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skylarstark4826 · 2 months

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Sirens wailed in the background. Finn had to make a choice here and now. He could run, find Rey- no one would care in all the chaos. He could finally do what he wanted all those weeks ago. Or he could stay and fight.

For Rose.

Her face came to his mind, and he knew what he had to do. He was done running. With that, he sprinted down the hallways towards the hangar. He pulled on the yellow jumpsuit of the Cobalt Squadron over his civilian clothes, and the life support system. He grabbed a spare helmet, turned on the frequency.

"Cobalt Five, coming in," Finn said.

"Cobalt Five, get in an X-wing now," Captain Tallie ordered.

"Copy Cobalt Leader," Finn said. He hurried towards the only free one- Paige's own X-wing. He placed his hand on the ladder when he heard her.

"FINN!"

He turned to see Rose, running from across the hangar to him. He could sense her fear in the pain- fear that she'd lose him like she lost her sister, he realized with a start. He ran to her without a second thought.

They embraced. Finn looked down into the dark eyes of the young engineer he'd come to know. . . and love, he realized.

"I have to do this," he said. "I can't run anymore. It's like you told me- I have a mission to complete: protecting you."

"I love you," she said. "Finn, be careful. May the Force be with you."

"I love you too," he said. "And I promise I'll come back for you."

He then ran to the X-wing, and got into the cockpit. "I can do this, I can do this."

He had to do this.

Finn shifted the X-wing into gear, and he took off, following the pack so low, they were kicking up the blood-red Craitian sand. To cover the base location, Finn realized. Still getting used to the controls, he overcompensated, and nearly crashed. Some signals started beeping and his screens flashed at him.

"You okay, Cobalt Five?" Poe asked over the frequency.

"I'm fine, I think," Finn said. He glanced at the dashboard. "I think my shields are down."

"That's not good," Captain Tallie said. "That means one hit and you're toast."

"Black Twelve, Black Seven, protect Cobalt Five," Poe ordered.

"Roger that, Black Leader," a male and female said at the same time.

"Thanks," Finn said.

"We'd do anything for you, Big Deal," Black Twelve said.

Finn, in spite of himself, grinned at the nickname that Han Solo had given him. If he died tonight, at least he'd die surrounded by friends and knowing that Rose loved him as much as he loved her.

I'm sorry, Rose.

The X-wing was still shaking a little, but Finn was getting used to the controls. His heart pounded in his chest as what seemed like endless TIE fighters emerged from the overcast sky. He took a deep breath, and tightened his grip on the steering.

"Targets coming into view," Captain Tallie said.

"Don't hold back," Poe warned.

"And may the Force be with you," Finn added.

For that moment, they all breathed in and out collectively. This was the end, the greatest of all the battles they'd fought so far. This was the moment of life or death. There was destiny to it. Everything it seemed, had come down to this.

Green bolts whizzed past, and through luck, and intuition, Finn managed to dodge as X-wings and A-wings dropped like flies around him. The targeting computer, however, was a distraction. Finn turned it off, and fired at the enemy. He had to protect his friends, protect Rose.

"There's one on your tail!" Jessika cried. "I've got it!"

Just as she said that, there was an explosion. "Blue Three? Blue Three, come in? Jessika? Jessika!"

"I'm here!" she shouted, sounding just as relieved as Finn did.

Every moment felt like forever. It was an eternity of adrenaline and blaster bolts. So many times, his skills faltered, but when he was at the brink of falling or dying, he remembered Rose. He had to come back to her.

He didn't know what caused him to look up when he did, but when he did, he saw the Falcon soaring through the clouds. Finn could sense Rey, and Chewie, and Luke- and someone else.

"It's Rey!" he shouted. "Rey's come back to help us! We have to help the Falcon!"

"We hear you, Cobalt Five," said Captain Tallie. "We're on our way. Cobalt Squadron, protect the Millennium Falcon!"

Finn soared up with the rest of them, and shot at the TIEs.

"There's more in the atmosphere!" Captain Tallie cried. "We need to help the Last Command. Come-"

She was cut off by a blood-curdling scream. Finn knew it as a death cry. She and several others were shot down.

"What do we do?" someone shouted. "Tallie's dead!"

"So's her second in command!"

"We need to help the Last Command," Finn said. He was finally living up to his full potential. This was who he was meant to be. "We can take out the Finalizer! Hit the command center, and then take out the turrets, and we'll be able to sink it!"

There was silence for a heart-pounding moment.

"Copy that, Cobalt Leader," Black Seven said.

Finn let out a small sigh of relief- it wouldn't last for long, but that didn't matter. Every second was one where he was living, not dying. This was it.

He led the fleet into the atmosphere, where the Finalizerlurked, facing off against the Last Command.

Breathe. Just breathe.

He closed his eyes. Finn breathed in, then out. He followed his intuition, and pressed the trigger. His eyes opened just in time to see the blaster bolt fire straight into the command center, blowing up the entire thing.

"Woo!" he cried. "I got it!"

"Way to go, Cobalt Leader!" several pilots said. He then turned down and headed for the turrets. It would be deadly, but worth it. Immediately upon approach, an A-wing was fired out of the sky, and sent to the sands of Crait for all time. Finn couldn't let the same happen to him.

"Give it all you've got!" he cried. "Trust in yourselves, and in the Force! We're almost there!"

For a moment, the entire fleet of the Resistance and New Republic combined took a collective breath. In, then out. Then they fired with all the fury of all the Corellian hells. One by one the turrets blinked out, shot their last bolts. The ships deftly avoided all of them.

The Finalizer was stagnant in the air for a moment. Then it gave a great shudder before plummeting to Crait.

Cheers and screams of joy and relief filled the frequency, Finn along with them.

The TIES began to jump to hyperspace, as well as the other bigger ships, making it easy to shoot down the stragglers.

"We've done our job," Finn said. "Let's go home, everyone."

He landed the X-wing in the hangar, barely coming to a stop inside. Everyone, it seemed, was inside the hangar in that moment, come to greet the heroes of the Resistance. Finn threw off his helmet, and leapt out of the cockpit. He stood at the bottom of the ladder on the side, surrounded by the crowd and the communal energy in the Force, before spotting her distinctive ponytail.

"ROSE!" he shouted, and she turned. He ran to her, and she to him, and the crowds parted as the lovers met, embracing again, this time in victory. Finn swept Rose off her feet and kissed her, wanting this moment to be his forever. Her lips against his, sharing the energy of the Force and her soft body in his arms, pressed together in a perfect fit.

He set her down, and she grinned up at him.

"I promised I'd come back for you, didn't I?"

"Oh, Finn," she cried, and she threw her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, the force of it nearly knocking him over. Luckily, he managed to maintain his balance, and he twirled her around.

They were together, victory was theirs, and the future was in their hands. Tomorrow would be another battle, but that didn't matter tonight as the storm raged outside. It was all out there- in here, two hearts beat as one.

#finn x rose #finnrose #finnix calrissian #rose tico

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onthesandsofdreams · 2 years

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Sunday Six, Finn x Rose - Caring for each other while ill

The first time that Finn gets sick, Rose doesn't leave his side. "He's never been properly tended to, and I intent to spoil him."

Only Rey and Poe are allowed anywhere near Finn as he recuperates, and even then, Rose has strict rules for Finn not to over do it.

Finn falls more in love with Rose than what he already was; so, when it's her turn to get sick, he waits on her on hand and foot.

When she tries to wave him off, he tells her, "You cared for me, and I want to take care of you, because I love you."

Rose gives in and basks in Finn's undivided attention.

When they finally are fine, they make the promise that unless one is absent, they will always take care of each other during illnesses (if they whisper about spoiling each other, no one has to know).

#finnrose #finn x rose #finn #rose x finn #rose tico #star wars #star wars fic #post canon fic #six sentence sunday

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bluntblade · 7 months

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I reworked some bits of my Episode IX recently (the Grey Jedi stuff no longer sat right with me), so figured I'd give it a bump again

#episode ix rewrite #star wars fanfiction #sequels fanfic #sequel trilogy fanfic #rey x kaydel ko connix #Finn x Rose

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finnpoeweek2023 · 7 months

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"Finn is known for his intense loyalties in his friendships–specifically with Rey, Poe, and Rose. He risks his neck at every turn, fights for what he loves, and will use whatever tool he needs to get the job done"

#finnpoe #stormpilot #star wars #finn x poe #finn #poe dameron #rey skywalker #rey #rose #rose tico #FinnPoeHalloweenBingo2023

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tomatette · 3 months

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Star Wars Sequel Trilogy characters and "customized" edits of IRL Valentine's Day cards they would send

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finnpo3try · 1 year

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the sequel squad as barbie posters

#finnpoe #finn x poe #finn dameron #finn star wars #poe x finn #poe dameron #rey skywalker #rose tico #reyrose #stormpilot #star wars #star wars sequel trilogy #barbie #barbie posters #finnrey #damerey #jedistormpilot

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pomegranatesandribcages · 15 days

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me when someone brings up the fact that sean diaz thought his life was ending at 16, little did he know it actually did and he would never feel normal again

me when someone brings up "finn is so fucking smart. if he wasnt such a fuck-up, he couldve taken over the world"

me when someone brings up cassidys letter

me when someone brings up how the group got seperated after the incident even though they only had each other

me when someone brings up how every character had so much potential but were just dealt shitty cards in life and will forever face the consequences of not being good enough to combat the struggles they never asked for (ESP sean, cass, finn and lw daniel)

me when someone brings up the fact that its implied that max and daniel meet in the pw ending, and they finally wont feel alone for the first time in their lives

me when someone brings up how bad seans writing and drawing got after losing his eye, and he would get a migraine whenever he tried to focus, stripping him of the one thing that ever calmed him down

me when someone brings up the fact that daniel quit drawing after lisbeth manipulated him, but started again after sean died because he told him to never stop

me when someone brings up what seans teen years in prison mustve been like and what daniels first meetings with him wouldve been like

me when someone brings up how sean never even gave a second thought about being straight before meeting finn, but after he kissed him he wanted to do it again and kept telling everybody because it was such a personal thing for him

me when sean had no one to talk about prev with because his life was so fucked up and he had no outlet for being a normal teengaer

me when sean literally dreamt about telling his dad he kissed a boy because it was so important to him and he never got to have that conversation before he died, and he imagined his dad supporting him endlessly because he was experiencing a lack of that irl

me when sean got awoken from prev dream to get beat bloody and bruised by a fuckass racist (he will never experience peace)

this post is already too long and i could still go on why is this game so tragic man

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biggestsimponhere · 11 months

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I’m opening up my requests for the star wars men including Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han solo, Poe Dameron, Finn, Cassian Andor, my requests for Din djarin have been open and you can still request for him! I also will wrote for any of the girls.

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skylarstark4826 · 2 months

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Rose sat on the end of the large bed she shared with Finn. She held the pregnancy test in her hands— it was a positive. She was having Finn's child.

She loved him, and he her, but they'd never discussed having children. She had no idea how he would react. She hadn't ever put much thought into it for herself— but now, raced with the prospect, Rose liked it. She wanted to bring new life into the world, wanted to show the world a blend of her and Finn.

Rose rubbed her crescent moon necklace. Bringing life into the world was sacred in the Church of the Confined Crescent. It was an act of adding to the Force.

She set down the pregnancy test and heard the small ping alert made when the door to the Coruscanti apartment opened. She got to her feet and hurried out to see Finn hang his jacket on a peg on in the entryway.

"I have news," she said quickly. Rose was never one for formalities or pleasantries. They were a waste of oxygen, in her opinion.

"Well, hello to you, too, Rosie," Finn said, an amused smile on his face as he ducked down to kiss his wife on the cheek. "Missed you too. Had a good day at work? Me too."

Rose couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sorry. Hi, Finn. I missed you. I had a good day at work— you? Excellent. Now for the news—it's big."

"Did you make a breakthrough with Project Suncrusher?" Finn asked.

"Not exactly," Rose said. It suddenly felt hard to say the words, like they just couldn't come out of her mouth. "Finn, I'm pregnant. I'm having your child."

Finn's eyes widened. "That is big."

"Is something wrong?" Rose asked.

"No, no," Finn assured her quickly, and he embraced her. "I want to be a father."

Rose wrapped her arms around him, relieved that he was happy. "I knew we hadn't talked about it yet, and I didn't know if you wanted one—"

"I want to be a father," Finn repeated, his eyes sparkling with delight. "And I know you'll make a great mother."

Something about his face fell.

"There's something you're not telling me," Rose accused, stepping back.

Fear clouded Finn's face. "The Imperial Remnant is still out there, and there's been rumors, Rosie."

"Of what?"

"They're taking children again," Finn said. "There's been cases of kids being stolen."

"You're afraid they'll take ours," Rose finished. "Finn. . . I'm so sorry."

"I still want to have kids," Finn said. "I'm just afraid."

Over the years, Finn had grown more open about his myriad of fears. Rose knew just how to handle them. Brew a pot of hot chocolate, Luke Skywalker's special recipe, and sit down and plan for dealing with it. Every plan would have a contingency, every contingency would have a contingency. Rose kept a special datapad for these plans, right under her underwear in that drawer.

Finn and Rose, without saying another word, agreed to do so again with a single nod. Rose went to their bedroom and retrieved the datapad while Finn brewed the hot chocolate himself.

Rose picked up the pregnancy test. It indicated that their unborn child would be a girl.

If Finn wouldn't mind, she wanted to name their child Paige. It could be a middle name or a first, Rose didn't care— but she wanted her sister who had joined the Force in years prior to be remembered through her niece.

#finn x rose #finnrose #finnix calrissian #rose tico

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baby-ditzzy · 2 years

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at first i was like mmmm ghostface! mike wheeler as a joke but…i don’t think it’s a joke anymore….

DAMN BILLY LOOMIS IS FINE ASF ITS NOT FAIR

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demigoddessqueens · 4 months

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For a multiple character request please : Star Wars Sequel Resistance group (Rey, Finn, Poe, and Rose if ok?) being sibling figures to reader, and them coming out as asexual/aromantic to them

Of course you can!!

HERE ON MASTERLIST 9

Rey

Her eyes just light up like a star, and gives those encouraging pat-hugs along with a “I’m so proud of you!”

Finn

He sees you’re fidgeting about what to say and gives you an encouraging hug once you tell him.

Poe

Such a good brother! Makes a big deal about it as in he’s happy for you to come out to him

Rose

She’s such a sweetheart about it! So patient and encouraging when you tell her, holding your hand if you want to as well

#star wars #inbox requests #star wars x reader #headcanons #my writing #rey skywalker #platonic reader #sibling reader #rey of jakku #finn star wars #platonic headcanons #poe dameron #rose tico #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writers of tumblr #star wars sequel trilogy #aroace #aromantic

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thehamletdiaries · 7 months

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If the cast of Glee did Hamlet

I am am clearly procrastinating from writing actual Hamlet based fiction and working on a couple of other projects, so instead I present you with the post no one wanted or asked for...who in Hamlet would the Glee cast play if they did a production? (I also have seen literally one episode of Glee ever and have absorbed everything I know about it by osmosis so this may not even be on point).

Hamlet - Santana Lopez Horatio - Brittany Pierce Ophelia - Marley Rose Claudius - Blaine Anderson Gertrude - Mercedes Jones Polonius - Unique Adams Laertes - Mike Chang Osric - Tina Cohen-Chang Rosencrantz - Finn Hudson Guildenstern - Puck Ghost - Sam Evans Marcellus - Artie Abrams Bernardo - Kurt Hummel Fortinbras - Quinn Fabray Player King - Rachel Berry Reynaldo - Ryder Lynn Hamlet - Santana Lopez Horatio - Brittany Pierce Ophelia - Marley Rose Claudius - Blaine Anderson Gertrude - Mercedes Jones Polonius - Unique Adams Laertes - Mike Chang Osric - Tina Cohen-Chang Rosencrantz - Finn Hudson Guildenstern - Puck Ghost - Sam Evans Marcellus - Artie Abrams Bernardo - Kurt Hummel Fortinbras - Quinn Fabray Player King - Rachel Berry Reynaldo - Ryder Lynn

And I've just discovered this gif exists...

#Santana Lopez #Brittany Pierce #Marley Rose #Glee #Hamlet #hamlet x horatio #hamlet/horatio #ophelia #tragic danish boyfriends #rosencrantz and guildenstern #shakespeare #Mercedes Jones #Finn Hudson #Tina Cohen-Chang #Mike Chang #Rachel berry

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buffshipper8490 · 2 months

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Rating Mature

Chapter Summary

Emperor Palpatine makes Rey an offer to join the Sith on Exegol. Meanwhile, the Skywalker arrives on Coruscant to help Finn’s army of Coruscant citizens and rebelling stormtroopers to begin their attack on the First Order Capitol...

Excerpt

Rey stepped beneath a massive monolith that seemed to hover in the air. She startled a bit when the section of floor she stood on detached from the rest, began to descend. She looked around, alert to any sight or sound, but all was as silent as death. Then a rumble sounded, too distant to identify. The lift settled, and Rey stepped off. She raised her weapon, and its blue light snagged on huge stone faces, sparking with electricity. She knew, without knowing how she knew, that the statues commemorated Sith Lords who had come before. This place of evil must have been here for centuries, maybe millennia, for the air was heavy with the weight of time and dark secrets. Rey was suddenly aware that she was not alone. Figures scurried in the shadows, but she sensed no immediate threat from them, so she continued on. A few more steps took her past a dizzying array of lab equipment—monitors, tubes, some kind of tank, all empty and abandoned. Just like the planet’s surface, the floor here contained fissures, and light flashed deep down—Rey couldn’t tell how deep—as though Exegol’s entire crust had formed around a core of electricity. She came to a narrow stone corridor, and her gaze was pulled forward. A chill pimpled the flesh of her arms, because resting upon a dais was the shape from her visions. A chair with spikes curving up and around it, like a halo of giant thorns. The throne of the Sith. Rey found herself inexorably drawn to the throne, and stepped toward the dais. The rumble grew louder. The corridor broke open into an an amphitheater as big as a hollowed-out mountain, brimming with robed figures. There were thousands of them, faceless in the dark distance, but pulsing with zealotry. Religious disciples, awaiting the return of the Sith. The Sith Eternal. As she approached, the rumbling shifted and became a hiss, like an oversized serpent ready to strike. "Welcome to Exegol, young Rey..." came a voice from her nightmares, deep, resonant, and slow, as though he had all the time in the galaxy. Rey turned toward the dark voice. A robed figure materialized, suspended from strange machinery. Rey's grip on the lightsaber tightened when she saw his face. He was a ghastly sight, with red-rimmed eyes, his skin barely clinging to his skeletal form, the flesh disintegrating into oozing sores. One of his hands had even half rotted away. It was the Emperor. Darth Sidious. Palpatine, his spirit trapped in an artificial form, his power too devastating to contain. "I have been watching your journey for my Wayfinder with great interest..." he continued, the weight of his voice thundering in Rey's skull. "Perhaps I was mistaken in attempting for your life..." The ghoul was repulsive, but Rey's feet twitched toward him. She could not look away. There was something terrifyingly compelling about him. "You... are drawn to the throne... aren't you, child?" asked Palpatine like a kindly grandfather, gesturing over to the Sith throne. "The Dark Side calls to you... a fine Sith you would make..." She forced herself to sound strong, to back away from the Emperor. “I haven’t come to join the Sith. I've come to end them." Several figures stepped forward, draped in crimson, similar to Snoke’s Praetorian Guard, which she and Kylo had defeated together. Rey had a feeling these guards would prove more formidable adversaries. “As a Jedi?” the Emperor said, his voice oozing contempt like the sores on his skin. Rey snarled defiantly at him. "Yes!" “I sense your hatred... your anger. Qualities of a Sith," Palpatine smiled. Rey tried to deny it, but he saw right through her. It was written all over her face. "You want to kill me. That is what I want! Kill me and my spirit will pass into you, as all the Sith live in me. We will be one!" The cultists roared their approval...

New fanfic link! Likes ❤️ and Reblogs 🔁 are much appreciated!

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chaosinkest1996 · 7 months

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First Blood

This work is inspired by the spooky season. The OC of Lilith Rose Shelby is my own. The character of Scarlet Shelby belongs to @zablife. I hope you're not offended that I included her. She inspired me with her Shelby energy and in addition you inspired me to write something of my own an post it. So @zablife this is for you, Lee. Hope you like it.

TW: Violence. Domestic Abuse. Lilith is a child for most of this story.

It was true of The Shelby clan that they produced more demons than angels. At least, that was the myth gossiped by the priest and the locals down watery lane. At the age of six Lilith hadn’t really understood why that might have been a bad thing, she just marvelled how that seemed to link them closer to God than most other families. Besides there was only one real demon in that family. Lilith was four when she’d learned not to trust her father. Five when she learned to fear him. And it was only a matter of time before she learned to despise him. Arthur Shelby Sr. was a dreadful human being, a despicable father, and an utter bastard. She’d learned she’d receive no love from him only on her last birthday when he’d announced she’d disappointed him by not being a boy. Naturally, she impaled a fork into his hand and when he’d raised his fist to beat her, Polly had held a knife to his throat. The look on the old weasel’s face had been the best birthday gift her aunt could have got her. Of all the children he had spawned, Arthur seemed to hate his youngest daughter the most. Lilith had been trained by Polly and her mother, as all the other Shelby siblings had been, to avoid their father when he was at home. She’d never known why her mother loved him so much.

Lilith adored her mother. Anna Shelby was the beauty of small health. She was a gypsy princess of Irish and Russian descent. She was a songbird with a sensitive heart…and the gift. Some whispered she’d been granted it by the devil, who had taken her for his mistress, in recent years. Polly had scoffed when she’d heard Ada repeat what she’d heard….and yet, Polly wouldn’t meet Lilith’s curious gaze. Anna had met and settled down with Arthur Shelby Sr. when her family had settled close to Birmingham. From what Lilith had gathered, her parents' romance had been idyllic, a fairy tale. And so here she was, two years later at the age of eight, sitting in the kitchen listening to her father shout at her mother and she found herself wandering where it had all gone wrong for the two of them. Polly had gone to the shop and she’d taken Finn. Everyone else had been out of the house when Arthur Sr. had returned to the house from wherever the fuck he'd been. Lilith was the first one back from school, she’d snook in when she’d heard her father swearing and slurring his words in the sitting room. She stared at his jacket in front of her, draped over another chair. Her nose wrinkled as the stench of alcohol assaulted her. Lilith frowned, gritting her teeth when she heard her mother, normally calm and softly spoken, raise her voice. The door was closed, so she couldn’t hear her clearly. Not that it mattered. Arthur’s voice rose above her in volume seconds later and then she heard Anna begin to cry. The sound pulled on Lilith’s heartstrings and tugged at her tear ducts. She slid off the chair and approached the sitting room.

If daddy wants to shout at someone, he can shout at me.

But as she grasped the handle and turned it slightly, she hesitated. He didn’t know she was there, neither of them did. She could sneak out and fetch Tommy. Her eyes lit up at the prospect of her favorite big brother breaking her father’s wrist…or face. Either would be fine. Yes, that would do, he could pick on someone his own size. Someone who wasn’t frightened of him. Lilith turned and ran to fetch Tommy. She got as far as the back door when she heard it. The sound of her mother falling. She froze, shivering all over. Lilith wasn’t sure what she’d heard until she returned to the sitting room door, her feet having taken her there involuntarily. She stood at the crack in the door, peeping through at her mother. Anna was on the floor, clutching her head from where she’d bashed it on the chair leg. Arthur stood over her, laughing silently at her with his cruel mean eyes.

“Arthur, please. Please, Arthur. I’m sorry I shouted, I won’t do it again. Please, Arthur. No. No. Stop, No! Please!”

Anna’s quiet pleading, her soft, heartbroken begging dissolved into sobs and cries of pain as Arthur descended upon her with his fists. Anna did her best to fend him off, but he was so much stronger than her. Lilith watched mouth agape in horror and eyes streaming with tears as her mother submitted herself to the torture and curled up as best as she could to protect herself.

How long had this been happening? All of her life?

Lilith had never questioned it when her father had tried to hurt her. As far as she was aware it was customary for all fathers to beat their children when they’d disobeyed or angered them. She’d never thought for a second that he’d hurt her mother though. Not when Anna doted on him. The only person in the world capable of loving him…and he treated her like that.

Anna released a loud wail as Arthur pulled her hair back and smacked her hard on the mouth. Lilith, unable to stand her mother’s sobs any longer nor the sound of Arthur’s flesh impacting violently against Anna’s delicate figure, sprinted to the kitchen, desperate to do something, anything to help her mother. Climbing up on Tommy’s chair, she pulled open one of the draws and picked it up. The kitchen knife was heavy in her hand, weighing her delicate little arm down. But she held it firm, hopping back down off the counter and landing silently…not that her father would have heard her over his own shouts. Lilith watched him, hulking over her mother like some kind of monstrous animal, drunk and cruel as ever he could be.

“Mad bitch.” He called Anna. She didn’t deserve that.

Mummy, how can you love him?

Something cold and angry in Lilith snapped and hissed angrily inside her. It was vicious and crimson and she swallowed the venom it offered her with determination. Lilith didn’t love him. That was something she was certain of as she stepped into the sitting room, approaching him from behind, quiet as she could be so he didn’t hear her. The blade glinted in the sunlight as she sprang at him from behind. Arthur Sr. Yelped out in agony as the sharp blade sank into his thigh. It heightened to a scream as Lilith ripped it out and plunged it back into his knee. She delighted in the noise he made, pleased that he was the one making it instead of Anna. The last thing Lilith registered before the bloodlust descended and the noise fell away was the sound of metal slicing through bone.

“GET!” His knee buckled as she pulled the blade out once again. Lilith continued her assault mercilessly as she tore at him with the knife. “OFF!” His calf, his thigh again, his other leg, his foot, his forearm, his shoulder. “MY!” Nothing else mattered except the look of utter horror on his ugly twisted features. “MUMMY!” He tried to grab at her once but she was fast and small, easily blocking his arms. “YOU!” The sharp end of the knife went through his palm and his breath hitched, eyes widening when she yanked it back out. “MONSTER!” She hoped it was as painful as it looked. She was so numb, so far gone that she didn’t hear the door open. She didn’t see them all rushing in. She didn’t see Polly gasp, her hands cupping her mouth, eyes wide. the shopping in her hands crashing loudly to the floor. She didn’t see Finn, flinching back behind Polly’s skirts eyes scrunched closed. She didn’t hear John swear or Scarlet drop her nursing books. She didn’t feel the vibration of them clunking to the floor. She didn’t see Ada rush to her mother and wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. She didn’t hear Arthur yelling for her to stop. She didn’t see Tommy look between the three of them, putting two and two together. What a sight she must have been for them. An eight-year-old girl splattered from head to toe in her father’s blood.

In the end, it was Anna’s voice that cut through the bloodlust.

“Lily! Lily, darling stop! Please! Stop! You’ll kill him.” Anna cried, pushing herself up off the floor.

“WHAT DOES IT MATTER?” Lilith embedded the knife into his other knee with a sickening crunch. “HE HURT YOU!” Arthur Sr. squealed like a pig. Ripping it out once more she raised her blade again when a strong hand gripped her wrist until her grip loosened and the blade fell, clattering to the floor. She was lifted with ease away from her father and spun until she was face to face with Tommy as he shielded her view of him. She’d been so lost in the moment that she hadn’t heard them come in. All of them. Polly picked the knife up off the floor and wiped it with her skirt. Lilith looked Tommy in the eyes. Those big ocean-blue eyes were wide with utter terror as he checked her over.

“Are you hurt, Lily petal?” He asked urgently. The numbness melted away. The damn broke and emotion flooded in.

“I’m not sorry Tommy! I’m not sorry!” She wailed. “He was hitting mummy! He deserved it!” Her voice cracked and her breath stuttered as she burrowed her head into his neck. Tommy embraced her without a second thought, rocking her back and forth in as calming a manner as he could think.

Lilith’s accusations rang out into the shell-shocked room. Polly was the first to take action.

“Get up!” She snapped at her brother. His angry little eyes glowered back at her in spite of the pain rocketing through him. Polly sighed, irritated. “Scarlet, Arthur, help your father onto the settee. Ada grab a sheet to cover it with. Scarlet, I want you to help me sew him up. John, go and bribe Doctor Clarkson to come and help. Anna,” She paused, looking at her good sister. She softened instantly seeing the bruises already forming on her melancholic face. “Are you badly hurt?” Anna parted her lips, ready to speak when Lilith wriggled and vaulted out of Tommy’s hold, running to her mother.

“I’m sorry, mummy! I’m sorry! Please don’t be angry with me.” Lilith wailed. Anna’s eyes welled with tears. She pulled her youngest daughter into her arms and embraced her tightly.

“I’m not angry.” Her voice wobbled. “I’ll never be angry with you. Only sad. You protected me. You shouldn’t have had to do that, petal.” Ada returned, covering the settee with a spare old bedsheet. Arthur Sr. wheezed as Arthur and a rather reluctant Scarlet helped him up (with minimal care on her part) and to the settee. He opened his mouth and Scarlet punched one of his injuries hard. It bloomed red and he hissed in pain.

“You say a word and I’ll make sure you’re hurting more than you are already!” She snapped.

“Don’t be harsh, Scar, he’s our dad. Where’s that bedside manner you were telling us about?” Arthur Jr. asked, trying to ease the tension.

“He doesn’t fucking deserve it, Arthur.” She shot him a sharp look. Before looking at Tommy. “You’ll have to help Arthur take Dad’s trousers off.” Her older brother scowled at the prospect but stalked over nonetheless. The door flung open once again as John returned, very much out of breath. He nearly doubled over with exhaustion. Behind him waddled in, Doctor Clarkson, flushed and barely upright himself. The old doctor had just righted himself when his eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he looked at his patient.

“Can you fix ‘im?” Polly asked, eyes sharp on the old man. Doctor Clarkson’s resemblance to a deer in headlights heightened as his eyes darted around the room. The empathy seeped back into them when he caught sight of Anna and Lilith, bruised and bloody. He straightened and stepped forward.

“Let me look at him.”

“It would be preferable if he didn’t have to go to a hospital.” Tommy spoke calmly. “People will talk.” Doctor Clarkson approached Arthur Sr. and carefully examined his injuries. The look of concern on his elderly face deepened.

“You’re lucky. They’re not too deep, for the most part, easy enough to handle.” The doctor removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

“Scarlet and I can help.” Polly suggested. The doctor nodded.

“That would be sufficient.” He opened his physician’s bag, pulling out what he needed. “What worries me are these.” He pointed at Arthur’s knees, hand and ankle. “The knife has penetrated bone.” He paused, lowering his voice for only Polly to hear. “I take it the child was defending her mother?” Polly nodded. “She did a thorough job.” He smiled at her. “He’ll need a hospital.”

“No!” Tommy’s deep voice cut through the conversation. “He’s got a big mouth, he’ll talk.”

“And what will he say, Mr. Shelby? That his eight-year-old daughter did this to him?”

“He has a point.” John spoke up. “No one would believe him.”

“Not only does it sound far-fetched.” Ada sat down and locked eyes with her father. She maintained the stare. “Think of the humiliation.”

“He doesn’t have to say it was Lily. He could say it was any of us.”

“No Tom!” Arthur looked pleadingly at his brother, “It’s dad, he wouldn’t rat on any of us.” Tommy shook his head at Arthur’s naivety. He was still just a young boy at heart, wanting to please his father.

“Arthur, why don’t you help Ada make some tea?” Polly suggested. Arthur opened his mouth ready to argue when Ada took his hand.

“Come on.” She pulled him through to the kitchen. When Tommy was sure he was out of ear shot, he stood over his father, looking down on him with disdain.

“He can go to a hospital.” He spoke to Doctor Clarkson. “But it can’t be in small heath.”

“I can send him to a colleague of mine in London.”

“I have one condition.”

“Name it.”

“It’s not for you, it’s for him. And before I let him out of this house, he’ll have to agree to it.”

“What is it, boy?” His father spat.

“You’ll be gone in the morning. You’ll leave small heath, and you’ll never ever come back.”

“Tommy-” Anna’s voice was sad.

“No, mum.” Tommy stood firm, “He’s made us miserable for long enough. If he knows what’s good for him he’ll leave.”

“He can be someone else’s problem.” Polly said. Arthur Sr. looked disgruntled as he thought it through. Lilith didn’t know what possessed her to look at him, or to approach, but she suddenly found herself stood in front of him.

“You hate us all, daddy. So just say yes.” Her dark onyx eyes stared into him and he shifted uncomfortably, and yet unable to look away. He nodded to Tommy.

“I’ll do it. I’ll leave. I swear, I won’t come back.” At his words, Anna began to softly cry again, looking at the floor in shame. Lilith maintained eye contact with her father. A battle of wills being fought between them. No way in hell would she be bullied by him. She smirked, recalling how he squealed when she’d butchered him.

“I’m not sorry.” She whispered. “Don’t ever come back.”

*****

He was gone. It was done. Lilith had watched from the top of the stairs as they’d taken him to the canal boat Uncle Charlie had prepared. He’d not asked questions when Tommy had spoken quietly with him. He’d simply looked at Anna and agreed to whatever Tommy had told him. Anna had been inconsolable for the better part of the evening. Arthur Sr. never once looked at his wife as he was carted off to the canal boat that would take him to the infirmary in London. Even as she called his name tenderly.

“Have you nothing to say?!” Polly snapped at him, arm wrapped around Anna’s shoulders. The horrible excuse for a husband merely gritted his teeth and stared hard ahead. Ignoring Anna like it was all her fault. Ada had stripped Lilith bare and bathed her, tenderly cleansing the blood on her hands and face. John took her dress and the bed sheet and built a fire in the backyard for them.

“I’m not sorry.” Lilith kept saying quietly as she rocked back and forth in the warm water. “I’m not sorry.” She looked up at Polly when she came and joined them, alone. “Where’s mummy?”

“She’s gone to bed, darling.”

“I’ve made her sad, haven’t I?” Tears welled in Lilith’s eyes. “I don’t want mummy to go away again. Not like she did before. I want her to be happy. I want her to stay.” Polly hushed her, kissing her forehead soothingly as she took the soap and began to wash Lilith’s thick dark hair.

“Nonsense. You could never make your mother sad.” She stopped and leaned into whisper. “You and Tommy are her favourites.” She winked and Lilith managed a wobbly smile. “Loving my idiot brother made her sad.”

“Why does she love him?” Lilith asked curiously. Her forehead crinkled as she concentrated on the thought. Lilith couldn’t understand what her father had about him that made her mother care about him.”

“It’s a mystery to us all.” Polly scoffed as she rinsed the suds out of Lilith’s hair, the soft pads of her fingers massaging the little girl’s scalp. Lilith’s eyes fluttered as her body grew relaxed and sleepy. “But,” Polly began again, sounding sadder than before, “Your father wasn’t always like this. Once upon a time he was charming, handsome and good natured.” She sighed. “Life changed him.”

“I hope life doesn’t change me like that.”

“It won’t. I’ll make sure it doesn’t.”

*****

Cobalt eyes watch her through the crack in the door. Her small hands are clutching Polly’s cards as she places them on the table, humming happily as she does so.

“Come on in Tommy and close the door.” She calls behind her. “It’s cold.” Tommy enters without hesitation, her innocent voice like a spell over him. There was something uncanny about how she seemed to know when Thomas was close to her. Like they were linked by an invisible string. Light and Dark. Two sides of the same coin.

“What are you doing with those ey?” He asked, as he pulled out the chair beside her and sat, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

“Polly said I could read if he would ever come back,” Lilith spoke matter of factly. Tommy went cold.

Yes, Polly. Good idea to let my eight-year-old sister delve into gypsy magic without supervision.

“He won’t, Lily. Daddy’s gone, alright. I promise, he’s not coming back.” The firmness in her voice caught her off guard and she looked up at him. Onyx met cobalt and his certainty, his confidence was shaken.

“He will.” She spoke quietly. “But don’t worry, I’ll be older and less helpless. Besides, I’ve taken a precaution.” Something in the way she spoke made him nervous. Worry chiselled away at him. He cleared his throat.

“What precaution?”

Lilith smiled as she looked at Tommy. She pointed at the tarot deck.

“There’s you.” She pointed at The Chariot card. “There’s me.” She pointed at The Empress. “And there’s daddy in the middle.” She pointed to the card nestled between the other two. The Emperor. “With his head cut off.”

Tommy paled and shuddered at the way she spoke it dreamily. Polly’s small pocket knife (which she’d no doubt stolen from her aunt) was still lodged in the wood of the table where she had sliced the top half of The Emperor’s card. He knelt down beside Lilith at the table, taking her small hands in his, making her look at him.

“I know he frightened you and hurt mummy. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you. But I promise you, he’ll never be allowed to hurt any of us ever again.”

“I know.” She smiled.

*****

Anna threw herself into the canal a week later. Lilith had been inconsolable as she'd watched Uncle Charlie pull her mother's corpse from the water, cursing her father for his part in Anna’s misery. She hid herself away, refusing to talk about her mother and festering in her rage. Tommy should have known then what she’d be capable of. Instead, he’d had to wait fifteen years to hear about it. He’d dressed it up all nice for Arthur. Invented an imaginary woman, two scoundrels, and a gun. He’d had Mary the maid forge the letter and told the rest of his siblings that their father had died on the other side of the world. The truth was too terrible. No one needed to know that Alfie had witnessed her standing over their father like an angel of vengeance whilst he begged for mercy and told her she looked like her mother. No one needed to know that he’d been found down a dark alley in Camden, head viciously severed from his body.

And there’s Daddy, with his head cut off.

Tommy drained the whiskey from his tumbler and shuddered. Yes, it was true. The Shelby clan did indeed produce more demons than angels. And Lilith Rose Shelby, though Thomas loved her with all of his heart, was the most dangerous kind of demon…. she was an angel who didn’t know she’d fallen yet.

#peaky blinder fanfic #tommy shelby #arthur shelby #john shelby #finn shelby #polly gray #ada shelby #Tommy Shelby x reader platonic #tommy shelby x sister!reader #Scarlet Shelby #Lilith Rose Shelby

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