I was a teenager. Passed out more times than I’d like to admit from mixing them before realizing what was causing it.” She shrugs and sits back down, taking a large drink from her mug. Hero stays standing, eyes boring into Villain as he struggles to keep his eyes open.

He slumps and his chin hits his chest lightly. Hero turns to Vigilante with a smile. “Tell you what,” he sits down across from her and digs into his pocket. “I’ll give you…$7,500 for him and your little contraption. What do you think?” 

Vigilante takes the wad of cash Hero sat on the table and flips through it. She purses her lips and inhales deeply. “I’d love to, I really would. But I’ve grown pretty fond of him. Would you do $10,000?” 

Hero shakes his head, “I dunno, that’s a lot of money.” He stares at Villain for a moment before sighing. “What the hell, you’ve got a deal.” He pulls out the rest of the cash and finishes his coffee. 

Hero slams the mug down on the table and stands up, his hands on his hips. “Alright. Well, how am I gonna get him into my truck without anyone seeing?” 

“You can pull into my garage.” 

He shakes his head playfully and nods, “The brain on you, I tell ya.” 

Villain wakes up from a bump in the road. There’s something covering his cage and music blares from the speakers. 

He cranes his neck to look through a small hole in the cover and he can just barely see Hero’s hair bouncing along with the music. 

#twow #two weeks of whump #whump #whump fic #hero whumper #villain whump #villain whumpee #vigilante whumper #whumper #whumpee #tw drugging #tw captivity #captivity whump #em writes #em writes stuff #my writing

[froggiepads119]

Carousel

silly little story my brain came up with while drawing this

Darkness descended across the countryside. The usual hustle and bustle of Life that filled the lands and roads slowly died along with the light, leaving an eerie silence in its wake. A wind rustled the leaves of the trees, scattering sticks and left over debris across the empty grounds. The remains of a once beloved carnival sits abandoned in a field; music still drawled from burned speakers, crackling out into the night like a cry for help, or recognition. The lights, once playful and lively, flickered dimly, as if they were blinking. The mystery of how the fire started remained just that, some unsolvable puzzle that authorities didn't have the time nor knowhow to crack. The case quickly turned cold, the cops coming to the  assumption that it was a freak accident. The magic of small town gossip took off the rumor that the grounds were haunted by the souls who had become victims to the inferno. Bored kids and teens quickly became obsessed with the legends and discovering the truth behind the circus tents but most of those who had entered, either never came back, or emerged with a look of horror on their face, never being able to talk about what happened in the confines of the night. If anyone bothered to wander deeper into the maze of broken down attractions, however, they’d find a carousel: winged horses bobbing in rhythm to the music haunting the contraption. Step closer, and they’d realize it had a soul. He'd sing sweetly, sad and forgotten, but the explorer would know that they’d be safe in his embrace, protected against the shadows creeping along the damaged land, waiting for their next victim to be released.            

#originalities #fanart? #Silly au I guess #object show community #artsiefarts

[infernal-fire]

TAU (1/2)

Summary: Steve Rogers traps you inside his mansion. Your only means of escape? The naïve A.I., Bucky, that is designed to kill you if you ever step out of line. 

Pairings: Dark!CEO!Steve x reader, A.I!Bucky x reader, Bucky x reader

This is part of a series of works (not interconnected). I highly suggest you read the description of the series master list to better understand the premise of this story. 

Warnings: swearing, kidnapping, mention of sedative, technical Lima syndrome, psychological abuse, violence, blood, character deaths, injuries, mention of depression, suicide & poverty

The chair was on the brink of collapsing, yet Martha folded her arms and leaned back into it anyway. You internally grimaced, waiting for her to fall flat on her ass or give you the bad news. It had to be bad news. You had done this enough times to know that she periodically bounced her right leg only when there was bad news. These days, that was often. 

You huffed once, loud enough for her to hear, hoping to hint that you were hanging by the threads of your patience. She took the hint, finally throwing open the drawer in front of you with excessive force. Pens rolled and a notebook slid towards her amid the force. Again, another piece of furniture that was ready to give in. For someone as stingy as her, you aren’t surprised that it hasn’t been replaced - just wondering why she’s treating it like it won’t disintegrate any second now. 

Martha’s plump fingers slapped a couple of bills onto the table, her seedy eyes challenging you to pluck them from under her hand. You wrestled the bills out of from under her palm and diligently counted them, only to shake your head defeatedly. 

“That’s it?” you snarled.

“Steal better shit next time,” she replied, shrugging. 

You slowly sighed and pinched the bridge of your nose, refusing to open your eyes and face her.

“I really need the money.” 

When you open your eyes again, it’s because you hear the roll of her weathered chair. Now standing full height, the middle-aged woman shook her head softly, a hint of a smirk playing out on her lips. 

“Like I said; steal better shit.” She turned to leave before facing you again. “You could always come and work with our girls.”

She glanced through the door that was cracked open, eyes resting on the table situated in the corner of the adjacent room. Around it, a group of girls set down cards while pushing poker chips around. 

“Sell my body? I’d rather die,” you scoffed. 

“Suit yourself. Now, get out.”

“Was planning to.” You flipped her the bird, knowing that she was watching you leave.

“Real classy,” she called after you. “You gotta come back here for your next week’s dinner, you whore!”

“That’s all you,” you smiled at her before slamming the door closed on your way out. Oh, the satisfaction of pissing someone off; unparalleled. 

Placing your measly wage into a makeshift purse, you made your way back home. You hugged your frame tightly, keeping your head down and pacing through the dilapidated neighbourhood. 

Once upon a time, when you were new to the shadier areas of town, you affirmed to yourself every day that this situation was temporary. The hope for a better job, better apartment and better tomorrow kept you going for a long time. Deep down though, you knew it wasn’t temporary, and now you were being proven right every day. What was keeping you going these days? Multiple times, you delayed the contemplation of that question, knowing that if you thought about it… well, it’s better to not go there. 

You were careful to double-check the lock on your door and windows when you stepped into the cramped shower. Today, you thanked God for hot water, even though you were sure he didn’t exist. Mind empty like a brand new chalkboard, you shuffled around your one-room housing and put together something edible to appease the churning stomach.

Your ear perked up at what sounded like the creaking of the fourth floorboard from your bed. You locked the door. You were sure of it. 

Still, you peeked over the short dividing wall that hid the view of your bed from the kitchen. Nothing. You shook your head at your paranoia and turned back to get to the less-than-appetizing meal waiting for you. 

Steve jammed the needle into your neck, expecting you to fall back into his arms. Instead, your forehead hits the edge of your counter and you slump onto the floor. Your eyes shutting down and head throbbing, you reach out to feel your attacker and touch Steve with saucy fingers. He groans in annoyance as he picks up your whimpering form. 

Thump, thump, thump.

The nightclubs you frequent were full of snobby, rich kids who didn’t know the value of wealth. You stole to survive. They could survive without their wristwatch for one night. 

Thump, thump, thump.

Music turned the speakers inside out, deafening those closest to it, but the youth are resilient to damage in any form. For you, though, it was too loud; too much. It wasn’t uncommon of you to walk away from the scene with a pounding head. 

Thump, thump, thump.

The inside of your head resembled the thumping of club speakers. Jaw slack and eyes foggy, you tried to rub your temples. But your arms wouldn’t move. 

Sitting up the best you could, you looked down at your hands to see them bound by zip ties, sitting on your lap. It was joke-worthy how your captor thought they could bind you with zip ties, of all things. He would have to do better than this. 

You tugged on the end of the tie using teeth and tightened it some more before huddling your knees up to your chest. Bringing your hands down as hard as you can against your kneecap, you awaited the snapping sound of the zip tie. Nothing came. You look at your hands again, realizing that they were still bound.

“Don’t do that,” a voice piped up from the dark corner of the room. Startled, you look to the source of the voice but no light fell in that direction. For the first time, you took in your surroundings: half of the room was divided by a set of bars. The other side had large machinery with wires running towards the jail section. As you trailed your eyes across the wires, you noticed a closed door. 

At least you knew it was possible to escape now. 

Quickly turning to the place the voice came from, you scooted backwards some more and anticipated the arrival of your captor. 

A woman crawled forward slowly with bounded legs and arms like yours. 

Seeing that it was just another prisoner, you tightened the strap of your zip tie again and tried breaking it one more time. It snapped. Rubbing your wrists where they were bound, you got straight to undoing the bind on your legs. Beside you, the girl moved closer and repeatedly begged you not to free yourself. 

“Shut up, Brit,” you mumbled, referring to her accent.

The bind on your legs gave away and you stood up and stretched. Tentatively stalking around the cell, you noticed the toilet and sink. Why would he have those amenities in here if you were tied up anyway? When you went to touch the bars separating the room, the girl cried out again. 

“Stop! Don’t!” 

You rolled your eyes and touched it anyway. Electricity surged through you and you yelped, pulling back immediately. 

“Could’ve told me it was an electric gate,” you snapped. 

“Don’t try to escape.” 

You looked at her incredulously. “And sit here like ducks, waiting for him to kill us?”

“Someone will find us!” she pleaded. 

“Look at me! Look at you! No one is looking for us. The police won’t blink twice if people like us are gone. And he knows that.” You eyed the door that was inside your cell and looked to the other one outside the bars. 

“Do you want me to remove your binds or not?”

The girl sheepishly looked down before sticking her arms out for you. 

“My name is Peggy,” she offered as she stood up. She held your arm for support when blood rushed to her head. You shot her a withering look in response and she took her hand off. 

“I don’t think we can leave. He can probably hurt us with these implants.” Peggy pulled her hair to one side and showed you the nape of her neck. A glowing red triangle shone from under her skin. 

Your eyes widened, immediately reached for the back of your head. You felt around and touched the area that stung a little when you touched it. You compulsively hissed, realizing that your implant was fresh and the skin around it had not healed yet. 

“Has he done anything to you using the implant?” you held and shook Peggy’s shoulders while you questioned. 

“No, no, but he said it collects brain data and that it was connected to my spinal column, so I shouldn’t try anything.”

“He spoke to you?”

“Once. It’s Steve Rogers, the inventor guy on the cover of all the Forbes magazines.”

“Brain data,” you silently repeated as you look to the other side of the cell again. 

“I have an idea. Rip your clothes like this,” you demonstrated.

Using the rags ripped off from both of your prisoner uniforms, the pair of you created a long rope-like contraption with a loop on the end. You stuck your hand through the gaps in the cell and tried to fling the loop to a nook in the machinery. Failing hurt, your arm accidentally brushing against the metal once or twice before the loop finally caught onto a crevice. 

“That’s the wrong part,” your fellow inmate breathed.

“Yeah, but that’ll work too.” You pulled as hard as you could and a section of the machine broke off, sparks flying from the source. It crackled and caught on fire. 

Peggy was pulling the cell door open, grunting as she tried her best. It gave way and you both looked at each other briefly before dashing out of the room. The jail room went up in flames behind you. Peggy looked over her shoulder, but you yanked her arm, signalling her to keep running. 

You flew up stairs and through doors, finally making your way into a clearing. Peggy rushed to what seemed to be the entrance door and frantically banged on it. 

“HELP!”

“That’s not gonna work!” you rushed to the door and inspected the lock. On the right side, there was a screen that displayed a handprint. 

Do not try to escape. Only Steven can leave the premises. 

“What?” you whispered. The new voice was coming from all around you, seemingly through fixtures in the ceiling and walls, but you couldn’t be sure. The situation was tense and you were scared the whole house was going to burn down.

Before you could catch her, Peggy planted her hand on the screen which scanned and turned red. Suddenly, all the lights emanated red, accompanying a booming alarm that blared through the house. 

In the distance, what you assumed was a statuesque décor piece, came to life. It reminded you of the spiders from the Maze Runner. A motorized killing machine. It stalked towards Peggy and you with pincers appearing from its side. 

Screaming, Peggy ran. So did you, but you weren’t sure if you were screaming. You couldn’t hear through the noise your friend was making on top of the deafening alarm. 

The spider machine stuck out its knife-like hands, trying to stab you. As you ran into another room, you frantically searched for an exit. Right now, your priority was to survive this thing.

You pulled open a cupboard in what appeared to be the study and instructed Peggy to climb in. The monster was coming. There wasn’t much time to hide. 

You shut the closet door and hid behind a lounging chair in the corner. 

The machine came in and scanned the room, looking for your heat signatures. It could see Peggy.

The cupboard door flung open and Peggy shrieked, crawling out of it in attempts to move out of the line of attack. She took 4 steps on her knees and looked straight into your eyes. 

“HELP ME-”

You screamed when she was dragged back towards the machine. You couldn’t save her anymore. You mobilized and ran back to the living room area, not even turning back to address blood that splattered across your back. It wasn’t in your best interest to find out how she was killed. 

“Aries!”

Frozen in fear, you look to your right to see the entrance door open. There stood your captor, staring at the machine that was now hovering over you. 

“Stop,” he muttered and set down his briefcase. 

Aries retracted its pincers, making its way back to the little pedestal it was perched on before. It powered down just as the CEO stepped into the house and glared at you.

For a split second, the doors were open, and you considered tackling past him. 

“Don’t even think about it.”

You collapsed onto the floor where you were already lying down. Getting out was going to be a lot harder than you anticipated. 

Your hands were bound again, but this time, behind you. You were seated on a pedestal like the one Aries was on, except this one had an ugly glass décor piece that extended to the ceiling. You tugged on the bonds, hoping for some leeway, but Rogers had learned his lesson. 

You shook your head side to side, trying to get pieces of hair and blood off your face. Eventually, you had to give up, slumping into the post your arms were tied to. 

“You cost me 7 million dollars worth of tech,” Steve’s voice sounded from another room. 

“If you let me go, I swear on my life I won’t tell anyone. They won’t believe me anyway.” 

He appeared in front of you and placed both hands on either side of your thighs. 

“Things will work out for you, if you just… shut up.” 

You exhaled and turned your face to the right, hoping he’d stop invading your personal space. 

“Just… please, untie me.”

He stood back and considered your request before rounding the side of the pedestal and untying you. 

“Bucky?”

Yes, Steve.

“Activate Aries if she moves a single inch from her spot.” He eyed you at the end of his command and sauntered away to god-knows-where. 

You hoped it wouldn’t be pushing your luck to stand up and stretch, so you did. You mentally considered the various stretches you did as a child, during gymnastics. It had been years since you recalled those, so you did them to the best of your ability. It’s funny how life works. One day you were among a row of girls, learning how to do a cartwheel and before you know it, you’re in a psycho’s mansion as a lab experiment. 

About 30 feet away from this pedestal was Aries.  

Cautiously, you took a few steps away from your place. No reaction from Aries. That meant ‘Bucky’ and Aries weren’t the same thing. You could also deduce from Steve’s command, Bucky was capable of conversing.

Do not take another step forward, Subject 10. I have been told to inflict pain if you move from your position.

You took another step anyway, wondering how much you could test the limits of this A.I. 

Do not take another step forward, Subject 10. I have been told to inflict pain if you move from your position. 

You considered making a run for it but reconsidered. Aries would activate in less than 5 seconds and Steve was still in the house somewhere. You needed to play this better. Besides, you didn’t even have an exit point. 

You went back to your pedestal and sat down, drawing patterns on the ground with your feet. It would help to know the time or date. A part of you wondered if anyone was looking for you, but you yourself had answered that question long ago. No one looks for people like you or me. 

It could’ve been hours or minutes, but finally, Steve called you into a different room. You observed your environment as you stalked towards the kitchen area where the inventor was seated. 

“Sit,” he motioned at the chair that was on the other end of the table. 

As soon as you sat, tiny robots flew to your seat and placed food in front of you. It was some sort of soup with a side of bread, the only utensil he gave you being a spoon. Smart bastard. 

You wanted to hold off on the food; you really did. But you didn’t even get to eat the sandwich that you were putting together before the kidnapping. So you began devouring the meal, ignoring his pointed stare at your lack of table manners. It was only when you were halfway through the meal did you realize that the food may be drugged. Too late now.

“You killed my only other test subject and rendered her data useless.”

“I didn’t kill her.”

Steve dropped his steak knife and fork, shooting daggers into your eyes.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he began. Clasping his hands together, he leaned forward, supporting his weight on his elbows. You could tell by the way he talked that he was used to getting what he wanted. He relished in it.

“Every day, for the next two weeks, I’m going to leave for work. And every day, you’re going to complete the puzzles and tasks that Bucky tells you to do.”

“And if I don’t?”

“It won’t take me more than 10 minutes to kill you, clean up the mess and dispose of your body.”

“If you could kill me, you probably would’ve. I know you considered it,” you remarked, leaning back into your chair and folding your arms.

“Now, why would I waste a perfectly good test subject?” It was his turn to mimic your body language. 

“If you want me to do what you need me to do, I need three things,” you announced. 

“It’s funny how you think you have any leverage in this situation.”

You kept your face stoic, trying to prove that you were serious about the negotiations. If he didn’t allow you these requests, you would never escape. 

“Okay, go on,” he said, clearly amused. 

“I need clothes. Regular clothes, not prisoner uniforms. I need to shower. And I need proper food, like what you’re eating.”

“That’s quite the list.” he laughed. Abruptly, his features turned serious. “I hope you know that you don’t hold any cards against me right now, and if I allow any of those things, it’s out of the kindness of my heart.”

It was your turn to laugh. “The kindness of your heart,” you wheezed between laughs. “Sure, okay. Yeah.”

He swallowed the last piece of his meal and gestured towards the sofas. 

“Bucky will be guarding you throughout the night. Don’t think of trying anything.” 

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” you beamed at his sour expression right before leaving the table.

Masterlist

#dark! steve rogers #dark mcu #Dark Fic #dark marvel #dark!steve #dark!steve x you #dark!steve x reader #dark!steve rogers #dark!bucky barnes #Bucky Barnes #bucky fic #dark!bucky #dark!bucky x you #dark!bucky x y/n

[violetnotez]

Izuku x reader

⤷ Genre: Fluff

⤷ Word Count: 2330+

⤷ Warnings: none!

⤷ Synopsis: You wake up one night to a nightmare, and the only person you want to comfort you is Izuku.

Song Recs: ⤷ Revive-Lione ⤷Graveyard-Halsey ⤷Passion-Mree

This fic is for the @bnhabookclub Bingo Event! Here’s my masterlist to see all my work for this event!

Bingo Slot: Lingering Hugs

Sorry for this being short! I just really wanted to keep it short and fluffy like Izuku

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ

You tossed in your damp sheets, the fabric suffocating as it stuck to your skin.

Damn your brain-it was barely 1 in the morning, and of course you had to wake up, covered in sweat and your heart racing from fear, due to a nightmare.

Your brain relayed the terrible scenes in your mind, your heart picking up pace as each one flashed against your eyes. You tried to push the thoughts away, the skin of your eyes scrunched up tightly like thin rivers cross crossing against your skin.

Somehow the darkness behind your eyelids made your anxiety hitch even more, the walls of your room somehow feeling too small and suffocating.

You knew it was childish to be so scared of a figment if your brain’s imagination-but it felt so real, so terrifying. you flipped the sheets over your head, protecting yourself from any lurking ghouls and demons as your hand swiftly flailed out to grab your phone from the bedside table.

Your hand encased the device, bringing the small contraption quickly under the sheets with you. You cuddled closer to the phone, your eyes squinting from the intense brightness of the screen as you clicked it on.

Your cursed quietly from the intense flash of light, your thumbs unlocking the phone screen and quickly going to your messages.

You felt bad to be texting Izuku so late at night, knowing the poor boy must be tired. He was always studying or training, always working towards his goals yet always refusing to ever sleep. You were always the one to force him to take a nap or actually get a few hours of rest, so you felt guilty for ruining his sleep when he rarely got any.

But the race in your heart and the panic in your mind pushed away that guilt-all you could think of was the comforting embrace of your green haired boyfriend, and his reassuring voice telling you everything would be alright. You desperately craved his positive energy and warm hold, your fingers quickly forming a quick text-

“Are you awake 🥺?”

You sent the message, the little bubble of speech displaying on the screen. You stared at it for a few moments, your brain somehow trying to will Izuku to look a his phone.

You sighed, knowing that that was futile and, well, not possible. You fingers clicked off the messaging app, your tired mind deciding to go into Youtube and watch a few videos, hoping they would lull you back to sleep.

Maybe he would message you back-and hopefully soon.

Even as you clicked on your favorite YouTuber and settled into a comforting old video, your heart was still racing with the fuzzy scenes of your dream. They were gripping your body with fear, making your muscles taut with anxiety and your brain fumbling to stay sane.

Your toes curled in the sheets, scrunching the now hot fabric as you prayed Izuku would text you back soon.

Not too long after you delved into your second video, your screen pop up with a call from Izuku, his name you had given him, “Broccoli Bae💚”, bringing a small smirk to your cheeks. You quickly took the call, bringing the screen to your warm ear.

“Hey ‘Zuku,” you grinned slightly, your heart flooding with ease as you heard Izuku’s calming voice on the other side.

“Hi puppy,” His voice sounded thick with sleep, his tone sounding slightly worried, “ are you okay? Is something wrong?”

Izuku was always fussing over you, making sure you were comfortable, safe and happy. It was heartwarming how much he tried to make sure you were okay, and sometimes you wondered how you were able to land such an amazing guy as Midoriya.

You sighed, shifting slightly under your thick blankets.

“Well, um, I had a bad dream…” you chuckled nervously, feeling embarrassment trickle into your stomach.

Even though you knew Izuku wouldn’t judge you or find you strange for having a nightmare, it still felt silly you had to call him to feel better. Something about Izuku though always calmed your nerves, making you feel so safe and secure. He was your rock, your shield, your home away from home when your life was in turmoil around you.

“A nightmare?” He repeated, his sweet voice awakening slightly from the grogginess. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“I’d-rather not..” you smiled softly, the motion evident in your voice. “I just wanted to hear your voice,”

You heard Izuku chuckling nervously, imagining the boy’s adorable blush as he laid in his bed, one of his comfy shirts wrapped around his frame. A pang of want filled your chest, wishing you could crawl yourself out of your bed and into the comforting arms of Izuku’s.

“Oh-oh I’m happy I can make you feel a little better!” He stuttered out, his voice feathery and bright. “It must have been pretty scary if you needed to talk to me…”

He almost said it as an afterthought, as if he was talking aloud to himself and didn’t realize he had spoken it so clearly. You sighed again, brushing a damp piece of hair from your face. Memories flooded into your mind again, making a cold pang of fear attack your chest.

“It-it was,” you gulped, trying to push that fearful feeling down your throat. “Can you stay on the phone? Please? I just need to take my mind off of it-“

You hated how needy and desperate your voice sounded, as if you were pleading to Izuku to stay up with you.

“O-okay, don’t worry, Ill be with you for as long as you need me,” you heard the worry in Izuku’s voice multiply, making his voice soft and warm as he spoke to you so gently.

You began to here a rustling on the over the side of the phone, the faint sound of a door opening and closing swiftly entering the connection.

You cocked a brow, holding the phone closer to your ear-was he walking around?

“Whatcha doing ‘Zuku?” you mumbled into the phone, a nervous chuckle cascading into your ears.

“Nothing!” he immediately stated, a grin forming on your lips.

Izuku was the most terrible liar-ever.

Just as you were about to press your adorably awkward boyfriend for more information, you heard a slight rap on your door, making you jump. Your tired mind immediately reimagined your dream, your blood running cold from the thought.

But that’s when you realized you heard that knock a few seconds after though the phone speaker.

“Izuku-are you-outside my door?” Your heart soared at the thought, your voice full of shock.

Izuku gave a small chuckle, trying his best to stay quiet.

“I’m sorry, I had to come over once you said you had a hard time sleeping, I was hoping I could-“

You instantly flung your sheets off your sticky body, the smile bright against your cheeks as you ran to the door.

Any thought of that evil dream seemed to escape your mind-just the thought of Izuku being sweet enough to break the rules for you made you love him a little more. Midoriya was a good student, but wasn’t the best at following rules. Still, he could get in serious trouble for sneaking out in the middle of the night, and the fact he did that just to make you feel better made you have the intense urge to just wrap him in the biggest hug ever.

Your hand wrapped around the cold doorknob, the door creaking slightly as you were met with a blushing Midoriya. His eyes were bright and cheerful, the white shirt he was wearing crumpled in places and his curly green hair even more unruly than usual.

Even with his sheepish expression and awkward stance, he looked ethereal and protecting, like a knight in shining armor. Just his presence in front of you made your heart swell and your body loosen, as if the dam of fear that was cascading throughout your body was finally quenched and secure. Izuku held the fear at bay inside you,and you couldn’t be more grateful.

When Izuku had decided to come to your room, he was afraid you may be a little angry with him. You were always trying to make sure he stayed out of trouble, which was near impossible with his impulsive nature, but he couldn’t just sit in his room knowing you were overcome with fear. He knew he had to go and comfort you, even if it was just for a few moments, so you could get some well deserved sleep.

Now that Izuku was standing in front of you, all worry of you being angry left this mind. He could only focus on how adorable you looked when you first came from bed, your hair messy and tangled as the over sized shirt you wore pooled around your thighs. You looked so snuggly and warm, he felt embarrassed from the thought of wanting to hold you so badly.

Before he could even utter a word your body instantly collided with his, your arms wrapping around his broad shoulders. Izuku felt his blood against his eardrums, his face an unnatural shade of red as you cuddled into his neck, those soft green tresses tickling your forehead.

Izuku felt cool against your warm skin, a welcoming sensation from hiding under your blankets for so long. Your nose snuggled into the crook of his neck, taking in the scent that was so invigorating and intoxicating. It always reminded you of such soothing scents, like fresh linen or the ground after a rainstorm. The taut muscles encasing his arms wrapped around yours, holding you close to his body and making you feel secure. Your body melted into his, the worries of that nightmare doing the same.

Izuku sighed peacefully, his chin resting against the tip of your shoulder.

“You okay angel?” He asked sweetly, the palms of his hands rubbing soothing circles along your back.

It almost felt too good to be true, to have Izuku so close to you, even with his sweet voice gracing your ears. Your arms squeezed him a little tighter, almost like a vice against his scarred skin.

The shock of Izuku so near you mixed with the terrible memories resurfacing through your mind made your chest feel tight and your heart quicken. The fear was somehow growing in your chest again, your hands digging deeper into his skin.

Izuku felt your chest collide against his, the back muscles he was rubbing so tenderly tightening under his palms. A small sniffle emitted from your nose, warm tears trailing down your cheeks.

Izuku held you tighter, your tears staining the rim of his white shirt as you cried out the fear that had been stuck in your chest for so long.

“I-I’m so sorry, I’m not trying-to be- dramatic,” you blubbered out, the tears making it difficult to apologize.

Izuku lovingly kissed the skin on your neck, just under your ear.

“Puppy, you don’t have to apologize-really,” he cooed into your ear. “Just take your time, it’s okay to feel scared, I’m right here-“

He smiled gently as he noticed how his words affected you-you seemed calmer and more still, the muscles on your back and chest not so tight against his limbs. But he could tell you were still really shaken up by that nightmare, and he was more than willing to stay with you for as long as you needed.

“I-I’ll stay with you-for as long as you need me to,” he whispered into your ear, leaving a tingly sensation against your spine, “Is that okay angel? Would you want me to stay with you?”

You brain felt numb, your limbs heavy with lead from the breakdown that had overtaken your body. All you could muster was a quick nod, your chest still heaving slightly from the sobbing.

Izuku smiled gently, a blush creeping into his cheeks. His hands began to softly run downward against your back, his digits trailing lower and lower. Your breath hitched as his fingers hooked against the plush skin of your thighs, raising your legs up around his torso.

Your heart was beating fiercely against your chest as Izuku carried you into your room, shutting the door with his foot.

The feeling of your feet unattached to the sturdy floor made you grip Izuku tighter, a small giggle escaping your stuffy chest.

“You’re way more bold tonight ‘Zuku,” you smiled against his neck, making Izuku’s heart race.

“Well I-I want to make sure you know I’m here for you puppy,” he stuttered, his cheeks bright red with heat as he laid you gently against the bed. “Your my sweet angel, and-and I hate to see you feel so sad.”

You cuddled your tear stain face into the pillow, facing Izuku’s sweet expression. His wide eyes were bright with love, the moonlight shifting through your sheer curtains making him look ethereal, his green hair glowing eerily and his freckles dusted against his cheeks like little galaxies. His scarred digits wrapped against your own, bringing your hand to his lips. He gave your knuckles a chasté kiss, letting your fingers graze against his warm cheecks.

“Can I get you anything puppy? Do you need water? Or maybe some more blankets? I can go to my room and bring some more if you like-“

You gave the boy a grin as he began to start blabbering again, his ideas and suggestions so fast they were beginning to mold to one.

Your hands reached out for Izuku, the digits curling against the collar of his shirt and pulling him gently towards the bed.

You watched his eyes widened in shock, a small, sheepish grin forming against his lips as he realized what you were implying.

“Nope,” you smiled, popping the “p” in your sentence, “I just need you.”

Taggings:

@weebartistinc @orokayagi @leeeah-loooser @bakarinnie @freckledoriya

#bnha #bnha x reader #izuku x reader #deku x reader #midoriya x reader #bnha izuku x reader #bnha deku x reader #bnha deku x reader fluff #bnha izuku x reader fluff #mha izuku x reader #mha deku x reader #mha midoriya x reader #izuku x reader fluff #bnha izuku insert #deku x reader fluff #midoriya x reader fluff #mha izuku insert #mha izuku x you #bnha izuku x you #izuku midoriya x you #bnha izuku midoriya x reader #izuku midoriya x reader #bnha deku #bnha izuku midoriya x you #mha midoriya x you #bnha midoriya x you

[straightouttaneptune]

You’ll come with me, won’t you?

Pairing: Harley Quinn x Reader

Warning: It’s different. Joker is a bitch. Reader becomes kind of morally weird as the fic progresses. People die. 

Summary: Y/N is a baby psychiatrist, who just started out. Suddenly, she is trusted with the most feared case of all. Harleen Quinzel. Y/N thinks it’ll be good for her career, or will it?

A/N: I couldn’t find a good ending to this for the longest time, I’m so glad I did. Also, this is for my 500 followers fic queue :) Thank you for the love, darlings✨

—————————————————————

“Harleen Quinzel?”

That was a name you’d heard before. That was a name everyone’s heard before, at least once in their lives. But it was not the name that had surprised you, but it was the fact that her name was right there on top of your long patient list.

“Yeah, congrats Y/N. She’s pretty famous around here. Straighten her out and you’ll probably be in the big city in less than a year.” Your colleague, Megan peered into your books over your shoulders and patted your back affectionately.

You were one of the new psychiatrists in the business, and you had been dealing with criminal minors, the less mental mental patients and all the clients that newbies would usually handle. Being fresh out of university after holing up in the labs and libraries, you needed to gain some experience first before taking on the really hard cases.

Or... that’s what you were told.

“C’mon, Meg, you gotta know more than that. Why would they pass her case to me? She’s a rank SS psycho.” You pushed, looking up at her through your lashes in a slightly accusatory manner.

She gave you a look that asked; “Do you really want to know?” And you nodded.

“Well, I heard the other docs, the guys who were like 10, 20, hell, 30 years into the business, they all got their brains scrambled by... this girlie.” Her index finger landed on the profile photo of Harley Quinn, an apologetic look in her eyes.

You rolled your eyes, not necessarily at Megan, but at whoever it was that tried to deal this card to you. “You gotta be kidding me.”

“It’s cruel, but you can always turn it down, y’know?” Megan set her books aside, her left arm cradling your slumped shoulders.

“Yeah... But I might not.”

Megan’s dropped gaze snapped back up, her eyes wide with surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s a good way to kick-start my career, I guess.”

\|/

“Hello, new doc.” The moment you entered the room, you regretted making this decision immediately. Harley Quinn sat in a big contraption-looking chair, her hands and feet shackled onto the armrests and legs of the seat. Her platinum blonde hair was untied and unkempt, its bottoms still dyed red and blue, although it seemed to have faded over time.

The only thing dividing the space between you and Harley was a metallic table bolted on the floor, wide enough so even if Harley broke off her arm shackles and reached for you, she wouldn’t be able to touch you. You swallowed your nerves and entered the room with a confident stride, smiling sweetly at the guards as they closed the door with eyes of concern.

“Hello, Miss Quinzel.” You thanked heavens that your words came out right, especially in front of a woman who could sniff out people’s fears from thousands of miles away.

“You’re the first girl I’ve had.” She mused, her eyes twinkling with mischief. But the light in her eyes has lost its original color, you thought. She looked much more lively in photos taken way back then. When she was just a psychiatrist.

“Hm. I guessed that it would be nice to have some heart to heart, female to female.” You reassured your anxious self calmly in your head, repeating the words ‘you got this, Y/N.’

“Do you know why I’m here, and not... Damien? Who usually comes in for your check-ups?” Stowing your clipboard away on your lap, you continued.

“Yeah. Before him was another guy, then a grandpa and just... a buncha stupid-lookin’ guys. But I didn’t like them.” She replied as if it was the most simple thing in the world. The files back in the company would argue differently. Every single guy, either was tormented by her psychotic attacks or totally gone insane from her mental tricks.

“Are you going to do the same thing to me?” You asked, not really knowing what answer to expect. Your eyes remained soft, a small smile gracing your lips as you waited for her answer.

“No. I like ya.” She answered quickly, shrugging and adverting her gaze away to look down at her shackles. “Can I sit down like you?” She shook her wrist lightly, the chains rattling against the armrest.

“Maybe next time, Miss Quinzel.”

“There’s a next time? Yeah!”

You internally smiled to yourself, what a successful human being she would’ve been if not for a man like Joker to ruin her life. Right then, you vowed to whatever higher power was out there, that you’d get Harley Quinn to break free from his spell.

The people in your office were surprised, to say the least, that you were able to keep up your visits to the prison, and that an amateur therapist like you could get the queen of Gotham in a tight little leash. You didn’t like to think about it like that, but rather that she trusts you better than any of the others.

The weekly visits became 2 days a week, and from weeks of good behavior, Harley was allowed to be without handcuffs during her sessions now. You weren’t afraid she’d leap up and strangle you, because of some sort of connection the two of you formed after all those times spent together.

“Hey doc, why can’t you visit me more ‘round here?” Harley pouted, interrupting the current therapy session with an abrupt comment.

You looked up from your clipboard, dumbfounded. Why would she want to have you around more?

“Harley, I’m just your therapist.” You tapped the end of your pencil against the material of the clipboard, locking eyes with the woman. Anyone could see that she was starting to look better, particularly her eyes. They looked more human, compared to the hollow shell they used to be.

“I know, Y/N. But I’ve been doin’ some thinkin. It’s pretty fuckin clear that Mister J isn’t coming for me, and the suicide squad was probably just a one-time thing. And... You’re all I have.” She admitted, slowly sliding down from her pipe chair and laying down on the concrete floor.

The wooden chair you sat on scraped against the hard floor as you pushed it back. Standing up from your seat, you walked over to her in 3 steps. You kneeled down beside her, her skin just inches away from you. “Do you want a hug?” You questioned quietly, your voice softer and more inviting than usual. Harley felt this too, sitting up in a millisecond just as the offer left your lips.

“Yeah.” She almost crawled over to you, her arms wrapping around your neck desperately. That would’ve been terrifying if it was out of context, but she actually wasn’t trying to kill you. She genuinely just wanted a warm embrace.

You felt her slender torso tighten and loosen as if she was trying to repress a sob. Hand carefully sliding over her back, you whispered; “Let it out.”

And she did.

\|/

Time flew by as you continued to work on her case, and you fell into the worst situation a psychiatrist could possibly be in while working. You grew emotionally invested in your client. As a friend, who cared for her well being and happiness. 

Maybe... even more.

You still didn’t know if you could trust her though, you managed to keep a cool head and your mind was rational, but that only confirmed the fact that Harley wasn’t playing any tricks on you. That you were genuinely becoming attached to the beautiful prisoner.

Harley, on the other hand, did intend on ruining you at first. Make them run back to where they came from crying, so no one would disturb her again while she waited for her puddin.

But it was all starting to feel different with you.

“Hey, doc?” Harley called out from inside her electric cage. She was being a little bit mischievous that day, and she pulled an armed guard against the buzzing bars when he wasn’t looking. He probably died, she guessed.

But she didn’t like that she couldn’t be near you during your sessions. So a man died, big deal!

“Can you let me out?” She pleaded in the sweetest voice she could muster, calling out to you who was currently propped up on the usual desk, writing down some notes on your clipboard.

“No, Harley. I don’t have the keys to your cell.” You replied without looking up, but you could imagine the cute pout that Harley had when you denied her of something.

“But would you open it if you did?” You looked up at that question, seeing her smiling from ear to ear now, anticipation glowing in her eyes.

“Maybe. I know you won’t hurt me.” You smiled back at her, watching her facial expression carefully. How would she react if you showed some warm friendliness towards her? Could she possibly return to the life she used to have?

“Maybe I will, doc. You don’t know what goes on in here.” Harley leaped up to her cloth swing she’d made for herself, her now almost completely platinum hair draping down her back.

“I hope you won’t hurt me, then.”

You couldn’t forget that split second where Harley’s eyes looked more humane than it ever has been for many, many years.

\|/

“Warning. Warning. Escape Attempt in Sector 9H11.”

The sound of the speaker and the blasting alarm merged together in a chorus of chaos, guards and officers running around to stop whoever the escapee was.

It was 9:30AM and you were just about to enter the asylum for your shift, when this sudden noise almost blasted your ears off. Before you could process what was happening, a bomb went off right next to you, making you scream and clutch your head as you ducked.

The debris fell everywhere along with broken pieces of concrete, and you just stayed there trying to collect your thoughts. Right when a random hand grabbed you by your wrist. 

“Hi, doc. I was lookin’ for ya. You’ll come with me, won’t you?” Harley pulled you to the side, hiding the two of you behind a few bushes. Her eyes were electric making you realize that the true “Harleen Quinzel” you’ve been trying to look for is right in front of you now.

“Yeah. Yeah, I will.” You didn’t hesitate to take her outreached hand. Your mind had already been made up since the first time you laid your eyes on her. 

#harley quinn #harleen quinzel #harley quinn x reader #harley quinn x y/n #harley quinn x you #dceu #dc #suicide squad #birds of prey #harley quinzel #harley quinn fic #harley quinn imagine

[wyvern-tales]

I don’t wanna fall asleep, because I have so much to say

Warnings: Fear (lots of it), descriptions of violence, humans being jerks, swearing, main character being a jerk sometimez

Word count: 24,256

Summary: Zelu didn’t like humans. They were basically fairytale monsters, but real, and somehow 10x worse. Everyone knew to avoid them. That was just common sense. Avoid humans, avoid human inventions, avoid everything related to the surface world. Simple as that. 

So then how the hell did he end up in this crab trap?

Prompt: A human finds a tiny merfolk stuck/passed out/hurt on the beach, they decide to take it home

Author’s Note: Heyyyy so this is the first time I've actually written G/t before, and the first time I've completed a story, so I really hope you enjoy it! Spent a good chunk of my time making this!

Tagging @secret-shifters for the event and @just-some-gt-trash for the gift! Hope you like it!

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the ocean, there are rules.

 Every Merfolk in every water of the world knows them. Five simple rules, made for everyone, regardless of culture or ability. Merfolk are expected to follow these rules like their land cousins, the Borrowers, and their code. The Rules are actually really similar to the Borrower Code, with a few obvious exceptions. Merfolk weren't Borrowers, not even that close. Borrowers looked like humans, but small. Merfolk sort of looked like humans, but more resembled the fish they swam with in more ways than one, size included.

The Rules went like this:

-One: Never speak, approach, or interact with humans. They are hunters and slavers, they take and never give back.

-Two: Avoid all human traps, inventions, and contraptions. Nothing good will ever come of this, no matter how intriguing they seem.

-Three: Should you find a captured being, Merfolk or not, don't help them. The risk is too great and you will most likely end up captured along with them.

-Four: Where the sea meets the land, never surface, no matter the time or place. Humans live on every spot of dry land, no coast is safe.

-And Five: Should you be spotted, do not attempt to fight. Always hide or swim as deep as you can go.

  Every child is taught these rules once they reach seven hundred sun-cycles (around two years, if talking in the newer dialect), the first two especially. They are responsible for the safety and survival of the Merfolk species, after all. From the great Whales and Sharks to the elusive Anglers of the deep sea, the rules have protected the ocean from human meddling for generations. Even the terrifying sirens and shifters, beings from the more magical side of Merkind obey at least two or three.

  Zelu's mother, like most other mothers in the sea, made sure the rules were drilled into her children. Threats of evil humans with their nets and fish-hooks hung over their heads, keeping the young pups from ever leaving their cave at night. Tales of the giants beasts and their crimes were told to wide eyes and shivering tails. Humans were always brought up in lectures whenever a child was caught doing wrong, sort of like a mythical monster of legend, only this monster was real.

 "Swim too far out and a human will catch you!"

 "Put that hook down before it's owner comes looking for it!"

 "I hear humans look for naughty pups to sell. Shark pups are worth lots of land money on the surface!"

 "Say that one more time and I'll throw you ashore to the humans!"

 "Do you want to become human food?"

 "Never go out at night, or else the land-walkers will come roaring with their boats to find you."

 "Behave or you'll end up like your Uncle Tarren. Don't want to end up dried up and put on display, do you?"

  Zelu's mother meant well, she just wasn't the best at expressing it.

 The nursery knew her as the strictest shark in the Atlantic. Her real name was Lain, eldest of an old family of twelve siblings, but that didn't stop the other children from coming up with all sorts of nicknames.

 The old Mershark knew her children would have to leave the seaweed beds and go off on their own someday, even if dogfish grew slower than the other neighboring sharks. She knew she held the smallest family in the beds, with only three small pups compared to the usual five or six. The fact that two of them kept getting into trouble and starting fights with the other families, while the third refused to talk to anyone who wasn't directly related, didn't help at all.

 Zelu's mother didn't really need a sitter or bedkeeper (young dogfish pups usually did fine alone) but Lain had to hire one anyway. Her children didn't meet the number requirement, but apparently in terms of behavior, she needed an extra set of hands and eyes to 'keep them under control'. So she found a kind young Mershark from the Lemon clan, who went by the name of Kepsy.

 Kepsy watched over the pups while Lain was out hunting or running errands. Zelu and his siblings liked her well enough, she treated them like friends rather than stupid babies (like most bedkeepers) and wasn't too strict when it came to Lain's personal rules. But both she and their mother shared one annoying quirk.

  Kepsy could recite the Rules by heart, and clearly wanted the pups to do so as well. Every morning Lain wasn't around, the bedkeeper had them list the first three once before breakfast and once before bed. Zelu and his little sister Mala hated that part of Kepsy's routine, but the oldest, Cain, didn't seem to mind.

 Cain wasn't much of a speaker. He did things without words or explanation, usually communicating with body language and simple eye movements. He only talked to his family and nobody else, the only exception being Kepsy, and even then she usually just got a few one-word sentences. The other pups in the seaweed beds thought Cain was mute. Zelu's family knew better. He and Mala could tell just what he wanted without him ever opening his mouth. Quiet, cryptic, and observant, that was Cain.

 Once, Zelu asked why he was so dedicated to the Rules. Cain just flattened his fins and pointed out the rip in Kepsy's fin. He made sure Zelu was looking at it, before turning his claw to the long scar that curved from the corner of the sitter's mouth. He did this every time, always the same answer.

 Cain never had to elaborate. Everyone knew what had caused those scars.

  So Zelu knew exactly why the Rules meant so much to everyone. But if he's being completely honest, did it really have to go that far? His siblings didn't have to worry about humans until Lain passed on, when they'd be forced out to make their place in the ocean. Mala could probably take on every fish in the sea and come out on top. Their neighbor, Jessin, always went on about how Cain didn't need to fight anyone to win during combat training. Said he had a 'gift', whatever that meant (Zelu didn't understand it, but he knew better than to press, since Lain got annoyed when it was brought up).

 Zelu, well, he could handle himself just fine, thank you very much. Kepsy said he was always reckless, but everyone knew he was the fastest swimmer and had the ability to use his natural defenses offensively. That was something most Dogfish Mersharks couldn't master. Dogfish spines were meant to be used as a shield rather than a sword, but Zelu's shield held iron barbs and serrated edges. He rivaled Mala in terms of agility and speed, if he did say so himself, and could out-maneuver the fastest sharks in the beds, fitting into places most wouldn't be able to.

 Point is, Zelu could take care of himself. He knew that. The Rules kept Merfolk alive, yes, but did they have to be followed so strictly? There was no room for adventure anywhere. Who cares if he bent them a few times?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Famous last words.

 A small part of Zelu's brain knew he shouldn't have wandered too far from the seaweed nursery, away from the safety of his cave and siblings, just four sun-cycles after his birthnight.

 It knew he should have listened to Mala and Cain's calls for his return, rather than ignore them in favor of possible adventure, leaving while Miss Kepsy's back was turned.

 It knew he shouldn't have gone and explored the brackish beaches and muddy sandbars of the coast, not particularly enjoying the sickly sweet feel of fresh water mixed with salt running over his gills.

 It knew he shouldn't have swam closer to the crab traps that littered the barren sea floor, intrigued by the shiny tags and ropes that attached them to the surface world.

 It knew he shouldn't have tried to help the young Mercrab trapped inside. It knew he should have ignored her barely-masked pleas for rescue.

 That part of his mind knew he shouldn't have trusted her. It knew this, yet the rest of him still went to help, the majority ruling out logic. Zelu'd be lying if he didn't kind of expect her to shove him in to take her place, but the urge to assist a fellow Merfolk overpowered his caution. And after all that, here he was, that small part of his brain shaking its head in clear disappointment.

 The Mercrab grinned evilly at him from her perch on the trap ceiling. Zelu snarled at her, tail lashing in both anger and terror.

"This is your fault, you know." She said, clacking her armored fingers mockingly. "The rules forbid helping trapped Merfolk. But I expect nothing less from a brainless shark pup."

 She spat out the word 'shark' like it was something gross, scrunching up her face at the 'k'. Zelu said nothing. He simply bared his teeth, specially made for crushing and tearing at the shells of crabs and lobster. The Mercrab flinched away. She knew that when he gets older, they'll sharpen, ready to take on jellies, sport fish, and even bigger crustaceans, including Mercrabs.

 If he gets older. That was a huge if and both parties knew it.

"I just wanted to help you," He growled, thrashing his tail against the bars. "Is that really bad? Or do you bottom feeders not understand emotions?"

"My my, so touchy. I wouldn't be that rude to the humans if I were you," The crab pointed up to the rope. "They wait exactly one cycle before pulling up these cages. I'd say you have…."

 She raised a hand to test the currents, loudly tapping the metal wiring with a clawed foot. Zelu winced back with each reverberation, hissing as his fins flattened against his head.

"....thirty minutes left. They always come back when the water picks up. Gosh, I really must be going then."

 Thirty minutes? THIRTY MINUTES? When the water picks up? That....that's almost no time at all!

"W-wait a second! Let me out!" The Mershark suddenly cried, original panic pushing aside his anger. He gripped the twisted wire of his prison so hard, his soft skin threatened to break under pressure. "Y-you don't have to leave me here! I helped you!"

"And let you get revenge? Not a chance. I made my choice. You were dumb enough to break the rules, so just face the consequences." The Mercrab grinned wider at him, climbing off the trap and turning to leave. "Did you forget crabs and dogfish are enemies? I'd say this was stupid, even for you."

"B-but….I saved you! I-I rescued you! You should be thanking me!" He pleaded. "I-I didn't do anything to you! I'm just a pup!"

The Mercrab just shrugged. "Sorry. That's just how things work. Don't want another shark to grow old, do I? The less predators, the better."

 With an enraged yell, Zelu bashed his body against the cage and lunged, shoving his arms through the bars to slash at her with venomous claws.

 "YOU DIRTY-" He cut himself off with a snarl, gnawing on the bars that held him back. "I'LL- I'LL RIP YOUR LEGS OFF AND BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH YOUR OWN LIMBS!! LET ME OUT, DAMMIT!"

 The crab trap rocked violently, kicking up clouds of sand and muck in the Mercrab's face. Some of the other normal crabs were knocked into him, but he didn't care. He gnashed his teeth and flared his fins, as threatening as a ten-year-old shark pup could possibly be. His attacks missed by a hair, but his show of aggression seemed to work, making her back away.

"...Fine. Be mad. Won't help anything. Enjoy your doomed life, little dogfish." She shot him one last (albeit slightly irritated) smirk, before scuttling off to whatever whale carcass she crawled from.

 "GET BACK HERE!" He screamed after her. "GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!"

  After about two whole minutes of shouting and fighting, Zelu's arms fell limp against the bars as he watched the Mercrab's shell vanish over the ocean dunes, rage settling like the seabed around him. His fins drooped, his spines flattened back into a neutral position, and his grey tail limply dragged against the uneven floor. Panting, the Mershark retracted his limbs and slowly sunk to the bottom of the trap, fingers still gripping the wired bars. Zelu let his forehead hit the wall with a depressing thunk.

  He felt crushed. He felt angry. He felt stupid. He felt, well, he felt humiliated. Mercrabs didn't pride themselves on their manipulation skills, no, they were more famous for being shellheads. Mercrabs weren't smart, they were tough and hard, no room for critical thinking anywhere. So for a shark, one of the strongest and most self-respecting Merfolk in the seas, to be tricked by one? The whole situation felt way more than humiliating, above all else.

 Mala and Cain were right. He never should have explored beyond the seaweed beds. He never should have gone chasing after adventure at such a young age, it had only brought him sorrow. Just like Lain said.

"..bloody traitor…." Zelu muttered to himself, turning his head slightly to shoot a look at his unwitting roommates. "....not you guys though. You seem fine."

 The trapped crabs simply gazed at him and clacked their claws, not a coherent thought crossing their minds.

  Zelu crossed his arms and swiveled to lean against the wall, the back of his head resting against the wire mesh. He looked up at the surface with a bubbly sigh. "Stupid shell-back…who does she think she is, ranting about me breaking the rules..."

 He didn't really know who he was talking to, but whatever. The crabs seemed to be listening a little. One of them, a large blue-shell with the biggest claws of the bunch, reminded Zelu of Cain, just a little. It was the quietest of the bunch. Zelu gave it an upward nod. The crab merely blinked at him, not moving from its stance. The Mershark huffed and turned away. Something about having a crab staring at him felt creepy.

 The crab trap felt far too small. The Mershark shuddered. There were only three normal crabs in with him, and they didn't do anything other than stare off into space, display their claws at each other, or stuff their faces with bait. They kept their distance though, which was a plus. Zelu considered eating one of the crabs, but decided he wasn't hungry. Probably for the best. Who knows how old that mystery meat called 'bait' was.

'Maybe Kepsy will come looking for me. It's way past noon, so Lain should be home by now. She'd break a few rules just to help, right?' Zelu thought, watching the sun rays beam through the water. '….Who am I kidding. Rule breaking is the last thing she'll do.'

 Zelu's mind brought up the faces of his siblings. He considered calling out and making tons of noise, off the slight chance one of them heard his pleas. He wasn't that far away from the seaweed beds. Maybe they'd hear him, if he put in enough effort!

 The Mershark instantly swam up and gripped some loose-ish wire. The crabs stumbled back at the sudden movement. He filled his gills with as much water as possible, ready to scream and rattle until his throat burned and his gills grew weary-

 When a long, dark shadow passed overhead, engulfing the crab trap in murky darkness. Zelu shut his mouth with a click, the air in his gills escaping in a stream of tiny bubbles. His hands felt glued to the thin wire, cutting into his palms from the sheer force he gripped it with. All will to speak died in his throat.

A Crocodile?

Here?

In Gator country?

  How the heck did it get so far from shore? They were notoriously reclusive and never ventured far from home, so seeing one out here in the crab beds made almost no sense at all.

 The croc drifted along, heavy tail swishing from side to side as it lazily circled overhead. It poked its head underwater, long toothy snout sweeping aside murk as it scanned the ocean floor. Sharp reptilian eyes went over Zelu's cage twice, sending claws of ice down his spine.

 Crocodiles didn't usually go after crab traps, right..?

  Eventually, it's gaze stopped on another separate trap, and the massive reptile dived down in an explosion of bubbles, tail pumping to build up speed. It seized the trap in those mighty jaws faster than Zelu could blink, crushing through the thin wire bars without trouble and stirring up a cloud of silt, before swimming back to the surface with its prize. The trap had been reduced to a flattened mess of wires and shells in almost no time at all.

A cracked crab shell drifted past Zelu, spiraling down into the sand.

His eyes followed it.

That had to be a clear warning from the universe. Zelu decided that maybe calling out was a bad idea.

  So instead, he hunkered down in one spot to wait until something happened.

 Occasionally, another crab would wander in to join him. Each time Zelu tried to scare it off, hissing (quietly) and flashing his claws and teeth. And each time, it ignored him in favor of free food. Zelu cursed himself, folding himself back up in the corner as yet another stupid crustacean tumbled in. The empty space shrank with each new addition and he hated it. Sure, he was bigger than them, but not by much.

Thirty minutes, huh?

 Probably more like ten now. There was nothing Zelu could really do at this point other than try to fall asleep, or stay awake until either the crocodile returned for another snack, or the humans came to retrieve their trap. It had been designed to let plenty of crabs in, but none out, creatures like Zelu included. Just by sight alone, he knew escape was pretty much impossible.

 Yes, all the Mershark could do was wait. So he adjusted his tail, laid his head down on the stiff metal floor, and prayed to the Great Megalo for a somewhat peaceful sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Zelu awoke to the sound of frantic rattling and squeaking. He ignored it at first, keeping his eyes firmly pressed shut, but then the ground seemed to jerk upward. He bounced up from his coiled position, spines flared and eyes wild. Did the croc find his prison? Was another Merfolk trying to break in? Did the humans return? Was someone trying to help him out?

 The cage jumped again, but didn't float back down this time. Zelu looked up at the ceiling, where the once lax rope now stood taut and firm, and then down at the rapidly shrinking seabed. Well, at least he got one out of four guesses.

 The crab trap jerkily burst from the surface and Zelu instinctively tried to dive back down. The bars stopped him though, and he was forced to watch the distance between him and the cool, comforting sea grow with each tug of the rope. The crabs scurried about like panicked minnows, occasionally running over Zelu's tail with their sharp feet.

 "C'mon Dale, get those traps up already! We left 'em out long enough!" A booming voice shouted from above, making Zelu's heart jump into his throat.

 "I am pulling them up! Gimmie a minute, this one's heavier than the last one!" A second, even louder voice shouted back. "I think we got a good haul today, eh?"

 The trap lurched upward, swinging dizzily from side to side as the outline of a massive, burly figure in a brown coat heaved it from the water. Zelu caught sight of a strange white contraption, sleek and intimidating. Like the skeleton of a whale, only more smooth and pointy. Kepsy talked about humans having things called 'boats' to travel over water. This, Zelu decided, had to be one.

 At first, he felt pretty excited. He'd never seen a human boat before. But then the humans driving it yelled to each other again, and he was suddenly reminded why this boat was there in the first place.

The crab trap bumped against the hull, prompting a squeak of terror from Zelu, who very quickly clapped his hands over his mouth. Pulled over the side rather jarringly, the Mershark watched as the human seized the trap's roof with a massive gloved hand, pulled open a hidden door Zelu never knew existed, and promptly emptied it into a grimy bucket without a second glance.

  Zelu tumbled out headfirst, landing among a squirming heap of even more crabs, who didn't really look as terrified as he did. How they could be less than mildly irritated about this was beyond him. The bucket felt bigger than the maw of a Megamouth, hard and spiky with a floor that moved and shifted, and massive white walls slicked with seawater.

 "How many d'you reckon we got today? Fifteen?" The burly human said to its companion.

 Trembling, the Mershark looked up as the second gigantic shadow of the day fell over his newfound prison. A face big enough to blot out the sun stared at him, looming over it's catch with mild interest. The light behind it blurred most of the human's features, but he caught a scruffy-looking beard and squared glasses, which the giant raised to its forehead.

 "Well I'll be…" The human murmured, sharp, chocolate eyes widening in apparent shock. "Ain't you the strangest little thing..."

 Zelu gave a strangled hiss in response, flashing his ear and elbow spines threateningly. The beastly thing didn't even flinch. In fact, it actually chuckled.

"Feisty too! Oi Redmond, getcher lazy arse over here!" The human called, beckoning for it's companion with the massive sweep of an arm. "We got ourselves a weird lil stowaway!"

 Zelu flinched at the sudden movement, biting back gasps as his gills struggled to reap oxygen from the air. It wasn't immediately life-threatening, but he needed to get back to water. His gills could only absorb so much water from the humidity. He had about thirty minutes tops before he started to actually suffocate.

 The human leaned in toward the bucket flashing flat white teeth, each one bigger than the Mershark's hand. It could very easily bite him in half, like he was nothing more than a twig instead of a living creature that should be feared. Zelu cowered away, curling his tail inward, trying to keep his body as low, small and spiky as he could get. The crabs below didn't help, constantly shifting and clacking against one another, occasionally pushing him closer to the giant above. He bit back a pained yelp as one managed to clamp down on his tail fin.

"What's it this time? You pick up some shiny junk again?" A second voice practically shrieked from far off to his right. Zelu grimaced, ears flattening against his head at the noise. "I'm telling you, I won't make any more stops at the pawn shop."

 Another sunfish-sized head came into view, this time with a clean face and soggy red hair pulled back in a ponytail. A second pair of hollow eyes, this time seaweed green, stared right through him. One giant was more than enough, but two? The Mershark swallowed the sobs that threatened to creep up his throat. He could practically feel his chances of escape swirl down the drain with each passing minute. They could do whatever they wanted and receive little resistance. Not even Mala could fight out of this one.

"...good lord." The new human breathed, leaning in far too close for Zelu's comfort. He dared a swipe at its nose, but the human pulled back before he could make contact. They both snickered in amusement.

"Ain't it cool?" The bearded one said happily. "Crabs be damned, I call first dibs!"

"D-Dale hold on, we don't have any idea what this thing is! You can't just call dibs on it!" Ponytail replied, looking up at the other. "It could be venomous or something! Look at those spikes!"

"Venomous-Shmenomous, I think it's cool as hell!" Beard crossed it's arms with a pout, which quickly turned to vicious glee. "Where d'you think it came from, eh? New discovery?"

 Zelu pressed his webbed hands to ears in a feeble attempt to block out all the chatter. His captors' booming voices just blended together into one loud roar. His hears rang painfully, each massive sound clanging off the bucket walls like an energized ping-pong ball. As much as it hurt, he had to focus. Find an escape.

  His tail-fin twitched from side to side anxiously as the Mershark scanned the walls of the bucket, searching for anything that would aid his escape. A crack, a small hole, hell even a piece of stray seaweed would do. The crabs around him piled on top of each other, trying to escape with no sense of teamwork. One would almost make it out, only for another to seize it by the leg and drag them both back down, rinse and repeat. Stupid dull creatures. Perhaps he could use them to climb out? While the human's backs were turned?

"I'm sure it ain't venomous, Red. Watch this!"

 Something above him moved, and Zelu looked up to see a massive hand reaching down into the grimy bucket. He shrieked in terror, twisting out of the way just in time for the hand to close around a crab instead, which promptly nipped at fingers almost as long as his tail. The owner swore loudly, waving its hand to shake off the little crustacean. It's companion laughed.

"No offense, but watching you get bit by crabs isn't that impressive."

"Ha, ha." The human said sarcastically, before grabbing at the Mershark again. This time with both hands.

 Despite his best efforts to twist, slash, and dodge, the fingers eventually closed roughly around his trembling form, one set gloved, the other bare. The instant he was grabbed, Zelu was reminded just how small he was compared to these monsters. He was just barely bigger than the crabs, and very easily crushable. There was little the Mershark could do to prevent those gigantic hands from seizing him like some prized salmon and hoisting him up into the air.

 The Mershark cried out pitifully, tears stabbing at his eyes as he watched the bucket fall away. For a moment, he found himself dangled upside down, two of the human's fingers tightly pinching his tail. Shot with a sudden rush of adrenaline, Zelu snarled and thrashed, struggling like a rabid animal, hoping his claws would land on something. The human laughed, before carefully bringing up its other hand to stop his attacks.

 After a moment of uncomfortable shifting and lots of struggling, it got him stuck in a crushing fist, arms pinned to his sides, rendering the Mershark's prime defenses useless. Zelu snapped his head around, forced to look up at his captors with burning eyes. He could barely breathe out of water and the extra pressure from those god-awful hands did nothing to help.

"Got some fight in ya, huh? Ha!" The human boomed, peering at Zelu with an eye almost bigger than his head. "If ya were bigger, I 'spect I'd be flat out on the deck, aye? Lil' rough-skin?"

"Dale, don't tease it."

 The Mershark growled at him and snapped his teeth, but it was more out of sheer terror than anger. The human smirked at it's companion, who leaned in to get a better look. It grabbed at the back of Zelu's head with two fingers, forcing the young pup to look it right in those awful, downright predatory eyes. Just the slightest movement and his head would be ripped from his shoulders. A tear threatened to slip out. Zelu just barely managed to keep it in.

"I don't think I've ever seen something like this in all my years on the water. Could it be a mermaid?"

 The bearded human shrugged, jostling it's prisoner a little. "Mermaids are girls, Red. This one looks like a dude. And I don' think mermaids are this tiny."

 "What makes you think it's not a girl?"

 "Well it's got that short hair, an' it tried to bite me earlier…"

 "Girls do that stuff too, Dale."

 Zelu shook horribly while the giants talked among themselves, fins angled down in clear discomfort. His heart threatened to burst from his ribcage and flop out onto the deck. His gills screamed in starvation, begging for more water to fill them. His tail twitched weakly, blood struggling to circulate under immense pressure. Everything in his body wanted the same thing, and that was to get free or die trying. Zelu didn't really like that last part.

 "D'you think he's cold? Thing's shakin like a leaf."

 "It's probably not used to open air. Ignore it."

 Yeah right, it was the air that made his whole body vibrate like a pre-eruption volcano. Zelu mentally berated himself for being so stupid and breaking the rules, blinking rapidly. He would not cry, no sir, absolutely not.

 But it wasn't like there was no reason to. Only seven years old, just turned, and here he sat. Prisoner to these beasts, struggling for air with no foreseeable way out. Just perfect.

"Though, I wouldn't call it half human. Humanoid, maybe, but not fully half. It's got more of a snout than a nose, see? And the eyes have green stuff instead of white."

 The rough hands around him tightened as the humans altered their grip.

 "It looks pretty young…" Ponytail commented, eyes roaming his exposed belly. Zelu swallowed dryly, trying to ignore the spotty, light-headed feeling that started to overcome him. "I think whatever this thing is, it'll fetch us a hefty price. Much more than some silly old blue crabs."

 The bearded one nodded eagerly, messing around with Zelu's tail. "Them marine biology people would go nuts."

 It released his tail, bringing the hand to poke at his head again. "Hey, d'you think it's got proper sharks' teeth or humanish ones? Or a mixture of both?"

 Zelu no longer thought clearly at this point. Whether it was from fear, lack of breathable oxygen, or just plain instincts, he didn't know. He only saw the massive (ungloved) finger coming directly at his face, inching forward slowly and tauntingly. Like a barracuda preparing to strike. His mind played out scenes of bloody carnage, one after the other.

 Knives slicing down through his stomach, pins holding his guts open, a shock collar around his neck, tags stabbed through his fins, hands passing him around like an expensive fruit, a lonely tank on display in front of hundreds of other humans, a blade coming down to separate his tail from his body, a massive boot smashing him into a bloody stain, his family finding his crushed, discarded skeleton in the crab fields-

 It was all too much.

 Shaking worse than a sea lily caught in a whirlpool, Zelu lunged forward as far as he could go.

"MOTHERF-" The bearded human roared, dropping its prize as tiny, hooked teeth sunk into the flesh of its pointer finger.

 It jumped and flailed like a demented chicken, shouting countless human swears and curses as it tried to shake off the frightened Mershark. Zelu just held on best he could, now-freed venomous claws dug deep into leathery skin, wind howling in his ears. He could hear shrieks of laughter from the ponytail human, who didn't do much to help it's comrade.

He was just a pup though. And his small teeth, combined with the sheer force of being whipped around like a ragdoll at high speed, by a giant, made sure he couldn't hold on forever.

 So with one powerful flick, his teeth tore through the skin, disgusting metallic blood oozed into his mouth, his claws ripped free, and Zelu went flying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 The first thing Zelu felt when he woke was pain. Just pure, throbbing, dull pain. Nothing different whatsoever. His head felt like it was full of watery mud, sloshing about every time he shifted. He'd like to stay lying down right here, thanks. If he didn't move it wouldn't hurt so much.

 But that's not how the world works, so resting out here in the open wasn't an option.

 Zelu did take a few more minutes to relax though. He couldn't remember much from what happened before, but the clean saltwater that flowed freely over his gills definitely helped. Much more soothing than the brackish mix he'd been stuck in before. The Mershark inhaled slowly, relishing in the familiar freshness. The mud in his head dried a little with each deep breath, clearing out the condensation.

  Eventually, Zelu felt comfortable enough to peel open his eyes, only to shut them immediately. Everything was so bright. Questions came to mind pretty quickly, since the beds were never that bright. Did he drift off into the middle of the atlantic? Was he in a coral reef or something? Did Kepsy find him? Was he in Lemon shark territory?

 Holding up a webbed hand, Zelu cracked open his eyes again, squinting in the harsh sunlight. It wasn't all the way around him, just beaming from a large half-circle directly in front of his face, but it was still overwhelming to look at. The water here was so clear. It even held a kind of blue tinge to it, very different from the seaweed beds' usual muted greens. This definitely looked like a reef, only less crowded. He raised his head and blinked to get used to the glare. After a second, his vision cleared a little, and he moved his hands away to stare at his surroundings.

 A small hotdog-shaped fish with brown speckles and bulging eyes stared back at him. Zelu blinked. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't that. The fish opened and closed its mouth. Then with the flick of an elongated tail, the small fish swam off, stopping a small distance away to nibble at some of the algae that coated the floor.

 A blenny, Zelu thought to himself. Algae eaters. Not very filling.

 Blennies were pretty common in reefs. Pushing himself up on his arms, Zelu winced when his sore elbows rolled over something hard, bending his spines in the wrong direction. The ground felt surprisingly rocky. He looked down to see the floor covered in oddly-colored pebbles. He himself was lying on his stomach in a bed of them. Moving them aside, the pebbles revealed a normal layer of white sand. A thin layer of weird rainbow pebbles over stupidly clean sand? Odd. He expected just sand and mud.

  Zelu moved to float up and swim off, maybe find another Merfolk and ask some questions, only for his head to collide with something hard. Rubbing his forehead, he looked up to see a roof of weird blue stone. Looking around further, Zelu noticed that he was in a small shallow cave. It was just big enough for a family of three Merfolk, completely round like an overturned bowl. Shell-patterned imprints decorated the inside, and his ears just now picked up an odd low hum coming from somewhere above. It vibrated and surrounded him, penetrating his very being with a tone he could barely hear. A small tendril of dread curled around his heart. His shelter looked, sounded, and felt so…artificial.

"Ke….Miss Kepsy? Mother?" He called out, drifting outside the cave mouth. He winced at how weak and shaky his voice sounded. For some strange reason, talking hurt. "Cain? Mala? A-are you guys there?"

 While his eyes struggled to adjust to the light change, Zelu absentmindedly ran a finger over his palm, tracing the lines until it hit something weird. A rough, raw imprint, spreading horizontally through both palms, cutting small rips into the webbing stretched between his fingers. Confused, Zelu held up his hands in front of his face.

 When the heck did I hurt my hands?

 He looked at them for a solid minute, before everything came flooding back.

 The memories. All of them. The memories of Mala's scolding and Cain's disapproving look. The memories of the crab trap and the traitor Mercrab, her sneering grin burning into his eyes. The memories of the thin wire bars, cutting into his palms while he watched a crocodile circle overhead. The memories of the giant humans and the hands around him, crushing and squeezing his life away. Memories of the booming voices and his gills screaming for water, something hard colliding with his head. Memories of the blood in his mouth and sand in his throat, scratching and ripping open his flesh. Very, very faint memories of steamy breath on his face and two freaking eyes just staring at him-

  Zelu had to move. He couldn't stay here, no matter how much his aching muscles protested. With an aggressive flick of a tail, he shot out of the tiny cave, out into open water. The light burned his eyes, hidden wounds stung, and his head hurt worse than before, but he didn't care. Colorful plants and weird statues flew past his line of sight, melding into a multicolored blur. Zelu just kept swimming. He needed to find his mother, he needed to warn his siblings, he had to get back home before something bad happens to them-

 ...only for an invisible barrier to slam right into his face with an awful crunch, stopping the frightened Mershark dead in his tracks.

 "SHIT-"

  Zelu's hands came up to clutch his face, fresh agony blossoming from his nose. It didn't feel broken and there wasn't any blood, but damn the seven seas it hurt. He drifted away from the barrier, almost tearful green eyes frantically flicking around. What did he just run into? Did something graze him and swim off?

 Zelu reached out a hand, feeling the water for whatever stopped his flight. His claws met an invisible wall, and once the shock cleared from his vision, the Mershark noticed a slight smudge where his face made contact. What was this thing? Glass? He spun around, still clutching his nose. The light no longer blinded him as harshly, giving the Mershark a good view of his surroundings.

  Where the heck am I?

 To his left, a white and yellow Butterfly fish gave him an irritated look from its perch under a rocky, red arch. The Blenny from before continued it's algae purge, pushing past Zelu without a care in the world. Like he, a clear predator, didn't exist. Above his weird blue cave, two Clownfish peeked out at the new visitor from a porous rock formation. Red and green plants sat suspended in the water, but did not move with the current.

Actually, Zelu couldn't even feel a current. The water felt eerily still.

 A weird silly-looking great-white shark statue decorated the pebble bed, accompanied by what looked like an anchor and a gold-toothed skull. The humming source, which sat near the surface, turned out to be a strange waterfall-making machine that churned up the water for no clear reason.

 This wasn't a reef. Not a branch of coral in sight.

 Zelu could feel his spines raise in alarm. Now that he could see better, the Mershark noticed that there was not just one glass barrier, but four. Four massive see-through walls, trapping him in a rectangular box with four other fish. Above, a big black lid shut them all in, weird blue-tinged light tubes casting a soft glow over everything underneath.

 Through the glass, Zelu could see a room. Only this room held weird furniture and was hundreds of times bigger than his own den. One glass-filled window on each wall, a pair of simple desks (one in front and the other set on his left side), an ugly red-white flower patterned carpet spread out over the floor, and a small closed doorway set to his far right. For a room, it looked pretty small and empty, lots of open space in the middle, punctuated only by a scattering of strange, four-legged table-things with a tall plank of wood stuck up on only one side. The thing Zelu was currently stuck in sat atop another desk, pushed up against the wall so he could only look at things directly in front of him.

  He…he was trapped.

  No Cain, no Mala, no Miss Kepsy, no Mother. Not even a crab from before. He was trapped, all on his own.

  Zelu's trembling hands fell from his face. His fins twitched erratically as his mouth opened and closed like a dying fish, inhaling almost way too much water for his gills to process. The Mershark ran his hands over his face, pulling at his hair in panic. The pain in his skin came crawling back in the thousands, the adrenaline rush from before having petered out. The ghosts of many sand particles scratched and tore through his gills and throat. A sharp copper tang itched at his tongue.

  Everything felt so sore and achy. His head offered a startlingly good impression of a sinkhole caving in. Stinging wounds lined his torso and tail like Tiger shark stripes, invisible, but still there. Overall, he just felt gross. He felt violated, he felt exposed, for Megalo's sake he felt half dead.

 And to top it all off, Zelu was trapped. The humans, they had dragged him from the sea, tortured him, grabbed at his body, thrown him to the land, and stuck him in this cage. In this horrible tank, put on display for all to see. He would be kept as a pet or studied. Hell, he might even be cooked and eaten. Nothing more than extra calories, fried and seasoned with some random assortment of vegetables. He truly had no idea what humans really did and didn't do, but Zelu knew what humans did do to most of the things they stole from the sea. He'd heard all the stories, told to him by wide-eyed Merfolk riddled with scars.

 Unfortunately, stuck in the midst of his panicking overactive imagination, Zelu failed to hear the rhythmic booming of giant footsteps coming his way. He didn't see the doorway open and close with a muted 'click'. He didn't even notice the approaching human, far too absorbed in his own thoughts, until it leaned down to peer through the smudged glass, burning hollow eyes staring at the Mershark like a cut of fresh meat. He turned his head, ready to bolt somewhere and hide, only to lock eyes with a freaking giant of all things.

 Struck with a crippling sense of Déjà Vu, Zelu's body froze up against his will. His breath hitched and his skin went completely numb. He swore the glass walls started shaking by themselves.

 For several long minutes, Zelu and the human studied each other, Zelu out of shot-up terror, the human in barely concealed wonder. This human looked very odd compared to the other two who'd stolen and maimed him. It had pure-white hair that stuck to its head like a pulled-apart cotton ball, and bone-pale skin smeared with some weird white ointment. Round glasses sat upon a bandaged nose, magnifying them to a point where it reminded Zelu of the eyes of a swordfish. Its irises looked like great blue fish scales, glinting coldly in the flickering glow of the tank, the black void in the center shrinking and growing with changes in light. The worst part was its hands. Two huge hands made for grabbing and crushing, resting almost mockingly on the table in front of the tank. The human very suddenly bared its flat, spine-snapping teeth, lips twitching upward in a terrifying grin.

 "H-Hey there, little buddy."

 The words sounded slightly muffled through the water, but the human's voice was loud enough for anyone to understand. Zelu flinched away at the noise, mouth moving wordlessly. The human tilted its head, some sick impersonation of sympathy spreading over it's massive face.

 "O-oh, right. Sorry." It whispered, holding up a hand to its mouth in what Zelu knew was mock embarrassment. "I must be really loud to you, huh?"

 No response from the Mershark. Not that he could say anything. Zelu felt completely paralyzed. That pesky adrenaline returned, granting him the ability to hear every tiny noise around him; The humming from the tank, the small swirling swishes of water being shifted, the giant monster's heavy, clearly excited heartbeat thrumming through the table, the sound of massive lungs sucking in and expelling gallons of air….it all felt a billion times louder. Too bad all those heightened senses would go to waste.

 "S-so um, I think introductions are in order, yeah?" The human said quietly. "M-my name's Phelix. With a P-H instead of an F. I sort of...rescued you? From the b-beach?"

'Phelix' offered a small, embarrassed smile. Or was it a sneer? Zelu couldn't tell.

"I-I mean, I found you half-stuck in the sand looking like you just went through a hurricane, so um...I'm sorry if you don't like touching, but I uh...kind of had to d-dig you up and carry you back here..."

 Once again, the Mershark found he couldn't respond. His mouth just gaped uselessly, shivering body making small ripples in the water above him. The human touched him? It picked him up? And probably did all sorts of unspeakable things? Without Zelu knowing?

Spotting the devastated look on its captive's face, 'Phelix' frowned.

 "L-Look, I apologized, right? A-And I fixed you up too!" It pointed a massive finger at Zelu's chest. The Mershark's eyes flicked down, hands coming up to feel what he thought was going to be a collar or vest, something put on him to restrain his movements, but instead he touched a thin layer of sea-soaked softness. His claws ran over long strips of cloth, wrapped around him from head to tail.

'Are these…bandages?' He thought, tugging at one of the looser strips. 'What the hell…'

The white cloth wrapped tightly around his chest, around his arms, and around parts of his tail, some spots holding little blotches of crimson. The whole ordeal was confusing, to say the least. But Zelu didn't let his guard down just yet. The bandages could be part of a larger scheme, one step of many.

"W-We should be okay now, right? You have a name, little buddy?"

 Zelu blinked at it, eyes going back to the original size of wide and terrified. His spines instinctively flared up as if challenging the giant to make a move.

 "Okay, you d-don't want to tell me, that's fine... What about a nickname? C-Can I call you something other than fish-boy?" The giant paused. "...Can...can you even understand me?"

 Of course he could understand, Zelu wasn't stupid. Human languages and Merfolk languages were mostly one and the same, outside of the deep waters. Deepwater Merfolk talked in light flashes, hand signs, and click/growl/warble combos, if he remembered anything from Kepsy's lessons. He just didn't feel like letting the human know any of that.

 "...okay, probably a no on that….I'll keep calling you little b-buddy for now. What about S-Spike though? For a nickname? B-Because of all those spikes." The human gave a short laugh, loud vibrations shaking the tank violently. Well not really, but it certainly felt like it. "Nah, that's a horrible n-nickname…what about....Urchin?"

 Zelu let out a pained wheeze, ears drooping. He considered giving the human his name just so it wouldn't call him something dreadful. Anything's better than a horrible pet name. He ended up shoving that train of thought off the rails before it left the station.

 What if names held some sort of power on the surface land, and giving it to one would give the human complete control? Not like Zelu had control over anything at the moment, but he didn't feel like taking that chance. So he made the decision to remain frozen in the water. Maybe humans could only see things that moved.

"Augh….p-please don't give me that look. You don't have to be afraid, little b-buddy! I just want t-to help you."

 Help him? How? Zelu didn't need help, he was perfectly fine, thank you very much. He knew this human was obviously lying in order to make him stick around for whatever it had planned. He wasn't going to fall for that trick.

 "...a-and before you start shouting about how you d-d-don't need help, lemme tell you this. I found you almost fifteen feet away from the water. You were covered in bruises and sand, and you were choking on your own b-blood." The human leaned back, crossing its arms with a fake-worried frown.

"S-so as much as I hate to say this, you aren't le-leaving until I'm sure you're a h-hundred percent okay."

Something inside Zelu snapped.

 With a pathetic squeal, the Mershark shot across the tank and dove right back into his tiny cave, leaving nothing but bubbles in his wake. He ignored the burning pain that spread over his torso and tail like a rash. That could be dealt with later.

 Heaving with barely-hidden sobs, the Mershark hunkered down in the back of the blue-rock cave, the salt from his tears mixing with the water around him. The human had practically spelled out his death. He was stuck here under the ruse that he was injured, which to be fair, was kind of slightly true, but who gave a shit?

 His eyes couldn't really focus anymore and his body hurt so much. The bandages weighed hundreds of pounds against his skin, stinging when he tried to pull them off, wisps of blood swirling out when his open wounds lost their wrappings. His head hurt, his tail hurt, his eyes hurt, his arms hurt, his gills hurt, heck everything hurt and he hated it.

 So much for not crying…

 The human merely stood up and moved around to stare at him again, head tilted in confusion and disappointment, this time from the square end of the glass.

"...dammit….." He heard the human mutter, pinching the bridge of its nose under its glasses. ".... amazing j-job, Phelix….you m-made things s-so much better…..jesus christ...."

 Oh Megalo, he'd made it mad. It could reach in at any moment and pluck him from the water like a dead goldfish. And he (probably) wouldn't be able to do a thing. Nowhere to run and very few places to hide. He pushed the pebbles underneath him aside, making a small circle of sand for him to lie in.

 Zelu curled his body in a tight U-shape, chest to the floor, hands planted firmly in the sand, elbows splayed out to set his venomous spines in a clear display of angry defiance. His fins pressed themselves flat against his head, the smaller spines above them poking up like antennae. Zelu bared his teeth and snarled as loud as he could, prompting his captor to glance up.

 If the human wanted it's pet to cooperate, it'd have to drag him out itself. And Zelu wasn't going without a fight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Except the anticipated 'fight' never came.

 After the initial first contact, which Zelu now knew took place in the middle of the night, nothing happened. No threats, no extra humans with blades or nets, no hands trying to grab at him. Zelu actually found himself regretting his stubbornness, for Meg's sake.

 After two days without danger, the cave had started to feel cramped and dull. Zelu fidgeted constantly, moving, stacking and rearranging the pebbles around his 'kill circle'. He doodled in the sand. The humming of the tank became oddly soothing over time, as weird as that sounded. His fish neighbors never bothered him, though the clownfish sometimes came around for a visit, only to find themselves driven away by loud growling. Through it all, Zelu almost never left his spot.

  As for the human…

  The human didn't act at all like he expected. It made no move whatsoever to grab him or drag him out of the tiny cave. It didn't even stick a hand in the water. It just….watched him. And existed near him, sometimes staring at a strange silver rectangle, sometimes just sitting around or writing on a weird white sheet. This went on for several sun cycles, end to end.

 Occasionally 'Phelix' would disappear, leaving the Mershark all on his own. Almost like clockwork it'd leave with a simple 'goodbye' to him, and then come back hours later to announce it's return, before vanishing into a separate room. Zelu took that time to wander around the tank and look for a plausible escape route. He never found anything of use.

  Sometimes the human never left. Sometimes it just walked around the house, talking absentmindedly about whatever it was doing at the moment. The Mershark never left his hiding spot during this time. He was far too worried about what would happen if he did that. Although when the human wasn't walking around or writing or leaving to do whatever, it did the strangest things.

  Instead of interrogating or torturing him like he expected, 'Phelix' would try to make conversation, even if it was met with complete silence every time. It would talk about what happened during its day. It would talk about random human things like 'horror movies' and 'anime', whatever those were. Sometimes the conversation went directly at Zelu himself, questions about who he was, where he came from, how was he doing, those kinds of things. Other times the topic of discussion went to something completely random.

 "I found a c-cool rock today! It looked like a rainbow, so I thought you'd find it p-pretty!"

 "Do you eat seaweed or just meat? My p-parents always said seaweed was like, a 'superfood', or something along those lines."

 "Are there more of you in the river? You d-don't have to answer, I'm just curious!"

 "I've always w-wondered….how do magnets work?"

 "Those spines look s-super sharp for a shark. Are you a dogfish? I read somewhere that there's a kind of d-dogfish with spines."

 "My sister Sara gave me a call yesterday. She's having t-trouble with finals again, i-if you know what those are. Might c-come around sometime."

 "You should eat what I g-give you. Going that long without food can't b-be good for someone of your size-"

 "I really like plants. They aren't l-loud and can't judge you, y'know? Super chill when you need them to be. You k-kinda remind me of a plant sometimes, minus the no-judging part."

  Zelu never answered, though he did react to some things by narrowing his eyes or blowing bubbles at the right times. He made sure it seemed entirely random so the human never knew he could understand what it said. Once, it offered to change his bandages, but Zelu shut that down with an angry hiss. Surprisingly, the human didn't press any further than that, even though it was clear the greying cloth was starting to fall away.

  After their one-sided chat, the human would drop in some chunk of meat or fish alongside a farewell. Zelu never touched them. He wasn't some pet, he didn't want to be treated and fed like one, ignoring how his outraged stomach protested. Even if they weren't poisoned or drugged, he didn't trust anything the human gave him. He made the decision to just stay put. He could survive on stored fat and stored fat alone, even if he didn't eat for many, many sun cycles.

 The untouched food started to pile up and rot as the nights passed. The neighboring fish sometimes pecked at it, but their efforts barely made a dent.

 The whole time, his human captor kept up the 'nervous' charade, always stuttering or apologizing about something. It never raised its voice, nor did it stomp around like giants were supposed to. In fact, whenever it entered the room, it slowed down and lowered it's tone drastically.

 Zelu despised those actions. All that tip-toeing and fake-casualty made him want to grow fifteen sizes and punch the damn thing right in the face. It treated him like some fragile seashell instead of a tough-as-nails shark. He wouldn't break if the giant breathed wrong, so why couldn't it stop acting like he would? The Mershark actually found himself constantly hoping for the other shoe to drop, but it never came. The darn thing had been falling for about six sun-cycles now, and he hated it. Any longer and Zelu'd end up forcing it down.

 Today was different.

 After returning from many hours of vanishment, 'Phelix' sat down in front of the tank with a less than pleased expression on its face. It stared at the glass for a few minutes, eyes hard, not uttering a single weird question or odd attempt at conversation.

 The Mershark tensed up, spines flared, eyes wide and daring. His mind rang with more-than-frantic alarm bells.

  Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

 He quietly stifled a roar from his stomach, keeping his head low. Did he do something to upset it? Oh Meg it was probably the conversations, he should have tried to respond to those...

The human offered no more than an exasperated sigh. Zelu flinched, expecting an attack, but it simply took off its glasses to rub at its eyes. He just now noticed that it was wearing rubber gloves.

 "L-Look, I didn't want t-to bring this up, but…" 'Phelix' leaned forward, clasping its hands in front of its face. Its gaze flicked over to stare directly into the blue cave, burning glacier eyes cutting through the water. Zelu shrank away at the sudden attention. "You haven't been eating. You d-didn't eat anything I g-gave you, and I-It's….it's been almost a week since I f-found you!"

 "You haven't even l-left that cave! Little buddy, I can't j-just...let you s-starve yourself like that..!" It brought a gloved hand up to the tank, showing the Mershark a rough cube of raw tuna pinched between it's fingers. "Listen, I've worked with s-sea creatures before.….what I'm a-asking is....p-please don't get mad at me for this."

 'Phelix' rolled up it's sleeves with a queasy look on its face. Zelu didn't like at all where this was going.

 With one swift motion, the human flipped up the aquarium lid and lowered a gloved hand into the water, creeping slowly toward the Mershark's shelter. Zelu squeaked in terror, pushing himself as far away as possible. His back hit the fake-rock wall and he pressed himself into it, willing the solid surface to just open up and absorb him.

  The shoe had finally hit the ground and the impact split open the earth beneath it. He'd done something wrong. He didn't eat what he was given. He didn't speak when spoken to. His human captor had finally decided to get rid of its defective pet. He'd be eaten, sold, or simply crushed into a bloody pulp.

  There is nothing you can do.

  Firm fingers wrapped around him like the tentacles of a giant squid, pulling Zelu to its beak, ready to snap him in two. The Mershark was too weak to properly fight back, but he still struggled hopelessly against the human's hold. He raked his claws over the hand, biting and beating it as hard as he could.

 It didn't even make a dent.

 There was no skin to slice, no flesh to bite and claw. Just solid rubber armor.

 You are going to die.

 "I-I know, I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-'' The giant murmured as Zelu's fighting went from frantic to downright pitiful. "It's okay, j-just calm down. I'm not going to h-hurt you..."

 It pulled the Mershark from the blue-shelled cave. The other fish in the tank hid behind whatever was closest. Zelu felt his vision go spotty. Everything was too bright and loud, it made his head hurt bad. He'd give anything to go back to his dark cave where he was left alone.

 But like usual, Zelu didn't have much of a choice. The hand-prison stopped just under the surface of the water, the human's second hand coming in to presumably twist his head from his shoulders. The Mershark cried out and jerked his shoulders violently in a weak attempt to escape. He snapped his teeth at the approaching digits. He'd bite a thousand fingers to get free, no matter what consequences follow.

  "Oh geez, li-little buddy it's okay! I-I'm seriously not g-gonna hurt you! Really!" The human turned it's free hand palm-up, showing the chunk of tuna. "I-I just want to make sure you eat something, that's all! P-please calm down! You're perfectly safe!"

  Zelu snapped his head around, shooting 'Phelix' a disbelieving glare. He immediately regretted it when his head throbbed even more painfully at the sudden motion. Pinching the tuna in two fingers, the human held it in front of the Mershark's face.

 "C-c'mon, I need you to eat. I d-don't even know how you're even alive at this point." 'Phelix' replied, pushing the fish closer to his face for emphasis. "I swear I-It's not poisoned or anything. I read that d-dogfish like tuna, so this shouldn't be a preference thing."

 Zelu made sure his mouth stayed shut, lips firmly pressed together in a quivering line. He shook his head in a violent 'no', eyes squeezed shut, trying to ignore the pain and lightheadedness that came with. He could feel soggy fish bump against his face. The Mershark avoided it like a fussy toddler refusing dinner. He couldn't eat from a human's hand no matter how starved he was. His pride wouldn't be able to survive such a blow.

"C-c'mon, please work with me…." The human muttered in a pleading voice. "I-I really, really don't w-want to force y-you more than I am n-now! P-please, just-"

 The tuna bumped against his face again, with a little more force. Zelu snarled and snapped at the hand behind it. "-work with me?"

 The hand surrounding the Mershark started to shake. The tuna stopped assaulting his face, but it's scent still lingered in the water. Zelu snorted, fully prepared to try and fight his way out, but his own body said otherwise. His stomach cursed him for refusing such easy food, making sure the next hungry growl came with a full-body ache as punishment. Zelu pressed his heated face into the giant's rubber thumb, biting back horrible groans of agony as he continued to shake his head. He didn't even know who or what he was refusing anymore. His fins and shoulders twitched and shuddered, betraying the clear burning pain that festered in his starving gut.

 You know what.

 Zelu raised his head slightly.

 Screw the rules.

 Screw the rules. He needed food. He needed that tuna. Humans and pride be damned, he needed something.

 The human wasn't crushing him, and it kept saying it wasn't going to hurt him….so perhaps…for once, it was safe..? That reasoning went against everything Zelu had been taught, but it was clear that if he didn't accept the giant's offer, it'd probably start using real force...

 Zelu cracked open an eye, turning his cheek to the rubber floor. The free hand was withdrawing from the aquarium, taking the slightly soggy meat with it.

 "WAIT!" The Mershark cried suddenly, head snapping to the side. His rubber prison flinched at the outburst, squeezing Zelu just a little too tight for a split second. "ST-STOP! I-I'LL EAT IT! J-JUST-"

 Zelu's voice dissolved into a harsh sob, hands clenching into fists as he turned to face the human that called itself Phelix, giving it a one-eyed glare that admittedly looked more like a leaky stare.

 The human looked….well, to be blunt, it looked awful. Its face was twisted in a pained grimace, head leaning away from the aquarium like holding a five-inch Merfolk pup hostage was the worst possible thing in the world. Heck, 'Phelix' looked on the verge of crying, fat tears hanging on by a thread behind those round glasses. It was incredibly surreal, to see such a giant apex predator so distressed.

 Zelu swallowed. As horrible as it looked, he'd cut himself off and the human was clearly expecting an answer, lest he make it angry. Filling his gills with fresher water, he gave 'Phelix' a pointed glare, trying incredibly hard to keep eye contact without screaming. "...p-please let me go. Please."

 The human did nothing for a moment, then nodded without a word. The gloved fingers opened and pulled back, releasing the Mershark into open water. Zelu frantically patted himself down to make sure nothing was broken, trying to ignore the sick feeling that washed over when his claws grazed over his well-defined ribs. Even under the wrappings he was clearly  malnourished. Zelu found nothing new and exhaled some bubbles in a sigh of relief, quietly cursing his own stubbornness.

 The exposed ribs and burning pain that came with his hunger wasn't the worst part. The worst part, well, it was the fact that the human had listened to Zelu. It made absolutely no sense. Predators don't listen to their prey, he knew from experience. But for some reason this one did. It stared at him with those huge, awful, sad blue eyes, listened to his embarrassing pleas for release, and actually let him go. Not a shred of malice or ill intent anywhere.

 Another hand appeared in the corner of his vision. For a split second, pure panic seized the reins of his mind. The Mershark whirled out of the way, fins flared, spines up, claws ready to slice open human flesh, as futile as that attempt might be. Leave it to a giant villainous beast to deal such a low blow, striking from behind, he never should have paused-

 Only the hand didn't grab at him. It didn't even get close. Instead, it stopped a good distance away from him, palm up, presenting that little chunk of tuna like an offering.

 "...N-now can you eat?" He heard Phelix ask in a low tone, huge voice cracking right down the middle. It was astonishing how terrified it sounded. ".....pl-please..?"

 Zelu contemplated turning right around, tucking himself away in his cave, and burying his shattered pride under the multicolored pebbles. Every sane instinct inside him shrieked at him to run or hide. The only part that didn't say 'get the heck out of there' was his need for actual food.

 So Zelu, cursing himself all the way, so tense his bones felt like snapping under the pressure, slowly dragged himself toward the open hand.

  He stopped in front of it, hands clutched at his chest, claws fiddling with the loose bandages. The Mershark shot a look at 'Phelix'. The human still looked pretty distraught, but a more hopeful gleam had appeared in its eyes. It stared at him in awe, mixed wonder and apprehensiveness and regret dancing about in its features. Zelu started shivering again. He didn't like the way those eyes locked on to him. Like it saw something rare and worthy of keeping.

 "Can you….look away?" He tried shakily. "I-I don't…like being watched…."

 This was pushing it. He was in no place to make demands. Zelu fully expected the human to refuse and drop this stupid 'i'm so scared or you' act. That's how things should be. Humans were the top predators of the surface, able to take down even the strongest of Merfolk with their cunning brutality and evil ingenuity. He's seen the scars and he's heard the stories, why can't this stupid human stop stalling and do whatever its planning on doing?

 "Hm? Oh, oh sure. S-Sorry." The human replied with a nod, turning its head to the side. Its arm remained in the tank, bent at an awkward angle. "T-take as long as you want."

 Zelu nodded back, though it was more for himself than anything. What was wrong with this monster? Humans didn't have emotions, everyone knew that. Did he happen to get captured by a mutant? Why the hell wasn't it maiming him right now?

  The Mershark willed his nerves to calm down and stop shaking (a futile effort). He turned to stare at the human's hand. More than anything it looked like an open bear trap, baited and set. He'd seen a few of them rusting away on the ocean floor, among tons of other human garbage. The fingers curled slightly inward, every line in that palm defined and etched into thin rubber, the points of squared fingernails poking through at the fingertips. Every so often, a digit would twitch, itching to bend inward and close into a full fist. The tuna rested in the crook of its middle three fingers. A clear trap from any sane Merfolk's perspective.

  Zelu outstretched a shaky arm, reaching for the food as carefully as possible. He shouldn't be doing this. He was swimming in poisoned waters. He shouldn't trust a human. He can't. As he's said before, It was against everything he was taught, completely against the way he was raised. His mother would kill him for being in this situation in the first place.

 But through it all, his stomach won the battle. He only saw the tuna, in all its savory glory. With all the courage he could muster, Zelu shut his eyes and lunged, arms outstretched. His claws groped blindly for the food, brushing against smooth, thick rubber for a split second, before sinking into his slightly soggy target. Zelu yanked it from its perch in the center and bolted, clutching his prize to his chest in a mad dash for shelter.

 Go go go go go get out of there get OUT OF THERE-

 He hit the cave wall head-on, but he didn't care. Headaches were the norm at this point. Zelu didn't even turn to check if he was being followed. The second the tank lights dimmed and the roof passed over him, the Mershark tore into the tuna with reckless abandon.

 And it tasted so damn good.

 Even if it was just soggy, unseasoned fish meat, to Zelu it tasted like the food of the gods. He bit off massive chunk after massive chunk, not even trying to chew as he forced it all down. Flecks of uneaten fish floated around him like snowflakes. His gut offered no more than a pleased gurgle. It probably looked disgusting and was completely undignified, but who cares about that? Who cares about anything? This was the most important thing right now and it's getting all of his attention.

 Zelu ended up finishing in record time. He didn't know just how big that tuna chunk was until he found himself stuffed to the gills, a sizable portion still left in his claws. If Cain was here, he'd be shaking his head at the pup's clear disregard for manners.

'Sharks should be dignified. We aren't complete animals.' Zelu thought he would say, translated from a simple eyebrow-raise-eye-roll-small-frown combo. 'How many times do I have to tell you this?'

 Well Cain can take his 'manners' and shove it up his nose. He should try being captured by giant land-walking predators and starved for practically a whole week. (Although Zelu would never admit the starving part was partially his fault. Who could blame him? Kepsy said humans took and used drugs daily, that all could have been poisoned)

 The Mershark looked down at the remaining tuna in his hands. Something nasty sank into his gut.

 Could…could it have been poisoned? Did the human just…change tactics? Did it decide to force it's toxins into his system, using Zelu's stubbornness against him? Human drugs could do anything and this absolute clam-brain of a shark just downed the whole thing in one go. He essentially drank a whole bottle of poison without thinking.

 Was he going to throw it all up, organs and blood coming with it? Was he going to rot from the inside out? Was he going to pass out and never wake up? Was his body going to seize up in complete paralysis? Were his gills going to stop working? Was his entire organ system going to shut down? Was he going to go mad and start tearing himself to pieces? Was he going to be struck with a horrible rash that burned him on the inside until he succumbed to death’s feather-light grip?

 Zelu looked over his shoulder at the tank outside his shelter. The room had darkened considerably, the sun having left the sky ages ago, leaving the tank as the only real source of light. 'Phelix' was still sitting at the table, face in its hands, light bouncing off its discarded glasses, which dangled from two twitchy fingers. A sign of clear distress, seen mostly in tired old neighbors or depressed travelers who had no meaning left in their lives.

 He shuddered. Zelu couldn't get over how normal it looked, if you could call anything around here normal.

 The Blenny from before swam in agitated circles, but that was just because it apparently lived in the blue cave Zelu called 'home'. The butterfly fish was doing laps around the fake plants, and one of the clownfish had left its rock. It floated just inside the cave mouth, looking far too innocent for a fish. Heck, clownfish liked to bite, Zelu knew from experience, they had no right to look like that.

 "Am I going to die?" Zelu asked it, turning his body slightly. Morbid question, but he had to say to someone.

 The clownfish didn't respond. How could it? Clownfish couldn't talk. He shouldn't be asking a stupid fish about these things, much less another captured pet. He probably already knew the answer anyway.

 The clownfish hovered for a few long seconds, before swimming right on in without a care in the world. It ambled around the Mershark sucking up the discarded flecks of tuna, cleaning up the remains Zelu's mess. Then it stopped to face him, little black eyes staring right into his very soul. Like it wanted something.

Zelu tilted his head.

The clownfish tilted its whole body.

Zelu tilted his head the other way.

The clownfish tilted its whole body the other way.

The Mershark frowned.

 "You're a weird fish, you know that?" He said. "That was probably poison and you just sucked it all up."

 The clownfish yawned as if to say 'I don't care'. It looked down at the remaining tuna in his hands. Zelu blinked in confusion, before the realization of what exactly it wanted hit him. He smirked.

 "Oh, you want the rest of this?"

 The clownfish burped a bubble.

 "Well too bad. It's mine, poison or no poison. Fuck off."

 Apparently that was the wrong answer. The clownfish darted forward and clamped it's tiny teeth down on the tuna, tail pumping in an attempt to shove Zelu out of the way. Zelu yelped and tugged his precious food back, swatting at the orange menace. He and the clownfish wrestled with the rations, Zelu hissing and swiping at it with venomous claws, the clownfish refusing to let go and somehow dodging every attack. Zelu didn't realize their fight had left the cave until a booming voice scared them both into freezing.

 "Mason! S-stop fighting with little buddy!" 'Phelix' snapped, despite still looking like someone just killed its brother. Zelu tensed up at the bite in the human's tone. "I f-fed you earlier and that's j-just for him, okay? No stealing."

 The clownfish made one more attempt at jerking the fish from the Mershark's hands, before giving up and swimming off to the red rock, where the other clownfish waited. Zelu stuffed the tuna into his mouth, glancing up at the human with a raised eyebrow. He felt he should be more scared (the human looked terrifying at night, something about how massive silhouettes could scare the living daylights out of anyone with half a brain), but newfound food had kind of taken the edge off things. 'Phelix' sighed, clouding up the glass a little.

 "You alright?"

 Zelu chewed. The human leaned back in its chair.

 "S-so." It muttered quietly, pulling off the (now damp) rubber gloves one finger at a time. "You….you can understand me? A-And you can talk, too?"

 Zelu hesitated, swallowing. He pulled the tuna from his jaws, hooked teeth tearing small lines in its surface. Perhaps he should think this through. He'd been hiding for days and nothing happened, so maybe he should…..try and break that tradition? As much as he hated to admit, 'Phelix' was pulling possibly the worst pair of pup eyes imaginable without even knowing it. It could be intentional, to lower his guard, but since when had he been correct about this human? Ever? This was probably too fast, for him to try and give the human any information at all.

 But Zelu nodded anyway. To hell with thinking things through.

 "...a-and you've been able to this entire time?"

 Another nod.

 And the human broke down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 To call that reaction startling would be a complete understatement.

 The split second after Zelu nodded, the human had made a weird strangled 'oh' noise and buried its face in its hands. The table shook as the giant started to actually sob, taking great, shuddering breaths between frantic apologies and curses. Zelu cringed away, dropping his tuna with a hiss of surprise, spines raising at the sudden movement.

 "Oh jesus, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry-" It sniffled, looking up at the spooked Mershark in front of it. Small streams of tears flowed freely down its face. "Th-this whole t-t-time I've b-been treating you like a…l-like a…...god I'm so sorry, I'm such a freaking m-mo-mor-moron!"

 Zelu wasn't quite sure how to react. 'Phelix' just started…..crying out of nowhere. Slumped over on the table, face hidden in gargantuan arms, muttering so many apologies it just didn't feel right. The Mershark shifted uncomfortably, picking at his bandages. He decided he didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit. He kind of wanted it to stop. This wasn't correct at all, it didn't make any sense whatsoever. Humans didn't cry, they couldn't. The stories spoke of them killing without remorse and loving without a heart. This both looked and felt wrong.

 As insane as it was, Zelu needed to stop it. What else did he have to lose at this point, anyway? The human made it clear he wasn't leaving, so he'd probably die eventually.

 Might as well use his last living moments doing what he did best. What was that, you might ask? Simple, it's causing trouble and being a general ass to everyone he didn't fully know.

 Zelu raised a shaky hand and rapped loudly on the glass wall. The human looked up at him from behind its arms, watery eyes wide and questioning. Newfound bravery (or was it stupidity?) took over the wheel as Zelu crossed his own arms, clearing his throat with a hardened look.

 "S-stop it." The Mershark announced, voice coming out higher than he wanted. He mentally cursed the small stutter at the beginning. "Stop doing that."

 The human sniffled and shrank away, still opting to hide behind its impossibly long limbs. Zelu took that moment to continue.

 "Stop crying." He demanded. "It's annoying and I don't like it. So stop."

 'Phelix' quirked an eyebrow, massive head rising from the wall of pale flesh made by its arms. It tilted its head to one side, before shaking it, cotton all hair spilling everywhere. The human ran its long fingers over its face in a vain attempt to stop the downpour and straighten out the sorry sight.

 "S-sorry...I d-do that sometimes…." It rasped, taking off its glasses to wipe away the still-oozing tears. Good lord, did this thing just swallow a bucket of sand? Its voice sounded awful. "Just…..f-feeling really bad r-right now…..."

 "About what?" Zelu asked. He made sure his voice sounded hard and irritated. As stunned as his inner self was, there was a possibility the human could be intimidated, even if that possibility went well into the negatives.

 "Y'know….. everything? G-grabbing you like that, tr-trying to f-force you to eat, p-pretty much k-kidnapping you f-from the beach….." 'Phelix' took in a massive shuddering breath, looking up at the ceiling. "I-I'm super, super sorry about a-all that…..I lied b-before, I really d-don't know how t-to handle tiny creatures…."

 The human slumped over on the table with a booming thunk, shaking everything and making Zelu instinctively back away. It pushed its glasses up onto its forehead, eyes glued to the brown wooden surface. A few late tears quietly rolled down its cheeks, sinking into the algae-green fabric of whatever kind of armor it was wearing.

 "I messed up. I j-just wanted t-to help, and I messed up. You have every right to b-be scared and h-hate me."

 Zelu snorted a cloud of bubbles. "Y-Yeah, that was a major double-dick jerk move. You giant brutes have n-no manners."

 Complete silence. Crap. He messed up. That had to be possibly the worst thing to say right now.

There's no way I'm avoiding an early death. If I survive this then I'm gonna eat Mala's stuffed sea sponge.

 " 's rude...." He heard 'Phelix' murmur. "....J-Justified, but st-still rude…"

Well shit. No turning back now.

 "I-I can be as rude as I want. You weren't the one who almost got crushed to death by a lying bone-faced oaf."

 'Phelix' winced, but made no move to respond. It stayed like that for a good five minutes, an occasional sniffle or sigh puncturing the thick silence. After a moment, its eyes started to drift shut.

 Zelu rapped on the glass again to get its attention. He didn't know what the hell he was doing, but his mind had thrown on autopilot and manual control couldn't take back the controls. "Oi, broken nose, i'm not done with you. No…No falling asleep in a pit of your own self hatred."

 The human sat up a fraction of an inch, lifting its head to stare at the tiny form before it. The Mershark tried to ignore the pang of terror that struck him when those tired glacial eyes locked into his own wide emeralds. He was definitely pushing it. The small request from before was a finger dip, this was diving in without thinking.

 Yet Phelix didn't look angry like he expected. They didn't even look mildly annoyed.

  Phelix's entire front was clearly lit up by the fish tank's soft blue light, their outline melding with the shadows of the room. The turquoise eyes still swam with old tears, dark gouges resting under the eyes like shadowy swings. Those thick glasses shone so clearly in the glow, Zelu could see his own warped reflection. A halo of red burned around them like a mask, blotches of pink spilling over the rest of their gargantuan face, a thick droplet of snot hanging by a thread from their left nostril. The soggy bandage on their nose curled up at the ends, and their gnawed-raw lips parted slightly, revealing a very noticeable gap between the yellowing stone squares they called teeth.

 "...eugh. On second thought, maybe don't look up." Zelu added under his breath. The human didn't hear.

For the second time in a row, Phelix looked dreadful. Clearly this wasn't the first time it had gotten upset. If he didn't know better, Zelu'd think it had been worrying and losing sleep over something the entire time he'd been here.

 Zelu took a moment to compose himself. Why did the human choose to look like that? Why that vulnerable and broken? He swore, Phelix looked more and more like a 'they' rather than an 'it' with each passing second. Why not conform to the usual and throw up the 'nasty evil giant har har har' face he knew so well? Why not stick to the storybook definition like he expected?

 "So. You confuse me." The Mershark repeated, louder this time. Gad, this is stupid. "And I hate you for it. So stop being confusing."

The human ran a sleeve across its face, stifling an exhausted yawn. "What's so con-confusing?"

 "Oh, I dunno, everything? You don't act like you should." Zelu replied, tapping the glass with a claw. "Of all the humans to have captured me, I got to get picked up by a crybaby mutant. You're too confusing."

 "Crybaby's a bit harsh…"

 "Well you are one. I don't make the rules."

 Phelix offered a weak chuckle. "S-sounds to me like you do, talking with that kinda atti-attitude."

 "Well I'm not a god, king, or a giant! And I'll talk to you any damn way I want!" Zelu shot back, completely forgetting who and what he was addressing. "And I think you're a crybaby, so a shrimpy little coward crybaby you are!"

 The human outright laughed at that. Their face still burned with past sorrows, but the jubilant smile that brightened their features took many, many edges off things. It still made the Mershark flinch, the sudden joyful sound rumbling around the tank like an earthquake. It took Phelix a minute to calm down.

 "You're..heh... funny." They said through short laughs, leaning forward on their elbows. "Sorry for g-getting emotional earlier….heheh... I cry over stupid stuff all the t-time."

 "You certainly do."

 "So….what about me d-do you find confusing, Mr Shark? You d-didn't really give m-me a straight answer."

 Zelu huffed and made a point in flexing his spines. He pulled at one of the loose wrappings around his chest, holding up the cloth to the human like a dirty rag. "Explain."

Phelix blinked.

 "Y-you're confused about the bandages?" They asked incredulously. "I-I thought I was pretty clear a-about those."

 "Well you weren't, so," The Mershark tugged on the cloth again for emphasis. "Explain, gigantor."

 "O-okay, so uh….they're bandages. I put them on you to help with your injuries," The human offered a mildly confused look, resting their face in their hand. "And I'd like t-to change them without getting b-bit, but ah…..I now know that's p-probably not a g-good idea.."

 "I know what bandages are, thanks, but what I'm asking you to explain is why," Zelu swam up closer to the tank lid to meet the human's admittedly low eye level, making sure every ounce of his energy went into keeping his voice and tone steely. He was a thread away from snapping under all that pressure. "Why did you put these things on me?"

 "Because you were hurt…? And I d-didn't want you to die?" 'Phelix' leaned out of  their palm and tilted their head to one side. "...Is this a trick question?"

 Zelu sighed. He wasn't getting anywhere with this stuttering clam-brain. They were dead set on keeping their plans secret, that's for sure.

 "Hey, if you can ask questions, c-can I ask some too?" The human asked suddenly, shaking Zelu from his dive into the eel burrow that was his angsty thoughts. "S-so it's not mostly one-sided. T-to make things fair, y'know?"

 The Mershark tensed up at that mention, his iron-hard mask starting to crack right down the middle. He'd already given Phelix enough information, what more could it want? His name? His species? His weaknesses? The location of his family? Zelu didn't want to give away anything… but a proposed deal could get him some vital escape info, if the human decided to cooperate (which had a fifty-fifty chance of happening, based on what he's seen of them). He thought it over for a few seconds.

 "....O-Okay, fine, I'll do a deal. What are your terms, human," He snapped, straining to weld his mask back on. "I won't agree to anything if I find it unreasonable."

 "You sure like b-big words, huh?" Phelix chuckled, pushing their glasses back down onto their nose. "A-and it's not much of a deal, little buddy-"

 "Don't call me that."

 "Right. Sorry."

 "I just want to have a c-conversation with you, okay? No tricks or ter-terms," The human clasped their hands together with a small smile, like they were taking to someone important. "Just a civil c-conversation between us, yeah? I ask you something, you ask m-me something. We both get t-t-to learn about each other, so it's a win-win for both of us!"

 Zelu took another second to mull this over. On one hand, he was being promised unlimited information and a deal without any of the harsh terms he expected, if the human was telling the truth. On the other hand, Phelix would be getting information as well, and still held complete power over everything, as proven by….earlier events. They could still change the terms or cut it off whenever they wished. They'd already grabbed him, there wasn't much Zelu had over them aside from his venom and sheer determination. Heck, they could be lying about everything. That possibility was still pretty high, unfortunately.

 ".....Fine. Deal. Just know that if you try to break it off, I will claw the skin off your fingers," Zelu growled, plastering on a look of admittedly shakey defiance. "Ask your question, human."

"Yes!" Phelix gave a little cheer, clapping quietly, but to Zelu it sounded like a war cry. The Mershark cringed away with an undignified squeak, earning an apologetic look from the human. "....sorry. J-just excited."

 "...what could you possibly be so excited about?"

"Oh, just…I've never really t-ta-talked to a merman b-before."

 Zelu chose to not correct him.

 "Alright, first question, ummm…." Phelix stuck a thumbnail in their mouth while they thought. After a few heavy seconds of chewing and thinking, the human's eyes lit up.

 "Oh! I almost forgot! I never g-got your name, little buddy. C-Can I have your name?"

 Zelu fidgeted. Bad first question. Very bad first question. Right to the personal stuff, all stops pulled. If these were siren rules, Zelu'd be dead for answering that kind of question. But he made a deal, and Zelu wasn't the kind of Mershark to break his word. From what he could see, humans didn't really have any magical powers. They were just big. And terrifying.

 "Z-Zelu. My name is Zelu," He answered, voice wavering slightly when the human leaned forward in anticipation. "Don't ever call me 'little buddy' again."

 "Zelu…" They mused, saying his name like they were trying to get a feel of how it tasted. "Interesting name! I like it!"

 Phelix gave the Mershark a hearty grin, planting their hands on their hips. "Well it's nice to m-meet you, Zelu! You were on the b-beach and now you're in my sister's fish tank!"

 "A total pleasure. I'm so pleased to meet you too." Zelu grumbled sarcastically. Why oh why did he give his name so easily? "So glad my kidnapper knows my name."

 "Okay, n-now you ask a question!" The human said happily, making the fact that they ignored the last comment known.

 Zelu thought long and hard. He contemplated asking about the room or the tank to make his escape somewhat easier (though his injuries would definitely hurt his chances). Then he thought about asking the human questions about themselves. Weaknesses, habits, that kind of stuff. So he'd know exactly how to defend himself should they inevitably turn and attack.

 "My question is…." The Mershark looked up at the human, who was gazing at him with wide, excited eyes. Zelu frowned as whatever he was going to ask disintegrated into thin air.

".....okay. First things first. Can you stop with the creepy staring? It's freaking me out."

 "Right, right, sorry. I'll s-stop staring." Phelix replied quietly with a nod. "My turn!"

 "Hold the fucking shell, how is it your turn? I haven't asked anything yet!"

  The human knitted their brows and tilted their head to one side. They made sure to keep their eyes slightly to Zelu's right. "You asked me to st-stop staring. That was a question, so it should b-be my turn now?"

 "That wasn't- augh, just forget it." Zelu grumbled with a snort. Those stories about human intelligence had to be exaggerated. That, or this one knew of the siren's policies and liked playing tricks. "Ask away, whale face."

 Phelix nodded happily and the conversation continued. It went about as well as one'd expect, Zelu answering every personal inquiry with a bladed tongue, Phelix oversharing about pretty much everything asked of them. The Mershark ended up learning a lot of things he didn't even think of asking, which was both good and bad.

 Turns out Phelix didn't own the fish tank that held him prisoner, nor did they own the fish inside. It was their sister's, who was off at a place called 'college' studying something the human referred to as 'siecologee', whatever the heck that was. Phelix also had never owned a pet or slave of any kind, dispelling yet another story about how every human kept Borrowers and captured Merfolk as servants and entertainment. It also explained the human's clear inexperience in handling smaller creatures such as himself. They claimed plants were much easier to take care of, so they never bothered trying to get an animal.

 Phelix worked as this human job called a 'cashier' at some place known as 'Cove-Mart'. 'They' were a 'he', but refused to elaborate how. He lived in his grandmother's old beach house (the human name for den), having inherited it from her after she died. Phelix's white hair and too-pale skin came from him having something called 'Albinism'. That, the human explained, was a human body condition, which meant he got to look extremely pale ("Like an anime character, b-but in real life!"), had awful eyesight (Explaining those abnormally thick glasses), and needed to slather on this ointment called 'sunscreen' whenever he went outside just so he didn't get burned by the sun.

As for Zelu, well, he made sure he told him the absolute bare minimum.

Where was he from? The river.

What was he? Your worst nightmare.

Did he have family? None of your damn business.

Was he poisonous? Yes, very, so don't ever touch me again.

Would he prefer more tuna or something else? Doesn't matter, just no plants.

Could Phelix change his bandages? For now, absolutely not. I can do it myself.

What kind of shark was he? The kind that will bite off noses if you don't stop asking such personal questions.

 Short and sour, that was how he swam, and he had no plans to change it. If the human wanted kindness or some sort of friendly attitude, they'd have to let him go right then and there. Injuries be damned.

 Yet Zelu held back his true ferocious potential. He could be talking to Phelix as horrible as he wanted, but didn't for one simple reason:

 Phelix was a human, a being hundreds of times bigger than himself. Phelix was a creature who could very easily crush the living daylights from his tiny, fragile body whenever he wanted. No matter how timid or stuttery he acted, everything about the human screamed 'massive and scary'. Sure, Phelix had outed himself as a complete emotional mess who probably would cry himself to death if he hurt Zelu, but that natural instinctual fear of the giant kept the Mershark on constant alert.

 Every gargantuan breath was noted, the heartbeat of an organ almost as big as his whole body echoing through the human's hands and into the table grounded him whenever he thought of a good insult, the slight shaking of the aquarium glass whenever Phelix shifted or changed position kept his spines raised, the rumbling waver of a giant voice stabbing through even as the human tried to keep his voice low, all the little details to remind Zelu of just who and what he was dealing with.

 So even as Phelix smiled and laughed and stuttered, Zelu kept his guard up.

 Eventually the human grew tired of their 'friendly interrogation' and the question flow petered out. After one more inquiry about Zelu's well-being and one last comment about how he seemed to be doing better, he bade the Mershark a good night and vanished into the same room he so frequently went into. Phelix had described it as his bed-and-work room, so Zelu could kind of understand why it was used so much. But nevertheless, the Mershark found the wary side of him wondering about what happened behind closed doors.

 Fortunately Zelu didn't have to think about that right now. He just needed to rest. Phelix had left a shrimp-sized roll of bandages in the water so he could re-wrap himself, and as much as he'd like to immediately, the Mershark needed to sleep. He was already many, many hours behind his usual schedule, having spent so many long nights awake and scared out of his mind. Tonight, Zelu would be able to get a full night's sleep. An uneasy one, he still didn't trust much, but a full night nonetheless.

 If Phelix was telling the truth, he'd be trapped here in the fish tank for another two weeks until he was 'recovered and r-ready to go', as the human put it.

 So again, all he had to do was wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 After he learned to accept conversation into his routine and relax a little, Zelu's final weeks in captivity went past in a blur of new information.

 Phelix actually wasn't that bad of a kidnapper, sometimes acting like his kidnappee wasn't currently being held against his will. The human shared his food, answered every question he was asked, let Zelu handle his own problems and injuries, and most importantly, he kept his huge, fleshy, clamshell hands to himself.

 Phelix even started up a trend of having lunch by the fishtank, setting his plate on the half-covered opening while he tapped away on a grey folding device for hours. He let the tiny Mershark steal as much food as he liked, since Zelu quickly made it known that he wouldn't accept anything that was directly handed to him. If either happened to be in the mood, they'd talk for a bit until one got tired of social interaction, or until the grey device ran out of fuel. The Mershark slowly found he actually enjoyed their little chats, even if the size difference made certain things difficult.

  Zelu learned that the green armor Phelix wore was actually an extra layer of fake insulation called a 'sweater', and was made of woven and dyed cloth. Zelu once caught sight of the human shedding his 'sweater' via an open door, revealing a much….rounder body shape than he expected. From a survivalist's perspective, didn't really need any extra insulation. When he politely asked about it (definitely didn't call his natural enemy fat directly to his face), the human turned a funny shade of pink and mumbled about something called 'slow metabolism'. Phelix didn't elaborate when pressed, forcing the Mershark to try and decipher the words' meaning all on his own. He didn't get much.

  Zelu actually ended up telling the human stories about his home life. Phelix mentioned knowing humans like Mala and Cain, and wasn't that surprised to hear about the Rules. He said not many humans were like him, and that whoever made up the Rules had the right idea. Phelix reacted in all the right ways, too. He laughed when Zelu told him about the time Cain mistook a mud crab for a shiny rock, and he acted impressed when he told him about his races with Mala and Kepsy, but a small part of the Mershark said Phelix didn't really believe his boasting and obviously true skill.

  Zelu in return learned that Phelix was almost called Sammy (near miss on that one, Phelix should count his lucky stars that didn't happen), as well as why the human ended up with a funny name. It was, and Zelu will quote him directly, because "My p-parents are b-basic southerners and wanted to be unique."

  Apparently the normal human spelling of the name is actually 'Felix', but his human's name got messed with for whatever reason. Zelu personally preferred the P-H spelling. More aesthetically pleasing than the first.

 Neither Phelix nor Zelu knew how magnets worked. Zelu didn't even know what a magnet was. They had a very deep discussion about it.

 Once, the human came home late and left an entire crab leg on the fish tank lid without a word. Zelu made quick work of it, dragging the massive thing into the water with his teeth like a very tiny great white. He'd never eaten that much in his life and didn't leave a single part untouched, refusing to leave his cave until he felt less like an overstuffed oyster and more like the lean, wiry shark he really was. Phelix offered no real explanation besides the mention of leftovers from a red lobster dinner party. How the human got crab legs from a lobster was beyond him, but he felt no need to ask any more questions, simply pushing the empty shells to the surface of the water.

 As for the final days with Phelix, those were punctuated by two prominent events that happened in quick succession:

 His First Escape Attempt, followed by the Time he Almost Suffocated on Phelix's Writing Desk.

 The human had made a fatal mistake that day. After their usual chat, Phelix gathered up the discarded bandages (he'd learned to change his own wrappings and let them float to the surface for the human to collect), cleaned out the leftover food from the tank, set the lid down on the table as he walked out of the room, and left behind a small glass of water not too far away.

 A simple clear cup, half-filled with tap water, sitting oh-so-close to the fish tank's right side. And behind that glass of water, just a small jump's distance, lay an open window.

 Only a fool would pass up an opportunity that big.

 And only a fool would mess it up so badly.

 Zelu made the first jump, but only after spending fifteen whole minutes thinking it over. He decided on trying his luck, there was still a small chance Phelix was lying about everything and didn't plan on letting anyone go.

 After taking a swimming leap, he burst from the water in a near-perfect arc, landing in the water glass somehow without making a huge mess. The water felt way too fresh and sweet in his gills, like he was swimming in a bowl of liquidized sugar, but it had enough infused oxygen for a thirty-minute stay. Zelu waited to recharge his tail muscles, doing small stretches to keep loose and fit for the Big Leap. One last jump out that window and he'd be home free. He shot a look at the doorway, making sure it was empty before he made his next move.

Zelu ducked down to the bottom of the tiny cup, coiled tighter than the strongest spring, heart racing against many invisible foes, filling his gills with as much water as possible….

And he jumped.

He almost made it, too.

Zelu came within inches of that white-painted windowsill, wind whistling in his ears. His claws could practically feel the cool ocean currents as he soared so close to his target…

 But the next thing he knew, his face smacked into solid glass, something in his nose popped, and he fell down, down, down onto the scratchy flower-patterned carpet.

 Zelu's heart dropped faster than his body, and it was still falling even after he hit the horribly solid ground. Warm blood dripped slowly from his face. His lungs and gills were shocked into inactivity. Not a single part of him moved. No breathing, no blinking, no twitching, heck his brain could have been knocked dead for all he knew. The window was pretty far from the ground, so he didn't doubt everything important had shattered into a million pieces. One thing was for sure, his arms felt like lead and his tail seared white hot whenever it moved, like something thin and many-bladed had sunk itself through the skin.

 The Mershark's eyes finally caught up with the rest of his brain, and he squinted. Zelu was seeing double and it really messed with his head. He laid there for who knows how long, just trying to focus on his surroundings and breathe normally. The ugly red-white pattern of the carpet seemed strangely distant, fading in and out. His brain was a camera (a human device, Phelix showed him his own once) and someone kept struggling to zoom in on a moving target. The room shifted and crossed over one another constantly. His own hands grew like, two more fingers, moving and twisting about without him feeling a thing.

 The floor shook for a spell. Zelu moved a single eye to stare up. Looked like Phelix was back. And he looked absolutely horrified, standing alone in the doorway. Zelu smirked.

Heh. If only he could see his own face right now. Priceless.

"....Holy shit, Z-Zelu!" The human cried, making a mad dash to where the stunned Mershark lay. The ground trembled and quaked, jostling Zelu's motionless body with each footfall. He smiled at the approaching giant, lack of real oxygen already making everything seem funnier than it really was.

 Phelix stopped in front of him, but didn't crouch. Somehow Zelu was high enough for a simple lean-over to achieve full looming capacity. The human's hands came up to cover his mouth in shock. "....little b-b-buddy..?"

"...don' call m' th't..." Zelu heard himself mutter. His tongue felt stuck to the floor of his mouth, words coming out slurred, nasally, and low. If he didn't know better, he would have thought he just huffed some pufferfish venom. "...'s disr'sp'ctful….."

 Phelix sighed, sending a warm breeze over the Mershark. He shuddered in response to the change in temperature.

"O-okay okay thank God, I thought y-you were d-d-dead…"

Zelu raised a hand with a groan of annoyance, letting it hit the ground again with a quiet smack. "...'m alm'st ded…f'ck'n stupid head…..get it rite..."

"Right r-right, okay, you d-do you…" The human said, making quick motions with his hands as if he wanted to do something but kept stopping himself. "Thank God I decided t-to move my d-d-desk under that window….you landed on my hair b-b-brush too.....Jesus Christ….."

 So he didn't hit the floor? Zelu shifted his head sluggishly. Apparently, yeah, he wasn't lying on the carpet. Smooth dark wood met his cheek instead of rough carpet. And his tail? That stabbing feeling came from resting on a massive brush, thick bristles digging into his rough skin. It wasn't broken, just sore. This new information eased his snail-speed thoughts a little, but he still hurt all over. Not a life-threatening hurt, just a stupid-adrenaline-junkie-who-made-a-dumbass-descision-and-is-now-paying-the-price hurt.

 Zelu snickered to himself. Something about that was funny.

"I'm g-gonna pick you up now, o-okay? A-And g-get you back to the t-tank." Phelix muttered, bringing his fingers around the Mershark. Zelu made a pathetic attempt to raise his spines, but they just twitched upward, before going back to lying flat.

  The human gingerly cupped him with shaky hands, Zelu protesting with a weak growl that sounded more like a seagull being strangled. As much as he hated being handled, he didn't do much to fight back. Zelu was way too tired for that. Besides, he knew Phelix wouldn't hurt him. The guy was really gentle compared to the other humans who first found him. Once you got past his alienating hugeness, a guppy could be more menacing. Probably more dangerous too.

"Y-You're an idiot, you know th-that?" He heard the human say while he was lifted. The motion made his head spin, but he was able to power through it. "That was p-possibly the d-dumbest thing you've d-done so far…."

 The Mershark flipped a bird in Phelix's line of sight, arms and head hanging over the edge of the palm like he was slumped over a railing, drunk out of his mind. "F'ck you."

 Phelix snorted, cringing slightly at the sight of Zelu's bloody nose steadily dripping into the lines of his hands. It looked like a bunch of red veins had shown themselves, popping out as the slow-moving ruby fluid filled in the wrinkles and creases. Zelu ran a claw through one of the lines while the human spoke, absentmindedly tracing the highlighted path. Every so often, he'd find a ticklish spot and make the palms twitch.

 "It really is though. P-playing hopscotch with my cups is j-just b-beyond stupid. The window w-wasn't even open."

 "How was I s'ppos'd t' know that?"

 "I-I don't know, by looking? You ca-can't have worse eyes than I d-do, Zee, and I haven't cleaned those windows in years!"

 "I c'n do wh'tever th' f'ck I want, 'Phee'."

 "N-no you can't!" The human shot back. "I swear, If I d-didn't move that desk, you'd have definitely either k-killed yourself or b-broken something important! Y-you can't just….d-do stuff like that! It-It's like you have a death wish or something!"

 Zelu just lazily bit him in response, letting gravity push in his sharp little teeth. He was too tired to talk or bite with any actual force. He could taste blood, but whether it was his own or the human's he didn't know. The hand tensed up and Phelix stopped moving.

"Uhm...y-you aren't venomous, are you?"

 Zelu unhooked his fangs with a tired, wicked grin. "Mmmhm."  

(He wasn't actually venomous in the mouth, but Phelix didn't need to know the finer details.)

 The look of devastation that spread over the human's face pulled a chuckle from the Mershark's throat, but it died when shock molded into annoyance. Phelix huffed something under his breath and practically threw him back into the fish tank, turning on his heel and speed-walking out of the room without a word. Zelu shouted drunkenly at the sudden action, hitting the cold water with a small splash. He righted himself and let his body float to the surface of the water, watching the human march about the house with mild interest, smiling to himself the entire time. The blood from his nose clouded the water around his head, but he didn't really care.

 The air-deprived woozy thoughts had started to clear away, but he still couldn't stop himself from laughing whenever Phelix tripped over nothing or knocked over a random object. After a while, the human poked his head through the doorway with a frown.

 "Th-this isn't funny! I-I have a very w-weak immune system!" He shouted angrily. Zelu clapped his hands over his ears at the volume, but didn't drop his smirk.

 "I was lying you idiotic sea snail!" The Mershark shouted back, sticking his head above water. "Gad, you humans are so gullible."

 Phelix's frown deepened. Zelu's voice gradually died in his throat at the look he was getting from him. The human looked like a strange mixture of sad and irritated. The Mershark shut his mouth with a click and ducked back underwater, hands coming up to pick at his wrappings. Awkward silence fell over the little room like a thick blanket of seal skin.

 "....what's with the sour face? It was just a joke." Zelu tentatively asked, poking his head up so the human could hear him. "...Do humans not have a good sense of humor?"

 Phelix huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, no, we d-do it's just….. nah, it's nothing. I'm fine. J-just a little….hurt…..I guess."

 "Well duh. I bit you." The Mershark replied. "Of course it's gonna hurt."

 "....How are you s-still able to t-talk like that after that fall....?" He heard Phelix mutter before continuing. "I mean the b-bite hurts a little, but it-it's not that k-kind of hurt."

 "Is this an emotional thing?" Zelu rested his head on the tank edge with a fake-sad expression. "What'd I do to huwt your feewings, o massive one?"

Phelix shook his head. It didn't look like the human was in the mood for teasing.

"...sorry." Zelu made a mental note to cut back on the snapping whenever he looked like this.

"You're fine. I-It's nothing important. It's stupid, really. Y-you just scared me p-pretty badly, that's all…"

 "And?" Zelu pressed.

"I...I j-just thought we made progress, y'know? And then you went a-and uh....and almost k-killed yourself trying to es-escape." The human said. "Th-that's why I'm...not in the best m-mood right now...."

 He cut himself off, shutting the door with a disappointed sigh.

 It didn't open for the rest of the day.

 Zelu was left confused for a moment, but when it finally dawned on him, he retreated to his own private room. He made the human mad, but also sad, too. Apparently humans thought a few weeks of talking and sharing food meant full friendship and trustworthiness, even if the 'friend' in question was technically being held against their will. Merfolk didn't really follow that philosophy, friendship was made through years and years of knowing each other or being raised alongside one another. Two Merfolk weren't really true friends unless they hunted or trained together frequently. Zelu understood he 'hurt' Phelix, but wasn't quite sure how to fix it. He liked the human, yes, but he liked the seaweed beds and his family better. In the eyes of another Mershark, what he did was perfectly reasonable.

  Zelu didn't leave the cave until well into the night, when he felt hungry enough to pick at his food stash.

  Phelix ended up spending his time looking over the bite and sulking in his room on his laptop, while Zelu entertained himself with pebble stacking and wordless arguments with his neighbors until they both grew tired of staying awake. Zelu wouldn't know that until much later.

 Had either of them decided to look out the window during that time, they'd have seen the large, grey fin circling the docks, before it vanished back under the waves.

 Had either of them decided to pay attention to the world outside of Spotify playlists and snappy clownfish, they'd have seen a massive shadowy figure emerge from the water and silently drag parked boats and cruisers underwater, one by one until it found the boat it was looking for.

 Had either of them bothered to stay up a little later, they would have noticed that same shadowy figure peer into the beachhouse windows one by one, before stopping at their own and vanishing without a trace.

 But neither of them did any of those things.

 So nobody noticed anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 "Today's the day!" Phelix announced, pushing open the door without any warning.

 Zelu jumped, knocking over his pebble sculpture. He groaned in annoyance, shooting the human a dirty look before swimming up the tank edge.

 "Today's the day for what." He said as he slumped over the glass edge, arms hanging over the side. "It better be important, cuz you knocked over 'Rainbow Monument part 3'."

 "I-I think it's important enough!" Phelix replied, stopping by the tank to scoop out the uneaten food that had floated to the surface. He gave Zelu a somewhat relieved smile. "You're going home today, r-remember?"

 Zelu didn't remember that, actually. But he definitely would call himself surprised to hear those words. It was shocking enough how quickly each of them got over the events of last night, they spent a full hour talking about it. A full hour filled with apologies and awkward silence. Zelu had been afraid Phelix wouldn't get over it, but based on the human’s attitude now, it looked like hsi failed escape attempt was old news by now. "Like, today? Right now?"

 "Yes today, but I don't know a-about right now. Gotta m-make sure you're actually ready to g-go 'n all." The human dumped out the soggy remains of last night's dinner into the trash can, before pulling up a chair and sitting down in front of the tank like he was ready for some big interview. "J-just a few questions, y'know? I'll start n-now if that's okay."

 For the first time in a while, Zelu let himself smile. He was going home. Like, actually going home. Phelix was letting him go, something past Zelu wouldn't believe even if it bit him on the tail. The only strange thing here was his own reaction. He expected himself to be more giddy or excited about it, but he really just felt a sense of mild relief. No over-the-top reaction, just slight internal happiness. Like the feeling you get when you're still hungry after eating dinner, and find out there's some leftovers nobody touched yet. Nothing worth shouting about, but still a nice feeling nonetheless.

 "I'll t-take your silence as a yes." The human continued, pulling up a small paper list from seemingly nowhere. "S-so, as a whole, are you feeling normal? Like, how you felt before all this went d-down?"

 Zelu gave himself a mental check over, then nodded. "I guess so, yeah. Fit enough to bite through some random fisherman's finger, if that's what you're asking."

 "Okay, good, tha-that's good...any headaches? D-Do the tank lights still seem too bright? Anything li-like that?"

 The Mershark shook his head. "Lights weren't that bright to begin with."

That was a lie, the lights sucked from the very beginning, but they're mostly tolerable now. Sunlight was way better.

 "Do you think you could take off your b-bandages without getting any blood in the water?"

 Zelu paused. "....I guess I could? Haven't….. Haven't really tried that yet."

 "Could you t-try right now?" Phelix asked. "You d-don't have to if you don't want to, I'm j-just curious."

 Zelu shrugged. He ducked back underwater and gingerly began to pull at the wrappings around his chest. They came off easily, unwinding with just a few tugs. He had to work a bit to untangle some parts, sometimes having to saw through the fabric with his claws, but eventually it all ended up in a small bundle on the tank floor. No blood or pain, which both the human and the Mershark took as a good sign. In fact most of his wounds had completely vanished, save for a few small cuts around his ribs, which were still healing over.

 Phelix smiled. "Y-you look great, Zee."

 "I always look great." Zelu scoffed in response, crossing his arms. "Just keep in mind I still blame you for everything."

 "Mhm. Okay." The human muttered, still smiling. He flipped over a page on his notes, exchanging quick glances between whatever was on the paper and whatever he was looking for on Zelu. Occasionally he stood up and looked directly down into the tank, asking Zelu to turn around or flex an arm.

 "....what are you doing?" The Mershark finally asked after another page was flipped. "You said just a few questions, not an examination."

 "W-well, I'm j-just double checking a few things. Th-things look pretty good right now, i-if that helps."

 Zelu huffed, but didn't question any further. Eventually, Phelix closed the notepad and stood up, a somewhat sad smile replacing the usual encouraging or friendly one.

  "I-I think you're good to go, b-bud!" The human said, earning an eye roll from the Mershark. He pulled himself up on the glass wall, leaning almost half of his body over the edge.

 "C'mon then, get me out of this damn tank!" Zelu demanded. "I hate this place! You, you're fine, I like you, but I don't like my neighbors at all. They suck."

 Phelix chuckled and shifted his feet, but didn't say anything else. He looked….a bit lost, really. And maybe a little confused about something. His eyes kept flicking around, and he seemed to be thinking  hard about something troubling, like a math problem or a particularly irritating roadblock. Zelu tilted his head questioningly, raising an eyebrow in frustrated confusion.

 "So ah, h-how do you want to d-do this?" He asked after a bit of (gentle) badgering from Zelu. "L-Like, do I br-bring the whole tank to the dock, or-or do I transfer y-you to a cup or something?"

 Zelu shook his head rapidly at the latter suggestion.

 "No bags, absolutely not, I don't feel like sitting a fuckin water balloon." He snapped. "And I've decided cups can go die. I'd like it if you brought the whole tank, thanks."

 Phelix nodded, but still looked a little confused and hesitant, absentmindedly chewing on his pinky nail. "B-but the tank is…..really heavy…."

 "Then use one of those wagon things you told me about! Gad, it's not that hard!" Zelu jabbed a clawed finger at the giant's face. "You better not be stalling, mister I-can't-think-for-myself. As much as I like you, I'd like to go home more."

 It was almost funny how quickly Phelix nodded and hurried off. The Mershark smirked to himself, but not in a mean way. A human, taking orders from a Mershark one hundredth of his size? And not killing him? Past Zelu wouldn't have believed it. He'd probably call Future Zelu crazy for telling such lies and try to fight him off, assuming Future Zelu was a fear-induced hallucination brought on by human drugs (which, according to Past Zelu's delusions, had been secretly mixed into the tank water). He wasn't even sure anyone at the beds would even believe him. They'd most likely pass him off as crazy too.

 The Mershark snorted in laughter. Their loss.

 Phelix came back a moment later, carrying a foam board which was attached to his wrist via a black rope. The board has images of waves and sharks painted over the front, and Phelix looked more than a little embarrassed about everything. He held it up for Zelu to see.

 "I-i couldn't find a wagon, b-but I did f-find this. It'll work j-just as good, right?" He paused, as if waiting for Zelu's approval.

 The Mershark purposely made a show of acting like he was seriously examining it, but eventually nodded. “Works just fine.”

 Phelix gave a relieved sigh, and very carefully began the slow and difficult process of scooping out the other fish, finding good places to store them until he could plug it back in, picking up a twelve-gallon fish tank, and strapping it to a foam board. It took a lot longer than Zelu liked, especially since the human, despite being massive, apparently had the average physical strength of a sun-dried sea bass. It was pathetic, but he didn't say anything about it. Zelu actually appreciated all the effort Phelix was putting into this, when he could just simply…...ignore Zelu’s wishes and stick him in a bag. It wouldn't be difficult, certainly much easier than what he was doing now. The Mershark felt a small surge of gratitude push through his mask while he watched Phelix work. The sheer amount of luck he'd gotten, having this human find him instead of literally anyone else….

 “Th-there we go…” Phelix muttered, standing up from a very strained kneel. “Is that b-better?”

 Zelu gave the human a thumbs up through the glass. He couldn't talk, the lid was strapped on when the tank had been tied to the board, so really it was the best he could do.

 Phelix nodded and gave a tired sigh, grabbing a wide vanilla sunhat by the door before beginning the slow journey outside, down the stone wheelchair ramp and over to the empty wooden docks. But he looked happy to be helping, so it lessened the guilt Zelu found himself dwelling on. Yeah, he was going home, that should be making him feel happier than ever. But….well it was stupid. The thought that he’d actually miss Phelix? Completely absurd. Nope, he wasn't sad about leaving. He wasn't feeling just a smidge guilty about being so rude or ordering that complete pushover of a human around. He wouldn’t miss talking with Phelix about topics he knew next to nothing about. He wouldn't miss learning about the human world. He definitely wouldn't miss the first non-related person to willingly spend time with him and endure his snappy attitude without making excuses to leave.

 While Zelu shook out his thoughts to clear them up, turning his gaze to the human before him. The tank shook and trembled while it glided over the uneven boards. Phelix walked on slowly, making sure to drag the mostly empty fish tank as carefully as possible, but the Mershark noticed his legs shook a little more than usual. The human kept throwing blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glances over his shoulder, and seemed to put all of his body weight onto one foot while he walked, giving the impression of a hobble. His fingers tapped against the rope as if making sure it was still held firmly in his grip, but he couldn't help but notice how Phelix kept scraping his fingernail over the same spot. Zelu could hear the human puffing quietly (who couldn’t, he was very loud even when he tried to be quiet), which made sense as he was dragging something presumably heavy behind him, but it too seemed to have a somewhat frightened shudder to it. Zelu looked over at the docks around them. It didn't take long for him to see why the human was so on edge.

 The docks were….strangely empty. From what Phelix had shown and told him, the marina usually had at least four people manning the boats or cleaning away bird poop, but not a soul was around.

Crowds were the norm, so for it to be this...dead? Weird. Very weird. Heck, the more he looked, the more he noticed there wasn't anything anywhere. No other giant humans, no squawking sea birds, no abandoned whale-skeleton boats. The marina looked more like an old abandoned fishing dock than the crowded marina of the supposed tourist town Phelix lived in. All the posts had rope and some fishing rods were still in their holders, but the massive, looming boats usually attached to them were nowhere to be seen. They reached the end of the dock, where it stopped pretty far out to sea.

 The water was mostly calm, the sun giving it a very bright blue color as the waves lapped quietly against the wood. Nobody was out on the water, no pale shapes or towering masts off in the distance. There wasn't even a cloud in the sky. Just blue above and blue below. The wind whistled faintly and the water made water noises, but it did little to break the eerie silence that had suffocated the empty marina. Phelix hesitantly knelt down and untied the tank from the board, taking off the lid. Zelu poked his head out of the water with a worried frown.

 “Are the docks usually this quiet?” He asked, not liking the way Phelix’s eyes nervously flicked about, like he was looking for something that wasn't there.

 “N-no…...no they-they aren't….” The human mumbled in response. He pushed the tank closer to the edge, the quiet scuffling of foam against wood sounding like a rumble of thunder in the silence. “I….I, uh, d-dont know….why it’s-it’s so quiet.......it’s pr-probably nothing, you should….you should g-go now……”

 Zelu shook his head and looked back down at the sea. It looked completely normal, cool and inviting, the breeze twisting up small waves so it looked like it was in constant motion. Very different from the fish tank’s artificial stillness. Humans could never truly replicate nature, even if they tried.

 Yet as inviting as the water was, there was something…..off about it. He started to understand why Phelix was so nervous, looking down into the water, hands gripping the glass tank tight enough to crack it if he were bigger. Zelu couldnt put his finger on it, but it was almost as if…..something or someone was waiting for them. Not just Zelu, but Phelix too. He could see the faintest dark shadow, the tiniest ripple of movement, the smallest hint of something hiding beneath the cover of the waves. The obscurest of signs of something lurking under the dock, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. The sea felt almost as unnatural as the silence, even as it innocently gurgled and toyed with the dock’s wooden posts.

 “A-are you…..are you going to l-leave…or-or....?” Phelix asked behind him, making the Mershark flinch.

“In...In a minute. I'm just preparing myself. Big moment, you know.” Zelu replied, but even he didn't find it convincing. Even a toddler could see how afraid he was.

 “Okay, I-I guess…..I guess that m-makes sense…...y-you sure tha-that's it?”

 “Yes I’m sure.”

 “Alright…I’ll just, uh, be over here i-if you need me…”

 Phelix awkwardly shuffled a few feet away, pulling the brim of his ridiculous hat over his eyes. He sat down and pulled his knees to his chest, suddenly looking much smaller than usual. Both knew they were afraid of something, but neither knew exactly what.

 Zelu turned back to the ocean.

 The water bubbled.

 A large ripple wiggled its way out from under the dock. Zelu’s eyes followed it suspiciously.

 Something to his right made a small wave push through the water.

 And from behind him, Phelix screamed.

 Zelu whirled around, heart rate going from zero to 100 in less than a second, adrenaline already zooming into his blood, eyes the size of scallops.

 He didn't know what he thought he was going to see, but a giant hand most definitely wasn't it.

 But there it was, a massive hand bigger than Zelu could even dream of, reaching out of the water toward where Phelix sat frozen to the spot, jaw slack, big blue eyes wide, fingers dug into the wooden dock to keep him from rolling over. Water fell from where it gathered in the webbing between the human-sized fingers, sickle-shaped claws dangerously curling inward, rough, toothed skin stretching and shifting above positively gargantuan muscles. It was bigger than Phelix, like big enough to wrap around the giant human like he was nothing more than an orange. That was definitely saying something.

 Unfortunately for Phelix, he only had a few seconds to blindly stare at the hand before it slammed down into the dock, directly over Phelix’s spot, breaking through the old wood like it was nothing more than paper. Zelu screamed, whether it was from fear or surprise he didn't really know, he just did it. He screamed until his throat grew hoarse and his gills started to burn, before self-consciousness slapped him upside the head and he clapped his own tiny hands over his mouth. It did little to muffle anything, but he didn't really care about how effective anything was at the moment.

 Zelu stared at the swirling water, at the bits of broken wood floating in the waves where a sturdy marina once was, at the exact spot where his friend was awkwardly sitting just seconds ago. Something wet was running down his cheeks. His tail was shaking violently, occasionally twitching in a random direction. His spines were stuck up defensively, but his fins pointed sharply at the ground.

“Phelix..?” The Mershark tried, voice smaller than his sanity.

This can't be happening. It wasn't happening. He was dreaming.

“Phelix?” Zelu said louder.

 The water swirled. No sign of the human anywhere.

He can’t be gone. He can't. Not that soon. Not like this.

 “PHELIX!!” Zelu outright shouted, dropping his hands from his mouth and pushing himself out of the tank as far as he could without falling. “PHELIX!!!”

 Nothing.

 Not even a bubble.

 No blood, no bones, no bubbled screams.

 Just......nothing.

 Zelu sank into the still water of his tank. He felt frozen. Someone just dumped a bucket of ice into his veins and left without a word. His brain had been replaced with a rock. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn't believe anything. His claws found his hair and pulled, like that would ground him. Nothing was real, nothing was real, nothing was real, nothing was real….

 The ocean behind him gurgled and something breached. Zelu spun around, hands in his hair, mouth hanging open like an idiot, eyes following the dark shape as it rose from the bottomless depths.

 A boat-sized head with dangerous, predatory eyes the color of mud, slick sea-greased hair falling around its face like strands of kelp, finned ears displaying a pair of sharp milky spines that sat above them, a mouth pressed shut in a thin line of terrifying indifference, no doubt filled with fangs big enough to crush a fully-grown human into nothing.

  A gilled neck and muscular torso with toothed skin, greyish brown melting into a vanilla white underbelly, a massive dorsal fin curving out from between shoulder blades the size of two great white sharks. In one arm, it clutched something firmly, the other hanging loosely at its side. More massive spines jutted out from those arms, one on each forearm, elbow, and upper arm. The spines folded neatly into each other when the arm was limp, spreading out vertically when it was bent.

 Spines just like his own.

 This beast, the same one that killed his first real friend, looked frighteningly familiar.

 Fucking Déjà Vu. Why the hell do you exist?

 The biggest giant he’d ever seen swept its eyes over the dock, locking onto the tiny tank, closed fist tightening. It lowered further into the water, fist held above water, eyes boring holes into the little shuddering Mershark. It stopped with its mouth above the sealine. Zelu swallowed, his own spines shaking harder than they ever had before. There was no way in hell it didn't see him.

 The giant Mershark opened its mouth, exposing the fangs Zelu knew were there….

 And it spoke.

 “Zelu?”

 The tiny Mershark’s breath hitched. His whole body froze up, eyes glued to the monster before him. Not a spine nor fin twitched.

 It’s voice. It’s voice, it was quiet, it was questioning, it was a voice that clearly had not been used often. He knew that voice. Zelu channeled all of his energy into pushing his head above the water.

“Ca…..Cain..?” He squeaked. The giant Mershark nodded.

“Mom sent me to come and get you.” His brother (good lord that was his brother) rumbled. “Sorry you had to see me get rid of the human.”

“Y-you...you…”

“I haven't killed it yet, if that's what you're going to ask…” Cain held up his fist. “I can do it now, if you'd like.” “What-” Zelu shoved his body up, leaning his torso out of the water to stare right into Cain’s massive face. He wasn’t really scared any more, he’d kind of gotten used to this sort of thing, living with a human and all. Cain was just five times bigger than a human, not much of a difference in his perspective. “No, I don't want you to kill him you dolt! Put Phelix DOWN!”

 His brother looked surprised, but obeyed and held his fist over the remaining parts of the dock. He opened it, and something green and wet fell onto the wood with a cough-punctured yelp. The human scrambled to his feet, sweater soaked to the bone, glasses completely gone, soggy hat clutched in one hand. Phelix’s staring gaze flicked over at Cain, then at the missing segment of dock behind him. He trembled, but did not move, feet firmly rooted to the wood, mouth opening and closing wordlessly.

 Zelu almost fell over in his sigh of relief. Phelix wasn't dead. He was incredibly shaken, but not dead. This was going to take a lot of explaining.

 “Phelix?” The Mershark tried, looking up at the smaller giant. Phelix jumped, but then collapsed to his knees by the tank, hands coming to shakily grip the sides.

“Z-Zee, Ze-Zee, wh-what-what.. what’s…” The human stammered not taking his eyes off Cain. “Wh-who... i’m c-c-cold... it's-it's... I-I d-don't- Ze-Zelu-”

“Phelix, Phee, it's okay.” Zelu comforted (well, he tried to comfort), bringing up a small hand to pat the human’s thumb. “Can you look at me for a second!”

 The human’s watery eyes locked onto him, and Zelo offered a small (kinda strained) smile. “Just focus on me, okay? It’ll probably be hard for you to forget what happened, but I need you to calm down. Nothing’s going to happen if you stay by me, alright? The stupid sea bass behind me doesnt want anything to do with you. You're’ fine.”

 Phelix nodded a little too frantically, talking to himself in breathy high-pitched whispers. He seemed lost in his own little world, kind of hiding behind the tank the best he could, eyes firmly glued to Zelu’s slight left. The smaller Mershark turned away from his friend and shot the nastiest glare he could muster at Cain, who looked very confused.

“You tamed it?” Cain said incredulously, but Zelu held up a tiny hand to stop him. In the corner of his eye, Phelix flinched.

“What the FUCK were you thinking, Cain-in-the-ass?” Zelu snapped, loud enough to be threatening, but quiet enough to not spook the human behind him.

 The larger Mershark tilted his head. “I-I was helping you?”

 “DID I LOOK LIKE I NEEDED HELP?” The younger roared back. “Cain, tell me, do I look like I’m dying?”

 Cain paused. “No…”  “Do I look like I've been tortured?”

 “N-no, you don't…”

 “Then what the FUCK did you think was going on?”

 His brother didn't say anything. Above him, Zelu could hear Phelix’s rapid breathing slow down just a little.

 “I….don't know, to be honest…..” Cain mumbled. He seemed to shrink a little. Like literally, his size reduced by a couple hundred feet. Zelu watched with wide eyes as he kept shrinking until he was about Phelix’s size, looking incredibly embarrassed now that he wasn't a huge shark-zilla.

 Well now I know what that ‘gift’ of his is.

 Cain, Zelu’s older brother by five minutes, was a size-shifter. Size-shifters were extremely rare, born with the magical ability to grow bigger than the largest whale, but at the cost of living to only two-thirds of their lifespan. Legends told of these magical beings rivalling the Gods in terms of brute strength, gigantic warriors able to turn the tides of any war. The shifter abilities mostly stayed within one species, the great Whales of the open waters, but over time, the magical gene somehow spread to the other Merclans. Size-shifters could be found in any species from any clan, but most hid their strength for fear of being kicked out or turned into a weapon. Besides, Cain had incredible power, that much was demonstrated, but he’d only grow to 30 years of age, if he was lucky.

 Zelu was reeling internally, but he made sure his anger at the older stayed in charge.

 “Exactly. You almost killed my friend over actually nothing. He was going to send me home you fucking snail-spine, and how did you thank him?”

 “..by almost drowning him…” Cain answered drearily.

 “By almost drowning him!” Zelu repeated angrily. He knew Cain was just being overprotective, but he wasn't happy with anything at this point. Phelix already had an extremely fragile emotional composition, and his bottom-feeder of a brother just stomped all over them in two minutes flat. “Apologize to Phelix right now, or so help me, I'm gonna...i’m gonna…. Ahhh doesn't matter! You will apologize!”  His brother shifted awkwardly. Phelix had stopped trembling, but Zelu could tell he was pretty afraid. The tank still shook slightly and his breathing shuddered, just not as extreme as before.

 “I...guess i’m sorry, human…” Cain muttered, wringing his hands. “For almost killing you.”

 The smaller Mershark turned to Phelix, a hand still resting on his thumb. Phelix nodded, not breaking eye contact.

 “I-I g-guess, uh, a-apology…..ac-accepted?” The human replied. He looked down at Zelu. “D-do you know th-them..?”

 “Yeah, he's my idiot of a brother. Ignore the whole size-changing part and he's harmless as long as i’m around.” Zelu explained, shooting another look at Cain. “You okay, Phelix?”

 Phelix hesitated, then nodded again. “I-I g-guess…y-you have t-to-to go with hi-him, r-r-right? S-since he s-s-said he ca-came to p-pick y-you up?”

 Zelu snorted. “Unfortunately, yeah. I do. Don't want mom to kill me any more than she would now.”  Phelix tried to offer his signature gentle smile, but it came off as more of a grimace. He already looked on the verge of tearing up, hands twitching a little like he kept wanting to do something with them but stopped himself. Zelu sighed.

 “Oh fine, c’mere you big baby.” He said, holding up his arms. Phelix hesitated, but eventually complied with the quiet confirmation.

 He brought his hands around the tiny mershark, scooped him from the water, and quickly hugged him to his chest. Behind them, Cain gasped quietly, but made no move. Zelu was about to protest at the abruptness of it all, but he stayed silent and let the overemotional human cuddle him, half-heartedly patting the soft, slightly damp fabric of the taller’s sweater. A finger was petting at his hair and he could feel the giant heartbeat thump-thump-thumping away beneath all those layers, chest rising and falling with each shaky breath. It wasn’t half-bad, to be honest. As much as the Mershark hated being held, he felt he could let this one slide. Phelix deserved it.

 “T-Times up.” Zelu muttered after they stayed like that for a good five minutes. He was starting to sweat a little, his body not used to being around that much body heat for so long. The human was like a living, breathing furnace.

 Phelix moved his hands away with a sigh. “S-sorry…”

 “Don't apologize. I gave you permission.” The Mershark shot back, but not in an unkind way. “It was….nice….anyways. I didn't completely hate it.”

 Phelix smiled for real this time. He moved to drop Zelu back into the tank, but thought better of it and instead positioned his cupped hands over the sea. He opened them, and Zelu didn't have to fall far before hitting the intoxicatingly cool water. He darted around in a few circles, taking in the wonderfully familiar feeling of seawater in his gills, something he once thought he'd never feel again. Above him, he heard Phelix chuckle quietly, no doubt enjoying the show. Cain swam up to him, now a lot smaller than before.

 “Should we head back then?” His brother asked. “Before it gets dark?”

  Zelu threw one last look at the docks and frowned. Phelix still looked pretty shaken up, the mellowness from before having worn off already. He now occupied himself by sitting on the edge of the docks, with his feet carefully under his body (away from the water), starting to wring seawater from the sleeves of his green sweater. He took off his hat and shook it around in an attempt to dry it off, which didn't really work out that well.

 "Something wrong, Zee?" Cain asked again. His size had reduced dramatically, but he still had enough inches to loom over him protectively.

 The Mershark shook his head, watching as Phelix got down on his hands and knees to sift his fingers through the water in an attempt to try and find his glasses (the human didn't know Cain had placed them in the dock behind him during their cuddle sesh, but it wasn't impossible for Phelix to not have noticed. He looked like he was enjoying himself too much to pay attention to anything else).

He really must be blinder than a starfish without those things.

 "I'll be right back. Just wanna do something." Zelu told his brother before swimming off back to the docks. He stopped in front of the human, careful to avoid the latter's hands as he stuck his head out of the water.

 "Oi! Broken nose! Your glasses are behind you!" He called out.

 Phelix jumped, but thanked the Mershark and eventually managed to find them after a little more feeling around. He stuck them on and blinked to get used to the change in vision, familiar swordfish eyes returning to his features. Zelu gave the human a brief nod and swam back to Cain without another word, before the human could say anything else.

 Cain's face said enough. Zelu punched his shoulder in irritation at the fake-adoring look he got from him.

 "No, I didn't want another sappy goodbye. Whale face couldn't find his glasses." The younger Mershark explained haughtily. "Didn't want him to spend all night combing the ocean for 'em."

 Cain smirked and rubbed his shoulder, but turned to start his path home, gesturing for Zelu to follow. The younger obliged, but not without one teensy little look back at Phelix. He got a glimpse of the human's timid smile and impossibly small wave, one hand still carefully holding the frame of his glasses, but didn't dwell any further on it. He made a point of keeping his gaze strictly before him. How that giant could rival a baby seahorse in both shyness AND cuteness was baffling. It had to be illegal. A clear violation in the laws of nature. Zelu hated it. He absolutely despised it.

 But not in a bad way.

 And knowing his luck, Zelu knew this wouldn't be the last time he saw him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#gt #g/t #g/t writing #merfolk #mershark #angst #fluff #My writing #my story #original work #original caracter #ocs #my ocs #long reads #longggggg #spiny dogfish #albinism #phelix #zelu #wyvern-tales #gt story #g/t angst #g/t fluff #fearplay #gad writing is harddd #whyyyyy #no ideas for a title? #slap on a song lyric that'll teach em #hehe breakin the rulez #song is 'alarm' by atlas btw

[thelittlesttimelord]

The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor Chapter 1

TITLE: The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor Chapter 1 PAIRING: No Pairing RATING: T CHAPTER: 1/? SUMMARY: The Doctor’s death is looming on the horizon and Elise is growing every day. What the Doctor doesn’t know is that he has 200 years to teach Elise all he knows. Amy, Rory, and River let Elise in on their secret, because River knows she will keep it. What will Elise do when he’s gone?

[A/N - Welcome to the first chapter of The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor! I’m already looking forward to this book so much! There will ups and downs and Elise will finally grow into herself and find her voice.]

The TARDIS was drifting when a distress signal started going off.

Elise dropped her sketchbook and ran for the console. “Daddy!” she yelled.

The Doctor came running into the control room and grabbed the monitor. “Hold on…that’s the ship we left Amy and Rory on.” He directed Elise to a set of controls. “These are going to flash in a particular order and you need to press them exactly a second after they flash, okay?”

Elise nodded as the Doctor typed something in.

Come along Pond.

“Something’s controlling the storm…” The Doctor did a few more calculations and the TARDIS locked on. “Got it. Elise, now!”

Elise started pressing the buttons as the Doctor flew around the console.

The TARDIS landed on a roof and they stepped out.

The Doctor saw a chimney and jumped in before Elise could stop him.

She groaned and rolled her eyes before following after him. She landed next to him and he stumbled out of the chimney. “Graceful,” Elise muttered, brushing herself off. They were both covered in soot and Elise briefly wondered if it would come out of her clothes. They’d been a gift from River.

“Ah. Yes. Blimey. Sorry. Christmas Eve on a rooftop. Saw a chimney, my whole brain just went, what the hell.” The Doctor approached the family in the room. “Don't worry, fat fellow will be doing the rounds later. I'm just scoping out the general chimney-ness.” He walked over to the chimney and leaned against it with his hand.

Elise wondered how long it would take him to realize it was still hot.

“Yes. Nice size, good traction.” The Doctor yanked his hand off. “Big take.”

“Fat fellow?” the boy asked.

“Father Christmas, Santa Claus or, as I've always known him, Jeff.”

“There's no such person as Father Christmas.”

“Oh, yeah?” The Doctor pulled out an old photograph. “Me and Father Christmas, Frank Sinatra's hunting lodge, 1952. See him at the back with the blonde? Albert Einstein. The three of us together. Keep the faith. Stay off the naughty list.”

Elise hadn’t gone on that trip. He’d dropped her off with River and they spent the day together. That’s actually when Elise had gotten the clothes she was wearing.

The Doctor ran over to what looked like an organ. “Ooo. Now, what's this then? I love this. A big flashy lighty thing. That's what brought me here. Big flashy lighty things have got me written all over them. Not actually, but give me time, and a crayon. Now, this big flashy lighty thing is connected to the spire in your dome, yeah? And it controls the sky. Well, technically it controls the clouds, which technically aren't clouds at all. Well, they're clouds of tiny particles of ice. Ice clouds. Love that. Who's she?” The Doctor turned and pointed at the young woman frozen in the ice.

She was blonde and pretty. She reminded Elise of a princess.

“Nobody important,” the old man in the room said.

“Nobody important! Blimey, that's amazing. Do you know, in nine hundred years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't important before.” The Doctor ran back over to the organ looking contraption. “Now, this console is the key to saving that ship, or I'll eat my hat. If I had a hat. I'll eat someone's hat. Not someone who's using their hat. I don't want to shock a nun, or something. Sorry, rambling, because, because this isn't working!”

“The controls are isomorphic. One to one. They respond only to me,” the man said.

“Oh, you fibber. Isomorphic. There's no such thing.”

The man reached over the Doctor and turned the contraption off and on again.

The Doctor tried the same thing, but nothing happened. He even tried sonicing the contraption. “These controls are isomorphic,” he said.

“The skies of this entire world are mine. My family tamed them, and now I own them.”

“Tamed the sky? What does that mean?”

“It means I'm Kazran Sardick. How can you possibly not know who I am?”

“Well, just easily bored, I suppose. So, my daughter and I need your help, then.”

“Make an appointment.”

“There are four thousand and three people in a spaceship trapped in your cloud belt. Without your help, they're going to die.”

“Yes.”

“You don't have to let that happen.”

“I know, but I'm going to. Bye, bye. Bored now. Chuck!”

The servants grabbed the family, Elise, and the Doctor, but the Doctor managed to get free and walked over to Sardick who was sitting in a leather armchair by the fireplace.

“Ooo, look at you, looking all tough now.”

“There are four thousand and three people I won't allow to die tonight. Do you know where that puts you?”

“Where?”

“Four thousand and four.”

“Was that a sort of threat-y thing?”

“Whatever happens tonight, remember you brought it on yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah, right. Get him out of here. And next time, try and find me some funny poor people.”

The boy in the family picked up a piece of coal and chucked it at Sardick.

It hit him in the head. Sardick got up and ran over to him with his hand raised.

In that moment, Elise’s knees hit the floor with her head down.

“No, stop, don't!” the Doctor yelled.

“Don't you dare. You leave him!” his father yelled.

“Get him out of here. Get that foul-smelling family out of here. Out!” Sardick ordered.

“We're going!” the boy told him.

The servants let go of Elise and she collapsed to the floor in tears of relief.

The Doctor picked her up and cradled her to his chest, stroking her hair.

“What? What do you want?” Sardick asked the Doctor.

“A simple life. But you didn't hit the boy.”

“Well, I will next time.”

“You see, you won't. Now why? What am I missing?”

“Get out. Get out of this house.”

The Doctor looked around the room. “The chairs. Of course, the chairs. Stupid me, the chairs.”

“The chairs?”

“There's a portrait on the wall behind me. Looks like you, but it's too old, so it's your father. All the chairs are angled away from it. Daddy's been dead for twenty years, but you still can't get comfortable where he can see you. There's a Christmas tree in the painting, but none in this house, on Christmas Eve. You're scared of him, and you're scared of being like him, and good for you, you're not like him, not really. Do you know why?”

“Why?”

“Because you didn't hit the boy. Merry Christmas, Mister Sardick.”

“I despise Christmas.”

“You shouldn't. It's very you.”

“It's what? What do you mean?”

“Halfway out of the dark.”

The Doctor and Elise left and he carried her outside and set her down.

She wasn’t crying anymore, but she was continuously wiping at her face.

The Doctor took her frantic hands in his as he knelt in front of her. “Your father hit you didn’t he?” the Doctor asked her gently.

Elise’s watery blue eyes met his. “Only when I tried to help mama.”

It explained why she was terrified whenever he lost his temper.

“I would never hit you. I hope you know that.”

Elise smiled and nodded.

“C’mere.”

Elise threw her arms around his neck and the Doctor placed a couple of kisses in her hair. When Elise had calmed down, he stood up and pull out an odd looking phone. Elise assumed it was to talk to Amy.

“Yes, I do. Yes, I am. Okay. The good news. I've tracked the machine that unlocks the cloud belt. I could use it to clear you a flight corridor and you could land easily. But I can't control the machine. But I've met a man who can.  And he hates me. Yeah. How did you know?”

The father of the family called out to the Doctor. “Sir? Sir.”

“Hang on,” the Doctor told Amy.

“I've never seen anybody stand up to Mister Sardick like that. Bless you, sir, and merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas. Lovely. Sorry, bit busy.”

“You'd better get inside, sir. The fog's thick tonight, and there's a fish warning.”

“All right, yeah. Sorry, fish?”

“Yeah. You know what they're like when they get a bit hungry.”

“Yeah, fish, I know fish. Fish?”

“It's all Mister Sardick's fault, I reckon. He always lets a few fish through the cloud layer when he's in a bad mood. Thank you. Bless you once again, sir.”

“Fish?”

Elise looked around and saw small fish swimming around the street lamp. “Daddy,” she said.

The Doctor looked at where she was pointing. “Fish. Fish that can swim in fog. I love new planets.”

A few fish swam down to the Doctor and Elise and nibbled on their fingers.

Elise smiled and laughed, sharing the Doctor’s sentiment about new planets.

“Now, why would people be frightened of you tiny little fellows? Look at you, sweet little fishy-wishies. Mind you, fish in the fog, so the cloud cover. Ooo. Careful up there. I know.”

The speakers below the street lamp started playing “Ding Dong Merrily on High”.

“Oh, just give me a minute.” The Doctor started pacing. “Can't use the TARDIS, because it can't lock on. So, that ship needs to land. But it can't land unless a very bad man suddenly decides to turn nice just in time for Christmas Day.” The idea hit the Doctor. “A Christmas carol.”

“What?” Elise asked him.

“A Christmas carol. A Christmas Carol! Kazran Sardick. Merry Christmas, Kazran Sardick.” He hung up the phone and took Elise’s hand.

“What’s a Christmas Carol?” Elise asked him.

“It’s a book. I’ll read it to you tonight, but right now we need to deal with a Mr. Kazran Sardick.”

#eleventh doctor fanfiction #eleventh doctor imagine #eleventh doctor #doctor who #Doctor Who fanfiction #doctor who imagine #a christmas carol #the littlest timelord #the littlest timelord: the death of the doctor

[ckret2]

What are your alien headcanon for ghidorah?

I didn’t realize that i desperately wanted somebody to ask about Ghidorah’s alienness until you did so thank you very much for this opportunity, I won’t let you down. I’ve tried to roughly divide paragraphs by topics and this is obscenely long so most of it is under a cut.

All of these are specific to MonsterVerse.

I know I’ve mentioned this before but I’ve decided that for the purposes of my fics, Legendary!Ghidorah’s backstory is a mix of Invasion of Astro-Monster (he’s been mind-controlled by aliens for the purpose of destroying other planets) and Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (he was made out of three tiny adorable mildly telepathic dragon-cat things). So put together: some unknown alien species in the distant past took three sweet little household pets, frankensteined them together, threw in a mountainload of genetic modifications, and trained/mindcontrolled the resulting abomination to be a flying apocalypse to destroy planets they want to conquer. (to stick with the Invasion of Astro Monster parallels, i might go with the aliens being Xiliens. undecided.)

At some point, Ghidorah escaped his handlers, went rogue, and has been bopping around the galaxy razing planets every since.

So this is why he’s a planet-destroyer: because 1) he was specially designed as a weapon that’s so good at planet-destroying he starts passively wrecking the environment simply by flying, and 2) he’s an escaped domesticated pet that was strenuously trained to destroy planets, so he’s kept doing the one thing he was trained to do. it’s the only thing he’s ever known, except for a couple years of being three dragon-kittens before getting experimented on. He doesn’t think it’s his manifest destiny to conquer and rule a private world, he’s not particularly keen on being King; he just, like… has no other hobbies besides mass murder, and is scared to try new things. He’s uh, probably got some trauma to work through.

Yes: he did, in fact, wreck Venus’s atmosphere. There may or may not be extraterrestrial refugees from Venus on Earth. He may or may not also be responsible for Jupiter’s red spot.

And he actually can fly without creating hurricanes, even in hurricane-prone atmospheres like Earth’s; it’s just harder and a lot less comfortable. Like imagine if it rained every time you walked—but not on you, just somewhere else—unless you walked sideways with your hands on your head. like, you COULD, but it’d be annoying.

His heads are not actually related, although all three did know each other before getting mad scienced together.

Because his original species was Domesticated Pet, and because his modifications allowed him to actually understand his “owner” species and what they said to/about him, he thinks of himself and other species that are disinclined toward tool-using, structure-building, and complicated-society-forming as “creatures” rather than “people”—i.e., a naturally inferior state of being. He thinks of himself as a “creature,” which is sorta messed up, because like, he’s definitely a person. Three people? At least one person. (This is in contrast to most Earth titans, who think of titans as highly diverse “people” and, on the other hand, think of humans and their cities as rather like rabbits and their warrens or bees and their hives—that is, most  usually don’t think about them at all, and certainly don’t consider such small critters to be “people.” There are a few rare exceptions—like Mothra—who consider humans to also be people like titans.)

Because of his awareness of “people” that are often much smaller than him, he’s got a capacity for sadism toward humans that titans who don’t even notice humans, like Rodan, lack. When Rodan flies over streets, he’s accidentally blowing around some ants. When Ghidorah flies over streets, he’s slaughtering living sentient individuals, knows it, and enjoys it.

Also because of his awareness of “people,” he’s far warier of their contraptions than other titans. Like, Rodan thinks jets are crunchy birds; but Ghidorah knows. At a glance he understands the rough purpose and use of most human machines based on analogous inventions he’s seen on other planets—he understands jets, drones, missiles, bombs, telephones, cameras, TVs, speakers, street lights, power grids, satellites…

He considers humans a class of people he refers to as “machine makers,” because that’s their defining trait to him, He considers machine maker species the most dangerous type of alien because they’re the ones who might conceivably have the capacity of inventing things that can put him back under mind control.

He can basically flap on up to the moon any time he wants, and probably does from time to time to get away from King Skreeonk and his insufferable friends. Who’s gonna go get him on the moon? SpaceX?

Ghidorah’s original species was genetically modified to be lightly empathic—able to read other living beings’ emotions—to help the pets care for their dear beloved owners’ emotional states; members of the species can also freely telegraph their emotions to each other. Ghidorah retained the power after being frankensteined, but it atrophied greatly over time. Possibly due to trauma, possibly due to three-people-aren’t-supposed-to-share-one-spinal-cord brain damage, who knows. He can still use it, but it only really fully works when he’s deeply sleeping/hibernating (i.e., when he was frozen in Antarctica, or when he’s traveling from one solar system to another and needs to pass time). When he’s awake, he’s got to press his foreheads directly to someone else’s head to sense their emotions. He can also transmit emotions this way. (He doesn’t need the ability to telegraph emotions between heads, since they’ve got a sorta interconnected brain system already.)

As an offshoot of this empath power, one of his multitude of apocalyptic powers that may or may not have been intended by his original designers: Ghidorah is capable of mild mind control—which is actually how he managed to control a whole planet of titans—by “singing.” It’s not direct control so much as it is a forced emotional state; what the victim does in that emotional state is up to them, although he can offer gentle suggestions that line up with their state. (i.e., “you’re extremely angry now; perhaps punch someone?” would function; “you’re extremely angry now; perhaps tenderly kiss someone?” would fall apart.)

This ability works directly on the brains of his targets, and since every evolutionary tree builds its brains different ways, when he lands on a new planet he has to put significant effort into studying the minds on the planet before he can figure out how to compose a song that will affect them at all, much less tune it to the specific emotions that he wants to cause. For this reason, he usually doesn’t consider it worth the effort, and he usually wrecks a planet and moves on long before figuring out how to sing to their minds. He probably wouldn’t have figured out how to sing to Earth’s titans if his battles with Godzilla hadn’t slowed him down from destroying the planet & motivated him to find other ways to get an advantage.

His song didn’t work on humans because titan brains are just too different for the same tune to work on both. His song didn’t work on Mothra because she’s telepathic herself, and a stronger telepath than Ghidorah. His song didn’t work on Godzilla because he was legally braindead at the time; otherwise, it probably would have. His song’s effectiveness is a matter of brain biology, not “alpha” ranking.

He can learn to sing other emotions, but right now the only one for Earth he’s figured out is “PANICRAGE AND DESTROY THINGS!!” because that’s the only one he wanted to figure out.

And I refer to it as “singing” partially because siren song parallels and partially because, from Ghidorah’s perspective, it is like, just singing. He also enjoys totally normal non-mind-control singing, like, just for fun.

When Ghidorah escaped his home planet, there were other “Ghidorahs” that had been made for the same purpose. He occasionally glimpsed them while bopping around the galaxy, but crossing paths with them was usually his signal to Get The Hell Out Of This Solar System because homeworld handlers might be with them. It’s not safe to stick around long enough to figure out whether they’re escaped like him or not.

He hasn’t seen any other “Ghidorahs” in a long time. He doesn’t know if any are still alive, or even if his homeworld is still alive & out conquering. He’s not interested in checking.

When he’s in parts of the galaxy with more well-traveled spacefaring aliens who recognize him as a world-ending weapon gone rogue, he’s sometimes hired as a mercenary to ravage planets. And by “hired” as a “mercenary” I mean “they ask him to destroy a specific planet and he says yeah okay because he was going to destroy a planet anyway and doesn’t care which one, and he doesn’t really have any material needs or keep any possessions so payment would be wasted on him.”

This is how he met Gigan, who is also a gigantic living war machine gone rogue from his homeworld and now occasionally doing mercenary work. Unlike Ghidorah, Gigan actually requests payment for flattening a world; but like, he’s also willing to flatten it per the client’s specifications—i.e. “please STOP flattening it if they pay our ransom” or such—which at times makes him a better hire than Ghidorah even at the extra cost. Being somewhat cyborg, Gigan can download and speak languages that aren’t technically supposed to be compatible with his anatomy, so he was able to strike up a conversation with Ghidorah a lot faster than most aliens because he already knew how to speak Ghidorah’s homeworld owner species’s language.

Along with understanding his owner species’ spoken language, Ghidorah can also read their written language, and possibly the languages of some other aliens too; and he can recognize what The Written Word is when he sees it even if he doesn’t know the language. He can, potentially, write—slowly and badly, like, if he’s got a long enough beach and a big enough stick to hold in his teeth and drag in the sand. He’s really not anatomically designed for writing, or even typing, in any easy way, and he’s never felt the need to find a method that works for him.

If, somehow, Ghidorah managed to spawn offspring, they would be of his original species: extremely small dragon-cats.

Being a deliberately designed weapon with a specific purpose, he probably wasn’t designed to reproduce, or even to simply be able to perform the physical act of mating. His creators did not, however, bother to remove his urge to do so. This has been a source of lifelong frustration. (That said though, he might still be capable in some fashion—if, y’know, it seems narratively interesting enough to pursue. But if so, it WILL be difficult to manage, full of complications and frustrations, and most likely require some creativity and/or unexpected wild accidents on Ghidorah’s part to achieve.)

Despite the fact that he’s a giant murderous asshole, Ghidorah is, in his heart, still just three domesticated pets, and so thinks that being an indoor pet with a loving owner taking care of all your needs is in fact A Fine And Good Thing To Be. All three parts of him were quite happy to be owned and taken care of—up until they got frankensteined and forced into mind-controlled giant monster boot camp.

So if he did spawn a bunch of extremely small dragon-cats and humans, being humans, started snatching them up and taking them home to be quirky exotic pets, he’d be like, “hell yeah. go, my children. this is your destiny.”

Ghidorah doesn’t consider himself as having any name at all. In fic when I call the heads “First,” “Second,” and “Third,” it’s more for the convenience of readers; they themselves don’t bother to think of themselves or each other by any names, even just numbers, because they always know who they’re thinking about already. He’s always surprised when someone gives him a name to go by—surprised and a little bit uncomfortable, because he feels like a name threatens to psychologically anchor him down to a “normal” life amid “normal” people. Homeworld may or may not have given him a name, or at least a code name; might have just him a serial number, idk. In any case he doesn’t remember it. His component parts had individual names before they were frankensteined, which none of them consciously remember, but if someone were to ever call them by their original names they’d probably start bawling like babies.

#ghidorah #king ghidorah #godzilla #kotm #headcanons #anonymous #ask

[commander-rahrah]

RESIDENCY (AN OPEN HEART FIC): PART SEVEN

Pairing: MC (Jordynne Holland) X Ethan Ramsey X Bryce Lahela; MC X Bryce; MC X Ethan

Masterlist: Click Here

Chapter Rating: M (Swearing, Kissing, Smut, NSFW)

Word Count: 4800+

Description: Jordynne gets a glimpse into Ethan’s brain and gets Bryce into her bed. Ethan’s jealousy gets the best of him. 

Disclaimer: Characters, storyline, and parts of the dialogue are taken from Pixelberry’s Choices. They fully own the characters, dialogue, backgrounds, etc. MC Jordynne’s background is my own creation, based loosely off of MC in-game’s personality and provided with more details.

Author’s Note: The fMRI diamond scene in Ethan’s point of view! Jordynne hooks up with Bryce at her house warming party and Ethan finds out the next day. 

Taglist: @drakewalkerfantasy @owleyes374@professorortegasstudent@mindlessdreaminxo @mayar-mahdy @paisleylovergirl @nicquix @emilymay100 @octobereighth

Previous Updates: Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six

PART SEVEN  

Why did he always seem to get himself in these situations with her?

He was standing in the middle of a newly constructed room— his back turned to Jordynne as he loosened his tie. Gulping, he placed it down before shrugging off his lab coat and unbuttoning his shirt. “I’m ready,” He said, turning around to face her.

It really didn’t matter — it was just for the test. For an experiment, science. His eyes darted to her pink lips, noticing her bite it slightly as she looked at his naked torso.

Quickly looking away, he laid down on the cold metal table, adjusting himself before holding out his arm to her. She grabbed his arm gently, pressing her fingers against his wrist palpating the veins — he swallowed at her touch. His blue eyes watched her work, “You do know how to perform an intravenous injection, don’t you?”

She rolled her green eyes at him, before grabbing onto the syringe. “You’re about to find out.” A mischievous grin spreading across her face. Ethan took a deep breath as she inserted the needle, focusing on the feeling of her warm hand on his forearm and the spreading cold sensation of the Gadolinium being injected into him.

He let out the breath as she took the needle away, watching as she disposed of it and peeled off her rubber gloves. “Well done. Barely felt a thing.”

Jordynne fixed her ponytail, smirking at him again, “I did go to medical school, you know.” Striding back to the machine, she loomed over him for a moment, “See you on the other side,” She pressed a button on the fMRI and Ethan felt the metal table start to slide into the donut of the enclosure.

He heard the click of her steps as she headed up into the control room. Taking a deep breath, Ethan tried to relax his mind. Why would she invite him to her housewarming party? Did she want him there? Or was it a general invitation? Did she actually think he would go? Or could go?

Even if he could, he needed to spend all of his downtime on Naveen. That was his priority.

“Can you hear me alright?” Jordynne’s honeyed voice spoke through the speaker within the enclosure.

“Loud and clear,” Ethan closed his eyes, preparing himself. “Very loud, in fact.”

“Ha ha.” He could hear the smile in her voice, even through the speaker. “Beginning the first scan,”

The machine started to whir around him, humming as the cycling began. He laid perfectly still for a moment, before curiosity got the best of him, “How is it looking?”

There was a pause, “Your brain looks… like a brain.”

He let out a chuckle, “I suppose I should be grateful for that.” Opening his eyes, he looked back inside the contraption — noticing all the moving parts, “So far, so good. Now let’s test the detection of the contrast media. Ask me some questions. Different parts of my brain should illuminate with increased hemodynamic flow.” This is why he had asked Holland — he trusted her so far, they had always played their questions game before. Now there just was a machine showing her his brain while he answered — it was only a little intimate.

“What kind of questions?” She asked softly.

He let out a breath, “Perhaps you could start with “‘Why am I making Dr. Ramsey think of everything?'”

“Fine, uh,” She hesitated, “Who do you love most in the world?”

Ethan blinked — that had gotten serious fast. “That’s…. quite a first question.”

Jordynne’s soft laugh made it through the speakers, “Just trying to provoke an emotional response in the scan.”

He stayed silent — thinking. He thought to his empty apartment, his naked ring finger. No one there. Did he love Harper anymore? Not really — not like before. His parents? It had been months, almost a year since he had spoken to them. Even when he did, it was a simple conversation around the holidays and work. Nothing more. Naveen? He couldn’t go down that route — not now.

His nostrils flared as he finally spoke, “I was once close with my family, though that time has passed. I suppose I feel a strong affection for my dog, Jenner.” He thought of his pet — it had been a couple days since he had been home. He really should go see him.

“You named your dog after Kylie?”

His thick brows furrowed, “I absolutely did not! Edward Jenner was the —“

But Jordynne cut him off, her voice filled with humor, “The father of immunology. I know. I was just messing with you.”

A laugh escaped his lips. Of course, she knew that.

“And it worked. Your amygdala lit it up like a Christmas tree when I got you riled up.”

Ethan felt his face get hot — riled up. “Let’s move along. Next question.”

“What’s your proudest accomplishment?”

“Hmm…” He paused again, thinking. She was good at this.

“Was it when you won the Adeyemi Prize? Or when you were selected to be the keynote at the AADM conference?”

Her knowledge of his accomplishments made him flush. She knows way too much about it, but almost nothing at all at the same time. He thought. “No, no, nothing like that. I think it was when I applied for med school.”

“When you… applied?” Her voice was confused.

“Yes.” He said with certainty, “All those other things were other people’s decisions. What I’m most proud of is my decision. To leave behind what had been planned for me and embark on my own path.” He remembered the day he had received his acceptance letter, the look on his father’s face.

“Do you want kids?” The question caused him to blink back to reality.

Ethan clamped his mouth down, not saying anything for so long, that Jordynne reached out again, “Dr. Ramsey?”

“I heard you. I’m thinking.” It was a difficult question. He longed for something he didn’t have now, that he wasn’t sure he could ever have. He had day-dreamed of it before — a big, stretched out belly of a faceless woman, baby-proofing his apartment, a sense of excitement and nervousness of being a father. But who would dare settle down with him, the emotionally unavailable, workaholic diagnostician? Who would commit to raising a family with a semi-present partner — someone who would take care of his patients over his own child?

“I’m not sure if that’s in the cards for me.”

“No?” Her voice was gentle.

Ethan swallowed, “I don’t think I’d be able to be there for them, at least not the way they would need. Besides, I’ve seen too many horror stories firsthand.” He thought to Dolores, to the ward full of children with cancer a few floors up from them, the busy NICU.

Letting out a sigh, he continued, “Okay, one more. Ask something complex.”

“Alright…,” She hesitated, he could hear her breath through the speakers.

“Out with it Jordynne.”

“What do you think of attending-resident relationships?” She blurted out.

Ethan’s blue eyes snapped open, staring into the inside of the fMRI. “I’m sorry?”

She didn’t miss a beat, “You heard me.”

He furrowed his brows, “Attendings are responsible for the management and training of the residents. That has to take priority. Romantic entanglements… interfere with that. We’re doctors.” Why would she ask this? He wished he could see her face, study it to try and figure out what was going on her head right now. ‘Cause his mind was reeling. Licking his lips, he continued, “Besides, any intimate feelings are just neurochemical responses to heightened stress and frequent exposure to each other.” His heart hammered in his chest, waiting for her response.

“Riiiight.” She drawled, before letting out a laugh.

Letting out a huff, Ethan closed his eyes. “I think we’re done here.”

The humming of the machine suddenly stopped, and the metal table slid out of the contraption. He got up quickly, grabbing onto his discarded clothes. Ethan had just finished buttoning up his shirt as Jordynne appeared from the control room.

He coughed before speaking, “I take it the machine is working normally?”

“Like a charm.” Her green eyes followed his fingers as he re-tied the knot in his tie.

“Excellent. Thank you… for the assistance.” He gulped — trying to get a read on her.

“Anytime.” Her pink lips spread into a smile, “Next time, you can ask the questions.”

Ethan nodded awkwardly at her, before turning on his heel. He thought that doing this fMRI would take his mind off of things — but it had only made things worst. Opening his mouth to speak, he thought about questioning her but he thought better of it. “Rookie,” He nodded again, before leaving the room without another word, leaving Dr. Holland alone in the room.

_______________________________________________________________________

Bracing the heavy beer keg on her hip, Jordynne fumbled in front of their apartment building — trying to get the door open. Her arms were exhausted — not only did she have to lug this thing on the subway, but she couldn’t get the smell of vomit off of her, even after her shower. It had been a long day, to say the least.

And Dr. Ramsey had been even harder to read than usual. She thought she was making ground with him — after Dolores, at the baseball game. But he had refused to come tonight, even though other Attendings were coming. And he seemed so awkward after the fMRI questioning — maybe she had gone too far. But she was so curious — she had Ethan’s brain in front of her, she couldn’t help herself.

Her eyebrows furrowed as left the elevator, hopping out onto their floor to find a packed hallway. “Sorry, excuse me,” She twisted her body around the large group of people before finding her apartment door already open. It was packed with people — most of them hospital staff.

“Holy crap,” She muttered to herself, too quiet to be heard over the loud music and laughter as people played drinking games.

“Jordynne!” A blur of brown caused her to jump, as Ines wrapped her arms around her in a half-hug. Some of her drink sloshed around in her cup, drenching the back of Jordynne’s shirt. “Thanks so much for inviting us!” Her voice sounded slightly slurred.

Jordynne smiled politely as Dr. Mirani approached, “Oh! Dr. Miarani! I’m, uh… really glad you could join us.”

Ines let out a laugh, hitting her arm gently, “We’re outside the hospital, you can call him Zaid!”

Jordynne shuffled her feet, trying to balance the weight of the heavy key but not wanting to be rude.

Zaid gave her a sheepish smile, “This is really great, Holland. I’m loving this party.”

“I can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic,” Jordynne said to herself, shaking her head before she started to waddle towards the kitchen, weaving through the crowd, “Excuse me, sorry… Coming through!”

Suddenly the weight in her arms was alleviated, and she turned around and was face to face with Bryce. “Lemme help with that. I was wondering where you were.”

She smiled, following him into the kitchen as he placed the keg on the counter. “At the hospital, getting puked on. Again.”

His brown eyes flashed, a grin growing on his face. “I love when you talk dirty.”

Barking out of a laugh, she grabbed onto his bicep easily, “At least one of us does. Give me a minute to get showered and changed.”

“I’ll be here,” He winked at her before turning back to the keg to finish setting it up.

Rushing into the bathroom closest to her room, Jordynne flung her clothes into the basket, threw up her hair and jumped into the shower. She started scrubbing at her skin, trying to get the smell of vomit and booze off of her. A smile spread across her face as she thought of Bryce waiting for her out there. They had been spending more time together — catching each other in the cafeteria, drinks after work at Donahue’s and the occasional supply room make out. It was easy with him. No questions, no uncertainty.

Closing her eyes, she let the water fall over her face for a moment while she remained thinking. It wasn’t like how it was Ethan. Not that her and Ethan made out in supply closets. But he was so exasperating — one moment he was confiding in her, trusting her and the next she was back to being called “Rookie”. And why did he not want to come tonight?

Why did it bother her so much that he didn’t want to?

Sighing, she turned off the shower, grabbing a nearby towel and wrapping herself in it. She didn’t need to get riled up about Ethan. Bryce was here, and he wanted to be here. That’s what mattered.

Standing in front of the mirror, Jordynne quickly put on some fresh makeup — her long lashes curled and pink lips shiny with gloss. Letting her hair down again, she fussed with it until it framed her face.

Sneaking into her room, she stood in front of her wardrobe rummaging through her clothes. A shiny, red top caught her eye and she pulled it on with ease, leaving her bra behind. Jumping into a pair of tight black jeans, she paused in front of the mirror. As she headed to open her bedroom door, she paused to squirt some perfume onto her pulse points before heading back into the loud living room.

Somehow it seemed even busier in the apartment than it had when she left, but Jordynne found Bryce easily. He matched her smile as they met eyes, but it faltered as his eyes trailed up and down her body.

He walked up to her, his eyebrows raised. “Oh, damn.”

She pursed her lips, “Problem?”

Taking a sip from his red cup, Bryce shook his head, “Just admiring the transformation.”

Jordynne let a sly smile spread across her face, “Are you saying I looked terrible before?”

He stepped closer to her, she could smell his warm and fresh scent. “I’m saying you look killer now.” He whispered in her ear.

She eyed the drink in his hand, before looking up to meet his eyes, “I need to see a doctor about some shots.”

A mischievous grin grew on his lips, “I think I’m due for some of those myself. Lead the way!”

Jordynne grabbed onto his forearm, pulling him with her towards the drinks.

Several shots, drinks and beer pong games later, Jordynne’s tan skin was flushed red from the booze. The night had turned quiet about an hour before, many of the guests had started to leave once they had finished up their games. She finished hugging Ines, before turning on her heel back into the living room. Looking around at the mess and few people left behind, she muttered to herself, “Wow. What a party…”

She noticed Bryce in the dining room, collecting cans into a recycling bag. A small smile spread over her face as she padded over to him. He noticed her, “Just about done cleaning up over here, Jordynne…”

Grabbing onto some nearby cans, Jordynne closed the distance between them — adding them into the blue bag.

“Thank you,” He said, starting to tie up the full bag.

“Thank me? You’re the one staying late to clean up our party.”

He shrugged, “Eh. Force of habit, I guess. Messes seem to follow me around for some reason. I’m pretty used to cleaning them up at this point.”

She looked around at the cleaning room, “I can see that.” Grabbing the bag out of his hands, she placed it next to the couch. “You know…,” She bit her lip, eyeing Bryce’s mouth. “You don’t have to go home.”

“Oh yeah?” He lowered his voice, edging closer to her, “And where would I sleep?”

Jordynne licked her lips, grabbing onto his bicep, “With me.”

Bryce let out a breath, “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Lowering her hand, she wrapped her fingers around his before pulling him down the hallway. As soon as they were out of the sight of the others, their lips crashed together passionately — both of their mouths tasting of booze. Jordynne fumbled for her doorknob behind her until they both staggered backward into the room — not breaking their kiss.

Grabbing onto Jordynne’s chin, Bryce took control of the kiss — pressing her up against the wooden door, slowing the kiss down and deepening it.

Breaking their kiss, she opened her eyes, “Do you think anyone saw us?”

“Do you care?” He smirked.

“Not really.”

“Good,” He slid his hands under Jordynne’s sequinned shirt, his fingers trailing up her spine. He chuckled as she let out a happy sigh, before stopping his hand. “No bra?” He questioned, feeling her bareback.

The pair looked down at her cleavage before he looked up smirking. “You are gorgeous and I need to see a whole lot more of you.” Tugging at her top, Jordynne lifted her arms over her head so he could pull it off. The cold air caused her nipples to harden slightly. Bryce eyed her hungrily, before pushing his lips back onto hers. His kisses trailed down to her chin, then her neck and down her bare shoulders.

“Mmm…,” Jordynne let out as she leaned into the gesture.

Bryce grabbed onto her hips, his strong hands spinning her around to press her ass into him. He continued kissing her neck, biting gently every so often as he played with the top of her jeans. His fingers effortlessly slid into her pants, feeling Jordynne’s smooth skin. She shuttered at the feeling as he groaned in her ear, “You went commando? God, you’re hot.”

With a quick zip, her pants were at her ankles and she was stepping out of them, stark naked compared to Bryce, who was still fully dressed. “You are… very good at this.” She was a little breathless.

“I’m good at a lot of things,” He smirked, raising an eyebrow at her. He grabbed the back of her head, capturing her mouth again — his hands roaming to her back, to her breasts to her hips to her inner thigh.

Jordynne’s knees buckled slightly, but she continued to whisper to him, “You did tell me you had the best hands…”

“And?” His voice muffled through kissing her neck and chest.

“And I need more convincing,” See smirked, moving her neck away from his greedy lips.

Bryce let out a laugh, putting his hands on her hips and guiding her towards the bed. The backs of Jordynne’s knees hit her mattress, and she squinted at him. “How am I completely naked while you’re still dressed?”

He bit his lip, staring down at her, “Feel free to fix that.”

Grabbing onto the hem of his sweater, Jordynne pulled it over his head — pushing his messy hair back. Taking charge, her long fingers started unbuttoning his shirt — revealing his tan chest. Her pink lips met his warm skin, as she kissed his collarbone. Her fingers pushed his shirt aside, feeling his hard abs. His shirt hit the floor, as she playfully pushed him onto the bed — his body bouncing up and down on the mattress. A devilish smile crossed her lips, as she unbuttoned his jeans and started tugging them down.

Bryce watched her looming over him, and he swallowed. “Better?”

She crawled on top of him, putting her knees on either side of him, “So much.” Leaning down, Jordynne kissed him. His strong arms came around her middle, pushing her into him tightly. As their kisses turned more passionate, their hips began to move against each other. Jordynne could feel him twitching between the thin fabric of his underwear. His fingertips dug into her hips at the feeling.

Bryce broke the kiss, his eyes studying hers for a moment — both of them breathless. “Are you sure you want this?”

Bending over, she nipped at his earlobe, “Keep going, Lahela.”

His brown eyes darkened with desire, “Whatever you want, Jordynne.” His fingers slid down her hips into her inner thigh.

She closed her eyes, relishing in the touch, “Whatever I want?”

Suddenly, his strong hands flipped her over — her blonde hair wildly splayed out on the bed as he pressed her onto her back. Her tan legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him into her. He pressed his lips to hers again, the kisses long and soft.

“Tell me.” His perfect fingers untangled from her hair, trailing down her jawline, her neck, the curve of her breasts before settling just under her belly button. “Jordynne? What do you want?”

She gulped, looking at him through her thick lashes, “I want you to touch me.”

Biting his lip, his fingers slid down her leg before cupping her. She squirmed under his touch, causing him to smile, “You’re stunning.” He whispered, his lips teasing hers as his fingers plunged into her.

Jordynne let out a moan at the feeling, before crashing her mouth back onto his — muffling her sounds. She lifted her hips off of the bed, pushing his fingers deeper inside her. She broke their kiss, trying to catch her breath, “You really do have the best hands.”

He grinned, before placing his mouth on her breast — enveloping her nipple. She let out a sound as he let go of it, another smile breaking across his face at her reaction. “You should see what the rest of me can do,” His lips started trailing down her stomach, then her hips, her thigh until his mouth met his fingers.

Jordynne threw her head back, her fingers grabbing onto Bryce’s soft hair, pulling on it gently as he licked at her. Her thighs started trembling as a familiar warmth started building in her belly, “Oh, Bryce…” She let out a loud moan, her thighs tightening around his strong shoulders as she found her release. Biting her lip, she whimpered — trying to keep quiet in the apartment filled with people.

Finally, her legs relaxed, falling to his side. Bryce knelt between her legs, his eyes smoldering as he stared at Jordynne — her long, blonde hair sprawled out behind her, her chest rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath. “And?”

She let out a happy sigh, “You are good at a lot of things.”

He let out a breathy laugh, before pushing his hips back into hers. She could feel his hard member, twitching in the thin fabric of his underwear. The pair groaned at the feeling, and Jordynne pushed her fingers into the waistband of his briefs.

Bryce closed his dark eyes, his mouth opening as she grabbed onto him. Gulping, he opened his mouth to speak but Jordynne cut him off, “Top drawer.”

He grinned at her, before reaching over to the nightstand and grabbing a condom. It tore open easily, and he quickly slipped off his underwear before kneeling back down between Jordynne. She took it from him, pumping his shaft in her hand before rolling the condom on for him. Bryce closed his eyes, arching his back at her touch.

Bending over, their lips caught in a kiss again — and Jordynne felt herself melt into Bryce. She opened her legs for him, his hips burying into hers. The pair let out a gasp as he entered her, her walls stretching to let him in. Grabbing onto her leg, he hooked it around his waist, his shaft shoving into her more deeply.

“Bryce!” Jordynne let out, squirming beneath him as he withdrew from her before thrusting back in. He silenced her with an open-mouthed kiss, swallowing her moans. The kiss was urgent and raw — she grabbed onto his shoulder, bracing herself as their hips rocked faster and harder together.

The feeling of coming undone came closer and closer, and she tipped her head back, “I’m gonna, I’m gonna —“

“Fuck, Jordynne," Bryce groaned, his hands bracing himself on her hips, his fingers squeezing her. His hips started pumping erratically, Jordynne biting down on her lip to keep quiet as the insides of her eyes went white. He grunted soon after, spilling into her.

The pair stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, both of their chests heaving as they tried to catch their breath. Bryce stayed hovering over her, before pressing his lips softly to hers. Pulling back, he smiled at her, “We’re gonna do that again, right?”

Jordynne let out a laugh, kissing his tan cheek, “Hell yeah.”

_______________________________________________________________________

Golden light trickled in through the cafeteria window, casting a glow on the crowd of people inside. Ethan was sitting in the corner at a table all by himself — a closed textbook and tray of food in front of him. He didn’t frequent the cafeteria very often, but he had needed to take a break from his office. He was spending every spare moment in there — before work, coffee breaks, lunch, after work. Any spare moment he had to be used to research Naveen’s condition. But he still hadn’t come up with anything. So instead of blankly staring at his computer upstairs, Ethan was blankly staring out of the window, chewing quietly.

Ethan let out a sigh as a pair of particularly chatty nurses sat down at the table near him. There goes his peaceful lunch hour. He started to grab his things, ready to leave but he overheard something that made him stop.

“Last night was so much fun.”

“Same, Varma and Holland sure know how to throw a party.” The two nurses gossiped, both of them scrolling through their phones.

Ethan sat back down, opening up the textbook in front of him and pretending to read. Even though he had refused to go, he was still interested.

“Their roommates are cool too. Elijah’s taste in music was great.”

The other nurse rolled her eyes, “Honestly, Vera just talk to him. Besides, who was looking at anyone but Lahela. God, I could eat him with a spoon.” She flashed her friend her phone, before turning it back to herself with a smile.

“I think Jordynne, beat you to that.”

Ethan’s eyebrows furrowed, “What?” He thought.

“What?!” The other nurse echoed Ethan’s thoughts, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

“You saw them last night, they were all over each other. Besides, Tanya’s friends with his roommate and apparently Bryce never came home last night.”

Ethan gulped, confused at the twisting feeling he felt in his stomach.  

“Damn, good job Holland.”

Ethan’s chairs scrapped loudly as he suddenly pushed it back — standing up. The two nurses looked up to him, taken aback by his sudden movement. Gulping, he grabbed onto the textbook before racing out of the cafeteria.

He could feel a heat spreading on his neck, and his fingers were curling into a fist. He should have just gone to the stupid party — taken a break from Naveen’s case, then maybe nothing would have happened between them. Why did he care that something had happened between them? She wasn’t his. She was his intern, a rookie. Nothing else.

Still, as he thought that he couldn’t help but feel the knot in his stomach. He wasn’t jealous. He wasn’t.

He stopped dead in his tracks as he turned out of the elevator, swallowing hard. Of course, Jordynne’s face was the first that he saw. She was leaning against the nurses' station, a huge smile plastered on her face. She was twirling her pen around nervously, speaking with someone he couldn’t see.

Moving down the hallway, his steps faltered once more. It was Lahela, leaning up next to her casually — his elbow propping up his head as he watched her. Ethan gripped the textbook in his hand harder as he watched him lean into her, whispering into her ear. Jordynne let out a laugh, swatting at the surgeon’s muscular arm.

Setting his jaw, Ethan started to stride past them, catching a piece of their conversation. “Come on… you know you want to.” The surgeon growled at her, his voice low and suggestive.

Jordynne’s green eyes went wide, her face flushing as she noticed Ethan walking past, “And I will see you later.”

She tried to fall into step with him, but Ethan picked up his pace. He did not want to see her right now. His mind was still reeling, and he felt like throwing the textbook in his hand at a wall.

“Morning Dr. Ramsey,” She greeted him softly, but he ignored it. She didn’t give up, “I just wanted to give you an update—“

He turned on his heel, finally facing her, “Not now, Rookie. Find someone else to bother.” His nostrils flared.

Her pink mouth opened in surprise, taken aback by his reaction.

Ethan didn’t wait for her to reply, before spinning around and heading in the opposite direction. Distance yourself. Distance yourself. He repeated the thought in his head, marching away from her as fast as possible.

Part Eight

#choices #choices: stories you play #pixelberry choices #choices open heart #choices oh #choices: open heart #choices: oh #open heart #open heart fanfiction #open heart fanfic #choices fanfic #choices fanfiction #ethan ramsey #dr ethan ramsey #dr. ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #mc x ethan #ethan ramsey x mc #mc x ethan ramsey #bryce lahela #bryce x mc #mc x bryce #bryce lahela x mc #mc x bryce lahela #mc x bryce x ethan

[chaoskirin]

Fanfic -- A Temporal Folly -- CHAPTER 5

Fandom: Queen Genre: Sci-fi/Horror Rating: R Chapter Title: Detached (Chapter Five) Word Count: 2265 (oops!) Chapter Summary: Same thing, with 100% more Roger! 

How we all mourn the broken Holding onto the slimmest ledge Our fingers slipping by the second Drawn to the inexorable truth That to change the fates of the never-ending masses Is to destroy the fabric that binds us all

2019

Roger crashed into his vanity, upended his chair, then fell to the floor. Winded, he fought against gravity to regain his feet, momentarily blanking on the logistics of up and down; in the end, he succeeded only in rolling onto his side.

What was he doing in his dressing room?

He was too fucking old for this shit!

Roger would admit that, unlike Brian (whose feet were firmly on good ol' Terra Firma), he often had his head in the clouds and had no qualms about breathing the vapors. So he wasn't surprised when his mind skipped past every logical explanation like dreams or hallucinations and went straight to alien abduction as an assured reality. It sure felt how he imagined an alien abduction would go, although the completely empty dressing room unnerved him a bit, and the blue light oozing out of the walls like a thoroughly squeezed snail was an odd touch. Had he acquired the good shit?

It said a lot about him that his second guess was "drugs," Roger supposed.

"Right. Up on the feet then," he told himself. Now that the initial shock had worn off, he reintroduced himself to the concept of three dimensions and peeled himself off the floor. His joints popped and cracked in protest.

As he tried to regain his bearings, he squinted at the weird gecko-like beast, stuck by its little spade-toes up in the farthest corner of Roger's dressing room. As calmly as he accepted his alien abduction, he took this in stride, only partly because his very brain seemed to have short-circuited. The rest was because he kinda hoped he'd made first contact before his dear friend and space nerd, Brian May. Wouldn't that just rankle!

"Where are your eyes?" Roger inquired at the toxic blue creature. It grinned with a maw full of sharp, irritating teeth.

In answer, it shuffled toward him, hissing like a leaky tire. Alas, it seemed he'd have to fight the thing. So much for peaceful first contact! How could he possibly fight this cow-sized creature, though, with its lack of eyes and weird suction-cup toes and its feral, white-rimmed grin?

He did what any blue-blooded Brit would do. He bunched it square in the mouth.

The thing was fast. In the blink of an eye, it had Roger's arm crushed between its teeth. He tried to cry out, but the creature already had itself wrapped around him; consequently, the only sound he could produce was a less-than-intimidating squeak. Every time he gasped, the creature constricted tighter.

---

Witness. ---

1993

The alarm buzzed. John reached over and snoozed it.

Five minutes later, the radio started playing Sinatra, despite John ripping out the FM transmitter just the night before. Grabbing the entire clock-radio, he launched it across the hotel room, where it shattered against a mirror.

Then, for good measure, he sat up in bed and gave the lamp a good solid kick. He'd be billed for it, and probably even kicked out of the hotel. Maybe he'd sleep in a ditch tonight for the thrill of it. None of that mattered, though, since he'd wake up in the same bed, at the exact same time, annoyed once again by Come Fly With Me through a tinny, sub-standard speaker. He glanced at his watch.

"Three. Two. One." As he pointed at the door, somebody rapped on it and called "Room service!" "Fuck off!" John growled.

He'd seen Groundhog Day back in his own Theta-Universe just before traversing the portal. The coincidence wasn't lost on him. Who knew such a temporal anomaly wouldn't be caused by driving off a cliff, but by mucking about in the past!

The most annoying thing was that he couldn't write anything down, because everything would disappear when the day started over. Infuriating! He had so many questions, and limited memory with which to remember them, or their answers.

"What is this," he grumbled, sliding out of bed. "Sixty? Seventy? A thousand?"

Every morning, he made a tick on the wall. The next day, of course, it was gone.

It was at least sixty, though. He knew that. And in those sixty days, he'd pursued every opportunity to speak to Freddie, but this universe's version was reclusive and distrustful. Once, frustrated with the lack of positive response, John tried to drag him off so they could talk, and ultimately ended up in jail.

It didn't matter. By then, he knew he'd wake up the next morning safe in the hotel bedroom.

Today would be different, though, John mused as he brushed his teeth. Humming a cheerful ditty that was definitely not Sinatra, he pulled the hairdryer out of its wall holster and used it to smash the mirror. If his actions didn't matter, if everything would reset in 24 hours, why shouldn't he take out his frustrations on inanimate structures? He spit the toothpaste out in the middle of the floor. "It's a glitch," he told himself. John often spoke to himself now, since he had no friends in this universe. He technically didn't exist in it, which meant no one recognized him, which meant he had no friends. "We fucked up the code. It was too much. We shouldn't have--" Today would be different.

Over the past few weeks--relatively speaking--John worked on finding the key to fixing everything. By the very nature of time-space, the machine he and his other self built also had to exist in this world. He should have entered into the Iota-Universe at the machine's location, but the glitch interfered and spat him out elsewhere. After triangulating all possible points of interest, he found it in the basement of an abandoned school only a half mile away from the hotel. The proximity made sense. And if he was right, which he'd find out today, the location of the machine, the hotel, and Freddie would create a perfect line.

That revelation didn't matter much before, but now it made sense. It was the continuum trying to correct itself, pointing the way to solve the problem. If John could get Freddie to the machine, his presence would act as a battery, activating it and allowing everyone to go home. He had to. At this point, he teetered just on the verge of madness. Living the same day over and over couldn't have been healthy for anyone.

--- Today, he'd try a different tactic. Today... Today it would work.

It was sad in a way, how meeting up with Freddie had become routine. The first few times John saw he old friend, he couldn't even approach for the tears in his eyes. And Freddie looked so whole and healthy. Standing in the presence of Queen's legendary singer made John's heart soar!

But while this Freddie had similar mannerisms and a rather sizable ego, he was reclusive, bitter, and almost hopeless. In the rare occasion John managed to find the right combination of words and platitudes to get this version of Freddie to talk, every word dripped with regret and bile. After Queen failed, Freddie's life folded in on itself. He repressed his sexuality. Settled down with Mary. Lived miserably.

John had doubts about taking this Freddie back to the Theta-Universe, but he still waited in the same park every morning just to catch a glimpse of his old friend. Sometimes they'd talk. Sometimes they'd fight. Today, John intended to test his theory on the machine.

At eleven o'clock and four minutes, Freddie sauntered past the park fountain.

As casually as he could, John pushed himself off the bench, falling into step just behind Freddie. He tried his best to act as if he had somewhere to go and just happened to be traveling in the same direction.

Astute, though, Freddie glanced over his shoulder. "Are you following me, darling?"

Every day the same question.

"Yes, actually," John replied. Before Freddie could get angry, though, he regurgitated a bit of trivia Freddie gave him just a couple days prior: "I saw you at the Itherian last night. You sing, right? Was that you?"

Yesterday, the spiel was too desperate and overstated. Today, John reined in his anxiety and evened his tone.

It worked. Freddie's face lit up, every trace of doubt vanishing. "Hey, yeah! I don't remember seeing you there."  

Damn. A new variable. He could ruin the entire day if he answered wrong. Crossing his fingers in his pocket for luck, he tried, "Oh, I don't like to be around people. I kinda stay toward the back when I go to those things."

"There were only eight people there, dear," Freddie replied, arching an eyebrow.

"Eight too many," John muttered, trying his best to let his anxiety float to the surface.

"Oh, you've got it bad, haven't you? Poor dear. Well, did you like the set?"

If John continued along this conversational path, Freddie would ask which song John liked the best, and John had no answer for that. At that point, Freddie would see right through him and the day would be a wash. "Loved it," he said. And before Freddie could ask the wrong question, he quickly added, "I actually have a little place in the basement of an old school just down the block. I could use a regular. You want to see?"

Was that too creepy? It sounded too creepy. He'd have to work on his delivery for tomorrow.

To his surprise, though, Freddie said "Lead the way!"

---

"Interesting that you had to break the lock," Freddie grunted as John led him down the steps. Every one of them creaked underfoot with a squeal that sounded like each board was about to snap in half. Had they been that loud the other times John came down here? They must have been. He was just nervous and his senses were playing tricks on him.

"Ah, it's a work in progress," John said, whisking the dust-discolored sheet off the machine. His heart hammered as he turned to Freddie, who was staring at the contraption with a mix of disgust and curiosity.

"Is this what you intend to use for music?" Freddie asked. "Good God, is that a broken television set?"

"Actually, the truth is..." John fiddled with the dials, clicking the calibration from 6-2-5 to 6-2-6. It should have turned it on, which would give a heaping portion of credence to John's story. Shifting the sub-space translator node into the low-mid position, he said a quick prayer...

Please work. Please work. Dryly, Freddie scoffed, "Did you build this yourself?" as nothing at all occurred. "It's liable to belch dust before it creates music."

"I'm gonna explain, I promise. It's just that I'm from an alternate universe..." The truth slipped past his lips has he re-calibrated, trying 6-7-6 instead. Normally, that would be too high, especially with the translator node where it was. Maybe too high was just right for the Iota-Universe, though? "I was going to show you--hoping to take you back... There's this place where Queen made it, Freddie."

"Oh dear," Freddie drawled.

"Give me a minute," John snapped.

It had to work. It had to!

"How do you know about Queen?" Freddie asked. John briefly looked over his shoulder, to find Freddie peering down his nose. "I've not told anyone about the name. You've been breaking into my house. Looking at my sketches!"

The stray thought that this Freddie was also paranoid touched on John's thoughts as he tried to troubleshoot. "No, you must have told me--"

"I don't even know you!"

John sighed, resigning himself to another failure. He could try another approach tomorrow, of course. And the next day if he had to. And then the day after that. He started to wonder if perhaps he'd have to rebuild the machine! That'd give him an excuse to see if remaining awake for multiple days in a row would allow him to move past the same stretch of twenty-four hours, but was it worth the trouble?

He wasn't sure he liked this Freddie.

As John fiddled with the calibration, something slammed into the side of his head. The force caused him to spin around in a half circle and collapse onto the dead machine. As he lost consciousness, Freddie raised the two-by-four in his hands for another attack...

That was the first time John died.

Then his alarm buzzed.

"Ow," John grumbled. Sitting up and kicking off his sheets, he rubbed his unbruised temple, gritting his teeth. Though the pain was gone, the memory caused more than a couple tears.

He never bothered Freddie again.

---

2019

Roger could no longer struggle. Though his lungs reflexively tried to suck in just the barest hint of oxygen, he could no longer breathe. Though not one for giving up, he had to admit that this was over.

All he could think about was how wrong it felt to see that glimpse into John's mistake. How could he possibly have lived the same day over and over without going insane?

And Freddie...

That monster wasn't Freddie.

You wasted your time, Deaky, Roger lamented. You should have stayed.

You have witnessed,

the creature said, squeezing Roger tighter and tighter until his ribs cracked and snapped. Choking with pain, Roger's vision closed in until the lack of oxygen dragged him into a surprisingly peaceful demise.

#not bestiary #queen #queen band #fanfic #a temporal folly #ck writes

[maliwarm]

Caged

/-/-/

@writeblrs April prompts, day 1

/-/-/

Everything was heavy, at odds with the distinct floating sensation that had enveloped him. Quiet, cotton-filled darkness had him ensnared, consciousness always brushing teasingly at the very fringe of what little awareness he managed to gather, allowing him only the vaguest occasional glimpses of the outside world before nothingness ensnared him once more. During such brief periods voices, muffled and indistinct, would reach his ears from time to time. Of them, there was only one he recognised, and it summoned anger and the faintest touch of fear. The tone was almost always gloating or an irate hiss from that bastard. Fucking coward should let him out of here and kill him already like he kept proclaiming he would. K’ might just welcome it wholeheartedly; it would be a mercy at this point. He was just so, so tired...

A voice tickled at his foggy awareness, younger and quieter than any other he usually picked up on. The speaker was still unfamiliar, though he’d seen them before a good handful of times; an infrequent visiter to his little clear prison. But this one didn’t gloat. The tone was always soft, laced with curiosity.

He grappled harder for consciousness, eyes scrunching. Prying them open was a monumental effort that took much time. And when they finally did, fluttering and drooping, everything was a vague, green tinted blur. Every sluggish blink to sharpen his focus was a gamble, the cottony darkness of the heavy sedatives in his system threatening to drag him back under again for another indeterminate stretch of unconsciousness. But he was winning so far, now able to pick out a figure on the other side of the glass. A mirror of his own face - younger, without all the scars and the scruff - peered back through a thick mop of white hair. Through the haze of green and the occasional bubble floating by, he watched the boy’s expression light up a tad.

Oh. It was that clone again.

His lips were moving, but the content of the words was lost to K’; he was too quiet, the thick glass between them, and the vat fluid he was afloat in, only serving to muffle the boy’s voice further. He strained his ears anyway, hoping to pick up even one word over the shifting of the artificial current around him. If he wasn’t so damn groggy he might have been able to attempt lip reading. As it stood, all he could do was keep blinking slowly, keeping the creeping darkness at bay as best he could, and watching the clone carry on a one-sided conversation.

Christ, he felt like some sort of zoo display; a tiger staring through the glass cage for the masses to point at and coo or jeer over. Being rendered unable to talk back fed into that image, his jaw obscured by an oxygen mask, and too damn heavy to move properly anyway. It was frustrating. Dehumanising. But he wasn’t even afforded the luxury to dwell on his festering hatred for NESTS and their methods as, inevitably, the next dose of drugs was depressed into his system like clockwork.

A panel set off to the side of the tank lit up, and the shackle-like contraption around his neck chirped in response. The needles within stabbed at him, making him jolt visibly, which in turn startled the clone. Coldness washed through him, quashing the flames in his blood from a rankling buzz under his skin to aimless, sluggish static. Though uncoordinated as all hell and fading fast, he managed to curl his right hand into a fist and slam the scuffed metal plating against the glass. It thunked dully, sending a larger cluster of bubbles flurrying to the top of the tank. K’ could feel himself slipping again, the cotton smothering his brain. The face on the other side of the tank blurred to an incomprehensible smear. Black slithered in through the corners of his vision, eating up the boy bit by bit.

Not.... again.......

/-/-/

“Ah...!” Fragor hurried up to the glass, gauntleted palms clicking as they were pressed against it. But it was no use. The scruffy old guy on the other side had gone limp again, eyes closed.

He bit down on his lip in disappointment. This had been the first time in a while his source had woken up. The last time - and the first he’d ever witnessed it - he’d been far more lively, and Frag had hoped to see him as such again. He also wanted to know more about him; to figure out what about this battered human being was so enamouring that he kept sneaking into this lab. Then again, how could he get such answers if the man behind the glass was forced into a drugged slumber every hour of every day?

“K-20575.9e,” a cold voice growled from somewhere behind him. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

He jolted away from the cloning vat as though he’d been shocked by it, hurriedly folding his hands behind his back as he turned in place to face the speaker. Scarred eyes glaring from the lip of a heavy, feather-shouldered coat greeted him. His heart dropped into his gut even as he stood at rigid attention. As he’d feared, Lord Krizalid had caught him in the act.

“S-sir. I was...”

“Save the excuses.” A claw-tipped glove sliced the air in irate dismissal. Fragor’s mouth immediately clicked back shut, gaze straying to his feet. “Rest assured we will be having words about this later. For now, however, I want you in training room Delta within the next ten minutes.”

Fragor knew better by now than to question why this was. Instead, he bowed to Krizalid, deep and polite, before scurrying past him and into the hall beyond. Training room Delta was a good distance away, so every second counted to ensure he arrived punctually.

The deeper into the base he ventured, the more he saw friendly faces passing by. But even exchanging quick greetings with his fellow clones couldn’t lift the strange dark cloud that had settled over him.

When had the familiar walls and halls started feeling so constricted?

#Bite’s writing #King of Fighters #KoF #K’ #K’ Dash #K Prime #King of Fighters OC #KoF OC #K-Fragor #K’Frag #writeblrs #cagedbirdprompts #cagedbirdprompts2019 #from here on out there will be zero (0) whole linear story #fingers crossed I can actually keep up with the rest of the prompts

[sweethazzababy]

A Good Memory

Harry x reader

Words: 3.1k

Warnings: none

A/N- hey everyone! this is not from the prompt list, but was a request and i really loved the idea of it. sorry if the meet and greet part is awkward and not well written i have no idea what happens at a meet and greet lol so if it’s awkward im sorry i know it is too haha otherwise the rest of it is good! also im really bad with titles lol sorry hope you guys enjoy it :) my ask is always open for requests! 

The room feels cool, the breeze from the slow motions of the ceiling fan nips at her skin while Y/N lays flat on her back, hands rested on her stomach. Her eyes are following the repetitive rotations, as the fan spins over and over again. She feels extremely comfortable, relaxed, and at peace as she lays here focusing on the slow motions of the contraption above her. She feels like she can finally breathe. Lately, she’s been feeling very stressed and has always been on the move, never really taking time to just sit down. Even going to bed for about 5 hours a night doesn’t satisfy her need for time to unwind.  Deep in her thoughts, she continues to watch the slow motion of the fan above her, zoning out into her mind as she reminisces pointless things.

Harry is beside her, in the same exact position. Humming random tunes to himself, his eyes closed as he appreciates a moment to rest. With a busy life like his, like Y/N, it is rare for him to not be thinking about work. His next career move, his next song, his next tour. His mind is always reeling with creative thoughts and ideas, which can grow to be tiresome. So as he lays down next to his best friend, hands clasped behind his head, he takes a deep breath as if he’s been holding it in for the longest time.

Very little words have been spoken, but with a friendship like theirs, words don’t need to be said. Just being with each other, is enough. The bond they’ve developed over the years is one that Y/N never expected, to say the least. Y/N was never really a friend type of person. She’s grown up to be independent and not reliant on others. Stupid drama and petty fights is what turned off the idea for her. She’s had best friends in the past throughout middle school and high school. None of them stayed. People grow apart, and she understands that it’s natural for that to happen, but she doesn’t understand why it happens. How can people just come into someone’s life and then leave like it was nothing? She’ll never know, and it’s quite sad.

Harry is different. He’s been around longer than anyone, and she sometimes questions him about it, wondering why he even bothers with her. Her life can be kind of a mess at times, and if she doesn’t even want to deal with it, how could someone else want to stick around for her? He never fails to show support for her every day, especially on days when the support is gratefully needed. She’s never opened up to someone like she has with Harry, not even her own parents or her own sister. Family can be judgmental, and she doesn’t want to waste time opening up to them when all they’re going to do is reprimand her for her feelings despite her lack of control of them.

Y/N has always been a hard person to read, but Harry somehow saw right through her the moment they met. He just knows how she feels all the time, like some sort of weird intuition. He’s picked up on little ticks and habits she has when showing certain moods. Kind of like when she’s sad, he knows she always makes a cup of green tea with honey to help soothe her, or she watches reruns of Gilmore Girls to help cheer her up. When she’s annoyed or bothered, Harry notices she bites the inside of her cheek, her eyebrows furrowed together most of the day.

When she’s home sick, Harry already knows to make her his homemade chicken noodle soup, only with no carrots because he knows she’ll eat around them and pick them out. Feeling gross when sick, Y/N always uses a ton of lotions and hand sanitizers to make herself feel better and by the time she dreadfully gets herself up to walk to the drugstore, Harry has already left a basket full of spa remedies by her door.

Y/N does a lot for Harry too, like giving him back and shoulder massages after long days writing in the studio. His posture is God awful, always hunched over when he’s writing. When he comes home from long trips away traveling, she welcomes him home by fixing his house with his favorite candles, and a homemade meal ready for him to devour after he’s been settling for plane food. He goes to her for opinions on song ideas, lyrics, melodies, and she never shy’s away from being honest with him. She’s not harsh, but she will tell him if she likes it or not and will follow up with suggestions. Harry is so appreciative of it. He hates when people praise every little thing he does or are too scared to really tell him the truth. Her opinion is one that he values above most others, because she was there from the start. She knows him, and knows what he is capable of, and she never wants him to settle for a mediocre melody or mediocre lyrics. Y/N pushes Harry to be his very best, and often times he needs someone like that. She knows him better than he does.

He’s her rock, and she is his. She never expected for their friendship to grow the way it did, but she wouldn’t change anything. She truly would be lost without him, and he would definitely feel lost without her.

“We’ve been friends for 5 years.” Y/N blatantly speaks, breaking the silence in the room. Her eyes are still stuck on the ceiling, not turning her head to look at Harry beside her. The sun is on its way down, the warm light peeking through the curtains as sunset approaches and it makes her wonder how long they’ve been laying there for as dusk creeps up on them.

“I know.” Harry responds quietly, his voice a bit scratchy from the limited talk, a warm smile forming on his lips. He truly can’t believe how time flies, remembering the exact moment they met as if it was yesterday.

“Remember when we decided to be good Samaritans and bake cookies for your tour crew during One Direction, and we fucking burnt all of them so bad that the oven started smoking backstage?” Y/N chuckles, her eyes crinkling as she slowly grins remembering that moment.

“Yeh, the fucking fire department showed up, all because I forgot t’set the stupid timer on the oven.” Harry shakes his head in disappointment, clicking his tongue.

“Idiot. Those cookies had potential to be the best cookies in the world and you ruined their chances.” Y/N teases, sarcastically disapproving of his failed attempt at setting a timer. A laugh slips from Harry’s mouth at her remark, playfully knocking his leg against hers.

“Oh, shut up.” Harry counters. He chuckles softly to himself, the memory playing through his head like a movie. They got into so much trouble for that, no matter what the intention was. Never again have they attempted baking because that tragic scarring moment scares them away from the idea of it, worried they might burn the house down.

“Y’know what’s crazy?” Harry chimes again, his head turning to his left to look at her as his hands move from behind his head to rest on his stomach like hers. Y/N turns her head to face him, their eyes meeting. Harry has the most beautiful pair of emerald eyes that she knows she can get lost in every moment she sees them. She knows they’re friends, but those eyes, fuck they mess with her brain.

“What?” Y/N raises her eyebrows, curious to hear his thoughts. His eyes leave hers as he glances off into space, a smile forming on his lips before he speaks.

“We wouldn’t be friends if you hadn’t come to our concert.” Harry lets out a breathy laugh, his eyes meeting Y/N’s again. Y/N rolls her eyes with a smirk, giggling to herself.

“What can I say, I was a diehard Directioner back in the day.” Y/N sarcastically teases, the memory flooding back into her thoughts making her smile wider. Crazy how one day can change your life forever. And she knew in that moment her life wouldn’t be the same.

“Oh stop the bullshit.” Harry shakes his head with a smirk, knowing very well that she wouldn’t have gone if her sister hadn’t dragged her there with her two cousins. “I owe your sister a huge thank you for forcing you to go.”

Y/N takes her view away from the ceiling and turns her head again to face Harry who is gazing at her softly, and almost lovingly in a way. Y/N’s lopsided smile makes his heart warm as he laughs, the two of them reminiscing over past memories.

Y/N was never a fan of One Direction, that is until her and Harry became close. She remembers exactly how that night went, from start to finish. Her sister Sara was crazy about the band, posters on the walls and their songs constantly being played through her speaker in her room as she danced around joyfully. The Take Me Home tour was her sister’s first concert, to her favorite band and Sara was the happiest she’s been in a while. As a surprise, Y/N and Sara’s aunt got VIP tickets for them and their two cousins with Meet and Greet tickets. Sara cried so hard when she found out, and as much as Y/N wasn’t that big of a fan, she was pretty excited too.

That night, meeting them is what changed everything.

Walking backstage Y/N’s hands are shaky despite not being a huge fan. Is she really meeting One Direction? Girls would probably kill to be in the position she’s in now. Next to her, her sister Sara is already crying, hysterical.

“Please clean yourself up, you don’t want to look all messy in the picture do you?” Y/N says, wiping her tears away.

“Y/N, you don’t understand! I’m meeting the loves of my lives tonight, I feel like I’m fucking dreaming right now.” Sara says through sobs, her body shaking as they’re waiting to meet the boys.

When it’s their turn, they walk into the room and there they are. All five of them joking around with each other, laughing. Sara’s eyes widen next to her, and her two cousins are star struck as well. The boys all say hello as Y/N, Sara, and her two cousins walk to them to greet them. First, there’s Louis.

“Hello, love how yeh doin’?” Louis excitedly asks, a playful gleam in his eye. Y/N smiles, as he goes in for a hug. Giving Y/N a tight squeeze, she smiles appreciating how nice he is.

“I’m great, how are you?” Y/N politely responds, letting go from his grasp. Louis gives her a cute smile, nodding his head.

“I’m doing lovely! I like your shoes.” Louis points to Y/N’s feet, a pair of black and white van sneakers.

“Thank you!” Y/N giggles, then moves to Niall and Liam.

“Hello, how are ya?” Niall asks, moving in to hug her. Y/N looks over to Sara who is tightly hugging Zayn, tears streaming down her face.

After meeting Zayn, Niall, and Liam the last person is Harry.

“Hi! Nice to meet yeh.” Harry holds his hand out politely, and Y/N takes his hand in hers and shakes it with a warm smile. As he speaks, his eyes never leave hers.

As Sara and her two cousins take pictures with the others, Harry stays talking to Y/N.

“You a fan?” Harry skeptically asks, a playful smirk on his lips as he already knows the answer is most definitely a no. His tight skinny jeans have a giant rip at the knee, his plain white t shirt is sheer enough to show the obnoxious butterfly on his stomach and Y/N can’t help but muffle a laugh knowing he might regret it one day later.

“What are yeh laughin’ at? Got something on my face?” Harry’s eyebrows draw together as he rubs his cheeks and around his lips. Y/N shakes her head, giggling a bit at his frantic reaction as his cheeks flush with redness.

“That’s a pretty big tattoo you got there.” Y/N says, pointing at his stomach, poking it playfully. Harry chuckles, shaking his head knowing she’s making fun of it but he doesn’t blame her. As much as he loves it, it is pretty big and obnoxious.

“Oh, yeah you see its purpose is to cover my two extra nipples.” Harry sarcastically remarks, poking the two nipples that are out of place and partly covered by the butterfly’s wings. A loud laugh slips from Y/N’s mouth, crinkling her eyes and Harry smiles foolishly, dimples forming on his cheeks.

“You do not have four nipples.” Y/N’s eyes widen, gaping. Harry just smirks, thinking she’s kidding because it seems to be the one thing everyone knows about him. But she’s not. She’s never heard this information before and quite frankly, she finds it funny.

“D’yeh really not know? I guess you aren’t a fan.” Harry questions, his emerald eyes sparkling at this newfound information…liking that she doesn’t know something stupid like that. Someone that doesn’t know anything about him really…except that he sings.

“Why is that so surprising? Is that something I should know?” A corner of her mouth lifts, curiosity gleaming in her eyes. Harry’s large hands find their way to his pockets, as his body relaxes into a slouched state.

“That’s like the number one thing people find most fascinating about me.” Harry informs, shaking his head at the ridiculousness, his smile slightly fading as he shuffles, leaning on one foot to the other.

“I’m sorry.” Y/N says, a genuine tone in her voice as she softly looks at him, kind of feeling bad. Why is that kind of information so important? What about is music?

“Why d’yeh say that?” Harry quizzically glances at her, his eyebrows pulling together at her apology.

“It sucks that that’s what people care about, you know? The amount of nipples you have has nothing to do with who you are…so I’m sorry. Because from what I can tell, you seem pretty cool and more people should know how cool you are.” Y/N shrugs her shoulders, as if what she just said is nothing. But Harry is dumbfounded. Dumbfounded in the best way, because someone understands him and sees him as just a guy who loves to perform. All of the pointless media has been getting to him lately especially with his rumored flings that aren’t true in the slightest. He’s intrigued with this girl…because she already feels like a better friend than most of the ones he’s made after One Direction.

“I don’t think you understand how much I appreciate that.” Harry says breathily, placing his hand over his heart as he genuinely takes in her thoughts. His eyes meet hers, and he grins at her as she holds her hands behind her back rocking back and forth on her heels. “Not many people really get it, you know. Of course, the other boys do since they’re in the same position as me. But sometimes it sucks, you know? Why do people care so much about who I’m dating…I know it sounds stupid for me to complain when people would kill to be in my position—”

“No, no Harry I get it. You’re more than someone’s fling…but I mean, four nipples is a pretty fascinating phenomenon.” Y/N lifts an eyebrow playfully with a small giggle and Harry rolls his eyes pinching the bridge of his nose as a smile forms again.

“You’re really something, aren’t yeh?” Harry studied, looking at her with intrigue crossing his arms over his chest as he leans closer to her. “I like talking to you…it’s refreshing.”

“I like talking to you too. And I must say, I am really happy I came to a One Direction concert because to be honest, if it wasn’t for my sister dragging me on my ass to get me here I wouldn’t be talking to you right now.” Her cheeks flushed, feeling oddly happy at the moment. She likes being around him, despite the limited time they had to get to know each other.

After talking with him for a few more moments, the way they’re getting along is so seamless and effortless and it seems too good to be true. She wants to get to know him more, as weird as that sounds. But he’s Harry Styles…he’s probably just being nice, just passing the time. He’ll probably move on from his life and forget about her tomorrow as he meets hundreds of new people. Harry pulls her into a big hug, wrapping his arms around his waist as he squeezes her tight, really hoping it’s not the last one.

Harry wants to get to know her too. There is something really comforting about her, and they already have so much in common that it kind of scares him. He’s so used to being introduced to all sorts of people, formally and informally. But he likes Y/N…and not in a romantic way. He wants to tell her his secrets, open up to her, talk to her about pointless things that no one else would probably care about. It’s too good to be true.

“Oh my god, I was so awkward that day we really don’t need to bring that up.” Y/N covers her face with her hands in embarrassment, shaking her head as if she is trying to get rid of the memory. But she can’t because after all it’s how she met her best friend.

“What? Is it because our topic of conversation was about my nipples?” Harry bursts in laughter, when her face heats up even more as she groans into her hands.

“Harry I swear to God…” Her voice is muffled, a few giggles leaving her lips. Harry’s face is beat red now as well, the laughter getting to him.

“We became best friends…o-over conversation about my-my nipples.” Harry says in between giggles, his nose crinkling up and his eyes shutting.

Y/N playfully slaps his arm, but Harry just laughs harder hunching his shoulders in and bending his knees up to his chest as his laugh echoes throughout the room, piercing her ears but she’s grateful for it because she loves his laugh so much that she can’t even be mad at it. 

“Whatever laugh all you want...the nipple conversation worked didn’t it? Wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for your nipples.” Y/N tries to explain over his loud cackles, and Harry calms down a little bit as he sits upright from his position, wiping his teary eyes. 

Sitting up with him, she leans her head on his shoulder as they both wind down from their antics. Harry takes a deep breath, recuperating. A small chuckle slips afterwards, as the memory of that day replays in his head. 

“I really appreciate you, y’know. You’ve always understood me when no one else did.” Harry leans his head onto hers, closing his eyes.

“Don’t get all sentimental on me...you know how much I hate that.” Y/N groaned, but Harry just smiles wider, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing her so tight she can’t breathe.

“Oh stop, you love me.” Harry gloats, Y/N starting to giggle again.

Harry might voice it more, but Y/N is pretty sure she would die without him. He’s been there for her in ways like no one else has, and that day that they sparked conversation about his four nipples, as dumb as it sounds, is such an important one. Because if it wasn’t for that, she wouldn’t have met her best friend. And that, is a world she can’t imagine. 

#harry styles #harry styles 2018 #harry styles one shot #harry styles one shots #harry styles blurb #harry styles blurbs #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fic #harry styles fan #harry styles drabble #harry styles drabbles #harry styles fluff #harry styles fluffy #harry styles fluffy one shot #harry styles fluff one shot #harry styles best friend #harry styles prompts #harry styles writing #harry styles writings

[oasislake76]

PART 1

Fuck this is long and it’s just an idea I got at like 3 in the morning but I took it and ran with it. Also I am no writer so this is just a hella long crappy thing

Okay, so… Tony wasn’t expecting this in his work shop when he came back from watching Thor magic away with the Tesseract and his chained brother back to their land called Asgard.

The Tesseract that’s supposed to be on Asgard right now if Tony was correct, and don’t get him wrong - he’s usually correct, his IQ scores and Master degrees would agree with him also.

But what he’s seeing is something that he shouldn’t be seeing at all.

The same damn cube that shouldn’t be on Earth anymore is sitting idly on one of his empty work bench’s in the middle of the room - glowing a bright blue and out of whatever contraption Thor had it in before he scidadled off Earth a good hour and a half ago.

“ Okay, “ Tony breathed, sliding off his sunglasses slowly as he inched his way into his lab. Looking to the left he saw his ‘bot’s cower near their charging stations, Dum-E wielding his favorite fire extinguisher along with Butterfinger shakily holding a blowtorch, U hiding behind both of her big brother and big sister clutching her claw onto her small stuff bear that Rhodey’s baby sister got her when it reached her first ‘ birthday. ‘

His robot children were scared, and he will not stand for that at all. Moving closer with more determination he started to notice a small buzzing at the back of his head, like some sort of bug flying around him.

There were no bugs of any kind this high in the Stark Tower.

That didn’t freak him out in the slightest, no sir.

So he did the one thing he does when nervous, he starts to babble at the cube thing.

“ So, I’m for certain you left with Point Break, you know? The Thunder god - or the God of Thunder - whatever. You left, in that contraption thingy, and you’re not supposed to be here, how you got here? I honestly don’t have a clue, but Thunder Thighs will be back when someone notices your gone, probably angry that I have you in my workshop, which - Holy shit, that is something I  Do Not Want, “ he took a shaky breath in and out.

His mind going to the wormhole and the ships and stars, his chest is starting to feel to tight and darkness threatened to consume him, and not again, Not Again!

“ Sir, it’s currently May Fourth Two Thousand and Twelve at Three Fifty in the Afternoon and the Humidity is at Twenty Five Percent, you are currently located in your private Lab at Stark Tower. “ Jarvis voice flowed through the speaker, letting Tony gasp for air as his panic attack recedes.

“ Thanks J, “ Tony breathed deeply, what was he doing again? Looking back up he caught the Tesseract in his sight again.

Oh, that thing.

And speaking of thing, he could feel the buzzing deepen, it’s starting to sound like radio static when it’s not on the right frequency.

Tony paused, eyes narrowing at the cube.

Like it’s not on the right frequency…

He quickly whipped around to grab his rolling chair, rolling it back to face the cube. Sitting down he crossed his arms over the backing of the chair, stairing at it with his full attention.

“ Sir, may I ask what you are doing? “ Jarvis implored, sounding a little concerned for his creators behavior. And from what power readings he’s getting off from the alien artifact the AI has every right to be highly concerned.

“ Shh J, daddy’s gonna try something, “ Tony shushed the AI, his eyes never leaving the Tesseract.

“ I get the feeling you want to talk to me, “ Tony asked, going for a more light heartening tone than imploring. The artifact showed up in his lab for a reason, the best he can do is ask it? Them? Who knows, he’ll find out soon by what it goes by if this works out.

And by the responding push against his brain is the answer he needs, so Tony continues.

“ okay, here’s how it’s gonna go, one push for yes, and two for no - sound like a plan? “ he asked, waiting for some kind of agreement or if the stone doesn’t want to play Tony’s little ‘ yes or no ‘ game.

No push came, that’s not ideal.

“ Okay, you probably need some confirmation first. From what I can figure out from stepping into my lab is that there's buzzing in my head like when a radio can’t get to the right frequency, and I think it’s you that’s trying to communicate with me. “ the resounding push he got was definitely some what soothing to him for some reason.

“ Okay, good, great even! We’re on the same page, Fantastic! But I personally think, and please don’t be offended somehow by this, you need to tune your frequency somewhat to match mine. “ he waited, feeling for any other kind of push, but the static in his brain stays the same volume.

“ Because don’t let my armor and my teach in my lab fool you, I’m a pink squishy human and - from what Thor says - you’re a stone with a lot of power, I can’t change brain wavelength to communicate with others without moving my mouth. “ Tony rambled on, to caught up with talking he didn’t notice the stone actually taking his advice.

“ You’re safer than whatever held onto me last time. “

Tony paused, the voice sounded… almost childlike if he had to say, probably a teenager at most. Yet their words were soothing, like they experienced this a thousand times over - and they probably have.

“ You mean Point Break? Isn’t he… you know, one of the good guys? “ Tony's eyebrows knitted together, licking his lips unconsciously.

The stone chuckled in his mind a little, “ He maybe the future king of Asgard, but he’s a - from what I gather you humans would call - Naïve fucking bastard. “ the stone sounded disdained.

Tony choked on air for a minute, caught in surprise from the stones funny answer. “ Holy shit, okay, “ he gasped, laughter falling from his lips, “ I was not expecting you to call Point break that in all honesty. “

The stone purred in his mind, from what? Tony doesn’t know, and doesn’t want to find out.

“ Okay, so, do you have a name? Or some kind of body you can turn into? Or something? “ Tony flailed his arms around his body somewhat, his nerves getting the best of him. “ You know? So this - “ He motioned between himself and the cube distractedly, “ - conversation? Would we consider this a conversation? Who knows - “

“ I go by Space.” The Stone answered, and Tony waited for them to continue.

The Pause was deafening to the human, he was never good with awkward quiet spaces, so he decided to prompt the Stone on.

“ Oh? “ he asked, his eyebrows arching in interest.

“...It’s what my siblings call me. And I do have a human body I can shift into, it’s just… “ The stone - Space trailed off, the uncertainty in their tone didn’t sit well with Tony at all.

“ Well, “ he paused, allowing the stone - Space to continue on their own.

“ I’m kinda… trapped in this cube, and I… I don’t know how I can get out, “ the sheepish tone that was creeping into Spaces voice left Tony remembering SI Interns who would meet him in the hallways in unexpected ways.

Tony leaned back, arms stretching out in front of him as his head tilted back so he faced the ceiling. Contemplating his life as he's having a one sided voiced conversation with an Alien artifact that shouldn’t be on Earth right now, but on a different planet that should probably be across their ‘ realm ‘ as Loki stated it.

What is his life gotten into.

“ You, uh… you… okay over there? “ the - Space, god dammit, asked hesitantly.

Tony was broken out of his train of thought, worry coursed through him, Space sounded like a scared kid at that moment, and that did not sit well with him at all.

“ I should really be asking you that question. After all you’ve spent, I don’t know? How long in a magic blue glowing container getting passed from being to being? Probably being put on a pedestal for everyone to look at like, ‘ hey, hey everyone! Come look at this super cool glowing blue magic cube that can cause so much destruction and death! And guess what? We’re going to use it for exactly that! Won't this be fun everyone? ‘ or locked away in some trophy vault for Gods knows how long? “ Tony was about to continue before stopping, thinking over his words again. Biting his lips he looked at Space, concerned filled his whole being. That's exactly what they probably went through, but for how long? Years? Centuries? Millenia?

“ You aren’t okay, are you? “ Tony asked so softly, scooting forward until the back of his rolling chair pressed up against the metal work bench.

Tony felt Space take a deep breath than actually hear it. “ In all honesty? You really want to know? “ they asked, Tony could only nod as he leaned more towards Space.

It took a moment before Space started talking again, “ No, no I’m not okay… I’m… Scared? Tired? Hurt? “ Space sounded so small in Tony’s head and all he wanted to do is reach out and touch the cube, to try and find someway to break him out of this cruel prison so they can be free again, “ I’m constantly being fought over, used in different ways - good and bad - without my consent, and I’m honestly sick of it, being locked away for Centuries is no fun. I don’t want to be just some… Trophy to be won, I want to be free and do my own thing. To have my own opinion and probably state it. But I’m locked away and I’m just Sick of It.” Space snarled.

Tony heaved a big sigh, taking all of what Space said, Tony felt a little like that in Afghanistan; to helpless until he made his first Iron Man suit. So he can see a little bit of what Space means, but they’ve been through countless wars and used for so much evil, and to have freedom on the tip of your metaphorical fingertips when someone new comes along only for it to crumble when they only wanted to use you, not take you are as a whole.

Holy shit that's so fucked up

Tony didn’t notice that his arm reached forward, his fingertips just barely touching the top right corner of the cube when all he felt was pain.

Cold and pain.

Tony must have blacked out from the pain because he didn’t know he closed his eyes. Sitting up he held his head, “ hey J? “ Tony called quietly, grogginess messing with his memories, “ what the hell happened? “

Before Jarvis could answer a voice answered, “ You set me free… “

Okay, so, that was Not Jarvis, what the actual fuck?

Tony blinked his eyes until they got used to the light, which jarvis must have turned down some when he woke up, which thank fucking god he couldn’t be able to take his Labs headlights on full bright like usual.

Only to look up and connect eyes with a person sitting hunched awkwardly on his work bench.

A naked person on his work bench.

Where the Space Stone is supposed to be.

What The Actual Fuck.

Which that can only mean, “ Space? “ the mechanic slurred out, clutching his head as he took the person qualities in from on the floor of his lab

“ Uh… “ The Person drawled, searching for words that would be appropriate for this situation. “ Surprise? “ that probably won’t help the situation at all.

They stared at each other for a good few minutes, sizing each other up.

“ You’re, you’re shorter than I would expect, “ Space mumbled out shyly, running their hand through thick fluffy blondish brown hair, pulling some from their face, “ you know, from a tiny stone perspective, everyone's… you know… tall? “ They asked it more than stated it.

And Tony was not having it.

“ Excuse me, not all of us are six feet super soldiers or seven feet gods. Mr. Actual Naked Lanky Ass, and Holy Shit you’re naked! Hold on let me find some clothes for you. “ Tony scrambled up onto his feet, frantically looking around his work shop for clothes.

He remembered where he stashed his extra large fluffy sweats, and Rhodey left a pair of boxers for him down here too if he ever needed them, thank god for Rhodey planning ahead.

Bringing the two articles of clothing, Tony set them back down next to the… Teen? God like creature? Before backing off, looking in another direction as he turned to the smoothing station.

“ They may be a tight fit, but it’s probably all i have right now, we’ll take measurements later, probably tomorrow most likely, so you have some proper clothes to wear of course, and are you hungry? Because I sure am, wait, do you even need to eat? Do you have allergies? And shit, what am I going to tell to Rhodey when he picks me up tomorrow for my meetings? What am I going to tell Pepper!? “ Tony quickly spiraled in his rant, his mind going miles per second.

It took Space a few tries to get the genius attention before the voice Tony referred to as Jarvis spoke up.

“ Sir, it would be wise to call both Mr. Rhodes and Ms. Potts about our new guest until further notice, along with getting some food for tonight, you have several meetings with SI Board members and the Government about the city funding and reconstruction tomorrow. “ the AI suggested, causing Tony to groan loudly.

“ I hate that you’re always right J, “ the Brunette groaned again, composing himself he looked over to Space, “ do you have any inkling of what you want to eat as your first earth meal? “ he asked, fully taking the magical being in.

Space was lanky, long arms with thine boney hands that connect to slender fingers. His legs were long too, the extra large sweats reached to about his ankles when they would have pooled around Tony’s feet. His chest showed off good stomach muscles along with his arms.

His face wasn’t bad to look at either, it was the type of face that wouldn’t look good with a beard on at all.

But those eyes, oh those eyes.

They were mixed, bright soulful blue, unnaturally blue, with spikes of earthy brown thrown in them.

“ Italian? “ Space asked hesitantly, shit, he's not used to being asked his opinion.

Tony’s gonna fucking change that if it’s that last thing he does.

They were up in the penthouse, the only flooring besides his personal lab that was mainly for him and his family use. They haven’t quite broken in the place; there was a few handmade knitted blankets from Mama Rhodey, throw pillows from Peppers collection from her own home, pictures from all types of events hung up by Rhody, the giant movie collection staked by the flat screen Tv brought together by Happy, and small metal parts and smaller things scattered around the room from Tony who leaves them in his wake when coming from a three day binge in his lab.

Jarvis had called in a big order of assorted Italian foods from Tony’s favorite restaurant down the road. He was telling Space all about the gay couple that runs it along with a really good bakery that sells the best donuts on sunday and wednesday when Jarvis told him a call was coming in.

From Shield.

“ Shit! “ Tony cursed, he shot a look at Space who looked back at him, a plan quickly forming in his head. “ uh, tell the pirate that I’ll call back soon, I’m uh, I’m about to… “ Tony paused thinking of an acusse when Space popped up.

“ He's about to eat dinner with his son who just got back “ it was a rushed one but Tony nevertheless snapped his finger at Space and yelled “ that! “

It took a few minutes but Jarvis came back with an answer from Fury, “ Mr. Fury states that you never had a son and that he would eat his eye patch if he saw him on screen. “

“ Damn! “ he hissed, looking over at Space who shrugged back at him.

“ My Magic is technically hidden in this form, the only ones who could track it would be the soul stone. “ he suggested, that was helpful to know.

Sighing Tony waved for Jarvis to bring Fury up on call.

It took just a few seconds before Fury’s bark of ‘ Stark! ‘ sounded through the rooms speakers.

What Tony wasn’t expecting was for Space to completely switch personalities on him and take on the body language of a teen who knows their worth.

“ Which one? “ He called lounging back next to Tony, and that.

That made the Director pause.

Actually fully pause in the room with everyone, even Thor who must have came back from Asgard to search for the missing stone.

“ What game is this Stark? “ Fury snarled as he leaned forward into the camera, “ what are you playing? “

The accusing tone made Tony bristel slightly but it got to Space a little more.

“ Excuse me, Sir, but you do not have the right to talk to my dad like that. “ he seathed, shifting closer to Tony and…

Tony never had anything like this.

Yeah Rhodey protected him in college, but even then he would think Tony did something to garner some kind of harsh wording, and pepper who is usually the one to scold Tony for doing things, but this… Tony never had someone he just met to go along with a scheme and actually call someone out on their behavior.

“ you’re lying stark! “ Romanov called behind Fury, and if Space was going to put this much effort into this thing, than so is Tony god dammit!

His glare was cold as he swung his right arm over the back of the couch where Space is sitting and his smile was more snarl than friendly. “ Oh, but this Is my son, Ms. Rushman he came back from working abroad, even if I act like it I can’t be everywhere at once you know. “ the snark was rolling off of both of them in waves.

“ Sir, Young Master, Your food has arrived, should I bring it up? “ Jarvis asked nicely, playing along oh so well.

“ Just ask Happy to set the food in my private elevatore, “ Tony answered kindley, oh so aware of the fuming director in front of him.

“ This is important Stark! “ the Director snarled again, then eyed Space thoughtfully.

He only raised an eyebrow back, challenging the Director to say something about him being in the room.

“ The kid leaves, “ Fury states, like what their going to talk about doesn’t consist of the Magical being next to him.

Before he could speak again, spaced jumps ahead, “ I’m staying. “ his own snarl is like Tonys, sudden and garring when used.

“ Kid- “ Rogers jumped in, a disappointed look in his eyes as he faced the camera.

“ Don’t ‘ Kid ‘ me! “ Space snarked putting on a full front of a snarky teenager, “ I almost lost my Dad to this invasion, my last living relative! Anything you have to say to him you can say in front of me. “ his tone was final and Tony inwardly was surprised how easily Space took to the role as his son.

It worried him a little.

“ Fine! “ Fury agreed angrily, multiple shouts from Barton, Romanov, and Rogers went unheard as he continued, “ but this info doesn’t leave this room, do I make myself clear. “

The statement was met with both of them droning “ Crystal “ at the Director.

Pleased with their agreement Fury finally started on his call. “ As I was saying- “

And that was the moment Jarvis announced their food was here.

“ Continue Fury, “ Tony motioned on at the red faced man, “ ‘Ace, can you grab the food? “ he asked his ‘ son ‘

He hummed in agreement as Fury got back on track with a glare sent to Tony.

“ Earlier this evening you all watched as Thor took the Tesseract and his… brother, back to where they live, Asgard. Unbeknownst that the Tesseract was a magical copy of itself which dissipated on Asgard. “ the man continued.

“ Ai, if it weren’t for my mother, Frigga, stating it wasn’t Loki’s Magic that duplicated it’s power, but it’s own. My father would have teared into my brother on the spot. “ Thor agreed sagely, Tony could feel the disgust rolling down and off Space.

“ So the Tesseract was tracked and the last signal was given off in your tower Stark, “ Fury wirled back to face the camera, only to come face to face with two extremely unimpressed faces.

“ Jarvis would have made it known clearly on that the Tesseract, you know - what we searched for with the scepter? - would be in our Tower. “ Tony pointed out.

“ I can agree with Sir’s assessment not once was the Tesseract in the building after the invasion. Jarvis, sweet, sweet Jarvis agreed with his creator readily.

“ And if that’s all you want to say than good bye, I would like to enjoy my first dinner with my son back from abroad. “ Tony motioned Jarvis to cut the call on them. “ so, “ he turned to Space and motioned to the patsa, I want you to try it first especially the cheesy gorme noodles. “

And Tony was happy that Jarvis records 24/7 because the face that Space made after taking his first bite of Earth Italian Pasta is now Tony’s lock screen on his phone.

It was only just a week later in his workshop that Space made it known where the Mind Stone was.

“ Someone evil has it, “ he stated, his face contorted like he smelled something ugly.

Which only means…

#Tony stark #avengers #infinity stones #space stone #mind stone #Human Stones AU #Human Infinity Stones AU #Bot’s #Pepper and Rhodey are mentioned in here but they dont show up #SHIELD #Steve rogers #Natasha #Thor #Loki is mentioned for like 0.5 seconds #Clint Barton #Nick Fury #it got cut out but Hydra has the mind stone #dad!tony #unintentionalDad!Tony #oof im about to hate on the avengers in this plot #Thors good #hes an idiot #but hes good #My post

[hotsexydorks]

I had a couple of ideas for your prompts and scribbles serise on ao3 (which btw is great and horrific all at once) 1- Stiles gets trained by parrish and the sheriff to be as big a slut as Derek while he watches desperatly. 2) someone in the pack gets addicted to eating cum, strapped up as the personal cumdump, turned into just a fuck toy 3) would love some sheriff/stiles stuff more in general

1- Stiles gets trained by Parrish and the Sheriff to be as big a slut as Derek while he watches desperately:

Okay this one I have to admit, I tweaked it a little - a lot. I had just read some stuff about the Saw series and couldn’t get this out of my head.

Make Your Choice : Derek & Stiles / Chris & Sheriff & Jordan 

Derek woke up, his eyes scanning the area quick to realise what had happened. Hunters. He had been careless and got caught, but that didn’t matter, what he had to do now was find his way out and get to safety. Safety back to the house. Only Stiles was around. Scott had taken the other’s on a trip so they could focus on their abilities and Derek said he’d stay with Stiles while they were gone. 

Stiles. 

He had to make sure that he was okay. Derek couldn’t remember where he was nabbed from but he couldn’t think about it. Soon the dark room he was in filled with light. Of course it was some dingy basement, even Derek couldn’t get a scent from it. In the middle of the room lay a box, locked but there was a contraption attached to it. 

From the corners of the room a speaker screeched to life. “Hello Derek, lets play a little game. There’s someone who misses you.” The voice was distorted and scrambled, broken and heavy. But through the same speakers he heard a voice that was clear as day.

“Pleasse! nhnnn” Slap, smack, smack. Stiles. Derek felt the anger growing with in him, from his teeth gritting he could hear the younger sobbing, it mixed with the dead silence of the room and he knew that getting out was now even more important. 

“If you are going to save him cast away your binds. Fill the box with your clothes and it will open the door for your next challenge.” Derek punched the wall, hoping and waiting to see if he could force his way out. Instead of the wall breaking open Derek was greeted with a bruised wrist and nothing more than a crack in the wall. 

He stared at the box and and weighed his options, the only other things in the room were the walls and sliding door that confined him. But Derek noticed a that with the cracks on the wall he had created little pieces that would weight enough to trick the machine. He picked up the blocks and dropped them into the box, when the needle pointed right it locked and the doors lock clicked open giving him away out. 

The wolf stared at the speaker and growled. “I’ll get you, you bastard. Once I do I’ll kill you.” Partly for kidnapping him and the other for what he could only assume he was doing to Stiles. 

Derek walked down the tunnels following the signs that signalled his journey until he was met with another room. This time complete with a standing St.Andrew’s cross. He examined it when this time when the voice spoke there was a video feed of Stiles blindfolded, and gagged now, struggling against the chair he was tied to. “Welcome to your next challenge now you must wash away all your impurities. Place yourself on the cross and brace yourself for your cleansing.” Derek couldn’t see a way though this, this time he all the sensors need to be triggered and that would only happen if he was tied to it. 

A sound from the speakers startled him as he saw a knife trailing towards Stiles. He needed to act fast and now. Derek jumped into the cross and the binds clamped closed around his limbs. They locked him into place and he was stuck there as he heard the feint sound of clicking from gears turning. Derek looked up in time to see the spouts now pointed at him. He looked around frantically to see the video hoping his actions had done something. The knife was gone but now instead he could hear Stiles groaning, slapping and gagging. He couldn’t see what happened on the screen because when he was told to be washed away it wasn’t a metaphor. 

From the ceiling poured cum, it rushed and started to coat and cover the wolf. It soaked through his clothes, clinging to him and sticking everywhere. If Derek had just taken his clothes of he wouldn’t be like this, the cum would have flowed off his body. Instead now he was bound to be soaked. The flow stopped but not before Derek swallowed some and gagged on the taste of anonymous cum. 

The braces let him go, dropping the muscular wolf to the floor. Derek wanted nothing more than to get it all off him but he knew he needed to hurry. He rushed onward his body, clothes and hair coated white with cum. 

Meeting a final door Derek read the words ‘Final test’. He barged in and found himself in horror at what he saw. A bench that had two large dildos on either end, near the head of the bench was a dildo that was attached to a reservoir and another at the end but this one had a mechanical edge to it. It took merely seconds for Derek to realise what was in them. The white thick liquid was already proof enough. 

“Now your final test, are you willing to sacrifice yourself for someone else. A wolf who will heal through almost anything or a human who will most likely break.” Derek looked around and he saw Stiles strapped down to an identical machine. “You have 60 seconds to decide.”  He barely struggled with it, before Derek knew what was happening he was jumping on the machine. His brain not stopping him even knowing what would happen. 

Derek’s mouth was forced open on the dildo as it was pushed into his mouth, the one aimed at his ass moved until it found the material that covered it. Soon the machine came to life and the dildo behind him began to move. His pants were being pushed deep against his ass as the cock stretched them before they finally ripped. His hole exposed and slammed through with the cock. Derek shouted in pain but also pleasure as he experienced his first fucking.  “Congratulations you have made your choice, welcome to your new life.” 

Derek’s body felt like it was lit ablaze, a fire tore through him. While dildo began to pound at his hole he opened his eyes being greeted to the hollowed out dildo. When Derek felt the first powerful jet of cum shoot in his hole he realised what he had to do. Wrapping his lips around the cock Derek sucked on the length. His throat working the thick girth while his tongue tried to encourage it while he sucked, eventually Derek was treated to a shot of the cum pouring into his mouth.  

The cum Derek had been covered in and was having injected into him was a special cum. Mixed between human, hellhound and an incubus. It slowly turned Derek’s brain to mush and made him more accepting to thoughts, which the cum now was changing his body and showing him his new life. 

Derek sucked on the dildo and emptied it faster than he’d ever seen, Chris watching from the shadows walked from the shadows and watched the slut’s hole pull with the dildo the cum pouring in and out of his hole. Even with the empty reserves Derek continued to suck on the cock whining now that it was empty. Chris took pity on him and pulled his cock out and replaced it easily with the dildo. “Here you go, such a pretty little thing.” 

The drugged up wolf looked up at Chris eyes pleading for an answer but more than that they were begging for more. He sucked the cock and knew now why the dildos were so big. 

“Want to see your reward for the challenges?” He cooed his hand turning Derek’s cum covered face with the cum soaked hair. Derek looked over and saw Stiles across from him in a similar situation except on his back with Jordan’s cock fucking the smaller teens hole with his knot and his father the Sheriff choking his own son on his cock. Both sluts losing their minds turning into moaning, drooling and mewling messes while the three men laughed and dumped load after load into their holes. 

2 - Someone in the pack gets addicted to eating cum, strapped up as the personal cumdump, turned into just a fuck toy:

In Your Jeans : Derek/Alan, Derek/Peter, Derek/Peter/Alan

“Derek. As your family emissary I do have to tell you that…nnnnhh” Deaton grunted as he petted through the male’s dark hair. Derek had only had his mouth wrapped around his cock from a few minutes but it was still more than enough to have him near shooting his load all down Derek’s throat. But what a great throat it was. Warm, wet, tight, hungry. Everything that a living cumdump needed. “If you.. uggh continue.. you’lll …. it willl change you permanently.” The vet hissed through his teeth as Derek’s throat surrounded his entire length and pulsed with life around him. The wolf however was lost in it all, his eyes were rolled up and he was savouring the taste of the man’s cock like it were his favourite thing on earth, and soon it would be. 

Pop. Derek licked up and down the twitching length, stroking it with his hand , smirking at him with hazy delight. “Then change me forever.” In his head Derek was swimming through the haze but the rest of him was lapping it up.

Deaton grabbed Derek’s face and straddled the wolf’s head. Pulling him by his hair Deaton fucked Derek until his cock was shining with the spit from his mouth and his shirt was covered down the front. Derek’s head was pressed up against the back of Deaton’s desk. “Fuck.. Take it you slut.” Deaton pulled his cock from Derek’s mouth finally his cock exploding with cum, covering his dark beard before stuffing his shooting cock down Derek’s throat again. Derek had a brief moment of struggle, his body shaking and trying to pull away but Deaton shoved his cock further into his hole. “Oh no, you had you chance. Now you’re nothing but a cum whore.” Derek’s eyes wavered and he passed out from the male’s cock. 

Deaton slumped into his chair, resting he looked down at the newly formed slut. Without cum and cock now Derek would go crazy, well crazier than he already was becoming. The beefcake sat on his ass in his office naked and with cum over him. Until his plan was ready now he was going to have to take care of Derek’s needs, how unfortunate. 

~~~

The night finally came, when all the pieces were to be assembled. The first and easiest was Peter, Deaton wasn’t sure if he should be surprised by that or not but the slut’s uncle was the first to fall into place. Alan had an entire set up planned but in the end it turned out that he needed none of it. 

One night while he was in his office in the late hours Deaton was greeted by the one Peter Hale. Standing there as casual as he always was, nothing special but his sauntering walk. “Hello Alan, where, if you don’t mind me asking is my nephew?” He spoke again standing on the other side of the examination table not giving Alan a chance to give one of his speeches. “And before you start, don’t even start. I don’t need one of your cryptic lines that drone on and on. Answer my question, I know it was coming soon to the point where he would be draw to it, and I know he went to you.”  

Alan blinked wordlessly and then moved. “Well then that makes this a whole lot easier.” He guided Peter through the basement to where Derek had been hung up by his hands and feet suspended in the air on a sex swing cum and more still on his skin.  Peter walked forward already naked by the time he had reached the room. “Thank you Deaton for taking such good care of the whore. Now I hope you don’t mind me getting some much needed family time with him.” Peter’s eyes glowed as he approached the defenceless body and started to fuck him. Alan watched for a moment watching how Peter’s thrusts were brutal yet still loving, calling Derek a pretty boy and a perfect little hole. The last the Hale emissary saw was a knot forming at the base of Peter’s cock before it slipped into Derek’s inviting hole.   

Peter emerged an hour later holding the sex craved Derek in his arms while he walked back up the stairs. Derek moaning and begging for more of his uncle’s cock. His hole since made sloppy and loose from being fucked through his uncles knot Derek’s was like a barrel of cum leaking out all his sweet juices he held inside. “I like what you’ve done with the whore, but I do hope you weren’t planning on keeping him all to yourself.” With each of his steps Derek’s body bounced more on Peter’s cock. 

Deaton wordlessly passed his blueprints to the male, sliding them carefully over. 

“Well well, this might work after all.” He caressed his nephews hair and chuckled putting him back on the examination table and fucking him. Alan joining him unzipping his pants and beginning the other’s training of handing more than one cock at a time.

3 - Would love some sheriff/stiles stuff more in general

Hey ;)  : Sheriff/Stiles

John knew it was wrong, he knew it was horrid, he knew he couldn’t stop. John didn’t need to see his cock slide into Stiles’ hole over and over again, he didn’t need to watch his son’s lips stretch over his cock. John didn’t even need to hide it from him anymore, he already had his cock imprinted on Stiles’ so hard that his son was a cock addict. 

John loved it. 

~~~

It started out as what was just a simple idea. He heard about some of the station crew and the kids talking about hook up apps and, while at first he didn’t think much of it, he was curious. Using one of his free Saturdays John sat at his laptop, one that Stiles had nagged him to buy since his other one was so old. Staring at the pages and pages of different trials, purchases and tests out there. He looked for hours, searching for something, anything. Eventually John was about to give up when he saw it, the ad that changed it all. 

Mentoboys. A site connecting men John’s age to the kids he went around making sure were safe and busting them for underaged drinking. A site where his age wouldn’t be that much of an issue. Surely it was the best thing, sign up, try it out and see what happens. If things go wrong he could just delete it all, if things go right he releases some tension from all these years. 

But this was where it went wrong, horribly wrong. John thought that it would be easy to just hook up and walk away easy, but he didn’t want to put himself out there. The site contained all sorts of helpful tips or tricks to start talking to people but each turn was met with confusion. He was scared about putting his picture up and being found out, mainly because he looked through the profiles around him and found tens of guys he knew. Some of his ‘happily’ married friends, other’s were sons of upstanding neighbours he saw on a weekly basis. What would they say if they saw their Sheriff on a site like this. 

He didn’t put his face on his picture but he didn’t want to be seen as a creep with no picture. 

da Ding! John’s phone rang in his hands he was surprised that it even was like that. His profile wasn’t the most detailed but still was that all it took? 

“Hey Daddy, what’re you into? ;)” 

John opened up the kids profile, young, small framed, smooth. He checked his pictures seeing some of the boy tied up, showing off his ass, and one with him in the public park bending over a bench with the words ‘Daddy’s Hole’ written on his ass cheeks. 

His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment thinking of what to say back, he should have prepared more. “Depends on what you’re looking for.” Shit. Damn. Fuck. That wasn’t smooth or sexy at all. He stared at what he had said and saw that the boy was texting back. 

“Why don’t you show me what you’re hiding under those pants of yours :P”

John looked down and wondered how he should go about this. He unceremoniously dropped his pants and underwear and stroked his cock hard. With his desk cleared he dropped his hardening cock on the wood and took a picture of his cock for the other. This time when he sent his message he decided to have more suave about himself. “Like what you see? ;)” It felt odd using one of those emoji things but it worked. 

“Def. How about we meet up so I can really get a good look at it. I can’t accom rn” 

~~~

The first time they met John managed to get him to use a blindfold, it was unorganised and swift. He got out of there as soon as it was done. But he got a message from him the next day asking for more. They continued in this vein each time it getting worse and worse. John was getting more and more into it. Soon he was tying him up and spanking him and writing messages of his own on the boy’s ass, then came a night where their condom broke and the boy just begged for more begging to be bred.  

But it only took one night, one thing for John to realise what he was doing. He was sitting in his couch watching the game when Stiles came home. His son looked tired and ready to crash but said he’d stay up with his old man and watch the rest of the game. They both relaxed and he looked over he saw his son sprawled , he chuckled and laughed to himself his son always was able to sleep anywhere. John turned off the tv and looked down at his sleeping son picking up a blanket for him, leaning down he noticed it. Through the stretch of Stiles’ shorts he saw his world changing. From the top of the curve of his ass he could make out marker. With a hesitant hand he reached down and freed the boy’s ass from his shorts. 

There it was. “Daddy’s Cumslut.” Perfectly visible now, exactly where he’d left it just less than an hour ago, complete with his cum leaking out. John’s cock hardened as his memory flooded with the new information starting at the leaking hole now knowing that his son was the boy who had taken countless of his load; the boy he called his slut and left with a gaping hole filled to the brim with cum. He bit his lip and pulled down his pants ready to add at least one more. 

#Anonymous #Derek #Peter #Stiles #Sheriff #Chris #Alan #Jordan #scribbles #Story Sunday

[thehorrcr]

hi, i'm Laura, i'm short, people say i'm cute, i love the moon, i hate bright lights, and i know how to keep a secret, oh and once i was a bird

THIS TOOK ME FOREVER TO WRITE, BUT IT’S MY FAVORITE ONE SO FAR!!! SO I HOPE U LIKE IT AS MUCH AS I DID!!! WOOHOO!!!

They say that the world ended, at the edge of the sunflower field. Laura’s house sat nestled on the other end. Every evening, she’d watch the sun set, a fiery gem crowning the heads of the yellow-eyed beggars, that stretched their canary petals towards the its warmth. And she’d dream of flying straight into her beams, until she made it to another sun, another world, where days never ended, and nights tasted like syrup on her tongue.

This was not just a simple dream, no, no. Laura was a smart girl, everyone had always told her so. “Laura, Laura, what a marvelous brain you’ve got locked up in that noggin’ of your’s.” They’d say, admirably. Laura would always smile, so brightly. Until she became a honey-dipped jewel herself. Little did they know her plans, she kept them held tight against her chest like a secret shared between tight lips.

It all started in June, when she had laid with her arms behind her neck. Watching the sky stretch above her, like a cat on a windowsill. The sun’s bright yellow, burning the blue straight out of it, until all that was left was a hollow feeling. There was nothing, and then, the birds appeared. As if by magic. They flocked across the sky, in a swarm. All of them, dancing dizzily above her until they were nothing more than dots poking holes through the azure ceiling.

Laura studied them for several moments, as they flew over the sunflower field, and dipped low into the land, disappearing over the horizon line. Their bodies, being swallowed whole, by the yellow ocean.

She smiled to herself, sitting up, daisies falling out of her hair and onto her lap. She realized she knew in that moment, exactly how to escape her small life.

She’d simply build herself a pair of wings to fly away on!

A thunderstorm rolled in that night, but that didn’t stop Laura from working tirelessly. She snuck into her father’s tool shed, and quickly started her plans. She had spent the day, sketching diagrams of birds, constructing measurements and pictures of wings. Her dad, an engineer, had worked on airplanes before. She had stolen his plans and outlines from his table, and had compared them to her own work.

After she’d planned it out, she had started to put the contraption together. It took her hours, and the birds had started to sing outside by the time she finished. She had bidded them all good morning, chirping happily to them, “I’ll join you soon, my feathered friends!”

A small radio sat in the corner of the room, and Laura turned it on. 1940’s swing music spilled from the speakers, and filled the room with a bluesy sort of jazz, that made her want to sway her hips and tap to its melancholy rhythm. She hummed along, and suddenly the hours passed in minutes. Before she knew it, the wings were done. All she needed to do was test them.

It was afternoon by the time Laura finally got outside. She had a pair of goggles shoved over her eyes, and an aviation jacket, that looked like something Amelia Earrhart would wear. A patch was on the sleeve that said, “To greatness, somehow!” with a small, bird and sword below the letters. The finished product of the wings, were two great big bat-like things, that hung over Laura’s shoulder. They were twice her size, but barely weighed anything.

Amelia looked out over the field of flowers, before taking a running start. For a few moments, nothing happened. The stalks of sunflowers grew closer, and closer, and closer. Laura’s feet had not left the ground, in a yard over, she could hear the howl of a dog. Another moment passed, and then Laura pulled a lever, and suddenly, the wings gusted up into the air. Laura’s feet dangled dizzingly below her, and she let out a manic laugh as the world twirled like a ballerina. Falling away from her, as the sky became a floor, and the ground became a ceiling. The wide expanse of the sunflower field, was spilled before her, like a can of yellow paint fallen onto its side.

Laura flew out over it, the clouds passing by her, kissing her cheeks lovingly as she waded through them. As if she were an angel, that belonged in the heavens with them. She watched as her old, childhood home waved her goodbye. Her dog, sat barking, from a window that had been left open. As if to say, “Wait for me!” “I want to see the stars, too!” “Bring me a souvenir!”

But Laura would not be returning, and a sad feeling tugged at her heartstrings. She quickly shooed it away though. Where she was going, there would be no sorrow, or pain. Where she was going, there would only be the stars, and the wings on her back. Carrying her higher and higher and higher, until she too, became another constellation, framing the night’s beautiful gilded quilt of cosmos.