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cultofdixon · 7 months

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In a past life it was yours, the present is mine

Daryl Dixon • She/Her Pronouns • At the line up it was revealed your family history, in the future it won’t be used against you, but for now? You have to change the problem from the inside out or all those you love will perish • ANGST/SFW • TW: Past Mental Abuse / PTSD / Trauma / Anxiety / Canon Violence / Depression • Canon re-written

Requested by: Anon

“Well, let’s meet the man shall we?” The right hand to the mystery man says with a smirk as he approaches the RV.

The archer turns to his other half seeing her keep a calm exterior even if the inner feelings spilled in tears.

I’ll always keep you safe Y/N Daryl mouths to her watching her nod smiling through the tears as both of their attention snapped back to what’s in front of them.

As the tension grew in the woods and the creek of the RV door opens followed by whistling that drove chills down their backs. The man stepped out and instantly locked eyes with the archer’s partner, standing there for too long as neither of them said a word. Until a smirk brought itself on his face as he grabs his right hand by the collar pulling him close to tell him something.

Then you know the rest…

As Negan drags Rick into the RV after killing two of their own. Abraham and Glenn. The right hand that is named Simon approaches the group as the vehicle disappears.

“Take the girl” Simon states watching two saviors come up behind Y/N grabbing her by the arms. “Take the hits and scratches, guys. She’s just a little thing anyway”

“Wait WAIT!” Maggie yells watching her friend getting taken as Daryl tried rising to his feet again when Dwight hit him in the back of the head with the blunt end of his crossbow.

Y/N froze watching such as it made it easier to drag her body to one of the trucks. The bigger man out of the two practically tossed her into the back of the van and was immediately pistol whipped by Simon.

“Best I do somethin’ before boss man puts a bullet in your head” Simon scoffs shutting the doors after pushing the guy of the way. “Take her back to the Sanctuary. She don’t need to see what else the man’s gotta do”

And with that the van left, leaving the group confused…Maggie hurt even further and Daryl livid. They didn’t understand why Negan ordered such to happen. Hell they don’t even know when that was ordered. His hushed side conversations were so short because he had other business to attend to.

How…how could he

How could he do this

To me

The drive was long, at least it felt like such. Y/N didn’t know where she was going or who else she would be dealing with but during the unknown period she simply cried. Cried over her deceased family and over the fear of losing the man she loves.

Soon the doors to the back opened and no one was forcing her out of the vehicle until a blond woman came. She grabbed Y/N by the arm and let the girl scratch at her or try to pull away but the grip she had on her? Good luck.

“Where are you taking me?!”

Nothing

“I demand to know!”

Again, nothing

“What is he going to do to my family?!” Y/N snaps before getting shoved in a room as the woman stood at the door a second.

“Family? This is your family, dollface” and the door shut, locking from the other side.

Y/N immediately went toward the door and started pounding against it, screaming out for anyone to let her out. Then she started to look for something to pick the lock with but as she searched the room she was in…it took a second to realize it was a room and not a cell. She decided to look around in hopes she’d find something to help her escape.

Instead she was met with her past.

How come yea never talk about your old life?

I told you a lot. What specifically?

Everybody’s got a family. You never said anythin’ bout that

Guess I’m just. Never ready to talk about it

I don’t think I’ll ever be, even now Y/N frowns holding a picture frame in her hands and the sound of keys jingling startled her to grab something heavy.

When the door opened and Negan stepped through, he quickly dodged the jar of pickles Y/N had grabbed as it hit one of his saviors behind him instead of him.

“Still got a hell of a throw”

Nothing

“How long have yea been with these people?” Negan asks watching her tense and retract at every step he took, inevitably stopping. “You have no idea how long I’ve been lookin’ for you” he snapped for one of his own to close the door to give them more privacy as Y/N immediately shoved him away.

“Why”

“Listen—-“

“WHY!” She yelled loud enough for those standing outside the door, even if the walls were thick. “WHY DID YOU BECOME THIS MONSTER?!”

“Princess, please—-“

“No! You killed my best friend. You don’t get to ‘princess’ me, dad. You took me away from my family…you killed those of MY FAMILY”

“IM YOUR FUCKING FAMILY” Negan finally yells back in her face watching her cower, making him step back taking in the sight to memory. “I’m your blood. You’re my daughter and my family. At least what’s left of it”

“I was your bastard child when you were a teenager…you only cared cuz I got stuck in your care. Then you met Lucille and I was already out of the house…you cut the line there. You moved on but even then…you still went back to your old ways.” Y/N frowns feeling the tears roll off her cheeks. “Now you’re just worse. A monster that put the woman you loved’s name on a bat that killed those important to me…where do you get off”

Before Negan could say another word, Dwight opened the door abruptly which was a big no-no on his part.

“Hey we got Daryl in one of the cells. What’s the next—-“

“What? WHAT” Y/N pushed Negan out of the way as he quickly grabbed at her arm only for her to pull with all her force. He tightened too hard that he heard a crack and instantly let go resulting in her shoving Dwight over like it was nothing and going through the halls.

No one was touching her

Or at least weren’t allowed to intervene

Unless she tried to escape…or help someone escape.

The banging on his cell door gave his position away as Y/N was stopped by the brute guarding his door. But she had about enough in the moment.

“Move out of my way”

“I can’t do that princess”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Or Wha—-“ He was instantly cut off by her leg swung right in between the legs hitting the family jewels hard enough for him to drop. Giving her a window to go for his knife and threaten to cut his throat open the second those chasing her approached.

“Jesus Christ. This is your blood?” Dwight scoffs stepping back every second their eyes locked.

“She’s definitely Negan’s daughter” Laura laughs at the sight watching Negan step closer not giving a single fuck if Y/N took the man’s life.

“It’s best to let him go. Wouldn’t want to be like me right?”

Y/N felt instant regret for her actions after he said such. She slowly released the knife as the guy quickly pulls away bringing himself behind Negan.

The man stood there for a while staring down at his child while his people stand behind him in fear of both Smiths. Then a pain brought itself in his chest watching her cower when he tried to simply step forward and help her up.

A small child took her place sitting there on the floor as he stood before her in his early twenties with a suitcase in one hand and a ticket in the other.

The two locked eyes and he turned around closing the door behind him. Never turning back.

“You get five minutes. But I’m not letting either of you go” Negan frowns opening the door to Daryl cell as he was about to fight whoever opened it when he saw Y/N and Negan on the other side.

The two were soon closed in the cell for privacy with a lantern for the light. Y/N frowns looking at Daryl after just telling him about who her father is and why she hasn’t told him or anybody. It’s not like she knew about his dictatorship in the old world, just knew the man as someone who wanted nothing to do with her as a child and when she became an adult he had already moved on.

“He…we gotta get out of this shithole”

“I don’t think that could happen without a window…or a bullet in one of us”

“From how he wanted yea at the line up, doubt he’d hurt yea”

“I’m not going to let him hurt you” Y/N frowns bringing herself close expecting Daryl to reject her after finding out of her bloodline.

But the archer carefully took her face into his hands wiping away the tears that suddenly sprung from her waterline.

“He may not hurt yea sunshine, but he can still break you”

Before another word could be shared, the door sprung open and Y/N was suddenly grabbed pulling her out of the cell as Daryl tried to use that as a window but was met with his own crossbow aimed at him.

“Don’t you fucking dare hurt him” Y/N thrashed against the grasp two saviors had on her as they lessen their grip when Negan glared at them. “You lay a hand on him and I will make you fucking regret taking me too”

Negan glared at his daughter before turning back to the archer and his people keep him in. He shoved Dwight back before shutting the door and locking Daryl in there. No more words were exchanged but all he did was grab Y/N by the bicep leading her to the rooms and locking her in a new one.

________

“How come yea never talked about your family?” Daryl frowns joining Y/N on the porch of their new home. “Ever since we got here you’ve been extra quiet so I’m just assumin’ what the subject matter is”

“I just. Never experienced this niceness before. Like when y’all found me in the woods outside the prison? I had just gotten lost after seeing where my dad had lived all my life without me”

The sadness grew in his expression as he noticed hers barely shift, she’s accepted it a long time ago…but the pain will always be there.

“He had me as a teenager and my mom just gave me to him then fucked off. So he struggled for four years with the help of grandma, then one day I was seated on the carpet watching him pick up a suitcase and walk out the door.” Y/N frowns hugging herself as she kept her gaze to the floor. “It’s a mess of a story. Raised by my grandma, left at 18, heard years later he remarried and didn’t care about my existence further, his wife found out about me and met me in private…then the outbreak happened later and I went to see if they were alive because I had their address for the longest time…and all there was was a house in ruins”

“I’m sorry, sunshine”

“If he’s…still out there and our paths cross…I don’t think I’d want to be on this rock anymore”

________

Daryl kept banging on his cell door for what felt like days. Granted…it was. To be real with what’s going on in Daryl’s mind, he thought he would be beaten to a pulp at this point. Or put through even worse, mental abuse of some kind.

They’ve been treating him well?

His wound

Keeping him fed

He doesn’t quite understand it until Dwight opened the cell one night to give him a sandwich and decided to talk.

“Your woman almost ripped me a new one when I tried to feed yea dog food. She’s takin’ everything like a champ though…with a dad like that.” Dwight laughs. “Everything I had of yours, she almost killed me for. But daddy will do anythin’ to get her to smile. Even if she cries most nights”

“Why the fuck are you telling me this”

“You ain’t dead because she’s doing everything Negan asks of her. Her reward? We don’t hurt you” Dwight states before making his leave and shutting the door forcefully behind him.

Y/N laid in the bed given to her, in the room made just for her. She kept staring at the ceiling dressed in a black dress that someone pointed out was made for pointing out Negan’s wives. But that was shot down by Simon who was assigned to keep her at the Sanctuary and to be honest? Neither of them were happy about it.

“Yo! Princess, boss man wants yea” Simon knocks on the door as Y/N sighs bringing herself to the edge of her bed slipping her boots on before leaving the room.

The two walked to the conference like room and found a head on the table, an anxious Dwight, and an angry Negan.

“Good luck princess” Simon whispers to Y/N, leaving the room laughing.

The annoyance on her face grew, but immediately changed to anger and worry.

“Daryl escaped” Negan snapped the second he locked eyes with his kid. “Who did it.”

“I’ve been with you and in my room almost every hour of every day. Your GOON here doesn’t let me anywhere near Daryl’s fucking cell. Even when he’s not on watch” Y/N gave back the same energy her dad was producing. “You’re always so controlling of everyone around here but what happens when your eyes aren’t glued on your fucking prisoner. He escapes on his GODDAMN OWN”

In a split second, with no thinking before actions made, Negan grabbed her by the throat and forced her against the wall as the thud echoed in the room but the alarming sound was the crack that came from her skull when she made contact. Tears instantly started to stream down her cheeks as she held onto his wrist feeling his grip loosen while her eyes slowly fluttered open after the impact made them shut tight.

Daddy please don’t go

The leader of the saviors suddenly pulled away making her drop to her knees as she instantly pressed her hand to the back of her head noticing the blood on her hand when she retracted.

“You’re just…the same fucking monster…I’ve always known” Y/N sobbed through broken words as Negan towered her unable to move or breathe for the matter. Dwight looked at him a bit confused but a wave of concern came over him as he brought himself to Y/N not caring if she protested.

“Come on. We’ve got a doc” Dwight helped her to her feet directing her out of the room, glancing back to see Negan in his frozen state.

“Daddy please don’t go” The four year old cried hugging onto her father’s leg as Negan drags her agaisnt the carpet before forcefully shaking his leg to get her to fall on her butt.

The tears broke out as she sat on the carpet right in front of the main door.

“I…I can’t do this” Negan frowns picking up his suitcase after slipping on his jacket. “I never should’ve had you”

The pout that grew on the little one’s face as the tears streamed down her cheeks while no more sound escaped her.

“I never should’ve left you…” Negan whispers to himself while his own tears rolled off his cheeks.

It’s been days with nothing going on…nothing…not even a visit from his saviors to communities they have under their thumbs. If you were new to one? You wouldn’t be able to tell they were controlled by someone unless somebody told you. But even then, they didn’t collect every other week. Didn’t threaten anymore people.

Nothing happened. Then the radio gave off receiving static.

“Rick. We gotta talk”

Rick looks at his radio with concern before looking across the table at his partner as Michonne shared the same concern but was also littered with confusion and doubt. This could be a trap of some sorts.

While Negan may have done nothing. The group had gotten to work on lessen the Savior population (once Daryl returned) by attacking more outposts with the help of the Kingdom, the Hilltop, and few Oceanside…it was top priority while certain few wanted to get their person back.

“He could’ve killed her by now” Daryl frowns sitting with Maggie on the steps of the Barrington House as they all decided it be smart for him to stay there in case if they did look for him.

“She’s his daughter. He wanted her, I doubt he would’ve killed her…but something still could’ve happened” Maggie didn’t mean to plant anything in Daryl’s mind, granted he was already thinking of such, but it was overwhelming. When Daryl returned and Negan’s first visit to Alexandria, everyone Y/N was close to found out that she’s Negan’s daughter. It brought a lot of mix feelings but even with certain negative ones, everyone collectively agreed they wanted to get her back safely.

“Daryl…you think that Rick would hurt her?”

“What.” Daryl says sternly noticing how calm and collected Maggie presented herself after saying such.

“From what you’ve told me, Y/N and her father are estranged. He didn’t raise her. She’s nothing like him. It’s just…instead of running with fear, Rick is turning back to that scary version of himself when we first came to Alexandria.” Maggie frowns her finger tips gently brushing her barely showing pregnant belly. “I’m afraid of him hurting her indirectly. To be fair…when I found out, I wanted to do exactly that. But then I remember she’s this outgoing person who’s super smart and an amazing listener to every single concern a person may have…she doesn’t even have to know you long to care so deeply about you…she’s nothing like this monster but he will hurt her and Rick will break some part of her”

While all of such happened, the Sanctuary sort of collapsed within itself once Negan disappeared. He just left without a word and Simon tried taking his place but then the people that Negan tortured under his boot for so long, started to fight back finally. Y/N watched it all unfold while packing up her stuff and planning her route out but it came clear to those die hard followers that she’s something that can bring him back.

Which he was planning to do while he stood in the old outpost, the first one the group attacked that led to their deaths. Negan sighed when Rick didn’t immediately come into view but once he did, he wasn’t alone. He didn’t have the whole group or those who’ve lost their partners. All he needed was Michonne and his son Carl. Knowing they’d keep him centered.

“If this is a trap, the others know to come rain hellfire on—-“

“The Sanctuary is currently imploding. None of’em like Simon and won’t follow him. Whatever you want to do to me, I’ll let yea do. As long as you don’t punish her for my actions”

Carl’s expression softened hearing such as he didn’t think about that. His dad was just mad and terrified of what else could happen since Negan hasn’t done anything to them. Little do they know the shit he’s been putting his kid through mentally, and the few times physically that one would think she endured it all for her family.

“Dad. This seems…like the truth, but we still need to be careful”

“You should listen to the kid.” Negan states only for Rick to take that moment and right hook him making him stumble a bit as Michonne quickly pulled Rick back knowing he was about to do more. “I deserved that”

“You deserve a whole lot worse”

“And I’m telling you…” The man straightens himself up brushing the blood from his busted lip on the back of his hand. “Do whatever you want to me”

Before Rick could get to say his response, Carl stepped in front of him to physically cut him off.

“Why? Why are you rolling over on your back now? After you killed Glenn…killed Abraham…killed all those people just to gain superiority but we just…” Carl couldn’t connect the dots, even if they were right there, guess part of him wanted him to say it.

“I hurt her.” Negan stated watching all of them tense. “I hurt my daughter. I tried so hard to get some fuckin’ relationship back after what I’ve done in the past. But the present was never mine. Then I really hurt her…for something someone else did, and I could’ve killed her…I’ll do whatever yea want me to do, and let you do whatever you want to me…for her promised safety”

________

Daryl sat on the porch checking his bike after they had gotten it back from the outpost. He felt her presence and felt it when Y/N brought her arms around his waist.

“You alright?”

“You know, whatever happens with whatever comes next…I’d always choose you”

The archer brought himself to turn toward her so he could wrap his arms around her kissing the top of her head whispering again asking if she was okay. She was.

________

She will always want to be in his arms.

Y/N stood outside the Sanctuary or what it used to be as people left…communities took people in, die hard followers were skeptical but given a second chance, Simon ran off, and she stayed at the place that kept her mentally beaten. But with her father, the Grimes (minus Jude), Daryl, Maggie, the king Ezekiel, Cyndie from Oceanside, and those who wanted to witness Negan get punished.

People wanted him dead. Rick wanted him to rot. So a bit of both happened. Y/N watched Rick put all his anger out on Negan and every punch made her flinch. She felt the tears come but no sound escaped her. Maggie brought herself to the other side of her friend while Daryl was on the other. She carefully took her hand into hers feeling her squeeze.

He’s a monster. He did all this horrible things and even with a good like…getting rid of it all…the pain was still there but so was the child from before the hell.

Michonne grabbed Rick’s shoulder when she thought Negan had enough but she also had enough of her friend watching her partner beat up her father.

“Patch’em up” Rick scoffs turning away from Y/N knowing if he looked at her, the regret will build. The new doc that his son found on a walk in the woods, Siddiq, took care of patching up Negan while Gabriel and Aaron tied him up taking him back to the cell that Morgan had made.

It was late in the night when Daryl felt the emptiness beside him and decided to get up looking for his partner who simply sat on the steps leading to the main floor. Her tired eyes said it all as he wished she had woken him to the nightmare she endured alone. He brought himself to sit beside Y/N as she flinched when he tried to check the bandage that was on the back of her head. The doc at the Sanctuary had to shave a part to get stitches in there after…yknow.

“Does it still hurt?”

“Yeah…”

“No…I mean, does it still hurt” Daryl frowns watching her tears build up as she continued to hug her knees to her chest hiding her face feeling him bring his arm around her. “You should’ve never had to deal with that shit, and shouldn’t have seen what happen”

“I couldn’t…let him hurt you or my family…I just…the words won’t come out clear in my mind…I just couldn’t lose anymore”

Daryl watched her unravel as he didn’t let her go bringing her into his embrace and into his lap. Holding her desperately close as Y/N latched onto his person afraid they’d fall apart if she let go.

________

“You can have everythin’ and you still choose him?”

Y/N frowns looking at her father after she was forced to put on the outfit given to her. She looks around at the room surrounding her before locking eyes with the man that helped bring her into this world.

“He fixed what you broke” She states crossing her arms and holding her ground. “He didn’t have to, hell I did my best to keep my past to myself. But he loves me, protects me, makes me feel wanted…”

Negan wanted to speak but watched her hold her hand up to shut him up.

“I will always choose Daryl Dixon, over every man on this god forsaken planet”

#cultofdixon #the walking dead #daryl dixon #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon fanfiction #that took a while #four more after this then requests will be open #after a break ofc…#hope you enjoy this one

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satantica · 3 months

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first date with haikyu boys - pt.1

he’s very excited to see you and for some reason afraid that you changed your mind. so when he sees you looking mesmerizing and breathtaking, the poor boy loses his ability to speak. he nervously swallows as his eyes widen gazing you up and down. you giggle and ask if he likes your look. the only word you could get out of him is “perfect”. his whole plan of impressing you has collapsed the second he saw you. and now he’s trying not to look at you in order to have at least a small talk with you. at first you want to ask him what’s wrong but as soon as you see the blush on his cheeks the question is withdrawn. when you reach an arcade he suddenly turns to you, rapidly exhales and starts chattering “okay, please, don’t think i’m childish, i just really think that you’d like this one and…” you softly stop him “i do like it.” his eyes that were drilling the floor, now shining and he finally has the courage to take your hand. you think about how precious his genuine happiness is when he says “thank god, i’m mentally ready to impress you again.” you can’t help it but chuckle at his comment and reply “if you didn’t impress me first i wouldn’t be here by now.” and that’s the moment he becomes all anxious again and starts literally dragging you by your hand, loudly declaring “let’s make this one count!” rest of the date he surprises you with being weirdly good at every game. but every time he sees you struggling he instantaneously backs down and lets you win just to cheer you up and to give a kiss on the cheek to a winner.

lev haiba, HINATA SHOYO, nishinoya yuu, MORISUKE YAKU, yamaguchi tadashi

you try to keep it simple since it’s your first date but end up looking rather elegant and chic. you feel a bit overdressed and almost go change when you hear a buzz on your door. the door opens and he immediately clears his throat as soon as he locks eyes on you. you rush to tell “i’m sorry, i know it’s a bit much, i’m gonna change.” you turn around to walk away as he catches your hand. “it won’t be fair to let such beauty fade away, right?” he tells suggestively although you can hear a demanding note in that voice. you want to agree but still have doubts “i just don’t think i’ll be comfortable getting all these looks.” he gives your outfit another admiring glance and says “i bet you’d be getting all these looks anyway but if so i have more suitable event for you, excuse me,” he leaves your house to make a call and then as he returns he replaces his hand on your waist “shall we?” walking you to his car. you wonder where he’s driving but he answers shortly “that wouldn’t be a surprise then, darling, would it?” the car stops in a middle of nowhere, to be precise, right by the beach. it becomes more confusing when he takes his shoes off. he notices a shadow of bewilderment on your face and quickly says “you can stay with them on, i have no problem with carrying you.” the quick question from you follows “into water?” he laughs at that comment. he rolls up his sleeves, mischievously looking at you. you are still freezes not sure what to do when he suddenly speaks “alright.” within three seconds he grabs you placing your body on his shoulder. you try to fight him telling that you will walk barefoot but he simply replies “too late, i like the way things are.” he puts you carefully on the chair and his hand gently removes some hair from your face. when you see a whole restraunt table arranged amidst sand you involuntarily gasp “there’s no way you arranged this over one phone call.” he smirks obviously satisfied and pleased with your reaction “you’re almost right. originally, that part was coming after we go to museum. some wine, darling?” you nod and he pours wine as his eyes are watching your perplexed face. he sits down and immediately raises the glass “to the most gorgeous date ever who gets all the looks.”

AKAASHI KEIJI, iwaizumi hajime, SAKUSA KIYOOMI, tsukishima kei, osamu mitya, KUROO TETSUROU

#haikyu!!#haikyuu!!#haikyu x reader #haikyuu #tsukishima kei #kei tsukishima #akaashi keiji #tetsurou kuroo #hinata shoyo #yamaguchi tadashi #lev haiba #nishinoya yuu #yaku morisuke #iwaizumi hajime #kiyoomi sakusa #osamu miya #haikyu

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crystaldivination · 1 year

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𝗣𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔 𝗠𝗨𝗚

𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀

Hello there beautiful souls! With this cute little pick a card reading let’s us see what this month has in store for you and what you can do to make the best out of it, shall we?

✤ masterlist • paid services • spoil me! ♡

Check out my latest pick a card reading here

how to choose your pile. take a few deep breaths & look at each pile separately. Take your time to pick out a pile that sparks an interest or a memory in you. Come back later to it again if you can't decide.

The piles

from left -> right

Disclaimer: this is a general reading which may or may not resonate with you. Take what resonates and leave out anything that doesn't. Feel free to choose another pile if you'd like.

𝗣𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝟭

New opportunities and visions

You might meet someone of interest who might or might not become someone significant to you nevertheless they will be influential in your daily life in some way. This person would be someone who comes into your life in order to help you build structure or a routine. They will help you to reorganize your goals and look at them from a different point of view. They seem to be someone mature who can guide you along your way and who you can learn from and vice versa. This connection could develop into a great friendship or even into a romantic relationship depending on what you want to attract. Try to approach life in a different way. New change is ahead. Things won’t be the way you’re used to but it’ll be positive just like a fresh breeze of air. Be open to receive and get help from others. It’ll give you the strength and motivation to embark into a new process. You’ll slowly see this as the month passes by. Stay curious and have a lot of fun, pile 1!

𝗣𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝟮

Reflect

You’ll have more time for yourself this month, pile 2. This time can be used to go within and practice self help. Self care is very important now and needed so if you feel like the past months have been rough and didn’t do you well it’s the time to lean back and focus on your well-being . Find alignment with yourself again. Look back at what you have achieved until now and give yourself some credits. You deserve them. Meditate from time to time or journal if you like it. This will help you ground yourself and practice gratitude even for yourself. While doing so also really think about anything you want to improve or change and come up with a plan to carry these things out. A great time to rearranged priorities such as connections, relationships, work and life. Really think about what you want to do and set your intentions well. Deep cleansing in a lot of areas is indicated here. Gone with the old one and welcome new positive attitudes, pile 2!

𝗣𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝟯

Growth

You’ll be busy this month, pile 3, but in a good sense. You’ll be occupied by many projects which could help you build new stable connections and bring you growth as well as learning. You might get to work on the things you really like. It’s the time to get work done and enjoy the fruits from the hard work and all the achievements you might’ve gather from the past two years until now. It’ll be a great time with full of new experiences and excitements. It’s your time to shine and show off your skills so use it wisely and plentifully. Some of you might even get to be in some sort of high/er positions that’d come with making decisions and force you to have or take responsibilities but overall this will be something you’ll get a lot out from so enjoy the ride to your goals. I see a lot of positive energy filled with success and recognition. Lucky you! Go get it, pile 3!

𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀! 𝖨 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗈𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗂𝗍’𝗌 𝗁𝖾𝗅𝗉𝖿𝗎𝗅 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎. L𝗂𝗄𝖾𝗌, 𝗋𝖾𝖻𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖿𝗈𝗅𝗅𝗈𝗐𝗌 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝖺𝗅𝗐𝖺𝗒𝗌 𝖺𝗉𝗉𝗋𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗍𝖾𝖽 💓

#pac #pick a card #pick a card reading #pac reading #tarotcommunity #tarot reading #intuitive readings #tarotblr #pick a pile

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dabislittlemouse · 1 year

Text

BURNING DESIRE

Chapter 1

Dabi x fem!Reader

Chapter 2 is out!

Warnings: none at the moment. Love at the first sight. This fanfiction will contain nsfw themes, will lead to smut soon. It will be extremely slow-burn, it will contain angst and drama. Depending on my mood it won’t be updated too fast with each chapter, but I’ll try my best. This will be alternated between Dabi’s POV and your own too.

Plot: You are a new recruit to the League of Villains. Coming from a dark past, you’ll try as much as you can to change this fucked up society and get your revenge. But what happens when feelings for a certain raven haired arsonist get in the way?

Comment if you wanna be tagged in the future chapters. All characters belong to Kohei Horikoshi.

P.s the reader is extremely gorgeous and breathtaking (BECAUSE THATS HOW YOU ARE BETCH). The reader’s POV will come in the upcoming chapters.

Walking past the narrow street, Giran was eyeing the building where he was supposed to meet the new recruit. All he knew that the recruit was a girl, who Tomura Shigaraki had requested a few days ago for her to be found. Giran didn’t care what Tomura would do to her, all he wanted was the money in the end.

Finally finding the building, he almost stopped on his traces when he saw your figure walk out of it.

Damn, what a sight for sore eyes you were..

....

“A new female member? I’m so excited!” Toga said happily as she jumped around the place.

“I wonder what her quirk might be, since the leader specifically requested for her to be here” Spinner said.

“I bet she is awesome! No, she could be a bitch!” Twice exclaimed. All this talking and babbling around were getting into the scarred villain’s nerves. He was smoking a cigarette, leaning to the counter of the bar and a glass of whiskey in his right hand. Most of the time he just wanted to either leave or kill everyone in here, but he had to stay if he wanted to make his own ambitions a reality. Also, not that his crewmates weren’t that bad, they were just annoying.

“Why so quiet Dabi? Aren’t you excited to see who the new member will be?” Toga asked coming near him, touching his shoulder.

“Not a single bit” Dabi muttered annoyed “Now get off me you lunatic” he said as he puffed smoke from his mouth. At that moment Tomura Shigaraki entered the bar, the room immediately quieting down as he sat on the stool, getting a glass and pouring it with whiskey.

“Giran and the new recruit are on their way, Tomura Shigaraki” Kurogiri’s voice was heard. “They might take less than 45 minutes to arrive”

“Good” Shigaraki replied. Then he turned his head to look at Dabi smoking, annoyance plastering his covered face. “Do not smoke inside. Get out” he ordered.

“As if I care” Dabi replied, getting on Shigaraki’s nerves like usual and making the leader question himself why the hell has he not disintegrated this patch-work of a man yet. “I smoke wherever I want”

“Bet you won’t say the same when I disintegrate your burned face. Oh wait, you won’t even manage to say anything at all” Tomura said threateningly.

“Bet!” Dabi smirked, cigarette between his teeth as his hands lit up on hot blue flames.

“Now now, why don’t we calm down shall we?” Mr.Compress said, always so firm and mature, the most mature of them all along with Kurogiri. Dabi and Shigaraki, the strongest villains of the team and yet behaved like siblings, always picking on each other and annoying everyone. Suddenly a knock silenced everyone, as their eyes were directed towards the door.

“They’re here already?” Magne said surprised. The door opened to reveal Giran, a cigarette between his lips.

“She’s here” the only words he said. Tomura Shigaraki had his eyes glued on the door waiting for the new member to enter. It was kind of an awkward silence. Steps were heard and that’s when you entered. Wearing only a baggy hoodie which hid your beautiful body, only your plush thighs to reveal, fishnets and boots covering your legs. It felt like the bar suddenly had lack of oxygen. All eyes were glued on you, especially Dabi who earlier pretended that he didn’t give a shit. He had shared bed with many women, plenty of them who he just found them pretty enough to fuck them stupid. But you? The one who just walked in, had a beauty that could literally blind you, an unique aura that surrounded your figure.

As your enter, your eyes start wandering around to see the people that surrounded you. They went from Shigaraki to Toga, from Spinner to Twice, from Compress to Magne, to the others until....

Your eyes locked together. Dabi stared back at you with those azure orbs of his. Sudden awkwardness and tension was felt around the air as you kept looking at him. He thought you found him disgusting, shocked that a human could look like this, and he didn’t feel that surprised. Who could blame you? But there was not a single glimpse of disgust shown on your face, instead you stared in awe..and almost blushing? As Dabi kept staring back at you, kind of hungrily we might say, your cheeks started heating up and Dabi noticed that. He still couldn’t believe what he was seeing, you blushing at him. The whores he had fucked would blush because of his monster cock, that’s what he always thought.

Then he saw your nervousness and embarrassment washing your face as he smirked slightly, giving you a hint that you were giving yourself away too much. Your eyes went somewhere else, to the boss, where you decided to keep the seriousness.

“So, you are (Y/N) . To what do I owe the pleasure of finally meeting you? I really thought you wouldn’t even accept to come here” Shigaraki said in his crispy voice.

So (Y/N). Her name is (Y/N). What an angelic name to such angelic human being, Dabi thought. You were pretty yes, but you were also hot. He couldn’t contain himself, if he didn’t jerk off soon he would literally expose himself to the others. Imagine how it would feel breaking you...

“Well, first I need to see who I will be dealing with, what our goals are and what I’ll be benefiting from all of this” your soft voice said, yet it was like a voice who sounded innocent but at the same time serious and threatening. Like a little devil in angel disguise.

“Nice point” Shigaraki said. “Well, our goal as the League of Villains is to destroy this rotten society, where corrupted heroes...” and so he kept talking and talking, clarifying every question you had and giving answers. Then the conversation was finally done.

“Okay so, joining the League doesn’t sound bad. Besides, I am already being chased by the police so... at least I can give them a better reason to chase me” you smirk. Toga jumped happily around the place as she wrapped herself around your arm.

“I’m so excited that you joined! So happy! Another female in our group, how neat! We could do lots of fun stuff together with Magne, also did I tell you are so gorgeous?” little Toga kept talking and talking, until Dabi interrupted her.

“Hey crazy, you better sit your ass down and shut up. We don’t want to scare new members away do we?” Dabi said, sticking out another cigarette from the pack.

“Oh I don’t get scared that easily” he heard your voice say. “Especially not from such adorable person like her. But who might you be? You seem to be so caring about the well-being of new members?” you raised your eyebrow.

Oh yes, cocky and sarcastic, Dabi thought. That added to the flavor.

“Right now I go by Dabi. I don’t usually give a shit about new members but you seem like a kid who needs guidance” he said cockily, that shit-eating grin on his face making itself known.

“Well listen here ‘right now I go by Dabi’, I don’t think your leader would even suggest me being here if I was just a weak kid so.... don’t be surprised if I can even beat all of you here at the same time” you chuckle. Dabi sat up as he leaned closer to you, closer and closer until you started backing up. Now he could see you more clearly, that skin of yours which he felt the need to leave marks on. He noticed your blush from earlier showing up again, oh my. What a beautiful sight. He would have fun with you being around the League.

“Oh doll, you wouldn’t even dare....” he whispered as he blocked your tiny figure with one of his toned arms leaning against the wall. He heard your breath hitch, as you gulped and tried to avoid eye contact. His large hand grabbed your chin and lifted your head up.

“Do not fucking touch m-"

“Look at me...” he deeply whispered, interrupting you.

“I am looking” your meek voice said.

“No you weren’t” he said as he leaned closer. The heat radiating from your cheeks could even be felt from miles away. What the fuck is wrong with her, he thought. You looked exactly like these schoolgirls who saw their boy crushes on the hallway.

“Hey Dabi, you can be less intimidating for now and maybe just let her adjust to the new people” Mr Compress said and Dabi decided to pull away.

It took a moment for you to calm down. As you kept getting to know other members, Dabi went out and sat down in the balcony of the base. As he smoked, Magne came out too, sitting down on his right.

“Pretty, yes?” she suddenly said.

“What are you talking about” Dabi asked.

“The new member, I’ve never seen such beauty before. I bet you noticed it didn’t you..” Magne replied.

“And? Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I noticed the way you looked at each other , the way she stared at you” she said as she started litting a cigarette up.

“Yeah I did notice, what a fucking weirdo. Why did she even stare like that, I couldn’t even understand what was going on in that stupid head of hers..” he adds.

“I don’t think ‘weirdo’ is the right term to describe that kind of situation” Magne chuckled.

“Then how do ya explain that?” Dabi asked impatiently. Magne turned at him, removing the cig from her lips as she spoke.

“I bet you’ll cringe to what I’ll say to you right now, but not that I care. I’ll just tell the plain truth”

Dabi leaned closer, paying attention to what Magne was about to say, hoping that what she’d say would at least clear it up. Why did he even care for it to get cleared up in the first place? Why was he even here? Why did he-

“Ever heard of love at the first sight?” Magne said as Dabi stared at her with a dumbfounded look on his face, his eyes wide open.

What?

Dabi bursted out laughing hysterically as Magne stared at him irritated. If his ducts weren’t burnt, for sure he’d have tears in his eyes by now.

“Oh c’mon, ya did not just tell me this Romeo and Juliet crap!”

“I most certainly did” Magne answered. “And it is not crap. It is something common that happens in people’s lives”

Dabi then came close to her face, his turquoise eyes reflected in her glasses.

“Have a look at my face and reconsider your little theory again” he said as he stood up to leave. “Even if this crap is real, it does not apply to me”

Magne let out a defeated sigh as the villain stood up and left. Deep down she hoped it was exactly as he said, just for the sake of that girl. Definitely crushing on a man like him would be like playing with fire, which in the end would get you burned and ruined forever.

Tagging: @dynamars @kelin-is-writing @chaoticexistence @0graceundead0 @scftbunni @chxrryvibes @slayersins @natsuobby @freakyshibs

#B.writes #dabi #touya todoroki #mha dabi #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #todoroki #bnha fanfictions #mha fanfiction #mha fanfic idea #dabi x reader #dabi x you #dabi x y/n #dabi smut

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ochrememes · 1 year

Text

‘an offer from a gentleman’ prompts

really just some of my favourite quotes and situations. all pronouns have been changed to they/them so they can apply to anyone but feel free to change them again when you send them.

add + reverse to switch the order of sender and receiver in the actions

DIALOGUE

“I’m so glad you like it. You do have such a knack for picking out my clothing.”

“It would be ungentlemanly of me to allow this sorrowful state of affairs to continue.”

“It’s obvious you would lay your life down for him.”

“I suppose I may be induced to tell you that my favourite colour is _, but beyond that I shall leave you with no clues to my identity.”

“Tonight I am transformed, tomorrow I shall disappear.”

“I want - I want our future. I want every little piece of you.”

“I don’t want to fight you, but I will.”

“I can assure you that the three-to-one odds don’t frighten me.”

“Well, I do not mind a bit of rain. There are far worse things than getting wet.”

“I’ll race you to the door.”

“Each one is meaningful in some way, I’ve collected them since I was a child.”

“You’re just dreaming.”

“I love you, I’ve always loved you.”

“It would certainly be hard to feel worse.”

“Your stomach has been growling all morning. When was the last time you ate?”

“I find you rather refreshing.”

“Whatever could you be thinking to look so adorably ferocious?”

“Are you this charming with everyone or only me?”

“Do I look like a person in a mood to be argued with?”

“I can practically see the steam coming out of your ears.”

“So pretty, like a storybook fairy.”

“Sometimes I think you couldn’t possibly be real.”

“Be mine forever. I’ll give you anything you want. All I want in return is you.”

“I want you, I want you right now. I want you here. I want you in my bed, I want you tomorrow. And I want you the next day.”

“I have been adrift all my life.”

“If you’re going to kill me, you might as well enjoy yourself while you’re at it, because Lord knows, I won’t.”

“Mock me all you want but I am not exaggerating.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you are exceedingly nosy?”

“I have had enough excitement in my life.”

“Don’t I deserve this one little fantasy?”

“Most of the world are fools.”

“Act surprised you weren’t supposed to know.”

“Were you ever going to tell me that we’d met before?”

“I had to disappear, I didn’t have a choice.”

“I am so angry right now, that I don’t know myself.”

“I just wanted to thank you for having me here, for accepting me, and allowing me to pretend I was a part of your family.”

“We shall make new memories for you, my dear.”

“Have I told you lately, how much I love you?”

“I would have married you no matter what.”

“I had many dreams about you after the masquerade.”

“In my heart we are married.”

“Do you know one of the reasons I was so hesitant to give my heart completely to you?”

ACTIONS

[ TEACH ] : sender teaches receiver how to dance at a ball

[ MASQUERADE ] : sender and receiver unknowingly dance at a ball together

[ RESCUE ] : sender saves receiver from a drunk at a party

[ REUNITE ] : sender and receiver see each other again after years, only for sender not to recognise them

[ RAIN ] : sender and receiver get caught in the rain on the way back from a party

[ BED ] : sender helps a feverish receiver into bed

[ READ ] : sender reads to receiver as they recover from their illness in bed

[ LAKE ] : sender accidentally stumbles on receiver skinny dipping

[ PANIC ] : sender finds receiver recovering from a panic attack

[ BLINDFOLD ] : sender helps receiver remove a blindfold

[ PRISON ] : sender rescues receiver from a jail cell

[ BATH ] : sender and receiver share a bath together

[ HAIR ] : sender washes receivers hair

#rp meme #roleplay meme #sentence starters #dialogue prompts #ask meme

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onceuponastory · 1 year

Text

twisted fantasy - max burnett x reader

“Your biggest fear has just come true, This maniac’s in love with you.” - This Maniac’s in Love With You by Alice Cooper

Plot: Looking for love, Y/N takes a chance on a date with Max...and instead finds herself in his twisted fantasy. Pairing: Max Burnett (Sharper!Max) x Female!Reader Warnings: 18+ Please, this is a dark fic. No minors. Mentions of kidnapping, drugging/drink spiking, stalking/obsessive behaviour, Stockholm Syndrome, dubious consent, force feeding, violence, injuries and nausea. As always, if I miss any triggers please let me know! Notes: Happy Sharper Day! This fic doesn’t contain any spoilers for the movie, I just wanted to make him dark and give my own interpretation on why he started hustling.

Thank you so much to @lunarbuck for both helping me with this idea and for beta reading it for me!

Pulling her jacket around her body for warmth, Y/N scrolls through her phone to keep herself occupied. Hopefully, her date shows up soon, and that it goes well… especially since it’s her first one in god knows how long.

At first, Y/N was fine with being on her own, not seeing the appeal of finding romance. Yet, as more and more time went on, her thoughts changed, and she craved the thought of having someone to call hers, and to share the rest of her life with. After all, being alone for such a long time whilst also being bombarded with your friends getting married, images of true love and talks of ‘Mr. Right’ can drive you crazy after a while. So, she braved the world of dating apps. Each day, she would scroll through endless pictures of men, not finding a spark or the person she wants to spend the rest of her life with. After a few months with no luck, she lost hope, deciding her true love didn’t exist. Or at least, not there.

But then, she saw Max. The second she saw his icy blue eyes staring back at her through her phone screen, Y/N fell head over heels for him, messaging him right away. Thankfully, he seemed to feel the same about her, given how quickly he messaged her back. And now, here she is, waiting outside a fancy restaurant for Max to show up for their date. A very fancy and expensive restaurant. Of course, Y/N is still willing to pay for her half of the meal, but the fact that this was the first place Max suggested already tells her he’s well off. Not that it matters too much to her, but she won’t deny that it’s definitely appealing.

When Max pulls up in a sleek BMW, Y/N’s suspicions are confirmed. “Hey, I’m sorry I’m late,” he sighs, running a hand through his dark hair. When she reassures him it’s fine, he shakes his head. “No. I hate to leave a pretty lady like you waiting.” Y/N giggles at his words, feeling heat settling on her cheeks and her heart rate picking up. What a charmer. And he’s even cuter in person. “Shall we head inside?” Max asks, opening the door for her.

Yet, as they sit down to eat, something strikes her as off. Despite Max’s pleasant conversation, and how he orders a bottle of her favourite wine for them to share, Y/N feels on edge. Even though she’s having fun, there’s a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach. Almost as if it’s being twisted. Like something is wrong. The entire meal, she keeps her gaze on Max, studying him intently as she tries to figure out what the issue is. And each time, her mind turns up blank. “Is something the matter?” Max asks, pouring her another glass of wine.

“Not at all.” She lies, taking a drink in the hopes it pushes away her feelings of unease. Hopefully, it’s just first-date jitters.

Yet, as the bitter drink flows down her throat, Y/N’s stomach twinges again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After dinner, Max helps Y/N out to his car. The world seems to spin, and she stumbles a few times as she walks. Despite her clearly drunken state, her stomach still twists, and her mind knows that something still doesn’t feel right. She didn’t drink that much. There’s no way she could be this drunk. Something’s very wrong here.

“It’s okay. I’m here.” Max whispers, tightening his hold on her arm. He leads her to his car, helping her inside and strapping her in. Y/N leans back against the headrest, moaning softly. “Don’t worry, Y/N. I’ll take you home.” As she mumbles something in reply, he smirks, chuckling. “You’re really out of it, aren’t you?” Y/N glances up at Max. And then, something finally clicks in her mind.

“Wait. I got it. Don’t… don’t I know you from somewhere?” She asks, mumbling her words slightly. Max chuckles, leaning in closer.

“Well, we met on a dating app, remember?” The way he stares at her chills her blood. Like there’s something she doesn’t know, something sick hiding behind his smile. It’s as if he’s eyeing her up like she’s a piece of meat.

“No. Before that.” Y/N insists. “I knew you already, didn’t I?” The words tumble out of her mouth with little thought, and once they’re out in the open, the realisation slowly seeps through. Yes, she’s definitely met him before. She just can’t think where or when.

“Did you?” He smirks. Y/N’s brow furrows. She tries to push through the haze in her mind, but she’s just too drunk to even think straight. Y/N nods, her head suddenly feeling like it weighs a hundred pounds. “Clever girl.” He whispers. As her eyes begin to close and her head lulls to the side, Max grins. “I have big plans for you. Don’t worry. You’ll find out soon.”

And that’s the last thing Y/N hears.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As she slowly comes to, Y/N murmurs. Her head is pounding, and her ears are ringing. She opens her eyes, wincing at the sudden bright light in the room.

“You’re finally awake.” Max’s voice sounds. Y/N registers him running his finger down her jawline. Reflexively, she shudders at his touch. “Oh, it’s okay, Y/N. I won’t hurt you. Come on, open your eyes for me.” Slowly, Y/N’s eyes open. Max stares down at her, smirking. Y/N’s stomach twists again. “There you are.”

“What happened?” She tries to get up, but can’t. It’s only then that she realises she’s strapped to a chair. Gasping, she tries to move again, hoping this is some kind of sick joke, or her still-drunk brain causing her to hallucinate. When it doesn’t work, she begins to shake and cry as her mind and body go into panic stations. “Max, what’s going on?”

“Just calm down, Y/N. It’ll be okay.” He replies, scarily calm. Y/N feels her heart pounding against her chest, so quick and strong it could break through her skin.

“Max. Tell me what’s going on.” She repeats. Again, another scarily calm reply telling her to be calm follows. As the horrible reality sinks in, Y/N whimpers. “Oh god, I don’t want to die.”

“Hey, hey, shhh….” Max soothes. Y/N tries to ignore him, until: “Look at me.” He commands, his voice mesmerising. Y/N looks up, into his eyes. So blue and calm. Like the sea after a storm, the complete opposite of how he is now. Y/N almost laughs. After all, that was what originally attracted her to Max. His eyes. And now, she’s staring into them and begging for her life. “Nobody said anything about dying.”

“So why am I here, then?” Max stares at her once more. Then, he smirks.

“You really don’t remember me, do you?” Before she can even reply, Max continues. “I remember you, though. Everything about you.” Y/N runs through her memories, trying to piece them together. However, her confusion, combined with the drug and alcohol in her system, means that her mind continuously draws a blank.

“Y/N Y/L/N. Popular, a cheerleader… and a spoiled bitch.” Y/N gasps, fury flowing through her veins.

“How dare you say that about me?! You have no idea who I am.”

“Oh, but I do.” He snarks, coming closer, kneeling in front of her. “I’m Max. Max Burnett. Remember me?” There’s some familiarity to his name, yet she still can’t figure out just who he’s meant to be. Seeing he’s getting nowhere, Max frowns, rolling his eyes. “I used to sit behind you in all our English classes… and you still don’t remember me?”

And then it clicks. That Max. He’s definitely changed since the last time she saw him. In all honesty, he’s barely recognisable now. His arms and body are more toned, and he looks older, more mature. In all honesty, he looks better now, far more attractive for a start. But as she looks him over, there are little things that she notices that are still the same. A freckle here, a scar there. Is it really so hard to notice that it’s him?

Then again, though, it’s not like they were close friends, or friends at all back in high school. Y/N would be the first to admit that they were both part of different social circles back then. She stayed with the popular girls and cheerleaders, and Max was near the bottom of the social ladder with a few close friends compared to her many. Aside from the occasional glance at each other’s way in the hallways or discussion during classes, the pair barely interacted. Yet, she always greeted him with a smile and a hello, and never intentionally ignored him. He liked to keep himself to himself, whilst she didn’t. That’s all. So she has no idea where the hell he’s getting the idea that she’s a spoiled bitch from.

“Hi, Max. Yeah, I remember you.” She nods. Y/N wiggles her wrists, hoping that her recognition of Max is enough for her to be set free. Yet when he doesn’t move and just keeps staring at her, she frowns. “Max? What’s going on?” She asks, her voice quiet. “Why am I here? I said I remembered you, a-and I do, so can you take these off please?” Max simply scoffs.

“I can’t do that.”

“But why? I haven’t done anything to you!”

“Quiet.”

“Max, please just-”

“Quiet!” He shouts, the sudden change in volume making her jump. Y/N bites her lip hard to stop herself from yelling out in fear. As her entire body shakes, Max smiles. “Good girl.” Within an instant, he’s back to the eerily calm person he was before. Now, though, she knows the level of anger that he’s capable of. And seeing him standing there, staring down at her without another word, shakes her to the core. “Now, let me explain.” He speaks, finally. “I fell in love with you from the moment you first sat in front of me in class. You were so pretty and popular, especially in that little cheerleading skirt.” He bites his lip at that, and Y/N closes her mouth, trying to suppress her growing nausea. “And you always had a kind word to say to me, despite how different we were. You were everything I wanted, Y/N.” It’s then that Y/N notices something odd. Whenever Max talks about back then, about how much he loved her, there’s a small smile on his face. And his smile causes something inside her stomach to flutter.

“Our little chats in class each week meant the world to me, and I fell more and more in love with you as the years went by. I wanted to tell you how I felt right away, but I was too scared. So instead, I gradually worked up the courage to ask if you had a date to prom, and if you wanted to go with me, remember?” Immediately, Max’s smile falls, and his eyes narrow. “But you turned me down.” Y/N frowns.

“Because I was going with Owen.” She answers. Max rolls his eyes, groaning.

“Oh yes, Owen. The star quarterback of the football team. Mister Perfect.” He hisses. “He was an asshole who didn’t deserve someone like you. You deserved someone like me! Someone who wouldn’t demean you by talking to other girls like he would! I loved you! And I was willing to give you the world! More than he ever could!” He insists, his voice getting louder and angrier with each sentence. Y/N flinches away from him, not wanting to attract his ire. “But no. I wasn’t good enough, was I? Not popular, rich, or handsome enough for spoiled little Miss Y/N.”

“It’s not that Max, it was just I didn’t see you-” Y/N tries to explain, but Max cuts her off.

“What? Say it. Say it was because I wasn’t good enough for you. I wasn’t rich enough, or popular enough.” He spits, bitterness lacing his words.

“Because I didn’t like you in that way back then! I only saw you as a friend!” She argues. “Max, please just let me go. I promise I won’t say anything about this.” She whimpers, a few more tears slipping out.

“I can’t do that, Y/N. It’s okay though, I’m not mad at you. I was at first, but that was before I realised what you needed.” Smiling, he leans in closer. “I’ve been working hard on something for you. For us. And it’s going to make you want to stay.” Y/N furrows her brow, and Max begins to explain. “Since we graduated, I’ve become a bit of a hustler. Or maybe Robin Hood is a better term for it. I took money from those rich assholes who don’t deserve it. People who hurt those like me, at the bottom of the food chain, with no remorse. People who hurt good, caring souls like you, and don’t stick around to pick up the pieces. Now, I have more money than all of those assholes put together.” He grins proudly. And it’s all for you, my darling. I took it for you.” He bends down to her eye level.

Seeing she’s still crying, Max cups her cheek, using his thumb to wipe away her tears. His touch against her skin makes Y/N shiver, especially since she can’t back away from him. She’s powerless against him. “At first, I was just going to look for you on the streets of New York, so when I found you on that dating app, it was like a dream come true.” As he explains his sick obsession, and how he planned to stalk her, Y/N’s blood chills, and her stomach churns. In high school, she had no idea Max was so dangerous. Especially towards her. “We can finally be together, and I can give you anything you want. Everything you deserve will be yours. You can finally be happy. With me.” Y/N frowns, her blood beginning to boil.

“What, you think that kidnapping me and showing me all your money is going to change that and make me fall in love with you?!” she snaps. “I don’t want your money, Max! I never cared about anyone’s money! I’m not a fucking spoiled bitch. I just want to go home!” Max chuckles, shaking his head.

“I told you already. I can’t do that. You belong here with me. This is your home.”

“No, I don’t.” When Max still refuses to let her go, Y/N huffs angrily. “You know what, Max? Is it any wonder why I didn’t go out with you in high school? You’re a fucking depraved freak if you need to kidnap girls to get them to fall for you.”

“Stop it. Stop calling me that.” Max hisses. His fist noticeably twitches at her words, but Y/N continues. After seeing just how scary Max can be when he’s angry, she knows she’s playing with fire, but she doesn’t care. She’s just too scared and angry to even think about that right now. All she wants to do is to make him hurt.

“How dare you think that kidnapping me and flaunting your wealth at me will make me fall in love with you? I’m not yours to own!”

“Y/N….” Max warns, seething with rage. He stands up straighter, towering over her as if to show her just how out-powered she is, and to stop before she gets hurt.

And yet, Y/N still keeps going.

“Now, let me go.” Her demand is the final trigger. Suddenly, Max snaps, yelling out and slamming the table beside him angrily. The sound reverberates across the room, infiltrating every fibre of her body. Y/N yelps in fear, the sound causing her to jump in her seat.

“Look what you made me do. I hate getting so angry, especially at you.” Max huffs. He watches as Y/N shakes in fear, whimpering. “Being here will be good for you. You’ll learn soon enough.” He states, turning on his heel and leaving the room.

From that moment, Y/N is stuck with Max, trapped in his twisted fantasy. Some time after he storms off, he returns to untie her… whilst also making sure she knows to stay in her room. As he removes the ropes, his fingertips lightly brushing against her skin, Y/N’s heart rate picks up. The sensation confuses her, especially considering how easily he can switch back to the terrifying, angry state that she saw only hours ago. Warily, she watches him, waiting for him to snap or attack her.

Yet… she won’t deny that the sensation feels nice all the same. After all, there’s a reason she was so attracted to him in the first place.

“What are you looking at?” He chuckles, raising a brow.

“Nothing.” She states, moving her gaze away from him. Max sighs, getting up and running a hand through his dark strands.

“Y/N. Please trust me when I say that the last thing I want is to hurt you.” When he realises no reply from Y/N is coming, and just how frightened she is of him, his face falls. “I’ll bring you some food. You must be hungry.” He mutters.

Once he’s gone, Y/N looks around the room. It’s a lot bigger than she expected, with a big double bed, and closets filled to the brim with shoes, expensive clothes and makeup, worth more than she could ever afford. When Max said he wanted her to be comfortable, he wasn’t lying. And the room is actually really nice, considering the alternative. Yet, even a prisoner in a gilded cell is still a prisoner. And despite how nice the clothes are, the way she got here and why he’s holding her here still makes her stomach churn.

Y/N’s life soon fades into a routine, one limited to the confines of her bedroom, with Max coming in a few times a day to bring her food and water. At first, she tried to defy him, refusing to eat to fight back against the control he has over her life and its routine. That defiance worked a few times… until Max threatened to force the food down her throat so he could be sure she’s okay. As he keeps reminding her, the whole reason he brought her here was to protect and care for her in all aspects of her life. Since that threat, Y/N started eating again.

Max has joined her meal times since then, too. Yet, he never eats. He just watches, making sure she’s doing as she’s told. Sometimes, he tells stories about his various conquests as she eats, making sure she knows how lucky she is to be there, and how many gifts and riches he can give her. He does that a lot, acting like her anger and unease around him will fade, and that she’ll come around to him if given enough time. Yet, as time goes on, Y/N finds herself looking forward to Max’s visits. Being stuck in one place for god knows how long, unaware of what day or even what time it is, unable to do anything but read and sleep is so isolating. She feels like she’s losing her mind.

At least with Max, there’s routine, and a human connection, something she grows to crave. And so, slowly but surely, she starts to lower her guard around him, no longer reacting to his words with anger or fear. Because despite everything he’s done to her… she appreciates his company more than she’d like to admit.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

One night, one that feels like years away from when she first got here, Max tells her to join him for dinner. The tone of his voice tells her it’s best for her to attend.

“But I’ve never done that. We always eat separately.” She murmurs. Seeing her frown, Max chuckles.

“Well, I thought it’d be nice to have a change. Especially since you’ve been good recently. Consider it a treat.” He smiles. “Pick something nice to wear, and I’ll see you soon.” And then he’s gone.

So, Y/N does as he asks, not wanting to cause any further problems. She picks out an outfit, slipping into it with ease. The material is comfortable against her skin, and a welcome change. Catching sight of herself in the mirror, Y/N turns, looking over every inch of her body. She looks good. Max clearly has good taste. Or at least, knows her taste. For a moment, the thought makes her smile. How someone knows so much about her, and wants to make sure she has things she looks and feels good in.

“Yeah, it’s because he’s obsessed with you, and has been stalking you since high school.” The voice in her head cuts through the happy thought and Y/N shudders, all positive thoughts about this moment gone. Hopefully, this is over soon. Although… she can’t help but twirl once more in the mirror and apply a little bit of makeup.

If she has to dine with the devil, at least she’ll look good doing it.

Max arrives at her door some time later, dressed in a fancy suit. The first time she sees him, Y/N’s breath hitches a little in her throat. Max looks good. Handsome even. “You look incredible.” He grins, offering his arm to her like a true gentleman. Or at least, like the one he’s pretending to be. Slowly, she links her arm with his, suddenly very aware of the warmth of Max’s body. Being this close to Max whilst knowing what he’s capable of still causes an eerie feeling to settle in her stomach.

As he leads her down towards the dining room, Y/N looks around the house, at the castle holding her prisoner. It’s huge, filled with expensive paintings and furniture. She doesn’t even realise how much her eyes have widened or how her mouth has dropped open until Max chuckles from beside her. “You like it? I told you, the life of a hustler pays well.” He watches as she looks from room to room, gazing at her with a smile on his face. And the same thing in Y/N’s stomach flutters again, this time even more than before. But before she can dwell too much on it, they reach the dining room. Max leads her to her seat, and for a moment she waits for him to tie down her wrists. When he doesn’t, she frowns. “I told you. You’ve been good.” Max shrugs, pouring her a glass of wine.

When she stares at it warily, remembering what happened the last time she drank wine in front of him, he simply smiles once more. “Don’t worry. It’s perfectly safe.” She takes a few incredulous sips, waiting for the familiar bitter aftertaste that seemingly never comes. The wine is lovely actually, clearly from an expensive bottle. A steaming hot plate of food is soon placed in front of her, the smell making her moan happily. Quickly, she takes a bite, savouring the flavour as it dances across her tongue. This tastes better than any other meal he gave her, and it’s a welcome relief.

“Did you cook this?”

“Well… no. I thought that since tonight was an important night, I should hire a private chef to take care of us.” He answers, taking a bite and grinning back at her. His revelation surprises her, yet she likes it all the same. Nobody has ever done something like this for her before.He’s really pulling out all the stops to make her feel happy and comfortable.

As the meal continues, Y/N feels her worries around Max lessening and even finds herself smiling and laughing along with him. This dinner is nice, it’s safe. For a moment, she’s transported back to their first date, the one she thought would go so well, but turned into a nightmare. Now, though, it’s like they’re getting another chance. She watches Max as he speaks Italian with the Chef, laughing along with him and grinning widely. And Y/N realises she enjoys having another chance with him.

After dinner, Max walks her back to her room, still arm in arm. “You know, I had a great night tonight.”

“Me too. It was nice to get out of my room for a while.” Y/N agrees. Max seems surprised at her admission, yet grateful, happy that she’s finally feeling slightly comfortable around him.

“I do feel bad about leaving you in here again.” Max sighs, taking her hand and running his fingers along her knuckles.

“I don’t like it there, Max. I mean, the bed is comfortable and all, and I’m grateful for everything you’ve given me, but I feel like I’m going crazy being trapped in there. It’s just all been too much for me.” Her words make Max’s face fall, and guilt overtakes his features.

“I know, and I’m sorry. But I need you to stay there just a little longer. I want to make sure you’re okay and comfortable enough around me first.” Even though she appreciates his insistence of making sure she’s okay above all else, his refusal to just let her be free, just this once, causes her stomach to twist. Max notices the look on her face, and he sighs. “I’m sorry Y/N. This is how it has to be.” Before she can protest further, Max steps out, locking the door.

And then, Y/N is alone again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Later that night, Y/N lies in her bed, tossing and turning. Her brain shows her horrible images, ones of her trying to run, of doors that lead nowhere. When Max catches her, he stands over her with a knife, carving his name into her skin so she’d be his forever. She awakens with a jolt, crying out in fear. Panting, she grips her bedding, trying to ground herself. Yet it doesn’t work, and her heart continues to pound. She cuddles into herself, shaking as she begins to cry.

Within an instant, the door bursts open. Max stands in the doorway, illuminated by the minimal light in the doorway. “What happened?” He asks, coming closer to her. As he reaches out to her, Y/N flinches away from him. Max’s face falls. “Sweetheart, I need you to tell me what happened so I can help you. Did you have a nightmare?” She nods, sniffling.

“You scared me. Y-You hurt me in it.” She murmurs, her voice hoarse from all the screaming. Max sighs.

“Y/N, it was just a nightmare. I would never hurt you.” He promises. Noticing she’s still shaking, he takes her hand. At first, she flinches away once more, but when she realises that Max really doesn’t mean any harm, she lets him intertwine his fingers with her. “Just match my breathing, okay?” As she slowly calms her breathing, Max raises his free hand, pressing it against her forehead. “You’re all sweaty and burning up.” He sighs. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up. I’ll run you a bath.” She nods, and Max helps her up and out of the room.

As she leans into him, Y/N picks up on his heartbeat, the pounding rhythm soothing her and almost lulling her back to sleep. When they reach the bathroom, Max runs the water, filling the tub with bubbles. Y/N watches him, her body still shaking. Then he turns his attention back to her.

“Let’s get these pyjamas off. They’re drenched in sweat.” He sighs. As he peels them off of her body, Y/N stands there, her head bowed in shame.

“I’m sorry.” She murmurs, embarrassed to have made him frustrated.

“No, no sweetheart, it’s okay. I’m not mad.” He soothes, cupping her cheek. Y/N flinches at his touch once more, and Max sighs. “You got a big fright, didn’t you?” She nods. He presses a kiss to her forehead, and Y/N smiles slightly. “Let me fix it. Let me take care of you.” He whispers. When she’s fully undressed, the cold air chills her skin, and she can feel her nipples hardening. Yet, being so bare in front of Max, letting him see every inch of her naked, exposed body makes her feel like she’s on fire. Max’s eyes move lower, and Y/N feels the heat rising. Gently, he takes her hand, helping into the bath. The bubbles brush against her skin, and she leans back into the warm water.

Max rubs soap and lotion into her skin, delicately running his fingers along her skin as he does so. The sensation sends a shockwave throughout her body… but she likes it all the same. It’s nice to finally feel more comfortable around Max, to feel loved by him. He peppers kisses along her skin, and this time, Y/N doesn’t flinch away from him.

He’s here to take care of her.

To give her what she needs.

What she’s always needed.

Once the bath is over, Max hands her one of his shirts to put on. The material drapes over her body, almost like a dress. Although, it’s comforting, and the material feels good against her skin. “You look good.” He smirks. “Now it’s time for bed.”

“No. Please don’t make me go back there. I don’t want to be alone.” She begs, whimpering slightly.

“Shhh, shh. You’re not going back there.” He promises. He leads her out of the room, taking her down the hallway. As they walk, Y/N finds solace in his heartbeat once more. She inhales his scent, letting it permeate her entire being. She never noticed how nice he smells. So inviting, so alluring. She’s so consumed by Max’s scent that she doesn’t even notice that they’re in another room. Almost immediately, she can tell where she is.

Max’s room.

She climbs onto the bed, sinking into his mattress, feeling better almost immediately. As Max goes towards the door, she speaks once more:

“Please don’t go. I don’t want to be alone.” Max peers down at her.

“You want me to stay with you?” He asks. Y/N nods, and he chuckles, grinning like the cat that got the cream. “Of course I can.” He climbs in beside her, finding her hand in the darkness and intertwining his fingers with hers. As he looks down at her, his eyes tracing over her jawline, Y/N registers her heart beating ever so slightly faster, and she finds herself suddenly struck with a desire to reach out and touch Max. To run her fingers along his chest and through his hair. To pull him closer, wrap her arms around him, and kiss him deeply.

“No. This is wrong.” A voice in her head sounds.

But yet, something about it feels so right.

“You’re so beautiful.” He whispers. “I’m so lucky to have you here with me.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Y/N awakens in Max’s bed sometime later, already feeling much more rested than she ever had before. She rolls over, expecting Max to be there, yet only finding empty space. Her heart sinks with disappointment, and she sighs. For a moment, she sinks her nose into his pillow, inhaling the scent that makes her heart feel like it’s beating a million miles a minute. She stretches out, grabbing his bed sheets, intertwining the material through her fingers. She feels better, more comfortable, even sleeping through the night without having another nightmare.

And it’s all because Max was there beside her. Maybe he’s better for her than she thought. As that thought dawns on her, she registers her heart rate beating ever so slightly faster. But this time, she realises she loves being taken care of by Max. After so long being locked away like a prisoner, this brief glimpse of freedom, of care and of love, means so much to her. Hopefully, all her mornings from now on start like this.

Before she can think too much about it however, the door opens and Max appears, the sight making her smile.

“Afternoon, sleepyhead. I have something for you.” He grins, holding out a box. When she sees the lettering on the box in his hands, Y/N gasps. The box is from her favourite bakery. She only mentioned it in passing to Max one day in class, talking about how much she loved their desserts. Max passes the box over, and she opens it, seeing two eclairs.

“Max… you remembered.” She whispers.

“Y/N, I remember everything about you. And besides, I feel awful after the nightmare you had last night. You deserve something nice.” Quickly, she grabs one, taking a huge bite. As the sugar rushes through her blood, Y/N can’t stop a smile from spreading across her cheeks, one so wide it almost takes over her entire face. After spending so long locked away with no form of happiness, being given something like this is just what she needed. And the fact that Max gave it to her, that he cared enough to get her something that he remembered makes her happy after such a horrible night… makes her heart flutter once more. “That was incredible. Thank you.” At the sight of her smile, Max grins.

“You’re welcome. By the way, you have some….” Without another word, he reaches out, brushing some chocolate off her cheek. The sensation of his thumb brushing against her skin feels like her skin is on fire.

“Oh.”she murmurs, as all the blood in her body rushes to her cheeks. As Max looks down at her, his eyes tracing over her jawline…Y/N registers her heart beating ever so slightly faster. Without another word, Max leans in, pressing a kiss to her lips. His kiss sends another shockwave through her body. Hungrily, Y/N pulls Max closer to her, deepening the kiss as he slips his tongue inside her mouth. A moan escapes Y/N’s lips and Max chuckles, his laugh reverberating through her entire body. They fall backwards, Y/N sinking into the plush sheets of Max’s bed once more as he climbs on top of her.

“You’re beautiful.” He murmurs, removing his lips from hers. As he does, Y/N’s gaze moves upwards, and soon she’s staring into his icy blue eyes once more. The same pair of eyes she fell in love with so long ago. Her heart pounds, and she gasps for air.

She’s never felt more alive.

Her hands fly out, grabbing Max’s shirt and pulling him closer to her once more.

Maybe being here won’t be so bad after all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Please follow @onceuponastory-library and turn notifications on to be notified when I next post.

#max burnett #max burnett x reader #sharper

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obnoxioussmiley · 2 years

Text

An Endless Ocean

Pairings: Jake Lockley X Reader

Warnings: alcohol, angstttt with fluff, mentions of Marc and Layla, some swearing, kissy kissy time

Summary: Your friend from the bar leaves for a while.

NEED MORE JAKE LOCKLEY CONTENT jsnsjdjdjss

You knew it was a bad idea to anticipate your run ins with the mysterious man at the bar from the start. Did that stop you from going? No. Did it stop you from forming a weird functioning friendship? Nope. Did it stop you from developing an unlikely crush? Not a single bit. You knew it was a bad idea, and now you’re caught up in this whole mess. But do you regret it at all? That has yet to be decided.

Let’s rewind, shall we?

When Jake texted you saying he needed to talk, you immediately knew something was wrong. The same man who you exchanged playful banter and got drinks with, who often showed up with plenty of bruises and cuts, and who never gave any public display of emotion. It was easy to put two and two together.

So you ended up in your usual seat at the bar counter, eyes anxiously watching the door as you dipped on your soft drink. You’d usually order something alcoholic for the both of you, but you had a feeling you needed sobriety on your side for this one.

When you saw the taxi cab pull up to the curb, you put up a calm facade and gave him your usual grin when he walked through the doors. He made his way straight over, sitting on the stool next to you and waving over the bartender.

“The usual?” The man behind the counter asked.

Jake shook his head, “Stronger. Much stronger.”

It was quiet as the drink was quickly made. Slid onto the counter, Jake gave him a twenty and proceeded to down half the drink.

You studied him with eyebrows raised, taking a sip of your own drink through the straw. “Rough day?” Jake nodded, staring down into his glass. Taking the road less traveled by, you asked, “Want to talk about it?”

He let out a heavy sigh. “I’m gonna be going away for awhile.”

“Oh.” The frown on your face was obvious, “For how long?”

“I don’t know.” He replied, finally looking up at you. He stared into your eyes for a moment, seemingly debating something. “I’m gonna tell you something, I need you to keep it to yourself, alright?”

Wary, yet curious, you nodded. “You’re not a murderer, are you?” You joked. Jake did not smile. It was then he explained his understanding of his situation with Marc Spector, his alter.

“He doesn’t know I exist.” Jake went on, taking another sip of his drink. “He just thinks that he has a sleeping disorder. And this has worked, cause it lets him hang out and be sappy with his girlfriend during the day, and it lets me come see you here at night.”

You would’ve melted at the fact he spent most of his time fronting coming to see you, but you were more centered on the fact his alter had a girlfriend. “Marc has a girlfriend? Dude, as much as I enjoy being your drinking buddy, what the fuck would happen if she found out?”

He shook his head, “She won’t, I’ve made sure of it. I’ve been doing this shit long before we met.”

It went silent as you both tried to figure out what to say. That voice in the back of your head told you to be straight up and tell him. He said he’s leaving for awhile anyways.

“You jeopardize all of this, to come see me anyways?” You asked, hoping that he’d give you some of the bits and pieces of himself you’ve been trying to grasp for months.

A smirk threatened to make its way onto his face, that flirty look flashing in his eyes. But something in his voice told you his words were genuine. “I would’ve crossed the ocean to see that smile.”

And of course you couldn’t help but smile after a comment like that. It felt like some pieces of the puzzle had started to come together, yet it was bittersweet.

“So what’s changed?” You asked, “Why are you going away?”

His face fell at the question and he let out a sarcastic laugh. “They’re getting married.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Going to the bar when I’m fronting for a few drinks? That’s easy when they don’t see each other every day. But now that they’re gonna be living together?”

You nodded, “Yeah, that’s- that’d be difficult.”

He hummed, “I’ve never talked to this guy, but it’s like he’s my brother in a way. I can’t do that to him.”

After all this information settled into your brain, it became more clear that this wasn’t a ‘see you later’ conversation.

“I’m never gonna see you again.” You stated.

“I wish I could say no, but unless something crazy happens and they get divorced or some shit, then…yeah,” He gave you a remorseful look, “You’re never gonna see me again.”

More silence. The guy you liked has a separate identity that was engaged. And he can’t talk to you anymore.

“I feel like I’m leaving you all alone,” You mumbled.

He shrugged, “I’ll get used to it.” He gulped the rest of his drink in one go, “You know, that’s how it was before I met you. I couldn’t really go out and go places, make friends, get a good job or anything like that. Then one fateful night I was so upset about it, I walked in here for a drink and met you.”

You smiles a little at the sentiment. “Well, why don’t we go out with a bang then.” You waved down the bartender again and ordered a round of shots, clinking and downing them together.

Jake walked you home to your apartment like he had done a hundred times before, and you even let him escort you right up to your front door. You talked about random, senseless things like you usually did, the same laughter and smiles the whole way there.

Turning to him in the hall, he stared back at you with an unreadable look on his face. Leaning against your shoulder against the front door, you spoke, “So, this is it.”

“This is it.” He repeated, taking in every detail of you before he disappeared from your life. He looked like he was holding back.

Making a bold move, you gave him a sly smile, “Am I gonna get a kiss goodbye?”

That boyish grin appeared on his face and he closed the distance, one hand on your waist to pull you in while the other cupped your face. He kissed like he was starving and you were the only thing that could help, the lingering taste of alcohol making your senses feel numb to everything else. Nothing else mattered but this moment, these last few minutes together before he went away for good.

Pulling away, he still held you close as he looked into your eyes, thumb tracing the outline of your lower lip. He dove in for one last quick kiss before stepping away completely.

Starting to back away down the hall, he shot you one more playful smile, “Don’t you miss me too much, gorgeous.”

You smiled back, “No promises.”

Read part 2 here

#moon knight #jake lockley #jake lockley x you #jake lockley x reader #khonshu #marvel

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dumbbitchenergy17 · 1 year

Text

Mimic Chapter 43

Fighting for love and friendship can Class 1-A return their classmate that is near and dear to all of them.

Words- 6154

Izuku Midoriya x Reader

Warnings: Angst, fighting, Class 1-A vs Midoriya, just sad reader and Izuku relationship, TARTARUS ESCAPEES ARC SPOILERS

Silence filled the halls of U.A. as you all walked through them. No words were spoken between any of you as you headed to Principal Nezu’s office. Just leaving the dorms you felt heightened with fear and nerves as you kept yourself hidden behind your classmates but the refugees could catch glimpse of you believing you a ghost, a white flash or red eyes peering back at them sent the turning in the opposite direction or pulling their kids away from you. Mina’s hand was in yours squeezing it in comfort but it didn’t bring any relief from the fear in each of them.

“Principal…this was a trap?!” Endeavor groans seeing your class together having blocked the one exit out his scans over you all almost hesitating seeing your face amongst the students.

“I heard the children out and determined that this meeting was warranted. I’m always open to change based on the facts.” Nezu admits and Endeavor sighs his back towards you all.

“Why have you been ignoring me?” Todoroki steps forward to his father, “I thought…we were going to stop Touya together!”

“Shoto…your willingness alone means the world to me.” Endeavor says a look of regret covers his face.

“Well, it doesn’t mean much to me without action. Why is Midoriya the only one with a free pass?! Endeavor…you’re letting Deku and All Might operate together aren’t you?” Todoroki yells at him and the hero's lack of silence answers his question.

“Thought so…” Bakugo says stepping forward, “In any situation, it was the right move. But you don’t know the first thing about Deku…He’s screwed up in the head. The guy never takes himself into account. Just says crap like ‘I’m fine.’ All Might became the Symbol of Peace with the same mindset. So he won’t be the one to stop Deku. Listen Endeavor! You can’t leave those two alone with each other! Not them!”

Endeavor is silent before slowly pulling out a phone, “But…”

“Yo. Does that thing have GPS tracking?” Sero points out and Endeavor stays silent before tossing the device and Sero, Hagakure, Mineta, and Koda go diving toward it.

“M-mind if we borrow this sir?! Cuz…well…it’s only by chance I wound up in the same class as the guy, but still!” Sero breathes out clutching the phone like it was made of glass.

“I feel the same way…we’ve only spent a year together…but that’s plenty,” Koda whispers.

“He never opened up to us about One For All…and he expected that letter to put us at ease. That came as a shock to us.” Todoroki says looking to the floor.

“We of Class A intend to find him, follow him, and work alongside him. No matter how great a burden One For All may be…Midoriya is our friend. And we can’t very well be expected to go smiling into the future…knowing that our friend is walking this thorny path alone.” Iida says.

“It’s too dangerous out there. Law and Order are a thing of the past. Even you kids would be-” Endeavor speaks up.

“You’ve certainly matured…Todoroki! Given the villains now pursue him…and that he wished to leave U.A. I authorized the team-up. However, he’s free to return to us at any time.” Nezu says and you all are shocked, “From the moment a student is accepted into this school..they fall under our protection.”

“But what about the safety of the evacuees..? Among them, there’s still..” “A proper evacuation shelter must be more than simply a plot of land. I shall have to reassure them somehow. Our security system was fortified for the school festival though it has yet to see any use. I’m talking about the U.A. barrier. It will prove its worth. In any case, All Might also attended this school you know?” Nezu says before he looks over meeting your gaze, “And with the current occupants haven’t caused any problems or alerted much.” Endeavor turns meeting your cold gaze as you look back at him. It only seemed like yesterday when you joined his agency excited to learn more about hero work and now you lost everything an empty shell of a person.

“So, go on…do what you must to bring them back to us,” Nezu says with final approval. Your class dispute many returning to the dorm while a few of you stay back, Todoroki speaking final words to his father before he turns leaving frustration on his face. Endeavor watches as his son leave before his gaze moves to meet yours.

“Shimura..” He breathes out.

“Endeavor.” You respond your voice chilling as the two of you stand looking at each other.

“I’m sorry for everything that's-” He goes to speak but you cut him off.

“I’m tired of apologizes Endeavor, it’s not going to do anything.” You say shoving your hands in your pockets, “Not going to give my quirk back, heal my body, bring back Izuku..nothing. Just tell me he’s okay.”

His face is deep with regret and pity, you lived enough for one child’s life and continued to live more. “He’s going through a lot…more than any of us..he’s alive but well…I can’t say.”

You nod before sharply turning and walking out of the room Mina and Kirishima follow after you her hand slipping within yours same with the boy. “We’ll find Midoriya,” Kirishima says squeezing your hand.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you’ll find him..it’s if you can get him to come back is what I fear.” You say. That boy’s will and mind would exceed anything humanly possible. It would take the full force of your class to bring that boy down.

So they prepared following where he traveled until their plan was created and the day came Midoriya appeared in Kamino Ward right at the statue commemorating the fight between All Might and All For One..the moment when you really learned about yourself.

“You won’t come..” Mina says surprised when they all convened in the common area of the dorm all dressed in their hero costumes but you appeared dressed in your school uniform.

“I’ll just be a liability during the fight against Midoriya…you all need to keep your heads sharp not constantly thinking about me.” You say rubbing your arm absentmindedly tracing the scars along your arm.

“None of us think that besides if we’re doing this as a class we’ll need everyone’s help,” Kaminari says trying to convince you but you shake your head.

“I would only paint a target on all of your backs. It’s safer if I stay behind for everyone’s safety. If All For One knows that I’m still alive we don’t if he might strike and try to take One For All from both Midoriya and me if we are together.” You explain…as far as the world knew outside of U.A. and a few selected Pro Heroes, Y/n Shimura died on the battlefield her injuries too severe, and had passed. It wasn’t hard to get a few N.D.A for doctors involved in your time during surgery and during recovery. Your death record was quickly created and Y/n Shimura was a dead woman. For the few the had seen you with the public information saying you were dead people wouldn’t believe a few conspiracies despite the fact that you were alive. It was safer that remained isolated away from populated areas from the fight away from the outside world.

“You’re not some prisoner here! You should be able to join us-” “IT WAS MY DECISION.”

“I have no quirk…I haven’t trained at all since returning just drop it please!” You say ending the conversation and silence covers the room…”I’m sorry…just be safe all of you.” You say looking at each of them and they nod saying their goodbyes before heading out for their mission. To get Izuku Midoriya back.

And as Midoriya lies there the rain pours down on him letting the civilians attack him and his will to fight leaves. An explosion from the sky hits the villain right on the head stopping his quirk.

“That punk…He’s here guys!” Bakugo yells out and that’s when they all jump into action a wave of ice freezes the villain and places restraints placed on him.

“Prison escapee secured! Splendid work, Bakugo!” Momo calls out.

“That’s Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight to you!” Bakugo growls out and the girl apologizes.

“Everyone…but why..?” Midoriya huffs out.

“We’re worried about you.” Uraraka calls and Midoriya shakes his head grabbing his mask secured to his face.

“But…I’m fine. So don’t worry…and get away from me..” He says

“Wow, real inspirin’,” Bakugo cackles clapping obnoxiously, “All hail the mighty inheritor of One For All! But tell us this…are you smilin’ now?” Bakugo yells at the boy and his silence responds.

“Those smiles…everyone’s peace of mind. Those are the reasons I need to keep going, so…” One For All fills his veins a menacing presence surrounding him, “GET OUT OF MY WAY!”

“DO YOUR WORST, YOU ALL MIGHT WANNABE!!” “We knew Midoriya would be the same as ever. Stand strong everyone!”

“We heard how you unlocked the fourth and sixth! You damn nerd!” Bakugo yells out and Midoriya straight at them.

“...you all came or me. Thanks, but…” Midoriya speaks up before a smoke completely clouds their vision.

“Don’t let him get away!” Bakugo yells out slamming his gauntlet to the ground and sending an explosion that clears out the smoke, “Don’t wanna chat, uhh? You just gonna sneak off then? So now that you’re one of the all-powerful big shots…are we just a buncha NPCs to you?!” As Midoriya rushes away a flock of birds scoops him in midair.

“They said you could come back to school!! You hear that Midoriya?” Koda yells out for once in his life at the boy, “The principal is ready to welcome you back! Got that?! So stop running away!”

Midoriya shoots Blackwhip at the building pulling away from Koda’s attack but is intercepted by Sero and his tape.

“The Blackwhip of yours is kinda freaky. No wonder people are scared!” Sero yells out as Midoriya twists himself free from the tape right in the range of Jiro’s earphone jacks. Using airforce to dodge the sonic waves.

“Hey, Midoriya! I dunno if it’ll matter but for what it’s worth..remember when you helped me organize my notes and gave me tips for the school festival? You really helped me back then! It might not seem like much, but I appreciated that so much!” Jiro yells out at him and Ojiro jumps in his tail wrapping around the boy.

“Remember that stuff with Shinso, back at the Sports Festival?! I’ll never forget how mad you got…on my behalf!! So how can I sit back when you’re the ONLY ONE fighting and running yourself ragged out here? My presence is a danger to all of you!” Ojiro yells out and is shocked that Midroiya breaking free from his grasp. Flashes of the events during the battle with Shigaraki flash through his mind. All those who got hurt.

“I CAN’T LET ALL FOR ONE TAKE YOU ALL AWAY FROM ME! THAT’S WHY I HAD TO LEAVE!” Midoriya yells breaking free only to be grabbed by Tokoyami and Dark Shadow.

“Thurst, Dark Shadow!!” Tokoyami yells out and Midoriya is slammed into the building.

“He’s gotten way too strong!” Jiro yells out having been grabbed by Sato.

“Serious strength of will too,” Ojiro adds.

“Midoriya! Open your ears!” Sato yells out landing on a traffic light holding the two of his classmates, “You might have some special power but…we understand how you feel! We all feel the same way! Plus, there's what Koda said about the school! You gotta hear us out! If not….I’m never lending you food dye for Eri’s candy apples ever again!”

Midoriya hits a pillar of cement held down by Dark Shadow and metal straps come over him. “That’s fine! Eri…doesn’t need me. It doesn’t have to be me!” A mask comes down on him covering his face.

“You should know that we intended to join you in your efforts. We’ve been authorized to use our quirks to aid Endeavor and the other heroes…for this mission to ensure your safety,” Momo says looking down at the boy, the machine to make him sleep, he slams his head forward breaking the machine and Tokoyami makes his hold on him stronger.

“Enough…stop wasting effort…on me!” Midoriya pushes himself to his feet pushing forward, “Just get away from me…!”

“Not a chance, pal!” Kaminari says wrapping his arm around his shoulder with a smile on his face, “Midoriya! We get that One For All is really important but…you got something even more important in your life! Me and you..we ain’t got a ton in common, but you’re still a friend! Even if we gotta force this friendship down your throat!”

Arms wrap around Midoriya and Kaminari, Shoji, “This is insulating tape Yaoyorozu made for my tentacles..’a lineup like this might even give All Might a scare’ That’s what you said during the attack on our training camp.” Shoji says and Dark Shadow appears fully encasing the two boys.

“Dark Shadow indulges in the darkness. Repurposing Dark Shadow’s offense in service of defense…was a concept birthed by you Midoriya.” Tokoyami says.

“Do you see us as more victims who need protection and coddling?!” Shoji yells out.

“And don’tcha miss bathing?! You need a bath real bad Midoriya!!” Kaminari yells out electricity sparking off his body. A scream rips through Midoriya as he breaks free from Dark Shadow’s Ragnarok hurtling out of the building into the air.

“He pried apart the bindings of Ragnarok!”

“UGHHH! STOP! STOP ALREADY!!” SO PLEASE GET AWAY FROM ME. I’M BEGGING YOU! I MEAN IT! I’M FINE!!” Midoriya yells out his mask fallen from his face, the dirt and sweat cover his face but the tiredness clearly seen in his face. A pillar of ice suddenly appears and Midoriya slams into it trapped inside.

“What a look you have on your face…is this responsibility…so much for you that you can’t even let yourself cry?” Todoroki calls out to him on top of the ice, “Seems like a burden…you should share with the rest of us.”

“Not so fast.” Tsuyu calls out on the side of one of the buildings, “Because you matter to me. You’re my friend, and when we’re scared, we tremble together. When times are tough, we cry together. So, if you’re dead set on being some comic book superhero…then Class A won’t let you live that fantasy alone.”

The ice cracks from underneath Todoroki, “Midoriya! Did you ever think that maybe All For One wants you in this state? He might seize this chance to attack U.A.!! Running around to keep off the radar has left you looking like, well, THAT! So at least consider this backup plan! U.A. matters to you, right? You want to protect it! Shimura’s at U.A. now! How can you protect her if you’re out here? Sticking with us is a valid option!! LET US JOIN YOUR FIGHT!!”

“No. Can’t.” Midoriya shakes his head One For All cracking the ice and breaking him free, “This fight is between…One For All and All For One. YOU ALL CAN’T KEEP UP.” Bursting free Midoriya shoots into the air.

“Midoriya!” Tsuyu yells out swiping her tongue out and Midoriya dodges in midair but something attaches to him looking back he sees Mineta attached with a chain of his quirk.

“I never thought it was your power that made you awesome! I feel for you…when you were scared and sweating buckets…and quaking in your boots! Back when we found a path forward together the way you were back then!” Mineta yells out tears in his eyes. Blackwhip shoots out of Midoriya sending Mineta back.

“Sorry, Mineta! That old me is gone…” Midoriya yells out Blackwhip attaching to two buildings in almost a slingshot preparing blackwhip, 45% of One For All and Fa Jin.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Uraraka yells out coming down from above him, “Things are different now…including me!” Midoriya shoots past Uraraka far up in the air, “NOW GUYS!!”

A ramp of ice was quickly created most of the class on top of it. “Acidman! Protective coating style at 0.1 percent acidity!” Mina yells out creating a covering in front of Bakugo and Todoroki.

“GO TODOROKI!” The two boys are shot forward with Dark Shadow shoving them forward and with Flashfreeze Heatwave, the two are up in the air. Speeding past Uraraka who touches them with their quirk to make them weightless they move faster.

“You say we can’t keep up, huh?!” Todoroki yells out and Bakugo blast forward.

“BLASTING SPEED TURBO…CLUSTER!!” Bakugo yells out. There were many things he had to say but for now, he was handing the mic to a guy built for the speed. Letting out a fierce explosion their class president is sent flying into the air and he reaches Midoriya latching onto his hand.

“But, No…You can’t…! Just let go!” Midoriya cries out tears flooding his eyes.

“I WILL NOT!” Iida yells out looking at the boy, “Ingenium the hero…will dash across the land to take a lost child by the hand. ‘Because giving help that’s not asked for…is what makes a true hero.’.” Bringing Midoriya closer to him looking down as Uraraka releases her quirk the two are sent hurtling down. “How can I…stick this landing?” Seeing a faint red within the rain. Kirishima! The two lands within his arms and are sent skidding back on the ground.

“WHOA! Are you okay?!” Hagakure yells out running up to them.

“I…WON’T BREAK!! Midoriya! A while back…this one story threw me for a loop! Some kid my age dashed into danger to save a pal! That had to be you right?!” Kirishima yells at the boy as he lets go of Iida still holding onto Midoriya, “That didn’t have squat to do with special powers or anything. What you did back then…is the same sorta action we’re taking for you now!”

“Stellar positioning on your part Kirishima.” Iida compliments the boy.

“Just happened to be there while following Endeavor’s orders, dude!” Kirishima replies as the rest of the class arrives.

“Midoriya!” Mina calls out wiping the rain from her face, “I can’t stand the thought of losing anyone else, ‘kay? So…won’t you stick with us? We’ve got classes to attend and stuff.” Midoriya pushes himself up but his classmates worried about the boy so weak.

“I’d like that…but…I’m too scared for all the people in U.A.! I don’t want to make trouble for anyone else! Things just…can’t go back to how they used to be. Not anymore.” Midoriya mumbles out exhaustion crawling at him but the will to fight is still present.

“Hey. Remember what I said when Shigaraki made swiss cheese outta me?” Bakugo steps forward to him. “No. I don’t.”

“It was ‘stop trying to win this on your own.’ But I had more to say. I needed to tell you that I got stabbed cuz my body moved on its own. Maybe to the fact that your damn girlfriend was screaming at me to keep you alive but that’s beside the point.” He shakes his head, “You know I always looked down on you cuz you were quirkless. You were supposed to be beneath me…but I kept feeling like you were above me. I hated it. I couldn’t beat to look at you. I couldn’t accept the way you were.” The boy confesses all his insecurities in front of Midoriya..in front of his classmates.

“So I kept you at arms length and was mean to you. I tried to act all superior by rejecting you…but I kept losing that fight. Since we got into U.A…nothing’s worked out how I thought it would. Instead, this past year forced me to understand your strength and my weakness. Now, I don’t expect this to change a thing between us, but I gotta speak…my truth.” Bakugo tilts his head down in shame.

“Izuku…I’m sorry for everything.”

The runaway hero’s eyes widened. All his life meeting Kacchan and becoming friends with him before it changed he was only referred to as Deku or Damn Nerd or any insult he could come up with. Hearing his name come out of his mouth meant something that seemed to break the walls he put up when he left U.A. The rain fills the air for a second before Bakugo speaks again, “There’s nothing wrong with the path you’ve been walking down…since inheriting One For All and following All Might’s lead. But now..you’re barely standing. And those ideals alone ain’t enough to get you over the wall you’re facing.” Bakugo points his hand out to his classmates, “We’re here to step in when you can’t handle it all on your own. Because to live up to those ideals and surpass All Might…we gotta save you the civilians at U.A., and the people on the streets. Because saving people is how we win.”

“Besides you got one hell of a woman ready to tear the world apart waiting for you when you come back.” Bakugo scoffs. But his words held meaning..your mind had only been focused on one thing and everything including your own life was less important.

Tears slip down Midoriya’s face though masked by the rain, “I said you all couldn’t keep up with me. I’m so sorry I said something…so awful.” He stumbles forward the exhaustion hitting him falling into Bakugo’s arms completely unconscious.

“We get it,” Bakugo says looking down at the boy everyone letting out a sigh of relief.

“With that our first challenge…is cleared. But the road ahead will be perilous.” Momo says to Uraraka stands beside her and looks forward as the rest of the class crowds around the boy.

“Yeah!”

You were sat in the dorm both Mirio and Eri with you the young girl was doodling on some paper a pair of cat headphones on her head as you sit beside her a soft smile on your smile watching her draw bobbing her head slightly to the music.

“You know she could it for you,” Mirio says and you look away from the girl to the boy sitting on the couch next to you. “She’s gotten better control of her quirk. She was able to do it for me she could do it for you.”

You’re silent looking back at the girl who is drawing a picture of herself, what looks like Midoriya and Mirio in their hero costumes, Aizawa surrounded by cats, and you with your white hair and red eyes. “I…It’s safer for others if I remain quirkless..as far as the rest of the world is concerned..Y/n Shimura is dead.” You say reaching your hand out petting the young girl’s hair and she doesn’t pay mind to it.

“But in the event, if we need to fight again…it would be smart to have all our fighters there. That includes you.” Mirio says and you still look at the young girl…how her life was so similar to you but she was saved she was able to smile and now have happy memories.

“I don’t know…if the world were to find out the sister of a war criminal was alive and had regained her quirk…it would cause a whole other war over it. It’s better that it stays like this.” You say and it’s quiet before a ringtone fills the room Mirio pulls out his phone looking at it before looking at you.

“They got Midoriya back.”

You worked on slipping on a coat dressed in regular clothes before fixing a hat over your head making sure your hair was hidden as Mirio buttoned up a raincoat on Eri helping her into rainboots.

“Where are we going?” Eri says curiously and you look back at her as you finish hiding your hair she comes over to you grabbing your hand while Miro grabs an umbrella for the three of you.

“We’re just meeting a friend who’s back.” You say a small smile on your face and Eri nods a smile growing on her face.

“A new friend?” She asks and you shake your head as you go to open the door heading outside Mirio is already ready with the umbrella.

“An old friend Eri, you’ll know him when you see him.” You say and the three of you head towards the front of U.A. where a large crowd has formed the rain falling down on all of you.

“DON’T LET THAT BOY TAKE ONE STEP...INTO U.A.!!” Someone yells out and the three of you make your way towards the front but to the side where you see your classmates standing there but you still couldn’t see him.

“They say Shigaraki was targeting some kid…and he’s the one isn’t he?!” Someone else yells out and you see Present Mic trying to calm them all down.

“Didn’t you all hear the principal’s explanation? He guaranteed our safety, no matter what.” Another voice speaks up.

“What, and you were convinced by that crap?! We abandoned our homes and came here cus we thought we’d be safe! So what’s this ticking time bomb here?!” A man yells out frustration and tension high.

“He’s just a child!” Another comment. “And! That girl was a child and was still All For One’s weapon… she and Shigaraki probably planned this whole thing..it’s a good thing she’s six feet under.” Someone yells out and you feel your heart skip a beat being spoken about. Eri tugs your hand and you look down at her.

“Who are they talking about?” She says her eyes wide with confusion.

“Just someone sweetheart nothing to worry about.” You say before you bend down pulling her up into your arms resting her on your hip and she rests her head on your shoulder. You make eye contact with Mirio who is looking back at you before you turned forward.

“Why’s it gotta be U.A., huh?! Let him hide someplace else!” “Having One For All makes him a Nomu right?!” “We’re just supposed to let him hide here?!” The crowd was a riot split between those who believe Midoriya should be able to stay and the others that want him to get outta here.

“Let’s keep calm folks!” Present Mic yells out and that’s when Best Jeanist appears.

“It’s Jeanist!!” “We’re only here because we trusted you!”

“Indeed! As the principal has explained, U.A. is currently the safest place to be! Your safety is our top priority! At first…we decide to take the fight to the enemy we used Izuku Midoriya as bait in hopes of learning the villains’ location! However our search grid wasn’t sufficiently wide enough, and the operation met with limited success!” Best Jeanist explains to you all, “Izuku Midoriya may be the villain’s target..but he is also one of our ultimate resources in battle! Allowing him to grow even more worn and frayed could lead to a fatal loss! Is this the optimal course of action? No! We now rely on our backup plan! I understand why you do not willingly welcome this omen of unease…but please allow him to rest his weary body in this secure stronghold! So that…when needed…he can once again join the battle in peak condition!” Best Jeanist finishes and silence fills the air before someone speaks up.

“You losers failed…and let Japan turn into this lawless wasteland. And now…you failed again…and you’re out here telling US…to pay the price for more of your mistakes?!”

“NO WAY!” “SOME HEROES YOU ARE!” “GIVE US A FREAKIN BREAK!! ALL WE WANT…IS A SAFE PLACE TO SLEEP AT NIGHT!” Panic quickly spread as they go to move forward your hold on the girl tightens as people push past you and Mirio and the blonde clutches your arm to keep the three of you together. In a flash, someone is above you all.

“Dek- Izuku Midoriya…has a special power in him!” Uraraka’s voice rings out through the megaphone in her hand as she stands on the top of the U.A. building.

“Yeah? Good for him! He wants a break? So what! He doesn’t gotta rest here!”

“You don’t get it!” Uraraka yells out, “He left school in the first place because he didn’t want to make trouble for anyone! We were the ones who brought him back! That power of his…yeah, it’s really special! It’s a power that exists to beat All For One! That’s why they’re after him! That’s why he had to leave this place!! He left…and went through who knows what’s out there. Take a good look at him!!”

You look over at him almost shocked at his appearance, his clothing is ripped up worse than during the fighting the green uniform is almost black with dirt and grime and it looks like he’s gotten a wink of sleep or anything to keep himself healthy. Had he even eaten? He was more focused tell you to keep yourself alive but he was on his last limbs. “More than anyone, he wishes he could fix everything. You’re looking at a guy who could be attacked at any second but continues to move forward anyway. SO REALLY LOOK AT HIM PLEASE!! SPECIAL POWERS ARE ONE THING!! BUT THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A SPECIAL PERSON!”

“He’s looking ragged, huh?” “Kinda weak and worn-out..” “Yes, he’s been fighting.” A woman speaks up, “He saved me out there…and he’s been fighting this whole time..” While many seemed torn now some were still unconvinced.

“You want us to look at him? So what?! Don’t tell me..that we should be covered in filth too?!!”

“NO! HEROES ARE THE ONLY ONES COATED IN THAT FILTH! SO GIVE HIM A MOMENT TO REST TO WASH AWAY THE GRIME! IF YOU WANT ME TO STAND UP HERE AND REASSURE YOU, I’M SORRY I CAN’T DO THAT RIGHT NOW! THAT’S BECAUSE WE’RE ALL GRIPPED BY THE SAME FEAR AND UNEASE” Uraraka yells out her own fear but almost confidence coming through,” WE’RE ALL NEIGHBORS HERE-INCLUDING HIM! PLEASE LEND HIM YOUR STRENGTH…SO WE HAVE A SHOT AT SMILING TOGETHER INTO THE FUTURE! WHAT HE NEEDS IS YOUR HELP! PLEASE! FIND IT IN YOUR HEARTS TO LET HIM REST AND RECOVER…TOGETHER WITH ALL OF US! IZUKU MIDORIYA…IS TRYING TO TAKE ON ALL THE RESPONSIBILITY THAT COMES WITH HIS POWER, BUT HE’S STILL GOT PLENTY TO LEARN HIMSELF! HE’S JUST A REGULAR HIGH SCHOOL KID!”

“Yeah, but…”

Midoriya hits the ground tears filling his eyes

“THIS PLACE…IS HIS…HERO ACADEMY! LET HIM STAY HERE!”

The girl within your arms shimmy out hitting the ground and rushing forward, “Eri!” you yell out trying to go after her but Mirio grabs your arm. You watch the young girl rush forward and you see a familiar boy and the same woman who was defending Midoriya.

Mineta rushes forward but Iida’s arm cuts him off, “Midoriya…what gives, Iida?”

“This…isn’t our moment,” Iida says looking up at the girl standing on the roof tears in her eyes, isn’t that right? Uraraka?

“Midoriya!! I’m sorry I was too scared to run over here! Sorry! So sorry!” Kota cries out tears pouring out of his eyes, “But then! That lady stood up and said that stuff! I…I had to try because I wanna be like you! That’s why…I am here! Get it? You don’t gotta cry anymore you’ll be okay!”

“Oh…Kota!” Midoriya cries out before another body collides with him and he looks up to see a small girl with light blue hair. She holds his face with light tears brim her eyes, “Don’t cry remember we look after each. We save each other!” Tears pour more down his face seeing the small girl he saved in front of him.

“Eri…”

“You’re a U.A. student then?” The woman says pulling the boy to his feet as Eri stays by his feet.

“Yes, Miss!”

“Several shelters turned me away…no heteromorphs allowed they said. It was one rejection after the next until U.A. finally took me in. But, well this means I get to see you again. How lucky for me. Thank you for saving me…my crybaby hero.” She thanks him bending down and hugging him and Kota and Eri join in hugging the poor boy. The rain still pours down on all of you before a man steps forward giving away his umbrella.

“Instead of freaking out and laying the blame every which way…why don’t we take a moment and hear these folks out? The boy’s not asking to kick up his feet and stay here forever, right?!” He holds his hands out, “But supplies and good help are hard to find out there these days…so if the boy needs a break before the world grinds him down to nothing, this place is his last best bet! That’s the long and short of it, right heroes?!” He says turning to look at Principal Nezu who nods.

“Why not Shiketsu then? If they’ve got the same setup?!” “Except they’d probably react the same way over there…”

“To be frank until our world went to hell…I never really realized it myself. How I was like a spectator and heroes were performers on a stage. Once upon a time, the unmatched All Might showed us all how to be a hero. He was the act to follow, and everybody cheered him on! But along the way…people forgot about the heart and soul that made the man. The stage is gone now. The theater’s knocked down. With failure after failure heroes can’t be hoping for glory and riches at this point. So many of those folks we once called heroes have hung up their capes. Think about it. Those ones who’re still left, still fighting…whaddya think they’re fighting for? If we reject the ones still standing up for what’s right…what do we even got left? How’ll there be any chance in hell of going back to our old lives?! Sure, we’re all hurting here, but let’s stop and use our heads! How long…can we be spectators on the sidelines?!”

“Th…there are rumors of a guy…with multiple quirks dressed in rags. They say he’s either an agent of the villains or maybe a true hero. So tell us. Sat you get to rest here for now…will we get to go back to our old lives eventually?” A man speaks up fear clear on his face and desperation.

“Everyone is in this together with me so,” Midoriya looks at everyone determination clear on his face, “Yes. We’ll bring it all back.”

The door to the barrier opens and Ectoplasm steps out to Hawks, Endeavor, and Todoroki. “Did you happen to hear…Uravity’s speech? Come in and see for yourselves. All is well. At least for the time being.” The three enter seeing the aftermath of the speech.

“In the end, all we did…was cause more pain for Deku. No real progress…just a roundabout way of getting to this point.” Endeavor says a hat and jacket covering his hero costume.

“No progress?” Hawks says, “I disagree. We’re seeing it here. One For All…is a network of power that links people’s hearts. It tied All Might to Midoriya. Then class A kept Midoriya in the game. And Uravity linked these people to Midoriya. If everyone…if ALL of us are even a little bit capable of seeing each other as united as ONE, then... I see a future where heroes have time to kill. One so bright we can’t help but grin.” Looking forward to Midoriya being welcomed back into U.A. civilians covering them with umbrellas giving their thanks.

Standing in Cementoss’ hand Nezu holds a device in his hand, “This was beyond my power…but..your class achieved it. Aizawa.”

Resting in a hospital room Aizawa smiles, “Be sure to tell my class president ‘Job well done’ for me.”

The rain is heavy on you all and you and Mirio draw closer Eri tugs on Midoriya’s free hand and he looks down but she points forward and he sees Mirio who gives a small smile going over to Eri before he meets your eyes. Your eyes were tired dark circles under your eyes as you look at him a small smile quirked on your face and you could feel the piece of paper resting in your pocket burning hot. He goes to pull away from his classmates and mother but you shake your head.

‘Not now…later.’ You mouthed and he hesitates before letting himself get pulled away as you stay behind in the rain the water covers your face hiding the tears that track down your face. You don’t know who the hell to thank…but thank you for bringing him back to you.

Izuku Midoriya was home.

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#mimic series #mha spoilers #mha x reader #izuku midoriya x reader #izuku x reader #midoriya x reader #katsuki bakugo x reader #shoto todoroki x reader #shota aizawa #tomura shigaraki

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silverfoxstole · 9 months

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NotD coat progress report, after three days and a lot of backache! My body likes to remind me sometimes that though I generally feel like an overgrown teenager I’m actually middle-aged; the mind is willing but the flesh is at times very definitely weak! I could barely straighten up first thing this morning. 🫤

After being happy with the toile I got everything cut out on Sunday and started putting it together. I didn’t have any seam tape for the roll lines so had to use ribbon instead which works just as well; as you can see above, the front is falling where it should. I interfaced the front pieces as per the instructions but I’m sort of wishing I’d used something softer as it’s a little bit stiff. They actually said to interface all of the shell pieces but that wasn’t going to happen; I don’t know about anyone else but unless your fabric was a very loose weave why on earth would you interface sleeves? I want to move my arms, thank you! I also ended up skipping the interfacing on the front facing as that would have made everything completely inflexible, but which unfortunately meant I had to cut another couple of pieces as I’d already fused the stuff before I changed my mind.

That, however, actually turned out to be a good thing as I had a brainwave and realised I could copy the seam lines on the front of the original coat by splitting the facing piece in two:

Result! I finally got the collar the right length and shape, too.

I was complaining on Sunday about having bought too much fabric yet again only to find out that it was just as well I did when I ruined another set of facings by spending ages making bound buttonholes that I didn’t keep. That meant I had to cut out a third lot, and after that unsurprisingly there’s very little material left! It was also a good job I had a lot of lining spare as I decided to completely recut all of the top half after the sleeves refused to go in properly because I’d had to enlarge the armscye so much. My seam ripper is getting a hell of a workout this week; I battled with those sleeves for ages yesterday, trying to get them to sit in the right place. Got there in the end, but I’m not convinced I won’t have to add a bit extra at the cuffs as they don’t look long enough. We shall see.

I’ve not been able to get very far with the coat shell because I’m waiting for some velvet ribbon I ordered to trim the sleeves. It’s going to be much easier to put that on flat so I’ve had to leave them for the moment and work on the lining instead. You can see it above with the shell on top (please excuse the horrible wrinkles in the back; coats and jackets made to fit me always do that when Stella models them), and below once I’d attached the lining skirts:

In the top photos I’d tucked the shoulder pads underneath to check how they sat; I didn’t do it again, hence the coat hanging slightly differently in the ones underneath.

It does actually often make sense to put the lining together first because you can iron out any further fit issues. For instance, there was too much fullness in the armhole at the back so I had to take some extra in the curved seams to remove it. I also extended the waist darts to make it a bit more shaped at the front ; being female I need that. I don’t see myself ever buttoning it up as it’s not worn that way but there’s plenty of room should I want to at any point; I tried it with my shirt and waistcoat underneath this morning just to make sure.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned the fabric but it’s a heavy cotton drill; I can’t work out what the original is made from and it was hard to find something suitable that was the right colour within my limited budget. It was my intention to use self-cover buttons but as we were going up to our local fabric shop to check out curtains just out of curiosity I had look at what they had to offer and found these:

They’re not identical but are sort of reminiscent of those used on the original coat:

Well, vaguely. I’ll try both and see what looks best!

Now, let’s see whether my ribbon comes tomorrow…

#sfs’s adventures in sewing #night of the doctor coat #doctor who #eighth doctor #8th doctor #costume making

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overdecorated-furniture · 3 months

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WIP Planning - Notebooks

Today I thought I would show you where I am doing my planning, and what it looks like. I find visuals very helpful for when I want to do something, so this post will have a good number of pictures in.

The Notebooks

These are the four notebooks I use for my writing work. From right to left: Short Stories and poems, Character Info, Echoes of Eternity, the Jack of Diamonds. I’ll break these notebooks down below the cut, and look at how I use them.

Short Story Notebook

This is my most battered and well travelled notebook, having gone with me on many holidays and walks, been stained with lichen, had tea dropped on it, and so on. With this notebook, I write out any short story ideas that won’t necessarily be fanfic and make it onto AO3, do writing exercises and prompts, and jot down the occasional tentative poem. It is really helpful to have a notebook for odds and ends that you are happy to have dropped and stained, as it gives you somewhere to store ideas without worrying too much about how they look. I do like to draw/doodle in the notebook if I have space, but it is by no means good drawing, and I’m happy with hoe sketchy everything is.

Character Information Notebook

This is a reusable notebook, which means I can fill it with different types of paper, and then take out the inserts when they are full. This gives me a flexibility of usage, as I have lined and blank paper, so I have decided to use it to store character information. I already talked about how I organise my character info here, but the visual is often helpful. I haven’t started using the blank paper yet, but I mean to sketch my characters, and some of the scenes/ items from my WIPs. I am aware there are lots of digital versions of this notebook, all of which are excellent in their own right, but I enjoy the labour of handwriting, as it gives me more time to think about it, and means I can carry my characters in a very physical way.

Echoes of Eternity Notebook

Perversely, given my other novel WIP is set in London, this notebook (which has a map of mid-Victorian London as the cover illustration) is where I plan and world-build for Echoes. This is my oldest notebook, and still has the first chapters of my original ideas in the early pages. Since then the notion has undergone several changes, but the sense of continuity this notebook brings makes me happy. All my planning and world-building in here is very messy, and there is no real order to wether I have a playlist for the WIP written next to the lore creation myth, or a random character backstory prompt side by side with a timeline. It’s chaos, and I imagine all the world-building will be added to a new notebook some day to ensure it makes sense.

Jack of Diamonds Notebook

This is my newest notebook - viz my post about my outlining problem - so it hasn’t got much in it at present. However, I intend to keep outlining and research notes in here, as well as any world-building I might have to do, and possibly some drawings if I feel brave. We shall see what the future holds for this notebook.

Hope that is helpful and interesting for people. Happy Writing! 🌿

#writeblr #creative writing #historical fiction #fantasy writing #my wips #the jack of diamonds #jod #echoes of eternity #eoe #writing advice #my planning

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purrincess-chat · 1 year

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Hi I'd love it if you could make an analysis on Adrien and Marinette this season. I've been seeing too many people say that their characters have been ruined and so and so. Your takes and opinions are really fresh and actually smart, so I'd love to hear what you have to say.

I would absolutely love to talk about them. The notion that their characters have been ruined comes directly from a butthurt place of salt, and it just demonstrates to me that people are not watching this show with their eyes open. I know we are missing a lot of context for this season, but so far from what I’ve seen of the later episodes, their characters are maturing and developing in ways we’ve been begging for since s2. And to understand that, we’re going to look back at the last couple seasons up until now.

CAUTION: I will be discussing all of the currently aired episodes, so if you have not watched anything past Elation or Transmission and don’t want to be spoiled for later episodes, go ahead and keep scrolling. I will not be discussing leaks, so you are safe from those. Let’s dig in, shall we?

Firstly, I think we need to address something I’ve seen people claiming in their tantrums about how Adrien and Marinette are “ruined,” and that’s this idea that Adrien’s feelings came out of nowhere/they weren't actually friends before now. They didn’t and they were. They’ve actually been hinting at his budding feelings for her for a while, we just didn’t know for sure that was happening until now. Hell, one of the biggest clowns on his character since s1 was literally “sHe’S jUsT a fRiEnD” when he’s literally making heart eyes at her and talking about how great she is, but I want to focus specifically on the moments that take place after Puppeteer 2 because Adrien himself cited that episode as the point when he noticed his feelings for her changing. And him saying that wasn’t a retcon or random. They actually started dropping mad hints after that episode, we just weren’t 100% aware that his feelings officially changed. I made another post a couple months ago with several instances that hinted at Adrien’s changing feelings, but let’s talk about those a little more.

I’m going chronologically, so not necessarily in broadcast order, but if we look at the production codes, Puppeteer 2 was episode 21 of s3. The next episode after that? Chat Blanc. Everyone clowned on Adrien for “only liking Marinette because she’s Ladybug,” but looking back on it, his sudden feelings aren’t so sudden after all. We’ll talk more about Chat Blanc later because as we know, this timeline got erased, and Marinette is the only one that kind of knows about it. Which brings us to Ladybug, and possibly one of Adrien’s darkest moments as far as things he consciously said and did. Up until this point, Adrien had always been kind of soft and mild-mannered, not wanting to stir up trouble to a fault, but the end of this episode is the first time we see him righteously pissed as Adrien. Another tidbit to point out from earlier in s3 that relates to this moment is from Oni-chan when Adrien tells Lila that he won’t support her or be her friend if she hurts the people he loves. Jump back to Ladybug when Adrien holds that friendship over her head again to restore Marinette’s reputation. Adrien isn’t the type of character to be shady or underhanded, but he is the type of character to fiercely protect the people he cares about, and in this instance, that person is Marinette. That moment was a huge indicator about how Adrien feels about Marinette and how much he values her/their relationship.

Next, we have the first instance where Adrien truly stops and ogles over Marinette in Heart Hunter. We’ve joked in the past that he gives her soft looks all the time, but this is the first time that he full-stopped and admitted out loud that he thinks she’s attractive. And he does it twice in that episode. Not to mention how badly he wanted her to run away with them, and how disappointed he was when she left. Additionally, we have him being conflicted over his feelings for Kagami over the next several episodes. He hesitates and isn’t sure how he feels. We all thought it was because he still loved Ladybug, which he did, but now we can see there was also unconscious feelings for Marinette swirling around in the mix. (RIP Adrigami) Marinette was always an obstacle in their relationship both as Ladybug and as herself, even unknowingly. It’s actually Marinette’s lucky charm keychain that pushes Kagami to break up with Adrien in Lies after all of his erratic and wishy-washy behavior toward her, signaling that Marinette would always be between them.

Season 4 brought forth several small hints, the cutest one being Mr. Pigeon 72. Adrien gets distracted several times by Marinette in this episode, which isn’t necessarily weird when he thinks he sees her during his dive, but the moment in the end when he bumps his head on the car because he can’t take his eyes off her? Boy was falling hard. One thing I find really interesting is that Adrien falls for Marinette at her most unhinged. He tells Kagami in Protection that he just always thought Marinette acting weird was part of her charm and found it cute (think back to how softly he smiles at her in Optigami when she’s freaking out over the elevator or how enamored he is with her acting crazy in Psychomedian). Seeing the context of these moments in retrospect when Adrien talks about how he felt during them just confirms that their relationship was always deeper than it seemed. His side of the story as it relates to their relationship has always been missing, and maybe that's what people mean when they say their relationship was underdeveloped? We always saw things through Marinette's lens, and of course, she freaks out and overthinks and doesn't think Adrien will reciprocate her feelings. It's refreshing to see his perspective and understand what he was thinking and feeling during some of those key moments, and it gives us more insight to the nature of their relationship this whole time.

Next we have Ephemeral, which I know this timeline also got erased, but I’ve always seen the ‘what if’ reveal episodes as a way of checking in on how the love square is doing development wise. In Chat Blanc, Adrien’s feelings for Marinette were still budding, and while it did make it easier when he learned her identity, I think his reaction in Ephemeral was much more telling about their relationship. People have said that Adrinette were “barely even friends” before s5, but I think Ephemeral proves that’s not true. (I mean, watching canon with your eyes open prior to that also proves that’s not true, but I digress). The moment Marinette reveals herself to Adrien in Ephemeral, he tells her how happy he is to find out that one of his best friends in the whole world is also his partner and the girl he loves. By Ephemeral, Adrien sees Marinette as one of his best friends, and that point continues in Risk when he confides in her about his homelife. He tells her that he doesn’t want to tell everyone else his true feelings because “they wouldn’t understand,�� but he opens up to Marinette because they are close enough that he deemed she would listen. And people say that one moment was when his feelings changed, but that moment was just when all of the other hints came to a head for him. He didn’t fall in love with her in that one moment, he’d been falling for her slowly all throughout s4, and he was even still falling into s5 and didn’t realize he was in love until Determination.

Risk was just the moment that pushed him over the edge because he realized she was someone he could confide in, someone who would listen to him and understand his feelings without projecting another narrative onto him. And we’ve seen Marinette working on that throughout s5. She’s stepping back and letting him be who he wants to be and encouraging him to make his own choices. Adrien literally says in Transmission that the Adrien everyone else knows is a marketing image. Gabriel states in Pretension that he crafts the perfect images to sell to people, pretty much implying that he is in direct control over how the world sees Adrien and the person everyone thinks he is. Marinette is the only person that sees beneath the surface of that and wants to help him do something about it. And people think that’s “ruining” their characters? By letting them grow closer and fight for and support each other? By letting Adrien figure things out and work toward his own autonomy? Yall want him to stay lonely and miserable under his dad’s control forever? Weird take, but okay. Like it or not, his relationship with Marinette has been building up since the beginning, and we’ve seen them make big strides each season. Nothing about what’s happening in s5 is random, nor was it thrown in casually. The signs were there the whole time, sorry yall missed them.

Secondly, I want to look at LadyNoir, the big source of everyone’s grief, but in the same way the Adrinette hints were all there throughout s4, the LadyNoir hints leading them to where they are were abundant as well in s4. Looking back in the context we have now, LadyNoir and Adrinette had an inverse relationship in s4. The more Adrien fell for Marinette, the more his feelings for Ladybug faded, and their conflict last season had a lot to do with it. Ladybug pulled away from him a lot last season, and I don’t think it was entirely intentional or conscious. She was dealing with a lot and scrambling to juggle her new responsibility with Shadowmoth on the loose, Su Han bitching in her ear, Alya knowing her secret. And unfortunately, the more she pulled away, the more hurt Chat Noir got, so he pulled away more, which in turn made her start relying on other heroes more, which created even more distance, you get the idea. I think there are two key episodes that point to 1. Why Chat Noir stopped loving Ladybug and 2. Why LadyNoir could not have worked romantically. (actually there are 3 episodes about why LadyNoir can’t work romantically, but we will get to those in a minute)

The first episode deals with the reason Chat Noir moved on from Ladybug, and that’s Glaciator 2.0. Prior to this, Ladybug had been softer in her rejection of him, but still firm with the public that there was nothing romantic going on between them. She does care about his feelings, and if we recall the first Glaciator episode, she tells him that she doesn’t want to toy with his emotions or lead him on. She is sensitive to the way he feels, but she also stands her ground that she’s not interested. In Glaciator 2, we have the two of them already being a little at odds with each other from the growing distance between them in s4, and we also have Ladybug at her most stressed. So she snaps. And I think that episode did stick with him and play a huge role in why he moved on. She makes it abundantly clear in that episode that she doesn’t love him, has never loved him, and will never love him. She set very clear boundaries with him in that episode, and we’ve seen those boundaries stick with the way Adrien treats Marinette in s5. He’s not pushy, he’s patient, he lets her lead their interactions. That episode affected him. That episode alone is why it's not surprising that he moved on. She'd been telling him for 3 seasons she wasn't into him like that. He finally listened.

The other episode that points to the big problem with romantic LadyNoir is Kuro Neko. People don’t want to hear this, but LadyNoir does not function effectively when Ladybug in particular is distracted by love. We saw this in Desperada, we saw this again in Kuro Neko. She gets too distracted, and things don’t work. We see teasings of this in Determination when Ladybug gets distracted by Chat Noir, and they almost lose until he snaps her out of it. Granted, she was also still down about losing everything, but the point still stands that she does not do well when she’s in love with her partner. Contrast that with the way they effortlessly work together at the beginning of Perfection. They’re holding a whole ass other conversation while fighting bad guys as if they were doing anything else. Their mojo is back, and they’re getting along better than ever as friends. Romance was always a point of contention for them, and now they don't have to worry about it. They can just do their job.

Now, I know a lot of people are also of the mindset that they should just reveal their identities already, but we have two examples of why that’s a bad idea as well. Chat Blanc and Ephemeral prove that they will work well together post-reveal, BUT the main obstacle in their way is Hawkmoth. It’s too dangerous for them to reveal their identities while he is still around because as we’ve seen, they get reckless and careless and Gabriel sniffs them out. They lose. (yes, I count Chat Blanc as a loss). So long as Gabriel is still around and pulling the strings, they cannot tell each other their identities. They’ve said that on numerous occasions. It’s not a matter of compatibility because we know they’re made for each other, that much has always been clear. It’s a matter of practicality and dangerousness. It’s not safe for them to reveal right now, and I think the writers wanted to push them through the development they’re getting first, which brings me to my next point.

This season is about healing trauma, particularly Marinette’s, but also increasingly so Adrien’s. And the only way they could go about healing the particular trauma these two are dealing with is the way they’re doing it. Adrinette was the side that offered the most opportunity for that development by becoming canon, and I don't care if that pisses people off when I say that. "But best friends to lovers is better-" okay, but you're ignoring a lot of important context that I’ve talked about. Mixing their jobs as heroes with their romantic feelings is actively detrimental to their job. Ladybug loses focus, Chat behaves recklessly, Hawmoth literally learned their identities and took advantage of that. The world got destroyed, the universe nearly got rewritten. But yeah go off about how much better things would be if the heroes got together, especially in the season where stakes are at an all-time high and them focusing on the mission is absolutely crucial.

They needed development as civilians, but that doesn't make them less deserving of love, nor does it “ruin” their characters. That's the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard. Marinette needed to overcome her hesitation and anxiety around Adrien. Because what good would it do them to date as heroes because she ran away from her problems with another boy only to turn around and find out that the boy she was running from is the same boy she ran to? Do people think that reveal would go well with her still not having healed from that? A huge point at the beginning of the season was that she was running away from her problems and throwing herself at someone else instead of dealing with her trauma. Marinette needed to turn around and face her feelings for Adrien. She needed to face the mistakes she made as a result of loving Adrien specifically and heal from that. And ya know what? Allowing Adrinette to date fixed Ladrien without them even having to appear next to each other. It allows Ladybug and Chat Noir to focus on their mission without their feelings getting in the way. It allows both of them the opportunity to be happy and get shit done. And ya know what, since they're healing trauma, they're gonna be ecstatic when the reveal eventually happens. We loved each other the whole time? You're actually my best friend in and out of the suit? You're gonna be at my wedding next to me marrying me? We're gonna grow old together? All sides are benefitting this season, and yes, being platonic is a benefit for some sides. Just because it wasn't what some people wanted doesn't change that. I swear some people just wanted to treat the sides as separate forever and only ever have good things happen for their favorite. I saw it all the time when people would pout about one side getting development in episodes in prior seasons. Personally, I am in it for the whole picture because I know it will be more beautiful in the end if every side gets worked on. I'm here for the love square, not just Adrinette, but it seems like some people forgot we’re all on the same ship.

Additionally, it’s not really a big secret that they’re winding down the Agreste plot. This season will resolve that storyline, so they needed to bring the Agreste plot to the frontline, and it wouldn’t have worked with LadyNoir. Marinette needed to see first-hand how bad Adrien’s situation is. We still don’t have all of the pieces, but later episodes show how desperately they’re fighting to be together and to free Adrien from his father’s control. They could not have put her that close to the situation with LadyNoir because they can’t reveal for reasons I’ve already mentioned, and as such, Chat Noir can’t tell her about his home life. LadyNoir being together would have been self-contained. It wouldn’t have propelled the other sides forward in the way they needed to. Marinette would still assume that disasters happen when she pursues Adrien. She’d likely still blame herself for being blinded by love for losing all of the Miraculous. She’d likely still distance herself from him, which would remove Adrien’s confidant about his home situation. The story they’re telling wouldn’t work. And that’s the other thing, we don’t know all of the details about the story they’re telling yet. (I mean, unless you’ve read leaks, but we’re not talking about those rn). Obviously, Adrinette being canon was important to the story, and I am personally just not seeing it as a detriment because I’ve seen all of the positives that have come from it in later episodes. Their characters are growing and maturing. They’re supporting each other. They’re fighting for each other. Is that not what we’ve always loved about the love square? The way they complement each other? How deeply they love each other and how much they sacrifice for each other?

The only conclusion I can come to about anyone saying their characters have been ruined is that they haven’t watched anything past Transmission. And not only that, they’re making a ton of bad faith assumptions about Transmission and the next episode after it in order to justify their outcry. But as someone who has watched every episode officially released right now, their development this season is solid. On all sides. There is a huge difference between not particularly liking something and something being bad. People would do well to learn the difference.

#cat replies #asks #ml meta #ml fandom salt #s5 discourse #ml protection #ml pretension #ml revelation #ml perfection #ml spoilers

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philliamwrites · 2 years

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TDWC 08: Secrets of the Forgotten

Pairing: House Leaders x gn! Reader

Warnings: canon divergence, slow burn

Summary: “Please, don’t mind me at all,” Claude beams, his grin as wide as the Cheshire cat’s. Dimitri’s scowl deepens more. His eyes turn into the blue of an icy-cold glacier dominating the coastline of Faerghus in the North. “I do, actually. I wish to speak with the Herald in private.” “Then get in line for an appointment. Our Herald is very popular with folks, as you know.” And with that, he closes the door in Dimitri’s face.

Notes: [01] | 07 | 09

Words: 9.7k

A/N: huge thanks to @raindrops-on-the-roof for joining me on this ride and being my beta-reader!!

i lived, bitch. it's been so long but after a year, i'm back with the next chapter and it was ton of fun working on it becase we're finally introduced to a new figure and get some original content. also claude's a menace and that's what we all want. enjoy!

08: Secrets of the Forgotten

But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch’s high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him desolate!) And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed, Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.

— Edgar Allan Poe, “The Haunted Palace”

The underground canals running through Abyss, like veins moving blood through the body, are dirty and smell of human waste and decay, but Balthus plays a hand much dirtier and everyone huddling around the small, crooked table in Wilting Rose Inn groans in unison. Except for Byleth. She shows her own cards, a Royal Flush, and earns a round of earnest applause. You try catching her eye to find out whether she has turned time back in her favour but her ever-steady gaze doesn’t betray anything.

“Okay, lesson learnt.” Balthus gets up and stretches, putting his taut muscles on full display. “I never imagined there could be someone worse than Yuri out there. Clearly, I was wrong.”

“Is Yuri really that bad?” you ask, throwing your Flush on the table.

Balthus gives you a seldom serious look. “You have no idea.”

It’s certainly not that hard to imagine. He sometimes has this intense, piercing gaze in his eyes when he talks about knights patrolling too close to Abyss’ entrances for his liking, even though his whole body is a picture of relaxed serenity. He’s an amazing actor, you can give him that.

“Another round?” Byleth asks, already shuffling the cards expertly with her slender fingers. Apparently, part of being a mercenary also entails having an amazing poker face and constantly winning at card games.

“Oh, no, no, I think I’m on guard duty,” Marco, the Rogue, says and flees.

“I forgot I promised to check if there’s enough candle wax to … remake candles,” Ethan, the Marksman, says and bolts.

“These are the men supposed to protect us,” Barbara, the Smith, sighs. “Yet they fear their pride won’t stand after losing a game to a woman.” She gives Byleth a scrutinising look that is also approving at the same time and follows her comrades. The rest of the crowd scatters like butterflies fluttering away after being disturbed from their peaceful slumber.

“That Barbara.” Balthus shakes his head. “Can’t say I know anyone more capable of making grown men feel like little boys.”

“I like her,” you admit. “She doesn’t call me the Archbishop’s Lapdog.” Like most Abyssians.

“Just give everyone some time.” Balthus’ grin is part amusement, part pity as he gives your shoulder two hard claps to bid you good night. “They’ll see in no time you’re no church stuck-up.”

You aren’t so sure about that. You have been down here for a couple of days only, engaging in fights, defending the place against the mercenaries and bandits that wander into Abyss—on accident or on order still remains a question. It was obvious that fighting a few battles for them would not change their mind so quickly—a few good deeds did not undo the year-long abuse and persecution most of the Abyss dwellers had to suffer. You doubt you alone can heal those wounds, yet still there is a fierce fire burning inside you, a light blazing to banish all the shadows clinging to their pained hearts.

Not for the church’s sake, you’ve realised quickly, but for the Herald’s, for the first one loved Fódlan’s people; loves Fódlan’s people still. Every night you lie in your dark quarters, a single, tiny room with nothing but slatted frames and a thin blanket for a bed, nothing feels surer and more honest than this feeling Seiros’ Champion allows you to glimpse as if what it means to be the Herald is that simple.

And simple it is, for if you cannot remember your identity, your wishes and dreams and ambitions, you can take his on until you have figured it out for yourself; surround yourself with them just like you donned his ceremonial robes at the very beginning.

If Byleth questions your new-found vigour for battle, for tactics and schemes on the battlefield, she hasn’t voiced it yet. Or, maybe she is simply too occupied trying to understand the cards Fate has dealt her.

The Wilting Rose Inn clears out as the candles burn down until only a few loyal patrons remain in their respective, quiet corners. It becomes easier to talk to Byleth, since you cannot be sure who might be listening in, ready to forward information to Yuri and give him whatever reason to put your head on a stake. Not that he would actually do something like that. At least, you hope he would not do something like that.

You also realise how much you missed just being in her presence, and they become the only short moments during the day when you allow yourself to relax and droop your shoulders whenever exhaustion weighs you down.

Today, Byleth has made it her personal mission to teach you wood-carving. It goes as expected: you’ve cut yourself three times and have nothing to show for but a misshapen try at a cat that bears more resemblance to a stone you might find in one of Abyss’ gutters.

“I am,” you say as the sharp edge nicks your thumb once more, “a danger to myself and everyone around me.”

“Good thing I’m the only one here then.” Byleth gently takes the knife from you as if you are a toddler and only to be trusted with tools that are highly unlikely to chop your limbs off. Like a spoon. You’ll remind her of that next time she pushes a sword into your hands and demands you to participate in another sparring session. “I’m not as practised in magic and Tome wielding as Linhardt or Lysithea, but I am sure you still need all your fingers to conjure spells.”

“I could try it with my toes.” You wiggle your bloodied fingers at her like the boogie man. “Become the first Warlock that casts Dark magic with their feet.”

The smile that tugs at the corners of Byleth’s mouth is a greater victory than having chased off the bandits yesterday. It is followed by a frown though, one so light, the softest shift in her brows that you wouldn’t have noticed it were it not for the long hours during tea-time you spent studying the planes and features of her face like an artist might while studying their muse.

She leans back in her creaking chair and pockets her knife inside the hidden sheath strapped around her upper thigh. “We are making slow progress uncovering who is after Yuri and his friends,” Byleth says. “I know we’ve been through this already, but any guesses?”

“You’d think with how often we got rid of them by now, they would realise trying to drive the underground residents away is a waste of time. Whoever pays them must hold a serious grudge, why else would they spend so much money on sending mercs in here?”

A shadow passes Byleth’s eyes. “Unless these kids know more and are hiding the true reason someone would be after them.”

You understand her concern. You two have agreed to help, but your official duties and first responsibilities lie in taking care of the academy’s students and seeing that no harm comes to them. Which is no easy task as they so readily throw themselves into defending the Abyssians.

“I … I don’t think that is the case.”

Byleth simply lifts an eyebrow, urging you to go on.

“I can’t explain it very well. I just don’t think they have anything bad in mind. I don’t think there is a reason to doubt them.”

It doesn’t make sense, and yet you know Byleth is the last one to argue against a point like that. This quiet, strange connection that exists between you two is undeniable—just like the sun’s travel over the skies and that it lies to rest in the West and rises again in the East, day by day. Everything is connected, you just have to find out who is spinning the thread of your Fates together.

“I really thought they were trouble at first,” Byleth says and gestures to the barman to bring another round. “Especially Yuri. He is cunning and sharp, a dangerous combination for a leader.”

“I’d like to think he is hiding a warm, pleasant core beneath all that scheming and calculating,” you say, taking the drink the moment the bartender leaves it at your table. “Hiding it somewhere very, very deep.”

A corner of Byleth’s mouth twitches. She’s holding her own glass, lazily swirling the amber liquid in circles. “He is young, but I would not put it past him to hold ulterior motives. Promise me to be careful around him.”

“He and his lot helped me before they knew I was the Herald,” you concede, thinking back to Constance’s reaction after you woke up. “They simply saw someone in need of help, that’s all.” Since then, it has not occurred to you even once that they might be criminals hiding away under the church’s nose. You still think of Alfons and Briana’s small faces, their round button-noses and large eyes as they look up at Yuri in adoration. They deserve so much more than hiding away in some dark, rotting cellars.

You swallow your shot in one go, and instantly begin to cough and pound your chest as it goes down burning. Byleth knocks her glass back without any problem and swallows the burning liquid as if it were water. You still blink against the tears stinging in your eyes.

“You sound like you trust them already,” Byleth says and waves for another round. You try to share a mildly concerned look with the bartender, but he ignores you and slides two more shot glasses in front of your noses.

“Trust is maybe a little much,” you mumble, thinking of Yuri’s sharp smile, the way Hapi struggles and fails not to roll her eyes whenever you offer some insight with your Crest. “But I don’t think they’re bad. Or evil.”

Byleth nods, either because she has come to the same conclusion or because she puts trust in your decision not to doubt them. She downs another shot, looks at you expectantly. You scramble for another topic, anything that will save your throat from burning up a second time with this goddess-forsaken liquor.

Inevitably, your eyes fall on the sword strapped to her waist, only to call it a sword puts any blacksmith who has mastered the art of steel and iron to shame, and you have no desire to meet the one responsible for this craft, the one that bends bone and magic to their will. Byleth follows your gaze. Her hand rests on the hilt, hesitantly at first. You don’t think you have ever seen her hesitate before.

“The Sword of the Creator,” you mumble. “What does that even mean?” Has the Progenitor God truly wielded such a thing? What kind of goddess was she to come up with such a hideous weapon, to forge the Heroes’ Relics in such a portrayal and present them as gifts to humanity? It is like receiving an apple and only finding the core rotten and inhabited with worms after you have taken a bite. You wonder if this repulsive fascination is you or Seiros’ Champion, yet he remains silent.

Byleth stares into her glass as if the answers for all her questions lie hidden at the bottom and by drinking fast enough, she can unravel them. You are pretty sure that is how people become drunkards.

“Holding the sword … wielding it.” Byleth searches your gaze. “It felt raw. Unlike anything I have ever felt, and yet...” Her nimble fingers dance across the hilt once more, halt at the round socket where it seems that something spherical is missing. When she locks eyes with you, something tells you this is something she has not even told her students. Maybe she can’t tell them. Maybe, just like you feel with her, she feels that honesty comes easier when only you are around. You take a sip from your glass, welcoming for once the biting heat that forces you to shut your eyes and turn your head away.

Why can’t you tell her about the first Herald? Why do you want to keep his existence within you a secret? You listen for his voice, his opinion on the matter, but Seiros’ Champion is still silent, and you hope it doesn’t stay that way in matters of life or death. What is the use of an ancient dwelling inside your heart when he does not share in his unending knowledge and experience?

“And yet, it felt right,” Byleth finishes, cutting off your thoughts, and somehow you can easily imagine what she had felt—for the very same could be said about meeting the Herald. Right, natural. Like returning home. “I wonder … if there is any truth to the people’s claims that only a descendant of the King of Liberation would be able to use its power the way I did.”

You’ve read the historic texts on Nemesis, the King of Liberation. How the goddess gifted him the sword to use its power to save Fódlan from wicked gods over a thousand years ago. He liberated the people from their thralldom and thus was named King and Beloved of the people until the sword’s heavenly power, too terrifying and mighty for any mortal to bear, corrupted him and he turned to the darkness, waging war across the land and thus forcing Seiros to destroy him. It strengthens your belief that whatever benevolence the Goddess gifts her patrons, the price to pay in the end seems too high.

“I hope,” Byleth continues, “Professor Hanneman will have answers to that when we return. I still do not quite understand why Rhea has allowed me to keep it.”

“Is there any explanation as to why it was her sword inside the tomb and not the remains of Saint Seiros?” you ask. It would also beg the question where they are instead. But Byleth shakes her head.

“There wasn’t much time to go into details,” she says. Her fingers linger just a moment longer on the sword, before she withdraws them—a little reluctantly. “When you disappeared, we moved heaven and hell to find you. It was by mere luck Claude spotted one of the Abyssians disappear inside a passageway under the Abbey.”

“I hate how no one told us,” you say. “You would think a whole bunch of people living under the monastery is worth mentioning at some point after appointing us to our positions.”

“I’d like to think there was a reason for keeping silent about it,” Byleth says though even she doesn’t sound sure, and it strikes you as odd. Not Byleth doubting Rhea, but her not being sure about something. “A reason I can’t wait to hear once we’re back on the surface.” She reaches across the table, presenting her open palm to your hand holding your glass. You surrender and give it to her, watching a little too intently when her throat bobs as she swallows another round.

“Yuri expects another attack on the Abyss soon,” Byleth continues and rises to her feet. She stretches like a cat in the sun. “We should head to bed and rest up. I wouldn’t want a repeat of the last battle.”

“Oh, come on, it was not that bad.”

“You almost fell asleep from exhaustion when those two Grapplers advanced,” Byleth says, using her Professor voice on you.

You can’t help but grin. “And just like I predicted, you came and saved me.” Byleth’s mouth twitches into a flat line, but you can see that she is pleased. “Pulling an all-nighter to study the maps and outline of Abyss and the secrets it has to offer was a good idea. There are some interesting chambers holding traps and pitfalls. Whoever built this place really wanted to keep people away.”

“Makes you think what could be hiding deeper down in Abyss,” Byleth thinks aloud. “And maybe one of the next bandits will be kind enough to tell us.”

You nod. It was Claude’s idea to take someone captive and get answers from them, and hopefully shed some light on what it is exactly that their employer wants from Abyss.

Byleth escorts you to your chamber, your quiet voices bouncing off the damp walls in the dark corridor that stretch away into unprepossessing shadows. Unlike up in the monastery, the walls here are bare of tapestries and sometimes even of torches which makes traversing the tunnels difficult. You’ve let Linhardt show you simple fire spells to have a source of light on you.

“But it would be far easier if you learnt Light Magic,” he had commented as you two bent over scrolls and books, fighting a yawn. “Also much safer and highly unlikely to set yourself on fire.”

You had closed the tome he’d slid across the table to you, smiling stiffly. “Duly noted.”

The flame dancing across your palm now flickers but doesn’t waver, illuminating the corridor and painting Byleth’s face with a sheen of soft, amber light, giving her pale complexion a little colour. She is watching you conjuring the spell; how your fingers close around the flame as if it were a small beating heart, easily snuffed out whenever a breeze swipes through the corridors.

“I see your Magic Prowess is growing,” Byleth notes. “As is your ability to hold your own ground on the battlefield. You’ve grown used to fighting.”

That isn’t a compliment you had ever thought someone would tell you, but coming from Byleth, you know it is true. You have noticed it yourself—how with every battle it gets easier to see the enemy’s movements and abilities, their weapons and gear. Calling upon the power of the Herald’s Crest, usually a taxing and draining endeavour that left you resting up in your chambers, has become much easier since you have met Seiros’ Champion. Whenever he makes his presence known with quiet whispers of where to lead your students next, soft pushes as if he is placing his small child’s hand upon your shoulder to guide you to victory, his support is like wind in your sails, propelling you forward and lifting your courage.

“You are not as scared as you were in the beginning,” she continues. “You have never much wavered in your tactics, but you seem even more sure now.”

All that praise from her makes your ears scald with heat. Though praise it seems, you know that Byleth only speaks truth. “I have finally started to trust in my abilities. If people see me doubt, how can they follow where I lead them in battle?” you say, even though that is not entirely the truth, of course. Which is why you hastily add, “And I trust you. As long as you are by my side, we are invincible.”

“So it is,” Byleth says, turning her head so that her moss-green eyes dig into you like hooks. “And yet I wonder. This courage, is it just because you wish to defend Abyss? To prove yourself before Yuri and his companions. Or is there something else? Something that you want to share with me?”

You both pause in front of the door leading to your quarters, the silence smothering you like a heavy blanket of freshly fallen snow that puts everything into a deep slumber. No matter how much you dig through that snow though, you can’t find the resolve to tell her about Seiros’ Champion. Where would you even begin to explain?

It might seem that I have turned mad but believe me when I tell you the soul of the first Herald resides within me and sometimes, he whispers to me what I should do, and he likes to gossip from time to time as well. He seems fond of Edelgard in particular, and notices whenever she looks at you, but you choose not to see it.

You stare at her, not entirely sure what you are waiting for. Maybe that Byleth learns how to read your thoughts so you wouldn’t have to speak these outlandish things aloud. Instead, you say, “No. There is nothing.”

Byleth considers you for a moment. You make it a point not to shy away from her scrutinising gaze, as one would do with nothing to hide, you assume. In the end, she relents first, but not because she grants you an easy victory. You’re certain she knows when it is wise to return to a battle at a later time. “I see,” she says mildly. “Rest up, then. I will see you tomorrow.”

You watch her disappear down the hallway, the blade at her side peeking out from under her black robes like a sly wink; like a promise waiting for the right time to jump out of the shadows and strike you in the back. It occurs to you then, for the first time, that maybe the timely meeting with Seiros’ Champion and Byleth activating the power of the Sword of the Creator might be connected.

The Chalice of Beginnings. The way it all ties back to the Rite of Rising, the very same festivities used as a distraction to try and steal Seiros’ remains—unless the Western Church somehow knew what they would find inside the tomb would be something entirely different—and ultimately the reason you are all down here … calling it simply coincidence is like cooing at a fox shortly before it snaps with sharp fangs at you. It is hard to tell what play you are conducting on the stage unknown forces have set you upon. All you can hope for is that it doesn’t end up being a tragedy.

With the scrolls, papers and books Aelfric was kind enough to lend you spread over the make-shift workplace you’ve put together using crates, you’re spending the evening reading up on the Rite of Passing and the Four Apostles. Even though some of the texts are so badly damaged you can barely make out their content, it all matches with what Aelfric has already told you: the ritual is believed to have the power to resurrect a life that was lost using the chalice which only the Four Apostles had access to. After the ritual failed, they bound the chalice so that it would never fall into mortal hands. Capable of something that grand, it is no wonder whoever is after it throws ambush after ambush at the Abyssians in hopes to find crumbs leading to where this treasure of immeasurable worth might be.

But if that chalice really exists, where is it? To search for the Chasm of Bound below Abyss feels like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There is no telling how much time you have left before either Rhea demands everyone’s presence back or you are unable to protect the Abyssians any longer from the mob of greedy thugs.

“Knock knock,” a voice says from the entrance to your room.

You startle, too lost in thought to notice anyone approaching. Claude is leaning against the doorframe, having come up behind you as silent as a cat. He has changed out of his gear, wearing loose dark trousers tied at the waist, and a simple white shirt that stands in contrast against his tanned skin. The first buttons of his collar are open, showing the elegant curves of his collarbones. His dark hair is damp, curling against his temples and the nape of his neck.

“Did something happen?” you ask, moving in alarm to rise from your seat, though surely, he wouldn’t lean so leisurely and relaxed against the door if there was another attack. He confirms as much with a lazy wave of his hand, unhitching himself from the frame. “Nope, nothing to worry about. I just thought I’d drop by and say hi. Do you know how difficult it is to pin you down? You’ve gotten really busy since we’ve come down here.”

“You know, no rest for the wicked.” You try to restore order on your desk by organising the books and scrolls in one corner. You’ve completely lost track of time, and as it turns out, magical fire is incapable of burning candles to their wick, so there is really no telling how long you’ve been holed up in your room, studying the ancient texts. “Do you need something?”

“Just thought we’d have a nice, pleasant chat.” The smile flirting with Claude’s lips is dangerous for it tries to appear innocent, yet the way his green eyes glint with mischief, like the edge of a knife flashing as it is drawn from a hidden sheath, promises nothing good. “Been a while since we’ve had one of those.”

You can’t remember if you have ever had one with Claude. Maybe all those moons ago after you had awoken with your new power, which now feels like a lifetime ago. You lean back in your chair, allowing your eyes a break after all those hours of reading. Maybe this distraction might help.

“Okay, I’m all yours.” You stand up, waving at the chair to offer Claude a place to sit, and absolutely missing the way he shoots you an amused glance at your choice of words. Instead of taking up your offer though, he steps backward. Suspicion crawls up your back, feathery light like a spider making its way to new prey caught in its web.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Claude says and with a swift kick, shuts the door behind him. You stare at him, tongue-tied. Can students just do that with faculty members? Yuri’s voice creeps up from a dark corner in your memory: “You’d do well to keep in mind that the monastery rules don’t apply down here, Herald.”

“I just have a few questions, is all,” he continues, still smiling but anything pleasant in his voice has made room for an urgency that you can’t remember ever having heard coming from him. Claude crosses the room in quick strides, and leans his hips sideways against the table. His eyes flick over the remaining texts on your table, his head slightly cocking to one side to get a better angle to read them. When you clear your throat, he startles, and looks back up at you.

“Right, sorry.” He knows that you know that he, in fact, is not sorry. “The library here has some pretty interesting things, I gotta say. Books and scrolls you’d never find in the monastery’s library. There are some things that are hard to believe, though. There’s this funny book hidden inside a false cover that talks about a Distance Viewer and Flammable Black Water and a Metal-Hold Printing Machine. Imagine the technological advancement one of the nations would achieve if they could actually build and utilise devices like that.”

“Is that why you’re here?” you ask. “To talk about the Abyss’ book collection?”

“What? No. No, I—,” he begins, tapping his slender fingers impatiently against the wood. You don’t think you have ever seen this restlessness about him. Claude has always appeared as steady as his bow-hand, sure that wherever he aims the shot will land true. “I was just wondering if something happened after your fall down here. Something you can’t tell us.”

You feel as if ice water has been dumped down the back of your neck, shocking you to full alertness. Claude must see that he has caught you off guard; a look of hesitancy flashes across your face before you can speak. “And what would that something be, exactly?”

He lowers his voice. “I thought you might tell me.”

You stare at him, throat tight, the cold sweat sensation of anxiety spreading slowly through your limbs. “Nothing happened. Whatever gave you the idea that I’m hiding something from you guys?”

There is a moment of silence as you two trade a look that feels like a dare. There is something forbidding about the intensity of Claude’s gaze, the tension of his stillness. His fingers stop their rhythmic tap tap against the table, and now clutch onto its edge, his knuckles turning white. “I’ve always figured your reservation towards using your Crest came from the novelty of it. The foreignness of a power that isn’t yours. But in our recent battles, there’s nothing of that anymore.

“I thought maybe it’s because you met the Ashen Wolves and the people from Abyss, and you feel sympathy towards them and that’s giving you a little more oomph to try making use of the Crest. But that’s not it, is it? You’ve changed from despising the powers to fully embracing them. Wielding them as if you’ve never done anything else in your life.”

You swallow, your mouth suddenly dry. Your tongue darts out to lick your lips, and you don’t miss Claude’s eyes quickly jumping down to your mouth for a second. Or maybe it was just your imagination, the flickering shadow of the small candle’s light across his face. “Maybe I’ve just grown used to it,” you reply quietly.

“Herald, you grow used to balding or riding a new steed.” He looks at you sharply, his head tilted to the side. Something in his voice changes in that moment. “You don’t get used to something that changes your life from being a nobody to suddenly standing in the centre of the world. Not really.” His voice has a veneer of calm, but beneath you could hear the vibration of some very different emotion.

What changed for you, then? you want to ask. It doesn’t feel like the answer would be so simple as the appointment to the heir of the Leicester Alliance.

You shift, folding your arms in front of you for lack of a response. As much as you like to discount Claude’s tendency for plots and schemes, there is something disconcertingly earnest about him right now. The similarity is striking you all of a sudden, the shadow passing his eyes one you have already seen in Sylvain’s when he had tried talking about his Crest and its troubles.

“All I’m saying is,” Claude continues, and he takes a step towards you. Instinctively, you take one back. He takes another one. This goes on until it ends with your back against the wall. “All I’m saying is that maybe Teach finding her new shiny weapon triggered something in you,” he says now, propping himself up against the wall, his hand splayed beside your head. “Maybe a memory? Something like that?”

You hold his gaze, not shying away from his scrutinising eyes or the close proximity. So, you are not the only one thinking that the Sword of the Creator and the Crest of the Herald are connected in a way the other Crests are not. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Claude, of all people, is the first to have noticed it. You had simply failed—or underestimated him, rather—to anticipate that he would also act on that theory and corner you like a mouse to get answers. Literally.

“Nothing like that happened, Claude,” you say now, feeling like you’re walking on a lightrope, and a single misplaced word could send you plunging. And then, he is there, his presence like the light brush of soft flower petals against the back of your mind. Do not tell him yet. Do not tell anyone yet, I ask of you. I do not wish the world to know I still exist. Silly Champion of Seiros. You’ve already understood his feelings perfectly without him having to tell you.

“Somehow, I was given this power. I tried fighting it for so long, but there’s no way I can run from this. I realised that, so now I’m just trying to make the best out of it.” It is only half the truth, but that is something Claude doesn’t need to know. It is also something he didn’t want to hearyou realise as you watch his expression turn into something close to disappointment.

“I’m sure Lady Rhea would enjoy hearing this,” Claude says, his voice deep and thin like a knife’s edge—and just as sharp.

“You’re not very subtle, Claude.” You try to move past him, but he doesn’t budge. “What’s your problem?”

“Problem? There is no problem.” The mask of bored indifference slips back on his face, turning his eyes distant, and cold even. An easy smile stretches over his features, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Maybe I just enjoy teasing you.”

“And maybe I’ll enjoy sticking a dagger in your side.”

Claude laughs. “That’s not very Heraldy of you.”

You try to see if that laugh means you’re good, but his eyes are closed doors. Your face must be a question mark, because he says, “Herald,” and touches your cheek gently, grazing your skin with the rough pads of his fingers. You inhale sharply, gaze snapping up to his. Claude’s eyes widen, realising what he’s doing only then, and his warm, calloused fingers freeze against your cheek.

Just as he opens his mouth, knocks come from your front door. He lifts an eyebrow at you, asking if you are expecting visitors at this time. You just shrug. You certainly didn’t expect him, and yet here he is.

Claude pushes himself off the wall, allowing you to cross the room and open the door a crack wide. Through the narrow opening you see Dimitri standing in the hallway. When he spies you glancing at him, he gives you a shy smile that quickly turns into a scowl when Claude comes up behind you. He presses his chest against your back and leans an arm against the door frame above your head. “Oh, Dimitri?” Claude drawls.

Dimitri pales as he sees, and certainly misunderstands the sudden intimate proximity Claude is displaying. He presses his mouth into a thin line. “Pardon the intrusion, Herald. I thought maybe this would be a good moment to review the last battle reports. But I see…,” and here his eyes dart over to Claude and sweep over him as if he were a particularly unpleasant surprise he found under his bed, “… you are preoccupied.”

“Please, don’t mind me at all,” Claude beams, his grin as wide as the Cheshire cat’s.

Dimitri’s scowl deepens more. His eyes turn into the blue of an icy-cold glacier dominating the coastline of Faerghus in the North. “I do, actually. I wish to speak with the Herald in private.”

“Then get in line for an appointment. Our Herald is very popular with folks, as you know.” And with that, he closes the door in Dimitri’s face.

You’re pretty sure Dimitri on the other side is wearing the same expression of dumbfounded surprise that is on your face. “What is going on with you, Claude?” you ask and turn to him, forgetting how close he is. When you almost bump into his chest, you take a hurried step to the side. “The way you are acting is unbecoming of someone with your station.”

Claude shrugs. “Don’t worry, Dimitri won’t take it to heart. It’s just that things have started to happen that don’t make sense, and I am all about making sense of the senseless.” He looks over at you, smiling. “Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

You’re spared the eye roll for an answer when distant bell ringing heralds another ambush on Abyss. Claude heaves a long, weary sigh. “No rest for the wicked, huh…” He turns to open the door, but except a little rattle, nothing happens, no matter how hard he shakes at the handle.

“Come on,” you say, unable to contain the urgency in your voice. “Open the door.”

“Well.” He turns around. “It appears that it is stuck.”

Your eyes go wide. “Then unstuck it.”

Claude throws himself against the door. It doesn’t budge. He curses. “My shoulder will never be the same. I expect you to nurse me back to health when this is over.”

“This is your fault,” you press out between gritted teeth. “Just break the door down, we can’t waste more time.”

“That’s what I’m—,” Claude throws himself once more against the hard wood, “—trying.”

There’s a loud crack and the door opens to the other side; not by swinging but by being lifted out of its hinges. Behind it, Dimitri is peeking around the frame, eyebrows raised to his hairline. “I thought you two might be in need of some assistance.”

“Yeah, I was … I was about to do the same,” Claude says.

You push him aside, hurrying down the corridor and waving them after you. “Lucky for us, Dimitri was faster.”

“No, really!” Claude calls after you. “I was just about to do the same!”

The fight lasted throughout the whole night. When you return to your chamber, drenched in grime and blood, you can’t even be bothered with your missing door and fall face first into your bed, remembering too late that it’s as hard as the ground.

After an hour or two of resting, you quickly clean yourself up and meet the others for a short breakfast of dry rye bread and mushy oats, letting them believe the red bump on your forehead is from the battle. There is a little spare time before the meeting to discuss your next course of action, so you head back to your room for some more shut-eye.

“Herald.”

A raspy whisper stops you, drawing your attention to a chamber you walked past on your way to the classroom many times. Not once has it been occupied since your arrival in Abyss. But now it is decorated with heavy velvet curtains and tapestries. Violet lights hang from lanterns on the ceiling, illuminating the heavy furniture and curtains in soft, misty light. You remember Constance mentioning something about a Wayseer’s room, usually empty, but now inhabited by an elderly woman sitting in an armchair too big for her behind a round, mahogany table. You can only see a pair of narrow, dark eyes staring up at you. Her nose and mouth are hidden behind a white veil.

“Please, do come in, Herald,” the woman croons and gestures to an empty, cushioned chair standing before the table. Her eyes twinkle with mischief. “There is so much we have to discuss.”

Something in your chest gives a sudden, sharp tug. Seiros’ Champion? No, this feels different. Somehow … It feels wrong. You shouldn’t be here. You hover within the doorframe, looking down the corridor left and right. It is like everyone except you two has left Abyss.

Curiosity taking you in its reins, you step into the room, your eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. “Who are you?” you ask, cautiously making your way across the room towards the chair.

The woman chuckles.

“They call me Wayseer, Herald. For I see the paths people have walked and how far they still have to march until they arrive at their destination.”

You pause, hand resting on the chair’s backrest. The wood feels impossibly cold against your skin. “You can see … the future?”

The woman chuckles again. It is the sound of dry leaves scattered by the cold autumn wind. “You mean do I have the same ability as you? Making Time bow to me? Oh no. Nothing of the like. I simply glimpse where I am allowed. No one else has what you wield.”

“Of course.” You sit, quickly swallowing your disappointment.

“Oh, but why frown like that, Herald.” The Wayseer places her hands to both sides of a translucent orb placed before her on a dark socket. You could have sworn it was not there a second ago. They were small hands with lithe fingers like spider legs. On each finger she wore heavy rings. “So many would kill for what you seem not to appreciate. Power. Glory. The chance to sit upon the throne of the world.”

“I would appreciate people not telling me how to feel about it,” you snap, irritation lashing out like a cornered beast. Taken aback, you lean away from her, your back pressed right against the cold chair. It feels as if you are pressing yourself against a solid block of ice. Where did this come from? This fury?

The Wayseer’s lip curls. If she’s taken offence at your irritation, she doesn’t show. She shifts in her seat like a child impatient to finally be allowed to play with a new toy.

“What can you tell me about my paths then?” you ask. There is little you hope for, really. If she tells you she sees you living in a nice house by the sea in twenty years or so, that is all you can ask for. A peaceful life. You would simply be happy hearing you will survive the next few years. And, if she can see where exactly you have come from, then maybe luck really is on your side this time and you can finally find some answers.

“Very well.” The Wayseer’s chuckle is drier than crisp autumn leaves. She holds out her wiry hand and says, “Close your eyes, Herald, and give me your hand.”

You aren’t too keen on skinship with a stranger, but just to humour both of you, you comply, and placing your hand into hers, palm up, you close your eyes. You feel her gnarly fingers dance over your wrist, brushing over your open palm as light as a spider’s touch. You fight a shudder.

The pain is so sudden and jarring like a lightning bolt. Before you can pull your hand back, the Wayseer grabs your wrist hard like a vice—surprisingly strong for someone this old. Her head darts forward and she sucks your bleeding finger into her greedy mouth as if it were water and she is dying of thirst.

“What are you doing?” you demand, fighting to free your hand. Finally, the Wayseer releases your finger with a wet pop from her lips, and for a second you believe to see razor sharp teeth before the veil obscures her mouth again.

The Wayseer smacks her lips and scratches her nails against the smooth surface of her orb. Maybe this is all a joke. If Claude and Hilda jump out from under the table any second and laugh about the silly face you’re making, you wouldn’t even be angry. But no one emerges, and you stay alone with this mad woman. She’s moving her hands in strange motions over the orb, and in response colourful clouds swirl inside the ball. First red, then blue, and golden until, like a storm rolling in, all of a sudden it becomes black.

The Wayseer recoils.

She tries to suck in air as if she is drowning, her eyes bulging like a dead fish’s. She spits on the ground and a shudder wrecks through her, one that has her falling from her armchair onto the ground, her body convulsing. She begins to cough, a horrible, rattling sound, as if there is something stuck deep inside her that she can’t get out. Clawing at her throat, digging her nails deep enough into the skin to tear, she kicks and wails as if set in invisible flames. As if something is burning her up from the inside. Like poison.

You jump to your feet, rounding the table to help her but she screeches and scrambles away from you, eyes ripped wide open. “Who … no, what are you?” she croaks.

“I … I don’t know.” Your voice is so quiet you don’t know if she can even hear you. “I hoped you could tell me.”

The Wayseer turns to the side and spits some more. It is so dark that it almost looks black, whatever that is—blood or maybe something far gruesome?

Did I do that? you think, horrified as you watch her climb to her feet, still shaking and shuddering. You are about to apologise, reaching forward to steady her by her elbow, but the Wayseer shakes your effort away impatiently as if you are nothing but an annoying fly.

“Oh, my dear, you seem forsaken to me,” she says, and you can’t hold back your surprise how easily she bears no mind or grudge to whatever has happened. Whatever you might have caused. “Just like—” She stops. Her eyes are fixed on her orb that is now swirling in undistinguishable shapes. She leans over it, her gaze pining you like a dead animal on a corkboard. “It seems to me that the answers you seek lie in the Shadow Library, Herald,” the Wayseer says now, her voice suddenly smooth like clear water. Or the satin concealing a sharp knife. But what makes your stomach churn is the way she purred “Herald.” Almost mockingly, and you realise the spiking fear in your stomach doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to the first Herald.

“Why can’t you tell me?” you ask.

“Because it is not my place to tell you.” The Wayseer casts down her eyes now. Her whole behaviour doesn’t make sense. Making light of the Herald’s name first, now acting obedient. You listen inside for the voice of Seiros’ Champion and find one emotion burning like a beacon in the dark. Get out. She is the enemy.

You jump to your feet, almost knocking the table over. “I have to go.”

“Of course.” The Wayseer bows her head slightly, and from the way her eyes become slits, you can see she is smiling underneath the veil. “But don’t forget, the Shadow Library holds answers. Do not let anyone stop you from chasing the truth.”

You give an awkward nod, not trusting your voice.

When you quickly leave the room and throw a last glance back, you think you see the unfamiliar face of a man staring back at you from inside the Wayseer’s orbs, his eyes eerily white.

The Shadow Library is a dark, damp room tucked away at the end of a narrow hall that is seldom frequented by the Abyssians. When you take a look inside, relief fills you that only Linhardt is currently occupying a seat close to a wall, an uneven stack of books his only companion.

The Wayseer didn’t say specifically where to look, but you would start with records on the first Herald and see what you could turn up about him.

But first, you have to deal with Linhardt who’s napping away in his seat, cheek squished against the edge of an open book.

“Linhardt.” You shake him. “Linhardt!”

He jerks up. “I’m awake,” he lies, blinking sleepily against the dim candle’s light. He looks up at you, squints and seems to recognise who caught him. “Oh, it’s just you, Herald. Come to a late study session as well? Or early morning? It’s certainly hard to tell down here with no sun.”

“How long have you been awake?”

Linhardt thinks about that for a moment, his eyes losing focus, then refocusing again. “Forty-two hours, maybe?”

“Bed. Now.”

He leans back, considering the idea. “We can’t say for how long we’ll have access to this hidden knowledge. Did you know it was only with the founding of the Adrestian Empire that we have the calendar as we know it today. They used to call our moons ‘months,’ if you can believe something this extraordinary! You can’t find data like that up in the monastery’s library.”

“Linhardt,” you repeat. “Go to bed. Or do you want me to get Byleth?”

Linhardt doesn’t need to consider this. He raises to his feet, sways a little from exhaustion, and tugs his uniform in order. “Good night, Herald.”

He turns and moves to the exit, but you call him back. “Linhardt!”

He stops. You point at the table. His mouth twitches into an unpleasant line, the only sight of his disapproval, but he returns, drops the books and scrolls he’s hidden in the folds of his robes, and leaves for good.

Quiet settles, and you give it a minute or two to calm your beating heart. “I know you don’t like this,” you say out loud, hoping Seiros’ Champion might finally stop being so anxious inside you. “I don’t trust that Wayseer either, but if I find answers here, I’ll take anything I can get.” He doesn’t know what it is like not knowing anything. Are you even a real person if you don’t have a past; if you don’t have anything or anyone remembering you? “I have a right to know who I am.”

Unfathomable sadness spills at those words—his mixing with yours and you can’t say who started it. But he quickly recedes, leaving you alone. Somehow you feel even worse now. Lonely. You wonder where he left to where you can’t follow him.

You make your way along the walls of books, allowing your fingers to gently journey over the spines. There are so many stories in here that so few people get to read. This library’s collection appears larger than the monastery’s as well, solely for the fact that they don’t have enough space for all the knowledge cramped into every nook and cranny. Wherever there is even some small additional space, someone has made it their calling to fill that blank spot with a book—even when it doesn’t fit.

Without any idea to start, you continue down the aisle and pick whatever sounds interesting. Letters from heirs to noble houses, an antiquated note on what meat to use for a special dish prepared for the new emperor at ceremonies, a novel set in the Adrestian Empire with a date of removal and Seteth’s signature. So this is where the books end up that Seteth doesn’t allow up in the monastery.

You’d hoped to find more about the Herald down here maybe, but there are no records, no memoirs, not even discourse. Why did no one care to keep your records alive? you wonder, but wherever the boy has retreated to, he can’t hear you, or perhaps, chooses not to hear you.

Nothing sticks out as something truly worthy of Seteth’s scorn at first glance. That is until you find the burnt remnants of a report stating some details on a handful of noble houses, another scroll that talks about a False God and the children of men fleeing to the depths of the earth. One paper strikes you as particularly important, but the page is so old and worn that most of the text is illegible. The Truth of Heroes’ Relics. You wonder what it might be, what truth lies within the relics and their Crests that the writer of this paper finished with the words “I daresay the Goddess would not wish for me to learn more than I already have.”

You finally hit a breakthrough when a stack of papers falls to your feet, bundled together with a crumbling piece of wool. When you begin to read, you realise these are the fragments of a forgotten memoir of someone who had fought in the War of Heroes. With clammy hands, you begin to read.

__/15 - Ailell Forest It has been several moons since King Nemesis was defeated, and the tides of war have turned from bad to worse. I have received news that my friend Daphnel has fallen as well. Those zealots are after our heads, and those of our leaders. All that is left for us is to disappear into the muddy waters Seiros has created. My long life may soon come to an end …

__/2 - Itha Plains I somehow escaped with my life, but I fear the end is near. They tell stories of the Shadowlord’s execution and with him gone, what point is there for us, those who have survived? Those who remain and carry a broken legacy. People are worried, for their Herald has locked himself in his rooms, unwilling to speak to his followers or Saint Seiros. They do not understand how he could be so distraught over the Shadowlord’s death. They do not know the truth. Once more, Seiros has chosen to keep secrets, to play with her charges’ obedience and fear. But I know. The world will know the truth at some point and then Seiros will reap the rotten harvest of what she has sown. I misspoke and was driven away to the Fhirid River. They hunt us like animals. I considered leaving Crusher behind, hiding my trails. Maybe it is too late for that. I wish I could see my wife and son again … just one last time.

You read the content of the worn pages once more, trying to make a sense of it. Daphnel was one of the Ten Heroes, as was the author of this letter—if you remember correctly, the Heroes’ Relic Crusher was wielded by Dominic. It must be from after the corruption if King Nemesis was defeated, but from the way those words are framed, the author doesn’t strike you as someone mad for more power or revenge. It is strange but you feel pity for this person.

There is another name that stands out, of course, one that you have not heard in all your moons since joining the church.

The Shadowlord.

The name is like a brush of icy cold fingers against your mind, as gently as a snake grazing your ankle before it springs forward and sinks its venomous fangs deep into your flesh. A shiver passes your body, only it is settled so deep within your bones that you know this is not your fear rekindled.

But as you focus on chasing after Seiros’ Champion before he can disappear back into the murky depths of your mind, a cough comes from the library’s entrance. Your gaze snaps up to see Yuri standing in the doorway. The look of annoyance on his face is something that deserves its own painting to commemorate it.

“I hope you plan on putting that back exactly where you found it,” he says, strolling over as if he doesn’t have any care in the world but the tense set of his shoulders betrays him. “Wouldn’t want any of that to find its way into the hands of someone from the surface.”

“Don’t you get bored?” you ask, folding the papers back together and pushing them back between two books.

Yuri stops, quickly eyeing what you’ve put away to undoubtedly have a look himself once you leave. “Bored of what?”

“Pretending I’m still the villain and here to sell out your people?”

To your surprise, a look of unabashed amusement lights up his face for a moment. It settles back to a somewhat neutral expression, but the glee still remains in the soft dip of the dimple on his left cheek.

“Better safe than sorry,” Yuri replies, shrugging casually. His nimble fingers dance across book spines. “Though yes, even I must admit that your deeds for the people of Abyss are not what I have expected.” His fingers pause. Yuri leans forward, lilac eyes gleaming. His face is predatory, but his voice is gentle. “You are not what I have expected.”

His words feel like the warm flick of a candle’s light. You didn’t realise until now how much you cared for Yuri’s approval. To think he’s warming up to you slowly might still be an exaggeration, but maybe he’ll grant you the generosity of a looser tongue now that he doesn’t see you as the enemy.

Your eyes skim back to where you’ve returned the letters, fingers itching to take them with you until you know every word by heart. “I’ve … I’ve read about this person. Shadowlord. Any idea who that was?”

Yuri raises a slim eyebrow. “The Shadowlord?” He looks a little puzzled, his eyes roaming over the books. “It’s just a story. A boogie man living in the shadows that steals you away if you don’t finish eating all your vegetables. Grandparents used to tell their grandchildren that story so they wouldn’t be naughty.”

“So just the bad guy in a fairy tale?”

“Is what I’ve heard.” He gives a single shrug. “Who knows. All fairy tales have a spark of truth to them though. Maybe he truly existed.”

You’re sure that is what people thought about the Herald as well until the story became reality. You just hope this particular story remains one.

“Also, I would appreciate it if you don’t go around the monastery telling everyone what you’re reading down here,” Yuri says, waving towards the library’s entrance to signal your late-night reading has come to an end.

You hesitate only a moment before you follow him down the corridor, leaving the books and tomes behind. “Okay, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Great.” He winks at you. “Saves me the trouble of sneaking into your room and slitting your throat.”

“Charming as always.”

Maybe one day you’ll be capable of holding a pleasant conversation with him without any death threats. Though it already feels as if a little of Yuri’s animosity has disappeared in favour of giving you a chance to prove yourself.

He drops you off at the door to your quarters, already flaunting down the corridor to whatever nightly escapade fancies his tastes without so much as a wave at you over his shoulder.

“That Wayseer,” you say before he can disappear into the shadows. “What’s her deal?”

Yuri stops. He turns slowly, his eyes flitting from the dark corners of the flickering lights on the walls to you. There’s a question in his eyes you don’t know the answer to. “What Wayseer?” he asks, and you can feel your blood run cold. “I know everyone going in and out of Abyss, and I haven’t heard about someone like that hanging around.”

“But that room next to the scrap chamber…”

“Hasn’t been occupied in years.” When Yuri answers this time, he turns around and looks at you a little sceptical but also impatient as if he doesn’t have time for whatever pipe dreams you’ve come up with. “I guess someone played a joke on you. Don’t let it get to you.”

You nod, but your mind still lingers in that room, with that person. It would be easy to brush it off as a joke. But this sense of wrongness spikes again, a kernel of goddess-awful flavour that the more you think about it has you gagging. You had felt an awareness. No. More than awareness, more sentient than that. It was recognition.

A/N: someone over at ao3 made fanart of the first herald and i'm absolutely in love!! check it out here!

if you're interested to join the taglist, please let me know! i want to resume uploads every month, so the next chapter should be up on September 15th. thanks for reading and take care!

#phill.tdwc #fe3h x reader #fe3h dimitri x reader #fe3h claude x reader #fe3h edelgard x reader #dimitri x reader #claude x reader #edelgard x reader #fe3h house leaders x reader #fe3h x oc #fe3h x gn!reader

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