#i like the idea of him being the wonderland twins' little brother for pain reasons

[words-writ-in-starlight]

TAZ Fic prompt: Taako and Kravitz on their second date please!

6300 words later, this is also on AO3.

PSA: there be some smut here.

Here is a list of the shit Taako has learned about the GrimReaper since threatening to execute some tentacle porn on theman—being?—several months ago:

The accent? Fake.  He’s not sure why Kravitzfeels the need to have a business accent, since his normal voice is soft andcharming, but sure, dude, some people have train names.

His hands are cold because Kravitz is dead.  This feels like it should have been obvious. 

Kind of a dork? It’s strange to equate the shy politeness with the same person who spenta good minute and a half shouting about Merle’s death bounty.

Likes red wine, can’t get drunk, which seemslike a shitty deal.

Taako is considering adding more information to that list,starting with a fucking loser andmoving on from there, because Kravitz just spent solidly five minutes trying toarticulate a sentence over the link between their Stones.

“Hang on, bubbe, let me take a stab at this,” Taakointerrupts, and Kravitz falls silent. “Drinks at the Chug and Squeeze again? Say, nine o’ clock moon time?”

“Yes,” Kravitz says, relieved.  “That sounds wonderful.”

“Sure about that?” Taako drawls.  “That was like pulling teeth.”

Kravitz laughs a little bit—nice laugh, another fact for the list.  “I—well, most people are pretty glad to seeme go.”

“I’m sure they are, handsome, it’s a pleasure to watch yougo.”  Kravitz makes a faint choking noiseand Taako snickers, which might be a little mean, but also, Taako doesn’tcare.  Taako carefully draws a brush fullof silver-green polish across his thumbnail and cocks his head at the Stone ofFarspeech.  “We haven’t died any timesthat I’m not aware of, right?  This isn’ta business thing or whatever?”

“Uh, no,” Kravitz says, stumbling over the words.  “I was—it was—I was thinking maybe a date.”

Taako grins.  WindingKravitz up is probably cruel, but it’s so eminentlygratifying.  “I’d take you somewherenicer for our third date, but there ain’t a lot of options on the moon,y’know?  I guess we could go to FantasyCostco and you could see how you do against Garfield–”

“Third date?”

“Sure, keep up.” Taako counts them off on his fingers, unnecessary but amusing.  “The lab, the Chug and Squeeze, andtonight.  Hey, if you count the nightafter Refuge separately I guess this is four.”

“The lab—Taako, I was under orders to hunt you down and execute you in the lab.”

“I dunno, homie, kinky tentacle shit generally counts as adate.  I’ll see you tonight, dress nice,okay-peace-bye.”  And Taako severs theconnection while Kravitz is still stammering through the start of his response.

Taako keeps snickering the whole time he finishes paintinghis nails, because the alternative is to chew on his lips and wonder what thefuck he’s doing.  At least the familiardetail work keeps his hands steady.

Kravitz is nice, is the thing.  Nice,fuck, Taako’s never really…nice isn’treally Taako’s type, see, because Taako’s a lot of things and nice isn’t one of them.  Taako breaksnice people.  Like Glamour Springs.  It wasn’t his fault.  It was all his fault.  You fedthem their death.  

Hell, Kravtiz has his big book of badness, shouldn’t he knowthat Taako’s a—an accessory to mass murder?

And for all his grim work—grim work, ha, Taako’s cracking himself up—Kravitz is nice, andgentle, and sweet.  He does things likesit with shell-shocked elves after time loops and laugh at little acts ofrebellion and splutter when Taako hits on him, and honestly Taako doesn’treally get his logic.  Taako is the bombdiggity, of course, but Taako’s also rude and prickly and downright mean sometimes and that’s not the kindof person that matches up with Kravitz. He doesn’t understand what Kravitz wants.  A date, sure. Maybe even a fuck, or two, and Kravtiz’s magically constructed body is apretty hot piece of ass so Taako would be fine with that.

But what the fuck else is Kravitz after?

Taako can hear Magnus’ voice in his head telling him thatnot everyone is after something, but just because Magnus is a big dumb lug whowears his big dumb heart on his big dumb sleeve doesn’t mean Magnus is right.

Everyone’s always after something, with Taako.

God, maybe Kravitz is just lonely.  For all that he’s a fine figure, in his suitand…well, his skin, when he’s wearing it, there can’t be that many peopleinterested in chatting up an avatar of death, a vengeful emissary of the RavenQueen herself.  And it’s not like he canjust go pick someone up at a bar, even if he had the free time—he’d still haveto explain that cold skin, and that would need to be one hell of a bluff.

That thought makes Taako feel a little steadier.  His hands don’t shake when he puts away thenail polish and turns to his closet, which is strewn half across the floorbecause there’s honestly no point inbeing a wizard if he can’t use it to keep his shit from wrinkling.

Right, then.  LonelyGrim Reaper.  Taako can deal withthat.  Besides, Taako hasn’t gotten laidsince before all this Bureau fuckery started—again, one hell of a bluff to pick someone up in a bar, and it’s not like themoon is that big—so he could stand tofuck a handsome semi-stranger in the Chug and Squeeze bathroom.

Or in his quarters, more likely.  Kravitz seems like ‘public sex’ is probablyone of his hangups.

Whatever.

He and Kravitz can go out and drink and harass the potteryinstructor, and then they can fuck, and it’ll probably be good because Kravitzjust screams ‘considerate in thesack’, and then they can both go their separate ways and get on with theirgoddamn lives.

Taako waits to feel the weight of anxiety lift from hischest, but instead it just settles into his gut, sullen and thick.  He shakes his head, trying to shake thefeeling away, and settles down to picking out some clothes that will get himlaid tonight.  His hair will be easy, asimple braid, something that will come undone in a rush if he needs it to—heconsiders putting it up, maybe something effortless like a messy bun, somethingthat would show off his neck, but. No.  Taako lets his hair fall fromwhere he’s holding it, looking away from the mirror as something kicks in his chest, like he’s seeing—likehe’s missing—like he’s—like—

The blue skirt will go well with his nails, he decides.

***

Kravitz shows up in the shared living room of the Reclaimerdorm at five minutes to nine, because Kravitz is a monster.  Taako had enough time to kill that he’s alreadyset to go, but it’s the principle of the thing. Who the hell is that punctual?

Well, Taako allows with a little smirk, Death, obviously.

“Hi,” Taako says, flicking his braid over his shoulder, andKravitz looks up at him and smiles—fucking beams,really, and Taako really needs to stop hanging out with so many horrifyinglygenuine people.

“Hi,” Kravitz says, a little shy, tugging at his cuffs likehis suit is real and not just a convenient manifestation of his power.  It’s a very sharp manifestation, though,Taako has to give him that, black and sleek with a pearly grey shirt and a darkred tie that makes him look a little livelier with its color.  “You look incredible.”

“Obviously,” Taako sniffs, stepping over to Kravitz anddraping a hand over his shoulder, toying with one of the long dreadlocks at thenape of his neck.  “But really, my dude,so do you.  Do you even have to try tolook this fine?”

“It, uh.”  Kravitzsmiles down at him, the red glow behind his black eyes warm and cheerful.  Kravitz is tall, almost as tall as Magnus,and he has a whole head of height on Taako, but he doesn’t seem nearly as biglike this as he does in his skeletal form. “I’m happy to put in the effort for you.”

“Good answer.”  Taakogives the lock in his hand a light tug—hey, might as well start as he means togo on—and makes a point to stroke his fingers along the curve of Kravitz’sthroat as he pulls his arm back.

Kravitz, of course, is incapable of blushing, because he’sdead.  But he looks like he mightspontaneously develop the ability in order to cope.  It takes him a beat to offer Taako hisarm—because Kravitz is a fucking gentleman—and allow himself to be pulled outof the apartment.

This is going to be a fucking walk in the park.

Drinks and pottery go very much the same, with quietconversation and Taako taking every opportunity he can find to get his handsall over Kravitz.  It’s not ahardship.  And besides, Kravitz is reallypretty funny, when he’s talking about things that aren’t his divine obligationto execute Taako and his—his coworkers. Taako learns that Kravitz was a bard, and that he can’t help the way hiseyes glow, and that he’s easy to embarrass.

It’s been about an hour and the two of them have split mostof a bottle of chardonnay when Taako sways over to Kravitz and rests his chinon the reaper’s shoulder, close enough that his breath stirs one of thedreadlocks closest to him.  His lipsalmost brush the shell of Kravitz’s ear—faintly pointed, enough to render Kravitz’srace firmly ambiguous.

“Hey, thug,” Taako murmurs, shamelessly enjoying the way hefeels Kravitz stiffen against him in surprise. “Do you want to get out of here?”

He lets his hand wander up Kravitz’s thigh, just in case hismeaning was unclear.  Kravitz doesn’ttake that as hard as Taako might have expected, but he also seems to havefrozen in shock, so maybe the two cancel out.

“I—are you sure?”

There he goes again. Being nice.  Taako almost grabs his dick in the middle ofthe room in revenge, but resists the petty impulse in a show of purewillpower.  He settles instead fortightening his grip on Kravitz’s leg, just hard enough to hurt a little.

“Do I not seemsure?”

Kravitz laughs a little at that, and it’s that easy.  Kravitz lets Taako pull him outside and steala kiss in the shadows of the quad—Kravitz’s lips aren’t quite cold, just…cool,room temperature, and it’s a little like touching solid water with the way theyslide over Taako’s, and he can taste the wine and power.  Magic like nothingTaako can recall, except maybe for the way that the relics leave a crackle ofsomething in the air after they’ve been used. Kissing Kravitz is something like that, maybe, like breathing in airthat’s had an enormous amount of energy put through it very recently, and whenthey separate and Kravitz looks a little rumpled, a little dazed, Taako feels arush of smugness unlike anything in recent memory.

Once they’re back in the Reclaimer dorm—Magnus is still outhitting things with Carey and Killian, and Merle is god knows where doing godknows what—Taako doesn’t hesitate to crowd Kravitz up against the nearest walland kiss him again.  More aggressively,this time, tangling his fingers in the cords of Kravitz’s dreadlocks andsighing into his mouth when those broad cool hands came up to rest on hisback.  Taako catches Kravitz’s bottom lipin his teeth and bites down, not quite hard enough to do damage, and Kravitzmakes a sound like a growl deep in his chest. It vibrates against Taako’s ribs where they’re pressed together and thesharp jolt of want takes him offguard for long enough to find himself pressed up against the wall in Kravitz’splace, with all of Kravtiz’s height caging him in, and it doesn’t feel likebeing trapped so much as being wanted.

It’s the first time that Taako wonders if he’smiscalculated, but then Kravitz lowers his lips down over Taako’s cheek and jawto the side of his throat and the thought is wiped away like someone fed it tothe voidfish.  Somehow Kravitz taking theinitiative is a shock, as if Taako had expected him to be a novice at thiswithout even realizing it, but he doesn’t seem lacking in experience and Taakois profoundly enjoying the benefits of it.

“Fuck,” Taako sighs as teeth scrape against his skin,tipping his head and pressing a thigh up between Kravitz’s legs.  He really should ask what Kravitz even is, ifthings like elf and human even apply to him, but whateverthe fuck gives him teeth like that, sharp and even, is a-okay by Taako’sbook.  

“Taako,” Kravitz says into the pulse at his throat as Taako’shands busy themselves with the knot of his tie. “If your friends come back and we’re out here, they’ll be unhappy.”

Oh, right, Taako lives with people now.  People who might possibly still want to hitKravitz with a war hammer over some limbs or some shit like that.  It takes him a few moments to conclude that thisis a sufficiently serious concern to justify moving, because thealternative—letting Kravitz fuck him against a wall in the next fewminutes—seems far more compelling.

“Merle’s never happy,” Taako says, and Kravitz pulls away tolaugh as Taako sulks at him.  This timeTaako really does grab his dick in revenge, reaches a hand between them andpalms Kravitz through his pants, and the way the laughter turns into a hissingcurse, a thoughtless push of his hips, is absolutely worth it.  “Fine,” Taako says, magnanimous, and reachesup to loop both arms around Kravitz’s neck. “My door’s the second one.  Youcan do the work, handsome.”

Kravitz chuckles again and complies, lifting Taakoapparently effortlessly, Taako’s legs coming up to wrap around Kravitz’s waistwithout regard for the indecent way it shoves his skirt up almost past hiships.

“Strong boy,” Taako muses, giving a teasing squeeze to oneof Kravitz’s biceps as Kravitz shifts his weight so that he can catch thedoorknob and open it.  Inside, Taako snapshis fingers absently to wake the spark of magic in his lamp, shedding brightlight across the room at once.  He wantsto see what it looked like, when one of the Raven Queen’s own elite comesundone in his bed.

“I execute necromancers, Taako,” Kravitz says with a smallroll of his glowing eyes.  “I’m very strong.”

“Mmm,” Taako hums, and when Kravitz tries to set him gentlydown on the bed, he twists his weight to trip Kravitz down beneath him.  

This, sitting on Kravitz’s lap and pressed up against himfrom hip to shoulder, is possibly even better than the wall, and Taako kissesKravitz again as he starts working on the layersof buttons in the suit.  It’s aproduction.

“Why do you wear so many fucking clothes,” Taako muttersagainst Kravitz’s lips as he finally manages to wrestle jacket, shirt, andbraces off in one motion.

“Sorry,” Kravitz says, his hands—almost as warm as Taako’sskin, from contact—sliding up under Taako’s shirt, slowly, as if giving Taako achance to pull away.  “Would you ratherthe cloak?”

“God, you’re such a fucking dramatic loser.”  Taako ends his statement with a firm grind ofhis hips, and whatever Kravitz was about to say dies unspoken, swallowed by achoked sound as he closes his eyes sharply and takes a deep breath.  His skin goes thin and transluscent over hischeekbones for a moment, the edges of a skull pressing through until he getshimself under control, and the high of that is palpable, better than anythingelse Taako’s ever tried, the high of having made a Reaper lose control withnothing but a twist of his hips.  

When Kravitz opens his eyes, they glitter, and he pullsTaako’s shirt off over his head, a clumsy tangle of fabric for a moment beforethe shirt is gone and Taako learns some interesting facts about himself, amongthem that, apparently, the temperature thing is a Thing.  He can almost taste the spark that jumps to his corewhen he presses up against Kravitz’s bare chest, almost cold against Taako’sflushed skin.

Wow.  If he wasn’thard before, he sure as hell is now. That’s a thing that he didn’t see coming.

“Taako,” Kravitz says, almost gasps, like he needs air atall, against Taako’s shoulder, “I’ll need to get up to get my pants off.”

Taako considers just—just not moving, grinding down likethis and kissing Kravitz until they’re both stupid with it, coming half-dressedlike a pair of kids, but the appeal of seeing Kravitz naked is pretty strongtoo.  He kisses Kravitz again, wet anddirty and deep, before he slides off and abandons both his skirt and his underwearon the side of the bed.

Kravitz is beautiful, Taako thinks somewhat fuzzily as hewatches him undress.  Like, Taako isbeautiful too, don’t get him wrong, humility is for other people, but Kravitzknocks him out a little in a way that very few people can claim to havedone.  It’s not just the symmetry of hisangular face or the way his tendons line his hands or the perfect vee shape ofthe bones at his hips, it’s also that he has something other about him, a statement worth making when you could hit abaker’s dozen races with a well-swung cat.

But that’s not to say that the muscles of his thighs and themotionless curve of his ribs and his cock don’t make Taako’s mouth water alittle bit.  The latter, in particular.

Next time, Taako thinks idly as Kravitz kicks away hispants, Taako should put a little more planning into this, because he’d reallyenjoy having that inside him.  As it is,he’s pretty sure he wouldn’t last long enough.

The thought almost brings him up short.  Next time? There’s not going to be a next time. Taako already decided that.

“Are you all right?” Kravitz asks—nice, even standing there completely naked, he’s still nice.

“Fine, babe, all fine,” Taako says, and holds out ahand.  “You planning to join me or what?”

Kravitz smiles and takes Taako’s hand and—fucking save him—kisses the knuckles as heallows himself to be pulled down onto the bed. Taako pins him down, and knows that Kravitz is letting him, and stopsresisting the urge to rub up against the cool silk of Kravitz’s skin, untilhe’s breathing hard and rambling and Kravitz is barely breathing at all.  

“Taako,” Kravitz whispers, one hand coming up to tangle inTaako’s hair while the other reaches down to find their cocks, his hand bigenough to wrap around them both easily, and if the cool touch of his skin was ashock against Taako’s chest, it’s a fucking religiousmoment against Taako’s dick.  Hedoesn’t even try to hold back the yelp, and reaches down to weave his fingersthrough Kravitz when it seems like he’s going to pull away.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Taako hisses.

“Are you sure, I know–”

“Kravitz, I swear to fucking—fucking everyone, I’ll burn aspell slot on your ass right now if you stop.”

He gets another laugh for that, faint and almost breathy.  Kravitz is quiet in bed, mostly soft gaspsand moans when Taako does something he likes, once or twice that bone-rattlingrumble when Taako lays his blunt mortal teeth against Kravitz’s collarbone andbites down hard.  But then he doessomething a little unforgivable—laughs and says, “All right, darling.”

Taako’s heart stops in his chest, and his mouth comes downso hard on Kravitz’s that he thinks he might be bleeding from where his teethhit his lip, but the kiss silences anything else Kravitz could say.

Kravitz seems taken off-guard when he comes, a little breathof ah escaping his lips as he goesstiff and his mouth goes still under Taako’s. His hand tightens around the pair of them, and Taako comes too, theworld popping with white lights at the corners of his vision as he shuddersthrough it.  The world seems to havenarrowed down to Kravitz, his hand around Taako’s cock and his fingers inTaako’s hair, resting against his neck, the places where his skin is warm fromcontact, the taste of wine and magic on his lips.

By the time Taako comes back to himself, blurry andblinking, his head is bowed down to Kravitz’s shoulder.  The hand is still at the nape of his neck,looser now, lax, and Kravitz’s other hand is resting on Taako’s hip, thumbdescribing an arc over the line of the bone, like Kravitz is happy to just…liethere, feeling Taako’s weight on him and not doing a thing about it.  There’s a scar on Kravitz’s chest, just belowTaako’s cheek, like someone put a spike through his heart—the only mark onhim—and it makes Taako feel almost special to be so close to it, like Kravitzis sharing something with him.

Taako gives himself a few minutes of that, of the wayKravitz noses kisses into his hair and strokes gently over his skin.

It’s…nice.

Kravitz is nice.

Taako doesn’t let himself think about that anymore as herolls to the side with a sigh and casts Prestidigitation to clean up.  He also doesn’t let himself think about theway Kravitz’s fingers lingered in his hair, or the soft warmth in those red-liteyes.

“Thanks, bubbeleh,” Taako says, plastering on his bestgrin.  “Call me later, or whatever.”

Kravitz looks bemused. Oh, fucking god, he’s actually going to make Taako kick him out.  “Taako?”

“This was fun, we should do it again sometime,” Taako says,ignoring the way that weight settles back into his belly, ignoring the way theback of his mind kind of wants to curl into Kravitz’s side with a blanket overthem, ignoring the look of confusion shading to hurt on Kravitz’s face.  This was just sex.  Just physical.  There’s no reason for Kravitz to look likeTaako’s personally cancelled Candlenights.

Kravitz seems to be getting the picture, though, because heslowly sits up, propped up on one hand.  “I—Ican go,” he says, like there’s an offer there, rather than an impliedoutcome.  “If you want.”

“As opposed to what?” Taako arches an eyebrow at him.  There’sa moment of silence as Kravitz studies him, his head cocked at an angle, tryingto parse something, and Taako waves a languorous hand at him.  “It’s all right, thug, I’m not gonna take itpersonally.”

“I’m sorry,” Kravitz says, falling back into stiff formality,and he does a remarkably good job for someone still sitting naked in Taako’sbed.  The look of confused hurt has beenerased, his face a politely emotionless blank. “It’s been some time since I did this. What are you not taking personally?”

Ah, right.  Kravitzhas been a wandering skeleton bounty hunter since forever.  Culture clash or some shit.

“I knew what I was getting into,” Taako says, keeping hisface cheerful.  “Just sex, right?  And don’t get me wrong, the sex was prettyfucking choice, I’m happy to do that again whenever you have a few hours free,but you don’t have to worry about hurting my feelings or whatever.”

“Oh,” Kravitz says, quietly, and he stands, waves a hand,and his clothes sort of knit themselves back into being on his body, even histie perfectly knotted at his throat.  

He tucks both hands into his pockets, straightening up untilhe looks as forbidding and untouchable as he did the first time they met, hiseyes the only trace of any emotion as they linger on Taako’s face for a momentbefore they flicker away.  He bends downto catch Taako’s hand in his, and kisses the knuckles again—something lurchesinto Taako’s throat, words throwing themselves at his teeth from behind, someuseless stupid hey maybe you could stay,I could make you breakfast, did you know I’m a chef, and he bites them backmercilessly.

“If you ever need anything,” Kravitz says, still quiet, “callfor me.”

And then he gestures for his scythe and tears open the worldwith the blade, and he’s gone.

Taako lies down on his back and stares at the ceiling.  This is the easy thing to do, this is what heknew was going to happen.  Hell, giventhe circumstances, this might even have been the right thing to do.

So why does he feel like he just betrayed someone?

***

Taako’s not one for stewing. He’s not one for sitting and brooding and worrying about hisproblems.  He’s a master of the art oftaking any inconvenient emotion and kicking it off the nearest available cliff,never to be seen or considered again, because who has time for feelings, thesedays?  A Relic hunt would be excellent right about now, somelife-threatening shit to take his mind off everything, and by the time they gotdone being healed by someone other than Merle, he would have forgotten allabout this.  He would be more focused onwhether their fighter was finally going to kick the bucket—Taako needs a meatshield, all right, he’s a delicate little magic user, so if Magnus could livepast the age of forty for Taako’s sake, that would be amazing.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a convenientlyapocalyptic artifact surfacing any time soon. If anything, things are calmer than usual, like the other two Relics aresquirreled away in some dark dungeon rather than out causing trouble.  The mood on the base is bright and confident,riding high on their successful rescue of Refuge, totally lacking in thetension that usually precedes a recovery mission.  Carey and Killian and Noelle spend all theirtime bounding cheerfully through the halls like baby deer.  Johann cracked a smile and laughed at a jokelast week.  There was a party on thequad.  Taako’s pretty sure he saw theDirector relaxing.

It’s loathsome.

It’s three days before Magnus asks Taako what’s wrong.  Taako rebuffs him easily and pawns him off onMerle, but it sticks with him.  Magnus isan empathetic guy, but he’s not a genius, and Taako’s not supposed to haveanything wrong to ask about.  

Five days after hooking up with Kravitz, Taako finds himselfin the Icosagon.  Training.

Taako does not train.  Beauty of Magic Missile: his aim doesn’t evenmatter.  Area effect spells are his bitch.  His ability to Fireball someone in the faceis entirely unrelated to his abilityto do pushups, Magnus.  Wizards do not train, they read some books and blow some shit up and call it aday.  Sometimes Taako deigns to do someactual calculations in order to maximize a spell’s efficacy, but that’s hislimit.

So when Taako realizes he’s halfway through a short swordtraining form that he barely remembers, he stops and considers that he mightneed to actually take steps to deal with this situation.

It’s just…he keeps thinking about that quiet oh as Kravitz stood up and it’sbothering him.  He’s not really sure why it keeps coming to mind, butwhenever he stands still and silent for a few seconds, it plays through hishead like a Fantasy Vine, a handful of seconds that just don’t quite makesense.

Kravitz had gotten what he wanted, right?  Company, affection, a roll in themetaphorical hay.  So who the hell gavehim permission to look at Taako likethat as he said oh and stood up toleave, is the real question here.

In Taako’s experience, the only real solutions to hisproblem are to get incredibly drunk or to actually interrogate the man himself.  In theory he could also just leave but avoiding the Grim Reapersounds like it would require a bit more effort than just wandering off the sideof the base.  Magnus and Merle wouldprobably come try to hunt him down, regardless.

And if he’s being totally honest he’s already tried thealcohol.  Avi brings the good shit tocompany parties.

“Yo, Krav,” Taako says, casting Levitate on his Stone ofFarspeech and giving it a flick to set it spinning.  He’s back in his room, with his feet proppedup on a desk that has never seen a scrap of Bureau-mandated paperwork and neverwill, if Taako has anything to do with it. “You busy, my dude?”

There’s a pause, long enough that Taako wonders if maybeKravitz isn’t near the Stone, before a voice answers.

“Taako?”

Kravitz sounds hesitant, and there’s a lift at the end ofTaako’s name that sounds like hope and kind of makes Taako want to throw theStone across the room and run.

“Who else, bone boy?”

“What can I do for you, Taako?”  Kravitz’s voice goes steely, and he asks, “Areyou in trouble?”

“What?  No!  I can go more than a week without gettingsucked into some kind of weird timeline bullshit, fuck you very much, and plusI have a Magnus for solving trouble, it would be cruel to deny him the chanceto…hit stuff.”  There’s a huff ofamusement on the other end, and a quiet shuffling sound.  “Krav, thug, I really gotta ask, does theGrim Reaper do paperwork?”

“Of course I do paperwork,” Kravitz says, a littleaffronted.  “Do you know how much work itis to keep files on necromancers and liches and whatever the hell you threeare?  Don’t you have to do paperwork forblowing up towns?”

“Magnus does paperwork,” Taako says, leaning his chair backon its rear legs.  “Sometimes I sign itif he asks real nice.  I dunno who doesMerle’s shit.”

“I should have known.” It sounds like Kravitz is smiling. Taako’s chest heats a little, a piece of charcoal flickering into anember, and shit, that’s not what he’s doing here.  “Also, it would be more accurate to call me a Grim Reaper.”  The warmth in Kravitz’s voice fades, and thefire in Taako’s chest follows.  “Is there…didyou—was there anything in particular that you wanted?”

“Yeah,” Taako says, and Magnus would be proud of him, hereally would, because Taako just fucking goesfor it, just rushes right in before he can think better of it.  “You want to come by?  Like, are you free right now?  To come to the moon?”

“Sure,” Kravitz says, and there’s a rustling sound, papersbeing moved around, before the Stone shuts off.

It’s barely a minute and a half later that the world ripsopen and Kravitz steps through, skin raveling itself into place over the smoothwhite bones of his skull and hands, his cloak fading away into his usualsuit.  The rift closes behind him, andKravitz is just standing there, hands in his pockets, looking unsure.

“Hey.”

“Hey, handsome,” Taako says, letting his chair thud backinto place.  “You want to do something?”

“Something—like what?” Kravitz isn’t an especially outgoing person, particularly since Taako’smajor points of comparison these days are a proselytizing cleric and the mostabsurdly friendly individual he’s ever known, but he seems more guarded thanbefore, almost like he’s expecting Taako to throw a spell at him again.  But he did come, when Taako called.

God, people were so much easier when Taako was younger.  He doesn’t really remember what changed—maybedoing the show made him overconfident—but he knows that when he was younger henever felt this clumsy and fumbling.

“Everything all right, Krav?” Taako asks, arching an eyebrowat him.

“Fine,” Kravitz says, and hesitates for a moment, and thenhe meets Taako’s gaze for the first time. “I don’t want to sleep with you,” he blurts out, fast, all in a rush,like he’s been planning it.  “Or, I mean,no, yes, I do, but not—I don’t—I think you’re confused?  About this?”

Taako opens his mouth with a fast retort, then snaps itshut, because he’s…he’s not sure what Kravitz is expecting from him there.  He makes a little go on gesture with one hand instead.

“I thought—I thought I had been pretty clear that yourbounties have been suspended,” Kravitz says, rocking back on his heels like hewants to pace but doesn’t know if it would be permitted.  “And Refuge is a nonissue, we already talkedabout that, so unless you and your friends start doing necromancy in your freetime, you’re not under my purview.  So—soI don’t want you to think that you’re making some kind of trade, here, with me,all right?”

“Some kind of—hang on, do people try to seduce the Grim Reaper?  Wow,”Taako muses, “I’ve got to admire that kind of confident crazy.”

A smile, faint but genuine, flickers over Kravitz’sface.  “Every once in a while someone triestheir luck.  Although having someonebypass any sort of seduction check and go straight for threats of tentacleporn, that was novel.”  The good humorfades, and Kravitz just looks tired and…lonely, Taako decides.  He’s spent a lot of his life feeling lonely,he knows what it looks like.  “And I don’twant you to be with me because—because you’re scared of me, or because youthink I expect something in order to keep your bounties suspended, or–”

“That, um.  Thatactually didn’t occur to me,” Taako interrupts, because Kravitz seems more thanready to keep up his nervous ramble indefinitely.  A surge of guilt rushes through Taako’s chestat the open relief on Kravitz’s face, and he sighs.  “I just—I just figured this was a casualthing.  Company, sex, not much else, youknow what I’m saying.”

“Is that what you want?” Kravitz asks, and the light behindhis eyes brightens as he focuses on Taako, until Taako imagines that he canfeel the weight of his stare, as cool and invulnerable as Kravitz’s handsaround his scythe.  “Company and sex andnothing else?”

“Hey, you know me, Taako’s easy.”  Taako waves a hand dismissively.  “I’ll take whatever.  What about you, thug, what do you want?”

Kravitz looks distant for a moment, then sits down on theedge of Taako’s bed, so that they’re facing each other, closer to eyelevel.  

“I really like you, Taako,” he says, and the sincerity inhis voice makes Taako want to kiss him, or maybe cast Blink and escape to awhole other plane—except, of course, that Kravitz is Kravitz and could probablyfollow him.  “It’s been—it’s been a reallylong time since I had mortal friends, let alone anything else, and I wasn’tmuch good at this while I was alive, either.”

“With that face?”  It’s wildly inappropriate given the tone, butoh god Taako can’t help himself,there’s no way that Kravitz wasn’t absolutely spoiled for choice during hislife.

Kravitz grins a little, reaching up to touch his cheek andjaw as if reminding himself of what he looks like.  “You’d be surprised.”

“Oh, I’d be fucking shocked,homie,” Taako says thoughtlessly, one hundred percent of his brain fullyoccupied with Kravitz’s words.

I really like you,Taako.  What the fuck is a personeven supposed to do with that.

“Taako,” Kravitz says, and Taako snaps back to the presentmoment.  Kravitz sounds like he’s maybesaid Taako’s name a few times.  “I just—ifyou’re not interested in dating me, you don’t have to worry about telling me,but I’d rather you be honest.”

“Are you,” Taako says slowly, lining up the same thoughts hehad before the date in a different order, “interested in dating me?”

Kravitz tips his head and says, “For someone so brilliantlytalented, you can be a bit dense.”

“Thank you.”

“Taako, you’re charming, and beautiful, and funny, and youhelp save the world.  Of course I’minterested in dating you.”  Kravitz looksdown at his hands, where they’re laced together in his lap, and he rubs a thumbup the line of a metacarpal, something that’s almost a nervous tick.  The pressure drags a line of white bonebehind it, until his dark skin knits itself back together.  “I would understand, of course, if you’relooking for something more casual.  I’mjust…I’m not built for it.”

God, Taako can’t deal with this.  This level of honesty is going to make him break out in fucking hives.  The way Kravitz glances up at him through hislashes, a tiny spark of hope in the black of his eyes, is like taking a MagicMissile straight to the chest.

“So, what, you want to hold my hand and cuddle and shit?”Taako demands, and he means it to come out harsh, but instead it sounds almostfragile.  

“If that’s okay with you.”

Taako scoffs.  “You’rea fucking sap.”

“Well, don’t tell anyone,” Kravitz says.  “I have a reputation to maintain.”

And then he offers Taako his hand, palm up, harmless andinviting.  I really like you, Taako.  It’sbeen a long time since someone made an offer like that, and it went so horrificallywrong last time Taako accepted more than a one-night stand.

But Kravitz is nice. And honest.  And he’s alreadytried to murder Taako and the others and then taken steps to make sure he doesn’thave to do it properly, which is a selling point, these days.  Half of everyone Taako knows has tried tomurder them, by accident or as a test or just because the three of them were inthe way.  

More than anything, though, Kravitz doesn’t say anything,doesn’t press, just sits there with his hand out as a silent offer, waiting forTaako to decide.

Kravitz’s hand is cold, still holding the chill of theastral plane.  Taako adds one more thingto his list of Grim Reaper Facts: his fingers fit perfectly with Taako’s.

#taakitz #taako x kravitz #taz #the adventure zone #taz fic #starlight writes stuff #otp: i'm about to tentacle your dick #lalalalalalala i spent two days on this #don't tell me if it's terrible because i like it #i am satisfied #this is the fastest i've ever written a smut fic in my entire life #but yeah anyway that exists #it's on ao3 #also yarndarling i got your ask and i'll put the other one on ao3 too so you can cite it #i came out of this with a lot of very serious kravitz headcanons #like #a lot #i like the idea of him being the wonderland twins' little brother for pain reasons #but i also know that's not considered canon by word of god so my headcanons also work for non-wl-brother krav #i love him so much #and taako i love taako to bits and pieces #i really hope i did taako's speech patterns all right #ya boy's speech patterns are a pain in the motherfucking a s s #but i tried my hardest and that's what counts #fun fact i am magnus burnsides but very short? #i want to do a magnus cosplay but i'm 5' and idk if i could pull it off #anyway here's wonderwall #lathori #asked and answered #taz balance

[skiyoosmi]

if fate permits

chapter twenty-one

i'm casting a spell on you

previous < masterpost > next

The winds have begun to get colder and today, people who were planning to go outside were advised to put at least an extra layer of clothing or two. Apparently, the snow will begin to lightly fall anytime this month; however, Atsumu felt the exact opposite– he was boiling in the searing anger jealousy he was feeling as he watched you and that spiky-haired boy get cozier with each other from across the room, giggling together like teenagers while you added some finishing touches on the props you were both so “focused” on. He never took notice of it before, but for some reason, Iwaizumi Hajime really gets on his nerves every time he sees him, especially when with you; but he’ll never admit that to anyone, of course, not to a single soul, not even to Osamu (he can already picture the smug face of his twin brother, all while saying: “Serves you right, you egoistic little shit!”)

He thought of stomping his way towards you, but all his plans remain in vain because once again, the director of the play is calling them for yet another round of rehearsals. The play will commence the day after tomorrow and they really couldn’t afford to waste time. “As much as possible, let us fix what has to be fixed, improve what has to be improved; because in less than two days, there will be no room for those things,” said Miyu, the head as she pushed them towards the stage, where some of the backdrop had already been set up. He grimly follows the other actors, unaware of Yui’s presence as she followed each and every bit of his movement (and trail of vision) before rolling her eyes, “So, it’s you, huh, YN?”

On the other side of the room, Hajime stared at you and listened as you asked – more like rambled to – him for what felt like the hundredth time today, “So basically, you remember every single thing that happen in your life except those that are connected to your ex-soulmate… ex-soulmate sounds so weird, gosh…” Unlike with Tooru though, he can’t bring himself to snap at you no matter how repetitive you get. If he were being honest, he finds you a bit too adorable for your own good (not that he’ll tell you that because he’d rather die than be seen as creepy by you). So, he opts to simply watching you babble like a child; it’s more bearable than having to see you cry over that pissed-haired lad who can’t lower his pride for you (personally, he feels a little odd that he remembers who’s your soulmate instead of his). Silence engulfed you two as the actors and actresses began their rehearsals, letting the emotions flow out of them as they spoke their lines.

Miya Atsumu was a wonder to your eyes, enchanting you with magic you would’ve never imagined to feel as he caught your eyes, holding his stare as if to say: “I’m casting a spell on you, you won’t be able to get rid of me now.” It was as if acting was second nature to him and for the umpteenth time in your life, you found yourself going down a rabbit hole deeper than what Alice in Wonderland went to as your heart throbbed, feelings all over the place; pain, anxiety, love and all other things you can think of, it’s all for him– always for him.

“How pathetic,” you whisper to yourself, wiping the tears that persistently flowed down your cheeks. Why, why, why… why can’t I just unlove you? Your mind screamed as all the other crew members gave their applause, signifying that they have finished their practice and soon, you can see him making his way towards your direction, gaze fixated right where you and Hajime were standing, confusion and worry swimming in the pool of his eyes as he watched you cry for a reason he has no idea of.

He was almost there, less than one feet from you but fate decided to play with your heart once more as Yui appeared out of nowhere, linking her arms with Atsumu’s, who in turn looked at her in surprise, obviously not expecting a sudden display of affection from the girl, “Atsumu-kun, let’s eat lunch together!” She exclaims, barely giving you and your companion a glance (although Hajime could’ve sworn, he saw her give you a very deathly glare. What a strange woman, he thinks).

“W-wait… I need to talk to YN…” the blonde tries to reason but like persistent person she was, pulled him to the opposite direction, whining about how she was “so hungry” all of a sudden. Why, why, why… why can’t you just choose me?  And as fast as they came, they went away. How is it that every single time Atsumu walks away from you, it feels like your heart is being ripped out of your chest too? Like he’s just taking it and leaving you with nothing?

“Well, that was interesting,” Hajime comments before turning to you, gasping when he saw your form; trembling and clutching a piece of the skirt you chose to wear in hopes of getting noticed by Atsumu, the waterworks flowing from your eyes once again. Aahh, it’s just hurts so damn much I feel like dying, you thought, just when will this sto–

A sudden warmth engulfed your whole body as Hajime hugged you, “You wouldn’t want anyone to see you cry, would you?” You nodded, burying yourself deeper in his arms, hoping that the pain goes away… But it never does, not before, not today, not ever; and just like that, you hate yourself for never telling Atsumu the truth because it seems like you were a bit too late now.

In the middle of the cafeteria sat Atsumu and Yui, who merely poked her food with the spoon she was holding, eyes looking up at her companion (even accompanied with the bat of her obviously fake eyelashes) who seems to be too preoccupied of waiting for you to appear in the area. She clicked her tongue in annoyance at his indifference towards her, before calling the blonde with that sickening sweet voice everybody just seemed to fall for.

“Atsumu-kun~” She calls out, even having the audacity to prolong the last syllables. She remains unheard though, much to her dismay; she rolls her eyes and tries for a few more times but all were in vain.

She clenches her fist that was beneath the table, “Atsumu! Are you freaking listening to me?”

Alas! The boy finally looks at her with uninterested eyes, mind obviously still flying in the air, “W-what?” he replies absentmindedly. She scoffs at his pathetic state; if anyone were to look at their way right now, it would look as if she was forcing Atsumu to sit with her – like it was torture to be with her right now.

“You’re making me feel really bad about myself right now, Atsumu-kun,” she whined and pouted, smirking mentally when Atsumu seemed to finally wake up to his senses and give her an apology, “are you sure you don’t like YN more than me? Cause I feel like you’d rather be with her right now.”

“No! Uhm… it’s just that we’re not in good terms right now and she’s my best friend; but I like you Yui… I really, really do,” he claims while staring straight into her eyes, ignorant of the evil that was behind them.

“Then prove it, Atsumu…” I don’t care about your attachment with that silly girl, “show me that you really like me.”

“What? How?” The boy furrowed his eyebrows, unable to think of ways to confirm to Yui that he, indeed, is interested in her. Hasn’t he been showing it with his words and sweetness since the day they met? How could she still doubt him? The said girl only smiled, eyes glinting with nothing but malice and wickedness: Miya Atsumu. I’m casting a spell on you; you can’t get rid of me now.

“Your best friend is a Moíra, isn’t she? Ask her to cut your thread so we can become soulmates.”

marga's notes. istG i tried to make yui a good girl but the plot line said no sksks so here's me trying to make you hate her instead >:)

taglist is closed

#haikyuu smau #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu headcanons #atsumu x reader #iwaizumi x reader #atsumu smau #iwaizumi smau #atsumu headcanons #iwaizumi headcanons #miya atsumu #iwaizumi hajime #haikyuu

[yandere-wishes]

Yandere Teams //Twisted Wonderland x Reader//

The quality of my writing keeps getting worst and worst 🤣

===========================================================

Malleus + Lilia

Lilia and Malleus are one of the better pairs of yanderes to share a darling. Malleus is so eager to keep his darling locked up, away from everyone, everything. But simultaneously Malleus has a weak spot for Lilia, he looks up to the older fae and desperately wants to gain his approval. He also trusts his judgment, so if Lilia wants to play a little bit "rough" with the darling then Malleus is willing to turn a blind eye. On the other hand, Lilia has a sicker, much more twisted manner of thinking about their situation, the older fae doesn't just see the Darling as his property he also sees Malleus as his now! Yes in Lilia's warped mind both Malleus and the poor darling belong to him and only him. 

Life with the two isn't too bad, it's really all a matter of staying on both their good sides. Don't tick off one and expect the other to side with you. Malleus always takes Lilia's side no matter what, in his eyes, the pink and black-haired fae can do no wrong. On the other hand, Lilia just doesn't care. 'Malleus put you under a sleeping curse?' oh well that just how he is. 'Malleus broke your arm when he mistakenly thought you were attempting to escape?' That's just how things are around here better get used to it. 

Just sit around like a nice pretty doll and let the two powerful fairies do as they want with you and everything will be okay.

Jade + Floyd

It all started when you made the mistake of asking Jade out on a date. One day when you'd swallowed up enough courage you marched up to your senior and all but begged for a date. To your surprise, Jade had agreed, hesitantly but never the less the "yes" was said. Oh, how happy you had been that day. Rushing back to your dorm room to doll yourself up.  Fantasizing about the date as you danced around the room.

But when you actually arrived at the Mostro Lounge somethings off. Jade isn't...well, right. His smile is too big stretching across his cheeks in the most unnatural manner. His eyes have lost their spark, they're dull and dead almost like they're made of silicone. His personality isn't right either, he's too fidgety too hyper. He's all but bouncing off the walls and singing every other word.

When you finally walk over to him, the teal haired teen lounges himself at you, wrapping his arms so tightly around your body that air can't pass through your lungs. It's in that quick-paced breathless moment that you realize your mistake. This isn't Jade, this isn't the sweet charismatic gentleman no..this is his brother Floyd, the one person in NRC that haunts your dreams. The one boy that never goes one day without screaming your name through the hallways and "accidentally" bumping into you.

Try as you might to get out of his grasp and run for the exit, it's all futile. The younger just keeps hugging tighter and tighter until pesky black spots start to float around your sight, the bright lights fade into shimmering orbs as your consciences slowly slips away.

It's later when you wake up that you notice just how grave and hopeless your situation is. The grinning faces of both twins are peering down at you, sharp teeth on full display as they get closer and closer...

These two are the most in sync yanderes you will ever meet. Sure they seem like polar opposites but when it comes to their darling they can agree on practically EVERYTHING.

Now friendly reminder that Floyd is the more aggressive one out of the two. His cold fingers are always trickling over your skin, pinching the flesh as he proclaims how "cute" you are. Jade is the last string of sanity for both you and his brother. He makes sure you are both in line and never go overboard...technically Floyd never goes overboard. Jade is also much more hesitant to hurt their precious darling, he does enjoy how much you need him, but he hates seeing his little "goldfish" (the only fish's name I can write without getting a mini heart attack, yes I hate fish that much XD) in any form of pain. Now both marks are a completely different story, both twins adore marking their darling. Jade prefers to leave "love bites" over your neck and shoulders trailing down to your arms, while Floyd prefers to mark your thighs and torso area.

The twins may not be the most intense yanderes but they aren't very subtle either, just when you're starting to go with the flow they change something to throw you off and send you spiraling down a waterfall of confusion.

Riddle + Chenya Riddle and Chenya are the most contradicting yanderes you'll ever meet. These two can't agree on anything! Riddle usually set rules but Chenya always manages to convince their darling to break them under the pretext that "they won't get punished". Technically he's not telling a complete lie, He won't get punished but you sire will. Riddle is slightly more sympathetic when he's punishing his darling for a broken rule that Chenya convinced them to break. He knows that it's all his childhood friend's fault but he still has to discipline you with the hope that next time you won't listen to that idiot.

Now both these boys are possessive and desperate for any form of affection their beloved will give. Doesn't matter if it's kisses or gentle head pats so long as they can feel their s/o's tender fingers over their flesh. This usually leads to a tug of war between childhood friends. One of them is always trying to strangle your attention away from the other. Wither its Chenya sneaking up behind you and Riddle while you cuddle or Riddle yell and screaming until you and Chenya break apart your kiss and make room for him on the couch.

Overall these two are so chaotic together that sometimes their darling wonders why they even teamed up in the first place...

Leona + Ruggie Leona and Ruggie are actually a very underhanded duo. It's obvious from the start that Leona is pulling the strings. He manipulated Ruggie into helping him, briding the younger boy with the promise of the darling's undying love or food, either one works. It's Ruggie that does the physical kidnapping, it's also Ruggie that has to take care of the darling. Making sure they stay fed, clean, having something to wear after both he and Leona got rather aggressive on some nights. He does all the heavy lifting, while Leona just lays around cuddling the darling before falling asleep.

Leona has multiple ways of keeping both Ruggie and the darling in line. He's always being so considerate, so "caring" constantly showing them in pricey gifts or treating them over the top fancy restaurants. Anything at all no matter how expensive as long as it keeps them compliant.

These two do make a good team, but it's all manipulation and mind games. When the dust settles did either of them really love you? Or was it all a sick game for the two wild beasts? 

Divus + Sam

Now Divus and Sam are a rather...odd mix. They don't work very well as a team at first, they're constantly bickering arguing over the smallest things. What their darling will wear, what she'll eat, etc, etc

It gets so bad at one point that Divus and Sam actually start a custody battle over the poor darling. The other teachers are intrigued, playing along for their own amusement. At some point, Lilia - only wanting to see how disastrous it will be- suggests a trial like they do in the movies and because the teachers in NRC are over-glorified children themselves that's exactly what they do!

The jury is made up of the dorm leaders, all reluctant to be there -with the exception of Kalim and a very confused Malleus- Ashton is Divus' lawyer, a horrible one at that. The man has no idea what's going on and is constantly yelling "OBJECTION"!  At some point, Azul and Riddle take their gym teacher aside to explain the basic principles of a courtroom to him.  He's slightly better after that bringing in students to testify for professor Crewel after he promises them a passing mark in his class that is.

Mozus is surprisingly a great lawyer, he has the perfect "witness", asks all the right questions and is constantly throwing shade at how bad Ashton is at anything that requires a bit of wit.

Crowley is obviously the judge, he's just happy to be there honestly. The poor bird-man's throat is slowly going raw from the number of times he's screamed at Ashton to quite down, at Leona to wake up, at Kalim to sit down, at Vil to stop checking his makeup and at Idia to get off his dame phone! An hour into the "Trial" and he already has his verdict.

That leaves you, the reason this whole catastrophe started. You're seated by the headmaster, dressed up in a glittering white dress, your hair and makeup done as if you were the guest of honor at some banquet. Your hands are threaded with silver handcuffs identical to those used on criminals if anyone with no prior knowledge to these events was to enter they surely would think that you were the criminal on trial here.

Finally Crowley proposes a split. Divus gets the darling from Sunday to Tuesday, while Sam gets her on Thursday until Saturday. With Wednesday being a day in which they both get their beloved. The setup works for a few weeks, almost shy of a whole month but...

It gets too much, neither men can standing being apart from their lover for three whole dame days! It's to vexing, too taxing. So they find another way, actually, it's Sam that turns up one day at Divus' room looking like a kicked puppy and all but begging to see their darling. Feel a tingle of pity Divus lets him in. This ends up becoming a normal thing. Every time Sam has you Divus will show up in his room and visa versa. They get better at sharing, agreeing with one another, one may even say they start to enjoy each other's company as much as their darling's.

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #yandere twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland divus crewel #twisted wonderland divus crewel x reader #divus crewel #yandere divus crewel #yandere divus crewel x reader #divus crewelx reader #divus crewel x you #yandere divus crewel x you #twisted wonderland sam #twisted wonderland sam x reader #yandere sam #yandere sam x reader #sam x reader #sam x you #yandere sam x you #twisted wonderland leona kingscholar #twisted wonderland leona kingscholar x reader #leona kingscholar #leona kingscholar x reader #leona kingscholar x you #yandere leona kingscholar x reader #yandere leona kingscholar x you #twisted wonderland ruggie bucchi #twisted wonderland ruggie bucchi x reader #ruggie bucchi x reader #ruggie bucchi x you #yandere ruggie bucchi x reader

[nillial]

please forgive me for whatever i do (when i don’t remember you)

a taz fic in which edward and lydia, being undead, are immune to the voidfish and thus can see thb’s blocked memories and offer them up for sacrifice. taako spins mind. they want him to sacrifice the memory of his sister. except taako doesn’t have a sister. or-- taako makes a mistake. and once you sacrifice something in wonderland, you don’t get it back.

ao3 link in the notes because tumblr is dumb and won’t let links show up in tags

--

“Mind, huh?” Lydia grins, wide and unsettling. “We could have some real fun with this.”

Taako scoffs and watches some black smoke drift up to the ceiling. He’s sick of fun. So far, the only thing that Wonderland’s fun has given him is a bloody nose, a limp, and what he thinks is a broken rib. All he wants to do is finish this job, go home, and sleep for so long that his nap borders on a coma.

“What do you want?” he asks, leaning on his umbrella and feigning indifference. “My brain’s clogged with tons of shit I don’t need. You want spells? Recipes? I’ve prob’ly got some fond memories stuffed somewhere up in the ol’ clunker. ”

“No, no, none of that,” she says. “We want to up the ante a little bit. How about… a person?”

She and her brother smile at one another with wide, unblinking eyes. He suppresses a shiver and steels himself, because, no, they don’t scare him. They’re just weirding him out. Twins are creepy like that.

“A person?” he repeats. He almost ridicules them for making it so easy on him, but decides better of it.

A person. Taako doesn’t have anyone from his past that he’d mind forgetting. Everyone he’s ever known either abandoned him or betrayed him. Who could they make him forget, really? Sazed? His aunt? Every other asshole who left him?

Forgetting wouldn’t be so bad. He’s better off alone, anyways.

“Bring it on,” he says.

--

Lydia flashes him one of her fake toothy grins and tilts her head. “How selfless! You know, I think you’re becoming our favorite, Taako.”

He holds back a facetious remark and barely restrains himself from grimacing. He’s not sure that being Lydia and Edward’s favorite is much of an honor. “And why’s that?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Edward asks. “The enthusiasm for the job, the impeccable style, the willingness to relieve yourself of your burdens— you’re just like us!”

At that, Taako fails to choke down a “Like hell I am.” He ignores the black smoke drifting up to the ceiling. Magnus shoots him a glare. He shoots him one back. Sure, he was pretty impressed at first, and it’s nice to finally have his oversized hat and ten layers of mismatched clothing recognized as impeccable style, but there’s no way he’s letting them compare themselves to him. Having heavy machinery dropped on top of him and watching his traveling companions suffer cancels out any and all compliments they might give him.

Lydia laughs, cold, empty, and humorless. “Really, Taako, you can’t deny how similar we are. We apologize for the bias towards you, if you feel it’s unfair, but you have to understand that it’s not often we come across another pair of powerful elven twins with such a strong bond.”

Taako’s train of thought halts. Twins?

“It’s a shame only one of you is a lich,” Edward adds. “We really could have been matching then.”

“Even more of a shame that you couldn’t bring her with you. Physically, anyways.” She gives him a once-over, but Taako swears her gaze lingers on his umbrella, which she stares at quizzically before she returns to her usual cocky countenance. “But she’s always there in your heart, isn’t she, Taako?”

He has no clue what apparent twin sister she’s going on about, but something deep in his chest aches.

“Taako, you had a caretaker who you trusted, a friend who betrayed you, and a sister who meant the world to you. You loved each of them, and they all left you.” Edward leans closer to him and Taako takes a few steps back. “I wonder who we should take?”

“Now, Edward,” Lydia says, “it wouldn’t be a sacrifice if it didn’t sting a little, would it? Let’s go with someone he’s still fond of. Someone he wants to hold on to.”

Edward shifts his gaze from her to Taako. His stare drills into him. “Of course. Besides, we’ve already gotten rid of one quest for vengeance today, haven’t we? Right, Magnus?”

Magnus narrows his eyes at them, but it’s more of a confused squint than the threatening glare that it’s intended to be. Taako can’t help but feel sorry for him. He supposes he has to add Governor Kalen to his personal hit list now.

The two of them turn their heads to face him in unison. He stifles another shiver.

“If you accept this sacrifice,” says Lydia, “you will forget Lup. You’ll forget your childhood together, your journey, your grief and denial and relentless searching after she left— you’ll forget your other half.”

Edward slides off the top of the wheel and approaches him. “You spent so long looking for her, Taako. You clung to the hope that she really was out there somewhere, told yourself that she wasn’t gone, you could feel it, and that you just had to look harder. Even after all of those failed expeditions, after your search party had dwindled from six members to two, even after all of those sleepless nights and countless hours of praying to whatever god would listen to you, you remained hopeful.”

“It’s admirable, really,” continues Lydia. “You truly believed she’d return to you. Even after everyone else accepted that she was gone, you kept looking. You always had faith in her, Taako. But things didn’t work out the way you hoped, did they? In your experience, they rarely do.”

“You moved on like she was never even there in the first place— you had to at some point, I suppose— but part of me wonders if she’s not the reason why you’re always traveling. To keep looking. It makes me speculate whether or not the Animus Bell is truly your heart’s desire, instead of, say, a device to help you find your sister?” Edward waves his hand dismissively. “But we might save that for another round, if it’s still a viable option. Can’t spoil all the fun yet.”

It’s Lydia who approaches him now, gliding off of the wheel and onto the floor below, walking towards him with slow, deliberate footsteps. “You loved her, Taako. You couldn’t live without her. She was your twin sister. She was your other half. She was your heart. You searched, and searched, and searched, but you could never find her. I’d say the sacrifice we’re offering now is more of an opportunity than a forfeiture. A chance to shed all of the pain and agony her disappearance has caused you. Why would you deny that? To hold on to a false hope? Because, quite frankly, Taako…” She reaches out to touch his shoulder. She’s cold. “That’s just… greedy.”

They both stare at him, smiles wide and unwavering. He stares back. Their eyes are empty, save for the hunger within them.

Taako leans in close. And, then, mimicking their unnatural grins and wide eyes, says, “I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about.”

Their faces drop. Lydia and Edward share a look.

He has to admit: their confusion is kind of gratifying.

“This isn’t… We’ve been doing this for a long time, you know,” Edward tells him. “We can tell when people are lying to get out of a sacrifice. The ‘you’ve got the wrong guy’ trick isn’t going to work on us.”

“I’m not lying,” he says, his mock creepy grin now a genuine satisfied smile. “I don’t have a sister. I’m an only child.”

From behind him, Magnus speaks up. “You don’t have to take the sacrifice, Taako. I get it. It’s a lot. I’ll spin instead.”

“You don’t need to spin for me. These fools made a mistake.” He watches Edward and Lydia turn and scowl in his direction. Yeah, this is incredible.

“Wait, hold on,” says Merle. “Lich?”

“Oh, no, I’m not a lich,” Taako replies. “I’m not even into necromancy. Remember Grim Reaper? He would kill me. Like, he’d be legally obligated to kill me.”

“He was legally obligated to kill all of us before our charges were cleared,” Magnus points out.

“Yeah, but—” He hesitates and recalls their high death count and the undead presence on the Bureau of Balance quad. “Holy shit. Am I a lich?”

“You did all die those times,” Merle says.

“We died all those times,” Magnus counters. “Especially you, old man.”

“Hey, we’re talking about Taako right now!”

Taako runs his hands down his face and sighs. He’d contemplate their lichdom some other time. “Look, guys, it doesn’t matter. This whole situation isn’t even about me! I don’t have a twin! What matters—” Taako spins on his heel to face Lydia and Edward, who cease their murmured squabbling in order to look at him. “— is that these two fucked up.”

Lydia rolls her eyes. “We didn’t 'fuck up',” she says. “We saw her. We know she’s there. You can’t just pretend like you don’t remember her in hopes of getting out of a sacrifice.”

“You’ve got yourself mixed up there, thug.” He takes a step towards them and presses his hand to his chest for dramatic flair. “I’m Taako. Bomb wizard, culinary genius, single child, and only maybe a lich. I don’t know what poor soul you’re going on about, but it’s not me.”

They’re both silent for a moment. Edward takes a deep breath, and says, “I’m just— I’m not even going to— take the sacrifice or don’t, okay? If we really did make a mistake, which I doubt, then nothing will happen to you and you can move on.”

Taako grins. A free opt-out of a sacrifice? He’s more than happy to take that up.

Before he can accept, however, he feels the weight of Magnus’s hand on his shoulder. “Wait, Taako, I— I don’t trust this.”

He sighs. Magnus isn’t usually the discretionary one. “C’mon, my man, free spin.”

“Yeah, I know, but…” Magnus purses his lips. “The Bureau’s been… weird lately. Weirder than usual. I don’t know if this is really a mistake or not.”

“What do you mean? You think I actually have a sister?”

“I’m just saying there’s a chance that the Bureau... isn’t as good as we think it is.” Magnus’s gaze travels to an empty corner of the room and lingers there. Through the neon pink and green light, Taako thinks he sees a flash of red, but it’s gone before he can register what it is.

“Listen, I believe you when you say that the Bureau’s all secretive and might not be trustworthy. I knew that going in. I mean, it’s a organization hidden in a fake moon harboring a weird jellyfish that’s single-handedly saving the world from destruction or whatever,” he tells him. “But a twin? That’d take a whole lot of covering up for something they have no reason to make me forget.”

“They made us forget an entire war, Taako,” he says. “Is it really so ridiculous to consider that they might be hiding more from us, too?”

Taako hesitates, just for a moment.

Everyone he’s ever known has abandoned him at some point.

He spent his childhood being unwanted. Too much to care for, too much of a troublemaker, too much of a handful— nobody wanted a kid that actively tried to wreak havoc.

(He wasn’t always like that, though. He learned fairly young that every arrangement was temporary because everyone got sick of him eventually. Why stick around? Why get hopeful? Why prolong the inevitable? If he was going to get kicked out at some point, then he might as well have fun until then.)

His aunt was the first caretaker he’d had that he trusted wholeheartedly. It was a temporary arrangement. He knew that. He also knew, from experience, that he probably wouldn't last past a month, so he started being an asshole. Messed up the house, talked back, ran too quickly to be caught, destroyed furniture and clothes and valued possessions by shooting off dangerous low-level spells every which way— the usual routine.

But his aunt tolerated him. That was a lot more than he could say for any of his previous caretakers.

She saw some sort of potential in him, maybe, or she saw someone who could help her with supper, but, either way, she taught him everything she knew about cooking. How to make the gross stuff taste better, how to season bland food, how to prepare a meal when you don’t have anything. He was fascinated by all of it. Every recipe, every tip, everything to do and to avoid stuck in his head and never left.

He loved it. He loved the fulfillment of making something good, and he loved improving on a meal that was already delicious, and he loved the praise that accompanied cooking something right. He loved it because it was fun. He loved it because he was good at it. He loved it because it was useful. He loved it because it was his.

He and his aunt grew closer and closer until Taako was constantly trailing at her heels. Wherever she went, he followed. It was probably annoying, looking back, but she would just ruffle his hair and tell him to help her with the laundry. She seemed to appreciate having him around— pretended to genuinely enjoy his awful early experimental dishes, laughed when he cracked lame jokes, hugged him close to her when hugs were needed.

And then the time came for him to leave again.

She packed his bags herself. She told him she couldn't keep him anymore. She told him that time was up, that he had to go, that it was his cousin’s turn to watch over him.

He asked why.

She sighed. Stared at the wall instead of his eyes. It was easier that way.

“This was temporary, Taako. It was always temporary,” she said. “I thought you knew that.”

Which he did. He knew the whole time, but he ignored it. Shoved the incessant reminders that this will end, this will end, this will end, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment because this will end far back in the recesses of his mind. It’s just that he thought—

He hoped—

God, he was an idiot.

He never went to his cousin's house.

Instead, he took to the streets. He worked on caravans for money, slept next to campfires in empty woods, focused on his magic and his cooking because it was what he was good at and he didn't need anyone to tell him so. No estranged family members to pass him around, to sneer at him, to whisper about how awful he was while Taako listened behind closed doors and thin walls— and no aunt to pretend that she cared.

He used his cooking and his magic to get by. Impressed people on the sidewalk for tips, prepared food for the crews he traveled with, worked at local restaurants for a couple weeks or until they realized that some of their stuff had been stolen. Rinse and repeat.

He spent his life as a traveler.  He'd been one for so long that being grounded to a single spot felt unnatural. Maybe he was never meant to settle. Or, at least, that's what the restlessness in his bones told him— the survival instinct that he never really shook, as deep as the well of magic in his veins, as innate and unfulfillable as the desire for more, more, more to fill the something that's been missing his whole life.

Maybe that’s why he opted for a career in a traveling caravan.

He doesn't remember the specifics of how he got his caravan in the first place, really. They're all a little fuzzy around the edges. All that he knew and all he presently knows is that he woke up with the world's worst hangover, lying on the floor of a probably stolen stage wagon, and all he could think was I am Taako, I'm a great chef, and I'm going to start a traveling cooking show. He couldn't recall much else besides that.

But, as his fame grew and his time narrowed, he realized that he'd need to hire someone to drive. Someone to take him places while he caught up on much-deserved rest and prepared for the next show. Someone like Sazed.

Someone like the worst mistake he'd ever made.

Sazed needed a decent-paying job and Taako needed a driver (and, as he would begrudgingly admit to himself and to no one other than himself, another soul in his caravan, because it was just... too empty). For a while, driving was all he did. But when there’s no one else to talk to besides yourself and your employee, you eventually crack.

They grew closer. Taako did shows and helped Sazed with cleanup. It started as mostly friendly coworker chat, but they got comfortable around each other, as people are wont to do when they only speak to one other person. It still took Sazed some time to make Taako talk about anything even remotely personal, but he did, eventually, and told him snippets of stories from his past, to which he'd listen intently. And things were good like that.

But Sazed wanted in the show and Taako wasn't willing to share the spotlight.

And then came Glamour Springs, and the mass murder he thought he committed, and—

There was just— everyone was sick, and they were dropping to the ground, and there was blood, there was so much blood, and— they were going to toss him in prison, and— his show and his fame and everything would be gone again and— he just—

Taako did what he does best and ran. He fled and dyed his hair and covered himself in layers upon layers of clothing. He camped out in the middle of nowhere and didn't dare to go in public except for when it was absolutely necessary. And he choked down the shame, and the fear, and the knowledge that the name he made for himself was ruined.

Sazed left him after a couple days. Motherfucker couldn't stand being around him so much that he killed 40 people to get away.  

And this sister, if she exists…

Everyone abandons him at some point. If his apparent sister got a head start, then that's fine. He doesn't need anyone in the first place— not an aunt, not a friend, not a sister, and not even Magnus and Merle, when they inevitably leave. He's Taako. He can take care of himself, and he's damn good at it, too.

If he really does have a sister and The Shining Twins aren't fucking with him, then she's out there, somewhere in Faerun, and she hasn't bothered to find him. That's assuming that she even knows he exists. Why should he hold onto the memory of someone who he never knew and who doesn't care about him?

Even now, he reminds himself that everything is temporary. Even now, he reminds himself that he's a wanderer. Even now, in Wonderland, on the brink of giving up, he knows that he won't be here forever. Even if he dies. Taako is slippery. He can find a way out if the need arises.

If taking advantage of a sacrifice that means nothing to him is what it takes to ensure that, then so be it.

Fuck his aunt.

Fuck Sazed.

Fuck his sister.

“I get where you’re coming from, Magnus,” Taako grumbles, “but I don’t care.”

“Taako, wait—”

Magnus reaches for his shoulder, but it’s too late. Taako shrugs him off, steps forward, and says, “I accept the sacrifice.”

Edward and Lydia turn and grin at one another, then turn back to face him. Lydia snaps her fingers.

And then Taako recoils.

He sinks to the ground and onto his knees, and his insides are turning, turning, turning, and they just won't stop. His ears ring with a loud, overwhelming static that builds and keeps on building. And then he sees— he sees—

He sees snippets of memories that aren't his, yet he intrinsically knows that they are. They have to be. That's Magnus, and that's Merle, and that's Davenport, and… Barry, and— and Lucretia? And—

And he sees a woman that's almost entirely identical to him. He sees her, but a deep static keeps him from connecting the dots. He knows her. He's known her for his whole life. That's— That's his sister. That's—

That's Lup.

That's Lup. He sees her, hundreds of years younger, squeezing his hand as they leave their aunt's house for the last time. That's Lup, shoveling food into a bag while Taako distracts the shopkeep. That's Lup, drunk, belting Fergalicious with him after they found out that they'd both been accepted into the IPRE. That's Lup, staring at the inky mass below what used to be their world, clinging to him as tightly as he's clinging to her. That's Lup, shooting off fire spells left and right. That's Lup, performing a duet with Barry. That’s Lup, giving a passionate speech in front of a glowing pink crystal. That's Lup, clutching his hand as they face off against the world again, and again, and again.

That's Lup, holding his umbrella.

That's Lup, with the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet.

That's Lup, telling him thank you for the last time.

Through the debilitating, unexplainable pain in his head, Taako manages to open his eyes. He glances at his umbrella, but then his gaze is caught there, held there, unable to break away.

That’s Lup.

But as soon as that thought is there, it’s gone.

Memories of her filter through his mind, escaping him just as soon as they surface. He claws at them, screams, begs them not to go. Those memories, however distant they may be, are all he has left of her. She’s all he ever had. She’s his heart.

He can get her back. He will get her back. He’ll find a way to reverse Wonderland’s sacrifices and he’ll get his sister back. Everything is temporary, and Taako is— he’s slippery— he can find a way out if the need arises, even now, even here— he just— he needs to hold on, for her—

Lup’s face, her voice, her laugh, everything she ever did and ever was flits through his mind. A memory surfaces of the two of them on the deck of some kind of— rocket ship, maybe? Flying boat? She points out something on the ground below and makes a joke, but her voice is too distant to discern what she says. Taako replies with something that makes her crack up, but that, too, fades away. He tries to conjure the memory back up, but then realizes that he can’t— can’t remember— what—

Taako sees her eyes light up at an abandoned DMV in the middle of nowhere. She looks at him, grinning maniacally, and casts a flurry of magic missiles at it, setting it ablaze. He watches as it burns, sending embers flying through the air, thick smoke building and rising. And he watches her shoot off spell after spell, each one more destructive than the last. She asks for his wand. He gives it to her. He smiles as she sends lights crashing to the ground, sheets of glass shattering on the floor, beams crackling with flames, but then it goes foggy, and he— he tries so hard to hold on to at least that one memory, but— but it’s— it’s escaping his mind, and—

Taako sees maps piled up on a desk, held down by thumbtacks and paperweights. The one at the top of the stack has several circles drawn on it, some of which have been crossed out. He can remember, at least for now, that the maps are for Lup. She’s been missing for a long time. He and Barry are still searching for her. They always will be, so long as she’s not with them. Barry’s eyes are bloodshot and his chin is resting in his hands. He points at a circle somewhere on the map and begins talking about the possibility of uncovering her whereabouts, and—

And it occurs to Taako that he’s spent so much time not searching. He’s wasted the years where he could have been looking, could have found his sister, could have had her back by now, and—

He needs to get out of Wonderland, he needs to tell Magnus and Merle to keep searching, he needs to—

He needs to find a way to reverse the sacrifice, he needs his sister back, he needs—

He needs to find her— he has to keep looking for her, for Lup, and—

He needs to find his sister, he—

He needs—

Who?

He feels everything crumbling down all at once and he doesn’t know why. His headache subsides, the static clears, but he feels nothing. Instead, he’s left with a deep sense of emptiness. A blankness in his brain. A pit in his stomach. A hole in his heart.

Like he’s one half of a whole that will never be filled.

He tries to stand upright, but staggers. In an attempt to steady himself, he grabs onto the handle of his umbrella and realizes, stifling a yelp, that it’s searing hot. He’s hit with an immediate and immense wave of sorrow, overwhelming him, washing over him. Taako, in the back of his mind, hears sobs and screams and pleas to every god there is.

She’s crying.

Who’s crying?

He’s crying, too.

His palm comes away burned.

From behind him, he hears Magnus ask, “Taako?”

Taako quickly stashes his umbrella away. He stumbles to his feet, wipes the tears out of his eyes— yikes, embarrassing— and swivels around to face him. Magnus and Merle are both staring at him in horror. He rolls his eyes.

“What’d I tell you?” he says. “I don’t have a twin.”

Merle and Magnus share a look. Taako ignores them.

From the other side of the room, a third bright green light flickers on. The stone door below it slides open, revealing another room shrouded in complete darkness.

“Huh,” Edward says.

“What’s ‘huh’?” Taako asks.

“I don’t know. I figured that the sacrifice would void and you’d have to spin again, but it’s gone through. Then again, we’ve never really made a mistake before, so what do I know? Right, Taako?”

He swallows thickly and runs his thumb across his newly-burned palm. Stupid twins. Why do they have to be so weird?

He shakes off the residual feeling of immense regret as best he can, then turns around with a flourish to face the rest of the group. Settling back into his usual Taako self, he says, “Come on, fellas. I’m low on health and I don’t want my soul to be slurped up, or whatever it is that happens when you die in here.”

Merle and Magnus eye him warily. Merle asks, “Uh, are you sure you’re—” 

“You can thank me later,” he tells him. “It’s no big. Let’s go.”

He starts heading for the door and is satisfied when he hears the shuffling of feet behind him. Taako doesn’t want their pity. Can’t understand their pity, even if he did want it. Something is blocking his memory. Not like the disconnect and fog and staticky something of deja vu he feels every once in a while, either. Whatever he lost is just— gone. Entirely irretrievable.

And he doesn’t get it. He never had a twin in the first place. He didn’t have to sacrifice anything at all, and yet something is gone. Something important that he can’t place.

He decides not to think about it.

Out of his peripheral vision, Taako sees red lightning crackle and curl around the back half of the room. He suppresses a gasp, so as not to alarm Lydia and Edward, who are whispering next to the door. Hesitantly, he turns around.

He expects a savior or an enemy to kill either Lydia and Edward or the three of them. He expects a reaper ready to collect a five-person bounty. He expects the red robe, maybe, to say something cryptic and then vanish.

But there’s nothing there.

Magnus gives him a look that he doesn’t know what to make of.

-

Edward and Lydia are there, the Animus Bell in their grasp, and then they're not.

There’s a flash of lightning and then the Red Robe is there, floating above them. This time, though, he doesn't speak to them. Doesn’t say anything vaguely menacing. Doesn’t predict their doom or try to convince them of some different destiny. He only raises his fists, crackling with electricity, and he aims.

The worst storm he’s ever experienced lasts only a few seconds. There’s lightning everywhere— bolts of it curling off the red robe’s spectral form, striking with reckless abandon, crawling up the walls and disappearing into the void above. And there’s so much of it, too. Too much. They should have gotten struck by now, but for some reason, the red robe is protecting them from a hit that would undoubtedly kill them.

All three of them are trapped in a cyclone of crimson and power. Taako isn’t sure whether it’s a prison or a means of freedom.

Until he hears screams, nearly identical, nearly perfectly in time with each other, so loud and so passionate and so painful that they shake the sky above and the ground beneath their feet.

When the storm clears and the lightning dwindles into sparks, the Red Robe is there and the twins are gone.

The Animus Bell sits cleanly in the middle of the ashes.

Magnus looks between the three of them, and then at the red robe, whose vacant stare offers nothing to their silent conversation. He approaches, careful and slow— Taako has never known Magnus to be either of those things— and, for a moment, he just looks at it. Too long of a moment, he thinks, until Magnus says, “I’d hate it. Shut the fuck up.” With the hand covered by his Phantom Fist, he picks it up.

An intense gust of wind blows through the room, making Taako clutch his hat and causing the mannequins to fall over like dominos. Thick black smog peels off the walls, off the stage, the floor, the furniture, the lights, all of it getting pulled into the wind until every one of his senses are obscured by dark fog. He squeezes his eyes shut. When he opens them, Wonderland is gone.

When his vision finally clears, the Red Robe’s vacant stare is on him. Or maybe “vacant” isn’t the right word anymore, despite his eyes being nothing but shadow and skull. Somehow, he looks angry. Heartbroken, even. He doesn’t know how he knows that.

He points at the three of them. Taako instinctively grabs his umbrella and prepares to cast teleport.

YOU, he says, in his low, whispery voice. YOU WILL ALL COME WITH ME.

His finger shifts to Taako.

AND YOU WILL FIND A WAY TO FIX YOUR MISTAKES. FOR YOUR HEART. FOR MY HEART. FOR HER.

He jerks his skeletal thumb behind him.

LET’S GO.

——

All the memories flood back, but they’re not quite there.

He sees his friends, the rest of the IPRE, answering questions at a press conference, and it’s… okay. Strangely lonely. They say their piece and sit back down and everything is weird and professional. There’s an empty spot in the seat next to him. Taako wonders why they even set it out.

He sees a black mass overtake the planet he called home and his hand reaches out and grips the air beside him. He doesn’t know why he does that, but he doesn’t let go, either.

He sits on the beach next to Barry and he’s goading him into telling who he has a crush on. Barry sputters, and blushes, and stumbles over his words, but then he stands up and deadpans, “Just forget it.” Which is… weird. It strikes him as very un-Barry like. He doesn’t think about it too hard. Either Taako will find out eventually or his feelings will pass.

To earn the Voidfish’s approval, Barry does a piano solo. It’s beautiful and heart wrenching, but Taako can’t help but feel like there’s something missing. The Voidfish accepts it anyways.

He takes a day for himself during one cycle. He makes himself breakfast, he has a water gun fight with Davenport, and he goes to an abandoned DMV. He stands there for a moment, looking at the glass panes and the motivational posters and wondering absentmindedly what happened to the people who used to be there.

Until the wall on his right catches flame.

Taako doesn’t know why and he doesn’t know how, but everything begins to catch and spread rapidly. Bolts of fire seem to come out of nowhere. The glass panes shatter. Sections of ceiling fall and crash at his feet. Thick smoke builds and rises and threatens to choke him. The entire infrastructure begins to crumble as everything goes up in flames. Taako should be running. He should be terrified.

But he doesn’t, and he’s not.

He’s elated.

He finally runs when the building threatens to topple on him, but he’s giggling on his way. And he can’t stop. Laughter bubbles in his throat, overwhelms him, makes him double over and clutch his knees. Tears spring from his eyes and he can’t be bothered to wipe them away. He’s just so happy and he doesn’t know why.

Memories flash by, one after the next. A stone of transmutation and a fiery gauntlet that he can’t quite pin the origin of. A sharp star and a mysterious umbrella. A blue sky with only one sun. A celebration that was more of a wake. A day where he feels incredible panic and loss stemming from a source that he can’t identify, and weeks that follow in which those feelings don’t change. Then he sees Barry, on the deck of the Starblaster, under the light of the night sky, poring over maps and stray papers with his head in his hands.

Taako approaches him, but before he can reach him, there’s static.

Static, and then he’s awake.

Everyone is silent. Unbearably silent. And he has one hundred years worth of old-new memories back in his head, however choppy they may be. He’s reeling. He tried to save the world. He has to save the world.

Taako says, “Hey, what the fuck?”

The rest of them find their voices. A cacophony of accusations and epiphanies and questions that have gone unanswered for years mix with each other until they're just noise. Taako is quiet because he doesn't know what else to say besides "what the fuck?" This whole situation is really... what the fuck?

“I’m so sorry,” Lucretia chokes out, hoarse and teary-eyed. “I’m so sorry, everyone, I— but this plan? My plan? It’ll work, I promise—”

“We’ve been gone for so long,” Magnus says, more to himself than to her. “We just... stopped knowing each other for so long."

“I know,” she says. “I know what I did and I know I have a lot to atone for, believe me. I didn’t think things would play out like they did, and I’m so, so sorry. But, please, please — let me finish what I started. I can keep the Hunger at bay. I can save this plane.”

“But isn’t The Hunger… already here?” Merle asks.

“It’s not too late. I— I can fight them off, I—”

Barry interrupts her. “You’re going to sever all of the bonds in this plane! Please, I understand why you did what you did, but, Lucretia, the barrier— it won’t work. Lup and I told you—”

“Lup made us promise that we would never put a planet in danger to stop the Hunger and that is exactly what we did. Barry, please. Let me do this.”

“Hold on,” Taako interrupts. “Who’s Lup?”

Everyone turns to look at him. Confused, concerned stares that betray a hint of horror behind the eyes, all on him.

“What?” he asks.

Davenport is the first to break the silence. “Taako, you… you know who Lup is. Of course you know who Lup is. Right?”

“No. Why would I?”

All of them, now, look at each other like he just murdered somebody in cold blood. Which is totally unfair because, when he does do that, it’s a group effort. He gives Merle and Magnus a pointed glare to even out the scales of justice.

The silence in the room lingers for a moment before anyone builds up the courage to break it again.

Barry says, in a small voice, “She’s your twin sister.”

His insides turn.

“I don’t…” He gives a small, nervous laugh. “I don’t have a twin sister.”

He watches, one by one, as their eyes widen, some of their expressions replaced with worry and others with panic.

Lucretia’s grip on her staff tightens so much that her knuckles turn white. “He should— he should remember by now,” she says, her voice slightly quivering. “Why can’t— why doesn’t he— did I— did I—”

“Hey, hey,” says Merle in his patented “calm down” tone. “I’m sure it’s fine, Lucy. That was a lot of remembering we all had to do. He’s just having some trouble, I bet. His memory’ll catch up with him.”

“No, it won’t.”

Everyone turns to Magnus, looking for elaboration, but Magnus just looks— panicked. Regretful, even.

All he says is, “The sacrifice.”

Something inside of Taako crumbles.

He remembers the sacrifice itself. He remembers Edward and Lydia spinning a story to him about a sister that doesn’t exist. He remembers accepting and absolutely nothing happening except a green light blinking to life. He remembers the confusion from everyone else, the stares he couldn’t understand, and although nothing is adding up right now— although, logically, he should have a twin sister, or should at least remember having one by now— he doesn’t. He doesn’t have a twin sister.

Part of him can’t bring himself to care about his twin sister because his brain is telling him she doesn’t exist, but that part is also panicking because everyone else seems to think he has a twin sister. Part of him is devastated because he must have sacrificed her, and Magnus is right, and the only way any of this makes sense is if he lost his memory of her. However, that part is also confused because he absolutely does not remember that happening, nor can he quite convince himself that it did. He thinks he knows, in the back of his mind, that he gave her up, but the rest of him is just— doubtful. The rest of him, for whatever reason, keeps telling him that he never had a twin sister and everyone around him is mistaken. Admittedly, that’s the part of himself that he’s inclined to believe.

His head hurts so bad. His stomach turns and turns and turns and his throat is tight, almost as if he’s choking on the thick smog of Wonderland.

Through his internal panic and confusion, he hears the distant sound of the voices so close to him.

He hears Davenport say, “What do you mean ‘sacrifice?’”

He hears Lucretia say, “Did— did Wonderland— did he—”

Then, Barry, “No, no, no, he has to remember by now, Magnus. He— It’s Lup, Magnus, he can’t just forget her again. Not after everything.”

Then, Merle, “Shouldn’t the Voidfish have… I don’t know, reversed it or something? I feel like the Voidfish is more powerful than a couple of dead liches. Like, uh, Magnus, you remember Governor Kalen now, right?”

“Who’s Governor Kalen?”

“Oh. Okay, then.”

“No, Merle is right,” Taako speaks up, quiet, withdrawn, confused. “If I had a twin sister, I’d remember her.”

Barry speaks, and he looks and sounds like he’s on the verge of a breakdown. “But you do. You had a sister, she— her name was Lup, she specialized in evocation, she was a lich, she liked fire spells, she was funny, she was passionate, she was good-hearted, and she loved you, Taako. She’s just… she’s not here. She’s gone and we can’t find her, but that doesn’t mean that she was never there. I mean, you have her umbrella, Taako. I don’t know where she is now, or if she’s safe, but your entire life was spent by her side. You just have to remember her.” Utter heartbreak like Taako has never heard before creeps into his voice. “Please.”

Taako tries. He really does. He tries to conjure up an image of a woman he’s never seen before, tries to imagine what she’d be like, tries to insert her into scenarios in which she could’ve been in (his aunt’s departure, his caravan work, the IPRE interviews, the fire at the DMV), but nothing quite works. All of it is met with internal disbelief that he just can’t shake. For some reason or another, he just cannot fathom having a twin sister by his side at all times, watching his back like he’d watch hers, being friends, looking out for one another. He’s never been able to rely on anyone but himself. Having someone like that— a sister to do everything with, to depend on and be depended on by, to care for unconditionally and for her to do the same— it’s unimaginable.

“I’m sorry,” is all he has to say for the hope to drain out of Barry’s face.

—

“I… I didn’t cast that, sir!”

“This isn’t the time to be modest, Agnes.”

“No, sir, you don’t understand. I didn’t cast that.”

“Uh, like hell you didn’t. I watched you do it. Good job. Do it again.”

“I--" Angus starts, but is pushed back by the force of a flurry of fireballs, all hitting the beasts of the Hunger that are advancing towards them.

“Woo!” Taako shouts. “Doing great!”

Across the room, Barry’s eyes widen. He diverts his attention from the threats he’s facing and instead focuses on Angus. “Kid,” he yells, “give me that umbrella!”

Angus looks apprehensive. He turns to Taako.

Taako shrugs. “Your call, I guess?” And then, cupping his hands over his mouth, he yells to Barry, “Don’t mess up my umbrella!”

Angus slides the Umbrastaff across the floor and to Barry, who picks it up gingerly. For a moment, he just looks at it. Turns it over in his hands. He watches as Barry purses his lips, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath.

And then he snaps the Umbrastaff in two.

Before Taako can ask “What the fuck, man?” a spark of red light ignites from the break in the staff. And then another. And another. A sparkler that grows exponentially until Barry is thrown backwards by a firework with the force of a bomb. Even Taako himself, on the other side of the room, is flung against a wall by the power of the explosion, which is so great and so awe-inspiring that it takes a few moments for him to register what's happening.

Then there’s smoke, red and thick, wrapping itself around the tendril of the Hunger in the center of the room, which begins to explode in a mass of oranges and yellows and pinks. The dark, inky mass of the tendril turns white hot and subsequently erupts in flame, taking out all of the adversaries it brought with it. In its place is a lich, who hovers above the rubble caused by their breathtaking entrance, fire licking at their shadowy fingers. They’re wearing an IPRE robe, but Taako doesn’t know… how. He doesn’t know who this is. He doesn’t know who it possibly could be.

The lich wastes no time in rushing over to him, as if they know that Taako would run if they were not quick enough.

A woman’s voice so similar to his and yet so unfamiliar addresses him. “Do you remember me, Taako?” she asks, and she sounds so desperate.

His heart aches.

He wishes he could tell her that he knows her, but she holds no spot in his memory. Even in her ghostly form, her shadowy face hidden by the hood of her robe, her grief overwhelms him. Something deep in his heart tells him that he does know her vaguely. An acquaintance, maybe. He doesn’t know. His mind feels empty and busy at the same time and he just… can’t think. And it’s not static, not deja vu, not easily glanced over like the Voidfish memories were. It’s just not there. It is hollowness and disconnect and confusion and just not there. Like a part of him that he can no longer identify has been taken and is now entirely out of his grasp.

“Taako?” she asks. She reaches out a translucent hand and grazes his face. She feels cold. “Say my name, Taako. Please.”

He opens his mouth and finds that he has no response.

This woman— this woman, hovering in front of him in her IPRE robe, this woman who sounds just like him, this woman who is insisting that Taako knows her— she should be familiar. He should know something about her. It would explain the robe, the seventh relic, the sister everyone seems to think he has, but it doesn’t… fit. He remembers only five other members of the IPRE. He remembers a childhood in which he fended for himself and only himself. He remembers Taako. Just Taako and no one else. That’s the way he likes it because that’s the way it’s always been.

But everyone else is claiming that isn’t the case.

His memories have returned. If all of them aren’t there by now, they’re not coming back.

And Taako, no matter how hard he tries, no matter how much he racks his brain, no matter how deeply he wants to tell this woman that he remembers her and he loves her and he’s so happy to see her, he cannot comprehend having a twin sister. To lie and to tell her that he knows her, or to even say that he truly believes they’re twins, is cruelty he can’t bring himself to commit.

He gazes into the blackness beneath the woman’s hood. She smells of smoke and emanates heat, despite her bitter touch.

“I’m your sister, Taako,” she tells him, her voice breaking. “You know me better than anyone else. Say my name.”

He can’t tell her that he doesn’t have a sister. He can’t tell her that he knows her, either. He remains silent and wide-eyed.

He takes in this woman before him— all shadow, all smoke, all fire and darkness and red electricity and, most of all, warmth— and he lowers her hood.

Her features are difficult to make out. They’re obscured by the black smoke she seems to be comprised of, and which all liches are comprised of. Semi-physical, semi-transparent smoke that has trouble sticking to one shape surrounding a skull in the center. He does see, however, a face that looks just like his. A nose like his. A mouth like his. Ears like his. The face she’s wearing is exactly like his but it’s not his and he can’t understand why that is. He tries to tell himself that this is his sister. He tries to convince himself that this is the one who he felt was missing his whole life, but now, when he thinks about it, did he ever truly feel like there was something missing or was he just lonely? He wants this to be his sister and he knows that she needs him to be her brother, but he also knows that they can’t be twins because they aren’t.

Surveying her features, looking into her eyes— they’re searching, desperate, they hold a spark of hope that’s quickly dwindling— he knows from somewhere within him that he made a terrible mistake.

“Taako,” she says again, a miserable whisper that would be inaudible if everyone around them were not so quiet. “I’m going to ask you one more time. Do you remember me?”

He can’t lie to her.

Taako stares at this woman who is fire, who is love, who is warmth and passion, who is strength, who is brilliance, who he innately knows holds all of these qualities and who just cannot be his sister.

In a trembling voice, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes, he tells her, “I wish I could remember you.”

She crumbles to the ground in a shaking heap of sobs and lets out a cry full of anguish and despair. In it, he hears her heart break.

Taako’s heart breaks with hers.

#the adventure zone #taz #taz fic #taako #lup #lillian writes stuff #long title but. s'all good #this uh. this took a while #i'd write it on and off and sometimes write whole scenes and other times write like. two #tbh this was mostly ready to go like 2 weeks ago but i was like. but i couldnt convince myself that it was ready #changed a few things and finally posted it #still not entirely happy w it but!!!!!! it good! #actually posting this here made me realize how much italicization this has #oof

[longestnight64448]

SongFic. Alice *George Weasley X Reader*

Tripping out

Spinning around

I'm underground, I fell down

I fell down

I couldn't believe that he was gone. My heart broke into lots of tiny little pieces the minute I saw no life in his eyes. I tripped over my own feet trying to get to him; I felt like my world was spinning, I collapsed next to him. I couldn't believe it. Not Fred, please not Fred. He had so much to live for. He was so fun loving and care free that he just couldn't die. Why would he be cruelly taken away from us? From George? From me? Tears were silently falling from my eyes. I saw George clutching on to Fred and I started to sob louder. I scooted next to George and he latched on to me, burying his head into my chest. We both wept until our eyes were blood shot and sore and then we kept crying. We just clung on to each other; never letting go. George and I knew what each other was going through. We only had each other now. George was his twin, his other half, and I was his best friend and his girlfriend of two years and five months. We both loved him dearly. He was the most important thing to both of us. No one could understand our heartache. I could hear the sobs of all the other Weasleys and I felt horrible for all of them, and I felt even worse for Molly and Arthur. But I needed to be selfish for once and focus on my pain and George's pain at this moment in time. When we fought the death eaters we were numb and pissed, to us every single one of them was the one who killed our Fred. Finally, Harry killed Lord Voldemort and I felt a small amount of relief wash over me; but other than that, all I felt was pain for the huge loss me and the Weasley family had. Why did he have to die? He didn't deserve to. I soon found George and we went to see Fred again. We clutched onto each other as we fell next to him, we were both exhausted but we still mourned our loss. Soon sleep caught up with me and George and we fell asleep wrapped up in each other's arms next to Fred.

I'm freaking out

So where am I now?

Upside down

And I can't stop it now

It can't stop me now

We were at the funeral. I was sitting next to George, clutching his hand. I didn't really listen to anything that was said. I was too caught up in my memories of me and Fred. The one when we pulled a prank on Snape and got a months' worth of detention, the one when we made a fool of Malfoy in the Great Hall, when we would sneak out of school to go to Hogsmeade for secret dates, when he first kissed me, when he first told me he loved me and when he would joke about us having an army of ginger babies. George nudged me, I looked at him through cloudy eyes, and he motioned to the podium. I shakily got up and made my way to it. I slowly turned around and faced everyone. I almost broke down. I was beginning to freak out. It's just hit me that this finalises that he's gone. I slowly opened my mouth and let my soft, broken voice be carried around the room.

"Fred Weasley is my best friend. We'd been best friends ever since he put mud in my hair so I locked him in the chicken coop, when we were four. Fred is by far one of the most amazing people I've ever met. He was fun loving, care free, caring, mischievous and completely mental." I choked back a sob. "Fred Weasley was the best friend anybody could ever have. He knew what to do to make you happy, to make you laugh and to make sure that you were never alone. In our final year of Hogwarts we soon realised that we cared about each other as more than friends." My voice broke a little. "It took a lot of wooing on his part to make me surrender our friendship for our beautiful relationship. He never gave up on me; he refused to think it was a crush. He believed we were soul mates; quickly enough he managed to prove that to me." Tears started to fall down my face. "He was an amazing boyfriend. He looked after me, he protected me and he loved me; as he never failed to remind me." I choked back a sob. I needed to end this quick before I broke down. I decided to say a phrase I always told him. "Fred Weasley, you utter crazy prankster, I love you, you bloody ginger fool."

My life seemed to turn upside down once Fred died. Nothing seemed the same anymore. I couldn't do the things I use to do because they would remind me of him; but weirdly enough I could look at and be around his twin fine. I had moved in with George after Fred died. I didn't want him to be alone and we're both going through a great loss so we could help support each other. We've been living together for about three months now. Everything's going fine with us. We're like we always were; except we're missing a piece of our three way puzzle. We joke around, create new products for the shop, talk about everything and nothing, work in the shop and bicker. Except we're missing our third element. Ever since we were four it's always been Fred, George and me. Well now it's just George and me. We're missing something vital, like we're missing a major organ or body part. And when that vital part was removed it took pieces of our hearts with it. We're dysfunctional without our third trouble maker. The thing is we're both fine with each other until we go to bed. We always seem to have an awkward silence when we're about to part. It's almost like we're scared that were gonna loose the other vital piece of us; and if we lost it we might just never survive.

I, I'll get by

I, I'll survive

When the world's crashing down

When I fall and hit the ground

I will turn myself around

Don't you try to stop it?

I, I won't cry

It's been nearly a year since Fred's death. Everything's going as close to normal as it's ever going to get. Christmas was horrible though. We went to the Burrow and it was terrible. I felt really bad for George because his mum could hardly look at him, but I comforted him and managed to make sure that Christmas was a reasonably okay affair. New Year was a little bad as well. We celebrated at the Burrow and George spent most the night avoiding his mum, so I spent the bells with him outside in the snow watching the fireworks. I'm surviving the ache in my heart now, it isn't as bad. I think being with George has helped me slowly recover from my world crashing down. I'd like to think that I've helped him too. I've looked after him, made sure he has someone to talk to and I've even protected him from himself. I don't think we could have survived this on our own, that's why I'm glad we have each other. I don't know what I'd do without George.

We had just been to the Burrow for Sunday dinner when we came home early. George had abruptly got up from the table and stormed out of the room. I heard him apparete so I apologised, excused us both and came back to the apartment. I heard him in his room so I went to talk to him. Once he saw me he blew up.

"I should have died that night, Alice! Not him! It should have been me! Then everybody would be happy! Mum wouldn't have to look at me and see Fred! You would be happy to have him back! My family wouldn't tip-toe around me! My dad wouldn't stare past me, acting as if I'm not there!"

Once those words left his mouth my eyes widened in shock and they grew angry. I started shouting at him.

"George Weasley! How dare you say those things! Don't you ever wish that it was you instead of Fred! Your family and I would still be the same if it had been you that died! Don't ever think like that! We all love you, just like we love Fred!"

"At least you would have Fred, Alice! Don't you want Fred?!"

"Yes I love Fred and I miss him! But George I'm glad I have you! You're my best friend! I love you! I would behave exactly the same if Fred was alive and you were died!" By this point we were face to face yelling at each other.

"You would be happier if I was Fred! Loving Fred is different from loving me!"

"I love you both! I'll always love Fred because he took a piece of my heart when he left us but you have the rest of it!"

"As a bloody friend, Alice. What's gonna happen when you meet a nice guy and I'm left all alone?" He said softly looking into my eyes.

"But I don't want to meet someone else. I'm happy here with you." I whispered.

We stared at each other for a few minutes. George seemed to be debating with himself and I'm sure my eyes showed hurt and determination. Suddenly George leaned down and captured my lips. He kissed me slowly and carefully, I slowly kissed him back. Kissing him was so much different that kissing Fred. With Fred I felt butterflies in my stomach and my body heat up, but with George it was like electricity was running throughout my whole body and all me senses just heightened; making everything seem new and exciting. Soon we were kissing roughly and passionately. We began to tear at each other's clothes and fell down on to his bed. We never stopped. We both knew that we shouldn't really be doing this; but it just felt so right, like it was okay for us to do this.

I found myself in Wonderland

Get back on my feet again

Is this real?

Is this pretended?

I'll take a stand until the end

George and I had been dating for about six months now and our relationship was helping to heal some of the remaining wounds of loosing Fred. We were starting to laugh and smile like we did when Fred was with us. We were happy for the first time in a long time. Everyone seemed to notice that we were healing; although when we first told everyone about our relationship some of them thought that it wasn't a good idea because we might just be doing it because we wanted each other to help numb the pain, not beat it. It took time but we managed to prove to them that our relationship was real and that we did have strong feelings for each other. We still both missed Fred but it got easier to talk about him without feeling lost and hollow. We would often talk about him laughing and smiling while we gazed into each other's eyes. Soon I started to feel love for George; not the love of a brother like when we were growing up, but the love of a lover. I noticed all the little things about him; and each time I noticed them they seemed to make the difference between him and Fred bigger. I didn't look at him and see George-who-looked-like-Fred, I saw George-who-looked-like-George. I was blissfully falling head over heels for George, and I think he was falling for me too. We couldn't go a day without each other. Both our worlds had turned the right way up. We did lots of things together and I felt almost whole again. I started to look better as well. My skin had gotten colour back into it, my short, straight blonde hair had its shine back and my caramel eyes had their glitter back. I had gained my curves back after hardly eating when Fred died. I didn't wear baggy, unflattering clothes anymore; I had gone back to wearing nice, unique summer dresses, jeans and bright coloured t-shirts again. I couldn't stop smiling, just like I used to. Everything was good again. I still wore the star bracelet Fred had given me for our second year anniversary; it was a reminder of him for me to look at every day. George even smiled when he looked down at the bracelet; knowing that I still loved his brother and missed him, but I was still going to live my life like Fred would have wanted me to. Sometimes at night, when I'm wrapped up in George's arms, when I'm just on the verge of sleep I can hear Fred telling me that it's okay, that he loves me and that he's glad that me and his twin are together. This clears my mind of any worry or guilt and I sleep peacefully cuddling into the man I love. Sometimes when we randomly kiss in the hallway and break apart we look to the side and see a picture of Fred watching us; smiling and winking. It always makes us smile. Tonight was one of the nights that I was wrapped up in George's arms and we were whispering sweet nothings to each other. In the back of my mind I could hear Fred telling me that he's glad I loved again.

"George." I whispered.

"Yeah." He stared into my eyes with love and adoration,

"I love you." I searched his eyes, hoping that he felt the same. He grinned down at me and I saw his eyes light up.

"I love you too." I smiled and cuddled into his chest and listened to his heartbeat; slowly drifting to sleep.

I, I'll get by

I, I'll survive

When the world's crashing down

When I'm falling hit the ground

I'll just turn myself around

Don't you try to stop me

I won't cry

It's been just over a year since me and George started dating. Just over two years since Fred died. We're both doing fine and we're happy. We're both madly in love with each other; and apparently it's really easy to notice. I'm up in the apartment while George is down tidying up the shop so that he doesn't have to do it in the morning. I suddenly didn't feel well. I haven't been feeling well for a while now. It's always at night and sometimes I'm sick but once I'm sick I'm fine. George just thinks that I'm eating weirdly or that I'm a bad cook but I'm quick to point out that he's okay when I make him something. Also I've noticed that my stomachs become a little bigger and firmer. I'm starting to think that I'm pregnant. I haven't voiced my suspicions to anybody yet but when I saw Molly and Ginny the other day they said I looked radiant. Molly even cornered me and asked if I was pregnant, so I have an appointment at St. Mungos' tomorrow morning when George is working; he thinks I'm going out for lunch with my mum. I was just about to take out the lasagne we were having for dinner when I ran to the toilet. It was horrible; the contents of my stomach rose up into my throat and soon sloshed its way down the toilet. I quickly flushed the toilet and wiped my mouth. I glanced at myself in the mirror, if I looked so radiant why did I feel like crap? I slowly made my way to down the hallway. I glanced at a picture of Fred and George when they were toddlers; they were chasing each other around a tree in the orchard. I smiled. If I was pregnant was I ready to deal with a mini-George? I think so. I grinned and then went into the kitchen to set up our dinner. George just entered the kitchen as I plated the dinner.

"Hey, love." He kissed my cheek and sat down. I smiled at him. "Have you been sick tonight?"

"Nope. Let's hope this lasagne is cooked right!" I lied; I didn't want him to worry or get suspicious.

I, I'll get by

I, I'll survive

When the world's crashing down

When I fall and hit the ground

I will turn myself around

Don't you try to stop me

I, I won't cry

I was currently in a hospital bed in a cosy room in St. Mungos'. The room smelt like George; like cinnamon and nutmeg, it reminded me of Christmas. I was breathing deeply and heavily. My mum, Molly and George were in the room. The rest of our families and friends were outside awaiting the news of the new baby Weasley. My mum and Molly were helping me with my breathing and trying to keep me calm. George was holding my hand; which I was crushing because of the pain of the contractions. The baby was almost ready to come out. The healers were on their way. Once they got me ready to giving birth my mum and Molly kept persuading me to push. I was exhausted from the twenty hours of being in the hospital with the damn contractions. Some of my hair was sticking to my head because of my sweating. I started to push and focus on my breathing. I was gripping on to George's hand; it could see his hand going white from lack of blood and his face screw up in pain but his eyes held nothing but fear, worry and excitement. He was on cloud nine ever since the minute he found out he was going to be a dad, needless to say so was I, except I was scared about having to push a little person out of my womb. I was grunting and cursing under my breath; this baby must have a massive head! The healers told me that it was nearly there; just a few more pushes. I looked at George and saw his eyes light up. I glared at him. "George Weasley, this is your entire fault! You just had to get me pregnant didn't you?!" I started panting and pushing. He laughed and kissed my forehead. Suddenly the voices of everyone in the room went silent and all I could hear were the screeching and crying coming from a newly born baby. I looked at George in wonder and he smiled at me and looked at the baby the healers were cleaning up. They put the baby on my chest as I gazed at it. "Congratulations! It's a healthy baby boy!"

I could feel tears fall down my face. I smiled and gazed at the beautiful baby boy that was on my chest. He had my button nose and eyes, George's lips and chin, and his head was cropped with a matt of bright ginger hair. I cradled the baby in my arms and looked at George. He had tears in his eyes; he looked so happy. I handed him our son. He gently took him in his hands and gazed lovingly at him. He looked up at me and grinned.

"I love you, Alice." He sat down on the side of my bed so that we could both gaze at our beautiful son.

"I love you too."

One of the healers came over with board in her hands. She smiled at us. "What will you are naming the baby?"

I smiled George as he smiled at me.

"Fred-" I said lovingly gazing at the blue bundle in George's arms.

"Arthur-" George said with pride. I could see Molly silently crying at my bed side.

"Weasley." We said at the same time. Both of us grinning like fools and kissing our little Fred on the forehead and then sharing a loving kiss. I don't think I've ever been so happy in my whole life. George and I had our Fred; we were whole again.

#george weasley x reader #george weasley imagine #imagine #songfic