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lancermylove · 3 years

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Oh No, He Didn’t! (Oneshot)

Fandom: Twisted Wonderland

Pairing: Leona x fem!Reader x Malleus

Warning: None

Requested by: Anon

Prompt: Can I request a oneshot where Leona has a crush on the reader and the reader has a crush on Leona and they are in a kind of weird situation because it is starting to get obvious, then bam! Malleus confesses to the reader and who sees? Of course the lazy lion. Happy ending with Leona please. I had to request this after you said love triangles were okay as long as the reader ends up with one. Feel free to ignore this if this is so specific and sorry. I am the one that requested malleus Leona love triangle, I forgot to specify the gender of the reader, so it could be female or gn I don’t mind. Sorry for saying it separately.

A/N: Anon, I love specific requests! Don’t worry about sending the messages separately. As long as I’m not finished with the request, I don’t mind anyone sending in any changes or additions. Also, I had fun writing this request! Thank you for sending it in. 😊

Word Count: 2,368

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When you first met him, you thought he was too aloof for his own good. Every meeting after that usually resulted in the two of you arguing to the point where even Ruggie got used to it. So, how did you end up developing a crush on him? You couldn't deny he was attractive, but his lazy, callous, and straightforward personality? You never once saw him as a potential candidate to add to your “I wouldn’t mind dating him” list. So, how?

One day while sitting in the NRC courtyard, you were talking to Lilia about movie clichés. "Oh, and let's not forget the romantic movie clichés. The moment where the female lead can't decide which guy she likes and one of her friends asks which man she likes, and supposedly, she sees the image of the guy she loves once she closes her eyes. That man is the one her heart truly desires."

"Hey, (y/n), if you close your eyes, do you see the image of any man?" Lilia asked curiously, turning his head to glance at you.

"What? Lilia, why would you even ask me that?" You blinked rapidly and giggled, "I don't believe in such cliché things."

"Try it. Who knows, maybe your heart likes someone without your mind realizing it," the Fae let out a laugh and beckoned you to try.

"Fine," you sighed and closed your eyes as you laughed internally at the thought of your heart liking someone. Suddenly, you opened your eyes and stared at the ground, paralyzed.

Lilia quietly watched you with a smirk and pressed the side of his index finger to his lips. "So, who did you see?"

"W-What? I didn't see a-anyone," you quickly averted your eyes and stuttered, not wanting the Fae to know the truth.

"Are you certain?" He teased.

"Of course!" You nearly yelled, causing Lilia to laugh.

That night your eyes refused to shut as your mind kept wondering how in the world did Leona's face flash behind your closed eyelids? You weren't sure if your heart desired to be with him, or if your mind was playing tricks on you.

"I am going crazy..."

----

Oddly enough, after that incident, you started to notice the changes in Leona's behavior. Was it just your imagination or was he being nicer to you? He didn't make rude remarks or laugh at unfortunate events that happened throughout your day. Leona even listened to your long speeches and stayed awake to talk to you. Not to mention, he invited you to take a nap with him whenever you looked upset. You weren't sure if he was always like this and you didn't notice, or if your mind was messing with you again.

Leona also took note of the changes in your behavior towards him. For some reason, you blushed a lot and acted more girly than usual. Did you just giggle at his words? Why does your giggle sound so sweet to him? Why is your smile making his heart race? Did you always look this beautiful? What is going on? Leona felt like he was losing his mind.

Even Ruggie picked up on your unusual interactions, but unlike the two of you, the hyena figured out the reason behind the sudden change. He even made a bet with Jack, saying the two of you are going to end up dating. Jack, on the other hand, thought his senpai was being delusional or must've eaten something odd. Though both the Savanaclaw members could agree that when you and Leona were together, the atmosphere around you two was very awkward.

----

Not wanting to spend time with Leona, you decided to spend a few hours with Silver and his animal friends in the nearby forest. You watched Silver interacting with a grey-furred squirrel with a wide smile. Out of nowhere, you noticed firefly-like specks floating in the air, and a few seconds after, Malleus appeared without Lilia or Sebek by his side.

"Hello, Silver. Hello, (y/n)." The tall dragon politely greeted with a kind smile.

"Hi, Malleus, what brings you here?" You rose to your feet and fixed your dress as you waited for his reply.

The leader of Diasomnia turned to his dormmate and said, "I would like to speak to her alone."

Silver nodded and took a few steps away before turning his back to the two of you. Malleus chuckled and shook his head, "No, Silver, return to the dorm. Also, be sure to keep my location a secret from Sebek."

Reluctantly, the silver-haired man excused himself and followed the prince's order, taking his animal friends with him. After he left, you turned your attention to the dragon and asked, "How do you manage to sneak away from Sebek?"

"With Lilia's help," he replied, "Would you join me for a stroll?"

"Sure."

The two of you quietly walked around the forest, enjoying the occasional chirping of the birds and humming of the insects. The sun shone high in the sky, but the dense vegetation provided sufficient shade. The gentle breeze caused the leaves to rustle every so often. Out of the corner of your eyes, you noticed Malleus looking straight ahead with a serene smile. As if he noticed you staring at him, his smile grew wider.

"(Y/N), I would like to tell you a secret, but could you make a promise to me?" He asked, breaking the silence, "No matter your answer, promise me that we will continue to be as we are now."

You found his request strange but nodded, "S-Sure...what would you like to tell me?"

Malleus stopped under a large tree decorated with tiny blue flowers and turned to face you. "When I first met you, I found you to be intriguing. I always wished to spend time with a human, but most feared and still fear my presence. You, though, are different..."

He studied your expression for a moment before continuing, "I would like to thank you for accepting me as a friend, but if you would consider accepting me as more than a friend, I would be even more grateful."

"A-As...more than...a friend?" You tilted your head and stared at him with your lips parted. Not sure what he meant by those words, you waited for him to explain.

"I feel a strange attraction to you, and I, myself, did not understand what it meant. When I told Lilia of this, he said the strange attraction is called love. Seems like I have developed feeling for you, child of man," Malleus chuckled.

For a moment, you gaped at him with your mouth ajar, repeating his words in your mind over and over. Once you realized that he was confessing to you, you averted your eyes and covered your burning cheeks with your hands. Never once did you expect the Malleus Draconia to confess his love to you, and here he was, in front of you admitting his feelings for you. As you reveled in his confession, a face suddenly flashed before your eyes - the face of the same lazy lion you were trying to avoid.

"I...," you lowered your gaze in utter confusion. You couldn't deny that you liked Malleus, but was he really the man you wanted to be with?

Sensing your hesitation and uncertainty, Malleus rested his hand on the top of your head. "You needn't reply to me at this moment. Take your time."

"Please don't get me wrong, Malleus, I like you a lot," you looked at him through your lashes and whispered, "but thank you for giving me time to think over it."

Unbeknownst to you, Leona was napping under a tree nearby when he thought he heard your voice. His eyes shot open when he heard Malleus, and he immediately sat up as soon as he heard the dragon confess his feelings to you. Leona growled under his breath as he rose to his feet. He was going to give that pestering dragon a piece of his mind, or so he thought until he heard you say you like him a lot. The lion squeezed his eyes shut, bared his fangs, and tightly curled his hands into fists. He turned on his heels and stormed away not wanting to hear anything more.

----

"What is his problem?" You sighed and sunk into the bench. For the past few days, you couldn't find Leona anywhere, not his usual spots, not new spots, not even in his dorm. He didn't even reply to your messages or calls.

"Is he trying to avoid me?" You mumbled, getting up and heading towards the cafeteria. Your heart felt heavy, but you couldn't understand why. "Someone take this twisted feeling away..."

Right then you noticed the familiar golden-yellow uniforms and hurried towards the group of three. Sensing your presence, Leona began to walk away from Ruggie and Jack.

"Hey!" You latched onto his arm and jumped in front of him, "Why are you avoiding my calls and messages? Where have you been?"

He looked at you with an icy stare and spoke in a flat voice, "Why do you care?"

"W-What? Leona, what do you mean?" You asked, taken aback by his crude reply. " What...what is your problem?"

"You are," he answered bluntly.

You winced at his words and lowered your gaze, blinking away the saline liquid filling your eyes.

"What are you doing here with me? Go to your dear dragon." He growled and stomped away, not waiting for your reaction.

"Dear...dragon?" You mumbled under your breath while slowly lifting your head to look at Leona's back. Then, it hit you. He started to avoid you since the day Malleus confessed to you. Leona heard what Malleus said to you? Is he upset because of that?

Feeling your head spinning, you found a quiet place away from everyone. No matter how many times you tried, you couldn't calm your racing heart and restless mind.

"What...do I do?"

Tears clouded your vision and landed on your lap, leaving stains on your blue dress. Out of your peripheral vision, you noticed Lilia appearing out of thin air and taking a seat next to you.

"Are you confused?" He asked knowingly while gently stroking your head.

"I don't know what to do..."

"Then why not ask your heart?" He chuckled slightly.

"My...heart?" You gazed at him baffled.

"You know, like in the cliché movies," the Fae laughed and wiped your tears with his back of his fingers.

"But Lilia-"

He shook his head and interrupted before you could finish your sentence, "Don't worry, my dear. Regardless of your decision, neither Malleus nor I will stop talking to you."

"P-Promise?" You asked, innocently holding out your pinky finger for him.

"Promise," Lilia chortled, linking his slim pinky finger with yours, "Now...(y/n), who do you like - Leona or Malleus?"

You took in a deep breath and hesitantly closed your eyes. Much to your shock, Leona's face instantly glowed in the darkness. You began to recall certain moments with him. The time the two of you argued over who gets the last sandwich, the lazy day you spent with him in the botanical garden, the time where you napped with him, using his muscular arm as a pillow, and the time where you opened your eyes after a nap to find his face only a few inches away from yours.

As you slowly opened your eyes and blinked a few times to adjust your vision to the sunlight, Lilia studied your face intensely.

"So, who did you see?"

Without thinking once, you replied, "Leona..."

The Fae let out a hearty laugh and patted your back, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go tell him."

"Will...Malleus be okay?"

"Yeah, he will sulk a bit and lock himself in his room, but then he will realize he doesn't want to lose you a friend, and in no time, he will be back to his old self."

You giggled as you watched him mimicking Malleus's expressions. "Thanks, Lilia. You're the best!"

After hugging him, you ran from one place to another in an attempt to locate Leona. You finally found him in the forest, standing in front of a pond. Running up to him, you threw your arms around him and buried your face in his back.

"O-Oi, Herbivore, what do you think you're doing?" He asked, startled. Even though you could tell he didn't want to talk to you, even though he tried to wiggle out of your grip, even though he may reject you, you decided to tell him how you feel.

"I choose you."

"What?" Leona asked as he turned his head back to glance at you.

"I choose you. I love you, and only you, Leona."

Feeling his body stiffen, you tightened your grip around him. The lion stared at a lotus floating in the pond, his eyebrows raised, and eyes widened as if he was a deer caught in the headlights.

"You w-what?" He asked in a breathless voice, wanting to make sure he heard you correctly.

"I choose you! You. You. You!"

Leona parted your arms and turned towards you, still in shock. Seeing his expression, you giggled for a bit, but quickly avert your eyes from him. "Actually, Lilia helped me realize that I like you..."

"Lilia? How exactly did he help you?" Leona asked in a voice much softer than his usual stern tone.

"He asked me who I liked and told me to close my eyes. The man whose face I see is the one I love...you know, like in the romance movies...," you bit the corner of your bottom lip and blushed, "I saw your face."

Within seconds, Leona's laughter echoed throughout the forest, "That's how you decided who you like? Seriously, Herbivore?"

"Hey!" You pouted and crossed your arms, "My heart showed me the path, okay? If you don't want me to choose you, then I can always go to Malle-"

Before you could finish the sentence, Leona grabbed your jaw, tilted it up, and smashed his lips against yours.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence. You are mine and only mine, Herbivore," he whispered against your lips and deepened his kiss.

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#twisted wonderland #twst leona #twst #twst malleus #leona kingscholar #leona x reader #malleus draconia #malleus x reader #lilia vanrouge #twst lilia

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creativeashproductions · 3 years

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A Distant Dream III // Luke Patterson

Summary: In 1994 seventeen year old Luke Patterson had once again to ask out the girl that held his heart. With the belief he would see the younger Mercer girl the next morning he decides to then confess his feelings. Only the soft music bewitched the reader into an antique wardrobe with lots of history.

Warnings: Swearing, grief, magic wardrobe, talk of death, angst, and fluff

Words: 3.2k

A/N: I’m loving this series omg.

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Masterlist

“It should be somewhere in here,” Julie spoke with the flashlight scanning the basement the Molina’s didn’t use. She was hunting for the spare cord her mother had always carried with the amp for the few times she played with her old band for fun.

Most of the stuff had found its way in the basement, collecting dust and leaving sadness in its wake. Reggie’s had snapped early this morning to his great disappointment and with no spare in sight.

As Julie’s hand brushed her old childhood dollhouse, a soft golden light gleamed from further back. Her brown eyes finding the corner when the golden glow was framing a square in the distance. Rocking back on the heels of her feet, Julie stared at the sight.

Faint music came from the surrounding area of the golden glow. The Puerto Rican is enthralled by the bewitching music coming from the back of the basement. Her sneakered feet walking closer to the wardrobe as the creak of a door came from it.

Julie halted as the sheet slipped off, revealing the old wood to her brown eyes and the golden glow brightening the room further. The telltale sound of noise behind her concealed by the music that grew louder and louder. The door unlatched itself with a form slamming the basement floor with a slam.

Julie stumbled back. A deep groan pulled from the stranger’s lips before Julie’s scream ripped through the once empty room. The cry of a male behind her joining the screams as Julie turned on her heel halting at the pure unadulterated fear on Alex’s face.

“What the hell?” Alex hissed, staring at the prone form of a girl with long hair intricately pinned in places. The formal hairstyle at war with the outfit Alex could just barely make out as a plaid skirt reaching mid-thigh over sheer black tights. The colour of the skirt concealed by the dim lighting.

“Peter.” The name slipped from your lips filled with anguish as you frantically crawled to the wardrobe to search it.

The scream of grief falling from your lips as your hand made contact with the wooden back of the wardrobe. Your arms wrapped around your middle as you collapsed into yourself as it cemented in your brain. Your life in Narnia ended in seconds.

“Excuse me? How the heck did you do that?” Julie’s terrified voice questioned as she fought her impulse to run. Just as she had from the boys when they first appeared in the studio.

The truth of the matter settling you swiftly turned to the voice surprised you had left yourself vulnerable to attack. Your wild eyes scanning the room for a sword, or even your bow that was always strapped to you. You found only a basement with old furniture instead and two teens staring shocked at you.

“Where-“

“Y/N?” The blonde boy gasped stumbling forward taken aback by the sudden appearance of his little sister. Your eyes meeting his blue confused before memories of him snapped in your brain previously hidden behind a wall.

“Alex?” You questioned, throwing yourself into his arms to wrap your arms around him as you dissolved into sobs. Alex melting into your body sobbing just as hard.

“I’m two seconds away from storming Dr. Turner’s office, I swear. First, three ghosts appear in my studio and now a girl out of a wardrobe also from the ’90s.” Julie muttered scrubbing her hand over her face. Your eyes wandering to her form in confusion at what she had said.

“’ also from the ’90s’?” You asked, stepping one step away from Alex who refused to let you go as if you would disappear once more, “What year is it?”

“How about we talk about this in the studio. Reggie and Luke are in the studio, I came to get Julie. You’ve been down here for a while.” Alex suggested with a look that Julie caught quickly. Alex didn’t want to prolong the reunion with the rest of the guys.

Alex walked up from the basement with Julie straight to the door with dozens of questions in his brain. This was a change he welcomed with open arms and a happy heart. The house was empty as Ray had taken Carlos to an all-day out of town baseball tournament.

Luke and Reggie’s voices drifted out from the studio blocked by the white barn doors only partially open. The two arguing about the band playing one of Reggie’s country songs on stage. Their attention not on the three people walking into the room as Luke stretched out on his back on his sofa. Reggie curled in one of the armchairs beside the couch.

“It’s not our sound!” Luke spoke, staring his bassist down with a heated glare that wasn’t as harsh as if it was someone else.

“Pop wasn’t either but look where we are now?” Reggie retorted with his arms crossed and a pout painted on his flushed face. Alex could sigh at the same debate that happened at least twice a week.

“Sunset Curve is pop now?” Your soft voice still tortured with loss bringing both the boys to the front of the studio. Standing uncomfortable in the clothing that revealed more skin in the fifteen years you had been in Narnia.

The gasps would have amused Alex had this sudden development not happened, especially when his long lost sister fell out of a wardrobe. Luke and Reggie stumbled to their feet in pure astonishment seeing the person they had dreamed of seeing one more time.

“Holy shit.” Luke choked blinking frantically as you sent an awkward smile to the face of the person that had haunted you for fifteen years.

“Y/N?” Reggie cried, raising both hands to cover his mouth as if it would hold in the heartbreaking sobs.

Julie took the initiative to step to the side to allow the reunion to happen without a distraction, but really it was impossible. A bomb could drop, and none of the ’90s teens would notice with their attention solely on each other.

“Are you a ghost?” Reggie questioned you with furrowed brows. Alex’s hand intertwined with yours.

At the familiar texture and comfort of your older brother’s comforting hand, your eyes clenched tight—tears building at the very different hands you had held for over a decade.

“Ghost?” You questioned, clearing your tight throat in bewilderment. Your e/c eyes changing between the three different eyes. The three boys shared a glance with each other, “Does anyone have a sweater I could borrow?”

Alex was surprised at the request, “You want a sweater? You adore midriff shirts.”

“That was before.” You simply stated, “So what has happened?”

That was the words that shattered the frozen form of Luke Patterson, who stumbled his way to hug you. His arms wrapping around, brought both relief but also guilt. This was the guy that had been the third party of your marriage without even knowing. The thoughts caused your muscles to tense, leading Luke to a different conclusion.

Luke believed you rejected his hug because you blamed him.

“You’re not a ghost?” Reggie questioned following as you sat on the sofa in such an uncharacteristic position.

Your posture entirely pin straight with an air of regality that went above the posture you had as a young Mercer. Alex’s eyebrows raised almost into his hairline at how you held yourself compared to the slight slouch you developed away from your parents. His blue eyes caught the calm mask that concealed your panic under a practised mask.

“You disappeared in 1994 after you spent supper with my family.” Luke softly started recalling the night his life first changed for the worse, “You left just before dark after time got away from us. You sent a smile before the plants hid your form and I never saw you again.”

A sad smile broke the mask you wore, “I’m sorry the fifteen years have made it difficult for memories.”

“Fifteen years?” Julie interrupted, bringing your attention to the girl in the corner with a soft voice. Her eyes couldn’t help scan you and Alex finding the similarities and differences, but she loved how relaxed Alex looked in your presence.

“Time is…different where I was.” The sentence was slow to leave your lips as your eye wandered the different version of the studio.

“Was it a black room?” Reggie inquired shifting for Julie to have space to sit down without her limbs moving through Reggie’s leg. Alex was quick to settle on your left side with Luke in the closest armchair to you.

“No?” You trailed off thinking of the years you had spent ruling a kingdom with your in-laws, “I-I think when I left Luke’s house, there was this music. Like a lullaby that drew me into this antique store and a voice out of a dream. I was entranced, and then I was in a different world.”

“You have an accent.” Luke implored finally seeing the mature difference in your demeanour, posture and personality, “Like it’s English but still sounds like you. Were you in England?”

The soft giggle came from your lips, “No. I swear on Aslan I wasn’t in England.”

Everyone was deaf to Julie’s confusion and her soft repeat of the name you whispered into the air. The word drawing a sense of having had heard it before it comes her way.

“Who’s Aslan?” Alex asked unclipping his infamous fanny pack to remove the pink sweater. He couldn’t help but see the way you tugged the plaid skirt down and your black crop top down.

Your hand grasped the soft material of the pink sweater, the first pink garment Alex had owned. His pride and joy of a sweater was slipped over your outfit landed past the hem of your skirt.

“He’s…” Your words broke off, trying to find a way how to tell them that Aslan ruled the entirety of Narnia. He created it, but he was a lion that could talk.

“I’d like to know how you’ve been in that wardrobe for so long!” Julie gushed unable to hold back her curiosity, “My parents got that as a wedding gift when they were moving into the house. It was shifted downstairs because my mom couldn’t let it go for the sentimental value.”

“I’m sorry but wardrobe? She came- you came out of a wardrobe?” Alex wondered, shaking his head before he said his infamous word, “Okay.”

“I was trying to find a spare cord for Reggie, but out of absolutely nowhere, this music came from the back area. This pretty golden hue lit up the room, and then she just fell out of the wardrobe.”

“I’m so confused,” Reggie whispered to himself, staring off into the distance at two things he had learnt.

You had gone missing before they died yet for you, only fifteen years had gone by.

You had been in a wardrobe. A wardrobe!

“So are you dead or not?” Julie asked next leaning forward to face you in anticipation for the new piece of information. Her inquisitive brown eyes glittering in the light of the studio as you tried to find the correct words.

“I’m alive.” You decided to go the simple route, “I’m guessing that you three are dead?”

Alex, Reggie and Luke all nodded with each other, “Street dogs. How aren’t you fazed?”

“Uh, I walked into a wardrobe. Joined a war, won the war, got crowned for the kingdom by Aslan, and grew up.” You tapped a finger for each piece of your fifteen years, much easier to just use your perspective, “Fifteen years ruling with Peter and his siblings.”

“Peter?” Alex inquired with one dark blonde eyebrow raised high with caution written clearly on his youthful face.

“My husband.” The words choked everyone in the damn room, and Luke felt like he could puke. The girl he was still very much in love with was now taken by someone else just weeks after he grieved the almost-relationship he could have had with you.

Adjusting to the new world, the third time in your, life wasn’t as difficult as you would have expected. Well, adapting to the technological advances and the new band Sunset Curve had evolved into. The relationship with Luke was at simplicity quite awkward, something Luke never anticipated when he envisioned finding you.

It was painful for everyone in the room with you two. You were trying to deal with the guilt of abandoning your kingdom, of your Narnian friends, of not being with the Pevensies. You had a strong suspicion they had returned back to England, and the time was the hardest to deal with.

Instead of 1994, the current year was 2020 for you—twenty-six years in this world but fifteen in Narnia. You didn’t look a day over your age in 1994. Looking in mirrors was startling every time to see your teen youth instead of the thirty-one-year-old.

Happily, the bond with Alex hadn’t diminished if anything it had gotten stronger. He was assimilating to the new fashion you liked. You had a more mature style and preferred modest outfits; the Narnian fashion was still very much part of you.

Reggie adored hearing the adventures you had done in Narnia, he grew a crush on the version of Lucy you told. He was definitely awed at how you had had a stable of horses that could talk, some weren’t vocal.

All three boys were jealous of the fact that despite being born in the late ’70s, you were alive in 2020. You could touch and interact with everyone while they only had each other, and now you. Flynn had been sceptical but grew to be friends with you.

For you, you would be found staring out the window in the attic of the Molina house where you had settled in. A rather long-winded explanation of being from overseas and your housing having fallen through. Ray and welcomed you into the home with open arms.

“Hey! We’re gonna go explore. Do you wanna come with us?” Alex asked from his spot near the door he had poked his head through. His smile turning upside down at the lost look in your eyes and fingers that played with the only evidence of your Narnian life.

The ring you had worn since Peter had proposed ten years ago with a specially designed ring by the best of the business. Cair Paravel’s military General, formerly of Aslan’s Army, Oreius’ sister Odette had personally pushed the contract to the front.

The ring was absolutely breathtaking of a moonstone set in a rose gold floral metal setting with tiny diamonds in a flora design. It was definitely made with the rarest rose gold, and the moonstone was personally found on a quest Peter had gone on. You were thrilled it had survived the return to the human world.

“Y/N?” Alex spoke once more, gaining your attention from the overcast sky with a bittersweet smile.

“Hey, Alex.” You replied, walking closer for the hug he had quickly made into a requirement every time he saw you.

“Reggie, Luke and I are going to explore if you want to join us.”

The offer was tempting even if you had to submit to being in an awkward environment with Luke Patterson. Seeing him each time brought that love that had overshadowed Peter’s love and that in itself brought tremendous guilt.

“I think I’ll hang here. Thank you for inviting me, Alex.” You softly replied as you retreated to the bed in the large renovated attic. Ray and Rose had renovated it into living space when Julie was still in elementary school.

Ray had spent a few months staying in the attic room after Rose passed away because he couldn’t even touch the doorknob. His sister in law Victoria had to help move things to the attic as Ray mourned his wife.

“I’ll be right back,” Alex told you before he poofed, something you still couldn’t wrap your mind around.

Instead of Alex returning it was Luke with that sheepish smile he adorned in the last week you had returned. Your e/c eyes widened in surprise when they met the hazel of his own.

“Luke.” You breathed astounded as he hesitantly walked closer, “Aren’t you going with Reggie and Alex?”

Luke’s hand gestured to the bed, “May I sit?”

“Yeah!” You nodded shifted to create distance between you and the guitarist that had once held your heart in his hands.

Things were different. The ring on your left hand said so. The wedding ceremony in Narnia said so. Yet your heart didn’t understand further than the yearning and love it throbbed with.

“Alex kinda hit some sense into me. This has been…a rather confusing time since that night in 1995.” Luke didn’t talk about his experience dying with anyone because he was still working through it. To avoid the pain and trauma, he focused on the band instead.

“I can attest to that. A week ago, I was with my family hunting for the White Stag content with my life. Next thing I knew I’m racing after Lucy into a wardrobe in which blasted me with memories.” You sighed thinking back to the banter with Edmund and Susan before Lucy uttered ‘Spare Oom’ of a distant time, “I feel terrible that I had no conscious recollection of my life before Narnia. I’d see a tall blonde in the crowd and have this sudden emotion of loss. I forgot about my own brother.”

“I can’t blame you for anything. You had a responsibility to an entire kingdom.”

“Part of me must have remembered because when I was gifted my horse, it asked me to name her. I chose Mercer without thinking about why. It’s always interested me in the reason behind the choice.” You played with the bedspread to avoid his face and the guilt of abandoning him unintentionally or not.

“How was the music in Narnia?” Luke inquired, bringing a neutral topic to once best friends in the process of recovering the friendship, “Any rock?”

The laugh lightened the heaviness in Luke’s chest and brought a smile to both the teens’ faces. Music was always one of the topics you could talk for hours with the band given the classical background you had.

“None that we had the honour of hearing.” The grin brought a smile to Luke’s face as well, and then some of the pieces of your friendship found their place in the frame.

“So, tell me more about this place.”

And so, you did as the sun set and then rose hours later while you were content to retell the tale of your time. The war with the White Witch and watching Edmund take his last breath and his first one after a drop from Lucy’s Cordial.

As you retold your tale of adventures to Luke, a quartet of siblings scoured a wardrobe decades before the conversation commenced.

A little girl sobbing for her lost sister and greatest friend while her oldest brother closed himself off. A seventeen-year-old closed himself off, finding it difficult adjusting to being a teen once more. As if he hadn’t lived fifteen years with his wife beside him. As if he never had a wife.

Above is the Narnia engagement ring reader wears from Peter

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#luke patterson imagines #luke patterson x reader #peter pevensie imagines #jatp fanfic #narnia #julie and the phantoms imagines #charlie gillespie imagines #luke patterson #peter pevensie #mercer!reader x luke patterson #caitsy and ash productions

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theyreonlynoodlesmike · 3 years

Text

It's Just a Movie: Part 9 (Poly!Lost Boys x Fem!Reader)

<- Previous Chapter Next Chapter ->

Warnings: cursing

Word Count: 1928

This chapter is nothing to advance the plot and is completely just some feel good lost boys flirting cause I think we all need it

You and Marko climbed down the steps into the cave, having discussed the fact that you could probably help David with his planning since you'd seen the movie more than they have. You could at least help him with a couple of theories. He carried the food for you, and the two of you caught the tail end of the conversation Paul and Dwayne seemed to be having.

"-such a sap. You couldn't be more obvious." Paul teased, and you were able to hear a loud thwap, which you guessed was Dwayne as it was immediately followed with a,

"Shut up, Paul. I am not." His quiet voice seemed to be louder, but only because of the acoustics in the cave. Marko, perhaps to save the brunette from any embarrassment, quickly shouted,

"We're back, boys." And you watched as Paul sat up. They'd been laying on the other side of the fountain, apparently both of them opting to sprawl out on the floor. Dwayne half-sat up a moment later, and Paul greeted the two of you by saying,

"Good thing you didn't eat her, otherwise Dwayne would've been-" And Paul was quickly silenced with a smack to the back of the head. Paul whipped around gripping his hair and loudly remarked, "Ow, you ass." But Dwayne only muttered back,

"You're the ass." As you and Marko snickered. The two of you sat on the floor with them, and you weren't surprised to see that they had sparked another joint. You looked over to see that David had vacated his chair, and, before you could ask, Dwayne said, "He's feeding." And you gave them a nod. You figured as much. He hadn't eaten with the others it seemed, but he did have to eat eventually. Paul took a long drag, tilting his head back to blow the smoke up towards the ceiling, before he pointed at you with a lazy finger.

"Y'know what I just realized," He started, and you arched a brow at him to continue. He took another drag, letting out a small cough before he said, "You've totally seen our vampire faces." He said, and you gave him a look. Yeah, no shit. Before you could vocalize that exact thought, Marko said,

"Yeah, why didn't you freak out when you first saw us?" Marko asked, and you almost wanted to tell them that you had been. Internally. Instead, you decided to play it cool and gave them a shrug.

"They're not that scary." You commented, and the boys each shared a glance. Suddenly, you felt like that was not the best thing you could've said. Now, you weren't lying. If anything, compared to some of the modern versions of vampires and horror in general, the boys weren't the scariest monster faces you had ever seen. Still, you flinched when you heard Marko growl and turned to see that his face was barely an inch from yours. His face had shifted, his eyes almost sunken in and golden yellow. His brow jutted out, and his fangs, well- He opened his mouth to make himself look more intimidating, showing them off. After the initial flinch, you couldn't stop your smile. You reached out, booping his nose.

"Y'know, your vampire faces kinda make you look like lions." You commented. "Very feline. Especially Paul's." You said, and you weren't surprised to see that Paul had donned his as well. Probably to help Marko scare you, but, alas, you hadn't started screaming like they had hoped. The curly haired blonde leaned back. His brows furrowed, and he stared at you.

"Nothing? Really?" He asked, and you gave him a grin and another shrug. You knew that they were just trying to mess with you. Rile you up. The best course of action was to deny them that, even if they had surprised you. Though, you just had to push it a little too far.

"You guys are too handsome to be scary." You said, and you regretted the words the second they left your mouth. You knew, you knew, that you shouldn't have let them know that you'd been attracted to them. Hell, they already knew you liked their movie, they didn't need to know that you had crushes on them. It wasn't like it was really your fault. They had purposely picked handsome actors to play the characters, and, well, those very same faces were the faces of them in their universe. You could already feel your cheeks reddening before the teasing even began.

"You think we're handsome?" Paul was quick to exclaim, and you shut your eyes and covered your face. You were totally screwed. Paul erupted into a loud chorus of laughter, scooting closer to you and stealing your other side as Marko remained on his.

"So that's why you like our movie so much, huh?" Marko joined in, and you desperately wished that you'd somehow fall back into your own dimension. If you knew one thing for sure about either of the blondes, it was that they were ruthless with their teasing. Hell, they'd convinced Michael he was eating maggots and that they'd fallen to their death. You sighed and pulled your hands from you face. There was only one way to get through this. To get it over with.

"Who's your favorite, y/n? Is it me?" Paul asked, and, even with your flushed cheeks and embarrassment filling your mind, you were able to say,

"I don't have a favorite. You're all-" You paused for just the slightest of moments, having made eye contact with Dwayne. He was staring at you, an amused smile on his face. You instinctively looked away, glancing at the blondes on either side of you and found that their smiles weren't much of a surprise. You quickly looked away and finished, "Good in your own ways, y'know." Your words were quick to flow out of your mouth, yet, it didn't seem to satisfy any of them.

"Oh, c'mon. You gotta like one of us most." Marko said, reaching over and giving your arm a squeeze. When you looked to Dwayne for help, he sent you a shrug. It seemed that even he was in on it, or, perhaps, he was just curious. But you shook your head and reiterated.

"I don't- I like you all." But, again, you found that those were definitely the wrong choice of words. Paul was practically laying on you as he said,

"Oh, you like us, hm?" He purred, leaning in closer. He brushed his hand against your face, and you could see his shit-eating grin out of the corner of your eye. "I like you too, sugar." Before he was brushing his thumb against your bottom lip.

"Shut up." You murmured, and you reached out to push his hand away. You knew he was a flirt, it was obvious from the movie. As much as you had been attracted to them, and wanted to take advantage of the current situation, you couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. And like they were just pulling your leg. Especially when the boys on either side of you laughed. Marko, who seemed to be just as big of a flirt as Paul, brushed your hair behind your ear and asked,

“Why? Are you getting shy?” Marko teased, having leaned in to whisper it in your ear. Your face was burning red, and you placed a hand on his chest to instinctively push him back. He held your wrist, chuckling in your ear. “If you had to pick a favorite-” Marko started, and you only saw one way out of this. So, before he could even finish his sentence, you said,

“David. David’s my favorite.” And the blue eyed blonde besides you immediately began to whine. Of course, that wasn’t what any of them had wanted to hear, or that was what you assumed. Paul had, obviously, expected you to choose him, while Marko...Well, you couldn’t guess what outcome Marko had wanted. Especially when he started to grin wider than ever. When you looked over at Dwayne, he sent you a shrug. You liked to imagine that he was playing off any disappointment he felt, but then he quickly stifled a laugh. Quickly, you added, “Cause he isn’t a jerk who asked.” Which made the curly-haired blonde chuckle and shake his head. You gave him a confused look, obviously missing whatever he, and Dwayne, was laughing at, when you heard footsteps behind you. You looked up, just in time to see David towering behind you.

“What’s this I hear?” He asked, and you swore that you couldn’t have any worse luck. His face and neck had been cleaned, and the only tell that he'd just returned from a feeding was the slight dishevelment of his clothes. While the terror twins teasing was one thing, having David join in was another. You had lied a bit. David was, in all senses of the word, a jerk. When he wanted to be, at least. You had only made the decision because he was the only one who wasn’t there, but it seemed that even that hadn’t gone in your favor. So, now, you had the blondes, and even Dwayne, snickering at David’s discovery.

The blondes seemed to decide that your face couldn’t turn any redder, and their teasing quickly died off in favor of letting David tease you himself. Though, they could relay over any information to fill in the blanks. Marko looked up at the spiky haired blonde, and smugly declared,

“Oh, y/n said that she likes you best. And we think she can help us, y'know, not die." Marko said simply, and you had half a mind to throttle him. Even if all of what he had said was true. The cherub faced boy let go of your wrist, and his partner in crime was quick to add,

"And she thinks we're all handsome. Too handsome to be scary." He said pointedly, and you dared to crane your neck back up to see the look on David's face. He looked amused, his ocean blues staring down at you from his spot above. A gloved hand rubbed his chin for a moment, and a large smile donning his scruffy face.

"Is that so?" He asked, arching a brow at you. You were stuck. You wanted to argue and deny, but it would be three against one. And, you were positive that any attempts to deny it would only further the case against you. Even though you were blushing, you tried your best to play it off. It seemed like that was your only option, and you said a cool,

"Don't let it go to your head." Even though you were sure it was too late. The remark earned a laugh from the leader of the vampires, and he reached his hand down to you.

"I'll try." He promised, but you knew better than to believe him. You placed your hand in his, and he helped you stand with a little less force than Marko had used. Though, it still made you stumble forward, practically into the vampire. He chuckled, steadying you by placing his hands on your waist. With one hand remaining at the dip of your waist, he reached out to cup your jaw and caress your face. Almost as he had done in the beginning of the movie. You tried to stop your breath from hitching, but it was futile. It made David grin, and then his smooth, calming voice rang out, "So, how can you help us?"

#the lost boys #the lost boys 1987 #the lost boys paul #the lost boys david #the lost boys dwayne #the lost boys marko #paul the lost boys #david the lost boys #dwayne the lost boys #marko the lost boys #the lost boys x reader #the lost boys imagines

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lifeofkaze · 3 years

Text

An Art of Balance #33

Orion Amari x MC

Warning: Mention on injuries and a teeny tiny bit of blood

A/N: Ira Janda and Julian Bennett belong to @slytherindisaster, Azariah Steele belongs to @cursebreakerfarrier, Henry McClarnon to @thatravenpuffwitch and, of course, Judith Harris to @judediangelo75

Word Count: ~ 5.900 (I sincerely apologise for this. I am so sorry.)

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Chapter 33: Leap of Faith

Both teams were already waiting at the entrance of the pitch, when the three Hufflepuff Chasers joined them. The shadow of the stands overhead was concealing them from most of the crowd while they waited for Murphy to make the usual introductions. The atmosphere was so strained it could have been cut with a knife as Orion made his way to the front to stand next to Charlie. Lizzie and Skye were filing into their position in the line according to their squad numbers; out of the corner of his eyes, Orion could see how tightly Lizzie was gripping the hilt of her broomstick. She would usually have a little banter with her friends on the Gryffindor team, but today, none of the fourteen players spoke a single word.

Orion could catch a glimpse of the bright blue sky spanning the stadium. The sun was glaring down on them, its burning heat lessened by the light breeze that had picked up; the conditions were perfect for the match of the year.

“Are you ready for the last match of this year’s season, the final of all finals?” Murphy’s magically enhanced voice sounded through the air over the excited rumblings of the crowd.

“Going against all odds, which are standing at a remarkable 7.6 % to 92.4 %, both teams are starting into today’s game with the same amount of points scored throughout the year,” Murphy elaborated on the starting situation. “That means, the winner of this match will claim the House Cup and be crowned Hogwarts’s new Quidditch champion! Without further ado, I present to you the first of the contenders: fast as lightning, brave as lions and daring as they come; a massive applause for Gryffindor!”

Charlie and Orion shared a short look before the Gryffindors mounted their broomsticks and entered the roaring arena in flashes of gold and crimson. Orion could feel his heart beating in his chest as they circled the perimeter of the pitch once.

When it was their turn, he felt a sudden and familiar sense of calm wash over him as he mounted his broom and led his team out into the blazing sunlight. This was it, the moment they had all been working towards was here; there was no going back now.

The teams gathered around Madam Hooch in the middle of the pitch. As she recounted the rules for them, like she would always do, Orion let his eyes wander over his team members one last time to check if they were ready to spring into action as soon as the balls were released. He and Lizzie locked eyes for a moment, his slight nod of encouragement answered by a barely visible smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“We’ve had a clean season so far and none of you is going to change that, do you all get me?” Madam Hooch barked, her piercingly yellow eyes sweeping the circle of players around her. “I want a good, fair game, alright? Captains, shake hands.”

Orion and Charlie did as they were told, clasping their hands together with a resounding smack.

“Good luck everyone.”

With the sound of her whistle, the Bludgers and the Snitch were released and Madam Hooch threw the Quaffle high up into the air; the game was on.

Skye lost no time whatsoever; shooting upwards on her Comet, she immediately claimed the Quaffle and headed for the Gryffindor goalposts. Lizzie and Orion were flying by her side before they veered off to their own assigned positions.

Just as Orion had anticipated, with the beginning of the match all his nerves had made way for an absolute clarity of mind. For the first in what felt like forever, he knew exactly what to do.

As it turned out, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor being the teams fighting for the Cup was a more than warranted pairing. Even from the beginning, the match was pretty balanced, albeit incredibly tough to play.

The Gryffindor Beaters Julian Bennett and Henry McClarnon - a tall, broad shouldered boy from Lizzie’s and Skye’s year with a long, black ponytail - were in unbelievably good form. Orion and the other Chasers had to constantly dodge the Bludgers they were sending at them; somehow, however, they still managed to function as a unit.

Skye’s and Lizzie’s individual training was paying off splendidly; they were interacting in a completely new way no one except their own team members had seen before. Until the Gryffindors had adapted to the new style, they were able to score quite a few goals.

It wasn’t long before Orion and his team had carved out a hard-earned lead. After a failed pass, Skye lost the Quaffle to one of the opposing Chasers near their own goalposts who didn’t lose any time. He made short work of his attack and cheered as the Hufflepuff rings flared up.

“Another goal for Gryffindor,” Murphy’s voice could be heard echoing across the pitch. “That means another ten points adding onto the lion’s score. But I’m afraid the goal scorer won’t have much longer to celebrate.”

As Murphy was speaking, Judith had sent a Bludger flying towards the unheeding Chaser. He tried to dodge the spinning iron sphere, but he had seen it too late; making contact with the handle of his broom, it broke the hilt into an assortment of varnish and splinters. The sheer force of the impact sent the Chaser spiralling towards the ground, where he hopped off his dysfunctional broomstick moments later.

“Ouch, that one might be in need of a new broom, I think,” Murphy commented, sounding way more excited at the situation than he had any right to be. “According to Which Broomstick?, the leading magazine on Quidditch gear, the standard model of the Cleansweep 6 would be a good shot, with only 14.5 % less speed compared to the reigning market champion, but I digress. This particular broom, in any case, is 98.3 % not flyable anymore and that means, as of now, Gryffindor is short a Chaser!”

The crowd groaned at his words; the Gryffindor supporters because they were missing a player and the rest because now the tides of the game were undoubtedly bound to shift.

“It seems as if Hufflepuff is losing no time in using the new situation to their advantage,” Murphy continued as he watched the rapidly moving scene in front of him.

“Amari claims the Quaffle and heads towards the Gryffindor goalposts at lightning speed; he dodges the Bludgers sent after him by McClarnon and Bennett but will he be able to score, ladies and gentlemen? Of course!” Murphy jubilated maybe a bit too enthusiastically. “Amari sends the Quaffle past Gryffindor’s Keeper Steele with deadly precision and secures another ten points for Hufflepuff!”

Orion usually wasn’t keen on cheering excessively, preferring to keep his mind focused on the next move. But he couldn’t help a grin as Lizzie and Skye flew to his side and clapped him on the back, both cheering all the louder for his lack thereof. Skye raised her arms towards the Hufflepuff stands, firing them up to give it their all with their support.

Without their third Chaser, Gryffindor was slowly but surely starting to get into a fix. Being short a player, they had trouble getting hold of their opponents and were outflown or scattered by Judith’s and Everett’s Bludgers more than once.

A powerless Charlie was trying to rearrange his team but it didn’t help; he was forced to stay on the sidelines of the game. He could do nothing until the Golden Snitch was spotted and his time to take an active part in the game had come.

Due to the new situation, Orion was able to pass the Quaffle back and forth with Skye and Lizzie to their hearts’ content; it was showing yet again, if there was one thing holding the power to unite them like nothing else, it was their shared passion for the game they loved.

With their decimated numbers, not even the above average speed of the lions was enough to stop them once Hufflepuff had adapted their strategy. They were able to score many times in a rapid succession, giving them a more than comfortable lead.

The effect the change in balance had on Gryffindor was palpable; as the Hufflepuff score was increasing, the Gryffindor Chasers were starting to play more roughly, bumping into whoever held the Quaffle more often than not. When Madam Hooch had seen enough of it, the shrill sound of her whistle cut through the air, awarding Hufflepuff a free shot.

Skye took the responsibility on herself and expertly threw the Quaffle past Azariah, much to the chagrin of the Chasers who saw their foul play backfiring on them. After Skye flew past them with a smug look on her face, they shared a look between them before they set after her. One coming up on each side of her, they suddenly yanked their broomsticks inwards and wedged her in. One of them leaned over and let the handle of his broom collide with Skye’s, throwing her off course.

Guessing what Skye’s reaction to being fouled would be like, Orion was quick to fly towards the scene, finding himself to be correct. By the time he arrived, all three players were arguing fiercely; only moments after Charlie joined the scene.

“T’was a bloody foul and you know it,” Skye snarled at the other Chaser with flashing eyes. Orion didn’t know what had been said earlier, but judging by the angry spots on Skye’s face, they had been working themselves into quite a state already.

“No idea what you’re on about, Parkin. Must be seeing things, I guess,” the Gryffindor Chaser sneered; it was the one who had crashed into her.

Skye leaned forward and opened her mouth to shoot back but Orion was quicker. He got hold of her shoulder and pulled her back. While he tried to insert a calm energy into the heated situation, there was unwavering determination underlying his touch; he would not let this escalate.

“It’s enough Skye,” he told her firmly. “Let it go and concentrate on what matters.”

“But Captain,“ Skye started protesting, but Orion shook his head.

“No, don’t waste your energy on a needless fight; these are not our methods.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the Gryffindor Chaser from before chimed in angrily. “You have a problem with our methods, Amari?”

“Easy now,” Charlie interrupted before tempers could flare up again. “He is right; let’s just play, all this bickering is leading nowhere.”

His Chasers faltered under the withering look Charlie gave them. While he was always ready to put up a fight on the Quidditch pitch, Charlie was known to disapprove of foul play; he wasn’t happy with either of the turns the match had taken.

Thankfully, Charlie’s sharp words had the desired effect and their little gathering was dissolving quickly.

Sure enough, the move on Skye had not gone unnoticed by Madam Hooch and she awarded yet another free shot to Hufflepuff. Skye shot it brazenly past Azariah with all the force she could muster. He was diving for the right hoop, but wasn’t quick enough to prevent her from scoring again; his angry outcry could even be heard from where Orion was hovering in the air.

Cheering at her goal, Skye raised her fist into the air and flew by the Gryffindor stands on purpose. Orion furrowed his brow in dismay; he didn’t approve of her deliberate provocation at all.

“Hufflepuff scores another goal with Parkin’s free shot, raising the score into dizzying heights,” Murphy summarised the events for their onlookers. “Even if Weasley were to catch the Snitch right now, the additional 150 points wouldn’t be enough for Gryffindor to win. What a fantastic goal fest we are allowed to witness here today!”

When he heard Murphy announce the current score, Orion allowed himself to let a hint of relief touch his mind. He had felt confident about their chances at success from the beginning, but now, the end of their journey was becoming clearer as they approached the finish line.

Nevertheless, he remained apprehensive about the Gryffindors’ reactions. After all, if not even Charlie could secure their win right now, their situation was getting desperate and Orion knew a lion was most dangerous when it was wounded.

Contrary to him, however, his team didn’t seem to be sharing his concerns. Lucy was the only one still fully focused on the task of finding and securing the Snitch, but the others were visibly relieved at the high lead they had managed to attain.

He saw Lizzie and Skye passing the Quaffle between them a lot more recklessly than they had to; both their Beaters seemed to be more relaxed than in the beginning of the match as well. Orion felt the need to remind them to pay attention, but the sudden sound of Judith violently cursing stopped him dead in his tracks.

“The comfortable lead seems to have made the Hufflepuff team a little bit more careless than they should be,” Murphy exclaimed. “A Bludger from Bennett makes it past Harris and Everett and is headed straight for the Hufflepuff Keeper. I’m afraid this has a 72.3 % chance of ending badly.”

Neither of the Beaters was close enough to reach the attacking Bludger in time; Judith was trying to, but she was too far away to catch up with it. Orion could only watch with gritted teeth how Brian was trying to move out of the way, but he wasn’t fast enough. The impact of the Bludger against his shoulder probably wasn’t so bad in itself; he had been hovering close to his goalposts, however, and was now smacked into the middle one with force. Orion went pale as he saw his teammate collapse onto his broom and sink slowly to the ground.

He gripped the handle of his broom tighter and went off to go and check on him immediately; his movement got cut off by yet another Bludger whizzing over his head, straight into the direction of Lizzie and Skye.

Both girls had been watching Brian crash from somewhere close to the Ravenclaw tower; they were so distracted by their Keeper’s demise that they didn’t see the Bludger shooting towards them. A surprised looking Skye was able to dive out of its way just in time, but Lizzie wasn’t as lucky.

The crowd gave a collective gasp as Lizzie was hit square in the chest, her audible cry of pain ripping at Orion’s heart. He felt his breath hitching as he watched Lizzie getting knocked off her broom and into the wooden Ravenclaw Tower. She clung onto the blue banner hanging from it on pure instinct to keep herself from falling; her Comet, useless without its rider, was tumbling to the ground.

“McClarnon’s Bludger hits Jameson and leaves her without her broomstick, hanging from a height that will 87.4 % crush her bones if she doesn’t manage to hold on. Someone better do something right now!” Murphy’s voice was shaking with distress at Lizzie’s predicament.

Shrieks erupted from the stands as the Ravenclaw banners suddenly gave way before stopping again; they weren't intended to support the weight of someone clinging to them after all. Lizzie was screaming loudest of them all as she desperately tried to hold on to the piece of fabric that stood between her and more than several broken bones.

All of it had happened incredibly quickly, but the sound of her screaming had Orion snap out of his state of shock. He raced his broom over to the Ravenclaw tower as fast as it would allow, his heart thumping painfully in his chest. Lizzie’s eyes were wide with fear and relief as he reached her and helped her up on his broom. He saw how her ashy face twisted in pain as she held onto him with one arm, cradling her ribcage with the other. Her breath left her lips in a strained hiss and Orion could tell that she was hurt.

With Lizzie and Brian being attacked simultaneously, the match had all but stopped, everyone on the stands and the pitch anxiously watching the events unfold. A sigh of relief rippled through the crowd after Lizzie had been saved. Wanting her to get examined and needing to check on their Keeper as well, Orion signalled to Madam Hooch for a time out.

As soon as their feet hit the ground, Orion could feel Lizzie’s grip on him tightening as she struggled to support her own weight. After she had adjusted to standing again, she let go of him, clambered off his broom and gingerly sat down on the grass.

Her breathing was shallow and she dipped her head back into her neck. Orion could see that her eyes were shut tightly and her lips pressed together in pain. When she relaxed them, a distinct red sheen formed on them, growing into a ruby bead of blood that slowly started trickling over her lower lip.

He knelt down beside her immediately and gently took hold of her chin, turning her face ever so slightly to see how badly she was hurt. Lizzie winced at his initial touch but didn’t draw away. Instead, her eyes found his and the corner of her mouth twitched into a wry smile as she spoke.

“Don’t worry, Captain,” she reassured him, “I only bit my lip when falling, nothing too major.”

The strain in her voice did nothing to ease his worries, but before he could say anything, Ira appeared at their side, her brow furrowed in concern. She was acting as Madam Pomfrey’s extended hand during Quidditch matches, taking care of minor injuries. She brushed her blond curls out of her face before she gently but firmly pushed Orion to the side to examine the damage the Bludger had done.

Ira quickly checked Lizzie’s eyes for any sign of a concussion; when she was satisfied with the result, she moved on towards her bleeding lip. She took her wand out and muttered “Episkey”, making short work of the small wound. When she started scanning Lizzie’s ribcage, however, Lizzie grit her teeth, trying hard not to cry out at her touch.

“You’re lucky,” Ira stated as she straightened up again. “As far as I can tell, nothing’s broken but your ribs are badly bruised. This is going to hurt tomorrow.”

“Only tomorrow? What’s this now then?” Lizzie pressed out with a wry grin, trying to mask the pain that flooded her with every breath she was taking. “Can you give me something for the pain?”

Ira handed her a small, stoppered vial from her bag. The turquoise liquid inside was gleaming brightly in the sunlight as Lizzie unceremoniously upended it into her mouth.

The sound of angry voices approaching drew their attention; Charlie and Henry were headed over from where the Gryffindors had gathered; Skye was following in their wake, both Lizzie’s and her broomsticks resting on her shoulders. She was arguing loudly with Henry; a hint of annoyance at their bickering was visible on Charlie’s face. All of them knew that Henry hadn’t hit the Bludger out of ill intent; as brutal as it was, it was part of the game.

He immediately forgot his fight with Skye, however, as soon as they were within earshot. His usually cheerful face was pale and his brows drawn together with worry.

“Lizzie, thank Godric you’re alright!” he exclaimed. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you so hard. I thought you’d dive or something!”

“Well, thanks to Julian knocking out our Keeper I was a tad distracted,” Lizzie replied sardonically. “I’ll give you that, Henry, you have a brutal swing.”

The tall Beater hung his head; it was palpable how bad he felt, although he had only done his job. “I’m really, really sorry.”

Charlie crouched down next to her, his brown eyes looking her up and down. “You alright, kiddo?” he asked her quietly.

Lizzie nodded and got to her feet again. “I’ll survive it; the potion’s working already.”

“That’s good to hear,” the voice of Madam Hooch could be heard behind them. She had been over at the Hufflepuff goalposts to check on Brian and had now come over to see in what state Lizzie was in.

“Your Keeper is out cold, I’m afraid,” she told Orion, who grimaced at his fear being confirmed. “He won’t be playing another second today, I’ll have him sent straight to the Hospital Wing.”

Her yellow eyes rested on Lizzie, trying to determine whether she should follow Brian or not. “What about you, Jameson? Can you play again?”

“Yes,” Lizzie answered immediately, simultaneously with Orion’s determined “No.”

Lizzie gave him a stubborn look. “Of course I can play; I have to. You heard Madam Hooch, we’re short one player already.”

Orion crossed his arms in front of his chest and shook his head. “Absolutely not,” he declared firmly. “I applaud your dedication to our team, but right now it is thoroughly misplaced. You’ll go to the Hospital Wing and get yourself examined properly.”

Lizzie couldn’t believe her ears; it was very unlike Orion to not trust her judgement. “Are you serious? No matter how far we’re in the lead, with two players missing, we might as well give up straight away!”

Madam Hooch had watched their discussion silently; there was no way to tell her opinion from her unreadable face, so Lizzie was surprised when she spoke up.

“I’m afraid she’s right, Amari,” she said matter-of-factly. “With only five players your team will be in a rough place before you can say Bludger Backbeat.” She shrugged. “But in the end, that’s your decision.”

Orion knew they were right; the only way they could win this match with Lizzie and Brian missing was by Lucy catching the Snitch as quickly as possible, but there was no way to tell when or where the evasive golden ball would make its next appearance.

Injuries were a regular part of Quidditch and they all had been at the receiving end of a Bludger one time or the other; but Orion was still deeply shaken by the thought of Lizzie hanging from the side of that tower. He didn’t want to risk her getting hurt again.

He ran his hand through his hair and closed his eyes, uncertain what to do. “I don’t know,” he sighed doubtfully before turning to Ira. “You examined her, what do you think?”

Ira was looking uncomfortable at being dragged into the discussion. “Well, the potion I gave Lizzie should last for a bit, so she won’t be in pain for now; it will hurt like hell once it’s wearing off, though.”

She could only shrug helplessly as Lizzie and Orion both stared at her intensely, both wanting her to say the complete opposite. “But from a medical perspective, there’s nothing really speaking against it. If you promise me to get straight to Madam Pomfrey afterwards,” she added with a sharp look at Lizzie.

While he was glad that Lizzie really didn’t seem to be injured too badly, Orion still wasn’t convinced. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

His restless gaze met Lizzie’s for a moment. She locked eyes with him, unwavering resolve burning in them. Despite being the one who had fallen off her broom, she radiated a calm determination that slowly spread over to Orion as everything else around them seemed to fade for a moment.

“If you don’t want me to get back into the game, I will accept your decision,” Lizzie told him quietly. “But please, think about it. You know it just as well as I do, without a Keeper and three Chasers there is no way we can win.”

Orion bit his lip. He knew that she was right and he wanted to believe her, but there was no way of telling if the odds were really worth the risk.

Sensing his resolve wavering, Lizzie put her hand on his forearm, just where his captain’s armband was tied over his yellow robes. “Orion, please, let me play. You can trust me.”

His dark eyes flickered over her face, taking in the faint trace of blood still clinging to the corner of her mouth. “Are you absolutely sure?”

She only smiled at him for an answer and nodded.

Breaking the contact with her, Orion closed his eyes for a moment. He could feel her words were ringing true and he could see how badly she wanted to finish the match. What was more, he knew that she understood how much achieving their goal with this team meant to him.

And yet, she was ready to accept his decision, regardless of her own wishes. She trusted him to do what was best for all of them.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. If Lizzie was so sure about it, he had to give her the benefit of the doubt and take a leap of faith; he just hoped it wouldn’t be misplaced.

“Alright, you heard her,” he declared loudly and clapped into his hands. “Let’s get back into the game. It’s time to finish this”

***

After both teams had returned into the air the match resumed, albeit it was palpable that everyone was still shaken by what had happened.

It became increasingly difficult, if not downright impossible, for the Hufflepuff Chasers to score. Orion had withdrawn Judith and Everett from the main events of the game; they couldn’t leave their goalposts at the mercy of the remaining Gryffindor Chasers, so the two Beaters were now circling the hoops and setting Bludgers on every crimson-clad player that dared venture too close to them.

As a result, however, Orion, Lizzie and Skye were left without any sort of protection themselves. They were too busy dodging Bludgers and taking the Quaffle off their attacking opponents to even come anywhere near the Gryffindor posts.

Lizzie had just lost the Quaffle again and had turned around to chase after it, when her attention was caught by a flesh of red robes shooting upwards at a steep angle.

It was Charlie, his eyes trained on a spot high above them where a golden gleam was visible against the blue sky. Lizzie held her breath as she watched him ascent, her hunt for the Quaffle all but forgotten. Gryffindor had been able to score a few times and Hufflepuff was exactly 150 points in the lead; if Charlie caught the Snitch now, they would find themselves in a tie.

Luckily, the Snitch was hovering at a point in the air that had Charlie fly directly into the glaring sunlight. He tried to follow through for a few seconds longer before he couldn’t take the brightness anymore. Closing his eyes, he turned around and the Snitch vanished from sight once more. Relieved, Lizzie let out the breath she didn’t realise she had been holding.

She could hear Charlie’s outcry of frustration as he flew past her. A tie would play into Gryffindor’s hands; if two opposing teams had scored the same amount of points when the Snitch was caught, the winner was determined by a shoot-out and Hufflepuff was short a Keeper.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Charlie gestured to Madam Hooch, who blew her whistle moments later. Gryffindor was calling for a timeout.

Orion was looking as concerned as Lizzie felt herself when he gathered his team around him. His dark eyes swept over them as he spoke. “That was a close call; from what I could see, he very nearly caught the Snitch.”

Lucy’s shoulders slumped. “I know, I’m sorry; I should have seen it before him.”

“Don’t worry,” Orion shook his head, “Charlie is a gifted Seeker and he was in a better position to spot it. But the moment to call for a timeout is a peculiar one; I assume Gryffindor is about to change their strategy. They will probably switch to a full offensive while Charlie will go after the Snitch even more determined than before.”

He turned his attention to Lucy again. “Don’t let him catch it. We have to end this game on our terms and do it fast. As of now, we are exactly 150 points in the lead; if Charlie can secure the Snitch for his team, the winner will be determined through a one on one duel between the Chasers and the Keepers; and from where we stand, we are acutely short of one.”

“I could substitute as Keeper,” Skye offered. “I know how to play every position.”

Orion shook his head. “I appreciate your willingness to step up for the sake of the team, but I need you in the field to make sure the Quaffle stays with us and we manage to score at least one additional goal. And should it really come to a shootout, there is no one that could replace your precise aim.”

Skye nodded in agreement and Orion turned to Everett and Judith. “Make sure our goalposts are protected, should Gryffindor try for a counterattack. Chasers, try to keep the Quaffle in our ranks and score if you get the chance. We must not let it come to a one on one fight. Any questions?”

When all of them shook their heads, Orion nodded determinedly and mounted his broom again. “Let’s go and bring this Cup back home.”

Even though the Hufflepuff team had changed their tactics according to Orion’s plan, it proved incredibly tough to withstand the repeated assaults from the Gryffindor team.

Whatever Charlie had told them had reignited their desire to win and they set about their task with a grim determination. The Beaters were barely able to protect the goalposts from the continued attacks anymore, but somehow they managed.

They had been playing for several hours now and Lizzie wasn’t the only one who was starting to feel the exertion of the exceeding duration of the game. Everyone’s concentration was beginning to slip and the manoeuvres gradually becoming sloppier.

After another attempt on the Hufflepuff posts, Everett kicked the Quaffle back into the field; but even his brutish strength was fading and he didn’t have the experience that their Keeper did, so the Quaffle flew past Orion and began descending right in the middle between him and one of the opposing Chasers.

Orion immediately set after it and managed to catch it only moments before his opponent reached it. They almost collided in mid-air but Orion ducked under the other’s feet and sped up his broom on his way to the other side of the pitch, Lizzie and Skye falling in formation beside him. They only needed to score this one goal to make them breathe more easily.

The crowd had fallen increasingly silent as the match had dragged on, when suddenly a rumble went through the stands and Murphy’s voice drew Lizzie’s attention.

“Once again, Weasley seems to have spotted the Golden Snitch,” he exclaimed in excitement. “With O’Connell on the other side of the pitch, we might be witnessing the last moments of this year’s season right here and now! But I strongly suggest taking a good look at the Hufflepuff Chasers as well, as they are positioning themselves in their favourite formation to prepare for a last desperate attack.”

Lizzie gripped the handle of her broomstick tighter as she heard Murphy’s commentary; she knew the chances of Charlie letting the Snitch escape a second time were minimal. Out of the corner of her eye she could see both Julian and Henry aiming Bludgers in Orion’s direction, so she didn’t lose any time; lying as flat as she could on her broom, she sped up and broke free of their arrowhead formation. She shouted Orion’s name as she overtook him and he passed the Quaffle to her without a moment’s hesitation.

She could see Charlie extending his arm to reach for the Snitch and knew she had only moments left to score. The Gryffindor Chasers appeared at her side, trying to close in on her, but Lizzie pulled every last bit of speed her Comet could muster from it and left them behind. She had reached her favourite scoring distance and was absolutely sure she could bring the Quaffle past Azariah if she aimed for his least preferred hoop; the only question was if she still had the time to do so.

Lizzie was already preparing to throw when she suddenly saw Skye veering in from the side ahead of her. Employing one of their signature manoeuvres, she had used the focused attention on Lizzie to round behind the Gryffindor defence and reappear unexpectedly.

Lizzie was in a prime position to score and it was only seconds until Charlie would close his fist around the Snitch. Her eyes flickered to the commentary box and for a fraction of a second she could see Ethan Parkin standing in the first row next to Murphy, leaning dangerously far over the railing in excitement and anticipation.

Lizzie decided to go all in.

Screaming Skye’s name, she threw the Quaffle in her direction with all the strength left in her, praying to every God she had ever heard of that this wouldn’t turn out to be the worst decision of her life.

Skye caught the Quaffle expertly and with Azariah not expecting the most borderline reckless move Lizzie had ever pulled off, he had no chance to dive for the right hoop in time as Skye shot the Quaffle towards him with brutal force.

The goalposts behind him were flashing up in the same moment that Charlie pulled out of his dive, the tiny wings of the Golden Snitch beating furiously against the palm of his raised hand.

The stands exploded into screams and cheers but all of the players were holding their breaths. No one knew what had happened first, Skye scoring or Charlie ending the match. All fourteen pairs of eyes were trained on the commentary box where Murphy tried working out the events.

“Parkin scores an incredible last minute goal as Weasley catches the Golden Snitch almost simultaneously!” Murphy almost stuttered in excitement, something close to no one had ever heard him do. “The chances of both moves happening at the exact same time lie way below 0.5 %, so let me check the scores.”

The moment seemed to stretch into forever; Lizzie held her breath and Skye, who had flown to her side, gripped her arm so tightly it hurt when Murphy bent down to his megaphone again.

“Parkin scored first!” Murphy screamed so loudly his usually steady voice cracked. “That means, the final match of the season ends with 90 to 390 points for Hufflepuff! Hufflepuff is this year’s reigning Quidditch champion!”

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #quidditch #orion amari #murphy mcnully #skye parkin #charlie weasley #lizzie jameson #aob #art of balance #the quidditch squad #longest quidditch chapter ever #sorry got carried away #ONLY TWO CHAPTERS LEFT NOW #OMFG #the end is nigh #I'm getting emotional over here

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beybladefanfictions · 3 years

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Ryuga’s Return - Chapter 5

(Description: AU where Ryuga survives Metal Fury but loses L-Drago. He reunites with Kenta and struggles to figure out what he’s supposed to do without Beyblade, his purpose in life for so long. Character’s thoughts are in asteriks.)

Ryuga’s POV

Holding his hood over his head, Ryuga made his way into the familiar Bey stadium. A few people gazed at him suspiciously. However, if they recognized him, they said nothing as he passed. Ryuga glanced up at the bleachers. There were a lot more empty spaces in the crowd than there normally would be, despite the fact that the tournament was soon to start. Ryuga immediately went toward the emptiest space, which just so happened to be towards the front. *Perfect.* From this angle, it was less likely that someone would see his face.

He observed the bladers in the tournament. There were only eight of them and they were all sitting on a bench in front of the stadium, waiting for the first match to be announced. Kenta was among the group. Ryuga also noticed Kyoya and two other legendary bladers. The first match was Kyoya and a kid Ryuga vaguely recognized from America. However, it was hard to tell from a distance.

“Ready?!” The crowd began counting down with the announcer. “Three… two… one… let it rip!”

The two Beyblade clashed against each other, sending up sparks.

“Go Spiral Fox!” the American kid called.

*Spiral fox,* Ryuga rolled his eyes, *What a dumb name for a Beyblade.* He watched the two Beyblades clash as the Blader DJ provided somewhat irrelevant commentary. Leone was clearly winning. It was repeatedly smacking into Spiral Fox, driving the bey backwards towards the edge of the arena. With one hard smack, Spiral Fox knocked Leone back long enough for it to slip away and flee across the stadium. Leone quickly followed.

“Leone!” Kyoya called, “Lion gale force wall!”

As the wind picked up, Ryuga was forced to hold his hood in place so it wouldn’t blow off. He growled in annoyance. The wind swirled into a tornado, flinging Spiral Fox into the sky and ending the match with a stadium out.

*Kyoya is going to be a problem, like usual,* Ryuga thought as the wind died down. The crowd cheered around him. Ryuga didn’t bother joining in: the outcome of this fight was obvious to him from the start.

“Oh, hey Ryuga.”

Ryuga stiffened at the sound of a vaguely familiar voice. He looked up. The girl that worked at the bey shop was approaching him. *What did Kenta say her name was? Madoka? That sounds right.*

"You’re here for Kenta I’m guessing?” the girl asked, sitting in the seat next to his.

“Yes…” Ryuga replied, gazing at the bladers.

Kenta and Yuki, the kid with the glasses, were up next and the two of them were making their way toward the middle of the stadium.

"Three… two… one… let it rip!”

Kenta and Yuki both launched their Beys.

“Did Kenta make you come here?” Madoka asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ryuga turned to her. “Well, don't tell him I think that,” he grunted, his eyes narrowing at her.

Madoka just chuckled. “I won't, but you make it a little obvious."

“How?" Ryuga raised an eyebrow.

“You look bored.”

It was true. Despite his dramatic loss against Nemesis, the drive to fight blazed on in Ryuga’s heart, and being restricted to just watching these fights made him feel tied down and powerless. At least in this fight, Ryuga had someone to root for.

The two beys screeched as they slammed into each other, shooting up sparks. Due to the difference in the beys’ heights, Anubius was attacking Flash Sagittario’s spin track rather than its fusion wheel.

“Go Anubius!” Yuki called, swinging his arm.

Anubius suddenly retreated, rushing toward the edge of the stadium.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Kenta exclaimed. “Go Sagittario!”

Sagittario charged after Anubius. In a swift movement, Sagittario leaned forward and slammed its fusion wheel into Anubius. The blue bey was thrown into the air. Yuki yelped in surprise.

“Don’t give up, Anubius!” he called.

Anubius landed on the edge of the stadium, its spin wobbling slightly. Sagittario slammed into Anubius. The beys entered a fierce clash before Sagittario triumphed, flinging Anubius out of the stadium and bringing the blue bey to a halt.

“Yeah!” Kenta cheered, snatching his bey out of the air.

“Great job, Kenta!” Madoka called.

Kenta glanced at them. Ryuga smiled and dipped his head. Kenta smiled back before walking to the bench to wait for his next match.

“Oh, Masamune and King are up next.” Madoka was gazing at the stadium’s display screen. “That should be interesting.”

“Who?” Ryuga asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Masamune and King. You fought King on Beyster Island.”

Ryuga glanced at the screen. One of the bladers was clearly American, he had the obnoxious face of one, and the other was a kid around the same age with blue hair. Ryuga’s eyes narrowed. He did in fact recognize the kid from Beyster Island.

“Right…” Ryuga’s fist clenched. “He uses reverse rotation. L-Drago is-” Ryuga cleared his throat. “-was the only Bey that should be allowed to spin left. That kid is such a poser.”

King and his opponent started their battle. Ryuga’s gaze fixed on King’s bey which travelled around the stadium in the opposite direction of his opponent, as L-Drago had always done. King’s bey was even partly white. From a distance, Ryuga could almost mistake the thing for L-Drago.

“His bey naturally rotates left,” Madoka argued, her eyes narrowed, “How does that make King a poser?”

Ryuga trembled as he spoke. “I-he- ugh, it doesn’t matter. I beat him! L-Drago is w-was the superior bey.” Ryuga’s jaw clenched and he gripped the armrests of his seat in an attempt to stop himself from shaking. His chest began to ache.

“Oh…” Madoka’s voice softened. “You miss L-Drago…”

Ryuga glared at her. Was that pity in her gaze?! *She’s pitying me! HER pitying ME?! What kind of insult is this?!*

“That’s none of your concern,” Ryuga growled, looking away.

Thankfully, Madoka had enough sense not to question him further. Both of them gazed back at the battle. However, Ryuga couldn’t bring himself to look at the left rotating bey. It obviously wasn’t L-Drago. The sensible part of Ryuga’s mind knew that, but he couldn’t take his mind off his former Beyblade now that he had been reminded of it.

He must have zoned out for a while because when he looked back at the arena, two new bladers were fighting and somehow, neither of them were Gingka. Ryuga recognized Benkei as that one weirdly loyal follower of Kyoya’s and the white-haired kid from the helicopters.

“Where is Gingka?” Ryuga asked aloud. He didn’t even see his former greatest rival in the crowd anywhere. Surely he would show up to a tournament that so many of his friends and rivals had attended?

“I guess he didn’t sign up,” Madoka answered with a shrug.

“Why wouldn’t he?”

“I don’t know.” With a chuckle, she added, “Maybe he’s out getting burgers somewhere.”

Ryuga rolled his eyes. “That’s not worth missing a tournament for.”

“True!” Madoka exclaimed before giggling a bit. “But still, that boy would do anything for a triple or- quadruple- or whatever beef burger.”

“That much for food?” Ryuga raised an eyebrow.

“For that specific food yeah…” Madoka gazed at him for a second. “Oh yeah, you probably haven’t had a burger, have you?”

Ryuga stiffened.

However, Madoka just smiled and continued, “Don’t let Gingka figure that out. He’ll immediately drag you to the nearest burger place and make you try one.”

A shiver ran down Ryuga’s spine. “Noted,” he replied with a nod.

Madoka giggled. Ryuga smiled a bit. Though he didn't quite know what to think of Madoka, he was grateful to have someone to talk to. It took his attention away from his grief over L-Drago. However, in terms of this social stuff, Ryuga still didn’t know what he was doing and didn’t want to sound like an idiot so he fell silent. He gazed back at the arena. Benkei had won the fight and now two of the winners of the previous fights would battle. King and Kyoya stepped up.

“Oh, great, Kyoya,” Ryuga snarled the blader’s name.

“What do you have against Kyoya?” Madoka asked, raising an eyebrow.

“He’s going to give me away.” Ryuga held his hood in place, glaring at Kyoya and King as they started their battle.

“What do you-” Madoka froze. “Wait, are you trying to disguise yourself?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“That wasn’t obvious?” Ryuga rolled his eyes.

A gust of wind erupted from the stadium. Ryuga growled, ducking a bit and pulling his hood further over his head.

“Well, you don’t seem like the type to want to hide from people,” Madoka commented, gesturing to him.

Ryuga stiffened with anger. “I’m not hiding!” *I kind of am.*

Madoka rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, Ryuga.”

Ryuga froze. *Is that her passive-aggressive way of saying she doesn’t believe me?*

“Lion gale force wall!” Kyoya called from the stadium.

Ryuga grunted. Down in the stadium, King’s reverse rotation bey was thrown into the sky and was flung around in the wind. King’s bey landed back in the stadium wobbling a bit. Leone rushed toward it. King’s bey weaved out of the way to dodge and the two beys slammed into each other from opposite directions.

“Who you rooting for?” Madoka asked, turning to Ryuga with a smile.

Ryuga thought for a moment. *What do I hate less? Kyoya or L-Drago wannabes?*

“Kyoya,” Ryuga decided, dipping his head. “Better him than that reverse rotation bey.”

Madoka’s smile faded. “Why do you insist L-Drago has to be the only left rotating bey?”

“Wasn’t that the whole reason L-Drago was the forbidden bey? The reverse rotation? Then all of a sudden there are two more and no one cares?! It makes no sense.”

“I suppose it’s weird… but Julian and King’s beys don’t…” Madoka shivered. “Steal their opponents’ power.”

Ryuga’s eyes narrowed. “So the reverse rotation is just a fancy extra feature for them. That’s what L-Drago’s most special quality has been reduced to? A trend?”

“Er… well…” Madoka looked away. *She knows I’m right.* “Do you regret it?”

“Huh?” Ryuga raised an eyebrow.

“Giving up L-Drago’s power to Kenta?” Madoka eyed him suspiciously. “Do you regret that?”

“Of course I don’t,” Ryuga sighed, his head hanging low.

*But I thought it would be my final act. I never thought I would have to live in a world without my L-Drago.* A gust of wind burst from the stadium, forcing Ryuga to hold his hood in place. There was a clinking sound. Ryuga looked up to see that King’s bey had been blown out of the stadium and stopped spinning. The crowd around him cheered. Benkei and Kenta, the next bladers, stood up and walked toward the stadium. Kenta glanced at the crowd.

“Go Kenta and Benkei!” Madoka called to them.

Ryuga nodded to Kenta. The kid nodded back then turned to the stadium and readied his bey.

“Get ready Benkei!” Kenta called, his eyes narrowed in determination. “Because I’m not going to lose here! Not with Ry-” Ryuga stiffened. Kenta put his hand over his mouth. “Not with my friends here supporting me!” he corrected, his determined gaze returning.

Ryuga let out a sigh of relief.

“I won’t let you win either!” Benkei countered, “Kyoya’s in the final battle waiting for me and I’m not about to let him down!”

“Ready?!” The blader DJ called. “Three… two… one… let it rip!”

Kenta and Benkei launched their beys.

“Sagittario!” Kenta called, “Switch to stamina mode!” Flash Sagittario’s fusion wheel shifted, making it rounder.

“Good choice,” Ryuga muttered, dipping his head.

“Hm?” Madoka turned to him, looking surprised.

“Benkei’s bey is a balance type by the looks of it,” Ryuga explained, “It will be weak to a stamina type.”

“You’re right. Dark Bull is a balance type…” Madoka looked almost impressed. “And Sagittario might need all the stamina it can get to withstand Dark Bull's attacks.”

“Dark Bull…?” Ryuga stiffened. That sounded like the kind of bey a Dark Nebula blader would use, but he couldn’t recall Benkei ever being part of that organization. “Where did he get that bey?”

“Um… Doji gave it to him a long time ago.”

“Thought so,” Ryuga grunted, his fist clenching at the memory of Doji.

He looked back at the battle. Dark Bull and Sagittario were clashing head-on, neither of them moving from their spot in the centre of the arena. Eventually, Dark Bull was thrown backwards. It wobbled slightly before regaining its balance and charging for Sagittario.

“You’ve gotten so much stronger,” Benkei mused aloud, “I can feel Ryuga’s power radiating from this new bey…”

“It’s not Ryuga’s power anymore, Benkei,” Kenta retorted, resting his hand on his chest. “It’s mine!”

Ryuga dipped his head.

“Go!” Kenta called. “Sagittario Flame- er…” He froze, his eyes wide.

*I took away his special move…* Ryuga let out a dry laugh.

“Go now, b-b-b-bull!” Benkei exclaimed, stepping forward. “Dark Bull red horn uppercut!”

Kenta let out a yelp of alarm. Bull charged for Sagittario, jumping into the air and ramming into Sagittario in midair

“Don’t quit Sagittario!” Kenta called, staring up at his bey.

Sagittario broke free from Bull's attack, wobbling in mid-air before landing back in the arena. Kenta sighed in relief.

“It’s not over yet!” he exclaimed, gesturing toward Sagittario.

The bey raced toward Dark Bull and the two beys entered a fierce clash. Bull smacked Sagittario backward. The bey landed with a wobble, allowing Bull to charge into it.

Kenta let out a grunt. “I have to do it! Sagittario! Switch to attack mode!”

Sagittario’s fusion wheel shifted, becoming more ovular as it dashed past Dark Bull.

“What is he doing?!” Ryuga blurted out.

Bull pursued Sagittario to the edge of the stadium. Sagittario didn’t stop. It flung itself into the air, spinning faster and faster as it flew higher into the air. A ball of fire formed around Sagittario. Ryuga stiffened. *That’s the same move he used on me!*

“Go!” Kenta exclaimed, his eyes narrowed in determination. “Special move! Diving arrow!”

Sagittario shot down from the sky like a comet, slamming into Dark Bull in an explosion of light. Ryuga shielded his eyes with his arm. When the light faded, Ryuga stared in awe at the stadium. Sagittario was spinning in the centre of the stadium, while Dark Bull was nowhere in sight. Ryuga looked up. The bey dropped to the ground beside Sagittario.

“Yeah!” Kenta cheered, retrieving his bey.

Ryuga couldn’t help but smile as pride for his friend surged through him. *He’s come so far…*

Madoka let out a gasp, dragging Ryuga out of his thoughts.

“Your hood!” she exclaimed.

Ryuga’s heart skipped a beat. He pulled his hood back over his head, looking around at the crowd. No one seemed to have noticed him. He sighed in relief.

“And now the final match!” the announcer called. “Kyoya versus Kenta!”

Kyoya stepped up, immediately readying his bey. Kenta seemed frozen. Taking a step back, he held up his launcher.

“Three… two… one… let it rip!” Kenta and Kyoya launched their beys.

“Sagittario! Stamina mode!” Kenta called out immediately.

Sagittario’s fusion shifted to its rounder form before clashing into Leone. A burst of wind erupted from the arena. Ryuga held his hood in place, grunting as the wind whipped in his face. He recalled his own fight with Kyoya back in Battle Bladers. Ryuga had only been using a fraction of L-Drago’s true power during that fight yet, even so, it was still impressive that Kyoya was able to last as long as he had against L-Drago. He was a formidable opponent, no doubt about it. This wouldn’t be easy for Kenta… When Sagittario and Leone clashed, it shot bursts of energy through the stadium.

“So this is the effect of Ryuga’s power…” Kyoya mused, though it was hard to hear over the roaring wind. He raised his voice when he continued, “I may not have been able to defeat Ryuga, but the same won’t be true for his protege!” Kyoya pointed at Kenta. “Leone! King Lion Crushing Fang!”

In moments, a tornado formed in the arena, lifting Sagittario higher and higher into the air. Kenta yelped in surprise.

“Now! Go, Leone!” Leone used the edge of the stadium as a ramp to throw itself into the tornado and toward Sagittario. Kenta’s bey was suddenly enveloped in flames.

“Sagittario diving arrow!” Kenta exclaimed, swinging his arm.

“Huh?!” Kyoya gasped.

Before he could back out, however, Sagittario slammed into Leone in a burst of flame. Ryuga shielded his eyes. When the smoke cleared, Sagittario was spinning steadily in the stadium, while Leone was nowhere to be seen.

“It’s not over yet!” Kyoya exclaimed, his eyes crazed with anger.

Moments later, Leone flopped into the stadium, its spin wobbling.

Kenta let out a grunt. “Sagittario attack mode!” he called, gesturing to the bey.

Sagittario’s fusion wheel shifted before charging toward Leone, smacking into it repeatedly. Leone pushed against it. However, it could barely keep up with Sagittario’s string of attacks. Ryuga’s heart lit up. *Kenta could win this!*

Kyoya let out a roar. “Leone!” He gestured for his bey to retreat.

Leone smacked Sagittario away and charged toward the edge of the stadium. Sagittario tried to follow. Leone hovered in the air.

“King Lion Reverse Wind Strike!” Kyoya yowled.

Ryuga’s jaw clenched. *How many special moves does this guy have?!* Leone flipped upside in midair. A tornado shot from its facebolt, slamming into Sagittario. Kenta yowled in alarm. An explosion of wind wracked the stadium, making the audience yelp in shock. Ryuga squinted. Through the wind, Ryuga spotted Leone slamming Sagittario against the ground, as Sagittario struggled to push back. The ground of the stadium cracked open. Sagittario was shoved into the ground, its spin stopping with a screech. The wind died down. Leone ceased its attack, landing with a wobble beside Sagittario.

“The-” The announcer sounded stunned. “The winner is Kyoya!”

“Sagittario!” Kenta yowled, falling to the ground on his knees.

Kyoya snatched his bey out of the air. In a moment of adrenaline, Ryuga vaulted over the railing separating the audience from the stadium and raced toward Kenta. The movement had blown his hood off. Ryuga didn’t care to notice until the sounds of terrified gasping echoed through the air.

“I-it's Ryuga?!” the announcer gasped.

Ryuga skidded to a halt.

“Ryuga?!” Kyoya exclaimed, his eyes wide.

The crowd’s eyes were all on Ryuga. He froze in place, his heart pounding out of his chest.

Kenta looked up at him, his gaze teary-eyed. “Ryuga…?”

“Kenta! Ryuga!”

Ryuga looked over his shoulder. Madoka was rushing toward the two of them. Finally working up the nerve to move, Ryuga slipped into the stadium and yanked Sagittario out of the ground.

“Come on,” Ryuga muttered as he passed Kenta and Madoka, the latter of whom was helping Kenta get to his feet.

Ryuga fought the urge to run away. He tried his best to look dignified as he speed-walked toward the exit.

“Ryuga!” Madoka called.

“Ryuga! Wait up!”

Kenta and Madoka raced after him. Ryuga avoided the gazes of the crowd by staring at Sagittario. It was covered in deep scratches. Thankfully, however, no pieces had broken off. Once the stadium was far behind him, Ryuga finally stopped, allowing Kenta and Madoka to catch up. They stopped beside him, struggling to catch their breath. Ryuga handed Kenta his bey.

Kenta let out a gasp. “Sagittario!” he yelped, grabbing it and staring in horror at the banged-up bey.

Madoka glanced at Sagittario.

“It got damaged pretty badly…” Her eyes were wide as she spoke.

“After it was just fixed! Gah, I’m so sorry, Sagittario!” Kenta’s voice descended into a sob as he clutched his broken Beyblade.

“It’s not your fault Kyoya decided to implant it into the ground,” Ryuga growled, “What a-” He bit back his next words.

“Oh, come on, I don’t think Kyoya meant to go that far,” Madoka insisted, sternly. She turned to Kenta and added gently, “Regardless, Kenta, I don’t mind repairing Sagittario again.”

Kenta looked up at her. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah, it won’t take long…”

“But don’t you still have Tsubasa and Yu’s beys to fix from the Nemesis battle?”

“And Tithi, Dynamis, Chris, and Aguma’s…” Madoka shuddered. “B-but it’s not a big deal! Like I said, this is minor compared to theirs. I can fix Sagittario tonight and maybe even have time to finish with Eagle’s repairs.” She laughed even as her eyes were wide. “That would be nice. Here, I’ll take it to my workshop now.”

Madoka gestured for Kenta to follow. Ryuga and Kenta trailed after her, ending up a few paces behind her.

“I was so close…” Kenta murmured to himself.

“Hm?” Ryuga looked down at him.

“I thought a few more attacks would do it… I didn’t count on him using Reverse Wind Strike… Kyoya has so many special moves, I can’t keep track of them all!”

*Me neither, Kenta.*

“You’ll have another chance to beat him.”

“Y-yeah… that’s true.” Kenta looked up at him with a smile. “Hey, thanks for coming to watch. I really do appreciate it.”

Ryuga just nodded. *I wish I could have been part of it.* He struggled to push the thought away as he continued on.

When they got to the shop, Madoka held the door open and ushered Ryuga and Kenta inside. Kenta handed her Sagittario. Ryuga followed them down a flight of stairs to a basement of sorts. Madoka placed Sagittario down on the desk. Nearby, were six other much more broken Beyblades, including Eagle and Libra.

“Wow, you really weren’t kidding…” Kenta gazed at the torn-up Beyblades.

“Ha, yeah… It’s a lot of work for one person.” Madoka rested her hand on her forehead. “But I can handle it! No big deal!” She laughed in that nervous way again.

However, Ryuga had already tuned the two of them out. Everything in this room was related to Beyblade somehow: the broken Beyblades on the desk, the tools that would likely fix them, and the drawers nearby filled with spare parts.

Memories of the tournament raced through Ryuga’s mind. *I could’ve beaten Kyoya. I could’ve beaten everyone there, no problem, but I didn’t even have a chance. I’ll never have a chance again.* Ryuga stared at the broken Beyblades, unable to ease the longing in his heart.

“Well, we should be getting home.” Ryuga zoned back in and gazed at Kenta. “Dinner is probably going to be ready soon.”

“Actually, Kenta…” Ryuga bit his lip.

“Huh?” Kenta tilted his head to the side.

“I…” Ryuga glanced at Madoka. “Can I stay here a while longer?”

“Wha-” Madoka stiffened. “Um, okay, sure. That’s… fine.”

Ryuga dipped his head.

“Ryuga?” Kenta stared at him.

“I’ll be there later,” Ryuga insisted.

“Okay… see you then.” Kenta reluctantly began to walk away. “Bye guys!” he called, before going up the stairs.

“Bye…” Madoka waved. Once Kenta disappeared, she turned to Ryuga. “Um, I’m gonna get something from upstairs then work on those repairs. You can uh… chill here I guess.” She made her way upstairs.

Once Madoka was out of sight, Ryuga immediately began looking through the drawers full of Beyblade parts. One had just blank facebolts. Another had just spin tracks, then just fusion wheels, and just performance tips. They were all fairly bland and basic. However, Ryuga couldn't help but stare at the parts as well as the broken up Beyblades nearby.

“What are you doing?” Ryuga froze at the sound of Madoka's voice. She was coming back down the stairs, a phone in hand as she gazed at him in confusion. Ryuga slowly pushed the drawer closed.

“No, no, it's fine," Madoka replied, hopping down the steps. "Just don't break anything.”

The mechanic grabbed another chair and pulled it up in front of the desk before sitting in the chair right beside it. Ryuga took the extra chair. He went back to the drawer of spare parts, shuffling through them and placing anything that stood out to him on the desk.

“Is it okay if I put on some music?” Madoka asked, gesturing to her phone. “I work well with music.”

*Why is she asking me?*

“It’s your workshop."

“Um…” Madoka looked away. “I’ll take that as a yes. I guess.”

She put the music on and set her phone aside facedown, before starting work on Sagittario’s repairs. Ryuga kept his eyes on his own work. He took one of the performance tips, a blue one for an attack type, and attached it to a spin track of a similar colour. They likely didn’t actually go together. Then Ryuga combined the spin track with more parts that didn’t go with it: a white fusion wheel and a plastic red facebolt. All together, they created the dumbest looking Beyblade Ryuga had ever seen.

*I need a life,* Ryuga thought as he spun the Beyblade around with his fingers. Madoka looked up from her work.

“Hey, that bey looks a bit like…” She stiffened. “Oh…”

Ryuga looked at the Beyblade, his eyes going wide. He hadn’t intended it, but the makeshift Beyblade did resemble L-Drago somewhat, having the same colours and an attack type performance tip. He had even spun it to the left.

Madoka paused her music with a sigh. “You miss L-Drago that much, huh?”

Ryuga stopped the bey with his fingers. “You’re not a blader, you wouldn’t get it,” he grunted.

“You’re right, I don’t fully understand. Your fight against Nemesis was…” Ryuga winced. Madoka hesitated before continuing, “Well, I don’t have to remind you. Yet despite that, you still want to Beyblade so badly. Why?”

“Because Beyblade is…” Ryuga let out a sigh. “Was my life. It was my purpose, and watching that tournament reminded me how much I want to fight…” He stared at the makeshift Beyblade. “But I can never replace L-Drago. So I have to accept this new life.”

“Do you not like your new life?” Madoka asked, tilting her head to the side.

Ryuga clenched his jaw. “I never said that.”

Madoka was probably about to reply when a beeping sound cut them off. Ryuga glanced at his phone.

-Kenta’s Mom: Be home before dark.-

Ryuga grunted as he typed out a response.

-Ryuga: Ok-

Muting the phone, he placed it aside facedown with a grunt.

“Ugh, parents.”

“Ha, yeah.” Madoka chuckled. “They can be overbearing… Kenta’s parents, you mean?”

Ryuga nodded.

“Yeah, I’ve met them. I’m convinced they would adopt all of us if they could.” Madoka smiled and raised an eyebrow. “How long did it take for them to want to adopt you?”

“...five minutes.” Ryuga wished he was exaggerating.

“Yep, sounds about right.” Madoka continued to work on Sagittario’s repairs as she spoke, “To be honest, I’m surprised they haven’t officially adopted you.”

Ryuga stiffened. “They’d better not,” he growled.

“Well, you’re older so I’m pretty sure they would need your permission to make it official,” Madoka replied with a shrug.

Ryuga let out a sigh of relief. “Good.”

Madoka looked up at him, placing Sagittario aside. “So, uh, when are you going home exactly?”

“Am I overstaying my welcome?” Ryuga asked, standing up.

“What? N-no, I don't mind.” Madoka stood up as well, gazing up at him. “I'm just confused. Ryuga, if you don't mind me asking… Why are you here? Is it really just to play with Beyblade parts?”

Ryuga’s eyes narrowed. “I'm not playing with them.”

"Then what are you doing exactly?” Madoka asked, gesturing to the makeshift Beyblade on the desk.

“One question at a time.” Ryuga rested his hand on his forehead.

“Ugh, fine. Then answer this, wouldn't being in a place like this just depress you?” Madoka held her hands out, gesturing to the room around them. “Being surrounded by Beyblade stuff?”

“It doesn't.”

If he was honest with himself, Ryuga found this environment peaceful. Beyblade was something that was familiar to him. So even though this was a new environment, it felt familiar and almost safe to him. Ryuga sat back down.

“That Beyblade’s not going to fix itself, you know,” he grunted, returning his focus to his makeshift Beyblade.

“Huh?” Madoka looked back at Flash Sagittario. “Oh, right…”

She unpaused her music and continued working. Ryuga looked back at his makeshift Beyblade, unscrewing the facebolt and reaching for more parts from the drawers. He tried out several combinations of parts and watched them spin. Ryuga put his head down on the table. He hadn't realized until now how tired he was and the familiar whirring sound of a Bey spinning was strangely relaxing. Even the music and the sounds of Madoka fixing Sagittario beside him were somewhat peaceful now. Ryuga's eyes slowly fluttered shut.

----------------

Ryuga opened his eyes with a yawn, confused to find himself sitting at Madoka's desk still. He glanced at the mechanic. She was sitting next to him, her head rested on her arms beside a mostly repaired Sagittario. Ryuga gently nudged Madoka. She yelped in surprise, her head shooting up.

“Oh, hey,” she greeted with a tired smile. “Good morning.”

“When did we fall asleep?” Ryuga asked, reaching for his phone.

“I dunno…” Madoka rested her hand on her forehead. “Ugh, I do this all the time. I really need to break out of this habit.”

Ryuga couldn’t bite back a gasp: thirteen unread text messages, six missed calls. He stiffened. A cold feeling wracked his body.

“What? What’s wrong?” Madoka asked, her eyes wide.

Ryuga was completely frozen for a few seconds, his heart pounding out of his chest. Finally, he stood up.

“I have to make a call,” he explained, his voice icily calm again.

He went up the stairs and toward the shop exit as casually as he could. Closing the door behind him, Ryuga booked it behind the building. He looked at his phone. Every message and missed call were from either Kenta or his parents, all demanding to know where he was. Ryuga called Kenta. He tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the kid to pick up. It went to voicemail. Ryuga grunted. He stared at Kenta's parents' contacts, a sudden shiver running down his spine.

*They're going to yell at me…* Whichever one he called, Ryuga anticipated either of Kenta's parents yelling at him for this. They had never yelled at him or Kenta before but the idea chilled him. Everyone had their limit, surely? Doji would've certainly yelled at him if Ryuga had done something like this.

*I'd rather get yelled at over a phone than to my face.* Ryuga hesitantly called Kenta's mother, unable to suppress a shiver. She immediately picked up.

“Ryuga!”

“I’M SORRY!” Ryuga didn't realize how loud he had yelled until he saw birds fly away in panic. He lowered his voice and continued, “I lost track of time and fell asleep at the shop. I won’t…” Ryuga shivered. “I won’t do it again.”

Ryuga couldn't bring himself to continue; he already sounded pathetic enough.

“The shop, okay.” Kenta's mother sighed in relief. "That’s where Kenta said you were last. Thank goodness you’re okay.”

Ryuga froze. “You’re not mad?”

“No, of course not." She sounded almost alarmed. “We were just worried something happened to you.” She fell silent for a few moments before adding, “Kenta went out looking for you a few minutes ago, will you two come home?”

“...okay.”

“Okay, I love you, sweetie.”

Before Ryuga could reply, Kenta's mother hung up. Ryuga froze. *Maybe they don’t want to control me…* His eyes narrowed. *Then what do they want from me?! Why would they care this much about me if they didn’t want something from me?!* Before Kenta, the only person that seemed to want Ryuga around was Doji, who had used him for his own dark plan. Even Kenta initially only followed him to help his other friends. But what reason did the kid’s parents have to care?! *This has to be some kind of trick…*

“Ryuga!” Madoka’s voice shook him from his thoughts. She was running toward him. “What happened?” she asked, struggling to catch her breath.

“Nothing,” Ryuga grunted, putting his phone in his pocket. “I just told Kenta’s mother where I was.”

“Oh, yeah, his parents were probably pretty worried about you.”

“Clearly.” Ryuga began to walk away. Madoka followed, walking by his side and looking up at him.

“Well, uh, parents can be like that,” she replied with a shrug.

“They’re not my parents. I don’t get it.”

“Don’t get what?”

Ryuga froze. *Why did I tell HER that?* He stopped in front of the bey shop, letting out a sigh. *I suppose I have nothing to lose by telling her this.*

“Why they care so much. It doesn’t make sense.”

“How does it not make sense? They might not be your biological parents but you are living with them now and you’re close to Kenta. Is it really surprising his parents think of you as a second son?”

Ryuga looked away, unable to come up with an answer.

“Ryuga!” Kenta’s voice called.

Ryuga looked up to see his friend rushing toward him from a distance. *There he is.*

#beyblade #beyblade metal saga #beyblade metal fight #fanfictions #ryuga #ryuga kishatu #kenta yumiya #madoka amano #kyoya tategami #he's there a lot I guess #bey battles are a pain in the ass to write #very fun #but very difficult #also enjoy Ryuga/Madoka shippers #I don't ship it at all #but I thought it worked platonically here

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merryfortune · 3 years

Text

The Monster in the Fruits Basket

hi @ina-bon I was your secret santa on the discord

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

Ship: Takeru/Kiku

Word Count: 5,876

Tags: Alternate Universe - Fruits Basket, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Minor or Implied Child Abuse

“I don’t like it here anymore, Gramps…” Takeru confessed and he stared at his hands whilst thinking about her. Kiku. “It feels like I’m sitting in a lukewarm bath. I’m just getting pruney.”

His Grandfather regarded him cautiously. Ever with a stern brow and a stern upper lip.

Takeru swallowed. “I want to go out and fend for myself again for a bit. I’m sick of being here. I want to pursue my passions in judo and other martial arts. When we went camping for those few months last year, it was the best time of my life. I feel antsy and dull in comparison to living here. With them.”

“I disagree.” his Grandfather said. “I think you are making excuses.”

“I’m not!” Takeru snarled, he banged his hand on the table.

The door slid and Kiku was there, she was holding onto a tray of rice balls and looked jumpy and apologetic. Takeru looked up at her and the grizzle in his face all but vanished when he saw her. His eyes were wide, lit up, and for a moment, a flicker of remorse for having raised his voice.

“Sorry, this is a bad time. But, when you're ready to come down stairs, there will be rice balls and other refreshments.” Kiku said and she excused herself just as quickly as she had interrupted.

“I disagree vehemently.” Takeru’s Grandfather insisted, a low growl to his voice.

Takeru glared. He felt like he was pushing at a wall which wouldn’t budge for it was all bricked up and mortared and more. And when that energy expired, he collapsed over the table, burying his head in the crooks of his overlapping, folded arms. The beads - bone yellow and blood orange - clinked on his wrist and glinted in the fluorescence of his bedroom’s light on the ceiling.

This was twice now that Takeru’s Grandfather had to see his own, intimate kin wear that bracelet.

He recalled meeting The Cat as a youth but his youth may as well have been another world with how it changed and collided. He had been playing out in the courtyard with a ball, just bouncing it off every surface available whilst trying not to hit any of the servants or other passerbys until it bounced to the other end. Into what appeared to be a barely open shed. He had crept inside and found a man in a beautiful kimono in a small room but he was caged. He was also holding the handball that he had been playing. They exchanged pleasantries and the man handed back the ball and he left. The man seemed glad to have had a visitor but his visitor was unsettled by the whole exchange, it seemed so ordinarily peculiar.

He would only later learn that person was The Cat but he would learn it at a wake he unintentionally attended.

After that Cat died, the next one was born and after that surreal moment, like a dollop of honey on a wooden spoon, in a summer afternoon, playing handball, the next Cat was born to him and his wife. He liked to think that he had done his best to raise the next Cat but life was arbitrary.

Takeru shouldn’t have been born the Cat but his father died before he even learned he was a father. A freak accident. It could have been anyone. And his mother. His poor mother. She drove herself to madness because of her husband’s death and when her son was born, when she held him in her arms for the first time, still covered in the mire of being born, he did not remain a baby. He grew fur and claws, became a white and ginger kitten.

It was harrowing for her to say the least and for six years, Takeru never saw his grandparents or even the outside world. He was his mother’s little treasure in every sense of possession. His little hands forever checked for stray hairs and claws. His little wrist was the most delicate of all as she checked that the rosary against all that being inhabited by the spirit and jealous of the Cat entailed. The rituals of it all were ceaseless until one day she didn’t come home from grocery shopping and she still hadn’t even ten years later.

“I think you should go down and have something to eat.” Takeru’s Grandfather told him.

“I’m not hungry.” Takeru complained.

“You should eat regardless, then.” his Grandfather continued. “You will need the strength tonight. There’s a storm.”

“I’m not some little kid anymore,” Takeru spat, “I’m not afraid of storms.”

His Grandfather smirked and there was a clash of thunder. Takeru stiffened to the last hair on the back of his neck.

“Then this discussion is over. Until further notice, I want you to stay here, in this lukewarm bath as you called it. If you run away, I will make sure she brings you back.” his Grandfather said.

Takeru lifted his head off the table and his arms, he quirked his brow, “She? Whose she? At least do it yourself, you lazy old fart.” Takeru growled.

His Grandfather ignored him. Gracefully, he got to his feet and Takeru scrambled to join him, a flurry of limbs until he straightened up. They left Takeru’s room and came down stairs to where everyone was. The atmosphere decidedly terse.

Everyone was clustered around the long, low table in the centre of the room, trying to avoid the windows as they banged and rattled. At the moment, it was more the wind than the rain itself which had everyone on edge - assuming it was the weather at all which had made them uncomfortable, and not whatever they had overheard from upstairs between Takeru and his Grandfather.

Still, Kiku sat on her knees and she already had two plates at the ready as she hailed down Takeru and his Grandfather. Takeru readily sat down next to her as she piled one rice balls onto his plate before sliding it towards him with a smile. Takeru’s grandfather observed her, still standing up, awkwardly hovering close to Shoichi and Jin who were watching similarly twitchy.

“See? No chives since I know you don’t like chives.” Kiku piped up. “Oh, and these ones are tuna-mayo since those are your favourite but this one’s chicken.”

Takeru smiled. “Thanks, Kiku.” he replied but as he accepted the food, his smile faltered. He was thankful for her but she also represented too much to him but he ate the food to be polite. “It’s good.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Kiku smiled.

With Takeru eating, it could be argued that the atmosphere was easing up from its irrational tenseness. Even Ryoken, who was sitting in the corner, like the mouse that he was, had unhooked his arms from around him and had reached for more of Kiku’s rice balls. She encouraged Ryoken to take more but saying that prickled Takeru, so he grabbed another - one which didn’t appear flecked with chives - and wolfed it down all but immediately.

He didn’t spare a moment to savour it as he swallowed. He was just thankful for the food. It somehow felt that dinner was so long ago but it wasn’t really. The argument that he had had with his Grandfather had simply exacerbated that distance but the rice balls were good. Kiku was a good - no, great - cook. From the moment that she had arrived at this hodgepodge house for the exiles of the Main Kogami manor, Kiku had been charming all of those around her.

Takeru kind of wished he had been there. That moment when she had all but turned up out of the blue and introduced herself to her so-called neighbours; enchanting Shoichi with not only her etiquette but her knowledge of the Chinese Zodiac. His little painted models had been fatefully sitting out in the sun and she had mentioned it to him, talked about how adorable they were but it was a set of twelve rather than thirteen and she was the biggest fan of the Cat from the story. She didn’t want him to be lonely.

But Takeru was the Cat and he wanted to be lonely because bad things happened to those around him when he was anything but lonely.

Yet, since meeting Kiku, Takeru had felt a slight change in him. A transformation different to how he became the Cat and how he became… nevermind that. Kiku was the reason that his fingers were pruning in this lukewarm bath. She treated him with a kindness that he wasn’t used to. Telling him he had a plum on his back and that she wanted to learn things about him, from him, going so far as to do her own research on subjects that he liked such as martial arts. She was dense and happy-go-lucky but her laugh was like nectar. He liked it best when she was smiling, with her golden eyes all lit up like the sun.

Soon enough, Takeru had eaten more than the lion’s share of the rice balls that Kiku had prepared, disgruntling Ryoken in the process but having seen his grandson eat so vigorously, Takeru’s Grandfather was pleased. Yes, there was a tentative serenity to sitting around, having a snack after dinner. There was even laughter and Shoichi, who was standing around, watching, hoping Jin wouldn’t come down from his nap at an inopportune time because it seemed like now was the time to strike. Just when there was a lull in the group.

“Takeru,” his grandfather interrupted the teenagers at the low table, “I want to go outside. To spar.”

“Huh? What?” Takeru half-growled, raising an eyebrow at the absurdity of such a demand. “It’s pouring outside.”

“I think it could be fun,” Shoichi piped up, voice suspiciously airy, “and its not pouring, just… spitting.”

Everyone glanced out the door on that. Opened just enough to let a breeze in because the days had grown humid and stuffy thanks to the spring showers. And it was dark out there but not with thick storm clouds. Just with twilight settling down in the puddles.

“Ooh, you could show me that left hook that you’ve been working on, pretty please?” Kiku emphasised, taking the bait that Shoichi had set out. “You’re always talking about what a great judo master your grandfather is, I want to see this in action.”

“It would be nice.” Takeru said, embarrassedly thinking about how he had been hankering to do just that for the past day since his Grandfather had come around to visit.

“Good.” Ryoken piped up. “I’ll look forward to seeing an old man kick your ass.” Yet despite his stoking remarks, he seemed dubious of this sudden exhibition match between Takeru and his grandfather.

“Oh, shut up.” Takeru snarled but in a more playful way than usual.

“Should we wake Jin up?” Kiku asked, looking towards Shoichi. “It sounds exciting, he should come down.”

Shoichi waved her off. “Him getting enough rest is more important, besides, his sport of choice is soccer. Not martial arts, I doubt he’d be interested.”

“Yeah, that’s true…” Kiku agreed.

With that settled, despite a strange crackling feeling in the air which wasn’t lightning about to strike, everyone got up and shuffled outdoors. Going from the cool air conditioning indoors, just behind a sliver of glass, to getting out into the soggy grass of the front yard was disconcerting. It was humid - sticky and all encompassing - and getting dark. Storm clouds brewed and despite the subtle strangeness of it all, Takeru and his Grandfather took position in front of their crowd.

Kiku stood with Shoichi who stood with Ryoken who stood by himself, out the front, just by the window. Kiku clasped onto her hands, cooing, as she watched how Takeru and his Grandfather eyed each other down. It was heated and fiery, without words, as they stared, readying their stances, and then pouncing.

They all gasped as Takeru was entirely outclassed by his grandfather. Takeru couldn’t let a single strike on his grandfather; he seemed so strangely clumsy compared to his grandfather who avoided him with ease. The nimbleness that Kiku, and even Ryoken, associated with Takeru seemed so slow as his grandfather blocked and parried his decisive movements.

“Appalling.” his Grandfather scolded him.

Takeru gritted his teeth as he tried to force a landing on his Grandfather but he was stopped entirely. His Grandfather took his forearm and grabbed him. It was a reversal of all Takeru’s raw strength funnelled into his own upheaval. Takeru landed with a thud on his back on the ground. Kiku grimaced as she knew she would be the one to do the laundry later.

“Is that it?” Shoichi asked. He scratched his goatee in thought.

Takeru’s Grandfather sank to Takeru’s level. “You’re short-sighted, boy.” he said.

“You don’t say?” Takeru sassed him. “Better get new glasses, I’ve been on the wrong prescription for years then.” He wasn’t even wearing his glasses tonight; they had been annoying him.

His Grandfather rolled his eyes at him. “You need help. To get better at your practice, you need a more holistic and unafraid approach. One more balanced than brute strength. And I’m going to show you how.”

Takeru’s eyes widened as he had the ghost of a question on his tongue, “What…?” he barely managed to eek out of his mouth as he had a terrible realisation of just how helpless he was in this position. His grandfather took his hand and Takeru watched as the bracelet around his wrist, supported and protected, was removed.

It felt as though time slowed for Takeru as he tried to get up, tried to get the bracelet back, tried to resist every inch of what was happening to him.

Shoichi stood, gawking, and guilty. He was acting strange but he couldn’t look away. Completely unlike Ryoken who shut down with what was happening. He looked away, eyes closed tight, and Kiku noticed how he flinched. She had an exclamation or a gasp just beyond her lips but she could only focus on Takeru as he ripped himself from the ground and how his Grandfather let the bracelet drop into the mud. A transformation completely unlike anything Kiku had seen occurred.

When Kiku had first arrived at this house, it had been one accident after another which led into a spiral of female on male contact. Nothing serious. Just hugs and even something as simple as brushing up against Shoichi and then Ryoken and then Takeru had caused the curse upon them to activate. It was silly and kind of funny in hindsight as the pretty looking young men around turned into a dog, a mouse, and a cat respectively. It had been strange but light-hearted.

This, what was happening now, was strange and anything but light-hearted. It was monstrous.

There was genuine fear and horror in Takeru’s eyes as he tried to get up but his body disobeyed him as he transformed. A transformation that was jagged and unshielded by the mist usually produced by the curse. This was raw and grotesque. A stench emanating through the yard, from Takeru, as his muscles burst and his bones broke, reshaping, until he was anything but human. Or even like an animal.

Ryoken refused to look towards Takeru’s general direction; he had a hand clamped over his mouth and he was gagging. Shoichi was transfixed the same way one became transfixed around disasters like car wrecks. He was pale but stern. Kiku. Kiku was somehow both. Her stomach knotted as she recoiled visibly because of the smell and the sights; she wanted to look away, to alleviate the strange and horrible feeling in her gut, but she was unable to.

Takeru became a creature the likes of which Kiku had never seen.

His proportions were all wrong. On all fours and with a long tail but his appendages were stooped in ways that looked broken. His fingers were elongated and his bones were sharp beneath the taut skin of a sickly orange. And his muzzle was jagged with huge, gleaming eyes that were predatory and afraid.

His Grandfather rose to his full height and he observed cooly as Takeru launched himself from the ground in shame. In fear.

“Ta...keru-kun?” Kiku murmured. She blinked.

The sound of Takeru’s claws scraping through mud, through tile, through tree branches - wherever he landed in his fleeing leaps and bounds - echoed through the air. It began to rain but the rain barely softened the horrid sounds: the crunching and the breaking.

“That is the other form of the Cat Spirit,” Takeru’s Grandfather began to explain to the dumbfounded Kiku, “does it disgust you?”

Kiku was silent but she leaned forward slightly with a horrified stare and a slackened jaw.

“Does it scare you?” he asked.

Kiku was silent but she was no longer still. She was propelled forward on something like instinct. She kept her head up and she passed by the bracelet in the mud as she kept going forward, as uneven and rock as her steps were. Where she ignored it, Takeru’s Grandfather picked it up and said his prayers for his grandson on it: not praying to any deity, just a girl whom he, and many others affected and involved with curse, had high hopes for.

Kiku ran into the forest. Chasing after Takeru or what had become of him in this other form. She had no idea. She had no idea that the burden of his Curse ran so deep but it certainly explained some things. In the dark, she was blind to everything but she kept going forward, trying to find Takeru, unfettered even as she fell over and tripped. As she knew she had no idea what she was getting into. The instinct she was acting on was the kindness that she had been taught and she valued so dearly.

She had to keep going, she thought to herself, before bile spiked suddenly in the back of her throat. She got up, on her hands, but she felt her whole body weaken and she threw up in front of herself. She wretched quickly, fouled by the taste and the quickness of how it had come from nowhere but it stopped her altogether.

Confusion was thick and rotten all around her. Kiku didn’t know what to do, what would be right and what would be wrong, that was the truth of the matter as she tried to grapple with what she had seen. The sight of Kyo’s transformation was not something that Kiku would forget soon; the botched way his arms bent and the way his eyes gleamed. Recalling them was more than enough to elicit fear from her, making her skin prickle and her stomach squirm again. But, even so, with tears in her eyes and on unsteady legs, Kiku got up. She clutched onto a tree for leverage as she got up. She kept going.

The rain felt freezing after being so hot. It was pouring down now with no end in sight. Only misery.

Takeru sat on his haunches as far away as he could. He pulled up his knees to his chin and buried himself in himself. He clenched his eyes shut and he felt like a child. Beneath the leathery hide of this monstrous form, he felt like a small and vulnerable child again. Between every lash of cold rain, he could swear that he felt his mother’s breath on him, slowly encroaching on him with a cruel and all encompassing embrace, her hands following his limbs along to that bracelet.

Those memories of his mother raked through him. A growl dribbled out of his mouth in genuine pain of them - and of this transformation. It was anything but painless, it felt like sulphur was in his veins. He hated it and he hated her and he especially hated her love. How it was transfixed on making sure he was protected, insulated, from the big, wide world which would hate him more than she hated him.

Takeru whimpered to himself, all alone, on a little island in the middle of the flooded pond in the forest. He just wanted the world to collapse in on itself so he didn’t have to deal with it. He thrashed about, causing landslides around him with his claws but the senseless violence did little to quell all that fear and fury in his heart. Growling, he looked up, and he was surprised to see someone on the edge of the trees, on the shoreline of the pond.

Kiku stood there, wonky and awkward, holding onto herself and a tree. She was looking out across the murky water to him. She tried calling out to him but her voice was too weak. Takeru’s wasn’t.

He snapped at her, shouting, “Go away!” A monstrous snarl to his voice.

Kiku didn’t even flinch as Takeru’s voice boomed across the water and through the rain. She just stared with this sympathetic look to her face.

“Why… Why the hell’re you following me like nothing’s the goddamn matter?!” Takeru growled.

Kiku tried to call Takeru’s name again but he cut her off with a howl. Her body language drooped. Saddened. And yet she stepped forward, nonetheless. The water was cold and thick around her, even at just her ankles.

“I said go away.” Takeru growled, his voice frayed at the edges now. “What’s wrong with you…? Are you blind? Can’t you smell…?”

Kiku kept coming forward. Takeru watched how she waded through the water, how it ate up to her knees now and how she held herself as she approached.

“Don’t you hate me? I-I’m creepy and sickening and we both know it.” Takeru whimpered. But then he turned to a roar: “Why can’t you leave me alone?!”

Kiku slowly set foot on the island that Takeru was on. She felt exhausted. Drenched to the bone, the taste of vomit still on her mouth, to say nothing of the stench that reeked around her so she came to her hands and knees. Still, she crawled closer to Takeru, her eyes wide and huge.

“I don’t need any of your pity.” Takeru murmured.

Kiku listened but she kept crawling closer. Mud on her hands and knees, skirt dragging in the mire. She came within a talking distance of Takeru, stood at his paws on the mound, and looked up at him.

“Please…” he begged her. “Please, don’t do this.”

“Takeru-kun, but I…” Kiku murmured as she lifted a hand to him with the intention of stroking him so that he might feel some vain semblance of comfort in the downpour and misery. “But I love-”

Takeru didn’t want to hear it. The way that seemingly simple word tumbled out of her mouth elicited the worst in Takeru. He struck out. He swiped at Kiku, tossing her back as she was nothing but a rag doll before him. Kiku screamed, more from the impact than from the horror of being hurt by her friend.

“Don’t touch me!” Takeru growled. “Get lost!”

Kiku was thrown into the water. A huge splash followed after her and then nothing. Just the harsh pitter patter of the rain hitting the coarse surface of the water. There was a moment where Takeru watched, with regret, before Kiku rose up. She broke through, panting and gasping, in the shallows on the bough of the island, fingers scrunching through the mire below her as she roiled with how she had been thrown and near drowned.

“You’re annoying, I want you gone.” Takeru spat with guilt. “Next time, I’ll hurt you for real. For good…”

Kiku dithered and her hand drew back. She noticed that the sleeve of her shirt was torn and beneath was fresh, stinging scrapes. She was lucky they were only shallow but they hurt like an acid burn, not just a cut. She clamped her hand over them for searing relief but it was curt. She looked up at Takeru again, her golden eyes looked like umber in the dim rain.

Takeru turned his back on her. He didn’t want to see her anymore and he didn’t want her to see him, either. He begged and begged that she would turn tail but all, save for the rain, was still. Silent.

Then, slowly but surely, with her head hung low, Kiku got up. Water dripped off her in the course of her sluggish movements and she chewed her lower lip. And she made her decision. She turned around and walked off. Her legs like lead as she dragged them through the pond.

Takeru’s ears, long and ribbon-like, anything but feline or human, twitched. He could hear Kiku leave, the sludge that moved around her, and Takeru’s muscles tightened. He wanted to hurt her so bad that she never forgives him. He had hurt her bad enough that she left - and maybe even left for good - and he wanted that and yet, his heart clenched. He didn’t want her to worry about him and Takeru knew - thought - that lashing out was the best option but… but he wanted to look back and he wanted to see Kiku looking back as well. Even if it was just once before moving on for good because things were too wrecked to be fixed or forgiven.

Takeru couldn’t take it anymore. He was sick of losing people; he was sick of pity, he was sick of feeling miserable, and most of all, he was sick of having things forced upon him.

He remembered something his mother said whilst taking his hand, toying with the beads of the bracelet on his wrist, but he couldn’t remember how cruelly she smiled. He remembered her assuring him that no, he was as human as anyone else. It was all just bad magic that this just so happens to happen to him. The fact that he became a child again afterwards was proof that the human was not the monster because the monster was temporary. That was trite but what she said afterwards was worse. She told him that she wasn’t scared at all and that she loved him. What rotten lies.

She couldn’t have loved him less and she couldn’t have been terrified more. Takeru was revolted with certainty.

Every hour of every day, she checked to make sure that abominable bracelet was in place. She would draw the curtains tight and never let him out of her sight. It had been abhorrent but he had been a child. He hadn’t known any better or anything else but now that he did. He didn’t want anything akin to that ever again and he would rage against such sentiments in whatever form that they took before him.

Even if it was Kiku. Kiku who remembered his dislikes and wanted to engage in his likes and told him that he had a plum on his back. Kiku was, Takeru realised with an alien ease, the first person to recognise him and acknowledge the real him. Completely unlike others who had been in his life before who claimed to love him, like his mother.

Takeru buried his head in his hands. A guttural growl leaked out of between the crooked gaps of his teeth all wrong for his bizarre maw. He knew how those memories ended. Without closure. With his mother simply disappearing and how distant, faceless relatives told him, without knowing a thing about him, that his mother loved him above all.

“Stop it!” Takeru roared, thrashing around, swinging his arms, pounding his fists into the ground below. “I don’t want that kind of love forced on me! I don’t need it...”

He kept murmuring it over and over. I don’t need it. And at the edge of the shallows, where only her ankles were wet, Kiku did hear him. She stopped and she sucked in a breath. She looked over her shoulders, her eyes that were pooled with hot tears, and she surged forward. A force of nature in her own right, outclassing that of the downpour that continued torrentially over them.

Water skirted up the side of her as she ran back through the mire. She slipped and tripped, here and there, but was undeterred. She flung herself onto Takeru. He flinched as he felt her embrace the long spike of his bowed elbow. She buried her face in his grotesque skin. His head bent around with a snarl but Takeru couldn’t bring himself to say something as Kiku hid herself using his limb.

“Let’s go home…” Kiku murmured. “We have to go home.” She reefed her face off him, holding him tighter, her cheeks were flushed as she insisted with the utmost determination, “We have to go home together.”

Takeru blinked and he felt his heart waver.

“O-Otherwise, I have a feeling, Takeru-kun won’t come back home - to that house - ever again.” Kiku said.

She took a sharp breath and she could swear she could hear the front entranceway door of Shoichi’s place slam shut. She cringed. She just knew that Takeru was on the other side of that slam and she didn’t want him to be.

“Stop. Let go.” Takeru growled.

“No!” Kiku shouted, holding him tighter.

“Don’t you get it?!” Takeru snarled.

“No!” Kiku yelled. “No, I don’t get it.”

“Let go of me!” Takeru howled.

Takeru pulled back his arm. His head reared back, maw snapping, teeth glinting, and he hoped to forcibly rip Kiku off him but as he flailed about, Kiku held on. Her legs lolled about, straightly, as she held on for dear life to his arm. She whimpered, afraid, but trying to be brave. He slammed her into the ground, belly first and the blow winded her. She sputtered in the aftermath and Takeru glared. Fierce and vermillion.

Still face planted, Kiku mumbled, “I’m scared…”

Takeru’s ears pricked up. He had almost missed it but he heard her. Her tiny little voice rife with terror. And despite that terror, Kiku began to get up. Her hands trembled but she still tried to hold onto the monster that was Takeru for anchorage.

“R-Right now, even though… even though I hear your voice, it doesn’t sound like you.” Kiku murmured. She shook as she got to her knees, still too weak to properly face Takeru. “Y-You’re in a form I’ve never seen before a-and it scares me.”

Takeru stared. His lips were pulled back in an uncertain and feral way, and Kiku embraced him through it. Gladdened that he had stilled.

“But I want to… I want to understand you now.” Kiku said. “Just like you listen to me when I’m discouraged,” she thought of how they had studied together after that big test had wiped them both out and how their marks improved together afterwards, she thought of how Takeru, and Ryoken, had gone to collect her from her grandfather’s house after the renovations and how it felt so wrong until she had seen him again, and finally she thought of New Years, sitting on the rooftop with him, making wishes on the stars and the skylines, “I want you to tell me when you are scared or hurting, or when you’re feeling weak, and let me worry about you! B-Because I want to keep living together with you.”

Takeru examined Kiku through the lens of his slit eye. She trembled, soaked with water and mud, and she looked pathetic. But she was being honest. His heart fluttered somewhere within the arcane structure of this body’s form.

“I want to eat with you, study with you, and worry about you… All those things, I want to continue to live with you.” Kiku sobbed as she embraced Takeru’s malformed arm. Her tears dripped down her face, mingled with the raindrops.

Kiku trembled as she held onto him, a bawl in the back of her throat. Her words, though quiet, managed to silence the world. The clouds above were grey and Takeru stilled with shock as he listened to her impassioned pleading. And there was a change, almost imperceptible but Kiku felt it. She looked up.

Takeru, naked as the day he was born, stood on his own two legs and he spoke not facing her, “It would have been fine if she didn’t love me at all…”

Kiku was slow as she clutched onto Takeru’s lithe arm, he was wet with the slick of the rain. Kiku felt a little bit confused but elated too, with relief, as she looked at him, unacknowledged. Tears pooled in her eyes but she wasn’t crying, even if the muscles of her throat felt soggy and thick.

“Or if she was scared of me…” Takeru continued, almost aimlessly but there was a shine to his voice, as though he were having a divine revelation about his relationships with others. “Being scared would have meant that she was seeing the ugly part of me. But Mom used to love to avoid looking at me. She avoided thinking about it - and I think she avoided thinking about the ugly parts of Dad, too, or maybe I was just the straw that broke her back…” Takeru began to sink, he sat down and Kiku joined him on her knees, still clutching onto him because she wanted him to feel some comfort in her fingertips. “But I wanted her to think it through with me, to worry with me. I wanted to tell her all the painful things but I never could.” His eyes began to water, his lilac-grey irises were glassy. “I wanted to live in the present with her.”

Kiku reached out and cupped Takeru’s face. He was finally able to look at her. Her hair had become untied and was in waves and clumps of cobalt black. Her golden eyes were huge with concern and worry, edged with lingering tears.

Takeru swallowed a lump in his throat. He had always thought… He had always thought nobody would want to say those things to him, with him. See him as a monster and see him as a cat and seeing him as him as well. Takeru’s heart trembled and his head throbbed. He began to slump forward, into Kiku’s arms.

For a second, Kiku thought she was going to be kissed but then Takeru hugged her. One arm cupping her back and the other taking her hand as his body, weak and wracked with exhaustion, all but crashed into her. He nuzzled his face against Kiku’s, he heard a tiny gasp and then a little, thank goodness, under her breath. And in that goodness, Takeru felt a sublime peace that he had never truly known until this moment right here in the mud and mire.

“Kiku…” he whispered to her, grateful. He felt her flowing tears on his bare skin.

The sky began to lighten. Clouds began to part for a feeble but kind sunshine that illuminated the drear of it all and Kiku held Takeru in her arms. He slept, a calico cat, white and ginger, in her arms and he dreamed softly, of dark nightmares melting back to sweet dreams as he was taken home by Kiku.

#ina-bon #ina bon #entrustshipping #yugioh vrains #vrains #yugioh #takeru homura #kiku kamishirakawa #writing tag #merry writes stuff #i hope you enjoy!!!! <333333

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l-sincline · 4 years

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Cybernetics - Cyberpunk!Sonic AU

Amy Rose has been working tirelessly at her broken down booth for as long as she can imagine. Ever since Tails left their work to join forces with the revered hero of Mobius, 'The Blue Blur', she's grown lonely and desperate to make her life exciting. A strange customer comes in one day asking her to fix his cyborg arm, what she didn't know was that he would be the catalyst for a brand new life.

AO3 Tags:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Amy Rose/Shadow the Hedgehog, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Amy Rose (Sonic the Hedgehog), Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik, Rouge the Bat, Whisper the Wolf, Cream the Rabbit, Knuckles the Echidna, Badnik (Sonic the Hedgehog), E-123 Omega, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Angst, Slow Burn, Partners in Crime

AO3 Link

Amy reached up and wiped the sweat off her brow harshly with her hand that held the wrench. At the beginning of the day, she may have worried about getting grease or even Thuluhide on her forehead, but it was getting late, and she already had dozens of grease smudges all over her, and a few splotches of Thuluhide on her cargo pants and crop top. Grease, of course, came with the job description. She was a mechanic, fixing robot parts and hover cars and other things of the sort caused her to get pretty messy. Thuluhide, however, was something she hadn’t been aware she’d have to deal with until after her friend Tails had taught her to fix even more advanced things, like cyborg parts and androids.The world they lived in was teeming with them, it only made sense that she learned how to fix them to make more money, she already charged low for her services as it was, she didn’t exactly live in a rich town, it felt like a crime to try and sell her time for more than the people she serviced could afford, so the more she could do, the more money she could make.

Anyways, Thuluhide had proved itself hard to remove from clothing, as her pants had many other stains that had refused to come out other the years. Thuluhide was the blood of those advanced cybernetics, cyborgs had Thuluhide integrated into their own body along with their blood in order to properly control and maintain function in their robot parts, Androids were simply filled with Thuluhide. As she tightened the last screw on the oldish radio that sat in front of her, on her desk at the very front of her shop, she became aware of a presence standing just ahead of her, on the other side of her booth. Amy looked up, slightly startled that she hadn’t heard them. Even though the street filled with various booths and shops like hers she worked on was often bustling with noise, she usually hear someone at least a few moments before they arrived.

“You service cyborgs?” They asked- sounded male.

“Yes-“ she replied “is that what I can help you with today?”

He wore a cloak that covered most of his body, even the hood cast too much of a shadow on his face for her to see much else other than the fact that he had some pretty sizable fangs for a Mobian that didn’t seem to be some sort of lizard or lion. He responded by tossing an arm up onto her table- it was unlike one she had ever seen before, she usually saw cyborg parts that were steel or black, and if they weren’t their pain job was usually pretty shabby. This arm, however, was sleek white with two red stripes, one running down the outer of the the arm, the other down the inner. The joints were covered in well serviced black rubber- the entire thing was well serviced save for sizable dents made to the forearm.

“I couldn’t move it at the elbow anymore, fingers and wrist wasn’t working either.” He said, gently using his other hand to push aside the cloak ever so slightly, all she could really see was the matching port on his shoulder where the arm connected, even his other arm stayed hidden by the cloak.

“Well, I would’ve preferred if you’d let me remove it myself...” she started, picking up the arm to get a closer look at it. The stripes she observed earlier now seemed to just be lights that weren’t turned on. She frowned.

“You know, I’ve never seen any arm, any cyborg part at all for that matter, that looks like this.” She commented as she continued to turn it over in her hands.

“It was custom made.” He responded simply.

“Shouldn’t you bring it back to whoever made it then? They’d have less of a chance of messing up on it than I do.” Amy placed the arm back down on the table and looked up to where she thought she could see the smallest gleam of light off the mans eyes.

“Can’t. We’re not on speaking terms anymore.” He responded shortly, making it clear that would be all she was getting on that subject.

“Shame.” She responded simply, putting her hands up in defeat to reassure him she would press no further. “Well, I’ll see what I can do then. I estimate it’ll be done by-“

“Can I have it by tomorrow night?” He interrupted. Her disbelieving look must have made him realize he sounded like an asshole, because he quickly followed up with; “I’ll pay more for it to be done faster.” She let out the breath she had been holding and slumped tiredly.

“Yes, that will be forty units added on to the down payment then.”

“How much is the down payment?”

“Twenty units.”

It was his turn to look at her like she was crazy, or at least, it felt like he was looking at her like she was crazy. “That cheap?”

“Yeah, well, if I just have to tighten a screw then you’ll get money back instead, it’s just easier this way, I don’t know how much servicing this arm will cost until I actually do it. I could give you an estimate if you want, but you’ll have to stick around for another ten minutes.”

“I just thought it would cost more.” He defended his reaction.

“Closer to the middle of the city, sure. But out here people don’t have much, and I don’t want to take what little they have away from them.” She responded with a shrug, leaning back on her stool and crossing her arms over her chest. He seemed like he wanted to keep arguing, but kept his mouth shut as he dug around under his cloak a bit before his other arm snaked out and dropped her units on the table.

She tried her hardest to hide her surprise, but clearly it hadn’t worked well, because his arm shot back into the abyss of the cloak as soon as she had noticed his other arm was also robotic. It was pretty rare to find someone with more than five percent of their makeup being robotic. With one full arm he’d already slightly over come that, but with two full arms he had officially gone pretty wildly over.

“I’ll be back this time tomorrow.” He said suddenly before turning and walking quickly into the crowd. Amy tried to follow where he was going, but just as suddenly as he had appeared, he disappeared. She swiped the units into her hand and dumped them into a jar that sat below the table before picking up the arm again.

There was something about it that made her feel as if no one else should see it, as if it was specifically given to her to be in her hands only- maybe the mystery guy had known her mechanic partner had moved on to bigger things and she was the only one in the shop now- either way, she tucked the arm under her own pink arm, which was quite dusty this late in the day making her seem almost purple, and reached up to close the screen in front of her booth to signal she was closed to the market that was still teeming with mobians even after dark.

Soon she was left in the dim light of her lanterns that hung from either side of the buildings that surrounded the booth. The roof had been constructed out of old tarps and dingy blankets nailed to the walls (with permission from the building owners) and some burlap hung down over the back entrance that lead to the back alleyway to create sort of a tent like entry way. Wires zig zagged across the floor, all leading to different tools and one leading to a lamp on her work desk that all converged at one very over worked extension cord. Amy set the arm down on her work desk and dragged the stool from the front of her booth over to it so she could sit, turning on the lamp once she had.��

She stared blankly at the arm in front of her- perhaps the thing that made it strangest was it’s resemblance to something most mobians lived in fear of; the evil robots sent from the mad doctor, Robotnik, who came from a planet they had strained relations with: Earth.

Earth and Mobius had only become known to each other in more recent years, after Earth ravaged the land in a war that the Mobians just barely managed to finish off. That was half a millennium ago, so perhaps not as recent as one may think, but still recent enough to keep sour tensions. Both planets leaders were constantly back and forth, looking to negotiate a peace treaty, but nothing had come yet. Constant changes of power on both planets lead to constant changing of peace treaties, it was a turbulent activity.

But that was besides the point, the arm that sat in front of her resembled some of the most evil robots known to mobians, killing machines set upon them by a man who had made it his goal to take over their planet.

Trying not to dwell on its resemblance to the doctor’s robots too much, Amy finally chose a tool (a flat head screw driver) and dragged the arm closer to her. She gripped it tightly and popped off the outside panel of the forearm where the flurry of dents were. She held up the gleaming white panel in one hand, and in the light it appeared that the dents had come from kicks, very strong ones to be able to dent this kind of foreign metal. She placed it back down on the table- she’d push the dents up and repaint the panel later, for now she wanted to get an idea of what it looked like inside the arm.

Inside the arm looked somewhat similar to typical Mobian cyborg limbs, the Thuluhide sat dormant in the tube structures that resembled veins, and sure enough the red stripes she’d spotted earlier were lights, but it seemed that somehow they were activated by the Thuluhide. All the mechanisms on the inside were black, making it rather hard to tell anything apart. Even the wires were black instead of their usual mess of primaries, and she began to wish she still had Tails in the shop to lend a hand. Amy bit her lip as she leaned closer to the arm. She could call him, but he also seemed to be infinitely busier than normal these days. Tails was lucky, extremely lucky. She would probably envy him for the rest of her days.

With the appearance of the robots that this arm reminded her of many years ago now, had come a vigilante of sorts to save the people from untimely demise. Super fast thanks to his Cyborg legs, sickeningly badass, and supposedly pretty handsome, the Blue Blur had become a household name. He never asked for payment, he never left anyone behind, he just did what was right- absolutely admirable! Amy still remembered the feeling of shock when she had come to the booth one morning and Tails was jittering around excitedly with a smile that looked like it could’ve torn his face in half. Apparently the Blue Blur himself had come by early that morning for maintenance on his legs, and a few days later, had asked Tails to come on board as his official mechanic.

Amy was so happy for him when he’d told her, but the twinge of jealousy always sat not too far behind. She missed the life Tails brought to the shop, she missed his stories and his expertise, but she supposed it was his expertise that got him such a spectacular opportunity.

She stared blankly at the ProjScreen she had taken out of her pocket, finger hovering over the call button before finally giving in and tapping it, setting down the screen so the hologram could pop up.

It rang a few times, and then just as she was sure that Tails’ smiling face would pop up, it was instead the typical camera icon followed by the robotic woman’s voice telling her: “Miles Prower is not available at this moment, please leave a message at the sound of recording, thank you.” Amy managed a quick sigh before straightening back up when the beep sounded and slapping a strained smile on her face.

“Hi Tails... I was hoping you wouldn’t be busy but... I guess you do have a lot more going on these days.” She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. “I have something pretty interesting here that I thought you might want to take a stab at, but it’s due tomorrow night so I guess I’ll just try to figure it out on my own... have a good night- miss you!” She tried to end enthusiastically as she grabbed the ProjScreen to get it to stop recording. Amy threw the screen down on the table and grumbled as she leaned foreword and thumped her forehead down on the table.

“I guess I’m just gonna have to sleep on it.” She spoke aloud to herself, voice muffled by the dirty pink fur of her arms.

She would have to work on the arm all day tomorrow trying to figure it out, so that meant she’d have to keep the booth closed for the majority of the day, or at least only keep it open to simple fixes, but hopefully this client would pay good. After all, they’d been willing to spend extra money to get it custom originally and pay her extra to get it done fast- so they wouldn’t haggle... hopefully.

Amy stood from the desk and popped the front panel back on to the arm before placing it gently in her satchel and slinging the bag around her shoulder. After turning off all her lights, she slid through the burlap curtains and headed out into the back ally, ready to go home and take a cold shower.

#fanfiction #sonic the hedgehog #alternate universe #shadow the hedgehog #Amy Rose #Shadamy

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artificialqueens · 4 years

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Basslines and Chocolate Eyes (Jackie x Nicky) - opalescentcheetah

Summary: “She looks up again as she finishes the run and meets Jackie’s chocolate eyes, gleaming with the thrill of competition.”

Nicky and Jackie are preparing for band practice when things get heated.

A/N: Wow, me on the queue twice in a week? These S12 girls really are good for the creative mind, haha! Thank you to Rusty for the fun brainstorming sessions, for reading over this for me, and for being super supportive; she had the brilliant idea of a rock band au and after we discussed which queens would be in it, I couldn’t get the concept out of my head, so here we are.

Feel free to drop by my blog, @opalescent-cheetah, to say hi - I love hearing from everyone!

Flick.

There’s a crackle, a buzz, and a low hum resounds through the room. Holding her pick between her teeth, Nicky deftly plays a major scale on her bass, relishing in the familiar feeling of steel against her skin.

She sees Jackie grinning out of the corner of her eye, and a moment later, the sharp, electric tones of her guitar join the fading murmur of Nicky’s last note. Jackie plays several staccato chords before finishing on a slide, letting the sound ring out in the basement.

“Oh, are we doing that now?” Nicky asks, plucking the pick out of her mouth as a smirk creeps onto her face. A moment later, the hard notes of the bass pound through the amplifier, and Nicky’s fingers are a blur as she dives between frets.

She looks up again as she finishes the run and meets Jackie’s chocolate eyes, gleaming with the thrill of competition. A moment later, swift melodies are pouring from Jackie’s guitar, and Nicky is enamoured by the way she bites her lip in concentration, radiating a sense of calm confidence.

Jackie hasn’t finished her run before Nicky joins in with a heavy rhythm, and the gleam in Jackie’s eyes grows brighter. They play as one, the music growing faster, louder, and neither notice when the door opens and Crystal bounds down the stairs, clutching a bowl of chips.

She says something that Nicky doesn’t hear and, a moment later, there’s the loud crash of cymbals and a thudding drumbeat resounds through the room beneath Nicky and Jackie’s raging instrumental battle.

Nicky takes a step towards Jackie, shredding the strings, the instrument already so familiar to her that she doesn’t even need to look while she’s playing. She hasn’t broken contact with Jackie’s eyes for a moment; the air crackles with electricity as they slink closer to each other like lions circling before a fight, claws unsheathed, both playing as though their life depends on it. Nicky bares her teeth in a wicked smirk.

And then Jackie is whipping out an epic guitar solo, her whole body moving to Crystal’s drumbeat, brows furrowed in concentration. Nicky has to slow down for a moment just to watch her - sometimes she forgets how beautiful Jackie is when she gets like this, loose hair flying around her face as she tosses her head, her slender fingers deftly skimming the frets. It’s only when she’s playing her guitar that Jackie really, truly, lets loose, and Nicky can’t help but admire her.

She shoots Nicky a sly grin when she’s done, eyes blazing with amber fire, and Nicky slides into a solo of her own, the hard steel strings biting at her fingertips. She starts it slow, feels Jackie’s eyes on her as she steps back and lets Nicky set the stage alight. Nicky intersperses the reverberating thrum of the bass notes with harmonics as she picks up speed, gritting her teeth through a budding cramp in her fingers.

It’s all worth it when she sees Jackie’s eyes shining, and Nicky loves how she seems to glow when she smiles in that gentle way that’s so recognisably her. Nicky knows that smile like the back of her hand.

And then Jackie’s lips pull into a grin and she’s shredding on her guitar again, her fiery stare locked with Nicky’s. Ignoring the pain in her hand, Nicky returns to the quick rhythm and the battle resumes. Crystal’s drumbeat intensifies as the two guitarists prowl closer to each other, breathing heavily, beads of perspiration dotting their foreheads. Nicky is close enough to feel Jackie pant against her lips, to count every fleck of gold in her irises. The tension is palpable, the heat of their combined breaths causing Nicky’s cheeks to flush. Or maybe it’s just the way Jackie is staring at her: so calm, so intense, that it lights her insides on fire.

She hardly knows what she’s playing anymore. All she can focus on is that look in Jackie’s eyes.

The cymbals crash, and she leans in.

It doesn’t take much for her to close the gap, press her lips against Jackie’s, as soft as butter and as sweet as strawberries. Jackie gasps quietly against her mouth and the last thing Nicky hears is the low hum of the bass, ringing out over the final staccato beats of Crystal’s drums.

“I win,” she smirks, drawing back, her chest stirring in pleasure at the light flush of pink dusting Jackie’s cheeks.

Jackie grins.

“So do I, if this is my reward for losing,” she says, recapturing Nicky’s lips in a quick kiss.

“Oh my god, get a room, you guys,” comes a voice from behind them, and they whirl around to see Crystal, still perched behind the drum kit, laughing.

They finally start practice when Jan arrives, swinging her backpack onto the battered couch and yelling out an apology for being late.

“It’s all good,” Jackie assures her. “We know what to expect by now.”

Jan shrieks out a laugh and asks, “what did I miss?”

“Oh, not much,” Crystal giggles. “These two got into another one of their crazy music battles, trying to one-up each other, and you can imagine how it ended.”

Nicky fights a blush as Jan’s gaze darts between her and Jackie, who is trying - and failing - to suppress a giddy smile. After a moment, Jan just nods knowingly, and Nicky hears Crystal snicker behind her.

They get to playing and Nicky settles into the familiar rhythm of the song, matching Crystal beat for beat. The electric thrum of the guitar intensifies when they reach the chorus and Nicky turns, her gaze landing upon Jackie, caught up in the thrill of the moment. Curls of chocolate hair fall free from her ponytail as she moves to the music, and Nicky just wants to tuck them behind her ear, brush her hand along Jackie’s jawline, and–

Her hand slips and the string whines, the note turning ugly and distorted. Jan offers her a quizzical look, and Nicky just nods to tell her it’s all okay. Hastily, she finds her place again, doing her best to focus on the buzz of each note against her fingertips.

But she can’t stop looking over at Jackie, can’t stop smiling when their eyes meet and Jackie’s cheeks go pink.

Jackie misses a chord.

Nicky hits the wrong fret.

The music comes to a shaky stop, Jan’s powerful voice trailing off into silence.

“Are you guys okay?” she asks, concerned. “Nicky, you’ve never–”

She cuts herself off as understanding dawns on her face and Crystal, who is silently watching the scene unfold with a shit-eating grin on her face, promptly bursts out laughing.

“Right, of course.” Jan smiles. “You can both take a break, if you’d prefer.”

“No, no, we don’t have to, we can–” Jackie starts, but Nicky is shaking her head before she even realises what she’s doing. She swings her bass off her shoulders, rougher than she’d like, and marches over to Jackie to stare her dead in the eye.

“You heard her,” Nicky says, winking. “It’s time for a break.”

“We won’t get any proper practice done otherwise,” Jan laughs, taking a swig from her water bottle.

“I can’t argue with that logic,” Jackie agrees, her face softening in an excited smile, and Nicky feels her heart jump. She waits until Jackie’s guitar is propped up in its stand before she grabs her hand and pulls her towards the stairs.

“This is why The Methyd Heads never get anywhere,” Jan comments wryly behind them, and Crystal giggles, punctuating the end of Jan’s sentence with a quick ba-dum-tss as the door falls shut.

Nicky pulls Jackie into Crystal’s bathroom, the cold white tiles already more than familiar. The lock has barely clicked behind them before Nicky is all over her, pressing her back against the marble counter, Jackie’s lips warm against her own.

“Fuck you,” Nicky says between kisses, “for looking so fucking pretty when you play. You make it so damn hard to focus.”

“I could say the same to you,” Jackie replies breathily as Nicky shifts her attention to her neck. Her hands twist into Nicky’s blue mane, keeping her close, and Nicky loves the way she gently runs her fingers through her hair.

After a moment, Jackie’s soft hands move to cup Nicky’s cheeks, pulling her face up so their eyes are level. Nicky’s insides twist with want.

“Kiss me again,” Jackie whispers, and there’s golden fire in her eyes.

Nicky doesn’t argue.

They kiss until they’re out of breath, cheeks pink and flushed, hearts thudding in time. Jackie gently traces the outline of Nicky’s jaw, and she tilts her head to kiss her palm, eyes never leaving Jackie’s face.

God, that gorgeous face. Nicky could spend days swimming in those eyes, in that smile. Jackie is gazing at her with a tenderness she saves just for her, and Nicky wonders how she ever got so lucky.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” Nicky whispers. She doesn’t give Jackie a chance to reply before she kisses her again, and this time it’s softer, warm desire laced with adoration. Jackie nips gently at her bottom lip and Nicky sighs against her mouth.

She’s about to say something when there’s a knock at the door, and a bashful voice sounds from the other side.

“Sorry, guys, I really need to pee–”

“Crystal!” they both groan, but Jackie’s eyes are crinkling at the edges when she turns to smile at Nicky, taking her hand, and Nicky decides she isn’t so annoyed after all. When they open the door, they find Crystal biting her knuckles, barely stifling an amused grin.

“Have fun?” she asks, suggestively wiggling her eyebrows at them as she slides past into the bathroom. Nicky sputters, face going red, and Crystal just laughs and shuts the door behind them.

#rpdr fanfiction #nicky doll #jackie cox #crystal methyd #jan sport #jackie x nicky #fluff #lesbian au #rock band au #concrit welcome #cheetah #s12

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holydragon2808 · 5 years

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Dimitri, the Naïve King. Or Is He Really? Fire Emblem Three Houses (Personal Opinion) MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE BLUE LION’S PATH!

A few days ago, I made a post on why I found Edelgard less compelling than either Claude or Dimitri, but when I posted my Edelgard opinion, I wasn’t quite finished with the BE route. At the time I was at like chapter 17/18 so I figured that was far in enough to post a valid opinion though lol. But, now I’ve completed that route too, and I’m currently chapter 15 of the Silver Snow route, my last route to complete after having done GD first and then BL before BE.

Anyway, my Edelgard post actually got far more likes/reblogs than I anticipated (seriously, as popular as Edelgard is I thought I was gonna get roasted alive for my more “negative” opinion, so to speak lol), so I figured I’d push my luck again with yet another rather unpopular opinion, but this time regarding Dimitiri. There will be some major spoilers for the Blue Lions route in particular in this post (and the post may be a bit long too lol), so read at your own risk if you’ve yet to at least complete it. Final Warning!

I’ve seen quite a few people talk about how naïve Dimitri was in his own route (mainly on reddit), after a combination of circumstances and Byleth eventually snap him out of his revenge before reason stage simply because he chose to try and reach out to Edelgard.

And I disagree with that notion entirely.

Him being naïve in the sense that I’ve seen people implying would be him trying to reach out to Edelgard at the expense of everything else going on around him (and putting his friends/army at risk). He never takes his desire for reconciliation with Edelgard that far. When Felix directly asks Dimitri if he’s prepared to kill Edelgard should he not be able to broker peace with her (and even Dimitri himself admits to you in a support convo that it’s a long shot but he felt he at least had to try), Dimitri literally says that he will strike her down if necessary (and he does) even if it would go against his personal wishes.

Simply attempting to reach out to both his stepsister and now hated enemy in itself does not make him a naïve idiot. In fact, I’d argue that the notion actually shows that he has the makings to be a very sensible, compassionate and benevolent ruler. It shows that he’s willing to show compassion and understanding to even his enemies, treating them like they matter as people, and attempt to go out his way to try and find a peaceful solution to a conflict if he can.

What I also find interesting is that people are quick to give Dimitri flak for the proposal and write him off as naïve, all the while completely side stepping the fact that Edelgard chose to meet with him honorably under the terms Dimitri dictated.

Look, if we’re going to be fair about all of this, then would that not make her just as “naïve”, (considering she’s supposedly the “pragmatic well-intentioned extremist” enemy people claim) for not taking advantage of the situation to corner Dimitri and kill him right then and there? By this point she’s committed countless other murders, allied with shady people (Those Who Slither in the Dark) all in the name of “the greater good” (and she’s revealed to be the one who hired the bandits in the prologue to kill Dimitiri and Claude, she just got caught up in it and you and Jeralt end up saving all of them, kickstarting the main plot) so cornering a king with an army while he just brought the professor wouldn’t be “too cruel of her” to me. Just food for thought.

Since she chose not to take advantage of the situation dishonorably (and pragmatically), I can only assume that Dimitri’s desires and attempt to reach out to her despite everything wasn’t just naïve wishful thinking on his end, but rather a sensible gesture, even if he ultimately (and expectedly even from his end) failed to deter her from her destructive path. It would tie right in to song “The Edge of Dawn” since going by it’s Japanese name (Girl of Hresvelg), it’s about Edelgard’s longing for others to reach out to her (and her wishing she could do so in turn). As I mentioned in my other post, this was one of the reasons why I found Edelgard more compelling on this route than her own.

To try and drive my reasoning and point home, I have to spoil the moment serving as the true catalyst for Dimitri finally coming around on the BL route. Basically, a sad, vengeful little girl named Fleche holds a very understandable grudge against Dimitri and Byleth (whom I’m going to refer to the latter as a “she/her” from here on because I played a female Byleth who romanced Dimitri on this route). Anyway, Fleche, joins the army shortly after you’ve recruited Rodrigue under the guise of an unassuming soldier with secret murderous intent towards Dimitiri.

Eventually, she outs herself and holds Dimitri at knife point for him killing her older brother (General Randolph) during one of Dimitri’s “episodes” in a previous chapter. Just as Dimitri is about to accept the little girl’s rage (and the fatal knife attack), Lord Rodrigue shields Dimitri from the blow, fatally wounded in the process, and Byleth is forced to strike the child down (who couldn’t have been any older than Lysithea or Annette) in order to protect both Dimitiri and herself. A combination of Lord Rodrigue’s last words to him, seeing a child’s expression of dark revenge mirroring his own (and her being struck down at such a young age because of him), and Byleth reaching out her hand to him is what finally pulls him back from the brink entirely. He had no choice but to see and acknowledge all the suffering he left in his wake.

And he chose to face those feelings of regret and remorse head on, finding his way out of the darkness, all because someone (Byleth) reached out her hand to him.

Again, had Dimitri gone the opposite extreme, putting his desire for peace with Edelgard above his duty as a King (i.e., not killing her when clearly necessary to do so) then I would readily agree with the sentiment that he was too naïve for his own good. But he never does that.

Even after the final boss battle, when Dimitiri attempts to reach out to her one final time, by that point she’s rendered powerless. She can barely move let alone pose a threat to anyone in the moment. And when she still refuses, he finally does strike her down, acknowledging the fact that as much as they’d both like to reconnect with one another (again, Edelgard chose to meet with him under the terms he dictated prior to the final battle), it’s impossible at this point.

To me, all of this shows just how far Dimitri has come from the angry, revenge obsessed mess of a man he became during the five years Byleth was gone. Attempting to reach out ones’ hand despite how impossible it may seem isn’t a sign of weakness or naivety. It’s a sign of compassion and strength to me. It’s a message that needed to be conveyed. And I personally think that Dimitri’s path (and Byleth’s hand in helping him on his route) explored that beautifully. But again, just all my opinion.

#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #dimileth #edelgard von hresvelg #fire emblem three houses #claude von reigen #fe th spoilers #azure moon #blue lions #byleth #female byleth #edelgard #dimitri

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stonerbughead · 4 years

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Maria watches friday night lights (#32)

5x09 ahhh my heart is singing for Chicago!Matt already

recap/flailing under the cut:

Ah it makes sense that East Dillon fell apart and ruined their undefeated record after the way that last episode went!

“Really??” As Jess and the maintenance workers are still cleaning up they turn off the lights??? No respect!

Ahhh they’re showing Luke and Vince arguing in the locker room interspersed with the actual game? This show is magic.

Eric found them arguing and kicked them out the field house lol

“That wasn’t a team out there, folks, it was a bunch of individuals trying...” fitting last radio sound byte before Eric throws the radio in the trash lol

OMG MATTS CHICAGO APT IS SO CUTE AND ADULT AND GROWN UP. He’s folding a blanket??? Fuck me up

She stayed all weekend and doesn’t want to leave?! Ok ok I see y’all but that does seem a little irresponsible, Julie.

Is Matt wearing a live strong bracelet? Lol sign of the times

“Look, we all know the problem: it’s Vince, he’s lost his team.” Ooooh good line to go into the theme song on!

“I suck at Texas history.” IS THAT AN ACTUAL CLASS IN TEXAS???? STOP IT. Stop it right now!!! This cannot be real!

“Baby boy is graduating, it’s the last time they’ll see me in the little lions uniform.” LOL Becky and Luke are cute

Ew it sucks that Luke can’t invite Becky out after this last home game with his parents but also who would want to go to dinner with his trash mom sooo I’m conflicted.

Eric wants Luke on QB today?! well then

Oh god Mindy feels like she’s gonna puke?? Oh no is she pregnant again??

“I could take your shift.” Oh Beckyyyy and Mindy is like, no no no lol

I cringe every time Vince’s dad talks to him about football. His mom seems to be cringing too in the corner...

Becky looks really cute waiting tables but yeeeesh she’s a teenage girl and a fully grown man is putting a dollar in her undies. Yikes! Although once she counted that $$$ she was like I AM WOMAN I AM POWER lol

Eric and Tami’s little walk and talks in school are so precious

Awww Becky used her tip money to get Luke a gift to wear to his dinner? “You know I get it because she kinda freaks me out too but you didn’t do anything about it.” Yeah that about sums it up.

Wtf Vince is turning on Jess now too?? She’s appropriately angry! “Yeah cause it’s never Vince’s fault huh? I can’t believe you! You’re really trying to blame me for coach being mad at you?” Ooooh she said it.

OH SHIT did Jess just dump Vince’s ass?

Aw Epyck being good with Gracie is so cute.

Julie and Matt look hot and very natural walking down the street together in Chicago. Aw and she feels like she fits here but didn’t at college. Be a city gal, join us!!! Lol

“It’s frustrating bc I miss you and I miss us, and tonight watching you with all these people it’s like you’ve moved on and it’s sucks.” Awww Julie and then Matt immediately kissed her to shut her up! “I’ve been waiting to do that ever since you showed up.” This is SUCH a romantic ass city kiss!

Honestly out of all the characters Matt and Julie are the ones I can see being city folks the most so that tracks for me.

Jess helping Luke with the plays instead of Vince, she’s such a good one.

Omg Matt and Julie are so cute in bed together, Matt again saying he missed her as he plays with her hair. 🥺

She’s gonna tell him about the TA thing right? Yep okay good honesty is important.

Awww Matt being so supportive and nonjudgmental! My heart! He’s such a good guy I’m dead 😭

“I hope this won’t freak you out, but I think you and I need to, um...we need to go get breakfast.” LOL I LOVE HIM HES SO CUTE god

Oh shit Eric’s benching Vince for not helping Luke! Man of his word, he does not play!

“The big deal is I’m an adult and you’re not.” Yeah Becky, Mindy’s argument seems pretty sound considering we’re talking about you, a teenage girl, working at a strip club. Just...wait till you’re an adult, gurl! You’re almost there!

Oh god Mindy’s irritable, is she preggers???

Anddd she does not seem happy about it....

Yeeesh Tami just slammed her head trying to break up this fight between Epyck and Laurel? Fuck

Yay I was right about Vince’s mom. “I think you maybe don’t have to take his advice all the time. You have a good head on your shoulders, use it, okay!” YES MAMA TELL HIM!!!

Omfg they’re gonna arrest Epyck for this even tho Tami is saying not to bc it was an accident??? Y’all really hate students of color with trauma, damn...the fact that Laurel thought it was okay to call Epyck a psycho in front of a lot of people too? School to prison pipeline in action, folks.

Aw Eric found Jess crying alone in the locker room 🥺 poor baby

We stan Eric. He told Jess not to apologize for crying and to “take all the time you need.” AWWWW

“I don’t wanna be your safety net.” Matt is right—Julie’s clearly avoiding stuff! “I wish you could stay longer, I wish you lived here but you...don’t live here.” He’s right! Gurl! Ugh being 18/19 is so hard!

Omg Billy’s excitement about Mindy being pregnant again is insane. He said “who cares?” about Mindy having to quit her job and she seems much more concerned than he does about the very real health care concerns.

“My boys can swim,” Billy says, putting THE PEE STICK IN HIS MOUTH?? I’m dead, Mindy just saying “I peed on that” and him removing it. WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS BILLYYY

Ugh poor Epyck :( this system has failed her! And poor Tami tried so hard.

Ah, Eric is getting turned onto the idea of not coaching teens but adults instead—fair!

Omg Luke stopped by Eric’s after 10 to say he’s too scared to be quarterback?? Oh babe.

Awww Senior Day is here. Look at Luke’s trash mom!

“How much time do you need? You’re not milking a cow out there!!” Lol

Yeeeesh now everyone’s chanting “we want Vince.” Ugh imagine being Luke rn

Why is Vince’s dad literally mad? Luke is doing well lol

Yesss lions win!! You did it baby! They’re going to the playoffs!

Oh geez and now Vince has to stop his dad from storming the field and cursing Eric Taylor out! Jesus.

Aww Luke getting his little victory kiss from Becky and bringing her along. His mom is such an asshole, she’s literally gawking at Becky. Bless the dad for being like “why not?”

“He kissed her. Did you see that he kissed her?” Ew Luke’s mom how do you think she got pregnant the last time...?

Aww and off Julie goes, hopefully this time to stop avoiding her problems in that lil blue car? FUCK ME UPPP matt pulling a classic move yelling and running after her, “Julie!!!!!”

“It’s all gonna be okay, all right? We’ll figure it out.” As they’re in the street?? With the I love yous and a truck honking?? Are you kidding me? How romantic...and then she has to get back in the car and drive away oh my HEART the romantic angst!

The episode ending in Matt watching her car drive away from him!!!! Art!

#maria watches friday night lights #mine #matt x julie #friday night lights 5x09

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msbluebell · 5 years

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Since you have done the Eagles, how do you think that the Deer will react to this new of Byleth being captive? Like I said, I can see Lorenz betraying the empire after have learning it (not that he was very faithful to Edelgard since he was kinda forced to work for the empire) for join Claude and telling him. Claude likes Byleth, in the BL route so...

The Golden Deer have a less mixed reaction to Byleth’s imprisonment. They’re all outraged.

Claude isn’t surprised, per se, political prisoners are a dime a dozen and Edelgard always had an obsession with Teach. Still, it’s the intent behind it more than anything…and it’s pretty unromantic and creepy if wooing the Teach is what Edelgard was going for. Not only that, but political prisoners are usually treated very well, being important nobility and whatnot. They’re usually free to roam the castle or something as long as they’re guarded. Teach was never nobility, but there’s no denying their importance either, and they’re very clearly related to Rhea in some way. They should have, at the very lest, been under house arrested rather than locked in isolation. Prisoners of War aren’t treated as nice, he knows that, so technically Teach is lucky, but still…it’s a whole lot different when it’s someone you know. It’s kinda gross what’s happening, and it’s seriously making him reconsider prisoner treatment and whether it needs to be reformed.

Hilda is probably the least surprised of the bunch. She was pretty sure Byleth was dead, but never gave stock to it without a body or something. She is utterly unsurprised because, heelllllllloooooo, Eddie has always been crazy guys. Did you guys not remember that crazy stuff she said before the Mock Battle? Clearly she has always been a werido. And everyone knows she was super jealous Byleth ended up teaching the Blue Lions. It totally makes sense she’d lock Byleth up in a tower like some kind of fairytale princess.

Leonie is the most outraged of all, even if Byleth and Leonie never got any support convos. Byleth is Captain Jeralt’s child, his ONLY child. Everyone knew Captain Jeralt loved Byleth more than anything (and oh, how jealous that used to make her), and knowing they were treated like this is an outrage. Not only that, but the people who were responsible for KILLING the Captain kidnapped his child and held them in isolation? It’s an outrage, it’s insulting, it’s downright unforgivable. She’s harbored guilt for years that the Captain’s kid died mere months later, and now she’s learning they’ve been locked away? It takes most of the other Golden Deer to keep her from storming out and staging a rescue right then and there. She cools down after a bit, but even mentioning the situation gets her blood boiling again. She vows to get Byleth out and make sure something like this never happens again.

Raphael isn’t a noble, he’s from a merchant family. He doesn’t care how Prisoners of War are normally treated. All he knows is that a former teacher got locked up for years by the lady that started this whole war in the first place. It ain’t right. Teach was strong, and pretty nice, a little weird, but helpful and nice and important to a lot of people. They didn’t do anything wrong, so why do they have to be locked up like that? He can’t help but think of if this happened to his sister, and how furious he would be. He’s not about to storm the place like Leonie is ready to, but he does think a rescue mission should be added to their plans.

Ignaz is also from a merchant family and a bit more liberal on the issue. He knows, objectively, that the processor is better off alive and relatively taken care of than dead, but it’s still wrong in his humble opinion. Especially hearing rumors of Dimitri’s infamous breakdown. While rescuing the teacher shouldn’t be the first priority right now, it is something he would very much like to help with if he can, and the professor would make an invaluable ally.

Lorenz is most likely the one who figured out first, working for the Empire and whatnot. He’s…surprised…to say the least, when the information is slipped to him. Actually, he’s aghast. The professor may be a commoner, but it doesn’t seem befitting to treat them in such a…unfit manner. No one could argue the professor’s importance, of course, or their power, but even if they’re a prisoner seems to him that they should at least be free to roam the tower. And that their imprisonment should have been publicly announced. The point of a political prisoner is so that no one would dare attack the Empire due to the harm that would come to them….unless…unless they’re not a prisoner for political purposes…the though unsettles him deeply.

Lysithea is horrified. She knows what it’s like to be locked up like that, and she never wanted it to happen to anyone. She doesn’t care how well Byleth is being treated, it’s unforgivable to her. They kept Byleth locked away from friends and loved ones for years, years Byleth could have spend with them, wasting valuable time they could have spent together. Edelgard let them all think Byleth was dead! People mourned. Hope was lost for some. It’s absolutely sickening.

Marianne is horrified as well. She couldn’t imagine life without the chirping of birds or the soft fur of a kitten beneath her hand. It seems too cruel to lock away anyone like that, let alone a former teacher she remembers kindly of, and let alone someone so clearly blessed by the Goddess. It’s a sin, pure and simple, and she hopes they can free Byleth as soon as possible.

#fe3h #Captured AU #Golden Deer #byleth eisner #Byleth #asks

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return-of-a-space-cowboy · 4 years

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Loves me loves me not pt1

(yandere Narancia x female reader)

You woke up in the middle of the street, late at night.

"What the fuck happened?" You asked yourself. You felt your hands and legs cramp up, like a serious case of pins and needles. You looked at your hands and to your horror that metaphoric saying was literal. You had sewing needles covering them and small strands of string loosely hanging on your body. You let out a loud scream and they sunk into your skin, you looked at your chest to see a freshly stitched wound visible through your binder. You tightly gripped the old home made pendent that your childhood friend Narancia had made you.

'How did my life get to this, living on the street' you thought.

You started to backtrack through yesterday.

You had woken up to find £100 in your sleeping bag, brought some breakfast and went to the second hand store to buy some boys clothes. You then decided to buy a block of chocolate before heading to the prison and talking to a whale of a man who called himself Polpo. You told him that your name was Pasito (Pa•She•Tou) Roma and told him about your four years of homelessness and how you wanted to join Passioné. He gave you a rather... Strange task. In order to join you had to keep a lighter on for twenty four hours and return to him then and he would let you join.

You had managed to hid the lighter in your sleeve and had managed to get out before the fire got to out of hand, however the flame went out after

Three hours but how would he know if the lighter had gone out so you relight it. After that you blacked out and you woke up here.

You looked at your watch 11:54pm, you had been out for nine hours. You felt that strange feeling again and there those needles were again.

Suddenly it finally came to you. When you had relight the lighter an arrow had appeared in front of you and stabbed it's self inside of you.

'what fucking kind of joke was this!' you restrained yourself from screaming.

🍊🍊🍊

You eventually returned to Polpo and gave him the lighter back, which he rewarded you with the Passioné badge before sending you off with an address and a name, Bruno Buccellati.

'hope he gets a bullet to the head' you thought as you left.

🍊🍊🍊

After an hour of searching you had finally found the address, a small restaurant. That was closed. You knocked on the door and waited about ten seconds before it opened up. A tall black haired male stood in front of you, looking straight into you with an intimidating glare.

"Umm... Hello sir... I was wondering if... A Bruno Buccellati was here" you stuttered. Instantly his intimidating glare disappeared and a kind look replaced it.

"Yes, that would be me" he replied.

"Well, Polpo told me to come here, I just joined Passioné" you stated.

"You must be Pasito then, welcome. Come in I'll introduce you to the others" he said as he moved out of the way and lead you into a room with four other people, who were all preoccupied. A man with long white hair, wearing a full black outfit and dark make up on his face sipping tea next to another male wearing the weirdest outfit you had seen. A blue and white beanie, matching midriff jumper and a pair of tiger patterned pants eating pizza.

On another table were the other two. Another white haired male whose red suit looked like it had been thrown into a lion inclosure. And a familiar looking black haired male.

"Everyone! Can I have your attention" Bruno yelled and everyone turned to face you.

"This is Pasito Roma, he passed Polpo's test and has been assigned to work with us" he said as he gestured to you. You couldn't help but feel sweat dripping down your forehead. The easy part was fooling Polpo, however now this was the hard part, having to keep up with this persona that was established.

"I hope you all treat him kindly, he's had it rough for the past few years"

The gang welcomed you before Bruno sat you down next to the black and white haired boys before sitting next to the other white haired male who had poured him some tea.

"Welcome to the gang Pasito!" The black haired male said as he gave you the brightest smile possible as he held out his hand.

"Names Narancia Ghriga" he said. You went into complete shock. After all these years. Many had told you that he died from his eye infection but no, he was right here in the flesh.

You were just so overwhelmed, you wanted to let him know it was you but then you would have blown your cover, maybe it was best that you didn't say anything besides would he have forgiven you for abandoning him...

You took his hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you Narancia" you said.

"And this crabby bastard next to me is Fugo" he said as he pointed the the younger male next to him.

"That's Pancotta Fugo" he said as he slapped him in the back of the head.

"Ah, What the fuck was that for!" Narancia whined.

"Your not paying attention to the problems I've given you" Fugo hissed.

"Yeah they're problems alright" Narancia rolled his eyes in discontent, Fugo sighed.

"Hey Pasito, maybe you could help the little runt out" he asked as he gave you a pencil.

"Ummm... I don't think I could help, my step father took me out of school in third grade" you lightly chuckled in embarrassment while scratching your neck.

"Great... Another idiot to teach..." He hissed with a voice full of venom.

🍊🍊🍊

Throughout the day Narancia couldn't help but make comparisons between the new guy and his childhood crush, the soft (h/c) locks, the vibrant (E/C) eyes. His mind couldn't help but drift into memory lane.

🍊🍊🍊

Down in the fields Narancia sat looked down at all of the various flowers that surround him, he couldn't help but think about the girl at daycare. Her hair, her eyes and her smile just made his heart beat rapidly.

He remembered a little thing that he had learnt not to long ago.

'If you have a crush on someone, pick a flower and pull it's petals off, with each petal you pull you say "loves me" then "loves me not" with the next petal until they're all gone and what ever the last petal is ... Would tell you if they like you back'

So he did

"Loves me...

Loves me not...

Loves me...

Loves me not...

Loves me...

Loves me not..."

"Loves me!" he exclaimed as he picked the last petal. He flinched as a hand rested on his shoulder.

"Whatcha doing sweetie" a comforting voice said. He turned the see his mother beside him.

"Um Mama... ah..." He stuttered as a blush grew on his face. He was absolutely embarrassed that his mother may have overheard him.

"Does my little boy have a crush?" she gushed as she started tickling him, causing him to burst out into laughter.

"O- ok mama ha ha, I do" he struggled to say as he tried to escape her grip.

"I bet she's the sweetest, most beautiful girl to exist" she said as she stopped her tickle attack and pulled him into a tight hug.

"But I'll always love you Narancia and I'll always be right here beside you" she said.

"I love you too Mama, to the moon and back" he said as he returned the hug. She picked him up.

"It's getting late now, we should head back now. I'm making margarita pizzas tonight"

"Aww yeah my favourite!" He cheered.

🍊🍊🍊

"Hey Narancia, you've been giving the new guy lovey eyes all day, what's up man?" Mista said he pulled Narancia aside, he didn't answer and a small blush on his face appeared.

"Ooh, don't tell me your gay" Mista said as he sighed.

"No,no,no! I'm not! It's just that he reminds me of a girl I had a crush on long ago!" he argued back.

"Well now that you mention it... Pasito is a bit on the feminine side" Mista said as he raised an eyebrow.

"Just slap on a pair of tits and he could pass as a swimsuit model" he chuckled and Narancia's face became redder the a tomato.

"What? Are you imaging that?" Mista asked as he elbowed him

"No!" Narancia lied.

🍊🍊🍊

"So Pasito, what's your stand?" Mista asked as he passed you a CocaCola

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about?" you asked as you are the last bite of your dinner.

"No one can successfully do Polpo's test, it's a trick he pulls to make sure every member has a stand" he responded.

"But what is a stand?"

"It's an ability made from someone's spiritual energy" Bruno explained.

"Well... I don't know mine" you said.

"Did anything weird happen after you were hit by the arrow?" Bruno asked.

"Well actually now that I think of it... When I woke up I had these sewing needles poking out of my skin... And they just retracted. Also a cut on my chest was sown up" you explained.

"Come on Pasito! Show us, show us your stand" Narancia begged.

"Ok... I'll try..." You sighed as you closed your eyes and tried to summon it. You began to feel that strange sensation again and you opened your eyes and looked at your hands to see the needles and thread again.

"Woah... That's kinda disturbing..." Mista mumbled.

"What does it do?" Fugo asked.

"I don't really know... I guess I've gotta find out" you said.

"From what you've said it might be able to sew things together but ultimately it's up to you to find out what it can do" Bruno said.

"Our limo is here now let's get going"

🍊🍊🍊

"Hey (y/n), why isn't your Mom here yet" the black haired boy asked.

"Mom must have drunk to much wine again" the (h/C) girl sighed.

"Hey, maybe you could stay over at my house tonight! I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind" he suggested.

"Really! That would be great" she said as she pulled him into a tight hug.

🍊🍊🍊

Once you had entered the large building that would be your new home, you had instantly copped yourself up in the bedroom that had become yours. You had sorted out your bed and put away your clothes before laying down.

'I can't believe that Narancia's here, in the Mafia of all places' you thought. It was a hard pill to swallow and you felt that this was your fault. If only you had beaten some sense into that old bitch, your step-grandmother. Maybe he wouldn't of had gone through whatever hell he had experienced.

🍊🍊🍊

"I'm so sorry" you cried as you clenched the bars that seperated you from Narancia. He just stayed silent with a look of guilt on his face.

"It's not your fault, you don't have anything to apologize for" he said.

"I've tried to tell the old coot that you weren't the one who beat her but she just won't listen" you continued.

"I don't care about that, I'm glad that your trying to help but this is my fault... I should have never trusted those guys" he gave you a small smile as he held your hand.

"I'll just deal with whatever I get, as long as your here with me I'm happy" he continued. You sighed as fresh tears began to form.

"I'm afraid that isn't possible" you said as you turned to see your step father walking through the hall towards you.

"I can't see you anymore... My step father... He wants me to disassociate with you" you murmured.

"Your parents are are absolute shit heads! Don't listen to them!" Narancia yelled.

"I don't have that choice" you sighed as your step father grabbed you forcibly.

"I promise I'll wear the necklace you made me in first grade, everyday!" You vowed.

🍊🍊🍊

A knock on the door tore you away from your thoughts. You opened it to see Narancia, he was just giving you a blank stare.

"Hey Narancia, what's up?" You asked before he closed the door behind him and shoved you into the wall.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked.

"What are you talking about?" You responded.

"Tell me who you are, why do you look like..." His eyes trailed down to your neck, he grabbed the chain around your neck to reveal the pendant that he had made all those years ago.

"Is that really you (Y/n)?" He murmured as tear formed in his eyes.

#yandere x reader #yandere jjba #yandere #Narancia #spacy works

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miss-writes-a-lot · 4 years

Text

RWBY: Team HELL Volume 1, Chapter 6: Let The Game Begin!

As Harlow watched from his scroll as Lucio and the young Sunny Latorre made amends, he sighed, shaking his head. It was just like Lucio to get in his own head. He couldn't be too hard on him, however. He was genuinely trying to take this whole thing seriously and tried helping that Hemlock girl on the flight. But he still had a ton of growing up to do. Hopefully, Haven would help with that.

Leo Lionheart came by with his own scroll, sitting beside the tall man. "Seems to me that everything is going well with this batch of first years. Lucio especially seems to have improved since the entrance exam."

Harlow nodded, running his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, he's been doing pretty well these past couple of months. Been working really hard."

Leo nodded. "It shows."

"How are the others doing?"

The old headmaster sighed, showing him the live feed from the forest. "Well, it seems that our little silver eyes warrior has accidentally partner with Ms. Piscia. Ms. Azure and Ms. Tawny have partnered together, however Ms. Tawny doesn't seem to be all that happy about it and continues to run away. Other than that, things seem to be going smoothly-"

The doors to the hall opened and scared the absolute daylights out of Leo and slightly startling Harlow. They turned to see a young brunette man with glasses walking towards them with determination.

Harlow instantly recognized the figure and stood walking towards him.

"Where is she? She is here, right?" Cassum asked, getting up in Harlow's face.

"How did you get in here?" Harlow asked, "the guards should've stopped you at the entrance."

"Aurora's not the only one who's good at sneaking around. Now, answer the question. Where is she?"

"Harlow, do you know this man?" Leo asked, joining the two men.

"This is the guardian of Aurora Hemlock, Cassum. Cassum, this is Headmaster Leonard Lionheart." Harlow explained.

"You're dodging the question-I want to know where she is!"

"She's fine. She's already at the initiation point and proceeding on fine. We're monitoring her along with the rest of the students there."

Cassum breathed a sigh of relief, his defensive attitude disappear. "Good...that's all I needed to hear."

"Wait, are you trying to tell me you came all this way, snuck pass security, and trespassed onto school grounds just to check is she was okay?"

Cassum shrugged awkwardly. "What can I say? I'm sort of a helicopter parent. And she didn't exactly tell me she was coming here either, so I think I have some kind of right."

Harlow sighed. "I figured as much. Lucio told me you changed your mind."

"And you didn't believe him."

"Of course I didn't. From the way you freaked out when we were at the hospital told you were the stubborn time."

Cassum turned red in embarrassment, crossing his arms. "So you think you've got me all figured out, huh?"

"Mostly. Anyways, since you're here, you wanna watch the live feed with us? I would hate to have you come all the way out here for nothing-even though that was your original plan."

"Are you sure? I thought you would have to throw my ass out by now."

Harlow shrugged, smirking. "Doesn't makes sense to be making you walk all the way back home without giving you a show."

Cassum thought about it for a moment. At least this way, he could make sure that Aurora was safe throughout the initiation. "Sure, why not?"

Harlow walked him over to the bench, sitting down beside him. He pulled out his scroll and switched to the live feed of the forest, "we set some cameras and flew drones around the forest so we can ensure the safety of our students. We can switch the video feed from camera to camera."

"Okay..." Cassum said, glancing up at the lion faunus, "Mr. Lionheart, sorry for intruding and all of that, but I have to ask you something."

"Of course, Cassum. Anything."

He brought his head up, gripping his knees. "Harlow told you about Aurora's eyes, didn't he? He told you about...what she can do?"

The two men exchanged a glance. "Y-yes. Yes he did."

"That's why you wanted her here? To exploit her for her powers?" He asked, defensively.

"Mr. Hemlock, I can assure that is not our intent. We simply believe that we can help Aurora learn to control her powers so it does not cause her harm."

"Sorry sir, but I don't buy it one bit."

"You can trust him, Cassum. Believe it or not, there have been a lot of silver eyed warriors who have come and gone out of these halls and lived relatively normal lives. That is, until they all disappeared."

An unsettling feeling swirled in Cassum's stomach. He knew of the sudden disappearances of those who had silver eyes. He always feared that one dat, when his back was turned, whoever was kidnapping them would take Aurora too.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't really trust you right now. Not until I know she's going to be safe."

Leo nodded in understanding. He could understand where Cassum was coming from, especially considering everything that has happen in the past four months.

"Hey, I found the footage with Aurora and-oh...oh man..."

"What? What is it?"

Cassum pulled the scroll towards him, his eyes going wide as he saw a cat faunus girl carrying an unconscious Aurora over his shoulder.

"W-what happened to her?!"

"Guess she didn't have a smooth landing from the plane down."

Cassum turned to the older huntsmen, his mouth open. "YOU DROPPED HER OUT OF A PLANE?!"

"Relax, she's alive! And Evelyn' a strong kid. She'll take care of her."

Cassum sighed, leaning back against the wall.

'This girl is going to kill me...'

----------

"...and then that dumbass cop tried to cop a feel, if you catch my drift and one thing led to another, and I punched him in the mouth!"

Aurora finally started coming to and she could tell she wasn't with Lucio. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a magenta and purple stripped tail.

"A...tail?" She mumbled.

"Hey! You're awake-!"

"Gah!" Aurora jumped and fell out of the stranger's arms, scooting away from her.

"Hey! Hey! Where are you going?! I'm not gonna hurt you!" She exclaimed.

Aurora grabbed the earth beneath her, getting a good look at the person. She was a very tall and voluptuous girl with long platinum blond hair with her bangs and the tips of her hair dyed a light magenta color. She wore a tight magenta leather jacket, blue jeans, black fingerless gloves, and knee high magenta boots.

She was quite beautiful and also quite confused. Her hands were out and she was carefully making her way over to Aurora as if she was trying to calm down a scared dog. "Easy now. I'm not trying to hurt you. I just want to talk..."

"W-what happened? How did we get here?" She asked, still in a panicked state.

"You knocked into me and hit the ground pretty hard after you fell out of the plane. You were in and out for a while. This is the first time I've seen you awake."

Aurora blushed, twirling her ponytail in embarrassment. "S-sorry. I guess I lost control of my semblance half way down."

The faunus girl waved her off. "It's fine. Here, get up."

She grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. "I guess I should introduce myself again. Name's Evelyn Piscia. Your partner."

Aurora dusted herself off, swaying awkwardly. "I'm Aurora. Aurora Hemlock. I guess I'm your team partner."

Evelyn chuckled. "Relax! Loosen up! If we're gonna be stuck with each other, you gotta relax!"

"Sorry-"

"And quit apologizing! There's nothing wrong with being a bit jittery."

The whole time she spoke she smiled, so Aurora could only guess that she wasn't trying to scold her. That managed to make her smile.

"There's that smile! Alrighty! Let's getting going and get to know each other."

"O-okay."

"So, where are you from?"

"Born and raised in Mistral. Around Argus. And you?"

"Vacuo. You know, the old dusty kingdom."

"I've never been to Vacuo. What's it like?"

"The only way I can describe as is hot as hell."

Aurora giggled. "Really?"

"Yeah. Haven't been there in years because it was just so damn hot!"

"I may soumd dumb for saying this, but I actually really want to go to Vacuo someday."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Yup! I wanna go to Atlas, and Vacuo, and Vale! Of course, there's still the rest of Haven to explore!"

Evelyn became confused. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"I, uh, haven't really left home all that much. I haven't really seen the outside all that much."

"What, have you been living under a rock for most of your life?"

"You...could say that."

Aurora looked down at her wrists, a smile forming on her lips. "Um, sorry, but can I...see your gauntlets?"

"Yeah, sure!"

Evelyn held out her arms, revealing her two magenta gauntlets. Aurora squealed excitedly as she grabbed her arm.

"Dual ranged shotgun gauntlets with-" she gasped once she got a closer look, "with retractable claws! This is so cool!"

Evelyn flashed a toothy grin. "Yup! These two are my prize possessions-Magenta Euphoria!"

Aurora looked up, "you named them?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Everybody names their weapons!"

Aurora looked down at her two dinky little guns, frowning. "My prototypes aren't really that good enough to have a cool name like that."

"Then what do you call them?"

"John and Jane Doe."

Evelyn stared for a moment before bursting out in laughter. "What?! You actually gave them names-like actual people names?! That's fucking hilarious."

Aurora smiled, joining in on her laughter.

This...this feels good. Really good.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

The two stopped, running in the direction of the screaming. They were about to spring into action, assuming that the screaming was from a girl getting attacked by some sort of Grimm. But instead, beyond the bushes, they found a very tall girl, stomping off from a dainty looking girl.

"Come on! You heard what Professor Clemente said! Once we make eye contact, we're partners!" The dainty girl argued.

"There's not chance in hell I am being partners with someone like you! I'm going to find a real partner!" The taller girl bellowed, turning her attention to the pair, who had been staring from afar the entire time, "The hell are you two staring at?! This ain't a show!"

"Hey, relax! We thought you were in trouble and we came to help!"

"Well, we don't need help, so leave!" She retorted with a scowl.

"You shouldn't yell so loud! You could attract Grimm." Aurora said.

"Shut up! And what the hell are you even doing here? This ain't daycare! Little kids like you shouldn't even be here!"

Aurora shrunk, embarrassed.

"Please, you probably think everyone here looks like a kid, so why don't you-"

A deep growl interrupted their argument. Two ursa minors jumped out of the bushes, sending the group flying back.

Evelyn landed on her feet, activating Magenta Euphoria and cocking it, ready to fire.

The burly girl unfolding her axe and held it tightly as the dainty girl pulled out a crossbow, aiming it towards the two large monsters.

"Looks like we're gonna have save our little squabble for later." Evelyn said, her retractable claws popping out.

To seem useful, Aurora pulled out her two dinky little weapons, inserting two fire dust crystals in to add some extra fire power.

"Alright, Hem," Evelyn said, smiling, "let's see what you've got!"

"R-right!"

Aurora gripped her little guns, shaking in her boots as she dug her feet into the ground.

'Looks like I'm gonna have to take it til I make it! So let's go!'

#rwby #my writing #bri writes #rwby oc #rwby team hell #leticia tawny #aurelia azure #aurora hemlock #evelyn pisica #harlow clemente #leo lionheart

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gallantgautier · 4 years

Note

Why do you think Sylvain is an instant recruit for F!Byleth (whereas he predictably, at least on the surface, isn't for M!Byleth)? Do you think he would have attempted to play her like most other girls he's dated before or is there another motive?

Okay so, a lot of my thoughts on this kinda sorta tiein with the monster of meta I wrote here (regarding Sylvain’s positive traits)and here (regarding his flaws.) I’m not gunna get into the nitty gritty ofthose simply on the basis that they’re linked right there for your readingpleasure – though I’m pretty sure most of you have read those already – but thereare two key factors that come from those essays.

First – Sylvain’s lack of trust in people and how slow he isto form strong bonds with other people.

Second – How much he cares for those close to him and howdeeply his loyalty runs.

These two character traits are the cornerstone of my argumentsregarding the recruitment conditions Byleth has for Sylvain. Let’s talk aboutM!Byleth first, as his conditions reflect these really well.

In order to recruit Sylvain while playing as M!Byleth, you’rerequired to have a C rank in Reason and 25+ Charm, without new game+, thesestats can be somewhat of a hassle to achieve, particularly the Charm stat. Now,we can talk about how these stats are required because they reflect Sylvain’spersonality, he has a budding talent in Reason as well as showing interest inthe subject in his supports with Annette. It could also be argued, possibly,that a solid grasp of Reason shows academic intelligence, much like how havinga high qualification in a subject such as chemistry or physics might give youan upper hand on your resume even if the job you’re applying for isn’t ineither of those fields. Regarding Charm, perhaps Sylvain requires this statbecause he wants to follow someone who is just as charming as he is. So, atsurface level, these stats make sense, he won’t leave the Blue Lions behind forjust anyone, they have to be someone he’d deem worth following.

But when we consider his threat in his B support, then addon how difficult it can be to raise your charm stat so high in the early game,I posit that he intentionally has requirement stats that aren’t easy to obtainon the grounds that he doesn’t particularly want to follow Byleth.

Now, all that said, you’d think the fact that he’s aninstant recruit for F!Byleth blows all that out of the water. Except, it reallydoesn’t.

It’s easy to laugh and joke about how Sylvain will joinF!Byleth for ‘two very big reasons’ (haha) or the fact that she has a prettyface, killer legs, or is just female. But, when we consider that Sylvaindoesn’t even really like the women he flirts with, how much his friendsmean to him and so much other stuff we’ve talked about at length, it seems theinstant recruit itself rather than my previous deductions is what’scontradictory.

Except that isn’t the case either.

Anyone would believe Sylvain would up and leave his Housefor a skirt to chase, especially when that skirt comes in the form of a pair ofvery short shorts belonging to a woman has hot as Byleth, and that’s exactlywhat Sylvain wants you to think. No one would ever question it, and that playsright into his hands so that he can get closer to her in order to make his Bsupport threat.

Yeah.

Now, Sylvain does change his tune by the time the timeskipand his A support rolls around. Despite his flaws, he is a kind andconsiderate man, and eventually Byleth does become someone he cares for,further evidenced in his monastery lines in the Crimson Flower route where wesee how little he thinks of Edelgard and Hubert – he’s clearly there forByleth. (I have other headcannons on this matter, but the game itself doesn’treflect it on the grounds that it has to work no matter who is and who isn’trecruited, so I’ll leave those be.)

Could it be, perhaps, that Sylvain is aware of this ‘darkerside’ of his personality? I think so. I have stated previously that I stronglybelieve that his threat is an echo of a threat made to him by Miklan that hehas internalised, and so I think it’s not so much that he even has adarker side to him that he hides under a carefree mask, more of a deeplyentrenched bitterness that he wishes he could be rid of that, unfortunately,sometimes creeps to the surface and colours his perception. This is why, Ithink – other than game mechanics preventing it – he never makes an attempt onthat threat, even if he meant it at the time.

#ooc #meta #Nin out here enabling my Sylvain recruitment thoughts!#not quite a 2k essay but it's fiiiiine #hotheadhero

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itsshortfurball20 · 5 years

Text

Percy Jackson, The Avenger

Summary: Percy has an encounter with Nick Fury. A year later, he’s being called on to help protect the world… again. He’s not alone in this Avengers Initiative. A genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist; a super soldier; a green scientist; a Norse god; and two secret agents. What could go wrong?

This chapter has 2,102 words.

2 – I’m Ariel’s Uncle

1 Year Later

Percy was settled on the floor, leaning back against the couch. Annabeth sat above him running her fingers through his hair while his two-year-old sister, Estelle, sat between his legs as they watched The Little Mermaid.

“I can’t believe I’m just now realizing this,” Percy said as the movie ended. “but if Ariel is the daughter of Triton… and Triton’s my brother…”

“It makes you Ariel’s Uncle,” Annabeth concluded, following Percy’s train of thought.

Estelle giggled. “Percy mermaid!”

Percy ruffled her hair affectionately. “I’m not a mermaid. I’m just related to mermaids.”

“Don’t let them hear you calling them mermaids,” Annabeth told him.

“I wasn’t planning on it. Last thing I need is my brother showing up here or in New Rome. We’ve had three years of peace and I don’t plan on breaking that streak anytime soon.”

Sally poked her head in the living room. “Everything going okay?”

“Just finished the Little Mermaid.”

“I seed fish.” Estelle clapped her hands together.

“Saw,” Sally gently corrected. “I saw fish.”

“I seed fish.”

“It’s a pointless battle, Mom.” Percy picked Estelle up and settled her on his hip, gently bounding her. “Wanna join us for a round of Go Fish? We were just about to play.”

Sally frowned. “Actually, I have to run out for a while. And Paul’s still with his friends. Could you watch Estelle for a little while? Maybe take her to the aquarium.”

“The aquarium?” Percy looked affronted.

Annabeth was to quick soothe him. “It’s not like Phorcys. That was cruel, but at an aquarium, fish don’t have to worry about finding food, shelter, or predators. They’re taken care of.” Percy looked skeptical but nodded.

“Thanks guys.” Sally thanked them before grabbing her purse and rushing out.

Estelle grabbed Percy’s hair, yanking hard. Percy gently detangled his hair from his baby sister’s grip. “You wanna go to an aquarium?” He asked, inadvertently taking on a baby voice. Estelle nodded eagerly. Percy sighed, clearly having been hoping for a different. “Seems I’m out-numbered. Shall we?” He held out his hand to Annabeth.

She took it with a smile. “We shall.”

\~*~/

It was a lovely day out. The aquarium wasn’t too crowded as Percy pulled the wagon behind him. Estelle liked the wagon a lot better than she ever did the stroller, mostly because of the noises Percy would sometimes make as he ran with the wagon. Annabeth walked beside the wagon, pointing to all the fish, and making sure Estelle didn’t fall out of the wagon while it was moving.

As soon as they had entered the building, thousands of voices filled Percy’s head. Son of Sea God. Son of Sea God. When they walked by tanks, the fish gravitated towards him. Annabeth found it funny to watch the fish crowding one another to see Percy.

The aquarium, Percy decided, wasn’t too bad. He soon found himself pointing out the different fishes to Estelle. “That’s a Moorish Idol,” Percy told them as they passed a particular tank filled with colorful fish. “They’re omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and animals.” He pointed at another fish. “That’s a black-tailed humbug. They’re more aggressive than other fish, but they’re usually only three to four inches long.” Percy turned back to Annabeth who was staring at him. “What?”

”You just became a walking fish encyclopedia.” Annabeth pointed out. “Honestly, you have a collection of some of the best and weirdest powers ever.”

He chuckled. “I guess. Having my own hurricane? That’s cool. Knowing every fishes’ mating season, not so much.” Percy turned back to Estelle who was standing up. She had her hands pressed against the glass; eyes wide as she watched all the different fish swim by her.

Percy smiled. He turned to the nearest fish.

What’s your name? He asked a Cherub Angelfish, a little blue fish swimming around the coral implants.

My name is Phil, my lord.

Well Phil, do you think you could do me a favor?

Phil swam in a circle excitedly. Of course, my lord. I would be honored.

Do you think you could swim in front of my baby sister? It would mean a lot to me if you did.

If that is what you desire, my lord, then I shall do it.

Estelle giggled ecstatically when Phil swam in front of her. “Look Percy, pretty fish!”

“I see. Every fish needs a name. What do you think, should we name him?”

“Yeah!”

“How’s… Phil?”

“Hi Phil.” Estelle waved at Phil and Percy saw Phil wave back at her. She continued to talk to Phil, blabbing about random things.

Annabeth sidled up next to him. “That was sweet of you.” She whispered.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course.” Annabeth’s eyes twinkled, and Percy was reminded just how lucky he was to have her. Looking around, he saw a tank filled with seahorses on the other side. AN idea popped into his head and he grinned. Hey.

Hello, lord, came about a dozen different voices.

So I’m here with my girlfriend and—

Son of Sea God has a girlfriend?

Uh, yes. Do you think—

Is she the tall blonde?

She’s cute.

Think about their babies—

With his eyes and her hair—

No, his hair and her eyes.

Are you crazy?

Percy couldn’t stop the blush creeping up on his neck as the seahorses started arguing about how his and Annabeth’s children would look and oh gods Annabeth’s looking at me now.

“What’s going on Seaweed Brain?” she asked. “You’re blushing like crazy. You okay?”

“I, uh, well, um…” Percy stuttered, not able to say a word because now the seahorses had moved onto the topic of how many kids they would have and the names of each, with the number so far at a total of twenty.

“That’s too many kids,” Percy whispered in horror.

Annabeth frowned. She followed his gaze, looking for a large group for kids that may have entered but found nothing. “What kids? Percy?”

Percy shook his head, his cheeks still very pink. “It’s, it’s nothing.” He waved her off. The dark-haired demigod turned back to the seahorses. Guys, really quick, do you think you could form a big heart?

Are you trying two trying to get it on?

No, I’m not trying to—

Hey guys, we gotta make a heart so our lord and his girlfriend can have the babies.

Wait a sec—

It was a lost cause. The seahorses were already excited and had formed a big heart, linking together. People walking by pointed and started taking out their phones to take photos. Percy gently took Annabeth’s hand and pointed at the tank.

Annabeth’s smile was big. Percy gave her a kiss, ignoring the loud chattering of the seahorses as they cheered him on. “Love you, Wise Girl.”

“I love you too, even if you are a Seaweed Brain.”

They kissed again. This time, they were interrupted by Estelle as she grabbed Percy’s hand and started leading him towards the seahorses. Percy let Estelle lead him towards the tank. Annabeth watched Percy point out different seahorses, saying something that made Estelle giggle.

The scene made her heart warm. Ever since she was seven, she had longed for a family. She thought she had found one with Luke, but that had gone south. With Percy, however, she finally felt that sense of peace that had been missing for so long, she almost didn’t recognize the feeling.

“Thank you,” she told Percy when he walked back over. His brows scrunched up.

“What for?”

“For just being you.”

Percy smiled. “Come on, let’s go check out the sea lion performance.

\~*~/

The rest of the day went by quick. They saw the sea lions perform, went to the touch pool, and got ice cream before leaving. It was only five-thirty when they left the aquarium, so Annabeth decided they should go out to eat dinner.

They skipped past the seafood restaurants that Percy hated and continued on until they reached a small diner. It took them two and a half hours to order, eat, and pay the bill, and by the time they walked back out, the sun had started setting. The trio made their way back to Sally and Paul’s apartment.

Walking down the hall, Percy felt like nothing could ruin the moment.

“Mom, we’re home,” Percy called out as they entered the apartment. Annabeth started unpacking the wagon while Percy took the sleeping Estelle into his arms. He entered the living room, expecting to see his mom and Paul watching TV together on the couch.

Instead, Percy found his mom serving cookies to a man he’d never seen before. Percy didn’t know suits well enough, but he figured that it was expensive. It fit the man well, not like the baggy ones that he and his friends had worn to school dances.

His mom turned to him, her face tense. “Percy, this man says he’s here to see you. Says he from…”

“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.” The man said quickly. He stood up and held out his hand for Percy to shake. “But we call it SHIELD for short.”

Percy froze. He had forgotten all about the incident that had happened a year ago. The demigod couldn’t believe how rotten his luck was. He could recall the terms for his freedom, and he specifically remembered promising Pirate-man he’d fight for him if ever needed. The odds, he thought, would’ve been small, not Olympian throne room sized.

Sally noticed the look on her son’s face and stepped forward. “I’m sorry sir but I think you’re going to have to leave.”

Coulson dropped his hand, and looked over at Sally, noticing her protective stance. He held his hands up in surrender, backing away from Percy. “I meant no harm, Mrs. Blofis.”

“Mom,” Percy spoke up. An awkward tension still hung in the air. “It’s fine.” It’s not. He handed Estelle to his mom, who squirmed a little before falling back asleep. “Here, we wore her out for you. Ask Annabeth for the bag from the gift shop, there should be a stuffed animal in there that we bought for her.”

Sally hesitated, staring at Percy for another moment, wanting an explanation but not pressing for one at the moment. She gave the man a quick glance before exiting the room. The man lowered his arms. “Sorry to bother you like this, but we need your help.” The man held out his hand for a second time. “Agent Coulson.”

“Percy Jackson—” Percy shook the man’s hand. “—but I’m sure you already knew that. Your group seems like the ‘stalker’ type. Except less Facebook and more personal.” He dropped the other man's hand and heaved out a sigh. “So Pirate guy has a fight?”

If Coulson was amused by Percy’s nickname for the serious director, he didn’t let it show. ��This isn’t just a matter of national security,” he said casually like it was something he experienced every day, and coming from his line of work, it easily could’ve been. “The stake of the whole world, and possibly more, is on the line right now.”

“Am I doing this by myself or…”

“You’ll be part of a team. You specifically will be out there in the fighting.” Coulson handed him a small packet. Percy was surprised to find it in Greek. He quickly flipped through a couple of pages, seeing lots of words and not enough pictures. The pictures he did see varied—one featured a man-shaped suit of red and gold armor; another featured a huge green monster.

“Please don’t tell me I’ll have to wear a suit.” Percy pointed to a picture of a man wearing a tight red, white and blue suit with a shield. “I’m just saying this now, I don’t do the whole spandex thing.”

This time, Percy got a smile out of Coulson. “Duly noted.” The agent’s phone beeped. “Hang on a sec,” he pulled the phone out answered. “You get him? I’m on my way now, just finishing up with… okay.” He pulled the phone away.

“You have somewhere else you need to be?” Percy asked, gesturing to the phone.

Coulson nodded. “It was nice meeting you. And tell your mother I said thank you for the cookies however… blue they were.” The man was gone a second later. As soon as the apartment door closed, Annabeth and Sally peaked their heads out of Estelle’s nursery.

“Care to explain what that was?” Annabeth asked.

Percy swallowed, turning to his confused girlfriend and mom. “Surprise.” He said weakly.

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