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ofrolysdogs · 5 months

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in loving memory ;

part one | part two

summary: feitan tortures his student's stalker.

note: feitan and reader are mentor and student turned fwb, think of it as that one teacher you wanted to fuck back in school lol.

tw: blood, gore, stalking, kidnapping, murder, abuse, it gets a bit smutty in the middle so watch out for that.

word count: 4.8k

this does have dark themes and nsfw content, any minors, blank or ageless blogs will be blocked if interacting.

"just who the hell even are you?"

the man who sits uncomfortably tied in the wooden chair with his arms tied together behind him, legs spread slightly apart, all by a semi large rope, limbs tied so tightly he knew that if he would make it out alive, they would leave some deep bruises, maybe even cuts since when he moves, it burns, like fire was being lit directly on the spot.

a figure stands before him, he was short, yes, but he packed power like never seen before, in the 'victims' eyes, that is, he see's that his pale, calloused hands was caked and covered in his blood, the blood that spills in the form of rivers out of the wounds and scars that littered his body, a large 'x' was cut deep onto his chest, thankfully not deep enough to cut through any organs, but deep enough to see flesh.

the figures eyes were slanted, dark in color, covering the bottom half of his face with what appears to be some sort of mask.

devon closes his eyes shut, it hurts, so, so bad, but he can't show weakness just yet, all he wanted to do was to be close to her, the woman he loves, the woman he believes he can't live without, but after a series of events that proved their relationship to be a failure, she left, she's gone, and guaranteed, he'll never get that version of her back.

but none-the-less, devon sobs quietly, he was always told, especially by his father and uncle, that men shouldn't cry, it was a sign of weakness, and he must always stay stoic and composed, this unhealthy mindset kept him from doing the most basic things a human should do, even leading himself to treat others poorly including the woman he loves, but at this given moment he can't help but break down, and even despite being a non believer he pleaded to god above, if there even is one, much to the amusement of his captor, who lets out a small chuckle.

devon silences himself to hear the laughter, looking into the eyes of the man above him, he could tell even by the mask covering his face he was smiling, grinning, happy at the sight of his defeat, his weakness.

"you expect me to feel even an ounce of pity.. for those pathetic tears you spill.."

devon couldn't understand what he was saying, he was definitely speaking a different language, it didn't bother him as much as he wanted to.

"foolish.. foolish being you are." finally speaking his second language, the one devon can understand, when he spoke, it was slow and processed, like trying to think of the next words last minute, or sometimes falling into the territory where words just don't mesh.

devon has pretty much accepted his fate, he would most likely die here, a better option than having to deal with the pain of some lunatic slashing at his skin, ripping off his nails, slapping and punching him every time he speaks or makes sudden movements.

"just don't hurt her.." is all devon could choke out, he hoped to god that she was at least safe, that this freak wouldn't go after her next, he would hate to see her in the same fate he's in currently, fulfilling this sadists dirty kinks and fetishes.

he was in for a rude awakening, that she was the one who sent him here, she didn't even need convincing or payment to send him on his way.

she is the reason he's in the position he's in.

it was 8:40 pm, finally getting off of work, a woman walks to her car, having one of her coworkers walk alongside her, a man who stands above 6 foot, and looks rather intimidating.

"thanks, kyle." she smiles at the taller man getting in her car, it was dark outside with not that many cars around since it was in the lot where only employees can park, and many have clocked out and went off home already, kyle was one of those who will eventually go home within the next hour or two.

"no problem, i have sisters and nieces i look out for, my mothers always told me to look out for those i care for." kyle was a genuine man, she knew so since she had been friends with him since high school and was his prom date when no one wanted to go with him, it was safe to say she puts her trust into him and after 3 years of graduating and 3 additional years of being friends and keeping in contact, he hasn't proven to be otherwise, unlike the other men she's been with romantically and platonically who had protected her only under the hope of her sleeping with them.

she shuts the door and kyle walks back into the building of the hair salon she works in, starting her car she realizes she needs to get gas, her apartment complex was a 10 minute drive away and she might not make it, but lucky enough for her there was a nearby convenience store that was pretty close to the area, and thank the heavens that she had gotten paid just yesterday.

driving off the lot, there was only one red light stop and once you turn right and then to your left, you would be there in no time, but tonight was not that night where she could simply get her gas and leave, although eternally thankful that there were many people around so that a certain someone wouldn't come for her without another person being generous enough to either call the police or tackle him and hold him in place so that she can get away.

at the gas station there was a considerable amount of people going in and out, the non-gas parking lot was completely full, and there was only one pump left for her to get her gas.

she parks in that spot, pump number 12, rather close to the last one, it was quite the large store, with rarely any homeless people and drug addicts coming here, they seemed to be pretty strict on that rule.

getting out of her car to walk up to the store, she opens the door and walks in the nicely cleaned and neat store.

a man greats her at the cash register, she didn't want to get any snacks this time, wanting to just go home and get some rest.

"i want 50 on pump 12." she asks him before placing a bill onto the table, the man quickly takes it.

"okay, you're all set!" he tells her, she gives him a "thank you" before walking to the door only for her to run into a man, who opens the door for her, she also gives him a thank you before walking back to her car, she opens the door thing and untwists the knob to place the gas pump into it.

while she's pumping her gas she looks around to see if anything is out of the ordinary, nothing so far thankfully, once she's done pumping her gas she puts everything back in place and jumps back into her car, starting it up and driving away to finish driving back home, as she drives the area grows darker and darker, being used to driving at night, it doesn't bother her much.

finally making it to the apartment complex, she finds her usual parking spot to thankfully be untouched, she drives into the untaken parking spot and jumps out of her car, she sees in the distance that someone was sitting on their porch; an elderly woman.

"oh, hello mrs. daniels!" she smiles at the woman who was interrupted, looking up at the much younger woman, she immediately smiles.

"ah, hello, dear! how was work?" mrs. daniels asks politely, she had known her for some time and the two of them would sit and chat for what feels like hours.

"it was fine as usual, no weird things happening and especially no sight of him." she sighs, reminded of the man she once loved, it had been 4 years, and she is still being chased and stalked by him, sometimes showing up to events and jobs unannounced, blowing up her phone number multiple times to where she had to change the number so many times.

it was almost as if she couldn't escape him, no matter how hard she tried.

her conversation with mrs. daniels proved to turn sour when she was reminded of the man she dearly hated.

"goodnight." she says as she walks up the stairs, finally reaching her door she unlocks it and opens the door to her darkened home, closing the door and locking it away with the many locks she had kept just to keep not only him, but just genuinely other weird creepy men away.

she walks to her room to get undressed and ready to shower, she expects him to come by in the dead of night to scream and shout at her, about how much he loves and misses her, his voice had became unbearable after the first night of him doing that, and the songs he would play from a beatbox loud enough to where the people who stayed near the music, it would blast throughout their house, had became annoying too, most of which were her, no, their favorite songs.

stepping in the shower to let the water rain down on her, how they broke up was because they constantly fought, devon was too flirty and friendly with other women and had even drunkenly asked someone at a bar to hook up in the dirty bar bathroom, she dumped him when he became sober, grabbing his things and placing them outside her door, he became violent, throwing and breaking everything in sight, begging her to take him back or else he'll commit suicide, right in front of her as he grabs a kitchen knife and slices away at his flesh, his arms and legs littered with scars as his blood drops and stains on the floors, at some point, she had no choice to call the police.

using the soap to clean the sweat off her body, she couldn't even count how many times she had to call the police, and in most of those times, they didn't do jack, because she would have to be harmed in order for them to do anything, and that him just shouting and screaming at the top of his lungs didn't conclude as evidence to them, it seems to have worked when her neighbors would shout at him to shut the fuck up, either he walks away or the police finally show up to arrest him, but someone was always there to bail him out.

finally stepping out of the shower to dry off her body with a warm towel, she had for the longest time been thinking about calling one of her friends to handle it for her, she believed that there was no one there that would risk her life for her messing around with her affairs, or, said person would spent a huge chunk of their life in prison because they finally took devon off the face of the earth, but with this person she feels as if she could trust him enough not to get into trouble with the law for killing him, i mean, he had killed many and still walks a free man because of him being a nen user, policemen with their ordinary guns won't stop him because he's swift, fast as a cheetah, or even faster.

her relationship with him was a bit weird now that they got to know each other well, starting off as a student/mentor type of thing, he would teach her the basics of nen and whatnot, considering his nature she doesn't even know how she managed to sway him with her words, it just.. happened really, but now, she can't really consider him to be a friend let alone something a little more, sure, she thinks he's hot, seeing his chest for the first time made her feel something she had never really felt with devon, he was short, yes, but his body was toned and muscular, she wanted to run her fingers through his hard body, it felt new because she was never really attracted to muscular bodies, devon's body type was more her type, skinny but not boney, shows a bit of muscle but not too much, just right and slim.

but this new person, who's name was feitan portor, had opened something different for her, she starts to think more and more of him to realize she finds him attractive, she can't really say she's in love, lust kind of overpowers love in this situation, she's had a few wet dreams of him in her denial stage, god she wonders what his cock looks like, is it big? or a bit on the smaller side? she almost felt bad for devon for thinking this since.. she had never really been attracted to him the same way she was attracted to feitan, but, it can't be helped now, can it?

she plans on texting him tonight to come over, it had been months since she last saw him and kind of misses seeing his face.

jumping into bed she turns her phone on to see his contact, she debated with herself enternally if she wanted to call or text, but she feels as if he isn't the type to call, and theres no guarantee that he'll pick up the phone, he's probably busy with something right now or probably sleep because of how dark it is outside.

but none the less, she sends him a quick "do you want to hang out? it's been some time since i've seen you." text and waits for his response by putting her phone down and turning on her tv to watch whatever aired on tv, either it be cartoons or something else that manages to catch her interest.

feitan was not only a slow texter, but also has grammar that is sometimes unreadable, understandably, english isn't his first language, hell, he even spoke it in front of her at one given point, she never heard the language coming out of anyone else's mouth, and when she tried researching it she couldn't find anything on it, eh, it didn't really matter much to her anyway.

a sound came from her phone to signify that she had gotten a text message, quickly picking up her phone to see that feitan had texted back, quicker than he usually does, taking up to as long as a day to respond back.

"sure." is all he said, he usually doesn't confirm where he is or if he's on his way unless she asks, so, she kind of just laid here and waited for him to come by, she can't lie and say she's excited for his arrival, she'll get to see that face of his again, the thought of him makes her heart race, making two places vibrate, one on her chest and one between her legs, damn, why did she have to fall so hard for her mentor?

it took up to almost an hour for feitan to arrive, wearing his usual attire, keeping his face covered for god knows why, the man sits on her couch as he watches her from afar, she was making him dinner, and it smelled amazing, one thing he noted about he was that she was a great cook, not as great as her fighting skills, however.

dinner was done in about 20 or so minutes and the two sat across from each other on a circular table, a relatively small table it was, they quietly ate their food not really bothering to start any conversations, until feitan decided to break the silence.

"why did you want me to come?" he asks her, it came off as passive aggressive, as if he doesn't really want to be here, or that he was interrupted from something just to see her.

"well, for one, it's been a while since i've seen you, and second, i wanted to talk with you about something." she nervously tells him, watching very closely at his facial expressions.

"go on." he tells her.

she lets in a sigh, before putting her pride to the side to tell him everything that has happened in the past few months that the two haven't spoken, about devon, about him stalking her, near death experiences, everything, he listens as she rants about the man, devon, that treated her this way, and had the nerve to victimize himself.

he didn't want to admit or show it, but he felt sorry for the poor girl, but he wonders, she knows nen, why didn't she use the abilities he taught her on him? she has the strength to kill him if she wanted to.

"why didn't you use nen?" he asks her.

"i... i don't want to go to jail or make a scene.. or become some wanted criminal who has to hide away because i killed someone.." she also wondered why she didn't use her nen abilities on him, she could've if she wanted to, but didn't..

feitan commented 'excuses' under his breath to where she wasn't able to hear it, he also became aware of how nervous she was around him, she wasn't like this before, she was more outspoken and confident now she can't even look at him for more than a minute, the way she spoke was also more softer and demure, the thought of her having a crush on him wasn't a thing in his mind, maybe other factors played a part.

"so, what i'm saying is.. if he ever comes back.. can you handle him for me? i'll do basically anything, i just want him to leave me alone.." her voice slightly raised becoming agitated, she basically pleaded him, begging almost.

he had a bit of a soft spot for her, she was cute, and showed great potential to become powerful, not as powerful as him, but still enough to pose as a threat to some, she was kind, smart, funny and determined, it would be a lie if he didn't admit, tiny romantic feelings lingered, but he didn't let it interfere with his work or their training, and wanted to keep things strictly mentor and student... for the most part that is.

"fine." he tells her, coming off a bit harsh.

but he did notice the outfit she was wearing, the white, oversized t-shirt where her nipples are poking out, the shorts she's wearing that are a little too short, the way she walks as the fat of her thighs and ass jiggle, he felt his cock harden at the though of her grinding her ass against his twitching cock...

thank goodness for this cloak that keeps his visible, half hardened cock away, so she wouldn't be freaked out by the sight and eventually kick him out and call him a pervert.

"i see were done, i'll take these." she picks up her plate and walks over to his side of the table to pick up his, not being able to help the sight of her tit's jiggling as she walks, and when she walks away, his eyes were fixated on her ass, the way her shorts were caught up in her cheeks, outlining just how voluptuous her ass is.

little did he know, she picked out this outfit just to hope he stares at her, her folds moistening at the thought of him staring at her ass, it almost feels she pissed herself by how wet she was, fuck... she wanted him so bad.

and he wanted her just as much...

"f-fuck.. feitan...!"

she moans into the pillow as he ravages her from behind, his hands slapping her ass on occasion watching his cock thrust in and out of her, her slick dropping to his balls, then onto the bedsheets by how wet she was.

noting the hickeys that litter her neck, chest, and back, her hair was now all over the place because of him pulling on it from earlier.

the sexual tension between them has finally been fulfilled.

feitan feels himself nearing, it hasn't even been 10 minutes and hes already close, quickly pulling himself out to bend over to lick up her slick, making her to get her clitoris to hear those sweet, yet muffled moans, he wanted to make her cum first before he goes on to finish.

he didn't really have much sex experience before this situation, hookups really weren't his thing, the only way he knew what to do was by porn, he wasn't an addict by any means necessary, but he also wasn't immune to seeing a hot chick on screen and getting the urge to jerk it after seeing her.

the girl he's fucking as of current was the only one who pushed him to the limit.

and now he's on his knees on her bed, eating away at her moist pussy, sucking up all her juices and playing with that sensitive bud that hangs between her folds. she balls her fists gripping the sheets beneath her, the sudden feeling taking over her as she released more of her fluids onto feitan's face.

noted that she had came, feitan sits up to stick his cock back into her and begins to pound away, maybe it's just because it's his first time, but my god, he was seeing stars, her pussy was perfectly moist and warm, tightening around his cock almost as if she was trying to suck him in, the feeling of his own climax didn't take long to creep up behind him.

he debated on whether he wanted to cum inside of her and just steal some contraceptives for her so she wouldn't get pregnant, it was a way of claiming her as his own, almost like it was a big fuck you to devon.

and he did just that, much to her temporary dismay, he shoots ropes of his cum deep inside of her, gripping onto her ass as he releases into her, pulling out once he's done, her tired body flops to the side like a piece of meat, he expected her to shout at him for cuming inside of her but she didn't.. yet at least.

feitan gets off of the bed and walks over to the bathroom that's in her room, he grabs one of the smaller complimentary towels and puts it under some lukewarm water, ringing out the excess water he uses it to clean off his cock.

putting the water back on and repeating the previous method of wetting the towel and ringing out the water he walks over to her still tired body and throws the towel at her, jumping at the sudden movement she looks up at him and realizes she wanted her to clean herself with it.

"im.. just going to go shower." she jumps off the bed to walk to the bathroom, before she closes the door she looks over at him. "...do you want to shower with me?"

feitan shrugs, before following her to the bathroom, leading to shower sex that lasted a little longer than it should have.

it was 9:34 am, two people sleeping in a queen sized bed, cuddled together as if they didn't spend a good chunk of the night fucking like rabbits.

she was the first to open her eyes to see above her, that feitan was still asleep, his eyes softly closed as his chest puffs in and out, blissfully unaware of the fact that the woman that lays beside him is awake, she gets up from the bed after flipping the blankets off of her to go to the bathroom, washing her face, brushing her teeth, and walking out to see feitan slowly opening his eyes to view her frame.

"good morning." she says softly, feitan doesn't respond but closing his eyes again.

she walks back to the bed to sit on it, looking down at him again, it looks like he was trying to go back to sleep.

"i could make breakfast for us if you want any." she tells him, he makes a grunt, not sure if it's a yes or no, but she decided to take it as a yes, feitan can sometimes be a bit vauge, she had to learn quickly that he's not good at communicating especially in a language that he doesn't speak often.

she walks to the kitchen to grab a few things out of the refrigerator, there wasn't much, she realized she needed to go grocery shopping at some point today, and deciding to fix whatever's left, hopefully enough for her and feitan.

whilst cooking, feitan finally fully wakes up, remembering what she had told him about a guy named "devon." he could get shalnark to find his location... the problem is, there's about a million guys named devon, not only does he not know the surname, but he also doesn't even know what the guy looks like, it's best to ask her about him over breakfast.

his phone vibrates on the small dresser that sits beside the bed, picking up the phone to turn it on to see that he got a text from phinks.

"so, who is she?"

he wants to know about the girl he's been seeing.

not even bothering to answer the text he puts his phone back down and walks to the kitchen to see that she must almost be done, there were two plates sitting on the counter filled with food.

"oh, now you're actually awake?" she smiles at him before pointing to the food filled plate. "you can have that plate if you want, i'm almost done with mine."

feitan goes over to pick up the plate and sit at the table they last had dinner, wastes no time eating his food, damn, her cooking never fails to amaze him.

she comes over to set her plate down and start eating as well.

the breakfast was rather silent, until feitan starts the conversation.

"so.. about devon.."

she freezes for just a bit before resuming back to eating, he didn't mean to startle her by the name, more or so just wanting to get more info on him so he can at least find the right person.

"yes?" she asks him.

"i need a last name.." he tells her.

"robinson, devon robinson." she tells him blankly before going back to eating quietly.

the rest of breakfast was quiet up until they finish their food, putting their plates in the sink so that she can wash them, feitan returns to her room to get his clothes, putting them on, he walks out quicker than he came in.

"wait, you're going to deal with him now?" she asks him, he was already headed for the door with his hand on the knob about to twist, looking back at the girl who walks out of the kitchen.

"yes." he tells her blankly.

"well.. i was thinking.. you can come to the grocery store with me?" she asks him, waiting for the possibility of his rejection, but it wasn't like she expected, he lets out a huff and walks out the door, shutting it behind him with no verbal response, leaving her dumbfounded.

she lets out an annoyed sigh, sure, he's not the most verbal, but a 'no' could've been better that what that was.

in the afternoon, 3:45, feitan had met up with shalnark, who was on a computer.

"who's devon robinson?" shalnark asks. "what's he got to do with the troupe."

"it's classified." feitan responds, he didn't want the rest of the troupe to know about her, he can't say he loves the girl, relationships aren't really his thing, but she is cute, sex with her is mind blowing and her cooking is off the charts, however, love is a bit... icky for him, it made him cringe at the idea of calling her his 'girlfriend.' probably because of the childish aspect of it.

"oh.. well, here, i guess this is the guy were looking for."

what appears on a social media sight, devon robinson was a 28 year old pro-hunter, he had shaggy, dirty blonde hair that fell down to his shoulders, a face full of facial hair, sea green eyes, and tanned, but still leaning towards pale, skin. he was around 6'1, and also, apparently uses nen.

a picture beside him was a picture of him hugging her, kissing her cheek as she looked oh so happy.

yep, it was definitely him.

"so, is this the guy were looking for?" shalnark asks.

"it's the guy i'm looking for."

shalnark looks over at the masked man, confused.

"so, you're going by yourself?"

"yep." feitan leaves the room, without a thank you, getting all the information he needed, he now knows where he lives.

this will be the end of it all.

#feitan portor #feitan #hxh feitan #tw blood #hunter x hunter #hxh #feitan x you #feitan x reader #feitan smut #feitan x reader smut #tw gore #<- ??? idk theres mentions of flesh and blood people get squeemish at that

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paracosmic-murdock · 7 months

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Tell me what are my words ; Benedict Bridgerton x Reader

Chapter 18: "La rumeur"

Pairing: Benedict Bridgerton x fem!reader

Summary: It has been two years since your secret was exposed and you had to leave London. Two years with deep buried misery and in which you missed everything you used to have. However, neglect, novelties, and letters made sure to give you more than one reason to return to claim someone who is as rightfully yours as your estate and your people: Benedict Bridgerton.

Warnings/tags: idiots in love, eventual smut, mutual pining, (kinda???) enemies (fake, this is just pride) to lovers (surely), bisexual benedict bridgerton, feminist themes, historical inaccuracy (for the sake of the plot), inspired by mulan (1998), song: the lakes (taylor swift), other tags to be added

Chapter summary: The news of your 'secret engagement' was the protagonist of Lady Whistledown's most recent issue. It might have been easy to spread them, but it would certainly not be easy to face the consequences.

Word count: 1.5K

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"I knew it! I knew there was something between you and her!"

Benedict sighed. "I guarantee you that what Lady Whistledown said is utter nonsense, I don't even know how on Earth anyone could have thought that."

"Mr. Bridgerton, how could you court me for so many weeks and then be engaged to be married to her?!"

"I am not engaged to be married to her or to anyone for that matter!"

Miss Prince groaned. "Then, what?! There is obviously something going on between you and Lady Y/N, I have seen the way you look at each other for God's sake!"

"How do we look at each other, according to you?" he questioned, a tired look in his eyes. Benedict knew well enough that you were behind all of that, there was no way that you were not behind the spread of this ridiculous rumor.

"You look at her like she is… everything; and she… Lady Y/N looks at you as if she would die for you, Mr. Bridgerton, and either you are blind to it, or you are making a fool of me."

He shook his head. "That is not true."

"It most certainly is."

"Just… forgive me for this absurd rumor, I swear it is not true. I will fix this."

"Mr. Bridgerton, I hope you are well aware of the humiliation this signifies for me."

"I am sorry, Miss Prince. I- I will repair all this awful situation."

"Pen, where did you get that rumor from?! Of course, Y/N and Benedict are not engaged!"

"Madame Delacroix told me!"

Eloise shook her head. "No! How could you do something like that to her again?! Is it because she danced with Colin?"

"No, no! Of course not, Eloise, I… I had to, I couldn't not."

"You are not seriously telling me that, Penelope. You could have said it was not true!"

"But Madame Delacroix told me that Y/N had told her herself about the engagement, I assumed she wanted it to be known."

"You could have asked me first, Pen. I knew they were not engaged, they are certainly not."

"She said it was a secret."

"Do you really think she would have kept that a secret? After everything she has done to get my brother back?"

Penelope sighed. "I am sorry, Eloise."

"Do not apologize to me, Penelope, you- you should tell her the truth."

"Oh, no, I cannot!" she exclaimed. "She will hate me."

"She will find out sooner or later, Pen," Eloise warned. "You probably did not consider how badly that issue of Lady Whistledown would affect her, did you? Because if word of it reaches the King of France, she will be executed. If you tell her the truth, she will forgive you, I am sure."

"How are you so sure?"

Eloise exhaled deeply. "Because she is kind and she appreciates you. If you apologize and tell her the truth, she will help you."

"Are you certain?"

"I am, Pen."

Benedict left the home of the Cowper family, sponsors of Miss Prince, making his way to Danbury House to speak to you.

Curious glances tried to burn him alive meanwhile, but he couldn't care less. Not until you were in front of him and gave him an explanation.

"There is no point in denying, I know full well that you are behind all of this," he stated once you were in front of him, a sheepish grin on your face. "Your mess, so you might as well fix it."

You pursed your lips. "I do not know how could I fix it, Benedict, I do not recall telling Lady Whistledown that you and I are engaged. If you find her, let me know and I will do as you please! Let me know once you do."

"Don't you put this on me, Y/N."

"Whatever do you mean, Benedict?! I will not try to prove myself to you as I am aware you will not believe me regardless of what I have to say. Why bother, huh? Why bother explaining myself or repairing a situation that does not affect me at all?"

He rolled his eyes. "Because it affects me! Not to mention that Miss Prince is-"

"I could not care less about Miss Prince, Benedict," you reminded him. "In fact, if she loathes me for any reason whatsoever, I will be most proud! If my alleged actions affected her somehow, do not even suggest I will regret them."

"How could you be so inconsiderate? This isn't you!"

"Of course it is me," you said, approaching him. "Remember everything I went through before believing I am incapable of something. Do not underestimate the things that I can do, Mr. Bridgerton."

"Is that a threat?"

You looked into his eyes, determination and passion in yours. "A promise."

"A promise?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"A promise," you confirmed. "I give you my word, Benedict, that I would do everything humanly possible to retrieve your affections."

He exhaled with difficulty, getting closer. Inappropriately closer. "What is it that I have, my Lady, that has you so determined to have me?"

"You chose me," you replied, whimpering at the heat of his body against yours. "I fear I have fallen from grace, Benedict, and I did not care about having lost everything. I only cared about you. You are the one whose loathe I mourned the most."

Benedict put his forehead against yours, and you thought that this war was finally over. "I could never feel that way about you, those were just words…"

"I never wanted you to hate me, my heart."

"I do not hate you," He stroked your hair. "I couldn't, not even if I tried for a century, not even after what you did… We both made mistakes, Y/N, and I most certainly do not hate you."

"What are we doing, Benedict?"

"I cannot take you back, Y/N… No matter what you do, I will not fall again."

You shook your head. "No."

He chuckled with pity. "You must say that it is not true that we are engaged, Y/N. This humiliated Miss Prince and you should leave her out of whatever you are trying."

"What about me, Benedict? Have I not been humiliated enough?"

"Nothing you did not bring upon yourself, Y/N," he replied. "Why do you keep fighting?"

"I do not know."

"You do not need a man, Y/N. You do not need me," Benedict noted. "You have come far enough, and you do not need a man to tell you what you are worth."

"I know that."

"Perhaps you should return to France."

You nodded. "Perhaps I should."

What surprised you, however, was the unexpected kiss he gave you. It was tender and loving, and it made you hate yourself.

You were unchaperoned, just like every time either of you requested to speak in private.

"My affections will remain yours until the end of time." Benedict left Lady Danbury's home, and you sat down on the couch.

It pained you that this was the last time you would be in private.

"Lady Y/N?" the voice of Antoinette interrupted your pondering minutes after Benedict left. "Miss Penelope Featherington wishes to speak to you."

You nodded. "Of course, Antoinette. Let her in."

She left and seconds later Penelope joined you. "Good afternoon, Y/N."

"Hello, Pen," You smiled weakly. "What brings you here?"

"I, uh… must speak to you about something quite important."

"Of course, do tell."

She stood in silence for what felt like centuries, and you understood she would tell you something that is not at all easy to say.

"I am Lady Whistledown."

You gasped at her confession.

Never in your wildest dreams, you could've imagined she, of all people, would be Lady Whistledown. Perhaps not because she was incapable of something big, but because she used her platform to hurt you. You were supposed to be friends.

"Did I hear that right, Penelope? That you are Lady Whistledown?"

She pursed her lips. "It is true."

"Get out of here." you commanded with tears in your eyes.

"But-"

"Get out of here, Miss Featherington, or I swear by my parents' graves that you will regret ever being born." you ordered one last time, covering your mouth with your right hand before sitting on the couch in disbelief.

Penelope nodded and left immediately.

Your Majesty,

I am afraid I could not give you this news personally, but under the latest circumstances, I am obliged to return home once again.

I, however, could not leave without bidding my farewell to you, and thank you for your support. To do that, I must inform you of something the both of us have been wanting to know for a while now: the identity of Lady Whistledown.

The person behind the gossip pages is Penelope Featherington.

With this revelation, do as you please. I consider it an act of treason from her, as I told her in confidence about my secret and she decided to expose it, even after having called each other friends. One cannot trust anyone these days.

I look forward to receiving your visit sometime,

Lady Y/N of Burgundy.

taglist: @yentroucnagol @crimsonincursive @czarinera @uwumd @omgnctchina

#benedict bridgerton #bridgerton fanfiction #benedict bridgerton x reader #bridgerton #benedict bridgerton fanfiction #benedict bridgerton x fem!reader #benedict bridgerton x you

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danganronpasurvivoraskblog · 3 months

Note

Shuichi? I'm glad to see you finally giving Shirogane what she deserves, but I don't think I feel good about it, I don't know why, I'm supposed to be smiling about it, I'm supposed to be excited, to be happy, but I'm not! No matter how hard I try, I can't force myself to be happy about it

*sigh*

Ok...You will sit, and you will LISTEN...!

I get that you guys don't approve of me sparing her life like this. I understand you may think it's stupid, and gives way to much more chaos and death. After all, leaving Tsumugi alive invites only more chaos, right? That's what you think?

But I demand that you all just sit and think about it for a second...What DOES killing Shirogane even achieve in the end?

She'll go. That doesn't mean Zetsubou will! Even if their head is cut off, that's not going to destroy the work they've put in so far. Someone else will rise to the cause and fill the gap that she left, just like Shirogane herself did for Junko Enoshima...!

These Despairs...they're like seagulls who keep coming back for more food after getting a tiny nibble of your sandwich...! And simply killing them isn't going to FIX any of this! The world already got destroyed! Enoshima's death didn't fix that! TWO more Killing Games happened post-Enoshima because of her followers, and FIFTY-FREAKING-THREE happened in ours!

If you think that this is all part of a plan to get Shirogane to give up on her pointless dreams and seek redemption for her crimes...Pah...We all know that's not how she does things. The only reason I spared her is because her empire is falling around her, and now she's stuck being a blank-slate of a person, with no original ideas or schemes left to throw at us, knowing that taking our lives like she swears to, it won't take it all back, like I just said! For her? That's a fate WORSE than death!

Woah, hey, Shuichi...! Y-You ok?

And another thing!? Look at Enoshima! Look at Otonokoji! These Despair types defy death as a concept anyway! Let's say I DO kill Shirogane! How long do you think it'll be before she comes RIGHT THE FUCK BACK AGAIN to make us all EVEN MORE MISERABLE!?

The only thing that gets achieves if I decide to bite the bullet and take Shirogane's life is that...I become a murderer. And what's stopping me from running with that idea and slaughtering every bad guy I come across, even for petty reasons!? From becoming KURIPA!?

I would become the exact person that my real world self desired to become. When he signed up for all of this...this BULLSHIT! A sadistic murderous detective with a plan to kill everybody around him in an ingenious way...!

Shuichi, hold on-!

And you want to know what the most screwed up part of all of this is!? You guys want me to kill Shirogane because that's what YOU want! You want ME! The CHARACTER that you are watching, to enact justice! To side with Hope and destroy Despair! Sounds familiar, right? You know, that very idea that kept Danganronpa going a crapton of years!?

I am NOT going to give ANY fan of Danganronpa the SATISFACTION of watching me become a killer! Not my old self, not Shirogane, and NOT YOU! So hate me all you want for defying the expectations you set for me as a character! I am NOT your ENTERTAINMENT, DAMMIT!

SHUICHI!

...!?

I...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry I...I'm just so...sick...and tired of all of this...I stopped someone from dying...and yet inside, I feel like I murdered countless others...Do you know how hard it is to justify your own actions to a bunch of faceless, merciless members of an ask blog, who WANT your enemies to be slaughtered!?

...

Shuichi...I got a question for ya...Do you consider the real Ryoma Hoshi to be who I am now, or the person I was before all this happened?

...The Ryoma in front of me is the real one, of course.

Well, you should know this Ryoma killed a whole bunch of people out or rage and vengeance. And he lived every day of his life after regretting it, even when he got a second chance to live as a free man.

...You made the right choice. I guarantee you that.

If Shirogane DOES somehow come back to terrorize us again, all she'll be doing is coming back for another beating! Right?

...Yeah...Listen...I love you SO much...Don't EVER think of yourself as anything less than one of the greatest people that exists in this world...You don't deserve to go through this stress...

*Kaede gently presses her forehead against Shuichi's, embracing him warmly as tears stream down both their faces.

I love you too...I love all of you...I don't deserve any of your kindness...

*Everyone except Kokichi and Nico huddle around Shuichi for a hug.

#danganronpa survivor #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #shuichi saihara #kaede akamatsu #gonta gokuhara #kaito momota #kokichi ouma #tenko chabashira #ryoma hoshi #ask #the day the world stood still arc

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thebnha-auhoard · 1 year

Text

Busts through the door

Au where Personas exist in the MHA universe and all of Class 1-A slowly gets Personas over the course of their first year.

It is first to be said though that this is not the first time that someone was brought into the Velvet Room to fight against a threat endangering the world. It is not the first nor it will be the last.

This however, is perhaps the longest instance of Persona Users fighting a Threat and arguably the most dangerous one.

It should not be a surprise that humanity's downfall would come from a human. Though, many would go and argue that All For One is hardly human now. Instead more of a caricature of what is believed to be all the worst villains in media and blended together into a terrifyingly cruel and powerful man.

Across time, One For All users would take up arms and unlock their Persona to fight All For One in both the real and cognitive world, all passing down the Quirk in hopes for someone to beat All For One. At the same time, they pass down access to the Velvet Room and potential to unlock their Persona.

When All Might landed the final blow on All For One all those years ago, it was thought to be the end of the conflict and a final goodbye to the Velvet Room for quite some time.

That of course did not happen. All For One is somehow still alive, Yagi doesn't have a successor and can't quite use his Persona as he used to, and it is becoming apparent that this World is running out of time.

So Igor does what he does best, he looks at humanity, chooses one person, and invites them to the Velvet Room.

Ruin has once again threaten this world. And now, the world needs its tricksters to stop it.

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

Shouta sighs. “I hope you all know the gravity of the situation.”

He flips through the papers. “Breaking and entering, Larceny, Vandalism, Computer Crime, Destruction of Property, Possession of Firearms, Involvement with the League of Villains, Obstruction of Justice, and Vigilantism. You all have a file and it’s going to affect all of your futures.”

He looks up at all of them. “Especially since all of you are heroes in training.”

The entirety of Class 1-A looked away from him. None of them particularly looked like the famed Phantom Thieves but it's always the ones you least expect.

Again, he sighs. "You all are incredibly lucky that you were allowed to be interrogated together. I don't know what Nedzu pulled to allow this but it's something that you should be grateful for."

Silence, before a quiet- "...Mei should be with us."

Shouta winces. "I am aware that Hatsume Mei is part of the Phantom Thieves but she was to be requested to be interrogated alone due to her separate crimes of both Vigilantism and illegal manufacturing of Support Equipment and Firearms. If you're worried for her then I want you all to know that Nedzu is making sure that the police won't arrest her for anything she didn't do and that she is getting a fair interrogation."

"How about Present Mic? What's going to happen to him?"

It takes all of Shouta's willpower to show nothing on his face. Hizashi is...What Hizashi did throughout the entire school year turned out to be a lot more than just "Figuring out who the Phantom Thieves actually were". He doesn't understand what Hizashi found and why he kept digging for more and why he continued to keep in touch with the people he did but he hopes- And he goddamn hopes that Hizashi did it for the right reasons.

There was a reason why he was here and not helping Tsukauchi with interrogation.

Instead of answering, he takes a deep breath. "Look, I can't help you if none of you say anything. And considering the present...circumstances of the world, you have to say something so that all of you may avoid jail time or worse. I can't guarantee that you'll still be able to attend this school, but I will try my best to protect all of you."

More silence.

"What about Shouto?" asks Kaminari. "What- What about him? He isn't here right now and- And I trust you Mr Aizawa I really do but we don't even know if he's-" Kaminari hiccups. "He got hurt really badly and we don't know what happened to him."

Kaminari looks at him with wide eyes. "Mr Aizawa is he-"

"He's recovering," he says immediately. "He's recovering and doctors are optimistic about him waking up soon."

Immediately, the entire class breath out a sigh of relief and god. That shouldn't happen. They shouldn't have to worry about their friend dying now. They shouldn't have to ever worry about their friend dying. He's trained them so that they can save people while also preventing their own deaths. So that this scenario will never happen to any of them.

So that someone doesn't have to see their best friend die in front of them.

Shouta can't help but wonder where it went wrong. When this year started, all of his kids were heroes in training, all promising, and all ready to do what was right.

Now he sits across from them interrogating them about Vigilantism and Association with the League.

"...Mr Aizawa?"

"Yes Midoriya?"

"I'm the Leader of the Phantom Thieves."

"Yes. You went and told us that the moment we first apprehended you all."

"Yeah. That also means I know how this started. And uh..." His student pulls on his sleeve. "Mr Aizawa, when do you think this started?"

Shouta thinks for a moment. "The Aldera Junior High Incident. A principal confessed all of his crimes regarding the mistreatment of students, bias towards Quirks, complacency towards bullying, and poor management of staff."

"Bingo. That's where it began. But uh- That was just our first successful mission. We had to go back and forth between it all so that we could succeed. To go and find a route to steal his Heart."

"And how, Midoriya did you manage to achieve that?"

For a moment, Shouta thinks Midoriya would close up again, that this was a piece of a puzzle that he had to figure out, but instead Midoriya talks.

"On my phone," he says. "There's an app. It's red and it has an eye in the middle of it. That's how me and Kacchan stole our former principal's Heart. That's how all of us were able to steal all the Hearts of our previous missions."

"...And how does that work?"

Midoriya leans back. "Mr Aizawa, I want you to first suspend all disbelief because if you don't then this is going to feel more confusing than it already is."

Shouta looks at his Class and sighs for what seems like the millionth time this hour. "I think considering the state of the world, I feel like I can believe anything at this point.

Midoriya nods and takes a deep breath. "That app is called the 'Metaverse App', and me and Kacchan got that app around our final months of our Second Year at Aldera Junior High."

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zwy01 · 4 months

Text

Reiner doodles!!!

Ahhhhhh my little prince boy!! He’s finally here!!! He’s HERE!!!

This is my OC, Aretis Verja Di Reiner! He is Razark and Raskreia’s son, and the latter’s heir.

I haven’t gone in depth with his backstory yet, so I’m going to do that here. He’s one of my 15 “main” characters of my Millennium AU and his full bio is up in my pinned post.

A brief recap on Reiner’s family. Typically, Reiner is an only child. His hypothetical full-sibling and younger sister Lorenda Roxanne Di Gloria does exist depending on how the mAU storyline is interpreted, which is very flexible in itself. If Gloria exists, she is born after Reiner runs away from Lukedonia. She is not a “100%” existing character in my mAU, which is why she isn’t in my lineup featured in my pinned post.

I love Reiner for his complexity and I’ve hardly even mentioned him at all. Ahhhhhhhh. I’m like, SO excited to finally talk about him. I’ve been waiting for this moment for four years since his creation!!!! And he’s by far one of my most layered characters, which is also why I’m not sure about how much I’ll be able to get through in this post. Probably won’t even be able to fit in most of his backstory in one go but I’ll do the best I can to cover major points. He’ll definitely get more posts of his own in the future, so what I don’t get to finish here, will go there. And you may recall me mentioning how I will expand on Gloria’s backstory as a two-in-one with Reiner’s character post. As of now, that won’t hold true anymore because Reiner’s own stuff turned out to be much longer than what I had expected so I think I’ll end up giving Gloria her own post. (She deserves her own post despite being a situational character. Looks like there will be 16 posts total, haha) Yay! My precious Reiner’s partially complete backstory.

Before I jump right into Reiner’s story, I want to give a little more context on this AU in general because I feel like I haven’t clarified exactly why this AU is not a happy one, but an angsty one. The answer is Lord Raskreia. Presumably everything goes well post-ending in the post-canon timeline. Crombel’s nukes are dealt with, Raskreia takes her two Clan Leaders back to Lukedonia, and life goes on etc etc. That is the “good ending” for Raskreia and the general noble population. Basically your happily-ever-after ending. (In this timeline, Reiner is nonexistent because Razark is dead, and he stays dead. Reiner is replaced with Raskreia’s son whom she has with Kei, with the latter serving as the soul fragment donor. That’s a lot of new information at once. But the post-canon timeline kidlord deserves his own post so that’s for later. He actually made a brief appearance in my crackship nextgen post so feel free to check it out!) This is where my mAU thematically diverges from canon. Razark being alive isn’t even the main focal point of this AU. In my mAU timeline, Lukedonia is ruled by the “bad ending” Raskreia.

To be exact, Lord Raskreia who doesn’t take the canonical series of events very well. I mean, just think about it. Traitor nobles, werewolves, modified humans, bloodstones, satellites, nukes… they just kept coming. And it all happened during her reign, right under her nose. The world was in danger, and Lukedonia was in danger. They were more than fortunate enough to save Razark in the nick of time before the traitor nobles were able to finish him off. Raskreia and her two Clan Leaders were more than fortunate enough to return safe and sound after facing Crombel’s nukes head on. Now what? To think that all threats have been eliminated, and that the world is finally at peace, would be rather unrealistic. Too optimistic. After all, just look at what happened. For this exact reason, Raskreia feels uneasy and she is unable to relax. She can’t guarantee that the possibility of future attacks is at 0% …none of them can. It is unlikely, but you can’t just ignore the what ifs. Thanks to these series of events, Raskreia more or less decreed that Lukedonia would continue to stay on guard in a half-emergency state. Everyone must be vigilant and prepared to respond to emergencies anytime and anywhere. Admittedly, they were a bit underprepared during the most recent, and hopefully the last invasion of Lukedonia. To her, this was a wake up call. The world has gotten more dangerous as it developed. And it will continue to develop at fast pace. So she called for action. The guards’ training program doubled in intensity and duration. Those who did not show substantial improvement were deemed under-qualified, got removed from their posts and then replaced by faster, stronger, and more qualified individuals. Raskreia also assigned more people to patrol duty; along the coast, in the forest, in the mountains… until every last inch of Lukedonian land had eyes monitoring it. She enforced evacuation drills at regular intervals. She established a new alert system. Ludis, along with many other nobles, were called in to investigate and enforce the barrier of Lukedonia in hopes that a stronger barrier with increased resistance to being deactivated would make Lukedonia harder to penetrate. The list would continue on. To summarize, Lukedonia is now harder to enter… and harder to leave. You know what that entails.

In my mAU, the Clan Leaders’ relationship with Raskreia also takes a different approach to canon. They are still extremely loyal to her and will respond to her commands without hesitation. Except what’s different here is that they are not so sure if they trust her completely. This could refer to many things, but it’s mostly pointing to Gejutel’s incident during the first Lukedonia arc. The Clan Leaders pretty much witnessed their Lord almost executing Gejutel, her trusted advisor and one of her most loyal subjects who also served the Previous Lord during his reign. All because of a misunderstanding and suspicions that she didn’t even bother to fully investigate. She was willing to accuse and execute him just like that. So the man who dedicated his life to serve her, and her father, only meant that much to her. Fortunately the misunderstanding was eventually cleared thanks to Raizel’s timely intervention. Had it not been for the noblesse, the old man would’ve met his tragic fate under a false treason charge. Did Raskreia even apologize to him in the end? And… what does Gejutel think of her now? The Clan Leaders don’t know what Gejutel thinks of this entire incident, nor does he ever bring it up. As curious as these Clan Leaders are, they know better than to ask Gejutel himself, as it would be impolite. If he didn’t complain, then none of them can. Gejutel’s loyalty to Raskreia seems to remain the same, at least from what they can observe. But they can’t help but think… what if they were in his shoes? How would they feel? After all, Raskreia proved that she was willing to jump to conclusions and execute a reputable, loyal subject like that in an almost whimsical manner. Just, you know… does this mean that them witnessing Gejutel’s almost-execution is simply them getting a glimpse into their own future? Will their Lord still be as immature? What will the future even hold for them? Sure, they are still loyal to her, by both their own choice and their duty. But again. They couldn’t help but think in that direction.

And that wraps up my brief overview of my mAU! Hope that answers some questions, and gives a little more context on why Raskreia and Reiner act the way they do in my storyline. Without further ado, let’s get started on Reiner’s story! Yeahhh!!!!

We already know that Reiner is the heir to the throne of Lukedonia. It is a fate to which he is tied since birth, and one he can never separate himself from. He is meant to follow in Raskreia’s footsteps and succeed her as Lord one day, just like how she succeeded his grandfather, and his grandfather’s many, many ancestors before him. He shall become the next ruler of Lukedonia who will protect them and guide them to prosperity. Reiner the great and glorious. Eeeexcept his future is neither great nor glorious. Reiner gets depressed, ditches his identity entirely, and runs away after his attempt to reform Lukedonia into a democracy fails. Currently, he is permanently on the run with his mother and her elite search party coming after his head. Reiner adopts a human name, disguises himself, and works part-time jobs in the human world all while skillfully evading whoever is after him. He’s a fugitive on Lukedonia’s most-wanted list, but he’d take that over being the prince of a suffocating noble country. Anything but that. And we will witness how his story unfolds, from his early childhood all the way to his escape many years later.

On Reiner’s general character. In terms of appearance, Reiner resembles his maternal grandmother Desdemona very much. A mysterious aura, beautiful eyes, and wavy black hair that turns into a wonderful crimson shade under the sun. Personality-wise, he also has some of Mona’s stubbornness when it comes to firmly sticking to his beliefs. But it’s not just Mona. Reiner also takes after his maternal grandfather, the Previous Lord. Their personalities overlap quite a bit. Just like the Previous Lord, Reiner is charismatic, outgoing, has his sense of humor, and is open to new ideas. Despite being stubborn at times, Reiner can also be quite flexible, especially when it comes to keeping up with the ever changing world. But Reiner is even more upfront and vocal about it. He himself is the change; he doesn’t need to wait for it to happen. And he doesn’t want to wait. Back then, his grandfather voluntarily entered eternal sleep with his Clan Leaders to pave way for the new generation. And Reiner? He would much rather witness change with his own eyes. He doesn’t just want to believe in it, he wants to see it happen real time. Reiner will be there to implement what he envisions by being the person to lead them all. He wants all the nobles to live up to their fullest potential, and he has confidence in himself that he will be able to figure out something that works for everyone. Reiner is positive about the future. He will be a responsible, caring Lord who has everyone’s best interest at heart. His bright future awaits him. Not only will he be his people’s leader, he will also be their friend. It will be his responsibility to guide them as their equal. And when he passes, he will be remembered as a great Lord.

Except this side of his personality never got the chance to develop. This is the Reiner that could have been if he had the opportunity to grow up under the right circumstances. Precisely, if he had the luxury of receiving ideal support coming from both his family and his people. Reiner was basically robbed of his full potential, and one that he will never get the chance to make up for. You can’t just redo your childhood and early adulthood to replace what had been missing all along, which means his pain will last for a lifetime. The current Reiner is sad, defeated, doesn’t want to interact with anyone, and gave up on his identity altogether. In fact, he doesn’t want anything to do with Lukedonia in the slightest, even if they pardoned him and invited him back. To see why this is, we will have to go back to the very beginning, to Reiner’s toddler days.

Reiner was a good child. He was polite, kind, generous, and always kept an eye out for the needs of others, as if the world and everyone around him lived inside his little heart. His precious, delicate little heart. He truly cherished them all. In Reiner’s eyes, the people of Lukedonia were more like his friends than his future subjects. The nobles all greeted him with utmost respect and addressed him as “Prince Reiner”, and even though Reiner did not fully understand why everyone was so formal with him, he very much enjoyed the attention. And of course, being the polite kid he was, Reiner would bow back and say “thank you very much!”, to which the nobles would be very flustered, beg their prince to get up, and even go as far as to blame themselves for making their prince bow to them. At the same time, they were also very flattered to know that their prince thought so highly of them.

And Reiner did! It wasn’t just to be polite from his end. Reiner respected and loved them just as much as they did for him. Anyone can tell you that Reiner was a nice boy. He made sure to never be on only the receiving end, and always went out of his way to reciprocate his people’s efforts. He didn’t need to do so as being served is one of the perks that came with his birthright as prince, but he never let that stop him. He was full of enthusiasm. Reiner helped Minerva’s librarians shelve their books despite being only a smidge taller than a large houseplant. He assisted Doris with her journal entries on effects of different soil types on crops, writing in his own tiny notebook with his tiny hands. He tended to Claudia’s garden of herbs and harvested, cleaned, and dried the plants with her. He eagerly followed Ludis and his knights around during patrol duty even though he was too small to keep up with them. At home, he offered to dust his residence along with his maids and greet the guests at the door with his butler. Even when no one was around, Reiner bowed to the stone statues outdoors and thanked them for watching over Lukedonia, and brushed dirt and twigs off their heads and shoulders.

Reiner loved his people, and he loved his country. His passion was unmatched. Reiner had won over most people in Lukedonia at a very young age. If you needed help or looked like you needed help, you could count on little Reiner. He’d stand upright, give his chest two firm pats with his tiny hand, and say “Allow me to assist you!” How adorable. Aww. Soon enough the citizens of Lukedonia learned to not refuse their prince’s offer to help with their mundane tasks because they saw how happy he was to be a part of them. Everyone seemed to be impressed and proud of their prince… except for one. Or, at least she doesn’t show it.

Despite Lord Raskreia telling Reiner that he will become Lord after her, and that he must prepare himself for that role, little Reiner didn’t quite have a full grasp on what being Lord means yet. But that’s okay, because he is still so young. He has all the time he needs in this world to learn what it means to be Lord. His father Razark would smile, pat his son on the head, and tell him that one day, everyone in this land will be under his care, so he needs to grow up to be strong and smart to protect and lead them. To which Reiner would always smile and answer “Yes, Father!” with sincerity. Little Reiner understood that he will have to work harder than anyone else, but he was certain that he’ll do a good job. He has to. He’ll do it for his people, he’ll do it for himself, his father, and… his Lord. His beloved mother, though he’s not allowed to address her as such. Right. His Lord, his ruler, and Lukedonia’s one and only. She’ll be proud of him, right? Even if Raskreia never explicitly stated that she looked forward to her son’s accomplishments and that she’d recognize him for his excellence, Reiner just knew that she would. He was hopeful and optimistic. After all, he’s her son! Razark could sense that his little son yearned for his mother’s approval, despite it being one he knew she wouldn’t be handing out freely. Razark also knew how stoic his wife could be sometimes, so he would tell Reiner that the Lord has… her own way of showing her feelings, and even if she doesn’t openly display much enthusiasm, he’s sure she’d be proud of her boy. And that is all the reassurance little Reiner needed to hear to be happy, to have his father praise him in his mother’s place. It was a short-lived happiness, but it was genuine for as long as it lasted; until the delicate illusion that ever so gently and sweetly veiled the harsh truth was inevitably torn down and Reiner’s innocent little soul was no longer shielded from the woes of reality.

As soon as Reiner became old enough to start his rigorous training in both studies and fighting, he was no longer allowed to roam around freely as he wished. He had a schedule set for him, with little to no room for deviation. It was the standard operating procedure. Raskreia followed it in her youth, and so did the Previous Lord and the Lords before him. It was tradition. Reiner had to obey whether he liked it or not, as this was a mandatory obligation of a prince. Reiner was only 15 years old at this time, which is the equivalent of a human preschooler. As soon as Reiner had his 15th birthday, Raskreia decreed that it was time for him to begin his training as part of his Lord succession lessons. Reiner obeyed his Lord and did as she ordered, albeit a bit begrudgingly because he did not like idea of endlessly rotating between tutors and having to sit inside a boring classroom all day. He did make sure to not let his true feelings show, because Raskreia is his beloved mother, and above all else, he wanted to make her proud. As much as Reiner missed being able to roam around Lukedonia to interact with his people with all the free time he had, he was determined to do a good job at his mother’s assignments. He will study hard and not be distracted by anyone or anything. He even stood in front of a mirror, pointed to his own face, and made a promise to his reflection that he would do everything his Lord prepares for him. “Good job. You’re brave.” He said to himself. This was not an easy feat for Reiner, as he already knew how much he would crave being out there doing mundane tasks. But it was the right moment to put all of that behind. It took some time and a little bit a courage, but Reiner was ready. Now was the time to live up to his title of Prince of Lukedonia. Poor Reiner. In hindsight, perhaps it was too early, and he would’ve done better if he had more time to be a child instead of future Lord.

Reiner was not an academic genius, he was still better than average. Time proved that his efforts paid off. Little Reiner kept up with his tutors and went through piles after piles of books and papers. While he did not cruise through the material, he was able to make progress without falling behind Raskreia’s schedule for him. Reiner believed that he was pretty average though. Perhaps he was unaware of the fact that he was doing a very good job, given how strict his mother was regarding his education. At times, Reiner did feel the urge to zone out, count the tiles on the ceiling, daydream about being outside doing fun things with other people…etc. He even thought about skipping class because listening to his tutors’ voices echo in the study room was anything but interesting.

But Reiner had a lot of self-discipline. He did his best to not let himself be distracted, and he did a pretty good job. And if he doesn’t do it now, he’ll need to do it later anyway. Most of all, the Lord would be disappointed in him, and that was the last thing he wanted to see: his mother’s disheartened expression. He’ll make sure he does everything ordered of him, if that means he’ll get praise from her. Anything is welcome. Good job, you’ve worked hard, that’s my little boy. If the Lord praises him, maybe he can even stop daydreaming about his freedom. All these tedious tasks would then have meaning to them. But not once did the Lord drop by to check on her son’s progress. Little Reiner always had his eyes and ears on the windows and doors of his study room in anticipation of his mother’s arrival. Unfortunately, his wishes never came true. Each time his disappointment increased as the footsteps he so eagerly followed were revealed to have belonged to one of the Lord’s many assistants. Sure, the Lord sent them herself and they were tasked to check on their prince, but that doesn’t change the fact that they weren’t… her. He wanted to show his mother how much progress he made. Make her proud. Yet not once was she willing to come in person. And her assistants were not helpful either. They never praised Reiner for his work, only to take notes and report back to Raskreia if they came to the conclusion that Reiner was about to fall behind. That’s literally their job. They were in no place to interfere with their prince’s classes, even if he was only a small child who needed emotional support. Reiner started to feel trapped, and classes felt more like prison sentences than lessons.

Fortunately, Reiner’s training wasn’t all about pen on paper. Sparring lessons were like a breath of fresh air to him, and he always looked forward to meeting people on the training grounds. At least he didn’t have to sit still and listen to a tutor talk all day. He could actually interact with a “real” person out in the open, and he could stretch his limbs and move around to his satisfaction. How nice! As with Reiner’s academic skills, he was no fighting genius either. His grasp on his little wooden sword was wobbly and his swings were less than smooth. His aura conjuring was unstable and at times, it either dispersed completely or messily exploded. But with perseverance and effort, and lots of patience from his mentors, he was able to get a decent grasp on things fairly quickly. Raskreia assigned her most elite fighters to Reiner to help shape him into the impressive warrior he must become as part of his succession training. He had mentors who specialized in offense and defense, and some that specialized in being all-rounders. Reiner would begin to develop a very special way of defensive fighting. His mentors were very impressed with their young prince. And for Reiner, getting his clothes sweaty and his knuckles bloody was definitely more fun than watching a tutor talk all day. And unlike his tutors, his fighting mentors were much more enthusiastic and open to communication outside their spars rather than just deadpan reciting an old piece of history while refusing to have any small talk. His mentors were fun people. Reiner had a good time. But something still felt like it was missing. Like with Reiner’s daily academic checkpoints, the Lord’s assistants would also come to the training grounds to take notes on Reiner’s progress. They jot down something in a notebook, take a few glances at him, and they leave. Yet again, his mother was nowhere to be seen. She did not bother to come to see him recite a passage flawlessly, nor did she make an effort to watch him skillfully defend himself from a mentor’s forceful kick. Reiner’s mentors would notice his sudden mood switch and ask their prince what’s wrong, to which Reiner would always respond “nothing”. And now he has to clean up and go back indoors to finish his essay on Lukedonian history, before he can even get a chance to relax. Sigh.

Studying after sparring. Sparring after studying. Back and forth. For almost every single day. Reiner started to grow tired. But he never let himself relax. He pushed himself, and he consistently grinded through the challenges presented to him just like he had always been doing since Raskreia put him on this training regimen. His brain and body, one of them was always busy. Yet Raskreia was never absent from Reiner’s mind. Whenever he made progress, he always instinctively thought about her witnessing his good work. He sustained himself by coming up with and replaying imaginary scenes of his mother giving him the praise he deserves. The real deal never bothered anyway. She still relied on her assistants to monitor Reiner’s progress. As days went by, Reiner began to lose hope and he no longer anticipated his mother’s arrival and involvement in his training. Sometimes, it’d cross his mind, but then he’d shrug it off. Nope. Don’t think about it. It’ll just make him feel sad. Can’t give himself that false sense of hope. Fortunately, for him, his mother isn’t his only source of hope. One day, as his tutor announces that class is over, he hears some footsteps… and he senses something familiar. It isn’t his mother, nor is it one of her assistants. It’s… his father!! Little Reiner is more than overjoyed to have his father pick him up at the end of the day. Usually, the butler or one of the maids do it. Not today! At least Reiner can stop pouting for now. Razark would give his son praise and tell him he worked hard. This would soothe the faint, aching feeling in Reiner’s chest. While it did not substitute for affection from Raskreia, it was still better than nothing.

Not only was Razark more involved in Reiner’s early life, he pretty much remains as Reiner’s only parental figure throughout his son’s time in Lukedonia. Functionally, his role is pretty similar to that of single parent’s. Raskreia is simply too busy to be involved in Reiner’s life. She is Reiner’s biological mother, but she is also her people’s Lord. She had the duty to attend to her subjects. And… her son can get by without a mother present in his life, but Lukedonia can’t be without their Lord. That’s what her husband Razark is for. Right. She has him. He’ll be there for their son, in her place. And the title of Kertia Clan Leader now belongs to Rael, so Razark has all the time in the world for Reiner if he needs parental support. That’ll work. Their son would have company, and she could carry on with her duties as Lord. Surely that is the best arrangement. Or, at least that’s what the Lord thought. Logically, it made sense. Realistically? Asking her preschool-aged son to compromise probably wasn’t the fairest thing to do, but they had no other choice. And Razark, being the loyal husband he is, did as his wife suggested. And he did what a good father would. He monitored his son’s progress, played with him, and they talked about the old days. About that time when the traitor nobles invaded Lukedonia and how they ultimately fought them off with help from the noblesse, how the Lord stopped a missile with Rozaria-nim and Kei-nim, what his paternal grandfather Ragar was like, even funny stories about uncle Rael’s embarrassing shenanigans… they had a good time as father and son. It didn’t make up for Raskreia’s absence, but Reiner nonetheless appreciated his father’s efforts very much.

However, this did not stop young Reiner from asking his father questions about his mother. After all, she was still very much of an important presence in his life even if he wasn’t necessarily part of hers. He asked his father if the Lord didn’t like him, or that she was disappointed in him, like any child would if they felt like a parent didn’t want to be with them. Razark always reassured his son that the Lord loves him, but she is just too busy. Out of respect, Reiner does not press the matter any further. And their conversations always ended there. Did Razark manage to convince Reiner? No. As much as Reiner wanted to believe his father, he needed to witness it with his own eyes. Reiner loved Raskreia and he missed her. She was everywhere, yet she was also nowhere. She could be in the throne room discussing matters with her Clan Leaders, checking in on the coastal borders, on a diplomatic meeting with some humans or werewolves… if something needed her attention, she would always be on the way. And out of all those things, she couldn’t find time for her son. If Reiner was lucky, he got a short glimpse of his mother from below the balcony or through the window. His eyes follow her longingly, ever so hopeful that she would turn around and look at him just once. Yet she simply walked straight ahead and her back view vanished from his sight as she hurried to her next destination. Those few seconds would be the last of her that the young prince gets to see for a whole week.

Reiner refused to believe that this is how his life will be. If his mother didn’t come to him, then he will go to his mother. How will he make that happen then? Reiner obviously couldn’t ask his servants. The other Clan Leaders and nobles were in no position to authorize such a thing either. And his own father Razark seemed to avoid answering his questions that hinted towards wanting him to be the bridge for him to meet his mother. If he couldn’t get realistic help, then he’d come up with something on his own. Reiner pondered for some time. Then he came up with a genius idea. What he did not realize at this point was that this would go on to be a complete disaster and the first major traumatic event of his life that would permanently change him.

So Reiner snuck into one of Raskreia’s offices when she wasn’t there. Earlier, he happened to overhear one of her secretaries talk to a colleague about their Lord’s next meeting and the documents she had prepared for it. The perfect opportunity. With a bit of searching and standing on his little tiptoes, Reiner was able to find exactly what he was searching for. He took out the crayons he stuffed in his pockets and scribbled something on the papers. Then he carefully closed the documents and put them back where he found them, hoping that Raskreia would be overjoyed to see what he had prepared for her. And it’ll happen very soon, because she’ll be opening those documents for her next meeting. Reiner was very proud of himself. He left her office with a big smile on his face and went home in anticipation of good news.

The time came. The Lord summoned her subjects to their scheduled meeting and her secretary passed the documents into her hands. Raskreia opened the folder and… instead of words on paper, as it should’ve been, her eyes met a colorful scribbly mess. She was shocked and confused, and wondered who on earth dared to mess with the Lord. It couldn’t have been one of her secretaries or assistants, because they were dutiful and dared not to tamper with their Lord’s belongings, let alone meeting documents they knew their Lord had prepared to present. Then Raskreia took a closer look at the scribbles and finally pieced together what it attempts to depict. It was more than intentional, and the culprit did not mean to stay hidden at all. It was even a deliberate effort to catch her attention. Right there on the paper was a childish crayon drawing of three figures holding hands on a flower field, with “I love my family” and “I miss my Mama” written below. As badly drawn as it was, Raskreia had an idea of who these figures were meant to depict. The smaller one stood in the middle, smiling happily, and to his left a taller one, drawn with a black crayon. Then to his right an even taller one drawn in yellow. This was exactly what she suspected it to be. It had to be. The other nobles at the meeting were shocked as well, but before they could fully comprehend the situation, Raskreia’s aura suddenly exploded into the air like a shockwave and the office was heavy and drenched in her rage. The walls and ceiling began to shake and pieces fell to the ground where cracks had formed. All the nobles dared not to talk and nervously held their heads low in response to their Lord’s wrath. They were not sure if the Lord’s anger was directed at them. But Raskreia had someone else in mind, one she realized she had failed to discipline. …Reiner.

She immediately summoned her son through their mind link, but it was done so forcefully, all the nobles within a few kilometers heard her and felt her fearsome tone. And of course Reiner did not anticipate this reaction. He had imagined that if his mother does summon him, she would invite him in, give him praise, and hug him while telling him she’ll never leave him alone again, and from now on they’ll spend a lot of time together. He daydreamed that his little drawing would melt her heart and make her realize how much he loved her as her son, in hopes that she’d reciprocate his affection. Except… the final result was the complete opposite. The Lord was livid. Reiner dreaded the entire walk to his mother’s office, and he could feel his legs shaking and telling him to turn around and run away. He was panic-stricken, his fingers went cold and his limbs tensed up. Then he stepped into her office. There was no warm welcome, no greeting, no interaction between mother and son. Oddly enough, his mother did not reprimand him. There was nothing to break the dreadful silence in the room. And perhaps that silence was much worse than his mother yelling at him. Then Reiner’s memories blur. To this day, Reiner is not able to recall what happened after, as it was too traumatic for his little brain to fully process at that time. The only thing he can vividly recreate in his mind is the scene of a dark room. There was no sunlight, as the clouds had darkened, and candles blown out. And in the darkness, Reiner saw his own reflection inside two glowing crimson orbs of coldness and fury. His legs would not stop shaking despite his every effort to stay still in front his Lord. And then it hit him. In this moment, he was no longer her son. He was a criminal. Reiner can’t recall anything else. Or, maybe he doesn’t want to. Any attempt to do so would be a ruthless act of reopening the deep scar inside his little heart, and he doesn’t need to hurt himself any further. Perhaps he even tries to suppress this event to the best of his ability in an attempt to completely forget it, which he does to no avail.

Reiner’s memories only resume its tracks at him being punished to a week of solitude inside his room. Messing with the Lord’s belongings usually warrants a much harsher punishment, but Reiner was only a small child. Even a week of a being left alone was too harsh on him. But the Lord would not have it otherwise. And for the entire week, Reiner sulked and curled up in the corner. He didn’t even notice day and night passing by. Seven days felt like seven years. He did not understand why his mother was so angry. If fact, he had never seen his mother like this in his entire life. Reiner felt something for the first time. He had no place in her heart; of the one he loved so, so much. His mother wanted to disown him, and his Lord wanted to execute him. And of course that would be untrue and very delusional, because no Lord would ever do that over something so trivial. Reiner was just overthinking. But in the midst of the mess, that was all he could comprehend with his little mind. He will never be Raskreia’s priority. Compared to everything else she had to do, he was a nobody. Nothing. He was her subject, but he was no son to her. Lukedonia needed her, and he needed her as well. She chose the former. Then Reiner woke up from his illusions. She would never approve of him no matter how hard he tried. Receiving her unconditional love was just as much of a myth as humans dreamed of mermaids and dragons.

And for the first time in Reiner’s life, he cried. He sobbed. His wails echoed through his room, and no one was there to hear him. Then Reiner calmed down. Once again, Reiner stood in front of the mirror. This is the second promise he makes to himself. Except this time, he swore to himself that from now own, he will never call her his mother again. He can’t be greedy or selfish anymore. She will only be the Lord. His Lord. And he will be her subject. Nothing more. This would be the first and last time Reiner ever cries.

Reiner’s punishment came to an end when Razark unlocked and opened the door. Reiner could’ve broken himself out of solitude if that had been what he desired, but he was responsible and accepted his punishment. Furthermore, he would just upset his Lord again, and she’d have to punish him once more. Father and son did not greet each other verbally upon their meeting. Slowly, Razark approached his son, who sulked on the floor, and sat down next to him. He gently stroked Reiner’s head with one of his hands as he held something in the other. “This is for you, my son. Do you want to take a look?” He said in a soft voice, and his low-spirited son lifted his head slowly. Razark passed the box to Reiner. It was a plain, black box. Reiner opened the box and he was greeted by a small handwritten card inside that read “To Aretis Verja Di Reiner”. It was his Lord’s handwriting. Reiner carefully picked up the card and flipped it over, but he found no other text. It was just his name. Then Razark gestured to his son to take a look at the content. Inside the box were two items.

The first item was a thick envelope that held many copies of the same form. Reiner took one out and read it carefully. It was a form for an official request to meet the Lord in person. The standard procedure. This was Raskreia’s way of telling her son that if he wanted to meet her, he had to submit a request just like everyone else to ask for her audience. Essentially, Raskreia was reminding her son that he was no exception, even if he’s the prince. But this was also an invitation, in a sense. Reiner, albeit in a less desirable manner, had successfully conveyed to Raskreia that he wanted more private time with her as her son. And Raskreia responded, even if it she did it in a confusing way. She basically reached out Reiner from her end. Sure, it was strange, but it sure was something. A proof of her efforts. If Reiner wanted to spent time with the Lord, he could fill out a form and deliver it to one of her secretaries, and they would then add it to one of her many piles of forms to approve. If she approves Reiner’s request, he will get a chance to meet her. What an overcomplicated and unnecessary process of parent-child bonding.

The second item was a toy. It was a small, fluffy black teddy bear with red gems embedded into its eyes. Reiner was perplexed. Was this… Raskreia’s attempt to apologize to him? He could not be certain, but he had a feeling that Raskreia intended for this to be her substitute for when she isn’t around. This teddy bear was to serve as her replacement for when he missed her. Reiner was not sure on how this was supposed to make him feel. He doesn’t even like teddy bears, or toys in general. So far the Lord had spent so little time with him in his life, she wasn’t even aware of his preferences for things. Still, this teddy bear had a very significant meaning to it, as it was the first gift his Lord had ever given him. It was an item with great sentimental value, despite being one laced with sorrow and regret. To this day, Reiner has this teddy bear stored inside a thrice secured display cabinet inside his room. It sits inside a sturdy glass case, fixed with a complicated maze lock, all encased inside a layer of Ludis’ special barrier charm. It will never leave his residence, let alone his room. Every now and then, Reiner would take it out to play with it, and lock it back up when he’s done. The maids are not allowed to go near the cabinet, as Reiner stated that he will do the cleaning it himself. They would stay loyal to this order of his even after his departure from Lukedonia. Funny enough, Reiner never names this teddy bear, probably in fear that it would come alive if he did.

We move on from Reiner’s early childhood to his teen years and early adulthood. Reiner attends his lessons as usual, and performs his duties as prince. But before we dive into that part of his story, I want to talk about the deal with his parents first.

Raskreia. Truth is, Reiner is not entirely correct with his assumptions about what his existence means to his mother. In fact, he is very wrong. It is not his fault either, because anyone would’ve guessed something similar if they were in his shoes. Raskreia does genuinely love her son. She has loved Reiner since he was born, and she still loves him after his eventual departure from Lukedonia. He has always been her little one, and he’ll always be. He has a permanent place in her heart. But Raskreia also struggles to express herself. This is Raskreia’s biggest flaw as a parent. Raskreia’s sense of pride and the need to uphold her position as Lord even with her family hurts her relationship with her son very much. Just as much as her son misses her, she misses her son. The feeling was mutual, yet Raskreia never acted upon it. She couldn’t. She had a standard she had to uphold as Lord, and that is to stay faithful to her duties and to not let herself be distracted by other elements, especially considering all the mess they and the noblesse had to deal with in the past millennia. They had to stay alert, and Raskreia as Lord was busier than ever. She must lead her people and respond to them in a timely manner. She had to be professional, even if it means ignoring her own son unless he has a dire emergency, which he does not. At least from her perspective. Reiner is more desperate than ever.

Raskreia simply could not dedicate time to her son on a regular basis. That’s why the request-to-meet forms are there for him. She cannot promise him her guaranteed presence, but she’d approve of it when she can. Maybe thirty minutes at a time. That is her limit. Maybe twenty, or ten, if she really can’t squeeze more in. Occasionally, she’d have an hour for him, though that is an extremely rare luxury.

And… She needs to prepare her son for the position of Lord. Yes, Reiner has a family, but most importantly, he has a duty to all the nobles in this land who will require his leadership one day. He does not have an option. This is the fate that he is destined to carry on his shoulders since his birth. It wasn’t Reiner’s fault for being a needy child, a normal child who needed love and affection to thrive. Except Reiner is also Lukedonia’s prince. He needs to learn to put his personal needs below the duties to which he is tied, even if it means setting his own important feelings aside. That is an essential skill a Lord’s successor needs to master. Raskreia can’t just grant her son’s every wish. She doesn’t shut him out completely, but she also keeps some distance from him. She can’t let him be too attached to her, as that would be unfavorable in the long run for him as future Lord. She will only respond to him when he asks for her, but she’ll never be the first one the reach out if he doesn’t ask. It would be cruel to Reiner if he got to see his mother as often as he liked while knowing that he has to detach himself from her one day.

Regarding the doodle incident, Raskreia was actually… touched by her son’s efforts, as a mother. She understood her son’s love for her. But as Lord, she couldn’t show it. She had to maintain her professionalism. What was seemingly a touching gift from son to mother, was in reality a very disrespectful disruption of her work. Little Reiner trespassed, and vandalized official documents. As touched as she was, she couldn’t encourage that behavior. It just wasn’t acceptable. She had to address the situation and issue her son’s punishments accordingly. Everything was decided by the book. She had to show her fellow nobles that she was fair, and that she does not condone misbehavior from anyone. Their Prince was no exception. That is all.

What they do not know is that Raskreia didn’t dispose of those documents. In fact, she has them locked away somewhere with a protection charm to keep the crayon’s colors from fading over time. She had to be angry with him, but… she treasured this gesture as well. Every now and then, she’d take out the drawing and stare at it, and then lock it back up. You can say that they really are mother and son, despite their challenges and differences.

Raskreia would continue to remain mostly uninvolved in Reiner’s live for as long as he’s still in Lukedonia. The two of them would go on to never resolve their issues verbally, and despite their love for one another, the miscommunication and misunderstandings would only continue to snowball into bigger messes. Their relationship is very, very strained but neither wants to be the first to initiate a reconciliation, nor is any one of them willing to let go of their own sense pride. Deep down, both of them yearn for each other’s love so, so much, but their own issues mixed together with reluctancy on certain things just makes matters worse.

Razark. Reiner’s functionally “only” parental figure in his life, and the healthier one of the two that he technically has. He’s actively involved in Reiner’s life as his father and mentor, as he’s free thanks to passing his title (and soul weapon) to Rael. He entertains and keeps Reiner company. He’s really trying his best to be Reiner’s father. Except… Razark’s efforts has its limits. In fact, the older Reiner gets, the less helpful Razark is and he actually starts to hurt his son unintentionally, with Reiner eventually losing trust in not only his mother and Lord, but in his father as well. Yeah. It’s angsty. We’ll have to look into Razark’s relationship with Raskreia for an answer. The two of them are a loving couple, even if they don’t appear such way in public. As emotionless as their faces may be, they are quite affectionate when they’re by themselves. People just don’t get to see this side of them. Razark’s official title is the Lord’s spouse. He is a responsible husband who takes care of their son, and manages the household in Raskreia’s place. But he is also Raskreia’s subject. One of her many, many subjects. The nobles are all loyal to her. Amongst them, Razark stands out as exceptionally loyal. Maybe even too loyal. And this loyalty would prove to be detrimental to their son. You see, Razark enables Raskreia’s behavior, even if he himself is unaware of it. Not once had he attempted to intervene Raskreia’s way of “parenting” their son. Giving her suggestions, telling her what she’s lacking, encouraging her to see their son more often, reminding her that their son is still their son before he is the prince, etc… none of that. As a husband and father, it would be logical for him to do that. As a subject, that would be questioning his Lord’s decisions with her heir. Not their son, but her heir, and that would be mighty disrespectful. And it’s not that Razark is refraining from communicating with her. These things simply never crossed Razark’s mind. His blinding loyalty to his wife and Lord means that he never questions any of her decisions, including ones involving their son. He will stand by Raskreia’s beliefs, because she is always right. She is their Lord, after all. And the Lord is meant to be followed without question. You can assume how this goes. Razark is supportive of his son, but he never tries to get Raskreia to notice him more. He knows that Reiner is lonely, but never addresses the direct cause of his unhappiness. All these years, he never stood up for Reiner, even when he very much should’ve. Always on the sidelines, watching Raskreia handle their son as she pleased. In a way, Razark is just as guilty as Raskreia. He put his Lord before his son, even if he is oblivious to this fact. He just deals with the aftermath regarding Reiner, and never takes on the role of actively supporting Reiner by being the change his son needs. And Reiner could not ask his father to help him, as he was in no place to challenge his father’s loyalty and decision to unconditionally follow their Lord.

At this point, Reiner doesn’t know if he trusts his parents anymore. He still loves them very much, but he can’t put his full trust in them. This love would go on to be very twisted, especially for his mother. Reiner loves her just as much as he loathes her. As for Razark, Reiner is grateful to him for being the father who raised him, but he is also disappointed in him for never standing up to his mother for him. He does feel like his father betrayed him, in a sense. Poor boy.

Back to a now older teen/young adult Reiner. Reiner is busy with lessons and successor training as usual. He has a lot less free time than other nobles of the same age, but he still has some to himself. Despite Reiner’s wounds from his parents and rather unideal childhood, he is still the kind and generous child he has always been. He still helps ordinary nobles with their mundane tasks, and enjoys interacting with them. His passion in people miraculously stayed unaffected despite his circumstances. Because Reiner is so busy, he shows up less frequently. Nevertheless, he manages to not miss out on being there for his people because he promised that he’ll come. The nobles are extremely honored and grateful that their prince makes an effort to interact with them despite being so busy, in awe that he insists on dedicating the remainder of his scarce free time to them. He probably has much more important matters to attend to, they think. But what they don’t know is that mingling with his people is his passion and, ultimately, what it means to be prince. The current Lord goes around to assigning tasks to people and they are meant to follow her without question. And Reiner? He believes he should be one of his people. Not as future Lord, not as Prince Reiner, but just Reiner. He is in a position higher than any of them, and for this exact reason, he is also responsible for their well being. That means doing so by walking along the ordinary people to understand what they really need in life, and not by sitting on the throne giving order after order. To Reiner, the position of Lord is more symbolic than it is technical. That is why Reiner is so active with doing good for the community.

Unfortunately, it is time for Reiner’s lessons to be taken to a further step. Raskreia updates her son’s training regimen and his lessons are even longer and more intense than before. In addition to individual tutors teaching him different subjects, he is now also obliged to attend lessons aimed at simulating real-life Lord meetings, tasks, and discussions. Basically, he has a seminar group assigned to him, with all of his mentors carefully hand-picked by none other than the Lord herself. The roster is made up of her most loyal followers whom she trusts to shape Reiner into the Lord she thinks he needs to be. This is Raskreia saying that Reiner is ready to move onto the next phase of his life. Reiner is not too happy about this change, but he follows the Lord’s orders without complaints. He doesn’t appreciate how her assistants now follow him around even during his free time to remind him that it is time for him to go back indoors to attend his lessons. He can tell time by himself; he doesn’t need the Lord’s little lackeys to interrupt him when he’s washing herbs and have them drag him out of the garden while telling him that he’ll be late if he doesn’t leave soon, and that princes do not engage themselves in such shallow matters. Sigh. The Lord is so overbearing even when she isn’t here.

Reiner is back indoors and ready for his mock conference. His mentors have high expectations for him, as he had shown that he is capable of academic success through his childhood accomplishments. Except this is where things don’t go smoothly anymore. His mentors would present him with hypothetical scenarios and ask him what he would do, and Reiner’s answers always contradicted what was expected of him. He told them that the throne is meant to be shared, and it did not belong to one person just because they were born into the position. He argued that the throne should only be a symbol of leadership and not a source of power that lets one decide the fates of others, and that people should get to decide on things as a group. Not just Clan Leaders, but ordinary people as well. This would confuse his mentors very much, and Reiner would explain to them that a healthy nation does not let the decision of one overshadow the decision of all others. His mentors were in disbelief, and scolded their prince for playing a humorless prank during such a formal lesson. Unfortunately for them, Reiner is dead serious. They don’t believe him. No one wants to listen to him. It makes sense. They are the Lord’s loyalists, after all. They aren’t having it otherwise. They seem to be satisfied when Reiner gives them the standard answer, the one they want to hear. So they’re not here for discussion, they’re just here to put words into his mouth, Reiner thinks. But Reiner knows better than to argue with them, so he stops speaking for himself, and submits to the suffocating echo chamber. His unhappiness and frustration intensified. So did his resentment towards the stubborn Lukedonian laws and traditions. His bitterness towards the system would plant a seed of rebellion in his heart that he himself did not even realize was growing inside of him.

Things weren’t any better on the training grounds. From Raskreia’s assistants’ judgement of Reiner’s progress, he leaned too much towards defensive fighting. In other words, he was lacking in offense. But that is just how Reiner fights, and it comes most naturally to him. The Lord thinks otherwise. So, she pulls out his mentors who specialized in defense and replaces them with offensive fighters. They are faster, more aggressive, and do not hesitate to land unforgiving blows on their prince. This transition was a little too abrupt for Reiner, as he had almost no room to allow himself to get used to this new type of fighting. His new mentors are also much less lenient than his old mentors. They are much harsher with Reiner’s perceived lack of improvement. This would lead to the second major traumatic event in Reiner’s life, where he fails a fighting test and gets pushed too much and ends up almost dying from his wounds. Healers from the Volo Clan had to be called in to address his injuries. As Reiner laid down on the ground groaning in pain, one of the Lord’s assistants monitoring the training grounds simply walked over, and in an flat tone, informed their prince that “The Lord intends to remind you that in a real battleground, not only would your enemies not spare you, they would also kill you.” Wow. How cold. Not even a word of care or concern. As usual, the Lord doesn’t bother to show up to check in on her severely injured son. This would only go on to twist Reiner’s view of the Lord even more. He continues to suppress his feelings and follows her orders without question. He changes his fighting style to be more offensive even if it is difficult and unnatural for him.

He won’t say anything. He can’t say anything. He has to be a good son and a good prince. If following in his Lord’s footsteps is his destiny then… he’ll do so. He won’t ask questions anymore. He’ll stop resisting.

His Lord’s wish is his command.

For this reason, Reiner never brings up any of his concerns during his one-to-one meetings with Raskreia, the “submit a request and wait for approval” mother-son bonding time. The two of them would just awkwardly sit across from each other. Just silence. Occasionally, they’d talk about the weather. But that’s it. Reiner also finds it hard to look at the Lord in the eyes, so he just looks to the ground, only meeting her eye to eye when he answers one of her boring, awkward questions. And they’d continue to sit like that, until time is over and Raskreia has other guests to see. Reiner would always leave feeling bitter. Yet he never stops submitting his request forms, because that would mean that he had given up on facing her and that he had lost his battle with himself. He’s not afraid of her. Nope. Impossible. What a spectacular, twisted love and sense of pride.

As time went on, Reiner started to feel numb. He stops standing up for himself. He simply does what is asked of him. Only a husk of him remains now. Even his passion in his people started to dwindle. He still loves them with all his heart, and wants to be a part of them very badly, but his energy levels are no longer enough to sustain himself. Reiner is being drained from the inside out, and he could feel the few remaining ounces of motivation slowly leave his body. He wants to care, but can’t care anymore. He doesn’t even care about himself; what does he have to spare for the others?

Reiner has finally cracked from the pressure of being the perfect prince.

Gradually, Reiner’s progress slowed down. He still shows up to all his lessons, but he can’t quite keep up with the pace anymore. He really is trying his best. He’s doing everything correctly, yet he’s failing. Reiner is depressed. As usual, Raskreia’s assistants report back to her. Her response? Tells him to pick himself back up and return to normal. A future Lord does not have time for this. The Lord doesn’t care, she never has, she never will, Reiner thinks. Raskreia’s way is easier said than done. Reiner is already very stressed out. His Lord is only adding fuel to fire.

Reiner develops many unhealthy habits as a response to stress.

He pulls his hair out when he feels nervous. He’d run his fingers through his hair, twirl around for a bit, and yank on it forcefully. It hurt, but the pain eased his anxiety a little.

Reiner also started to talk to himself. A lot. He’d talk to himself when he’s studying, when he’s running errands, when he’s sitting still… he just couldn’t be left alone with himself. He is unable to be at peace with his own presence, and has to fill the empty space with his voice. The silence was too heavy as if it would crush him. The things he says are mostly self-deprecating phrases. Not smart enough, not fast enough, not strong enough. Too weak, both physically and emotionally. Too easy to fall under pressure. Can’t handle anything. Reiner constantly belittles himself. Again, it barely eases his discomfort.

Sometimes Reiner would also stand in front a mirror and tell himself to cry. Crying makes people feel better, he says. Try it. He’d lean forward so his forehead presses against the mirror. No matter how hard he stares at his reflection or how much he shames himself for not being able to be honest with himself, the tears just won’t come out. And he’d try and try and try and fail every single time. He’s too tired to even cry.

Reiner is also constantly in pain. His neck, shoulders, arms… his entire body is constantly aching. His muscles hurt. This is caused by him not being able to relax. He’s always alert and anxious, as if the Lord is behind his back watching his every move. He has to stay in posture, to be respectful and to not be a disappointment. It doesn’t help when Reiner would sometimes even hear her voice inside his head telling him that he’s a failure of a prince, and that Lukedonia cannot be entrusted to him. Shut up, shut up, please leave me alone, Reiner dreads. Inaudible painful whimpers would make their way out despite Reiner clenching his jaw as hard as he can as to seal away his sorrow.

Reiner’s would-be paranoia also lead him to suppressing his aura routinely. He doesn’t even realize he is doing this. It’s not perfect, but it’s enough for him to go unnoticed by your average noble in an average situation. He’s of the Lord’s lineage, so of course by nature he has a very strong aura. To Reiner, this is a curse. It’s like blasting his arrival, wherever he goes, on loud speakers. So he does as he needs to counter that. The only thing he wants to do now is to lie low and stay unnoticed. He doesn’t want to draw any attention to him. Even positive attention is undesirable. Reiner’s subconscious wants to make himself as small as possible as part of his defense mechanism. Unfortunately for him, he is still detectable, and he has to maintain his weak, forced smile in public. Doesn’t help that Raskreia has now assigned him to greet werewolf and human diplomats as part of his new duties as a public figure. It is nothing but torture to Reiner.

Reiner’s free time is now spent either alone and locked up in his room, repeating self-deprecating phrases over and over to himself, or he’s with his maternal grandmother Desdemona. Only she truly understands him. But even she chooses to lurk in the shadows, so she can’t keep him company unless he goes to her. At this point, Reiner is reluctant to spend time even with Razark, because he’d just be reminded that this man is his mother’s enabler. Razark doesn’t understand why his son is not enthusiastic about father-son bonding anymore. Reiner would just tell him that he’s busy with studies. To be honest, he can’t stand his father.

Reiner also can’t stand his mother. His paranoia worsens. The thought of her alone is enough to send him into a panic attack. Like Reiner has always done, he doesn’t seek help from anyone. He just locks himself up until he calms down. Poor Reiner doesn’t know how to ask for help.

As soon as Reiner became old enough to have to some power over the household, the first thing he ordered was to renovate everything he owned. His study, his bedroom, etc. Everything that reminded him of his Lord, his classrooms, and general sources of discomfort, were to be thrown out or torn down and rebuilt from scratch. Even just seeing the same wallpaper pattern is enough to cause a panic attack. Reiner still has to go outside to attend class and perform his duties, but at least he doesn’t have to be reminded of them when he’s at home.

Reiner ordered his servants to burn everything they threw out and tore down. He wanted no trace of any of it. Curiously, the teddy bear his Lord gave him in his childhood was spared. Reiner precisely ordered them to leave it alone. That stays. Everything else goes.

Renovating his surroundings would only help to a certain extent. It did not remove the source of his pain, to his dismay.

Reiner is dying. He is alive, but his soul feels like it is disintegrating. He doesn’t even know who he is anymore.

One faithful day, on one of Reiner’s temporary escapes from reality, he visits Grandma Desdemona who lurked in the shadows. She suggests to him the option of leaving Lukedonia permanently. Huh. That’s impossible. It’ll be a huge crime and act of betrayal. Grandma just shrugs and says you won’t know what’s best for you unless you try. Reiner pretends that he didn’t hear anything. But this single piece of seemingly absurd and impossible suggestion would be an important catalyst to his ultimate choice. Remember the seed of rebellion inside his heart? Mhm.

Reiner can’t get Mona’s words out of his head. Whenever he’s in a difficult situation, he’d think about it. He would still hear Raskreia’s voice in his head due to his paranoia, but her voice would be overridden by that of his grandmother’s. “You can always leave this place.” She says. With repetition, the impossible becomes possible. Soon enough, Reiner was considering leaving his home forever. To the unknown, to faraway land. He feared the possibilities, but he was also hopeful. He hadn’t felt hope since his childhood. Then Reiner realized that he didn’t have to figuratively kill himself to become the Lord everyone expects him to.

And what does being Lord even mean to Reiner? Once he becomes Lord, he’ll be permanently separated from his people by an intangible barrier. He’ll no longer be Reiner, and he’ll only be known as the Lord. No more being with the people. He’ll be imprisoned to his throne for all eternity, until his hypothetical future heir is old enough for him to abdicate or he enters eternal sleep. To his core, Reiner believed in a democracy. It didn’t matter if none of his Lord ancestors established one. Someone needs to be the change. The first. And he doesn’t want to wait until Raskreia steps down to see this happen. Perhaps due to Reiner’s now realistic option of leaving Lukedonia, he is more daring. His childhood dreams and passions felt like they have returned, and though not to their full extent, it was the push he needed.

Then Reiner decided. He doesn’t want to be “Lord” anymore. He doesn’t want to be Prince. He doesn’t even want to be Reiner anymore. If giving up his identity means that he could have one single shot at changing Lukedonia, he’d risk it. If he can’t have a democracy, then he doesn’t want any of this. This land and everything he had ever known since his birth… he’d give it up. Reiner already has a very estranged relationship with Raskreia, and there is no hope for reconciliation despite their love for one another. It has to be him, or her. This land cannot tolerate both of them at once.

It took Reiner centuries of preparation, from Mona’s initial suggestion to his final decision. Most of this time was spent saying goodbye to everything he loved. The grass, the trees, the mountains. He’ll miss the way seasons change. The blooming flowers, the falling snow. The way sunrise illuminated and colored the land. The way the sea reflected the beautiful moon. The singing birds, the fluttering butterflies. It’ll never be the same outside Lukedonia. And… the people. His family. His friends. His acquaintances. It brings him great sorrow to think that he’ll have to part from all of them, and that he’ll never get to see any of them again for all of eternity. He’ll never stop loving them no matter how hard he tries to put his love for them to an end. As soon as he thinks he has gotten over them, his emotions flow back. This just makes him want to cry, despite being unable to.

Razark is glad that his son seems to feel a bit better. After all, Reiner went on walks more often and started hanging out with people again. He looked like he was returning to his old self. What Razark does not realize is that this sudden boost of optimism is his son saying his last goodbyes to his home.

No one realized.

To say that everyone in Lukedonia totally agrees with Raskreia would be false. Of course, they have to look like they agree with her, at least on the surface. She is their Lord, and they have to live as she intends them to. This is what Reiner doesn’t like. His vision of an ideal Lukedonia is one where no one is afraid to speak their mind, where everyone could have input on how to live. The title of Lord is only there for symbolic and spiritual reasons. Reiner wanted freedom for everyone. Freedom to live as they wish, freedom to enter and leave Lukedonia as they please, freedom to not be held back by the decisions of a single person… Reiner can only dream about it. Reiner knew how his people felt. He isn’t the only one with depression and anxiety. While many are indeed satisfied with life here, some thought otherwise. Reiner spent time with them, got their trust, and they talked to him. Reiner asked them why they didn’t pursue the things that they wanted to, and they always answered “Because it’s just how it is.” Who gets to say anyway?

So Reiner went around and asked more questions. Soon, he was certain that many of them felt exactly the same way. If he’s going to give it a shot, he might as well do his best and gather all the resources he can find. Reiner needed supporters to back him up. Even if his chance of changing Raskreia’s mind is near 0%, it could help. Who knows. Nobody knows for sure. But it was an option. Reiner worked hard to gather people who were seemingly willing to support his cause. They all agreed with his ideals and dreams. However, Reiner does not tell them that he plans to enter the throne room and give a speech in front of the Lord and her audience, at least not until a few hours prior. Everyone who initially agreed with him suddenly panicked. This was far too aggressive and rebellious. Unlike Reiner, they had more important things to lose. They did not expect Reiner to be so upfront about his attempt to change Raskreia’s mind. Then… his supporters left. They apologized, told him this was impossible, and disappeared in a hurry. To be labeled as a traitor was the last thing they wanted. All of a sudden, Reiner was alone again. But it was too late go back on his plans. Reiner is determined, and he is going to get this done regardless of whether he had supporters or not.

So it will be done. Reiner takes a deep breath, and straightens his back. He walks towards the throne room steadily. He is afraid, yes, but he is dedicated to his cause. Nothing will stop him now. He pushes open the door and barges into the throne room despite the guards begging him not to, and interrupts Raskreia and her nobles. The throne room went silent. Then, Reiner gives his speech. After his closing sentence trailed off, no one reacted. Then, Raskreia’s voice breaks the silence, just as everyone dreaded her reaction. Curiously, she does not arrest Reiner on the spot, nor does she order him to apologize to her this instant. She orders him to go back to his residence immediately, and to not leave until she comes to him. They will have a very long discussion there. For now, no more words shall be spoken in the throne room.

And this is when Reiner knew he failed. The Lord kept calm for the sake of her audience. He knows that look on her face. Those same eyes. Reiner could feel the world collapse on him. So his one shot failed, he thinks. But it’s alright. He saw this coming. He shouldn’t have expected anything anyway.

Reiner tells Lord he’d obey her wishes for him to wait for her to come to him. Raskreia’s guards come to escort him out of the throne him and they are about to deliver him to his residence. Except Reiner asks the Lord for one last favor. He wishes to meet his grandmother before he goes back to his residence. Oddly, Raskreia does not refuse this request, and grants him permission. Reiner would then go to say his goodbyes to Mona while the guards waited outside. That is where she gives him her magic ring, and then they part for good.

Reiner is escorted to his room. But he’s not done. He would proceed to disobey Raskreia one last time. As soon as he got a cue from her alliance, he acted right away. Grandma Mona is more than smart enough to sneak Reiner out of Lukedonia without Raskreia knowing, and she has her own group of followers. Even if Mona doesn’t tell Reiner exactly what will happen, she gives him a few clues. This is his chance to leave. After bypassing Raskreia’s guards, Reiner runs through the forest, and through the mountains. Mona had cleared the path for him. No guards in sight. Then he reaches the border at the sea, where he confirms that a small portion of Lukedonia’s barrier had been deactivated in a timely manner, and it will close up very soon. Reiner runs towards the opening at full speed and… it’s been done. He’s done. He’s no longer in Lukedonia. He ran, and he ran, and he ran. He does not look back. He can’t look back.

And into the horizon he vanished.

It didn’t take long for Raskreia to realize that her son had run away. She immediately dispatches a search party to go after him. Then Raskreia summons everyone in the most urgent manner, and announces that Reiner is now a traitor to Lukedonia, and that he is being hunted after. If anyone spots him, they need to deliver him to her immediately. They cannot hide him or assist him in evading her, unless they want to be labeled as a traitor as well. She then issues the most severe punishment to her son, for abandoning his identity as future Lord, and for betraying her. He had multiple treason accusations on him. There was no expression on Raskreia’s face as she uttered everyone’s most dreaded words: death penalty.

For this first time ever, Razark broke down into a sob. No one had ever seen him cry before, until this moment. He couldn’t control himself anymore. After Raskreia dispersed the crowd, he went to her crying and begging for her to rescind her prosecution of their son. There just has to be another way. She can’t kill their boy. Raskreia said nothing. She did not even look at her husband in the eye as his sobs echoed through the room. Her decision was final. There is no going back. According to tradition, this is the punishment for Reiner’s crime. Her opinion did not matter. From this moment, he was no longer her son. He was a runaway prince. A fugitive. A criminal.

Raskreia and Razark did not speak to each other for weeks to come.

Truth is, Raskreia sentencing Reiner after he runs away from Lukedonia doesn’t hurt her any less than it hurt Razark. She is just as devastated as he is. Reiner left her with no choice but to carry out Lukedonia’s laws as they had been written since the beginning of time. As a mother, she did not wish to sentence him. As the Lord, she had no choice. She could not show her turmoil to anyone, not even her own husband. She must keep her composure and remain calm despite total chaos. If she showed any signs of hesitation, she would fail as Lord.

One the one hand, Raskreia’s end goal is to catch Reiner so he meets the fate he deserves. One the other hand, she hopes that Reiner will run far, far away; so far away she will never catch him for all eternity. She needed to execute the traitor and former Prince Reiner, but she wanted Reiner to live. The thought of executing her own son tormented her more than anyone else; her little boy whom she had neglected all these years. The best she can do is to pray that her search party never finds Reiner, despite being the one who is sending them after him. May the two of them never meet again.

“Regrets are an extravagant emotion to me.” As the noblesse once said.

To this day, Raskreia visits her father’s grave every so often and asks for his forgiveness on what she had done, and wishes that Reiner eventually finds his peace.

And that’s the end! Woohoo! There’s a lot more to come, and I’ll leave that to future posts. This includes Raegyn’s deal with Reiner, Garyth’s crush on Reiner, and much more. My prince boy is just so angsty lol.

A small spoiler for now: Reiner currently lives with his distant cousin Oswald Kravei. So fun!

Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for the next long character post!

See you again!

#noblesse #manhwa #myart #oc #original character #millennium au #aretis verja di reiner #never getting enough of that angst lol

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nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius · 1 year

Text

The freezing metal against his palms is almost a relief, for once. The uncomfortable sensation draws him out of his thoughts, grounding him back in the real world.

Hours upon hours he had spent silently hoping, begging anything out there that might listen to let his brother still be alive.

Now, Crosshair almost wishes that Tech had been killed after all.

He still remembers so viscerally how swiftly his free will had been snatched away from him, before he had even noticed it was gone. As if he were nothing more than a mindless clanker. It’s one thing for it to have happened to him, but the thought of it being forced upon Tech, innocent, infuriatingly selfless Tech - his hands curl into fists, fingernails digging into his palms as he fights off a sudden wave of nausea.

Crosshair’s only hope is that whatever they’ve done to him is stronger than the inhibitor chips were. That if the real Tech is still in there somewhere, he isn’t aware of what’s happening to him. Because if he is, if he knows what he’s being forced to do… it’s worse than any torture that Hemlock could devise.

The tightness in his chest is growing again. He swallows, pushing past the constriction to force himself to speak. “Omega?”

The little girl shows no sign that she’s even heard him. She hasn’t moved from her curled-up position since the door sealed behind them - arms locked around her knees, frozen to the spot except for the trembling of her shoulders.

There’s a part of him that wants nothing more than to retreat back into his own shell, to shut Omega out along with the rest of the world, and yet he can’t. Something about the way her breath hitches with barely stifled sobs twists his gut into knots.

“Omega,” he hisses, leaning forward to give her shoulder a wary nudge.

There’s silence, before Omega finally unfurls herself. For a moment, she just gazes up at him, despairing eyes glistening with tears. And then, she surges forward, flinging her arms around his neck with a sudden reckless abandon.

It takes a lot to surprise Crosshair, but that certainly does the trick. He stiffens, his arms automatically straightening in front of him - just short of touching Omega. She’s crying properly now, burying her face in his shoulder as she sobs.

Should he say something? What is there to say? He knows better than to lie, to assure that everything will be alright. What’s the point in telling her something that both of them know not to be true?

Hunter would know what to do, they all would, but he’s not like them. He’s a ticking time bomb, a fractured, savage beast held together by fraying threads.

And yet he’s all that she has left.

There’s nothing that he can do for his brother, not now. But there might be something he can do for Omega.

Tentatively, he wraps an arm around her back, holding her closer against him. The other hand mechanically combs through her curls, a wooden attempt at replicating the way Hunter used to soothe him.

Whatever he’s doing, it seems to be working. Gradually, Omega’s breathing slows, her sobs fading to dejected sniffles. She makes no move to raise her head from his shoulder, still clinging on tight to him.

Crosshair is her only anchor in the storm, now. Him, the last person in the galaxy she should trust to keep her safe.

And yet, for some unfathomable reason, she does.

Promises can be dangerous things, especially ones that have no guarantee of being kept. Crosshair knows that all too well.

But danger has never put him off before, has it?

The promise that he makes to himself in that moment is a silent one. It doesn’t change the fact that they’re still imprisoned in a cell with no conceivable way of escaping, or that all it takes is one word to make him disappear, or that his own brother is one of the ones keeping him trapped as a lab rat.

All the same, something seems to shift inside him. The pain hasn’t gone away, but now there’s something else alongside it. A fire that died long ago, and is only just starting to glimmer back to life.

It’s him that got Omega into this hellhole in the first place, and it’s going to be him that gets her out of here alive. And after he does, nothing is ever going to hurt her again.

Whatever it takes.

#MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA #this has been in my brain for aaaaages #enjoy gentler crosshair while it lasts #the conversation after this is… interesting #she’s tried to touch him a few times before this and he’s gone from immediately lashing out at her #to grudgingly allowing it but snapping the second she gets a bit too close #but now he’s just like fuck it. i need a hug too #he has No Idea what he’s doing and it would be kinda funny #hunter also had No Idea but he’s more naturally warm than cross is so it was easier #writing their development is going to be so much fun aaaaah #AND WHEN WAS THE LAST WHATEVER IT TAKES????#WHEN HE TOLD HIMSELF HE WASN’T GOING TO LET HER GET CLOSE #AND NOW LOOK #also i just think it’s neat that he believes he deserved the brainwashing but tech doesn’t #he loves them he really does #keep an eye on the ‘i’d rather he was dead than brainwashed’ thing it might come back later ;)#also also #notice how tech is ‘his brother’ but omega’s never ‘his sister’?#let’s see how long it takes before that final barrier comes down #wip

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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youtube

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

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chickensarentcheap · 6 months

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A flashback! A little cross-over of sorts. Esme and The Adjudicator

@youflickedtooharddamnit @secretaryunpaid @munstysmind @themaradwrites @mrsmungus @tragiclyhip @theesirenteller @thebejeweledwatercat @kmc1989 @karimac @asirensrage @residentdormouse @ninjasawakenedmystar @alisbackalleybbq

BELOW THE CUT

“Esme Drummond. It wasn’t easy. Finding you. One of the harder challenges I’ve faced. When you ran away, you certainly ran as far as you possibly could.”

She fights to control the emotions threatening to overwhelm her. Nervousness. Fear. Forcing herself to remain calm, cool and collected; recalling those days she’d come face to face with evil and had lived to tell about it.

"I never ran away. I had no reason to. I was spared. Given a second chance. And I took it. This is just where it led me to.”

“A second chance you didn’t earn or deserve. A grand injustice occurred. And I’m here to fix it. I’m an adjudicator. Sent by the High Table. I…”

“I know who you are.”

“Then I assume you know why I’m here.”

“I was cut loose. Excommunicated. I haven’t been back to The Continental, I haven’t done any work for anyone associated with them. I’ve kept my distance. Like I was told to. I found other employment. I never…”

“I’m not here because of something you did or didn’t do. I’m here because you never deserved the second chance you were given.”

“I went before the High Table. I defended my case. I had people speak on my behalf. John Wick and Winston…”

“Never should have been allowed their time before the High Table in the first place. It was an erroneous decision. Allowing them to come to your defence. Many others have broken High Table rules and have paid the price. They weren’t given the same treatment you were. It is a stain on the High Table. One they are desperate to wipe out.”

“It’s been three years. Why…?”

“We had a lot of seats open up. Meaning we have many new members. Powerful ones. Who aren’t as understanding or forgiving as their predecessors. And with new faces comes new business.”

“And that has to do with me because…?"

“One of the first orders of business was to review prior decisions. Regarding those who had broken High Table rules. People who had been given reprieve instead of punishment. And your file just happened to be on the list. Although to be honest, you likely would have continued to fly under the radar. Had you not resurfaced…quite spectacularly…in Dhaka.”

Esme frowns. “Dhaka? What does Dhaka have to do with this? What…?”

“Word gets around. Especially in our circle. The defeat of someone like Amir Asif is something to be praised. Celebrated, even. And it wasn’t exactly subdued was it? The way everything went down. It certainly was an attention grabber.”

“Admittedly, things didn’t go exactly as planned. They got a little…messy.”

“To say the least. You practically shot up and burned the entire city down.”

“To be fair, I had help. And I didn’t really do the dirty work.”

“That’s right. You had a partner. An accomplice. Someone watching over you. Keeping you safe. That means you were, what? Aiding and abetting? You can take the girl out of the criminal underworld but you can’t…”

“Do we really have to take a trip down memory lane? It’s not exactly my favourite thing to relive. Dhaka isn’t going to be on any highlight reel of mine.”

“It really wasn’t ALL bad, was it? Those stories have been passed around as well. About you and the mercenary. You were never known as someone who mixed business with pleasure. All part of ‘turning over a new leaf’, I presume? Unless…”

Her eyes narrow. “Unless WHAT?”

“Unless it was part of the game. Maybe you knew latching onto him would be the only way you’d get out of there alive. You had to find a way to guarantee safe passage out of Dhaka, so you decided to do whatever it took. Even if it meant keeping his body AND his bed warm. It’s clever. You’re even more devious than I originally thought. I admire it.”

“That’s not what happened. Not even close.”

“I highly doubt that your behaviour was genuine. That it was love at first sight. You knew the danger you were going into and you knew you had to do whatever it took to secure your survival. Isn’t that what you do? Con people? Have them believe everything you say is true? For your own benefit?”

“It’s what I DID,” she stresses. “I’m not in that life anymore. I gave it up. Back on that bridge. I left the old Esme behind. I’m not her anymore.”

“So you’re admitting it. You used him. Fooled him. In the same way you did so many others.”

“What happened between Tyler and I was real. Everything I felt, everything I said, everything I did, was genuine. There was no pretending. No lying. No manipulating. It was all real. And I don’t care what you or anyone thinks.”

“You do realize that Dhaka was a mess for many reasons, don’t you? You killed one of ours. Someone who was in very good standing with the High Table. Who had made allegiances with the likes of Amir Asif in order to benefit everyone involved. And things were going so smoothly until you showed up there. And stuck your nose where it didn’t belong.”

It suddenly makes so much sense. Nik’s reluctance to call Gaspar; arguing with Tyler that it wasn’t a good idea that they call his old friend and colleague for help. “Gaspar was in the circle? I thought he retired. Walked away from the game. I thought…”

“He walked away from the private sector. Got into something more lucrative. And then you came along and put a few bullets into him. You just can’t keep out of trouble when it comes to us, can you?”

“I didn’t kill him. I didn’t pull the trigger.”

“So the mercenary did.”

“I never said that.”

“Well considering there were only two of you capable of pulling off such a feat….” The adjudicator’s eyes widen; a smirk tugging at their lips. “Unless it was the boy.”

“What happened that night has no bearing on what’s going on right now. I’m not telling you a thing. Not about what went down at Gaspar’s house. Not about Dhaka in general. I know what happened. WHY it happened. In the same way I know that everything that I felt for Tyler…everything we talked about and experienced together…was real. You can’t take that away from me. No matter how hard you try. No one can.”

“While Gaspar’s untimely and bloody demise may not play a direct part in why I’m here, it holds relevance. You were there when it happened, you did nothing to stop it, and you refuse to say who was directly responsible. Therefore, it adds to the reasons you should be punished. And you will be. Punished.”

“And you came all the way here to tell me this? It couldn’t have been handled through a phone call? An email even?”

Their face hardens. Eyes darkening. “Believe me when I tell you that when it comes to this matter, snark is not in your best interest.”

#Tyler and Esme series #Lost and Found #Extraction/John Wick cross-over #sort of

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super-secret-turtle · 8 months

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~ Hidden behind unspoken words ~

Today it had already been 10 years since that day. The day he got his freedom back and took hers away. His ears lowered as he looked at the calendar. 10 years ago today, the girl who saved his life mutated due to his actions. He had waited for the right moment to tell her he was still alive, but he had never found the courage to face her. He had hurt others to ensure her safety… That was something he was sure she wouldn't approve of. But he wouldn't have done it differently, what else should he have done?

She already worked at the zoo before her mutation and decided to continue doing so afterward. That would have taken her some time, to return to society. But she had a strong personality and had adjusted herself very well. He was impressed, proud even.

When she started working at the zoo again he decided to buy the zoo. Not only so that he could guarantee her safety, but also to have insight and control over the care and health of his own 'family'.

Some of the fellow mutants who had been trapped now had a life of their own. Secret traveled around and Shadow kept Silver company. His old character and habits were still there though… Only time would tell when he would get into trouble… so far he had gotten away with a lot.

When they were free and had rediscovered New York. Dameon had told the brothers about their other brother, Sky. He had known about him but never told them about him. Sky had a good life at the zoo and was adopted by the zoo owners as their son. It had been hard to tell them their brother had had a good life while they suffered.

Sky had been in an accident when he was little, which was actually the reason he was never found by 'those people'.

So now everyone has found their place in society. Dameon himself too, was a doctor for mutants and sometimes helped out at a vet he had befriended at his animal clinic. They learned a lot from each other that way. He was an esteemed scientist as well. Even though he was appreciated he tried to keep a low profile. Of course, he regularly visited his own zoo, usually on days when he knew she wouldn't be there. Of course, he wouldn't take any risks and would be there with a different appearance. In the years that he was 'their' property, he had actually obtained his diploma as a doctor, but not as a mutant but as a human. He had created a special watch that injected a special mutagen that temporarily made him human. He hated it, it was painful and he was afraid of being human. Especially because he received such different reactions that he was afraid he would no longer want to return to his own self. He still used this watch to visit the zoo and as the owner of the zoo, this was the face that would be known. He had two lives but used the second as little as possible. No one would know about his two faces except his friend Vet.

Yesterday he made a decision;

There he stood in front of the mailbox. He briefly looks at the letter in his hands. The envelope was light brown with a purple wax seal in the shape of a predator paw print. He placed it on his chest and let out a sigh. Quickly he put it in the slot and continued on his way to the park. Tomorrow it would be 10 years… that was a long time… He no longer wanted to regret the things he hadn't done.

The Letter:

Every time I see you Or I hear you my heart skip a beat And my mind overheats. I'm frozen cold because the words buried in my soul can never be told. The sight of you makes my heart sing, I glow from within.

The love in my heart burns for you It is forever paralysed as it will never come true. As the sun shines in the sky, my love for you will never die. As the rainfalls my heart will always call. As the soul never grows old, this love will stand bold. As the sudden sigh of relief from the storm, I will always be dazzled by your charm. When skies are grey, like a hawk I will watch over my prey. When skies are blue, though love may find you, My heart still stays true. You're the one who has my heart and always do. Like a cloud in the mist, you don't know my love exist But it's okay because my love won't go away.

Sky wasn't aware of this day, to him it was just a normal poop-scooping day. Sky was the kind of turtle who was a bit clumsy making new friends so he didn't have that many, which bothered him. He was actually very nice, but his height and appearance made him insecure. Since the accident when he was little, he had lost an eye. So for a long time, he also had to walk with an eye patch which made him even more insecure. A few years ago he met Dameon, one of the zoo animals that turned out to be mutated. Sky knew nothing about this girl, he would just keep an extra eye on the zoo in exchange for a bionic eye. This meant that he did an extra round in the evening to make sure there were no strange people poking around the zoo, which never happened and made the task quite boring. He also wasn't allowed to tell anyone about him. He didn't really understand why, he was good-looking. But considering he would be getting this expensive eye for free he decided not to ask about it any further.

Most of the time Sky worked alone while listening to music. Of course, there were parties and work opportunities with lectures and such. But he always found it difficult to fit in anywhere. In his spare time, he could usually be found with his gaming consoles. Online, no one could tell who he was making him much less awkward. He even met a cute girl online who was a daring opponent and teammate.

Almost every night around the same time he would play games with her, they often laughed and joked sometimes even watching a new movie together. Yet, all of that would be online. Strangely enough, they knew little about each other. He didn't dare to ask personal questions for fear of the same question being asked back. Despite that, he enjoyed her company very much. It gave him a warm feeling and he often went to bed way too late…

Yet something was missing… he craved physical touch. Of course, he had also gotten to know his brothers and did his utmost to build a bond with them. Shadow was the loosest, but also the hardest to deal with. Shadow had a knack for making situations uncomfortable, especially for Sky. Shadow was skilled with words and with women.

This evening would be the same. He had his snacks and drinks ready and was sitting comfortably in his bean bag with headphones and a microphone ready. It was Friday evening so that meant an extra long game night. His eyes sparkled when he saw the green ball behind her gamer name, indicating she was online.

Starter for @larytellos-trash

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the-vixen · 8 months

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𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥 : 𝙀𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙃𝙪𝙣𝙩 𝙭 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

PART 5 PART 6 PART 7

-------- MASTERLIST

When you are sent on a mission to rescue Ethan Hunt from prison, the events that domino will force you to face the ghosts of your past and your guilt tied to Ethan.

This takes place throughout the events of ghost protocol. There will be a change in the story and the events of the mission impossible 2 and 3. Ethan and Julia never got married, a certain amount of information will be changed that will be revealed in the story.

You, Ethan and Brandt slowly entered the room in apprehension. You instantly took note of the armed men in the room, scrutinizing the three of you just like Moreau did.

Her gaze landed on you.

"which one of you is Wistrom?" she asked, looking to Ethan and Brandt.

Ethan looked at Brandt before looking at her, "I am..I..admire your work.." he flashed a charming smile. Moreau didn't return the smile, a faint smirk only itching its way up her face. "who's this?" she gestured to you with her gaze.

Ethan looked at you, "she's my insurance. here to authenticate the codes." he moved closer to Moreau.

She stepped away from him and sat down, speaking in French to her bodyguards. They moved infront of Ethan, you and Brandt, patting the three of you down for weapons.

You felt irritation rumble through you as Moreau ran her gaze over Ethan, lingering over his face and chest. The irritation doubled when one of her men 'patted' you down more 'thoroughly'. As you averted your eyes in order to restrain yourself from punching the man who's practically groping you, you didn't notice Ethan's eyes slide over to you and the subtle clench of his jaw.

They handed Brandt's and Ethan phones to Moreau, who scrutinized the three of you further before nonchalantly asking you to sit.

As you and Ethan sat, Brandt stood behind Ethan, hands behind his back and stiff as if he himself were a bodyguard. The fact that Ethan is more willing to put an analyst as his wingman than you because of trust issues isn't lost on you, but you weren't really sure you could keep complaining when you yourself know the reason behind his cautiousness.

"Where are my codes?" Ethan sat back.

Moreau met his smirk with her own, "Where are my diamonds?"

Your eyes kept falling between Moreau and Ethan, and then further to her bodyguards and Brandt, studying the body language of all the individuals in the room till your attention was needed to play the part.

"Close by." you heard Ethan respond.

Moreau watched him, "No diamonds, no codes."

Ethan titled his head and mimicked her accent, "No codes, no diamonds."

Moreau watched him before moving her gaze to Brandt, "kill him."

"we didn't come alone." Ethan immediately spoke as her men started for Brandt. "he's just one of many. That hallway out there is a kill box."

"you know who we work for." Brandt chimed.

"we come back with the codes, or we dont come back." Ethan finished

Moreau considered his words, "how good is your back up?" she looked at Brandt before looking back to Ethan.

"the best." He responded.

The sound of the French woman's laugh made you want to get revenge on Jane's behalf. And the feeling only increased when you remembered Jane is listening in as Moreau said, "I've killed the best."

Ethan watched her, "doesn't matter. you want payment? I want guarantees." he demanded, his tone turning colder. "when she's authenticated the codes, I'll make the call and you get diamonds."

"that or.." he looked around, "we all go home in buckets." he shrugged, "nobody leaves this hotel alive."

Moreau watched Ethan's expression, quiet. She looked at her men, "get the papers."

You watched her men get the folder, handing it to Moreau. She opened the file and handed the papers to you, her gaze moving over your body before settling on your face. there was a faint squint as she looked at you, before her eyes flitted over to Ethan as she let you look over the papers.

Tension grew thick in the air as you silently went over the papers, blinking twice for each page for the camera to copy. You feigned timidness as everyone's eyes remained on you, trying to keep your head down.

As you finished it, you looked at Ethan, nodding slightly. A lock of your hair fell out from your ponytail, covering the side of your face. Ethan grabbed the phone from the table and called Benji, demanding him to bring the diamonds.

Your hands fell back on your lap as one of her men took the papers from you and kept it infront of Moreau, his hand brushing across your chest. You looked at him briefly, watching him have a stoic expression before returning to his original position. You bit your tongue, careful not to reveal any facial expression to Moreau.

The sound of door being knocked provided a minor sense of relief. The bodyguard opened the door and received a tea cup and saucer from benji, and then took it to Moreau. You watched the diamonds sparkle as they rolled out of the cup and onto her palm.

A visible expression of satisfaction grew on Moreau's face as she checked the diamonds.

"Wistrom has the launch codes he's on the move." Jane's voice came through the comms.

Neither of you reacted as you continued to watch Moreau admire the diamonds. Finally, she slid them into her handbag, a pleased smile on her face as she looked at Ethan. She stood up, and moved to you, Ethan watching her movement carefully.

"I dont mind doing business with you again." she looked at Ethan before looking at you, "a beautiful face shouldn't be hidden." her smile dropped slightly as she ran her fingers to your cheek, tucking your hair behind your ear. You hesitated, unsure what her motive was as she held your chin. Her smile dropped when you met her gaze, to which she snapped in french. "kill them!". She stepped away and grabbed her bag, running out as her men attacked the three of you.

"Moreau's on the move!" You said, fighting off one of the men who grabbed you.

"I've got her." you heard Jane respond almost immediately.

"Jane--" Ethan began, fighting off the hostiles, "she's an asset---I need----her----alive--!" he punctuated as he fought. "acknowledge." he snapped, "acknowledge!" he tried again through comms.

"uh Ethan, Wistrom's in the elevator...I can't see Leonid though.." Benji's voice was heard.

You shrugged off your heels and jacket, "im going after wistrom." you took down another hostile headed for the door. "Y/n wait!" Ethan tried to stop you, slowed down by the assailants attacking him and Brandt.

"benji direct me to Wistrom, slow him down, ill catch up from there." you said as you headed to the elevators. "copy." he replied

"Benji I've got a lock on Wistrom but I can't tell, is he still in the elevators?" you heard Ethan ask through comms as you exited the elevators, finding wistrom not too far from you. You kept your distance from him as you followed.

You could only hear garbled and broken words as you got out of range from the radio signal, unable to rely on comms. You maintained your sights on Wistrom, before you felt Ethan grab your arm. "go back to the suite." Ethan demanded quietly, looking between you and Wistrom.

"Ethan what the actual fuck? let go now before we loose wistrom!" you whisper yelled at him.

"go back now. youre gonna get caught either way. rendezvous with Jane and brandt." he demanded as Wistrom got further away.

"Ethan this is ridiculous--"

"just Shut up for one second and follow orders!" he snapped at you.

You grit your teeth, "im only letting this go cause we'll loose wistrom. after this im gonna fucking kill you." you shoved him away and started towards the elevators.

As you reached the elevators you heard the sound of a gunshot going off, turning your head you saw Ethan fighting off two Russians on an escalator.

And what's worse, wistrom had taken off running.

#Ethan hunt x reader #Ethan hunt imagine #Ethan hunt fic #tom cruise #mission impossible #mission impossible 4 #mission impossible: ghost protocol #ghost protocol

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plentyoffandoms · 2 years

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Main Masterlist ♡ Joseph Quinn Masterlist

Just like all my other stories, this has not been proofread, but please enjoy.

Warnings: Some swearing. Eddie is alive to finish highschool. He is not dead to me . Mentions of past child abuse.

Hope you all like it.

WC: 3,743

Gifs & photos do not belong to me.

Summary; For a school assignment, Eddie "the Freak" Munson & YN "the Snob" LN must pretend to be married. They are not happy about it, but they learn to get along. They slowly become friends & then something more.

YN's POV:

I was racing through the halls trying to get to my last class of the day. I have been running late for each one due to the fact that I was out of school due to a family emergency for almost three days.

I had to stay after class to grab my homework and other assignments that I have missed, which I didn't mind.

But my second to last class and last one were on opposite sides of the building and Mr. Hanson, my history teacher kept me much longer than I was expecting.

I looked at my watch and groaned to myself as I hurried up. There was no way I was going to make it on time and Miss Herkimer will surely be angry.

By some miracle, just as the bell rang I sat down in my seat and thankfully she wasn't there yet.

The door opened and we all looked up expecting for Miss Herkimer to be walking in, but it was just Eddie Munson.

Who took his seat in the back of the class and ignored everyone around him.

I went back to looking over my agenda. I had to figure out when I can do my homework this weekend.

I was looking over my work schedule when the door opened once more and our teacher was making up some excuse on why she was late.

But as she walked past me, I could smell fresh smoke and I almost gagged, but I didn't.

Apprently I missed more in this class than what I thought. When I was out of school, Miss Herkimer introduced the class to a new assignment.

Where she assigned each person a partner and the two of them had to be married, and budget their lives together.

"YN LN, please stay after class." I was expecting that when I heard the bell ring. I didn't approach her desk until she told me it was okay.

I thought we were alone, but I heard the sound of another chair scraping against the floor and I looked behind me.

No no no no.

Eddie Munson is still here. So that must mean....

"I now pronounce you Husband and Wife." She jokingly sang.

Eddie and I looked at one another, and we didn't try to hide how disgusted we are.

"But Miss," I went to say but she held up her hand to silence me.

"I know what you are going to say YN and since the two of you were not here when I assigned partners, that means that two of you are stuck working together."

I just nodded my head and sighed. Not trying to hide how disappointed I am as she handed me the paper with what we will have to do.

I pride myself on getting good grades and working with him is an almost guarantee that I will get just a passing mark.

After we were dismissed, I went straight to my locker to grab what I needed for the weekend.

I could hear Eddie following me but I didn't say a word to him.

I opened my locker and I just know he is leaning against the one next to it.

"So Mrs. Munson." I cringed when he said that.

"Do not call me that."

"But we are married YN."

"You do know that it is just pretend Munson." I said to him as I was trying to find my Math book.

"I'm not an idiot LN." I actually snorted at that and I looked around my locker door to stare at him.

"Could of fooled me. Shouldn't you be done school by now?"

"Shouldn't you be done school by now?" I glared at him but didn't say a word.

He doesn't know my life or the reason why I had to redo the sixth grade.

He smirked at me as I sneered at him. "See I hit a nerve there Snob." I gave him the middle finger and told him to fuck off as I slammed my locker door shut.

"See, we are already acting like a married couple. I know you want a good grade on this but we need to work together. Here is my number. Call me and we can work on it." He said as he handed me a piece of paper.

I took the paper from his hand and didn't say anything else as I rolled my eyes and walked away from him.

I heard him running to catch up next to me.

"Need a ride?" He asked as he pointed to his shitty van.

"Not from the likes of you." I said, surprised that he would offer.

"Jesus Christ YN, don't need to be such a bitch. I was just trying to be nice."

"I'm sorry. No I do not need a ride. I don't mind walking and my work isn't that far." But I knew my apology was too late.

He was already walking away from me towards his van, now completely ignoring me. Which I deserved.

I grabbed my Walkman and grabbed my favourite tape to listen to one song I have become obsessed with.

Master Of Puppets by Metallica. You would think that just by looking at me that I would not be into this type of music, but I really am into such a variety of different genres that I can not just pinpoint what I would consider my favourite.

It was almost closing time and there hasn't been a single customer in almost half an hour.

I only had twenty more minutes and then I can close up. Even though my Boss knew we wouldn't be busy tonight, he still insisted that we stay open.

Even though I tried to tell him that all the kids would be at the basketball game or at home.

But he still insisted that we stay open because and I quote, "you never know what nerd is going to want some last minute comics."

He was a decent guy to work for. He knows sometimes I will have to call in last minute and he is fine with that...sometimes.

The first few times it happened, he of course threatened to fire me because he wasn't believing my excuses.

I mean, they were pretty lame.

I got detention. I was grounded and my Mom said I couldn't leave even for school. Shit like that.

So I just told him the truth and he understood.

I was pulled away from my thoughts when I heard the bell above the door. Letting me know that customers were here.

I heard what sounded like a bunch of teen boys and quietly groaned to myself and turned around to greet them.

"Hi and welcome too," there standing in front of me was none other than Jason Carver and his cronies.

"I think you are at the wrong place Carver." I didn't like him or his teammates, except for Lucas.

He seems like a good kid. Smart, but really wants to be liked by the popular crowd.

"Heard a hot chick was working here. Had to see if she wanted to come to the after party."

"No thank you. Now either buy something or leave." He leaned on the counter and looked me up and down.

"Come on YN, when are you gonna realise that we would be good together?" I just glared at him.

"Look, I get you think you are top shit and all the girls want you, but I do not. Now like I said, either buy something or leave." I told him as sweet as I could.

Ever since him and Chrissy broke up, he has been asking every single girl out in our grade.

He wasn't getting the hint though as he placed his hand on top of mine, which were resting on the counter.

"Come on now baby, why play so hard to get?" I moved my hand away from him.

"Look Jason. You're not my type. Simple as that."

He glared at me and I knew what he was gonna say next.

"You're not my type anyway. Let's go." He called out the last bit.

I held my breath as they left, hoping that they wouldn't trash the place, but thankfully they didn't.

I closed up the store on time. I didn't what I had to do at closing and made sure the cash was locked away in the safe.

It was a nice night as I walked to the edge of town and went into the trailer park that has become my home only a few weeks ago.

I unlocked the door, happy that they atleast remembered to lock it this time.

I checked in their room and I could see that Scott was sleeping, with a comic on his chest and Ronnie was reading Lord of the Rings.

Ronnie looked up when he saw my shadow from the hallway light.

"Hi." He said loudly and then he winced when he heard Scott waking up.

"You're home." Scott said groggily as he sat up. I walked into the room and sat on the edge of the bed.

I moved the comic from his chest and put it on the table next to his bed.

"Yeah. Did you two have a good day at school?" Scott was off sick with a cold for a few days and he just went back today.

Scott is 12 years old and in grade 6. Ronnie who 14 and in grade 8.

The two of them told me about their day and informed me that they ate the food that I had left them in the fridge.

It was the weekend and I do not have a bedtime for the two of them, but they usually fall asleep around midnight.

I went and grabbed some food for myself and heated it up. I sat on the couch and watched Who's the Boss.

I woke up early the next morning and made us food. I know that the two of them will be gone all day once they were done their chores.

"Done."

"Finished." They both said a few hours later.

"Just come back when the street lights turn on." I told them.

I watched from the door as my two brothers went down the dirt road, off towards their friends homes.

I kept the door open when I noticed that there was a nice breeze and figured I would air out the place as I started on catching up on my assignments.

As I pulled the books I needed out of my backpack, a piece of crumbled paper fell to the floor. I picked it up and realised that it Eddie's phone number.

I couldn't do this type of assignment myself, no matter how much I tried to tell myself I could.

So I picked up the phone and dialed the number he gave me. A few rings and an older man answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm looking for Eddie Munson."

"He is sleeping. May I take a message." At least it is the right number.

"Please tell him YN LN called and it is about our assignment Sir."

Eddie Munson's POV:

"Wake up Eddie." My Uncle called out as he was going into his bedroom. I looked at my alarm clock and saw that it was only 11:35 AM.

"It is early." I said as I wrapped my arms around my pillow, trying to go back to sleep.

"Get up. Also a girl called. YN. Something about an assignment. I wrote her number down on the notepad next to the phone. Night."

"Night." I said back, kind of stunned that YN called.

I got up and ate some cereal, watching the TV on low so my Uncle can sleep. I took a shower and got ready for the day.

I had plans with the guys today, so I decided to call YN later.

But as I was leaving the park and listening to my music as loud as I could, I noticed someone familiar hanging up clothes outside their place.

'When the hell did YN move in to this place?'

I thought to myself as drove past her. She didn't even look back.

I was half way to Gareths when I turned around in the middle of the road. I found myself pulling up infront of her place and turning off my van.

I could see her from where I was. She was sitting at the small table, her head buried deep in the homework that she missed.

I knocked on the front door that was open I smiled as she jumped and turned around to see who was there.

"Eddie what are you doing here?" She asked as she stood up.

"I could ask you the same thing YN. When did you move in?" I asked as I looked around at what I could see.

"Only a few weeks ago."

"Just you?" She shook her head no.

"My brothers live here as well. Please come in."

I walked into the clean trailer for the very first time.

That first Saturday I was there, I completely forgot about meeting the guys to practice. I actually started on the mock marriage assignment instead of leaving it to the very last minute.

We only talked about the assignment and school. I didn't go any further into her home except the washroom.

I still had questions that I wanted answers too but I didn't know how to ask. For once the two of us were not fighting and I didn't want her to get angry at me and ask me to leave.

But then her watch beeped and she looked down at it. "Sorry Eddie. I got to get to work. What we have is good right now." She told me.

I actually gave her a sincere smile. "I know I asked you yesterday and you bit my head off, but would you like a ride?"

"Sure. I'm sorry about that by the way. There is no excuse for the way how I acted. Just need to change my clothes."

After that first ride to her work, the two of us became friends. I learned that she likes the same music I do and I was actually stunned.

We slowly got to learn about one another. I told her why I was living with my Uncle, hoping she would open up about why she didn't live with her Dad.

I knew her Mom died when she was young, in a car accident. It was the talk of the town then, but I never pushed it. I knew she would eventually tell me. Well I was hoping she would.

She even started to sit with me at school. The guys were stunned that YN 'the Snob' LN would sit with us.

But they too saw that she wasn't a Snob. That she was just guarded and didn't let people in easily.

She has walls built up around her and I have been slowly chipping away at them.

"So when you gonna tell her you like her?" Henderson said as he helped me set up for the campaign.

"Tell who?"

"YN duh."

"I don't like her." I tried to play it off.

"Eddie, you are not fooling anyone. You spend all your time at her place."

"For the assignment." I pointed out.

"She sits with us and sits beside you at the head of the table. She is allowed to change the music in your van, which no one is allowed to do."

"We are just friends Dustin."

"Open your eyes and see man. Tell her how you feel."

"Easy for you to say. No one calls you the Freak and you have a girlfriend."

"If I can get one, so can you Eddie. Look you're seeing her tomorrow, just ask her out then."

Easy for him to say. There is a reason why YN is called a Snob. She turns down every single guy and at first, I thought it was just because she is picky but no, there is something more.

The next day I was sitting on YN's couch, waiting for her come home from work. Her brother Ronnie let me in.

"You know, I don't know why people call you a freak. You don't seem like one to me." He said.

"Thanks. I'm just different and like different things that society doesn't deem normal."

The two of us talked about different things until I asked him how he liked living here.

"I don't like living so far away from my friends but it is better than before."

"What do you mean?" I asked him. If he didn't want to tell me, I won't push him.

"Our Dad wasn't nice to us. After Mom died, he started to drink and hit us."

"Ronnie, stop. YN doesn't like it when we talk about that." Scott said as he grabbed himself a drink.

"Why hide it though? Dad is locked away after what he did to YN."

"Ronnie, go to your room." The three of us looked at YN, standing in the front door. He knew he was in shit, and practically ran to his room.

"YN, I.."

"I think you should leave Eddie." She told me quietly.

"But what about the project?"

"I just have to type it up. Please leave." She held open the door for me and I left. YN didn't look at me as I passed her.

It started to rain not long after I got home, so I decided to stay in for the night. I was just watching a movie when I heard the sound of someone knocking on the door.

I was alone as my Uncle was working the night shift. I opened the door just a bit and saw that it was YN standing there.

She had a container full of spaghetti with what looked like garlic bread, beside it. "May I come in?"

"Of course." I said as I stepped aside.

I took the food from her and placed it in our fridge. She was still standing there, her clothes dripping from the rain.

"Do you want to change into something dry? I have some clean clothes." I asked her.

"Thank you." I quickly grabbed her some dry clothes and she went and changed into them.

When she finally emerged in my clothes, I could feel my face going beat red. I cleared my throat as the two of us sat down.

"I'm sorry about kicking you out earlier."

"It's okay. I get it."

"Ronnie told me he brought it up. I have only asked him not to tell people because I don't want people to look at me differently."

"YN, you don't have to say or tell me anything." I told her as I placed my hand on top of hers. She didn't pull away, so that must be a good sign.

"No, you're my friend and I know you won't tell people." I pretended to zip my mouth and throw away the key, which brought a small smile to her face.

"Well after my Mom died, my Dad couldn't cope with it. He started to drink more. At first it was only on weekends and he would usually pass out. But then it was every other day, then every day."

I stayed silent as she took a deep breath and continued.

"He would slap us around but nothing too drastic. Except the slaps turned to punches, and sometimes he used his belts. Ronnie has scars on his back from it. I wasn't home to protect him."

She finally moved her hands away from mine and placed them in her lap.

"Then the last time, he went after Scott. I pushed him away from my brother and told Ronnie and Scott to run. I don't remember much after that. I woke up in the hospital. Dad arrested and my Mom's sister was there."

"When was this?" I was scared to ask.

"Sixth grade. The first time. I had to repeat it because I missed so much school with recovery, courts and hospital visits."

"YN, I am so sorry. I didn't know." I looked down at my own hands. Ashamed at myself for mentioning it before.

I felt her hand on my cheek as she gently forced me to look into her eyes. "You had no idea. No one does."

"Where is your Aunt now?"

"She passed away during Christmas break. She left us money. With the help of her Lawyer, who helped with paperwork, I was able to get this trailer and call it a home for us."

"Thank you for telling me this YN."

YN'S POV:

"You have surprised me Mr Munson. I wish people could see the real you."

"And where is the fun in that Mrs Munson?" He continued to call me that after I asked him to stop.

At first it annoyed me but after awhile, I grown to love it. His eyes always seem to sparkle when he calls me that and I wanted to see that smile he gave me.

It has become harder and harder to hide how I feel about him. Eddie has crawled his way into my heart and has a tight grasp on it.

"I should get going. Thanks for being there for me Eddie." I leaned into kiss his cheek as a thank you, but he turned his head and I kissed his lips.

The two of us pulled back from one another, not knowing if the other wanted it. But Eddie closed his eyes and leaned in once more, I followed suit.

My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as we deepened the kiss. I found myself in his lap, my hands were in his hair.

We were in our own little world. That was until the phone rang and he pulled his lips away from mine, but I continued to kiss down his neck.

"Yes?"

"Mmmm, yes your sister is here." That killed the mood.

"Yup, I'll tell her." And he hung up the phone.

"Which one was it?" I asked.

"Scott. He says that he forgot to bring in the laundry." I groaned at the thought of all those clothes that will have to be washed again.

"Don't think about that now Mrs Munson. How about you and I have our first date."

"Right now?"

"Well, we have the place to ourselves. Food, snacks and movies." I smiled as I kissed the tip of his nose.

"Sounds like a great first date Mr Munson."

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