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ashenious · 4 years

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Actuate; Destiny’s Pending (The Witcher) Chapter 1 of 7

Overall Story Rating: Mature Overall Story Tags: Reader-Insert, no beta we die like men, in this house we post sporadically, complete self indulgence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Following Storyline, Multi-shipping, (So that everyone's a winner), POV Second Person, Alcohol, Sex, Basically anything that’s in the show is gonna be here

For This Chapter: Title: Go Rating: Mature Warnings: Blood, Beheading Additional: None Word Count: 4530 A/N: @riviawitch3r wanted me to tag them in this if I ever wrote it, and I did it! It kind of spiraled out of my control, but I’m happy to have a big Witcher project to work on 😊

Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4/Part 5/Part 6/Part 7

AO3 Link: Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4/Part 5/Part 6/Part 7

Where did your bed go? You could have sworn you had just felt it, its soft and warm quilted touch now replaced with the feeling of cold and dusty below you. The cold could have been explained by someone pouring water on you, but if water had been dumped on you, then the dust factor wouldn’t have been possible. Had you slept walked outside and laid down in a pile of snow like you had that one time long ago? Snow and dusty were very distinctly different, however, and the feeling of snow wasn’t crumbly and made you want to hop in the nearest shower to immediately remove it from yourself.

Opening your eyes, a pleasant view of the sky greeted you, the stars above glistening brightly and the distinctions of the galaxy perfectly clear to you like you had never seen before. Or it would have been a pleasant view had you remembered falling asleep outside and not in your bed. Seeing the sky confirmed your suspicions of what you were feeling as you had awoken: dirt. Dusty, loose dirt to be exact, and dragging your fingers through it as you sat up only made you feel more disgusting. Where was your bed? Where had your room gone? Where did you go?

The surrounding area wasn’t familiar at all, and you dazedly turned your head around to take in all the trees that were growing around the path you were sitting on. The area wasn’t one you were familiar with, and if you had been more awake in the moment, you would have been more concerned about this fact. Your mind was more focused on finding your bed however, and as you continued to turn about the area, slowly sliding yourself up onto your knees as you looked to the area behind you, you wondered what could have happened to you in order for you to have been moved off of your bed without noticing.

The leaves of the trees around you brushed against each other and their branches gently, the scratching of the soft fibers filling the air around you as you finally pushed yourself to your feet having accepted that there was nothing around you that looked even relatively familiar. Besides the moon anyway. Glancing up at it, the moon looked no different than it had the last time you had looked at it, and it’s bright, reflected light gently illuminated the tops of the trees and the dirt road you stood on. It was still near impossible to see anything, and details of the trees and rocks on the road were invisible to your eyes, but the shine of the moon accompanying the galaxies that wove together behind it made for a scene that you couldn’t help but admire for a second.

Turning your gaze back down, a flicker of light caught your attention, and drew your gaze in immediately amongst the trees. Noticing not 1 but 2 of the lights, both sitting just behind the line of trees and just about halfway up them, you felt yourself tense. The lights sat still, unmoving as they fixated on you. You didn’t want to remove yourself from them, your body tense and your breath caught in your throat as the orbs continued to stare you down.

‘An owl?’ you thought to yourself. It was the only thing that made sense. The eyes weren’t blinking, they weren’t moving, and they were sitting amongst the leaves. You weren’t an ornithologist by any stretch of the imagination, but you knew that owls preferred rodents and other birds, both of which were something you were not. Even still, the unblinking eyes that also refused to move unsettled you, and you finally slowly released your held breath as you momentarily glanced to each of your sides, hoping to see any changes in the world. Nothing had changed, however, and you sighed lightly as you returned to look at the eyes again.

They hadn’t moved, and you doubt they had blinked in the few seconds you had looked away, a thought that only made you feel more unsettled. It was only a moment after you had turned back to them that they moved closer a hop. And then another. And then another.

You couldn’t stop yourself from taking a step back, and as the eyes finally reached the barrier of the trees, you couldn’t stop yourself from sucking in a sharp breath as the outline of fur around the eyes was illuminated by the moon’s light. And attached to that fur was a pointed snout.

The creature’s paw came out from the darkness of the tree’s shadows and placed it fingers around the front-most one, its nails growing sharp and slicing through the bark as it grabbed the whole base. Watching the pieces of the bark fall down to the ground, you couldn’t stop yourself from putting your hands up as you stepped back again, this time finding it hard to place your foot down firmly as your entire body was shaking. You weren’t sure when you had started to shake, but your entire body rattled in fear, your fingertips and toes completely numb and your legs and arms threatening to join them as you tried again to step back.

The creature before you finally emerged fully from the trees, its height both impressive and absolutely terrifying to you as the top of its ears brushed against the leaf line. As it stepped toward you once more, your legs finally gave out, the feeling of fear finally pushing them to go completely numb and you fell backwards onto the dusty ground.

You tried to keep your hands up as you fell but found yourself needing them to hold yourself up right on the ground to keep your eyes on the canine-looking monster before you. You didn’t want to look away from the creature, knew you shouldn’t look away from it, but as the creature drew nearer to you, you slammed your eyes shut, completely accepting that you absolutely didn’t want to know what was coming.

Hearing the steps draw closer, you tried to focus on your breathing, your breaths erratic as they left you. Despite your best efforts, you breaths remained rapid and loud, making it hard to hear the steps of the monster as it neared you. Sucking in a sharp breath immediately after you heard the loudest step by far, you waited, wondering if the creature was getting ready to attack.

You wait. And waited.

Feeling your body scream to release your breath, you shakily let it out, confused as to what the giant beast was doing that was taking so long. Reaching one of your hands up, you placed it over your mouth lightly, hoping to help slow your breaths as you very slightly opened your eyes to see what was happening.

Before you stood the creature, it’s body still tall and threatening just before you, and its claws sharp and out, ready to strike at you, but a top of the body was no head. Blinking at the sight, your hand moved down from your mouth as you stared at the headless creature, your eyes unable to remove themselves from the bleeding stump of the creature’s now headless neck.

“Even after the village mob agreed to stay away, there’s still one,” The sudden voice caused you to jump, your hand flying down to the ground as you tried to move away from the beast before you. Your arms and legs wouldn’t cooperate, however, and you just slid them against the ground rapidly, causing bits of dirt and grass to dust the air around you as you did so.

From behind the monster a man appeared, his eyes as bright as the monsters and his hair just as strikingly light, and you slowly stopped trying to move yourself on the ground as he stepped around the beast. As he got closer, you could see the line of blood that was strewn up his body, its source leading from the blade he was wielding in his hand. You tried to say something to the man, at the very least make a noise at him, but found your throat unable to do much past let you breathe, which it was doing too quickly and too harshly for your liking.

The man just stared at you, a couple of drops of blood falling to the ground from his sword as no words were said between you and he. After a few moments of silence, you moved yourself a bit to the side and looked beyond the monster body, to where the man had appeared from. Upon the ground, its eyes still staring at you, was the head of the beast, a site that instantly made your stomach churn. Your hand quickly returned to your mouth, as if to try to stop your stomach from inverting itself in the moment.

The next moment of clarity for you was a complete absence of site, and as you stared at the black covering your world, you wondered how and when you had lost consciousness. The black around you persisted for a few moments, and as it finally began to fade away, the rest of your body began to sense things around you. Your ears picked up the sound of fire crackling, something that alarmed you, and as you smelled the burning of wood, you felt your fear grow more.

You tried to quickly open your eyes, something that proved hard to do as they were heavy and uncooperative. Persisting, you finally opened them slightly, just enough to see that you were in a room that was almost as dark as behind your eyes. You felt your throat pull tight for a moment from anxiety and you gulped as you tried to relax it. The taste of your stomach contents finally hit you, however, and you let out a loud noise of displeasure as you threw yourself up to sitting, your hand once again uselessly attempting to stop your body by covering your mouth.

“If you’re going to throw up again, lean this way,” jumping at the voice, you recognized it immediately and threw your head over to see the man who had emerged from behind the beast you could only faintly remember in the moment. He was no longer covered in blood, and he was sitting in a chair just to your right looking very casual for someone whom you presumed had just killed a beast that towered at over 8 feet easily. “The floor or the bucket is a better place than the blanket on you,” he spoke again. Slowly lowering your hand from your mouth as you felt your stomach settle for a second, you tried to gather words. Failing to do so, you just stared at the man, your mouth agape and your hand hovering near your face. The man returned the stare for a moment before he reached over to the table nearby and grabbed a tankard off of it. “Here, to rinse the taste out of your mouth.”

“…Thank…you,” you replied hesitantly. Reaching over, the man handed you the tankard, and you peeked inside it for a moment. Seeing just water, you took a swig and spat it out into the bucket that sat just off of the side of where you were sitting. Handing the cup back to the man, he set it down on the table before turning back to you again. “Where…who…” you tried to say as you looked around the room. Bringing your hand down finally, you shook your head out for a moment before you tried again. “Where am I? Who are you? What… happened?”

“Kagen. Geralt of Rivia. What do you remember?” came the man’s curt response. Given any other situation, you would have found the man’s short responses off-putting, but as you still felt panic inside of you, the short responses were actually welcome.

“Where the hell is Kagen? And all I remember is…” pausing for a moment, you tried you hardest to remember everything that had happened. You found it hard to remember everything after you had woken up on the ground, and your memory was spotty from when you were still in front of the beast. You explained to the man all that you remembered, and as you finished, he hummed a noise of confirmation before looking away from you and toward the fire that was burning nearby. Following his eyes, you also turned and watched the fire, the wood within it keeping it high and the heat from it a welcome feeling on your face. Taking a second, you took a breath in and finally introduced yourself to the man.

“Kagen is due East of Cintra,” the man said as he continued to look at the fire. For a few moments he said nothing before he turned to face you. “I gather you aren’t from here. I was hired to take care of that werewolf by the people here. Where do you hail?”

“We-Werewolf? Cintra? Where… Wait, hold on a second,” Bringing your hands up, you rested you head in them for a second as you thought. Having no idea where any place called Cintra was near your home, you lifted your head and looked at the man again. “You…you said a werewolf? Like, ‘a man turned into a wolf on the full moon’ werewolf? Those aren’t real!” Turning away from the man, you looked down again, finally realizing you were lacking the clothes you had been wearing before. “And where are my clothes?”

“You threw up on them, and so they are being cleaned,” the man said as he stood up. Letting your gaze follow the man as he walked over to the fire, you watched as he tossed in another piece of firewood, causing a bit of smoke to puff up from the fire. Glancing down a moment, you hesitantly pulled the blanket over you more, not sure what to do in the moment. “You must be from far away, to have not heard of Cintra.”

“I…I guess so,” was all you said. You glanced around the room, finally taking notice of the wooden interior. The room looked old, its walls completely wooden and the flooring as well. As you let your eyes run along the walls, each lacking any decorations at all, you finally noticed the lack of electrical outlets, and electricity powered items.

Geralt, so the man was called, returned from the fire and sat himself back down in the chair, his eyes turning back to you once again. You met his gaze for a moment, before you moved your eyes past him to look outside. You hesitated for a second, a thousand questions still running through your mind before you told him the name of your hometown. Geralt made a small noise of confirmation again, and he slowly reached behind him and into his bag you hadn’t noticed before. From his bag he pulled a paper, and as he unfolded it, you realized it was a map.

“I don’t know where that town is,” he said as he completely unfolded the worn paper. “Show me where it’s at.” Glancing down at the map, you let your eyes wander it for a moment. You felt like you weren’t able to read for a second, as the map was unlike one you had ever seen before. Feeling a tight knot in your chest, you huffed out a breath and tried to look over the map again.

It was well worn, and it was hand drawn, something you found impressive for how detailed it was. You wondered if Geralt was the person who had drawn the whole thing, but you quickly shook the thought from your head as you spotted a name that was familiar to you. Reaching your hand up, you placed your finger on the one city you knew: Cintra.

“…You said you hadn’t heard of Cintra,” Geralt stated simply, his tone unamused.

“I hadn’t…It’s the only name I recognize now because you told me it, though…” Pulling your hand away from the map, you looked up to Geralt. He was giving you a look that you weren’t sure what it meant, and after a moment he began to fold his map away.

“Hm.”

“Hm?” Geralt slowly placed his map back in his bag, and as he turned back to look at you, he sighed lightly.

“You aren’t from the continent then, it seems,” he said. Nodding at the statement, you waited for him to continue. “Which is why you were out on the night of the full moon, because you hadn’t heard of werewolves.”

“Okay, werewolves aren’t…they’re not supposed to be real!” you replied, a bit of frustration in your voice. “At least, in my world they aren’t…” Geralt raised his eyebrow as your voice trailed off, and you felt yourself slouch down a bit into the bed you were on. You sighed lightly, and your fingers began to play with the ends of the blanket as you kept quiet and tried to think.

Your brain was rattling with questions, each one bouncing in your mind with no answer in sight, and each one allowing a bit of fear to run through you. Where were you? Kagen, Geralt had said, but where the hell is Kagen? It’s east of Cintra, Geralt had told you, but where in the world was Cintra? It was on the continent, Geralt had mentioned passively, but which one? There were 7 last time you checked (there could have been as little as 4 depending on who you asked too), and you didn’t have any plans to leave the one you fell asleep on.

“…Tomorrow then,” hearing the quiet voice, you were pulled from your thoughts abruptly, and you had to stop yourself from making a rude noise at Geralt. “We will find you a place to go until you can return to where you came from.”

“I…” Pausing for a moment, you looked over Geralt, completely confused at what was happening. The man didn’t say anything more, and you turned away from his to look at the blanket over you once again. Feeling your eyes move down, you realized you were still tired, your eyelids heavy and wanting to close completely. “…Tomorrow then,” you muttered quietly as you slowly sank down onto the bed.

You pulled the blanket over your head completely, something that Geralt had to keep himself from snorting at, but you turned on your side under the warmth. You hesitated as you lay in the bed, unsure of if you wanted to trust Geralt, but as you were completely overtaken by sleep, you let your body decide for you.

“There are…so many horses.”

“Yes, they are how people travel.”

You had decided that not only was the world you were in not your own, but it was also a world that was far behind yours in time. The streets of Kagen, the rather tiny town you were walking through, was littered with people in old style clothing; no one was wearing any clothing that had very many bright colours on them, most, if not all, the women were wearing dresses and long skirts, and many of the people who were walking about were covered in dirt and mud and other possible brown substances, something you couldn’t help but make a face at.

Geralt had made you abandon your own clothing in favor of some that matched the people’s around you, something you had protested originally as you rather liked your clothes. But as you followed behind the man toward where he had had said his horse was tied at, you knew that he was right in making you dawn a new set of clothing as you would have stuck out to every person should you have chosen to walk the streets in your more modern attire.

You weren’t upset with the clothes you were given; you were just unsure of the feel of them. They were far different than what you were used to, the fit and fabric of them more rough and rigid than you liked typically. Maybe it was because they were new, or maybe it was because the fabric they were made of was a fabric that didn’t exist in your world and you were too unfamiliar with it. It was a silly thought, but you knew anything was possible as apparently werewolves were real in this world.

Despite being in rather typical looking clothes of the time, you noticed that people were still keeping their eyes on you, something that made the pit in your chest grow each time you noticed another person doing it. It was as you and Geralt were passing by a pub, the second one you had seen in such a tiny town, that you met eyes with someone directly. As they looked at you directly, their face changed to one full of concern, and you were thoroughly confused. Looking up at Geralt, and then back to the person, the person merely shook their head at you and turned themselves around to face away from you.

“’Ey! Witch’r!” Hearing the voice, your eyes went to the source of it, and as you looked the very drunk man up and down, he held his tankard out to you. “Why’st your company so far behind ya!? They the pup o’ the werewolf you butchered yeste’day?”

“Witcher…?” Walking closer to Geralt’s side, you gave him a very confused look. The man merely shook his head and continued walking past the pub. “What’s a Witcher?” you asked quietly.

“I’m a Witcher,” Geralt said as if the answer to your question was so obvious.

“O…kay?” You wanted to ask more, wanted to ask what exactly a witcher was, but as you looked around the town and saw more eyes on Geralt after the man had called out to him, you decided that the subject was best dropped for the moment. Sighing lightly, you turned back to Geralt before asking, “Where are we going, Geralt?”

“We are going to find someone who knows where you’re from,” Geralt replied, his head turning a bit as he looked down at you. “Some mage around must have a clue where you’re from and how to return you.”

“Mage?! Like, a magic mage?! Is there magic in this world?” you asked louder than you intended to. Seeing a few people now staring at you, you felt your face heat up a bit and you quickly put one of your hands over your mouth. “I-I mean…Sounds like a plan!”

“Hm.”

“Can you use magic?” you asked suddenly.

“Some.”

“Oh, I so need to see this!” you grinned, a small hop in your step as you walked beside Geralt to where he was leading you. The man was giving you an odd look, one that clearly showed he was a bit amused at what you were doing, but he didn’t say anything. “We don’t have magic where I’m from,” you explained quietly so that only Geralt could hear. “Closest thing we’ve got would be chemistry stuff, but I never understood all that.”

You continued to talk as Geralt lead you out of town, the man hardly saying anything as you continued to talk about your excitement to see magic. It was only when Geralt stopped next to a horse just outside the walls of the town, one that proceeded to bump its head into his chest, that you finally stopped talking.

“This your horse?” you asked as you watched Geralt untie the horse’s reigns from the fence it was tied to. Geralt merely nodded at you as he looped the reigns around his hand. “What’s her name?”

“Roach.”

“That’s…a name alright,” you said as you made a slight face. Geralt merely hummed lightly before he began to walk again, and you quickly stepped forward to keep on pace with the man. “Hey, since we’re out of town now, can I ask you what a witcher is? I mean, what exactly a witcher is.”

“A mutant,” you furrowed your face at the response and wanted to ask him to elaborate on the answer, but you waited a second for Geralt to continue. “We’re mutants for hire. We take coin, we slay monsters, we leave.”

“Oh, like a mercenary almost? And you were hired to kill that werewolf, then right?” Hearing a hum of confirmation, you felt your lips purse a bit. “That drunk back in the town didn’t sound very thankful to you…”

“Thanks isn’t part of the job.”

“It should be!” Geralt couldn’t help but give you an odd look, and you couldn’t stop yourself from going on a tangent. “You took out a werewolf! A bloody werewolf! And one that didn’t look very nice, might I add! That thing was massive, and I bet its claws could have taken out anyone in one swipe! They should be showering you with praise, hell, make you their mayor probably! You saved countless people I bet! And their livestock too! But they’re gonna mock you as you’re leaving?” You paused a second to huff. “People are ungrateful no matter what world they’re in, huh?”

“Uh… yeah.” The look Geralt was giving you was still one that was unreadable, but you merely smiled a bit at him.

“Hey, if this world is so dangerous, can you teach me how to fight with a sword?” Still Geralt’s face read an unreadable expression, and still you grinned at him. “We don’t sword fight where I’m from, but I would love to learn. A-And I think it’d be smart to do in case something happens, and I need to defend you.”

“You won’t need to defend me,” Geralt said simply, his eyes finally leaving you and returning to the road in front of him.

“But, and listen to this, what if I do? What if a…I don’t know, a zombie raises up and you’re caught off guard?” Geralt sighed as you spoke, and you couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “Hopefully zombies aren’t real here, that would make this world way more dangerous. What kinds of monsters have you fought before?”

“You don’t stop talking ever, do you?”

“Nope! Makes travelling way better if I keep going,” you paced forward a few steps, and turned on your heel to face Geralt. You put your arms behind your back as you proceeded to walk backwards in front of the man. “What’s the biggest monster you’ve ever fought, Geralt?”

You weren’t sure where Geralt was taking you, you weren’t even sure what direction you were travelling in, but as you kept walking, you could slowly feel the bit of fear that still lingered in you fade away. What was to happen was unknown to you, but that wasn’t very much different than before when you were in your world. Thinking about what could happen, of what dangers could appear before you, made the fear linger about again for a second, but you pushed it down, instead thinking forward to the experiences this world was going to show you that you would never be able to experience back in your world.

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renaroo · 7 years

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The Search (1/16)

Disclaimer: Red vs Blue and related characters are the property of Rooster Teeth. Warnings: Language, Canon-typical violence, Psychological manipulation and trauma Rating: T Synopsis: [Canon Divergence - Alternate S15] The Reds and Blues saved Chorus, but it has been a year and they are still missing. A motley crew has been gathered with the common goal of finding the war heroes, though the road is more troubled than anyone seems to realize.

A/N: I don’t know how many people remember, but a few years back while Season 13 was airing, I published my first longfic for the RvB fandom as the season aired, sort of a challenge to myself to make an alternate version of Season 13′s events to sort of see where things lined up. That fic was Divided and still to this day it’s one of my favorite fics I’ve written for the fandom. It’s also inspired me to attempt something similar for this season, though a bit shorter (and a few weeks off from keeping up with the season itself). I’m basically going to go another direction than S15 and hopefully you all will enjoy!

The Headline

It was the sort of culminating disaster that could not have been scripted.

When the office door burst open, giving way to the proverbial army which had been sent after the Reds and Blues, somehow the ragtag team of former simulation troopers were ready.

Between them and the Charon forces was a desk, a few novelty weapons they had gathered from Chairman Hargrove’s trophies, and a repurposed M374 Hephaestus Combat Armor.

And, for a while, that seemed to be all they would need.

The first barrage of bullets from the Charon soldiers was reflected back on them by an overwhelmingly large dome shield manifested from the Hephaestus Armor. Though the power seemed to deplete itself quickly as once the bullets ricocheted back toward their sources, the shield was back down and left the Reds and Blues open to fire upon the next wave with their own signature weapons.

Initially, the hail of bullets from the Reds and Blues were enough to force people back, but the moment that two soldiers broke through the line and tried to stake out the corners of the room, the Blue in the former Meta armor lunged forward at an inhuman speed. There was hacking and slashing of a plasma sword, which confirmed suspicions that it was Lavernius Tucker inside the suit.

Beforehand, the angle of the footage had made it slightly more difficult to confirm identities than she would have liked.

Once the line was broken, there seemed to be some shouted order. Two Reds -- Dexter Grif and Richard Simmons -- ducked behind the table with the other Blue -- Michael Caboose. It cleared them out of the way of the former disgraced medical officer, Frank DuFresne, who fired a rocket launcher through the opened office door.

The explosion was out of view of the camera, but the footage was enough to show a room-wide recoil and stumbling in response to it.

The Red known as only Sarge in his files remained steadily standing in position, firing at nearly the same rate as the automatic weapon that Caboose was holding. An impressive feat lessened by the apparent range of the shotgun which seemed to only take affect when Charon soldiers closed in within five feet of the group.

By that point Franklin Donut and the robotic AI construct known in files as “Lopez the Heavy” were quick to give cover fire for their commander until those who were behind the desk gathered themselves back up and set themselves up for further attack.

What soldiers came into the room had to first get past Tucker, who was moving with undocumented prowess. It was difficult to say how much of it was the armor maintaining the work for him and how much of it had to do with natural progress that was still difficult to assess considering the information barrier that still existed between Chorus and the rest of the governed UNSC space.

By the third round, the footage was damaged, a skip in the recording. It was difficult to assume what happened between frames -- one moment Tucker was still at the front of the line, the next he had fallen back and was removing an enhancement from his suit to give to Donut who had fallen between frames.

At one point, Caboose was at the lead, his automatic weapon firing incessantly.

They all fell back again between frames, most huddled behind the desk used for cover fire.

Once the ship began crashing, the footage was upside down -- or rather, everyone else was, dodging out of the way of the office furniture and entangled bodies of the soldiers they had taken out as much as they were the incoming attacks.

Half the screen was no longer recording, a crack in the security lens most likely. It was difficult to tell if the Reds and Blues who were not on screen were somehow either in the unrecorded range or had begun moving out of the office holding space between frames.

The recordings from that point forward were stripped bear and it was difficult to see any change, even fast forwarded hours. Until Chorusian soldiers marched in, former Freelancer Agents Carolina and Washington at the head.

With full armors on, it was difficult to read their reactions to the gruesome scene. Without sound it was even harder to tell if they were seeing any of the Reds or Blues in the part of the camera range that was no longer being recorded.

By the time the recording ended, she had less answers than she had started with.

“Damn,” she muttered, reaching for her coffee again only to find the mug empty. Dylan Andrews leaned back in her office chair and looked around the darkened office space, annoyance ticking up. “Are there any interns in here? I need coffee and...”

Her voice carried quite a bit -- a bit of a curse if one were to ask those closest to her -- but it apparently reached no one’s ears.

She was alone in the office at two in the morning. Again.

With a long sigh, she got to her feet and removed the drive from her personal computer, closing everything out. She turned and walked toward the door to head to the closet she called an apartment.

Andrews was an award winning journalist, and she could almost taste when she was on the trail of something real. And that was why she had followed the ever evolving story behind the ominous Project Freelancer and its titular war heroes, the Reds and the Blues of Blood Gulch Canyon Outposts Alpha and Outpost One.

She was on a trail, but there was no denying that Dylan didn’t have any idea where it’d take her.

Or, perhaps more importantly, who it would end up pissing off.

By the time she finished taking the monorail to her side of town and began fishing for the keys to her apartment, she was already thinking of who of her contacts would give her the most likely in for an interview with the UNSC Chairman himself.

After all, since the embarrassment he had suffered across the cosmos thanks to the Reds and Blues’ delivered message, he had been nigh impossible to contact. And the UNSC was notorious for not taking reporters’ questions.

Such things had not stopped her before. And Dylan was certain that she would find a way in when she put her key in the lock of her door and found that it lacked that satisfying click she was so used to by that point.

“The hell?” she muttered to herself, going back through her day and wondering if it was possible that, for the first time since college, she actually forgot to lock her own door. But as she double guessed herself, swinging her door open to a disheveled apartment answered that question for her.

“Who the fuck would break into my apartment?” she asked out loud, cautiously entering and turning the light on.

Her gaze immediately shifted toward her kitchenette since the only plausible explanation she could think of was that some sap came to take what ramen was left in the package. But her food was not touched.

Just everything else.

When she walked in a little further, hand going to her pocket to pick up her phone, her heart all but leaped into her throat as something cold pressed against the back of her neck and gave a notable click.

“Please put down your phone, Miss Andrews. On the ground,” a commanding voice said lowly.

Dylan could hear the door close behind them. She slowly complied, picking her phone out of her pocket and letting it drop to the ground.

“You know my name, so I’m going to suppose that I’ve written about you,” she said with more confidence than she probably had to spare.

“Quite a few articles, actually,” a second voice chimed in. “And we believe you’re working on another one right now from the sounds of it.”

Suddenly, together, the two voices clicked. Suddenly it all made perfect sense.

Almost.

"Your Agent Washington and Agent Carolina,” Dylan announced her epiphany.

“I prefer when people say that in alphabetical order,” Carolina sighed, though she did not let up on how hard she was pressing the gun to Dylan’s neck. “Wash, check to see if it’s on her.”

“Got it,” Washington responded before walking around to Dylan’s front, letting her see him for the first time. He was in full armor, which surely meant they both were. Which was far from inconspicuous and made Dylan wonder how they were getting around the city so easily without being spotted.

“If you told me what you’re looking for, I could help you,” she attempted to make peace only to have Washington’s pat down stop at her pants pockets where he stopped and pulled out the drive. “Hey--”

“Is this the unedited footage?” Washington demanded, holding it in Andrews’ face for emphasis.

“That is my personal property--” Dylan attempted to argue.

“Miss Andrews, you are not in a position to risk not answering our questions,” Carolina said harshly. “Have you or anyone else edited the footage on that drive?”

“No,” she finally answered. “I just finished watching it myself. It’s damaged from the point that the ship wrecked forward but it’s unedited.”

“Damaged?” Washington asked, hand lowering. “How damaged? Can you see how they left the ship?”

“How who left the ship?” Dylan asked. “The Reds and Blues? No. You can’t see how--”

Carolina’s gun left Dylan’s skin and there was a fierce growl before she kicked over the only chair in the apartment. Dylan blinked slowly as her one comfortable piece of furniture was wrecked. “Goddammit!” the Freelancer screamed.

Washington was watching Carolina before he brought his gaze back toward Dylan and, apologetically, shrugged toward her. “Sorry about the chair... and the house...”

“So it’s true,” Dylan said, ignoring her personal property damage. “The two of you are searching for the Reds and Blues... Chorus isn’t hiding them from the UNSC. They’ve disappeared.”

“That’s none of your business,” Washington assured her.

“You must be joking,” Dylan laughed, getting even the angered Carolina’s attention. “I’m a reporter. Everything is my business. And if Chorus is being unfairly portrayed by the media on my watch, I need to correct it.”

Washington tilted his head. “Is that supposed to endear you to us, Ma’am?”

“We’re not exactly the most trusting people, and reporters don’t exactly earn a reputation of being trustworthy in our situation,” Carolina added, nearing Dylan with an intimidating square to her shoulders.

“It’s supposed to open an opportunity for you,” Dylan proposed. “The fact is, you might be soldiers, but you’re not storytellers. And you’re going to need someone to tell this story loud and clear and with a reputation that the public can depend on to deliver it to them. The political climate since you ousted Hargrove has been... hostile and toxic. And the public’s curiosity about the Reds and Blues are at an all time high as we near the anniversary of their disappearance.” She looked between the two of them. “Besides, you can’t possibly think you can search the entire galaxy with just the two of you.”

The two Freelancers looked at each other and then back to Dylan.

“Who said it was just the two of us?” Carolina asked cockily.

#writing #rvb fic #RvB: The Search #Dylan Andrews #Agent Carolina #Agent Washington

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angst-king · 4 years

Text

The sacrifices we make pt 2

(TW mentions of homophobic behavior against minors. I do not own any canon BNHA characters only the gen 2..no quirk AU)

"Sir are you the owner of this restaurant?" "y-yes, th-this is my son" He says while holding Azori loosely in his arms, the cops called a group of ambulances to come while they cleared the area of non needed people. Amilia being the only victim conscious enough to speak. One cop spoke to Katsuki who was looking wide eyed at the whole situation. "So Mr Katsuki Kirishima what relationship do you have to these kids?" This is my son, the one with the brown and blue hair is his boyfriend, the other two are boyfriend and girlfriend, they're all friends." He answers quickly, the cop shot another question. "Seeing your son's uniform I take it that he works with you?" "Yes sir, he was out chilling with his friends, they usually hang around the alley during that time."

The scene was soon cleared after the ambulances took the kids, Katsuki couldn't help but feel terrible. Giving Azori to the paramedics and not knowing all of what happened to them. Dropping to his knees, rough hands in his hair he couldn't help but remember what Tetsu had said about letting Azori fight for himself. Just like that Tetsu came over "I'm so sorry dude, here man I've got your keys and phone." Holding out the items to the blonde they were quickly take as he arose. "Thanks, I-I'll call Eijirou, think you can hold down the fort?"

"Yeah totally man, now hurry up, they'll need you and the kids will need their parents." Katsuki's voice was shaky and shallow, there was a lump in his throat that he could barely swallow. He goes off to the car to call his husband which anxiety flooding him. 'They're gonna kill me, they're gonna kill me, my son's gonna hate me!' He dialed Eijirou's phone number with shaky fingers, when the phone was answered he locked the doors. "Hey babe what's up you on your break?" Asked an oblivious Eijirou, licking his lips that were unable to take int he moisture and not to be bone dry. "N-no pl-please don't be to angry at me please babe-" "what's going on Kat you're scaring me?" "Our son and his friends were beat up hard by a group of homophobes-" "oh my god are they okay!?" "...." "Kat? Kat babe please tell me they're okay" "Maku was unconscious so was Jasuma, Amiila was the one who came and got me I came to see Azori single handedly fighting he passed out on me when it was all over." "I'll call Denki, I don't have the other parent's numbers." Eijirou tries to keep his voice level and himself calm "Alright can you meet me at Fumukage ER?" "yeah I'm grabbing my keys now"

Their conversation is cut and now its up to call the other parents, calling Izuku or Shoto made the blonde anxious. Even though Katsuki never showed his fear to others and used to be Izuku's old bully and he's still got his pride. This situation was different and he couldn't help but feel the lump in his throat swell. He now scrolled to find their numbers the first one that came up was Izuku, which he hesitantly dialed. Waiting through the rings only made Katsuki sick then hearing a "hello Kaachan?" clearing his throat Katsuki confirmed. "yes, um Izuku what are you doing right now?" "cleaning up around the house why?" Katsuki didn't want to say it, even if the girl seemed to only have minor injuries it still required her to ride int he ambulance. "I-I'm sorry Izuku" This was a rare moment, rare words that Izuku hardly received from his childhood bully and now adult friend. "What are you sorry for Kaachan, you've already apologized about highschool?" A shaky sigh came from his cold dry lips Katsuki harshly swallowed the lump and blurted out "i'm sorry our kids were attacked by homophobes" The other line was eerily silent it scared the blonde then a stuttered. "wh-what did y-you sa-say?" "O-Our kids were attacked by homophobes, I came out to Amilia running in and getting help." "what hospital are they in?" The green haired male's tone turned very strict it sent chills down Katsuki's spine, he told Izuku the name of the hospital and all Izuku said was "I'll see you there" it was cold.

Now it was time to call Jasuma's parents, who would be the more rational one..who's number-oh god pink cheeks. Pulling into the parking lot of the hospital he called Ochako. When she answered she sounded surprised. "Hi Katsuki what's up you rarely call" "o-ochako I..." woah no 'pink cheeks' or 'round face?' "Katsuki is something wrong?" She could tell just by the straight forward, skip of the nickname answer. "The kids were attacked while hanging out by a group of homophobes." His voice now just as dry as his mouth, Ochako sighed audibly. "what's the hospital?" "Fumukage, I'm in the paring lot right now." "Alright, I'll get there as quickly, try and see if you can check in on the kids, hope things go well." Katsuki unbuckles the seat belt while agreeing "Okay I'll try, see ya soon."

The calls are over and Katsuki's coming out of the car, walking up to the hospital and to the front desk the red eye'd man asked in a somewhat calm voice. "I'm looking for a group of kids anyone of them will do. They were taken by an ambulance from the restaurant 'the dragon'?" the nurse who looked up at him then asked in a protective voice "Do you have any relation to any of the kids?" "Yes actually a boy named Azori is my son, he's got red and black hair, was wearing a similar uniform to mine just smaller? The others are Amilia Midoriya, Jasuma Iida, and Makuyama Kaminari." Katsuki described to her which she seemed to relax her a little, she went through her computer and nods. "They arrived fifteen minutes ago, I'll take you to your son." She comes out from behind the desk to lead Katsuki around. Cooley shoving his hands in his pockets was his way of hiding his anxiety.

The walk wasn't long, they entered a bay with beds only being separated by curtains but most of them were kept open and to the god send luck of the man the kids were in the same area. Seeing them all in hospital beds made Katsuki uneasy, it reminded him of when he was younger. He was jumped bad enough to need to go to the hospital both him and Eijirou escaped with decent injuries. "Uncle Katsu?" It was Amilia, it was a nickname Amilia and Tomiko had given Katsuki, the man instantly turned around and come over. "Oh my god Amilia, thank you for coming to get me I'm so so sorry" The nurse seemed confused and she asked Amilia. "how do you know him?" It was more for the protection of the child's sake to ask this. "He's m-my dads's childhood friend they w-went to high school together." Katsuki looked her up and down noticing her watery green eyes. "A-are you okay?" "H-head just hurts a lot, the b-boys are w-worse off." Katsuki nodded "Izuku is coming he might be picking up Shoto I don't know but he'll be here soon." Katsuki informed to the young girl who agreed,then turning around Katsuki panicked when he noticed that the bed Azori should be in was missing. "Wh-where's Azori?" He was becoming frantic until the nurse tells him "He could be down getting an X-ray or important scans he should be back momentarily."

Momentarily was an understatement, out of the corner of his eyes he could see the teen being wheeled back to the vacant bay. Katsuki rushed over with worry trying not to be written all over his face. "Azori!? Azori!?" "sir please calm down we're hooking him up, what is your relationship to this child?" Getting a little irritated on being asked this question Katsuki sighed and replied "i'm his dad" "Alright then does he have any medical history, allergies, or anything we should know of?" "No he doesn't have anything like allergies or medical defaults" "Do you know what happened?" "No, all I know is that my son went to hang out with my friends, then a little bit later Amilia came in running that they were being attacked by some homophobes. I come out to see that Azori's the only one still fighting them off. Then when its all over he collapsed on me." Katsuki spoke fast but the doctor was able to understand him.

"Okay sir, thank you for your cooperation." When the results pulled up on the screen the doctor had a look of 'oh my'. "It appears your son has taken decent beating, and may have 'taken one for the team' to put it lightly." He starts to explain when Kirishima comes in "Katsuki!" which makes Katsuki jump still he called Kirishima over who rushed over. "I called Denki, him, Aku, and Hitoshi are on their way." "okay that's good" "oh god Azori what did they do to you?" Eijirou says while softly brushing his fingers through Azori's red and black hair that was still half tied up. "He's got broken ribs those can heal relatively well in around six weeks. No internal bleeding but when he was examined a we checked for any potential neck or back injuries we saw and alarming amount of bruising and swelling around his lower and middle back. Other than that he's probably got a concussion or some painful fingers. He most likely fainted out of exhaustion and pain."

Katsuki looked down at Azori, trailing his large hands to his son's limp ones, gently picking it up scared that if he wasn't careful that. He'd die, he'd shatter, or something terrible would happen. Softly tracing the inside of his palm seemed to stir the teen, his fingers moved around. "z-Zor?" "hm?"Eijirou hummed curiously, Katsuki continued the tracing thing, then feeling Azori's hand weakly squeeze his.

#my story

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