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thistleation · 8 months

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Beyond our Space and Starlight: Chapter 3

1 year, 2 months, 8 days.

Ava had been able to get some sleep at least. She’d been moved to a cell with a bed that was…functional, but as if the stress of being confined again wasn’t enough, she’d also been woken up three times during the night.

(Medics, checking her vitals and if her blockers were working as intended.)

She’d walked into that cell on her own two legs, so obviously the connection to Halo was still present, but Ava wasn’t about to fill these people in on the details of that . Besides, she couldn’t seem to actively call on any power, so she wasn’t sure what use it would be, if any.

Her mind had been on escape of course, but she couldn’t see any way out, without her powers and confined to these stone walls.

Breakfast was kinda bland, but hey, it was breakfast at least. Her captors were apparently considerate enough to get some food in her before their first round of interrogation that morning.

Speaking off, it was the three of them together again this time — the girls she’d fought at the FBC compound. That was probably their entire roster of veil-touched, she gathered, or at least the ones currently on planet.

They weren’t in their combat gear, but they still wore the black robes, their heads still covered. It was a safe bet they still considered themselves to be nuns, their day (night?) job notwithstanding, they certainly dressed the part.

Ava had been cuffed again as soon as she was taken out of her cell, and brought to a different room than last time.

Similar vibe throughout the whole structure though, plain stone walls, sparse and spartan furnishing, a general atmosphere that said “we are too spiritual and sophisticated for anything so pedestrian as ‘fun’.”

Ava got to sit in the special chair, placed prominently in the center of the room, across from a plain looking desk.

Hands cuffed in front of her and not actually tied down to the chair though, it was a relatively polite affair she guessed? Or maybe they just didn’t consider Ava a real threat without her powers. A little hurtful, if likely accurate.

The three of them hovered around a seated Ava before tall, dark, and cheekbones — Lilith, Ava remembered cheerfully — spoke up.

“This is your sidearm,” she took it out from a container on the floor and placed it on the desk.

Ava nodded appreciatively.

“Its basis is a Manticore-5, that’s up to date military grade hardware, but it has an upgraded power core and its barrel accelerators are tweaked to match. Upgraded from top tier military grade.”

“Birthday present,” Ava smiled apologetically, “you know how friends are.”

Lilith shot her a glance, but continued without interruption, putting Ava’s backpack on the table next. She opened it to show the metallic pattern of the inner lining.

“This took us a bit, but Camilla” — the one with the black curls and the cheerful smile gave a little wave — “managed to figure out this is a dampening device. Specifically made to shield and contain the energies of an artifact. Much more compact than the technology we have for that and, according to Camilla’s current estimates, more efficient too.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t take that personally, I’m sure your science-y people worked very hard —”

“Save it. We know you’re working for Jillian Salvius.”

Ava snapped her fingers, “I knew I should’ve filed all those arq-tech logos off of my shit.”

“There are few enough players in this or any nearby constellations who can afford this sort of hardware, and only one specifically interested in — and equipped for — artifact dealings.”

Ava pushed out her lower jaw and raised her eyebrows.

“Sure… that sounds like a reasonable enough assumption.”

Lilith chuckled. “Do you want to dispute it?”

“No… no. Not at all. Just it seems less like you know I work for arq-tech and more like you’re inferring that I do.”

Ava worked for arq-tech, or rather, Jillian specifically. Of course she did. As her captors had very correctly concluded, there really weren’t many other possibilities given what they’d caught her doing and what kind of gear she’d brought to the party.

Was that going to stop her from being an insufferable bitch about it? Of course not. What a silly notion.

“There is no other reasonable explanation.”

“If you say so.”

“You’re saying you don’t work for arq-tech?”

Ava took a long pause for dramatic effect and gave it some exaggerated thought.

“No, no, let’s go with your version. Sounds like you put a lot of work into it.”

Lilith breathed deeply through her nose and took a step towards her.

“Lilith,” it was Beatrice, Ava recognized the voice behind her clearly, “she’s trying to rile you up.”

She glanced over her shoulder at the girl called Beatrice and gave her a wink. (Ooh, did she tense up a little from that?)

“Can you blame me though? She just makes it so easy.”

When she turned back she gave a start as Lilith’s face was suddenly right in front of hers, her hands on the chair to either side of Ava.

“Keep pushing me. See what happens.”

Oh, Ava very much wanted to keep pushing now. She met Lilith’s glare and clacked her teeth together, biting the air between them in challenge. Lilith narrowed her eyes and Ava was sure she was about to get punched, but her gaze flitted up to where Beatrice was standing and she controlled herself.

“Let’s change the subject for a moment,” Lilith pushed herself off, “why can’t we break your link?”

Ava pumped her eyebrows and grinned. “You’ve all met Halo, huh? I don’t know why that’s a thing, just that it is. Apparently it’s not the only thing that’s unusual about us.”

“You have to be able to break it somehow. If you were maintaining that link for months you’d be showing mutations, feathers, wings, iridescence, false-eyes, …”

“Maybe. Or maybe it’s different for me, what with being the Bright’s specialest little princess and all that.”

Lilith crossed her arms.

“Okay then, princess…”

Oh. Oh no . It was a mistake to put that word into Lilith’s mouth and Ava regretted it instantly as an interested tingle ran up her spine.

“Try this one on for size: your unbreakable link is currently our main logistical problem, because it’s too dangerous to have your kind of power on a ship in deep space. If we can’t break it, Mother Superion is suggesting we put you on a ship core-ward as soon as possible to try and get you as far along as we can before the blockers start failing, maybe put you into an artificial coma, dosed up to the gills for the rest of the way, and hope the massive overdose it takes to keep you sedated doesn’t do any permanent brain damage. Sound appealing to you?”

Fuck.

Yeah that was more or less what she was afraid of. She’d just been fishing to see if they’d already reached that conclusion.

“Okay, fine.”

She had to give them something, and admitting it would hopefully buy her some time if they believed they could negotiate their way into her giving it up instead.

“Yes. I can break the link myself if I want to.”

Lilith lifted her hands in a ‘there you go’ gesture. “Finally, some progress, that wasn’t so hard was it? I don’t suppose you’d be so kind as to do so for us now?”

“What, and give up my biggest bargaining chip?”

“I figured as much. Let’s do some easier ones first. Why can’t we sense you?”

Ava shrugged nonchalantly “I dunno, skill issue?”

Lilith’s face turned sour again and an irritated breath flared out her nostrils.

“I really don’t! I promise! I’m still new at this and I don’t really have a teacher, shocker!”

Lilith pinched the bridge of her nose, her expression hadn’t softened when Beatrice stepped in.

“If I might?”

Lilith nodded and Beatrice knelt down in front of Ava. They made eye contact and she seemed to be in a softer mood again.

“I believe you, Ava. I just have some questions to see if we can figure this out a little better if that’s okay with you?”

Ava considered for a second, then nodded.

“Alright. First, can you sense the three of us?”

Ava breathed for a moment and closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing. This was not her strong suit. “I think so… blockers are making it fuzzy but I can still feel the three of you, I think.” She pushed her focus a little harder, it was much harder for bright- and abyssal-touched to sense individuals on the opposing spectrum than their own kind, and Ava wasn’t very practiced at it, but with them right in the room with her it wasn’t too hard, even through the blockers.

She also sensed what was different between them.

“Sunshine and Lily-poo have cleaned up, but you’re still packing, aren’t you?”

Beatrice nodded and flared her power to illustrate. The already alluring darkness of her deep brown eyes intensified and the ghostly image of smooth, segmented armor, covering the agile and powerful form of something perhaps crustacean-like, swam through the air around her, just for a second, before fading.

“Again, actually, not still. Just before coming here to talk to you.”

“Too worried to face me without at least one rider in the room huh?”

Beatrice gave her a twinkling little smile. Ava imagined it might be the kind of smile she had before making a clever move in a game.

“I think it’s a very fair precaution, but I’ll happily take off mine if you take off yours.”

Fuck, was she flirting? Was that intentional? Ava was not ready to be counter flirted with by a bunch of nuns. Either way, she didn’t have an answer.

“Well,” Beatrice’s pleased little smile remained as she graciously continued, “If we’re still at that impasse, let’s continue instead. Could you do me a favor and pulse your power?”

Ava frowned. “I’m still on the blocker.”

“Just focus on channeling as you would to summon your power. Time it with your breathing, focus as hard as you can on the exhale, relax and stop channeling on the inhale. Could you try that for me?”

Ava nodded and gave it her best. Her actual power lay beyond her reach, but she found she could still call on the focus she’d otherwise use to channel — she just couldn’t do anything with it.

She kept this up for a while, until the exchanged looks between the sisters resulted in shaking heads all round.

“Hmmm. Curious. Your power exists in the same space as ours, you can sense us, we can affect each other, and I believe we could sense the powers you channeled when we fought — though it was admittedly a chaotic situation — but you yourself… you don’t give a blip.”

Ava looked away a little uncomfortably.

“Alright so now what?”

They all exchanged looks.

“Well we still have some more questions,” Beatrice said.

“Yeah, well I’m not feeling particularly eager to answer them for you.”

She was starting to feel an itch in the back of her mind. Sure, Beatrice was being gentle and treating her with kindness, but beyond this cooperation Ava could see the future that was looming.

“Your rider, Halo, as you call him. Is he the first rider you ever summoned?”

“No.”

“No, you’ve summoned others before?”

“No, I’m not answering any more questions until you offer me something better than you have been doing. You’re here threatening basically to kill me if I don’t cooperate, but if I do cooperate you’ll kill me anyway.”

Lilith sighed. “We’re not killing you, we’re sending you to the core, to a life of glamor and luxury I might add.”

“Might as well kill me. No. I want a better deal or me being any kind of cooperative ends right now.”

Lilith prowled around the desk in front of her. “Well if you’re refusing to cooperate, you may force us to explore more drastic ways of dealing with you. Like getting that image off your back for example.”

“Lilith, we already tried everything.” Camilla spoke up, some vaguely anxious undertone in her voice. “It’s not coming off.”

“We tried superficial methods,” Lilith said as she drew a knife, “We could just try going a little deeper.”

Ava’s eyes locked on Lilith.

She could feel the anger inside her begin to build, her learned response to being threatened with no way out. Like flames being called from everpresent embers in her soul, it was the anger of a trapped and lonely girl who could never ever run from the things that came to hurt her, who could only ever wait for the worst to come to pass.

“Do it,” it came out in a low growl under her breath first, but it swelled in force quickly.

“Do it then. Take your knife and cut me open.”

“Ava…” Beatrice’s voice came from the side but she was in no mood to listen.

“No, do it!” Ava was out of her chair now, “If me existing is such an inconvenience to you!”

She was up in Lilith’s face now, shouting, but it wasn’t just at her anymore. She was shouting at sister Frances, at the researchers, at all the people who’d abused her and treated her like a thing instead of a person, at a world that had only ever offered her slow misery with nothing but the promise of an even darker and more miserable end.

The anger inside burning her up, the only response she’d ever had blazing out of her: if it really was going to be only pain and suffering then just fucking get it over with already.

“Do it!

Take your knife and stab me in the back if you think it’ll get you ANYTHING but more blood on your hands!”

She shoved Lilith with her still cuffed hands.

“DO IT!”

Lilith moved in a blur. Ava’s legs got swiped out from underneath her and she smacked down hard onto the ground.

Lilith was on top of her inside of a second.

Ava knew what was about to happen, what had to happen. She’d physically challenged Lilith, made it so she couldn’t back down without looking weak in front of her friends. She’d known that before she’d pushed her, but she’d still done it because she couldn’t back down either, because she didn’t know how to respond to a threat she couldn’t fight with anything but rage.

The scene played out in her mind already, Lilith would flip her over onto her stomach and stab the knife into her back at the image of Halo. She could almost feel the cold steel pierce her flesh before it had ever touched her.

It was clear from the hardness in her eyes: Lilith would do it and it scared the shit out of her because Ava had no idea where she’d stop.

If she would stop.

Her heart was pounding like it was trying to find a way out of her chest. She was terrified.Her punishment was coming for her and she could not avoid it; all she could do was face it as it approached. She knew she’d scream as soon as the knife cut into her. She wouldn’t be able to hold it in, but she could hold it off until that moment. She wouldn’t scream yet .

Lilith’s glare bore down on her. She had her pinned to the floor, the flat of the blade pressed to her chest, and Ava held her gaze, trembling with rage and fear in equal parts.

Then something shifted.

Lilith’s eyes didn’t flit to Beatrice this time. Her expression didn’t soften into pity — although there might’ve been a hint of compassion.

More than anything, it read like a decision, a deliberate choice on Lilith’s part that this was not who she was, not who she was going to be. Not today.

She pulled away from Ava, the knife flicking away from its threatening position, and she stood up as everyone in the room exhaled.

“Wow! Okay!” Camilla took the center of the floor with a concerned smile and her hands out in placating fashion. “Clearly we just had an emotional moment there, maybe it’s a good idea to take a break so we can all process that for a bit, huh?”

CONT. on Ao3

#warrior nun #warrior nun fanfic #avatrice #ava x beatrice #fic: bosas #is it about time I start tagging this ava x beatrice x lilith?#maybe coming up on that yea given the uhm... scene #ava x beatrice x lilith

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eyfey · 3 months

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Hello! I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering how long you studied Japanese for until you became good enough to do manga translations? (Or fluently read manga at all, really 😔) I want to help contribute to projects like that, but I feel I still have a long way to go until then 🤧

so first off: sorry this took so long to reply to! when I first got the message I had exactly Zero free time, and then i simply forgor (whoops lol)

I actually already have a few posts sort of about this in my #translation tips tag, but it's been a hot minute so I might as well provide some updated info~

(under the readmore 'cause it's longggggggg)

How long have I studied Japanese?

A While. I had maybe a not so typical journey with Japanese... If you break it down it looks kinda like this:

4 years of watching a TON of anime to pick up basic vocab just by ear (this was in high school- I did not take any actual classes or even make any effort to learn the language at this point, but apparently I'm pretty good at just picking up things from hearing them)

4 1/2 years of actual Japanese classes in college (actual learning with like teachers and textbooks and homework)

1/2 year of study abroad that I managed to cram in before I graduated (additional classes and also constant speaking the language)

8 1/2 years since then (god has it really been that long???) (no actual like... studying during this time, but a LOT of translating... mostly Saiki)

So.... 13-ish years? if you don't count the first 4 that were just watching anime. And technically only 5 of them were actual "studying".

How long did I study before doing manga translating?

I, uh….. I actually started translating manga about a month BEFORE I ever took a single Japanese language class.

(not recommended but like… here I am lol)

I had found some volumes of Pyu to Fuku Jaguar(a gag manga I really liked but only had 3 volumes translated at the time) at a used bookstore, but they were in Japanese so I just kind of bought them, downloaded an english to japanese dictionary app, printed out a hiragana/katakana chart, and then just went through the book: looking up one letter at a time, sounding out words, looking them up in the dictionary. I already knew a lot of vocab and had a vague feel for grammar exclusively from watching anime, but like also there was a loooooooot of looking stuff up. I don't remember exactly how long it took to read that first volume (at least a month lol- maybe 2 or more)

I noticed the scan group for Pyu to Fuku Jaguar was updating really slow (and/or had notices that they needed more translators? I forget it's been over a decade lol) So I figured: I can understand this well enough just reading it on my own.... maybe I can help???? it's probably better than nothing right?? So I tried my hand at doing some translations and uploaded them to the newbie board of a manga translation side to have people proofread, and then I emailed the group to ask if I could join. If I remember correctly they only ended up posting one (or none) of my translations?? before disappearing so I just kind of kept doing the translations on my own without uploading them anywhere

and then later when a new group took over they had gotten my translations from the previous group (or was it the translation site where I uploaded some?) and credited me in the release, so I sent them a message like "hey neato! I actually have like 5 more translations done, u want em?" and ended up joining THAT group to continue working on the series!

I started taking classes p soon after starting the translations, and doing translation while taking classes was actually really nice 'cause I had a place to pretty much immediately apply the things I learned in class, and the translating outside of class gave me a lot of practice for reading & a good head start for learning new vocab.

Honestly I think for translating, being good at the language you're translating into is more important than being good at the language you're translating from. Like: you should still at least SORT of know the language you're translating from (that is an important part of it too don't get me wrong) But like even if someone is perfectly fluent in Japanese, if they're translating into English but don't know how to make words sound good in English, then it kind of defeats the purpose haha.

(reading a lot and paying close attention to wording and stuff, and also reviewing and revising your translations will help with that part of the translation process- it's also a skill you pick up as you go)

Tips for getting better at reading Japanese?

Honestly I think translating is one of the best ways to get better at Japanese (understanding and reading at least- it won't necessarily do much to help you remember how to write or speak haha) Reading is helpful to some extent, but you will probably get to a point where you understand enough of it to get the gist of whats happening, but then your brain will just sort of skim over a lot of the parts you don't know in the interest of enjoying the story without stopping. When you translate though, you're FORCED to stop and look up every word or phrase you don't know and double check things and sort of sit on them and think what it means and how you would say it in your own language.

If you're self motivated enough you can probably get some good learning out of language apps like duolinguo or babel or whatever, or even just buying Japanese textbooks/workbooks and going through them by yourself. Otherwise, taking Japanese classes is the standard approach (even if you don't go to a school where they offer Japanese classes, there are private options- just google Japanese classes or Japanese tutors online or in your area if you prefer in person)

This old post of mine has some more detailed tips for how to look things up, and some just general translating tips that I think are still p useful, but it pretty much boils down to "google everything you don't know until you know it"

also the 10ten extension is good for highlighting/translating individual japanese words in your browser (when they're written in kanji or kana) and the google translate app is good for taking pictures of text and reading it so you know what the dang kanji says (or you can hand write the kanji in there too- though I need to find a better kanji dictionary app 'cause google's doesn't really give you enough space to write)

Sorry this ended up WAY longer than I thought it would but I hope it helped!

Good luck!!

#translation tips #I had to look back at some very very old tumblr posts to check my dates #I have been on this website for an unfortunately long time #some of my posts are teenagers now and it scares me #it has also been 13 years since I started translating Jaguar and I am STILL translating it lolllll #very very extremely slowly- but I have not given up!!!! It is still getting done!!!!!#along with the help of some other very cool and very hard working scanlators!#I should really finish subbing the Jaguar movie sometime... I wonder if I still have the in progress files......

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nemoboi · 1 year

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Rewatching love live because it’s my comfort show of all time but now I can’t help but noticing plot holes. In the first season, they talk about how otonokizaka never had any idols before, but then we find out there was a group where everyone but nico quit, so why did everyone keep that a secret? I understand that the second and first years wouldn’t know, probably Hanayo at most would be aware, but not likely since that group never took off. However, principal Minami would know there’s been idols before and why would she lie about that? I kinda understand why Nozomi would leave that info out until the right moment is kinda in character for her and Eli probably didn’t care. Also when Honoka made the request to start a club, why did they wait until they had 6 people to tell them that there was already a club? I get it’s because they didn’t wanna introduce nico properly until episode 5, but it would make more sense if they asked them to join the already existing group right from the start.

Same thing with sunshine: why is Ruby the only one who knows about the old Aqours? They live in a small town where everyone knows everyone. Sure, they never got to the point where they perform at the firework festival, but word travels fast. Like for example when I first lived in a small town for 2 years, the kids there knew my name within a couple months. These girls have been in that town for their entire lives. On top of that, Chika and You are childhood friends with Kanan and it wouldn’t make sense for her to keep her idol activities a secret before they even knew they would fail. Logically, only Riko would be unaware (and probably Yohane because she lives in Numazu, not Uchiura). Another thing that’s been bothering me is that in the first episode, You mentions that a girl in her class tried to start an idol group before, but was shut down. Where is she? Wouldn’t she wanna join Aqours too? Also the thing about their school closing, I understand that it’s an all girl’s school because there’s no boys in love live, but wouldn’t they get more students if it was a co-ed school? Like where do the boys go? Are there no boys in Uchiura? Also why do they need 100 students to continue? I saw in a quick frame that the school’s maximum capacity is 100, but a school doesn’t need to be full in order to operate. Small schools with only one class per grade exist, especially in small areas. I personally went to a elementary school with 60 students, if I remember correctly there was about 8 in my grade, well that closed down and now that building is a high school with only one class per grade. And since Uranohoshi only accepted 1st year applications then about 30-40 would be enough students for one class. Otonokizaka only had one first year class in 2010 and that school’s in Tokyo. But maybe mr. Ohara just didn’t wanna invest in a school with less than maximum capacity, it is pretty common for highschoolers in a small town to have to travel to the next town for school after all

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greenbagjosh · 2 years

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19 August 1997 - flight home through JFK and Terminal 5, and a new school year

Tuesday 19 August 1997

Bonjour mesdames et messieurs! Today the 19th August 1997 is the final chapter of my work assignment in Europe for the year. It was quite a nice time working in Munich, and having the opportunity to visit some places in neighboring countries, some I have already been to, some I had not. If I had the opportunity to do something similar, would I do it? Certainly. Already I had posted my stories of Summer 1998, which I hope to put in Tumblr as well.

My plan for the 19th of August 1997, was to take the 11 AM flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle Aérogare 1 to New York JFK International, clear customs and then take a 4 PM Eastern flight to San Francisco where my parents would be waiting for me about 8 PM Pacific that evening. I would take the M8 to République and transfer to the M5 for Gare du Nord, and transfer to the RER B.

I woke up about 6:30 AM, took a shower, packed my bags, brought them down to the breakfast area, had my coffee, breadrolls, butter and jam, then walked with everything to the Ledru Rollin station. I managed to walk down the stairs to the ticket area. I bought a single ticket for the RER to CDG T1, then went through the gates and down the stairs to the M8 towards Balard, though I would actually alight at République. With luggage, Bastille is not at all the best station to make a transfer, République is better, same for Strasbourg St-Denis with the M4. At Gare du Nord, it seemed a bit daunting, with luggage to go upstairs to the RER gates, but I made it to the platform where the RER B and D lines go to CDG T2 and Orry la Ville Coye, respectively. The RER B that arrived, was a stopping train, so it stopped everywhere up to Villepinte and Parc des Expositions, even the underground Sevran-Beaudottes.

At CDG T1, there was no so-called RoissyVAL, that was under construction. Instead, I had to leave the fare gates and board a bus to Aérogare 1. The bus arrived at Aérogare 1, and that was where I had to check in my big black bag on the TWA flight to New York JFK. After that, I was free to stroll around the terminal until it would be time to go through the Schengen checkpoint as well as the carry-on luggage x-ray. What did I do before that? There was a record store that I found, outside of the security zone, and I was able to find a couple of audio cassettes that I had my eyes on. One was "Superflu" by Pascal Obispo. The other was "Sahra" by Khaled with the single "Aicha" - "Aicha, Aicha, écoutes-moi!".

Security went by fairly smoothly. I had my radio with me and had a blank audio cassette. The song by Olive, "You're not alone" was heard, and recorded, although with some FM reception static. I had considered buying the CD single, but thought, maybe the single will be available in the USA a few months onwards (which it was). Then I had my passport stamped with the Schengen exit stamp, the one that is a rounded rectangle. Then I went underground to the satellite terminal where the plane would board at. I think the plane boarded around 10:30 AM. It was a Boeing 747 if I remember correctly. Back then I was in the economy class, tolerable. Going from Europe to the USA, the food is better than from the USA to Europe. So it was not a bad flight. For the inflight movie, they had "Liar, Liar" starring Jim Carrey, Maura Tierney, Jennifer Tilly and Swoozie Kurtz. The man who played the judge, Jason Bernard, passed away just right after filming.

About 2 PM Eastern, the flight touched down at JFK Airport. It ended at the international terminal 5, which was demolished in the mid-2000s as TWA went out of business. I cleared American customs without much incident, if any. The checked bag was put on the transfer belt for San Francisco. I had to go to Terminal 6 for the domestic flight to SFO. I did remember the upper floor and the walkway. The terminal was quite interesting prior to its demolition.

About 4 PM, I boarded the flight to SFO. It was on a Boeing 767. I cannot remember that flight too well, other than it was about six hours long. I was feeling excited to be returning home in a way, in another way I was sad to have to leave Europe, but I had to attend another year at university. About 8 PM the flight touched down at SFO in Terminal 1 (not 3 as that would be United Airlines), then I met my parents at the gate. This was still possible in 1997. I was happy to be back in California. I collected my black bag in the baggage return, and we went to the green Jetta which was parked in the big parking structure. We went the usual way home, and I told my parents about the time I was there, which places I went, and how much I enjoyed working in Germany. We might have arrived home by 9 PM and I went to sleep in the guest room with the big glass window facing the backyard.

I was set to return to Chico State University on the 22nd August 1997. The Scirocco was ready for me to drive to Chico, I just had to load up and drive the four hours north. I made a stop in Vacaville for some food. Then the 1997-1998 school year started. Of the following courses, I took - Computer logic design (actually a writing course tailored for IT students) - Operating Systems programming in C++ - Java programming - human genetics thematic course, last of three thematic courses required for a Bachelor's degree, lots of essay writing

I considered taking French but I already had a large courseload that semester. In Spring 1998 I considered taking first semester Italian but I did not do that until Fall 1998.

Spring 1998 I took - Computer programming languages overview (very abstract, no real programming actually involved) - Computer graphics programming using C++ and high-end Unix boxes, I think Silicon Graphics - Statistics and Probability, my final mathematics course for the Bachelor's degree, gave my calculator a workout with factorials, nCr and nPr, p and q. - Islam as a non-western course, required for a Bachelor's degree - as a practical usage of the Computer Science degree, I did some temporary work for one of the student placement agencies, to design a website, and I received a semester credit for that. They also helped me with my Summer 1998 placement at the same company I worked for in Summer 1997, and a permit by the Arbeitsamt in Germany for under 13 weeks.

And in Summer, that is, 26th May to 18th August 1998, I visited - Paris, La Défense - Munich, Nuremberg, Fürth, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald and Scharnitz(A) where I did not need to use my passport anymore - Plattling, Bayerisch Eisenstein-Zelezna Rudá, Pilsen, Prague - Salzburg, Berchtesgaden - Brecherspitz with work colleagues - Berlin, Frankfurt an der Oder, Slubice(PL), and back to Munich via Leipzig and Nuremberg - Eagle's Nest / Kehlsteinhaus - Zürich, Milan, Bolzano/Bozen - Vienna, Budapest - Zürich for the Street Parade - Paris, Lyon - and back home on the 18th August through St. Louis Lambert (STL).

Well that is all for the Summer 1997, and there will be a few adventures here and there for Fall 1997 and Spring 1998 yet to come. Thank you to everyone who enjoyed my Summer 1997 stories. I also have some for November 2002. Hope you will join me then.

Goodbye for now! Au revoir! Auf wiedersehen! Uuf Wiederluäge! Servus! Arrivederci! Ahoj!

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illumilu · 3 years

Text

there’s only one bed” - illumi zoldyck x reader

a/n: a very stereotypical cliche for fanfics, but, yk what? cringe makes the world go round. so here, have my drabbling of what would happen if you were to spend an unwanted night in the same hotel bed as the adultrio. i feel like i may have made this way too long again, but who cares?? this time it’s with illumi! aka loml ...

summary: after a lengthy car trip, you arrive at the hotel with illumi, but to your horror (wink wink), there’s only one bed. including: you dreaming abt him when he’s literally right in front of you (embarrassing). this is part two of a three-part series, with the adultrio. hisoka is already written and chrollo will be coming soon!

warnings: no particular trigger warnings, lowercase intended, a lot of fluff! and cuddling! only on your part though, since illumi is basically awkwardness personified... no nsfw <3

illumi zoldyck:

- the trip to the hotel had taken 6 hours. 6 hours in which you had fallen asleep multiple times, cramped your legs, somehow made every sleeping position dangerously uncomfortable, cracked your neck and twisted your back, possibly to the point of no return.

- for mr zoldyck, or rather, “illumi”, as he had instructed you to call him, the trip was no problem. his upbringing, which consisted of mainly torture, included staying awake for as long as a fortnight at a time. 6 hours may as well have been a few minutes.

- “the silent son of the zoldycks” was his reputational nickname, or, rather, “lifeless koi fish”, as your friend, hisoka, enjoyed calling him. either way, illumi was not going to let a car ride tire him.

- when you had first met him, he had scared you. a lot. the entire “trained dangerous traumatised assassin” storyline was one that felt like a threat. you were undoubtedly taking a risk by working with him, but it was one you were willing to; it may have been twisted, but murder was your forte, and you were searching for a partner.

- over time, you had grown to be less intimidated by him.

- you were now colleagues with him, working on a new assassination.

- shockingly, planning murder took time, and who better to plan it with than the assassin himself? you had spent the past day on a “business trip”, paid for by illumi’s grandfather, where you sized up the area and familiarised yourself with yorknew.

- all for the big night.

- tonight was the day before the murder of the ten dons.

- illumi and kalluto would carry out the murder, while you made sure everything went smoothly, via a small mic attached to his clothes. the entire operation was based on trust, and would therefore be executed like clockwork.

- you had taken the necessary mental images and kept the targets in mind; all that was left was a night at a pre-booked hotel and then it would be go-time.

- you had assumed that the hotel would be high-class, with doormen, perhaps some marble flooring and pillars - it was the zoldycks who were paying, after all, and you knew they had money to spare.

- “we’re here.” illumi stated blankly, face reflecting in the window. admittedly, he did look a little bit like a koi fish.

- you nudged past him to look out of the window, leaning over to get a good view.

- oh.

- it seemed you had made quite the overestimation. it was a simple, plain building with a few stories. no doormen or extravagance could be sighted.

- you supposed keeping a low profile was important, but the depressing accommodation was somehow making you wearier.

- the two of you didn’t exchange any conversation on the way up to your room, but you were used to that.

- you and illumi had met around 5 months ago, and most of it had been comfortable silence. you hadn’t expected it to be like that - in all honesty, you had expected him to kill you - but illumi seemed... calm around you.

- it was probably because you shared such an odd passion with him; the logistics of murder. you assumed it gave him a chance to loosen his harsh demeanour and enjoy himself. the both of you had worked on multiple murders together, focusing on theory and planning, but this was a huge assassination. nevertheless, you knew he could pull it off; illumi was smart, you had to give him that.

- finally, you arrived at your hotel room, sighing from the lengthy stairway winding up to your unnecessarily high room. you assumed it was for safety purposes, but for god’s sake; why did safety have to be so enervating?

- illumi pushed the door open, and you walked in with him. finally, you could catch some rest.

- except, you couldn’t.

- a singular bed placed in the middle of the room.

- “why.” you thought to yourself tiredly.

- you stood there silently, waiting for him to say something.

- then, you remembered that he was illumi. he obviously wouldn’t see anything wrong with the situation.

- the bastard.

- it didn’t help that he gave you no visible reaction when you stared at him with your face scrunched up expectantly, as if to ask what his plan was.

- “is there a problem, y/n?” illumi asked, his tone flat as usual.

- you took a deep, worn out breath, clearing your throat.

- after a bit, you shook your head. this was strictly professional. illumi wouldn’t do anything, because he was illumi. nothing would happen.this was an important night, where rest and a clear mind were essential. blame it on the fatigue, and nothing else. you were just exhausted. there was nothing else to it. nothing.

- “no. i’m just a little tired.” you dismissed.

- a silence skimmed past.

- “my grandfather... he often tends to be absentminded. occasionally, he forgets to do certain things, or plan them correctly, i suppose. you could say this is a prime example of such.”

- “zeno forgot another goddamn bed, hm?” you laughed nervously.

- illumi stared at you once again, blinking a few times, in a methodical manner, face neutral and robotic. you smiled awkwardly and remembered that he was not one to laugh at jokes. or anything, for that matter.

- you wondered if he laughed at bloodshed. or maybe hisoka.

- “i’m going to... go to set up my stuff now.”

- turning your back to illumi, you winced at the uncomfortable air. even after all your time with him, you never learnt to stop trying to lighten the mood. the mood was literally just always unnatural, in some way. that was another one of illumi’s specialties.

- after some time, in which you had finalized tomorrow's plan and each changed into comfortable clothes, you watched illumi tie his hair up from across the room.

- his hair had always fascinated you.

- you had always wanted to touch it. honestly, even when you had first met him, apart from his magnetic eyes, you had been drawn to his hair. you imagined it felt like silk sheets, caressing over one’s hands as smoothly as honey. you were glad he grew it out; in fact, upon seeing his teenage photos, you had laughed so hard you ended up getting a nosebleed from hitting your face. illumi had been left in confusion for a while.

- you realized how random you sounded. why were you reminiscing so much?

- shaking yourself back to your senses, you admired as he artfully twisted his hair into a loose bun, strands of hair cupping his elegant, pale face.

- what a beautiful koi fish.

- most people couldn’t compute that illumi had true, human feelings. after all, it would be hard to believe a man like him felt anything. but, of course, he did, unhealthily so. he channeled all his trauma and hurt into his villainy, and received happiness from his villainy, anger from his villainy and occasionally fear from his villainy. however, there was one emotion he could never grasp. he hated himself for it, but soon realised he could manipulate his hatred into villainy, too.

- illumi was a man who could manipulate anyone or anything he wished.

- except himself.

- internally, he had always felt at a loss whenever he confronted his emotions. but, after he had met you, something had changed. as he caught you staring at his hair through the hotel mirror, he couldn’t help but feel something small stir inside of his stomach. not evil, not happiness, not hatred, not anger. perhaps, friendship?

- this tinge of new emotion inside of him initially made him feel uneasy, but that worry morphed into giddiness, a childish high buzzing somewhere in his core.

- eventually, he stood up to face you and suggested going to sleep. you checked the time on the wall clock. 8 in the evening. well, illumi had always been particular. you agreed that rest was essential for tomorrow.

- you hesitantly took the left side, and, upon seeing your choice, illumi followed to lie on the right.

- after a few minutes, you looked back at him, noticing illumi fell asleep abnormally quickly. you furrowed your brow quizzically at the rock-like manner he was in. frankly, he looked like a plank when he slept. you almost laughed, but held it in for his sake.

- he had a very specific sleep schedule, as did the other zoldycks. he could go to sleep immediately at his own command, and stayed perfectly still as he did so. he woke up at 5 in the morning every single day, without fail, almost like he had some sort of alarm clock planted in his body.

- looking at him lying there like a block, you smiled softly. illumi was quite the conundrum to you. you often speculated whether he ever got what he deserved; love, affection, anything really. you knew about his past from when he had told you nonchalantly, within a few weeks of your acquaintance. you always hoped he’d find someone to love him, but doubted whether people would bother looking beyond his bleak surface, and into his excellent mind. lost in thought, you found yourself getting drowsier. you also fell asleep generally quickly, limbs aching from the stupid car ride.

- the night passed.

- illumi was the first to wake up at 5am, stoic and in the same place he had fallen asleep in. no surprise there.

- but you.

- that was the first thing he saw when his eyes opened.

- he did not expect you to be lying on him lazily, snuggling into his body, arm and leg comfortably wrapped around his side. you were breathing lightly, face burrowing onto the ridge of his chest.

- i suppose you didn’t expect to be there either, which he realized, but the point still remained.

- why were on you his chest.

- “y/n.”

- no answer.

- illumi could have pushed you away; in fact, he could have blown you 983 metres away (his personal record).

- but he didn’t.

- it wasn’t the thought of disturbing your comfort that stopped illumi from hurling you into oblivion. it wasn’t the fact that he explicitly enjoyed it, either. he remembered that the mission was today; if he were to wake you, and you hadn’t slept enough, you wouldn’t be at your upmost performance.

- the murder of the ten dons was his priority, right? yes. it was. there was no doubt about it. that was the only and final reason he wouldn’t wake you. end of discussion.

- so, illumi stayed there, waiting for you to wake up and get off of him. 30 minutes passed, and he watched you for every single one.

- hard as it was to admit, watching you rise and fall in sync with his chest made the spark of emotion in his core grow fervently. what had that foreign feeling been? yesterday, he had settled at friendship, but now he wasn’t so sure.

- you looked so peaceful while you slept. less confusing. he remembered the time you had accidentally complimented his hair when the two of you had first met. he had found that amusing. he remembered the time you got a nosebleed from hitting your face too hard - it was after laughing at his teenage pictures, which perplexed him greatly. he remembered the times you two had sat together, working and theorizing on missions, accidentally meeting eyes or brushing hands. one time, you had dipped one of his pins in ink and scratched his name on some paper “for fun”. you had handed it to him and, for some unknown reason, the scrap was still tucked safely in his wallet. your unrivaled intelligence, your idiotic sense of humour, your smile, your lack of common sense, your twinkling eyes that so ironically contrasted his, everything. everything crossed his mind while he lay there.

- illumi found it strange how people remembered the oddest things at the oddest times.

- why did he think of that now, as you were sleeping? even worse, on the day of a meticulously planned assassination. why couldn’t he manipulate his emotions to stop fluctuating around you so much?

- it all frustrated him.

- why had he let you call him by “illumi” so quickly? mr zoldyck would have been fine. and why had he been so lenient with your antics? no one else got to touch his pins. why did he feel like keeping you on his chest forever, and keeping you safe? most importantly, why was he thinking about you so much?

- his contemplation came to a halt when he heard you stir a little in your sleep.

- finally, you’d wake up and he could forget about this entire problem.

- he watched you, expecting you to get up soon.

- you began shuffling around, brushing against his chest, and soon your eyes fluttered open, hazy and glazed over. it almost seemed like you were still in a dream, in some sort of half-sleep.

- “huh?” you whispered quietly, still lying on illumi. you looked up lazily, meeting eyes with him.

- “oh... i get it...” you hummed quietly, falling back onto his chest.

- he furrowed his brows.

- “why are you here?” you hugged him from the side, softly laughing at your ridiculous dream. he tensed up at you embracing him, but soon relaxed after realizing what was going on.

- illumi looked at you, one eyebrow raised. did you... think you were dreaming?

- to be honest, he found it kind of entertaining, the way you were fawning over him. if he let you stay there, he could figure out a lot of things about his newly found emotion. it could be worth it. just not today.

- illumi came back to his senses fairly quickly; you were obviously awake now, so why couldn’t you get off of him already?

- “y/n.”

- “mmm? what? so serious all the damn timeee, illum-”

- “you aren’t dreaming. get off.”

- SHIT

- SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT

- you jolted off him immediately, staring down at illumi zoldyck.

- the real illumi zoldyck.

- oh my god what. what. what. what.

- every nerve in your body began to panic, and, in the stress of trying to find the correct words to say, you just ended up making some sort of incomputable “aaaahhh” noise and jumping off the bed.

- illumi had finally gotten up and was now staring concernedly at you.

- an awkward pause.

- “let me just start by saying i did not-”

- “y/n. we have more pressing priorities for today. i don’t care.”

- illumi zoldyck had lied. even to himself. he did care. and so what if he ignored it until it festered so intensely inside of him he couldn’t do anything but tell you? he cared about you. and he knew it.

- “ok. you’re right. you’re right! illumi. one question. was i like that the whole night?”

- “i don’t know. i woke up at 5 and you were there.”

- you looked at the clock. it was 6am? what had he been doing for an hour? you opened your mouth to ask but closed it soon after. you recalled your thoughts about illumi growing up void of affection, or love, or appreciation.

- some questions were best left unanswered.

- “how long was i... mumbling like that?”

- “a few minutes.”

- you gulped. there were a few things you had to come to terms with. shutting your eyes firmly, you apologised profusely, annoyed at yourself.

- “y/n. i don’t care.” he lied once again.

- “you’re right!” you rambled - “the ten dons are today! it doesn’t matter what i said... none of it matters, we can both just forget it!”

- you sounded like you were trying to convince yourself more than anyone.

- “so all we need to do is go over the plan one last time, get kalluto, and then we’ll carry it out, and soon enou-”

- “stop it. you’re wasting time. just go and get ready.”

- you sighed and smiled weakly. on the inside, you were sure your soul had died a little.

- while you left to change, overcome by embarrassment, illumi lingered by the bed for a few seconds. he tried to push down whatever he was currently feeling, but it was no use. the feeling in his core had risen up to his throat, a burst of something waiting to leave his lips.

- for the first time in a while, illumi zoldyck smiled. not at murder, or at power, or fulfillment, or achievement, or even villainy.

- illumi zoldyck had smiled at the thought of you.

- let’s just say illumi had trouble focusing on his mission.

i am honestly so fucking sorry you had to read that whole thing. the way i am literally in love with illumi zoldyck and ended up writing 2857 words bye bye bye i’m so sorry!!! PLZ what?? anyways,, i feel like i heavily underwrote hisoka now, since i did such a prologue thing for this! honestly i feel like this one came out a little boring, im sorry again AAAAA just agh; chrollo should b coming when i have time but i have exams rn so idkkkk hh

either way, likes or reblogs or whatever are super appreciated, but don’t feel forced to or anything! either way, i feel like no one’s gonna see this with my reach LMAOO but anyways thank you for reading, if you made it here! feedback and tips for writing on here are always helpful :)

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falcqns · 3 years

Text

the art of mending a broken heart

Pairing: Henry Cavill (Enola Holmes era) x Reader

Summary: After a long day on set, you explode at Henry, with unintended consequences.

Warnings: angst, fluff, first kiss, hints of beginning of ddlg relationship, self care

the art of mending a broken heart

it had been a long 19 hours. 19 hours of sitting in your stuffy and uncomfortable Victorian era clothes, filming Enola Holmes. You had been here since 5 am, and it was nearing midnight. You hadn't eaten since 1, maybe 2? The exact time didn't matter.

Your back, legs, ankles, and feet hurt, you felt an exhaustion headache coming on, and were insanely thirsty. You were all around done.

Thankfully, you were on your last scene of the day. It was a kissing scene with Henry, and the director said it wouldn't take longer than 30 minutes to film.

But, when you arrived to set, you knew that wouldn't be the case.

Henry had been there just as long as you had, but he was extremely giggly and happy due to being so tired, instead of angry and emotional. You had begun to avoid him around 5 pm, when he couldn't stop poking you and laughing loudly while you were trying to go over lines.

The second he saw you, he ran over to you, and hugged you.

“I missed you,” He whined.

“Well, if you hadn't annoyed me to the ends of the earth I wouldn't have avoided you,” You said. He chuckled, and pulled away when the director called the two of you over.

The scene was blocked quickly, and you moved on to filming.

There was no dialogue, and all Henry had to do was pull you to him, and kiss you. That’s all.

But of course, he was absolutely delirious, so nothing went right.

Either he would pull you so hard that you almost knocked him over, or you’d be halfway through filming the kiss, and he’d burst out laughing, which caused everyone else to laugh.

You, however, weren't laughing. You managed to hold it together, until the 17th take.

He pulled his lips off of yours, giggling and you lost your mind.

“WOULD YOU FUCKING STOP!” You screamed.

He looked at you with an unreadable expression on his face.

The director, noticing how you were feeling, called action once more, and this time it went smoothly.

He pulled you to him correctly, and didn't laugh when he kissed you.

The director yelled cut, and said that you two were done for the day. You immediately stormed away from Henry, attempting to hold yourself together.

As soon as the door to your trailer closed, you were sobbing and pulling off your costume.

You had just dressed into your pyjamas, your grey sweatpants and a yellow sweatshirt, when Henry came storming into your trailer, still dressed as Sherlock.

He said nothing, but pulled you to him, and pressed a crushing kiss to your lips. You didn't have time to kiss back, because it ended as soon as it started.

Now, it was his turn to yell at you.

“DON’T BE SUCH A FUCKING BRAT!” He screamed, and he stormed out.

Immediately, you started sobbing once more. You grabbed your purse, and headed out.

You never stopped crying. You cried the whole way home, when you were getting your water bottle ready for the night, and even when you were laying in bed.

You tried calling your mom, but she just said that you were exhausted and needed sleep. You wanted to text Henry, but wanted to give him time to cool down.

He wasn’t faring much better. He had managed to get him and Kal ready for bed before he broke down. He flopped down on the bed, and motioned for Kal to jump up beside him. Kal usually slept on his own bed, which was actually a toddler race car bed, but Henry needed his comfort.

Kal snuggled himself next to Henry, his head resting on his chest.

Henry didn’t know why you acted like that, and wondered if he should check on you. He heard you start to sob the second he walked out of your trailer and regretted yelling at you like that.

He picked up his phone and called you, but you didn't pick up.

“Hey, Y/N,” He said when the voicemail beeped. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you like that. God, I feel horrible and I know you're upset and I hate that it’s because of me. I’m sorry for forcing myself on you like that, I shouldn't have. Baby, please call me back,” He said, accidentally calling you baby.

He hung up, and drifted off to sleep wishing he was holding you in his arms instead of Kal, as much as he loved him.

You woke up the next morning and listened to his voicemail. Your stomach fluttered when he called you baby, and as much as you wanted to call him back, you were still hurt from the way he yelled at you.

He had never yelled at you before. You had known each other almost 8 months at this point, and he had never even gotten annoyed at you.

You opted not to call hum back, and spent the rest of the day in bed, occasionally breaking down in tears when you saw something that reminded you of Henry.

You were thankful, now more than ever, that filming was taking a two week break. You didn't have to worry about facing Henry for two whole weeks, and you were very happy about that.

The first week of the break was rough. Whenever you became bored, you found yourself reaching for your phone to call him, but always caught yourself in time.

Henry however, didn't stop texting and calling. He wanted to make sure you were okay, and the more you didn't respond, the more worried he became.

It was Friday night, and he had had enough. Thankfully, one of his brothers were in town, and offered to watch Kal so he could sort things out with you.

He texted you to let you know he was on his way, and wasn't surprised you didn't answer.

The second his car was turned off, he was running towards your apartment block.

He pounded on the door, and became anxious when you didn't answer. He tried calling you, no answer. He tried texting you, FaceTiming you, hatred everything. You didn't answer.

He was running his hands through his hair, and wondering what to do when he remembered you had a spare key under the rug. He grabbed it, and let himself in.

Your apartment was oddly quiet. Usually you had YouTube or Netflix playing, since you hated silence.

He took his shoes off, and nervously made his way to your bedroom, scared of what he would find.

He opened your door gently, and saw you in a lump under your covers, asleep.

He approached you, and lifted the covers off of your face. His heart broke.

It was painfully obvious you hadn't stopped crying since he yelled at you. Your eyes were so swollen, he was amazed you were able to even see. Your cheeks were also red and swollen from you wiping them constantly. Your lips looked dry and cracked as well.

He ran his hand through your hair, in an attempt to wake you up so he could apologize. Your eyes opened, and immediately welled up with tears when you noticed him.

“H-Henr-” Was all you managed out before he cut you off.

“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry,” He said, pulling you out of the bed and onto the floor. You landed in between his legs and his arms wrapped around you, squeezing you to his chest. His hand ran up and down your back, and into your hair in an attempt to soothe you. “I am so sorry I yelled at you like that. I didn't mean it, angel,” He whispered, unable to keep his tear at bay when he heard you grip his shirt and begin to sob again.

He unraveled himself from you, and pulled you to stand with him.

“Honey, have you left your bed at all this week?” He asked softly, not wanting to upset you further.

You shook your head. “Only to go to the bathroom and eat a little.”

He smiled and lifted you up, carrying you to the bathroom.

“Let’s get you into a nice bubble bath, and some food into you okay?” He said, as he sat you on the counter.

You nodded, watching him move around the bathroom.

He filled up the bathtub, and adding your favourite lavender bubble bath. Once it was full he turned to you.

“Okay, love. Get undressed, and call for me once you're in okay? I’ll take care of everything.” He said, giving you a smile before he pulled you into a comforting hug.

You nodded, and he left the room.

You got yourself into the warm and inviting bath, and called out for him once your body was hidden by the bubbles.

He walked back in and sat next to you.

“Sit up, sweetie, so I can wash your hair,” he whispered, reaching behind you to grab your shampoo. You sat up, and crossed your arms in front of you, and pulling your knees to your chest. You barely had any energy, and just wanted to sleep, but you knew Henry would rest until you were taken care of.

Henry gently found a bucket you had for when your little siblings where visiting, and began to wet your hair.

As he massaged your shampoo into your scalp, your eyes drifted shut.

“Baby, you need to stay awake.”

You shook your head in defiance. “Too tired.” You breathed out.

“I know, sweet girl, but I’m almost done okay?” He said. You managed to nod.

He finished up quick, and pulled the plug on the tub before telling you he’d go and get you your clothes for you. He placed a fluffy towel and your robe beside you before he left.

Once you were all dry in your robe, you ventured out to where Henry was. He had pulled out a t shirt and shorts for you.

“I thought I’d let you pick out the rest,” He said. He walked closer and pulled you into a hug.

“I’m going to go and make you something to eat, okay?” He whispered. You nodded and watched him give you one last smile before he left the room.

You quickly got dressed, and headed out to the kitchen. He smiled at you when you walked in, but it quickly faded when he saw truly how tired you were.

He walked over to you and picked you up once more. Your head immediately went to his neck, and you nuzzled into his warmth. He carried you over to the counter, and sat you atop it, allowing you to keep close to him, while he cut up strawberries for you.

He tossed the cut up strawberries on to your plate with you grapes and other assorted food.

He lifted you again, and took you to the couch. He turned on Brooklyn Nine Nine for you, and quickly returned with your food, and a glass of what you assumed to be milk.

He sat down next to you and tugged you into his lap. You protested slightly but he immediately shushed you.

“Let me take care of you, okay?” He whispered and you nodded. He placed the plate in your lap, and eyed you carefully to ensure you were eating. You finished half the plate before reaching for your milk.

Taking a skip, it was surprisingly warm. You downed it quickly before curling up into Henry.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” You whispered. “I’m sorry I yelled at you like that.”

He moved your head to you could make eye contact with him.

“No, honey, I’m sorry for yelling. I didn't realize you were so tired and emotional. I’m so sorry sweetheart,” He whispered, and pressed a loving kiss to your forehead. “I’m also sorry I kissed you like that. I don't know what came over me, other than I was mad and I needed to kiss you. I never wanted you to feel uncomfortable. I really do apologize.”

You shifted more.

“I liked the kiss. I was annoyed because I thought I was doing something wrong while we were filming and that it was funny to you. When you kissed me in the trailer, I wanted to kiss back, but you didn't give me a chance, that’s why I was crying,” You said, tears welling up in your eyes once more.

He tugged you closer, and pressed another, more gentle kiss to your lips. Your stomach fluttered, and you immediately kissed back.

You went to deepen the kiss, but he pulled away. “Not yet, baby. Let’s go to bed, okay?” He whispered in your ear, and you nodded.

He stood the two of you up, and you headed into the bedroom.

Henry never let go of you. He kept you there, in his arms, all night, and all of the following day.

You knew things weren't back to normal, but they were getting there, and as long as you had Henry, you'd be okay.

#henry cavill #henry cavill smut #henry!holmes #enola holmes #ilovehim

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snowdice · 3 years

Text

Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 66]

I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag proofread stories. I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29

It’s editing time for me because I have not edited in way too long. I am so behind on the Study Fic and this one. Oof. Also I should do some blog organization maybe.

Chapter 30

After lunch, Patton and Logan took Virgil out to the garden to walk around. They let Virgil lead them around wherever he wanted to go in the garden. A bunch more flowers had died since the last time they’d been out here, and Patton felt sad despite having never felt very sad about that sort of thing before. But, Virgil seemed to really like the flower he’d found last time, so Patton thought he was probably sad on the boy’s behalf.

Of course, Patton thought, perking up, eventually it would be spring, and Virgil could get to not only see some flowers but all of the flowers as they grew. Patton couldn’t wait to see him amongst the garden then.

Virgil took them wandering through the orchard for a while, but most of the trees had been stripped of their fruits and the leaves were beginning to fall off some. They ended up in the vegetable garden after a bit, and Virgil finally seemed to decide on a direction instead of just ambling about.

A few seconds after Patton noticed Virgil seemingly decide on a destination, Patton noticed Mr. Deknis kneeling on the ground a few feet away. Had… had Virgil been looking for him? Patton wondered. That was adorable.

Mr. Deknis looked up as they approached and smiled at them.

“Hello, Mr. Deknis,” Patton said as they came closer.

“Hello you three,” Mr. Deknis said. “Getting into trouble?”

“No,” Virgil said, shaking his head.

Mr. Deknis gave him a flash of a smile. “I know, I’m joking,” he said. “Especially since there isn’t much left in my gardens for certain princes to destroy with experiments.”

“Oh, okay,” Virgil said. He tilted his head. “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting the last of the acorn squash out,” Mr. Deknis replied. “It’s the last crop to get finished. Good thing too, it’s supposed to start snowing soon.”

Virgil looked down curiously at the dark green squash.

“Would you like to help me pick a couple?” Mr. Deknis asked.

“Sure,” Virgil said, sounding interested. Mr. Deknis patted the ground beside him, and Virgil knelt down to watch him.

“They’re not too difficult to harvest,” he said. “You just cut the fruit off the stem. You want to leave about a hand’s width of the stem left over which will help preserve moisture. The earlier harvests I left in the field to cure in the sun for a couple weeks, but the frost’ll ruin these, so we’ll take them inside the green house and let them sit in the sun for a bit there. We also want to keep the leaves. You’ll probably be eating those for dinner tonight since they have to be cooked up within about 24 hours after they’re picked. Patton’s mom makes a good side dish with them and she’ll be making some curry tomorrow, probably. Maybe some stew if there are some left over. Put the squash in this wheelbarrow and the leaves into this pile, okay?” Virgil nodded and Mr. Deknis handed him the extra pair of gloves and shears he carried with him in case one set broke. “These might be a bit big on you, but they should work for now.”

Mr. Deknis looked up at Patton and Logan. “Would the two of you like to help?” he asked. “I can get some more equipment.”

“I can help out if you want, but you don’t need to stop and get more equipment just for me,” Patton said.

“The same for me,” Logan said.

“Well, if you’d like to help still, you can sort the leave. Give your mother a head start.”

“Sure,” Patton said. He and Logan went to do that while Mr. Deknis and Virgil worked on cutting the squashes from the vine.

“What do you do during the winter?” Virgil asked curiously. “If this is your last crop?”

“Well, at the beginning, I mostly will be working on making sure things are stored correctly along with some of the kitchen staff. There’s some drying to do and some canning. After that’s done, I’ll spend some time organizing and planning. Then, before the spring comes, I’ll start preparing seedlings in the green house.”

“Seedlings?” he asked.

“I let seeds start to grow in the greenhouse that I replant once it gets warm enough.”

“Why don’t you just plant them where they’re going?”

“I do for some,” he said, “but giving some a head start is good for them.”

Patton watched as Virgil continued to ask questions about gardening while working on harvesting the squash. Mr. Deknis continued to answer them in a calm, soft tone that Patton didn’t think he’d ever heard from the often gruff man before.

Patton wasn’t surprised when, after finishing getting most of the squash off of the vine, Mr. Deknis asked if Virgil wanted to help him with canning some pears in a couple of days. Virgil immediately looked over at Logan and Patton as though asking permission.

“Say yes if you would like to Virgil,” Logan said.

“Yes,” Virgil said as soon as he was given permission. Mr. Deknis smiled at him softly and started loading the last of the squash into the wheelbarrow. Patton offered to run the squash leaves to the kitchen while Logan and Virgil helped Mr. Deknis take the actual squash to the green house.

He dropped the leaves off to a kitchen worker since Mama was busy and headed back out to the garden. By the time he returned, Logan was already back from the green house and sitting by one of the more decorative trees near the castle.

“He’s exploring,” Logan said, nodding at a large patch of bushes.

Patton chuckled. “I see.” He sat next to Logan. Every so often he’d hear the bushes rustle, but he couldn’t tell if it was actually Virgil or an animal.

“He’s adorable,” Patton commented, keeping an ear out.

Logan hummed.

“I’m glad we kept him.”

“He isn’t a pet, Patton.”

Patton rolled his eyes. “I know, but I’m still glad. I’m glad he’s making friends with Mr. Deknis. Once he knows how to read better, we should get him a book about gardening. He seems interested.”

Logan nodded. “Having a hobby would be good for him. Clearly he has a fascination with the garden.” He nodded to the blur of dark hair that could be seen through the bushes. It seemed Virgil had stopped his exploration and was now laying down in the bushes a few feet away.

“I’m going to go see what he’s doing,” Patton said. “I’ll be right back.”

Logan nodded and Patton got to his feet. The bushes were part of a small maze that was filled with flowers during the spring and summer months but were mostly just green and brown bushes for now. Despite the fact that Patton had been able to see him only a few feet away, it took him a while to wind through the path to where he was. When he finally turned the last corner and he came into view, Patton gasped softly.

“Ghost kitty!” he said, making sure to make his voice as quiet as possible.

Despite how soft he made his voice, two pairs of eyes shot over to him. The completely black kitten was perched on Virgil’s lap like she belonged there. Ghost Kitty hissed slightly, but Virgil reached forward to pet her head gently.

“This is Ghost Kitty?” Virgil asked. “I thought you said she was hard to pet.”

“She is,” Patton said. He lowered himself onto the ground from a few feet away from them. “How did you get her to come to you?”

Virgil glanced down at the cat and shrugged, scratching one of her ears. “She just came over to me and let me pet her.”

“Wow,” Patton said softly. He looked at the cat. “Could I pet you sweetie?” he asked, holding out a hand in her direction. She hissed again.

Virgil frowned down at her. “It’s Patton,” he said as though he expected her to understand his words and the exasperation in his tone.

He pet the cat’s head to soothe her and then reached over to grab Patton’s hand. He pulled and Patton carefully leaned a bit closer until his hand was within sniffing distance. Ghost Kitty sniffed his fingers contemplatively and then bumped her head against it. He barely restrained a squeal, knowing that probably wouldn’t be taken well.

He carefully turned his hand over so he could stroke the top of her head. He gently scratched her ear, not daring to go for under her chin yet since she didn’t know him well. “Hi,” he said softly. After a moment, she started to purr softly. Virgil reached over and scratched under her chin and she purred louder. “Oh, you’re a good girl,” Patton breathed, letting a hand trail gently down her back once and then again. Patton settled himself carefully into a seating position continuing to pet her. After a few more moments of soft petting, she hesitantly stepped her front paws onto Patton’s thigh, so she was sitting in both of their laps. Patton laughed softly. “Hi sweetie.” He glanced over at Virgil who had a wide smile on his face as he pet the cat. This. This was adorable. They continued to pet the cat for a very long time.

Chapter 31

Logan waited for a while after Patton left to check on Virgil, but the two never resurfaced. It was odd, Patton would usually remember to come back and get Logan or at least tell them where they were. With a sigh, Logan climbed to his feet to go find them. It took him a while to weave his way through the maze of bushes to them especially because they were suspiciously quiet (Well, suspicious for Patton. Virgil was often unnervingly quiet when alone.) Luckily, he knew the bushes enough after all of these years not to get lost and managed to find the two after a few minutes.

“Ah,” he said, immediately identifying the reason for Patton disappearing.

“Logan!” Patton said, his voice excited, but also quieter than normal. “We found a kitty!”

“I can see that,” Logan responded, taking a step closer. The cat hissed at him in response. The hissing was so intense and wild that he’d suspect the thing was feral if it wasn’t happily on Virgil’s lap having had it’s head in Patton’s lap before Logan had approached.

“No,” Virgil told the animal as though it could understand words. “That’s Logan. Be nice.”

The cat still glared at him and swished it’s tail back and forth threateningly. Virgil pet the top of it’s head and it broke eye contact with Logan to purr.

Patton seemed delighted by the purring, reaching to stroke under the thing’s chin carefully. “We should give her a name!” Patton said.

Virgil frowned. “I thought her name was Ghost Kitty.”

“That is ‘Ghost Kitty’?” Logan asked skeptically. From what Patton had said about that cat, it was terrified of people and no one could ever get near it, even him. Now it was in Virgil’s lap?

“But that was a temporary name,” Patton said, “for before we officially met her. Now we have to give her a real name.”

“Do not give it a name,” Logan said. “You will get attached.”

“How do you name a cat?” Virgil asked.

“Do not name it,” Logan said.

“You give them names based on their personalities, how they look, or even just because it’s a cute name,” Patton explained. “Like, remember Mittens? I named her Mittens because she has white fur and black paws!”

Virgil looked at the cat. “She’s completely black,” he said.

Patton hummed. “So, we could give her a name based on that like Midnight or Shadow.”

“Those are fine,” Virgil said.

“No, no,” Patton said. “I’m just giving you examples. You get to name her yourself.”

“This is a bad idea,” Logan said.

“Just throw out some names,” Patton said. “Anything you can think of.”

“Uh,” Virgil said. “Knife.”

“…Just Knife?” Patton asked.

“Nightmare.” Virgil seemed to think about it. “No, that’s mean.”

“How about things you like?” Patton suggested.

“Alfredo?”

Oh no, Logan thought, he was worse than Patton at cat naming.

“Good start,” Patton said. “Logan, do you have any suggestions.”

“Cat,” Logan said.

“Real suggestions,” Patton scolded.

Logan sighed and thought for a moment. “Aphrodite.”

“Catphrodite!”

Logan glared at him. “Helena.”

“Helenpaw.”

“Claudia.”

“Clawdia.”

“Persephone.”

Patton smiled at him, cheerfully.

“…Damnit!”

Patton turned to Virgil again. “Like that! They don’t even have to be serious. Like, uh, you could name her Madam Fluffywuffykins the Great!”

“Do not name her that,” Logan said, scrunching up his nose.

Logan sat on the ground, the cat eyeing him, but no longer hissing. Logan gently guided them towards more sensible names despite Patton trying his hardest to drag them into stupidity.

Virgil still didn’t quite get it. He mostly tried to name it after foodstuff, and often not even appropriate foodstuff such as “Corn” and “Acorn Squash” and “Sandwich” and occasionally would drop in semi violent ones such as “Razor,” “Nightshade” and “Void.” Patton suggested names like “Fluffers,” “Bobette” and “Darling” as well as some that were puns. Logan tried to direct them towards more sensible ones like “Salem” and even went so low as to suggest the contrary “Snowball.”

It quickly seemed to become less about actually naming the cat and more of a game. Patton had taught Virgil about playing with cats and had even gotten out a ball of yarn he cared around for his crafts. Both Virgil and the cat seemed to find endless entertainment with that. Logan hoped Patton had another ball of yarn that color because, he was never going to get that ball back.

The barrage of names fizzled out into naming things around them like “Leaf” and “Bush” until they stopped suggesting names altogether. Patton and Logan sat back and watched Virgil play with the cat.

Logan watched as they stopped playing suddenly and Virgil and the cat squinted at each other. “Marisol,” Virgil said, pulling the name out of nowhere. “That’s her name.” He said it with a certainty that was surprising considering how he’d treated the naming process with confusion and caution earlier. If Logan did not know better, his tone of voice would indicate that the cat, or Marisol he guessed, had gotten bored of them coming up with stupid names and decided to tell him her actual name herself.

The cat made a sound and batted at Virgil’s face without claws to grab back his attention.

He turned back to it and bopped its face with a finger in kind. It attacked his finger, but in a clearly playful matter as it still did not extend it’s claws and its teeth did not draw blood.

“That’s a great name, Virgil,” Patton said.

“Much more pleasant than any that Patton suggested all afternoon,” Logan said. He received an elbow to the side for his quip.

“A pretty name for a pretty kitty,” Patton said, scooting over to where Virgil was sat and attempting to pet Marisol’s head. Marisol, however, was too keyed up and batted at the hand.

“I love you too!” Patton said.

Logan rolled his eyes, but he had long since resigned himself to watching the two of them play with and coo over the cat for the rest of the day.

Eventually, though, it started to get darker. Even after Logan pointed this out, it still took over an hour for them to relent and leave the bush maze to go to the door. The problem was of course, that the cat had managed to grow very attached to Virgil in the last few hours and she followed them all the way to the door with manipulatively heart breaking mews.

“You’ve got to stay out here,” Virgil said, when they got to the castle door. He pet her ear softly and she shoved her head into his hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t have anywhere to put you.” He sounded horribly sad about that fact and Logan felt himself shift uncomfortably. “I basically live in a closet and Logan doesn’t like cats in his room anyway.”

Logan immediately felt unreasonably guilty, probably more so because Logan did not think Virgil was trying to make him feel guilty. “…Bring the dammed thing inside.”

Virgil blinked up at him. “What?”

“It will get cold soon anyway,” Logan said.

He frowned at Logan from where he was crouched. “But you don’t like fur in your room…”

“I will have to find a potion that works,” he said with a sigh, “and we’ll have to say it’s mine to the guards and Father since it will be staying in my room, but it is yours in every other way. That means you are going to feed it, clean it, and clean up after it.”

Virgil nodded immediately and swooped Marisol up in his arms. The cat went without complaint. “Thank you!” he said. “I love her.”

“I know you do,” Logan said, already regretting it already. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to even consider recanting the offer considering how happy Virgil seemed to be. They had a cat now, he guessed.

Chapter 32

“What are you doing?” Helen asked a few minutes after her son walked into the kitchen and started looking around as though he were trying to find something. It was a few hours into the afternoon, and she and a few workers were already prepping for dinner.

“Uh,” Patton said. “Have you seen Virgil?”

“No,” Helen said. “Why.”

“Er… Logan and I sorta, lost him,” Patton said. He was wringing his hands anxiously. Helen put down the knife in her hand.

“What do you mean you lost him?” she asked.

“Well, see, we were trying to teach him how to play hide and seek, um, but then we didn’t think to tell him that he eventually had to come out if we didn’t find him, and now we haven’t seen him since breakfast.”

“He didn’t know what tag is?” she asked. That was just one more thing to add to the list of why Helen worried about Virgil and where he came from. Every morsel of information she’d managed to wring from Patton despite his evasions made her lists of concerns grow larger, even little things like him not knowing about simple childhood games. Actually, thinking of concerning things having to do with Virgil. “Wait, so he hasn’t eaten lunch.”

“Um, we don’t know that,” Patton’s mouth said while his eyes said ‘no.’

“He needs to be on a consistent diet, especially when he’s still taking the malnutrition potion,” she scolded.

“I know, Mama, I know,” Patton said. “I’m trying to find him. I’d kinda hoped he’d gotten hungry and snuck down here. He probably wouldn’t want to risk being caught stealing food though.”

Helen grimaced. Yet another concerning thing.

“Wait! I have an idea, I’ll be right back.” Patton turned and ran out of the room. Helen frowned at the space he’d been and finished chopping the carrot on the cutting board in front of her. If it had been any other person in the castle missing, Helen wouldn’t have worried, but she had literally never seen Virgil without Patton and/or Logan by his side. Even when he’d gone to help Jeff can some fruit, Logan had reportedly hung around to read a book.

Considering that Logan had never exactly been clingy even with Patton, she imagined that either Virgil asked, or Logan thought he should stay with him for his comfort. So, she was surprised that he was apparently hidden away somewhere in the castle where neither of the other kids could find him.

Still thinking about this, she walked over to the entrance to the cellar below the kitchen where they stored most of the vegetables, planning to grab some more carrots. She was confused for a moment when she heard movement from deeper in the pantry. She reached over and touched the panel near the door that controlled the magic lights.

The newly illuminated figure startled as the lights came on, whipping around to stare at her with wide eyes.

“Virgil?” she asked.

“Sorry,” he said immediately, taking a step back.

“It’s fine,” she said immediately, “but what are you doing here?”

He considered her for a long moment, but apparently, she passed some sort of mental test, because he relaxed, at least as much as he’d ever relaxed in her presence. “Where are we?” he asked.

Her brow knit together. “The cellar under the kitchen,” she said, “You don’t know that?”

He shook his head.

“The only entrance is from the kitchen.” Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen him go through the kitchen at any point.

“No, it’s not,” Virgil said. “There’s a tunnel.”

“A-a tunnel?” she asked. Actually, taking a closer look at him, he seemed a bit grimy. He had dust all over his front and dirt on his nose. She thought he might even have a couple of cobwebs in his hair.

“Yep,” he said.

“Where’s the tunnel?” she asked.

“It’s right over here,” he said. He took a couple of steps and pointed to the ground. There was an open square hole there that clearly had been made a long time ago but which she had never noticed in all of her time working here.

“How did you find this?” she asked.

“We were playing hide and seek,” Virgil explained. “Logan said I could hide anywhere inside the castle. I hid on top of a dresser upstairs in some unused sitting room. There was a hole in the wall above it, so I climbed into it. Then, I crawled a little bit and it let out into a hidden passage in the walls. I wandered around in it until I found another hole in one of the walls. I thought it was a way out, so I squeezed into it, but it took me to a different hallway where I found an old room. There was a different hole in that room that had probably been covered by something because it was in the floor but whatever it was had rotted away. I crawled though it into a tunnel and came out here.”

She couldn’t help but laugh a bit at his explanation. “Well, it sounds like you went on an adventure,” she said, “but Patton and Logan have been trying to find you. You missed lunch.”

He tilted his head at her. “I know. I was supposed to hide.”

“Yes,” she explained, “but you are supposed to come out at some point if they can��t find you for things like food.”

“Oh,” he said.

“They probably should have explained,” she said. “For now, why don’t we get you something to eat? You must be hungry.”

Virgil frowned. “But I missed lunch.”

“You can still eat even though it’s not in normal hours,” she said. “You could even if you had made it to lunch.”

“Really?” he asked, he looked tragically confused by this offer.

“Of course, sweetie,” she said. “In fact, I insist you get something good to eat right now. How about I made you a grilled ham and cheese sandwich? Maybe some cookies too!”

Virgil titled his head. “You are Patton’s mother,” he stated.

Helen laughed softly. “He gets its all from me,” she said. “We should probably go find him and tell him you’re okay. He was worried.”

“I didn’t mean to worry him,” Virgil said with a frown.

“I know,” Helen said. “It’s okay. He’ll probably laugh when he figures out where you’ve been, and Logan will interrogate you all about the secret passageways.” He seemed happy about the prospect of seeing his friends. “Come on, let’s go upstairs for a bit,” she said.

Chapter 33

Patton’s mom had already made Virgil sit down at the small table in the corner of the kitchen and had handed him a sandwich by the time Patton barreled into the kitchen, Logan coming after him at a more sedate pace.

“Virgil!” he said, sounding surprised and relieved.

“Patton,” Patton’s mom scolded. “No cats in the kitchen.” Patton had brought Marisol in with him and had let her go as soon as he’d seen Virgil. She immediately plodded over to him and hoped onto the table to sniff at his face in greeting.

“But she’s the princess!” Patton argued.

“No,” Logan said.

“Yes, she is!” Patton said.

“The stupid cat is not a princess.”

“Don’t be mean to your little sister, Logan.”

“I regret every life decision that has led me to this point.”

While Logan and Patton were distracted squabbling and Patton’s mom was distracted watching them squabble, Virgil tore off a bit of the ham in his sandwich and offered it to Marisol. Marisol gracefully took it from his grip and ate it.

“So, this is Logan’s new cat I’ve been hearing about?” Patton’s mom asked.

“Indeed,” Logan said, his lips thinned. He and Marisol were mostly amicable when alone with just them and Virgil, but Patton had a habit of cooing over the kitten and needling Logan into being irritated.

“Mmm, yeah,” Patton’s mom said. She glanced over at Virgil right as Marisol basically slammed her face into his chin in a bid to get pets. “Your cat.” She shook her head. “But Princess Kitten or not, I do not want fur in dinner,” she said.

“Sorry,” Patton said, honestly not sounding sorry at all. Virgil was always a bit surprised when the insolent shrug garnered nothing more that a scowl that did not reach Patton’s mom’s eyes. “I thought she could help me find Virgil, but you already found him.” He turned to Virgil. “Where have you been all day?”

“Found a tunnel,” Virgil said. He had to use one hand to hold Marisol back from his sandwich as he took another bite, but then gave her a bite of cheese.

“You found what?” Logan asked.

“There’s a tunnel under the cellar,” Virgil said. “It goes to an old closed up room and also to a set of secret passageways.” It was a bit of a security risk honestly, though clearly no one had used it in years by how dirty it was. He did plan to go back into it and make sure the sprawling tunnels didn’t go to anywhere more dangerous like the royal wing.

“A closed-up room?” Logan said. He could see a bit of curiosity already building in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Virgil said. “Where the door used to be seemed like it had been bricked over.”

“Really? Can you show me.”

“Sure,” Virgil answered.

“Ah, perhaps we should be a bit more cautious about climbing through random tunnels we don’t know the stability of,” Patton’s mom said.

Logan’s frown edged on a pout.

“Talk to your father,” she said. “I’m sure he can get someone who understands these things so you can safely investigate.”

“It was safe enough for Virgil,” Logan pointed out.

“No, Logan.”

He sighed but seemed to concede. That was another strange thing about living here. By all rights Logan didn’t have to obey anyone except the king, but he often listened to those around him, not just the adults but Patton as well. It was interesting though it sometimes made the hierarchy hard to figure out. Virgil did sometimes stress out about the hypothetical situation where he got conflicting orders from two people, and he wouldn’t know which one to obey. So far it hadn’t been a problem luckily. They always seemed to work it out amongst themselves in some give and take social interaction that was a bit too complex for him to understand.

Patton walked over to where Virgil was sitting. “I’m glad your safe,” he said. “We should probably put a time limit on hide and seek in the future, so you know when to come out.”

“Did I win?” Virgil asked. He’d honestly forgotten they’d been playing a game until Patton’s mom had asked how he’d found his way into the cellar.

Patton laughed. “I’d say so, yeah,” he replied. He leaned over to kiss Virgil’s forehead, but drew back immediately with a pinched expression. “You are… very dirty,” he said, rubbing his mouth.

Virgil nodded. “Your mom made me sit on a tablecloth,” he said gesturing to the fabric she’d laid over the chair.

Patton snorted out a laugh. “We’ll get you into the bath when you’re done eating and you can tell us all about your little adventure.”

“I would also like to hear about your discoveries,” Logan said. “Though you are not allowed to sit on the bed until you do not have spider webs in your hair.”

Patton’s eyes widened and he jumped away from Virgil, startling both Virgil and Marisol. The latter hopped from the table onto Virgil’s lap. “Spiders?!”

Virgil tilted his head at him in confusion.

“He isn’t a fan of spiders,” Logan informed him, his voice amused at Patton’s reaction.

Apparently deciding that she was no longer startled, but more confused by the noises Patton had just made, Marisol jumped out of Virgil’s lap to investigate, wrapping her way around Patton’s legs. He bent down to pat her back, though he still looked a bit startled.

“Your cat, huh?” Patton’s mom asked Logan once again. Virgil studied her. She had apparently missed Logan mentioning that he allowed Virgil on the bed. Or perhaps Logan was correct in his insistence that it wasn’t actually that big of a deal here. Virgil would rather not test that assumption, however, so was glad that it had been distracted from by Patton’s outburst.

“Creepy, crawly death dealers,” Patton mumbled into Marisol’s fur, having picked her back up. Virgil made a note to not inform Patton of all of the different types of spiders he’d seen skittering around in the castle walls today. Maybe he’d talk about them with Logan once Patton left. He’d probably be interested. Virgil had seen some he’d never seen before! Logan probably could even help him figure out what their names were. “You’ll protect me, won’t you kitty?” Patton asked Marisol.

She made a little ‘burrrr’ sound in response, which Patton seemed to take a confirmation.

“Aw thank you, baby! Such a good baby.”

50234

Virgil popped the rest of the sandwich into his mouth. Patton’s mom turned away and grabbed a plate stacked with cookies. She handed it to Logan. “Take these, and please get the health hazards out of my kitchen,” she requested.

Logan took them without complaint. “Come on, Virgil,” he said. “Let’s go get you clean.”

“We’re going to need so much soap,” Patton said.

Virgil looked down at himself. “I can go outside and get most of it off if you get me a bucket of water,” he offered.

“Virgil, it’s below freezing,” Logan said as though that had a baring on what he’d just said. Logan sighed. “No. Bathtub.” Virgil shrugged. “Honestly,” Logan said. He turned with the plate of cookies in his hand, clearly expecting to be followed. “You’re not going to catch your death pouring a bucket of water over yourself in the cold when there are literally over a hundred perfectly good bathtubs in this castle. For goodness sakes.” And well, Virgil wasn’t going to complain.

Chapter 34

Patton, to be completely honest, was not all that interested in the room that Virgil had found. Beyond just the fact that it would definitely have creepy crawly death dealers in it, he really did not understand the intrigue. If it had just been him, he probably would have just let a castle worker deal with it, but it was not just him. Logan was ecstatic with the prospect of investigating a secret in the castle. People who didn’t know him well may not believe it considering he spent most of his time with his nose in a book, but he was an adventurer at heart.

Thomas had been easily swayed into finding someone to help tear down part of the wall into the secret tunnel near the room (so no one would have to crawl through the kitchen cellar like Virgil). It had taken a few days, however, and Logan was practically bouncing off the walls waiting. Virgil, despite having already seen the room before, also seemed excited, though if that was because of his own curiosity or because he was just excited that Logan seemed so exited remained to be seen.

“They are silly, aren’t they,” Patton asked Princess Marisol. He was laying on his stomach on Logan’s bed and Princess Marisol had just put her little paw on his nose.

“Yes, I agree,” he said. “Don’t they know that we’re literally going to be 2 feet away from the normal hallway?”

“It is not silly,” Logan defended himself. “Any number of things could go wrong.” He sounded far too excited about the prospect of something going terribly wrong. “The tunnels could cave in and block off the exit or there could be some unknown pathogen in the air.”

Patton did not ruin his fun by mentioning that Logan’s dad had definitely basically baby proofed the tunnels for them ahead of time. Instead, he just said, “Don’t let Virgil hear you say that sort of thing. It will just stress him out.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” he said, waving off Patton’s concerns as he mulled over two different weird green planty things (potion ingredients, Patton assumed) before setting one aside and sticking the other in his bag.

“So silly,” Patton cooed at the cat. Logan let out a huff but did not choose to say anything about it this time.

Speaking of silly, Virgil came back from Logan’s bathroom then, and Patton tried not to giggle. “Is this right?” Virgil asked, sounding and looking confused. Logan, in his overexcitement about adventure had commissioned Virgil an outfit that actually fit. Said outfit, however, very much made it look more like Virgil was going on a safari instead of a two-foot detour from the normal castle hallway.

“Almost,” Logan said, “Here, let me.” Logan started straightening everything out and flattening the collar, reminding Patton of an overbearing parent on picture day. Virgil accepted the fussing without protest. It was adorable. Well, the outfit was ridiculous, but still, adorable. “There,” Logan said. “I think we’re ready to go now.”

It was about time. Patton was sure people were already waiting for them downstairs. Patton got up and patted Princess Marisol on the head. She looked up at them with interest.

“You can stay here, sweetie,” Patton told here. She seemed to consider it and then hopped down from the bed to go rub up against Virgil.

Patton guessed she was coming. It didn’t matter too much since Logan had given her a magical collar that allowed her to open most doors in the castle and everyone knew she was the royal cat now, so if she decided she wanted to come back to the room and nap, she could. (She was very aware of the power she held.)

She pranced happily by Virgil’s side all the way down the steps to the first floor of the castle. She was such a good kitty.

Well, she did hiss angrily at everyone who came too close to them, but still, a very good kitty.

Patton did lean down and pick her up so they could actually talk to the man waiting for them at the large hole in the wall. Logan went to talk to the castle worker while Virgil half hid behind Patton. He was clearly listening very intently to the conversation however, at least more intently than Patton was. Patton was busy shaking his head fondly.

“Yes, yes, Princess,” he said to the cat. “I know we do not trust the strangers, but I promise this stranger is perfectly safe.”

“How do you know?” Virgil asked.

“His name is Chester and I’ve known him since I was 9.”

This seemed to slightly alleviate Virgil’s suspicion, but Princess Marisol still seemed antsy. Patton really needed to start slowly introducing the both of them to more people.

Logan finished talking with Chester after a few moments and it was time to climb through the hole in the wall. He wished he saw in the tunnel whatever Logan with his excited eyes and bounce to his step obviously saw. Or even that was more comfortable in the dark closed in space as Virgil obviously was. As it was, Patton’s nose scrunched up at the thought off all of the spiders that could be living everywhere in the secret tunnel, but he pushed through.

The entrance to the tunnel had been made only a little bit from the room Virgil had mentioned and Chester had led them through it after only a couple of seconds. As Patton had suspected, the room was already lit up and probably cleaned a little bit by the people who had cut into the wall, not that he was complaining.

Virgil was still clinging a bit to Patton’s shirt, though it seemed to be less out of anxiety at this point and more out of a desire to stick close. He was peering around curiously at the lit-up space. He probably hadn’t seen much of it in the dark when he’d been here before.

Yet, his curiosity was nothing compared to how excited Logan seemed to be. Now Patton may have not been interested in the room itself, but he was entertained by how interested Logan was and was happy to encourage that.

“What do you think this place is?” he asked Logan.

Logan hummed contemplatively, eyes looking around. “Well,” he said. “It’s a bedroom clearly, and old. Considering the location it is in in the castle, the size, the decorations, and it’s likely age, I’d imagine it was a bedroom of a royal family member. This used to be the royal wing three royal lines ago.”

“Bearing that in mind, there are a couple of likely possibilities for the origin of the room as well as the reason it was sealed up, but we will need to investigate more in order to come to an actual conclusion.” He had already placed the bag he’d brought on the ground and was going through it, pulling out things that Patton did not recognize. He also got a piece of paper and sat on the floor to start to sketch.

“What are you doing?” Virgil asked.

“I’m sketching the floorplan of the room,” Logan said. “I will then put a grid on it so we can investigate while being sure that we aren’t missing anything.”

Virgil seemed uninterested in this part of the adventure, instead electing to go poking around by himself. Princess Marisol squirmed out of Patton’s arms to go follow him. Patton swore that he only looked away from those two for 5 seconds, but the next thing he knew he heard metal clicking against metal.

“Oh,” Patton said, eyes wide when he saw what Virgil was fiddling with. “Honey, you probably shouldn’t touch…”

The old but fancy looking chest that had been at the end of the remains of the bed creaked open. Virgil sneezed as a cloud of dust puffed out of it. “Huh,” he said studying the contents. “There’s a skull in here.”

“Oh, I don’t like this adventure anymore,” Patton commented.

Logan was on his feet within moments. “Let me see,” he said eagerly.

“What if it’s cursed?” Patton pointed out.

“Then I’ll just break the curse,” Logan waved him off. “Oh, it’s just a horse skull,” Logan said, sounding disappointed. “And also what seemed to be potion ingredients. Though they seem very fresh considering the state of the room.”

“Maybe we should get someone else to…”

Logan already had both arms inside the chest and was pulling things out of it. “This chest must have some sort of stasis effect to it.”

He started pulling things out to look at them before setting them on the floor with no caution. “Well,” he said, “that answers the question of what this room is.”

“It does?” Patton asked.

“Ah, yes, between the horse skull and the potion ingredients, this is obviously the bedroom of Princess Marianne Elicia. She was the third child of King Simon IV and was quite the fan of horses.”

“…So she kept a horse skull in a stasis chest in her bedroom?” Patton asked.

“Of course,” Logan said. “Back when her family was in power, magic was outlawed and had quite the stigma against it, but she ended up learning magic and become quite proficient.”

“It’s debated what exactly happened when her father found out about her activities. Some sources say that she was executed silently by her father, but others say she managed to escape with the head of the stables but not before putting a curse on the country of Prijaznia. That is until she or one of her bloodline sits on the throne, every royal line will end in madness and blood by the 5th seated monarch before an heir is born.”

“Isn’t that something you should be worried about?” Virgil asked.

Logan shrugged. “It’s just a myth,” he said. “Besides I’m 6th in the line, so there really isn’t any concern.”

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“There are a lot of interesting things in here,” Logan said, still focused on the chest. “Not to mention the books. We’ll have to be careful with those though since they don’t appear to be in stasis.”

Logan pulled the horse skull out and set it on the floor making Patton wince.

“Marisol no!” he said as Princess Marisol immediately went to go sniff at it. He swooped her up in his arms. “How long are we staying in this creepy room?” Patton asked.

“Patton, we just got here,” Logan said.

“We just got here and already found a skull!”

“Yes! Exactly!”

Patton groaned into Princess Marisol’s fur even as she tried wiggle away to go back and investigate the skull. This was going to be a long day.

Chapter 35

Logan was surprised when he woke up alone in bed. He’d grown to anticipate waking to a smaller body unrelentingly clinging to his in the past couple of weeks. Confused he sat up and peered around his bedroom. He wouldn’t have seen Virgil with the way he melted into the darkness if it he hadn’t heard the sound of purring coming from near the window. He could just barely make out a dark blob shifting up and down at the cat kneaded at a different blob sitting mostly hidden behind the thick curtain.

“Virgil?” Logan questioned. “What are you doing?”

“It’s snowing,” was the answer.

“That is not an answer,” Logan grumbled at the ceiling. With a sigh, he pulled himself out of bed. It was a bit chilly in here, he thought. The temperature must have dipped suddenly and intensely enough that the runes keeping the castle at a warm enough temperature hadn’t caught up yet. He pulled one of the blankets off of the top of his bed to wrap around his shoulders as he approached the window. There wasn’t much light outside, the stars and moon covered by clouds, but there were some lanterns lit for the night guard who patrolled the outside. “Oh,” he said in surprise. “It’s really snowing.”

It had been colder but not quite cold enough for snow to stick the day before, so it came as a surprise when he saw snow was piling up quite high to the point where familiar paths outside his window had disappeared.

“I don’t like it,” Virgil informed him.

“Why not?” Logan asked.

“It’s cold,” Virgil answered. It was clear in his tone that in Virgil’s opinion ‘cold’ was a horrible insult to the concept of snow. Logan quirked a half smile and his attention was drawn to the fact that it was quite cold right here close to the window.

Frowning, he pulled at the blanket around his shoulder so he could wrap it and his arm around the lump that was Virgil. He brushed the boy’s hand when he did so and found it was like ice.

“You’re freezing!” Logan said. “How long have you been by the window?”

“I dunno,” he replied.

Logan was already tugging at him. “You need to get back in bed,” he said.

Virgil obeyed the pulling at his arms even as he frowned. “I’ve been colder than this before,” he said.

“That actually doesn’t make me feel better,” Logan replied dryly as he shooed him towards the bed.

He took the thicker blanket that usually stayed folded at the end of the bed and pulled it up over Virgil before climbing into bed beside him.

“There,” Logan said, rubbing Virgil’s arms through the fabric of the sweater he wore to bed. He was glad he wasn’t wearing a t-shirt at least. “The runes for heating the castle should catch up within a few hours, but until then this should do. Assuming we don’t sit by the freezing window for an undetermined amount of time.”

“I don’t like the cold,” Virgil told him.

Logan sighed. “Then why did you sit by the window?”

Virgil shrugged and ducked his head a bit. Logan reached out to grab his hands to help him warm more but was surprised when one of the hands was much warmer than the other. He found his fingers were clutching a crescent shaped stone: the protection charm they’d made. Logan knew that he kept it in his pocket most of the time, but he didn’t normally see him holding it like this. It was warm to the touch, of course, indicating the safety of the room around them.

Logan looked over his face. “Are you…” he said. “Scared of the snow?”

“I don’t like the cold,” he said once again.

“You’re scared of the winter,” Logan concluded. He looked at Virgil who was far too small for his age and seemed surprised at every casual act of kindness. It was clear that his basic needs were far from being met before he came here. Logan had to wonder what winter usually meant for him. His experiences were doubtlessly very different from Logan’s own. “That makes sense,” he acknowledged, “but you don’t need to be scared of it here. The castle is always perfectly warm and safe in the winter and Mr. Deknis and Ms. Heart work hard during the other seasons to make sure we have plenty of food. There is nothing to fear here.”

He did not seem convinced.

“You don’t even have to go outside if you don’t want to,” Logan promised. “The castle is plenty big if you’d like to stay inside all winter long. It was made for the winter even without the magic devices that keep it warm. We have fireplaces and well insulated rooms even if those that ends up failing.” Logan pulled open the hand that had the protection charm just to transfer it to his other hand to warm it. “Though, while no one would force you to go outside, the snow isn’t always bad.”

“Yes it is,” Virgil said, his voice sure.

“Not all the time,” Logan insisted. “Some people love the snow.”

“They’re stupid.”

Logan laughed. “It can be fun for a while with the right equipment if you have someplace to get warm again afterwards. Royal duties slow down during the winter and Patton tends to come up with all sorts of games for both the inside and the outside to pass the time. He’s particularly proficient at snowball fights, at least against me.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Play fighting,” Logan answered. “Like pillow fights, but snow.”

“I’ll stick with the pillows,” he replied.

“And then there’s a hill to sled down on the western side of the castle, and people like to build snowmen along the path.”

“What are snowmen?” Virgil asked.

They’re temporary statues made out of packed snow,” Logan explained. “Typically, they’re made of three different sized balls of snow: the largest being the base and the smallest the ‘head’ though there are some variations. After building them one typically decorates them with different articles of clothing and objects found lying around. It’s usually sticks and rocks for the face and then things like extra hats and scarfs for decoration.” He smiled softly. “When my Pa was alive, we used to steal my Dad’s crown and fanciest robes. Sometimes Pa would steal it right off of Dad’s head and we’d run away. We’d find a secluded area of the castle yards and build the biggest snowman we could as quickly as we could before we got caught. He’d usually end up letting us keep the robes, but we’d have to give the crown back since some of the metals in it would rust when wet.”

“That sounds…” Virgil’s nose twitched. “fun if you take away the touching snow part.”

Logan laughed. “It is fun,” he said. “Even with the touching snow part. Though, I admit that some of the ability for it to be entertaining does come from the fact that we could warm up afterwards with ease. You’ll enjoy Patton’s mother’s constant offering of hot chocolate during the season even if you never go outside, I’m sure.”

“Hot chocolate?” Virgil asked intrigued. His dark eyes shone brightly in the little light coming through the window. It was clear he could guess something about the drink just by the name and enjoyed the implications.

Logan smiled fondly. “It is a hot drink,” he explained. “It’s a warm drink made out of milk and chocolate. I can get you some to try in the morning.”

Virgil nodded, eyes still wide with interest.

“For now, we should sleep though,” Logan said. “Are you warm enough? I can get more blankets.”

“I’m fine,” he said.

“Good,” Logan said, reaching up and adjusting the blanket over them once more, tucking it around Virgil a little bit for good measure. “Goodnight Virgil,” he said.

“Goodnight,” he replied softly. Logan reached under the blankets to grab the hand that was still slightly chilly from the window between his own. Virgil’s eyes slipped closed after a moment as he nuzzle his face into the pillow. At some point they both drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 36

Thomas had already been well aware that winter was on the way, but he and the rest of the castle occupants had been surprised at how intensely and suddenly it had come on. Most things were ready for the winter, but not all of them had been initiated. The fireplaces that took some pressure off the castle heating runes were cleaned out and ready, but they hadn’t been started yet. The stables for different animals on the grounds had been checked over and staff assignments had been made, but most were still in far out fields. Staff that went home for the winter months had been dismissed, but there were a few stragglers that would have to be helped home before things got worse.

He’d gone out to the main stable to talk to the three workers that were the heads of different areas of animal husbandry to make sure a plan to get everything to where it needed to be soon was in place. It took a while to figure out considering that they’d expected a little more time before the first major snowfall. Thomas also asked them to make sure all of the workers’ homes were in good enough condition for the weather. Ranch hands typically had homes on castle grounds but not in the castle themselves since they needed to be close to the animals. Thomas knew at least half a dozen of those who spent most of their times out in the fields were the type to forgot to maintain their homes because they preferred camping amongst the animals in the summer months and then would be in for a bad time when snow began to fall.

There should be enough extra rooms in the castle if they needed a place to stay until repairs could be done.

Those conversations took a good couple of hours, before Thomas was satisfied. Before trudging back to the castle through the still falling snow, he made a point to stop at one specific horse stall in the main stable. The horse turned his head to see Thomas when he stopped in front of his stall and puffed out a rather disaffected snort before sticking his head over the gate so Thomas could pat his nose. “Hello, Mr. Apples,” Thomas said.

The horse seemed to conclude he’d tolerated Thomas’s petting enough and ducked his head to nudge at his torso. Thomas rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes,” he said. “I brought you an apple. Some things never change.” He reached into his pocket to grab the red apple he’d brought the white Arabian. “At least you don’t bite me anymore.” He paused, apple slice in hand and eyed the horse’s nose suspiciously. “Do not bite me,” he said even though he hadn’t felt the animal’s teeth in a decade. It would be just like Mr. Apples to wait until his guard was down.

After a bit of scrutiny, he offered an apple slice. It was snatched out of his hand and there was a loud crunch as it was bit into.

“It’s snowing out,” he told the horse. The horse seemed to roll his eyes at the statement of the obvious. “I’ll remind again that if you run out in a snowstorm, I’m not running after you, so you’d be out of luck.”

Mr. Apples snorted.

“You’re old now. You’d probably not survive long enough for people to find you. Besides, you blend in with that white fur of yours. They’d probably walk right past you a few times.”

He went back to nosing for treats as soon as he finished his first and Thomas sighed, pulling out another apple slice. “What are they not feeding you enough?” The gusto with which the horse snatched the apple slice was a very clear answer. “Well, we both know that’s not true.” Thomas fed the horse a third slice of apple when he was done with his second. “I have to get back to the castle now. Don’t be a devil horse.”

Mr. Apples threw his head a bit, splattering apple smelling foamy spittle all over Thomas’s front.

“Understood. Have a nice afternoon.”

He left Mr. Apples in his stall then, knowing he’d be well cared for no matter how ill-tempered he could be at times. He’d been a king’s horse once, after all, no matter that said king had been dead for more than a decade now.

Winters were hard.

Winters were the times when things always slowed down at the castle, where royal duties were often thin. There were a lot of memories in winter.

The trip back to the castle was not particularly long, but it was also not particularly pleasant. The snow had not been cleared away considering it was still snowing which meant his feet and legs were wet and cold by the time he made it to the nearest castle door.

He wasn’t sure if, when he entered, the castle heating runes had started to work in earnest or if he’d just been so cold that any measure of warmth was appreciated, but he was relieved to be out of the snow either way.

He decided to check up on the progress of the castle staff lighting the fireplaces. With any luck, they’d be lit already, and he could warm up even more. That in mind, he headed towards the main foyer where the largest fireplace in the castle sat to take off the chill brought in by the large front doors.

The main foyer was bustling with activity when he snuck in along the sides, giving the guards stationed around nods as he passed. The main fire in the room was burning brightly, though only one of the two smaller ones near the side exits from the room was lit. The other one was still being set up with safety mechanisms. It was good progress and assuming other areas of the castle were being set up as efficiently, he assumed they’d all be set up by nightfall.

He’d need to go check around to be sure, but for now, he walked up to the main fireplace to warm his hands.

He’d gotten into the habit when he was younger to every so often glance upwards. There had been a certain stable boy who had a propensity for climbing trees. These days, he usually found nothing when he did so, often not even consciously noticing that he’d turned his gaze momentarily skywards. Yet, today, he was startled out of his own idleness by dark brown eyes looking back at him from a small ledge in the shadows high above him.

He froze as he met the young boy’s gaze. Virgil seemed as surprised to be caught as Thomas was to have caught him.

#proofread stories #not writing

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petri808 · 3 years

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Inukag AU

There was a genuine smile on Kagome’s face as she sat on her bed quietly while her family and friends did what they could to try and jog her memory. It was about 3 months since the accident and today the bed was littered with photo albums, old letters, newspapers from her college days that Sango had saved, or her mother pulled from her old bedroom, really anything they could think of to provide visuals. She didn’t want them to feel bad for her predicament, so thought it best to go along with it. They probably knew— she didn’t recognize any of it but bless them for playing along as she nodded or chuckled at appropriate times or patiently waited as she stared at certain items longer than she should have. Because Kagome really wanted to remember.

But in reality, all the words and images were viewed through a strangers lens. Yes, she recognized certain people, but not everyone or the situation in the photos. For Kagome, her last recollections end shortly after graduating college. She knew Sango since they’d been friends, but barely remembered Miroku. To her Miroku was still the boyfriend of less than a year, not a husband and certainly not a father to the couples 1 year old twin girls. Sango was her best friend, so to not remember the wedding or the birth of the twins who based on the photos were precious to her... hurt. There she was in those pictures holding one newborn in each arm, beaming at becoming an aunty, and no recollection of it.

“Tomorrow is the weekend, so we can video chat with Sota,” Mrs. Higurashi reminded her daughter. “I’ve been keeping him updated by text.”

“Where is he again?” Kagome asked.

“In Hawaii, at the University of Hilo.”

“Oh... right,” Kagome chuckled. “I forgot.”

“That’s okay, dear. Sota is in his senior year now and will be coming home in December after graduation.”

“I hope I’m well enough to fly there for the graduation.”

“I think you will be,” her mother smiled softly. “There’s always hope.”

Yeah... hope. It was the only thing keeping Kagome from breaking down. Each night as she drifted to sleep, she’d remind herself of the temporary nature of her condition. Truth or not, it was worth clinging to. Earlier her mother told her of how she’d flown to Hawaii to help Sota settle into his dorm. As the big sister, she was so proud of him, but again Kagome had no recollection of this event and only Hawaiian vacation pictures to prove its truth. Still, she was happy that her brother had grown up so much. The sense of pride she must have felt at the time was renewed in the new knowledge.

She didn’t remember a lot, but there were moments that brought tears to her eyes for more than one reason. Take the other day when Sango and Miroku brought the twins for a visit. The children remembered their Aunty Kagome and quickly reached out with their small hands to her. It brought out tears from the happy emotions such adorable faces could provoke in anyone, yet also tears of frustration for not knowing them at all. Clearly, they loved her, and she wanted to love them too. Bless them, showing concern for her tears, reaching out to Kagome’s face as if to soothe the adult. So, realizing her effect, she quickly smiled and told them she was just happy to see them.

“It’s still a little weird,” Kagome confided to Sango one day, “because my only memory of Miroku is of an annoying guy following you around while still checking out other girls.”

Sango laughed, “he still an annoying guy at times, but it’s true, he has settled down since those days.”

“What was it that finally changed your mind about Miroku?”

“Oh, um actually we’d had a fight... a really big fight over his behavior and I put my foot down. It was me or them because I wasn’t gonna put up with it anymore. I guess the proverbial slap to his face woke him up.”

Kagome chuckled. “It does appear to have worked. But it was obvious how much he loved you despite the stupid things he did.”

Sango nodded. “True. If I didn’t think so too, I would have just walked away and not looked back. Sometimes guys literally need a harsh wake up a call to realize what they’re about to lose.”

That made Kagome think about the supposed fight with Inuyasha on the night of her accident, because it resembled the predicament Sango went through. She frowned. “Why are guys like that?”

Sango shrugged. “If we ever found an answer to that question, we’d be rich.”

Kagome snorted a laugh. “Agreed. We could make money writing self-help books.”

The girls shared a laugh before moving on to other subjects, but as the day grew late, Kagome suddenly sank down on the bed. There was a question she’d been wanting to ask, and though Inuyasha would be the better one to ask, he was still a strangers in her eyes. At least with Sango, she knew she could trust her friend to tell her the truth.

“Before you go, Sango, I have something to ask about.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Could you tell me how I met Inuyasha? Tell me what you know about our relationship?”

Sango’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Hasn’t Inu told you anything?”

Kagome looked down. “He has told me things, but I— I still don’t know if I should trust him. I mean... I know my mom loves him and that tells me a lot, but it doesn’t change the fact he’s just a stranger at this point for me— it’s,” she shrugged, “awkward.”

“Oh... Guess I never thought of it that way.” Sango reached out and took her Kagome’s hand. “I’d be happy to answer your questions. It’s okay that it’s awkward, that’s understandable so don’t push yourself to accept things just to accept them, but even I would agree with your mom, he’s probably told you the truth.”

“You think so?”

Sango squeezed her friends hand and chuckled. “Yeah. I didn’t like him at first, but the guy really grew on me. Try it, test me,” she coaxed Kagome. “Ask me about something he told you and let’s see if my answers are the same.”

Kagome smiled and sat back for a moment in thought. “What’s something questionable...” she tapped her chin. “The first date he took me on was to a ramen restaurant. Which is not very romantic if you’re trying to woo someone. So, it sounds true and preposterous at the same time. He said he was so nervous that he accidentally spilled a drink on me. I wondered if he told me that just to be funny and endearing, but it never actually happened.”

“Oh,” Sango burst out laughing, “it definitely did happen! You’d told him to pick somewhere he loved to go and Inu’s favorite meal is ramen, so that’s what he picked. And the drink. It was a pink cocktail that stained your dress. You were so annoyed!” She giggled again. “But it was obvious how nervous he was, and I remember how you told me it was cute to see him get all flustered.”

“Oh, wow,” Kagome laughed too. “I guess I have to believe it now. Tell me more.”

“Hmm,” Sango pondered. “He was so nervous to even ask you out, Miroku had to ask you for him.”

“What?!” Kagome gasped and snorted a laugh. “And I’d still said yes?!”

“Yeah, because by then you liked him too. It took... if I remember correctly a year of interactions just for him to gain that much courage.” At that point Sango’s voice quieted. “I don’t know if he’s told you this part yet but, Inu was a broken person when you’d first met.”

“No, he hasn’t.” Kagome leaned forward with interest. “What do you mean?”

“At the time he’d already been broken up with Kikyo for 4 or 5 years I think, but he hadn’t fully moved on yet. I can’t say he still loved her. I think it was more just loneliness. His mother died when he was young as well. So, I think the combination of losing the two most important women in his life left him depressed.”

“Wow...”

“I knew him as Miroku’s brooding coworker, how my husband tolerated that I have no idea, but they were close friends. When we’d introduced you to him, things slowly began to change. You almost made it a mission to help him get out of it.” Sango chuckled lightly. “You know how you are, always trying to help people. At first, Inu resisted, but you didn’t let up and slowly but surely broke through his defenses. He became a puppy dog around you, totally head over heels in love.” She smiled. “It was fun and so cute for us to watch it all happen.”

“I wish I remembered any of this,” Kagome sighed.

“You will. You’ve never been a quitter, so I truly believe you will get your memory back.”

“Thanks, Sango. All of your guys help really means a lot to me.”

Sango reached out and hugged her friend. “I know you’d do the same for me.” She sat back in her chair. “It’s tough now, and I know you described Inuyasha as a stranger, but treat it as if you’re dating a new guy with all those heart racing, excitements that come with it. I see how you look at him.” She teased. “You must at least thinks he’s cute?”

Kagomes cheeks flushed pink. “Is it that obvious?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sango giggled and squeezed her friends hand. “If all you do is focus on this situation, you won’t start to live again. They’re releasing you to go home in a couple weeks, so have a little fun with him. Create some new memories.”

“Maybe you’re right... maybe I will try to think about it that way.” Kagome tips her head slightly. “It is kinda fun to feel those giddy girly emotions when I see him.”

Speaking of. The girls hear a knock at the door and turn to see Inuyasha walking in with a bouquet of flowers and a bag of take-out food. “Hey gorgeous and Sango.”

It set off another rush of heat to Kagome’s face. “Hi,” she squeaked out.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Sango stood up with a wink. “See you tomorrow.” She hugged her best friend and left the room.

Inuyasha took the seat beside Kagome and handed her the flowers. “How are you feeling today?”

“Mmm, it was good chatting with Sango.” She held the flowers up to her nose to smell them while keeping her eyes on him. “Thank you for the flowers, they’re beautiful.”

“Beautiful women deserve beautiful flowers,” he smiled back and held up a bag. “Hope you’re hungry. I brought dinner since hospital food must be getting boring by now.”

“Aww, that’s thoughtful of you, cause yes,” Kagome sighed, “it is.”

Inuyasha chuckled, then pulled out the containers of food. He handed Kagome a plate. “It’s salmon nitsuke.”

“Oh, yes!” Kagome almost moaned in delight as she opened the container and surveyed the food. “And it smells so delicious!” But before Inuyasha opened his container. “Wait! Let me guess what you got.”

“Okay?” Inuyasha chuckled.

“Ramen.”

Inuyasha’s eyes widened. “How?!”

Kagome giggled. “Sango told me it was your favorite.”

To her guessing was funny, but she didn’t expect the pained expression that instantly fell over Inuyasha’s face. It didn’t take her long to realize. “Oh my, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to make you think I got my memory back!”

“I-It’s okay, really,” he tried to reassure her. Yes, it hurt, but, “it’s nice to see you smiling and happy.”

“Are you sure? I’m really sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

“Kagome, it’s really okay.” He smiled with eyes clouded over. “You’ve been... stand-offish till now, so it makes me feel a lot better that you’re comfortable enough to joke with me again.”

“Yeah... about that... I’ve been talking with Sango and she’s been encouraging me to give you a chance. I do want... to take her advice, but...” her voice softened, “could I be honest with you?”

“Of course.”

“For me, this is all like meeting a new guy and, you know, the whole crush, dating steps, and such whereas for you, it’s different and must be frustrating.”

“If I’m being honest, yeah,” Inuyasha scratched his head, “it is, but I don’t know, also a bit exciting too, like a challenge, but a fun one if that makes any sense. I get to date you all over again— I-I mean if you’ll let me.”

“They’re releasing me soon, so I think...” Kagome’s cheeks flushed. “I’d love to go out on a date with you Inuyasha.”

“Whoo Hoo!” He pumped his fists in the air. “I feel like a teenager again,” Inuyasha laughed.

At that, Kagome giggled, her mood significantly lightened, and a weight lifted. It was the first step towards a sense of normalcy. Forget the fact she couldn’t remember a chunk of her past and live in the now where a handsome hanyo sat waiting.

#inukag #inuyasha #inukag au #Kagome higurashi #inuyasha x kagome #angst with fluff and happy ending #inukag fan fic #inukag fan fiction

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franniebanana · 3 years

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CQL Rewatch - Ep 22

It feels so good to see these two together, talking about old times, and most importantly, not arguing. It's as if this was the conversation that was meant to happen back in Yiling, but it didn't because emotions were too high. I guess it's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Wei Wuxian has time to think about and come to the understanding that Lan Wangji isn't fighting him, but instead showing concern. And Lan Wangji gets to hear Wei Wuxian's side of the story, about what he did those three months in the Burial Grounds. It's so refreshing to have this release after so much tension had built up, where the two of them are just open and honest with each other. And you can see how Wei Wuxian's relationship with Lan Wangji is different from his relationship to everyone else. While we get to see him being vulnerable with Jiang Yanli, he won't tell her everything; we see him connecting with Jiang Cheng again, but as is his temperament, Jiang Cheng is often flippant and dismissive, and only really cares that Wei Wuxian is back within the Jiang Clan fold. Lan Wangji really cannot be satisfied until he knows what's been going on; he wants to be reassured that Wei Wuxian is okay in both mind and body, he wants to know that he's not gone to the dark side per se.

And this moment is so pivotal here. Now that they've finally talked and gotten everything out that they've both been ruminating on over the past however long (idk timelines lol), Wei Wuxian is in a place where he can say he'll accept Lan Wangji's help. Wei Wuxian doesn't agree to it begrudgingly, but I think it's a hopeless agreement. Unless you know about his lack of a Golden Core, his response seems odd--maybe you think he's tired, maybe you think he's just doing it to appease Lan Wangji, but is being dishonest. With the knowledge of the transfer, you can see that he is agreeing to appease Lan Wangji, but not in a lazy or dishonest way: he knows that he can never learn the sword again, but he allows Lan Wangji to at least help him with his temperament. I don't think it's him agreeing to get Lan Wangji off his back, I think instead he's letting Lan Wangji know how important he is to Wei Wuxian--he's special.

After Wei Wuxian agrees to letting Lan Wangji help, he walks away smiling. He doesn't let Lan Wangji see it either. I feel that he's indescribably happy that with so many changes in his life, he has his relationship with Lan Wangji back--he has his best friend, he has someone who he can trust. And remember, he's not concerned about his temperament being overwhelmed--Wei Wuxian has always considered himself a prodigy, so while this is challenging, he believes that what he learned from the Gusu Lan Clan is enough. Lan Wangji, on the other hand, is still very concerned, and he devotes all of his free time to figuring out ways to help Wei Wuxian, to steady his mind and temperament.

So, while I'm watching this filler, I'm imagining a terrible scenario they could have done. When you're adapting a book or a play or really anything, it's not uncommon to add scenes, right? CQL has plenty of added scenes for context and padding, plus shit they just made up. Okay, so this would fall into the latter category. Imagine if they had had Lan Wangji get turned into a puppet/Urukai, and then there's some big, dramatic way that Wei Wuxian has to save him and turn him back, and it only brings them closer together as brothers in arms/whatever bs they were trying to sell us without making it romantic. Sounds like a terrible idea, right? Aren't you glad the writers had enough integrity and respect for the novel that they didn't do that? I complain about things that were added or changed as well, but if they had given me an actual explicit acknowledgment of wangxian love, I would have been happy. Of course, censorship is a bitch, so that's a no go. The point of this is that it could have been a lot worse.

Oh, god. Soup drama. Thank you to that person who posted the soup drama in Lan Wangji's POV. You are amazing, and that post always makes me cackle.

Ah, but this is canon to the novel if I remember correctly. It's totally valid and is actually kind of sad for Yanli, but I still think it's hilarious the way Wei Wuxian just takes off like a shot without knowing what's going on. The thing is, Jiang Yanli is just embarrassed about the whole thing and wants to leave, but of course Wei Wuxian wants revenge. He still harbors no love for Jin Zixuan, and any chance he gets to put the peacock in his place, he'll take.

Yanli is tugging on him with both hands, and Wei Wuxian doesn't move. He is just standing there, glaring at Jin Zixuan. There are two people in the world who Wei Wuxian will defend forever: Jiang Yanli and Lan Wangji--and Jin Zixuan has just offended one of them. Wei Wuxian is beyond pissed. And now couple that with how he was trapped in a sunless graveyard for three months, has been doing nothing but fighting since he's been out, and is using his spiritual power in a dangerous and unstable method. His mood, my friends, is not great right now.

I love how Lan Wangji looks inside the tent, and then proceeds to immediately nope out of there. I blame that soup drama post for everything that I see now, because it really does look like he's just thinking, "Ugh, soup drama again." But in all seriousness, I think this is just Lan Wangji feeling awkward again. I think he came out of genuine concern for Jiang Yanli, because remember Wei Wuxian took off without even hearing what was going on, but when he sees that it's clearly a matter between her and Jin Zixuan, he leaves. This isn't his business, and it also involves romance, because of course he remembers how they were betrothed until the fight broke out in Cloud Recesses. Regardless of how Lan Wangji carries himself and how he's so respected as a cultivator, he's still a young man, who still feels awkward about the idea of love and doesn't really want to be around any of it--lovers' quarrels and whatnot.

The other thing is, they don't pan over to Lan Wangji for no reason. Perhaps he's still remembering the conversation he had with Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng back in Yiling: this is a Jiang Clan affair. And this time, he's choosing to bow out when he realizes it isn't his business. However, he doesn't want to go far, because he knows how dangerous Wei Wuxian really is, especially if he loses his cool.

Honestly, Jin Zixuan is such a dick here. Every time I think he's made progress, he takes a step backward. Jiang Yanli is the sweetest person, and is just giving him soup every day to provide him with some comfort. We're to understand that she is a good cook and her soup is The Best, so she wants to do something nice for him, perhaps bring him the comfort of home in the place that is farthest from home, and he practically throws it back in her face. It's a total misunderstanding, but my heart breaks for her. And after this moment, Jin Zixuan starts to try harder. I think he finally sees who she is, what kind of person she is, and understands how genuine and loving she has always been. He finally opens his eyes and gets to know her as a person, not as the girl he's engaged to, not as the girl he was engaged to, not as the girl his parents want him to marry--but as the girl who he's interested in.

Not a lot to talk about this episode. I swear, half of it is just fighting. But let's take a moment to appreciate Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji fighting together. I am a sucker for this sort of thing, so I love seeing Lan Wangji swoop in and knock a baddie's sword out of the way to protect Wei Wuxian. It feels good seeing that and seeing them on the same side, fighting together.

Wei Wuxian tried it their way. He tried to fight without using Chenqing, but the fight was impossible. As stated before, the puppets are unkillable, so there was no way to win just by fighting them, and obviously what Nie Mingjue was doing wasn't helping. The only way to survive at this point was to try and control the puppets into working against Wen Ruohan. There's a shot of Lan Wangji before this, where he looks concerned, but I think he even knows that they had no other choice.

This was a short one, sorry! But really, I'm not going to babble about nothing. So much fighting and not a lot of dialogue or other things really happened. We're just getting through major plot points right now to be honest.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | Or just check out the #CQL Rewatch hashtag

#wangxian #lan wangji #wei wuxian #cql #the untamed #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #ep 22 #cql rewatch

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uwua3 · 4 years

Text

imposter.

🌸🎮 chigasaki itaru

summary: rule #1 — never take off your helmet

dedication: shy anon 🧡 :)

warnings: angst, betrayal, death(s), gore, heartbreak, lying

author’s note: this is set in an among us universe :D please be mindful of the concept of the game as you progress forward in the writing! this is an overdue halloween–piece that will bring the chills even in november! (this is the first time i’ve written in first person... :O) ♡ to shy, i hope you especially like this!

word count: 2,550

music: hit and run – lolo, as the world caves in – matt maltese

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

October 31, 20XX ☆ 05:24

There is only one rule on the spaceship everyone follows: NEVER TAKE OFF YOUR HELMET.

Ever since the report of an alien specimen being on board, the entire crew has made it mandatory that we remain in uniform. I’ve slowly forgotten the faces of my crewmates, all I can see is the color of their astronaut suits. Every day is the same: waking up to do tasks, all whilst hoping not to die.

Luckily, we haven’t had to call an emergency meeting in months. Or, so I believe. Time passes differently in the middle of the solar system. How long has it been since I’ve talked to someone outside of maintaining the ship? Days, weeks, months, years? The threat of an invader walking among us has taken over our ship for the worst.

I have to do my tasks now.

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 1, 20XX ☆ 06:30

Today, a new crew member joined us! From what the captain told us, he goes by the name Taruchi. He wears an orange uniform and doesn’t seem to talk much, only really spends time on his government-assigned phone.

I’ve introduced myself to Taruchi at the mandatory staff meeting, but he didn’t seem to be too interested. He just nodded and went back to tapping away on his screen, playing something that looked like shooting asteroids.

To be honest, no one knows exactly why it took this long to replace White, who was tragically murdered by the Imposter not too long ago. I assume it’s because no one wants to work on a spaceship where the alien is still on board. Taruchi’s got guts, that’s for sure. Or, maybe…

Is it just me… or is Taruchi sus?

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 2, 20XX ☆ 15:43

Red died.

Right before the lights had to be fixed in Electrical, I noticed an orange suit out of the corner of my eye. Taruchi leaned against the wall in the Storage corridor, right beneath the blinking security camera. He was on his phone again, almost pulling it out of his pocket before stopping, looking up to meet my gaze.

I swear my heart stop. Even with both of our helmets on, I could feel the piercing stare of this unknown crew member. Taruchi straightened his posture, and I could feel how tall he truly was. He tilted his head, presumably looking me up and down before tapping a button on his phone. The last thing I felt was the unfamiliar buzz of notification against my belt strap before it went all dark for a few minutes.

Red’s body was reported by Purple in Electrical, a location Taruchi and I were just around the corner of. By the time everyone entered the Cafeteria to vote, Purple’s finger was pointed directly at me. It was the first time I’ve been accused of being the Imposter. Purple, a friend who I had known ever since we both joined this Skeld map together, thought I had murdered Red in cold blood.

Taruchi spoke up for the first time since he arrived. His voice was smooth with a tone of calmness that fit his casual stance around the ship. Taruchi jumped so easily into the conversation, I couldn’t help but stare in awe while he sat beside me.

“They were with me in Storage, they’re safe.” Taruchi vouched for me, turning the conversation to a dead end. We all ended up agreeing to skip the vote, even if it was against Purple’s will at the end. When we rushed to finish our tasks for the day, all I remember was Purple staring at me for a moment too long before heading in the direction of the Upper Engine.

It was just Taruchi and me in the Cafeteria with the emergency button going through its cooldown again. I nearly couldn’t believe it, I was suspected. I would have to be careful of where I was next time.

Taruchi turned towards me as if wanting to say something, before sighing and shaking his head. He moved to stand up and stopped by the entrance to Medbay, turning around while knocking his knuckles onto the wall once as if he already didn’t have my undivided attention.

“Be careful, okay? There’s an Imposter among us.” I swore I could see him wink before he disappeared. Taruchi’s words didn’t leave me for the rest of the day because I had realized something.

We haven’t had a death in so long, until Taruchi arrived.

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 5, 20XX ☆ 17:12

One crewmate had died today: Purple.

It was a hit and run in the Lower Engine. At the second body reporting of the day, Cyan claimed they were on cams duty in Security, but they didn’t see a thing. Purple was found in the Lower Engine in the lowest corridor to the left, making it an easy kill for the Imposter. Once I had found out the news, I was the immediate suspect.

If it wasn’t for Taruchi again, I would’ve been kicked out into space. I would’ve been the third death, but Taruchi had once again saved me.

Prior to Purple’s death, I was in the Reactor trying to start it. Taruchi walked into the room, nearly making me yell out of shock from how quiet he was. Taruchi raised his hands as if trying to prove he was innocent, helping me up from the ground with a small laugh.

“Hey, hey, hey. Calm down, you’re okay.” Taruchi reassured me, making sure I could stand on my own two (2) feet before letting me go. For some reason, even if every sign pointed to him being the Imposter, I believed him. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, nodding as I managed to thank him. Taruchi just waved his and, signaling for me to not worry about it as he caught sight of the keypad in front of me.

“Oh? You got the ‘Start Reactor’ task, hm?” Taruchi said, moving in closer to see my progress. I hadn’t even started yet, and that became embarrassingly obvious once Taruchi let out another laugh.

“You haven’t started? How long have you worked here?” Taruchi joked, knocking his fist into my helmet lightly as if to tease me. I swatted back, trying not to show I was flustered beneath my mask. Though, sometimes it felt like Taruchi could see right through me despite only being here for four (4) days or so.

“I’ve always been awful at patterns.” I admitted quietly, looking away as Taruchi tried to hold in his laughter this time around. It took a moment for him to compose himself before Taruchi exaggerated a sigh, taking my position and pressing in the pattern quickly without even hesitating.

Right as it reached the fifth stage, Taruchi looked over his shoulder to hold his hand out. “You have to clean up the Halloween decorations around the ship with me or else I’ll leave you to this task alone.” Taruchi compromised, waiting for me to accept this dal as the timer began counting down.

“Taruchi, you’re kidding.” You paused, waiting for him to say he was joking but that moment never came. Cleaning around the Skeld was the worst job possible, even if it got me out of a day of tasks. Before the last second disappeared, I took his hand with a loud “Fine!” and his other hand entered the code without even looking at the same time. Gamer hands were impressive, to say the least.

“Good little astronaut.” Taruchi patted my helmet as I watched the taskbar go up on my phone. “I’ll see you tomorrow in the Cafeteria at 0800, then, little one.”

Before I could respond to the new nickname, both Taruchi and I’s phone screens lit up with the notification of Brown reporting Purple’s corpse.

Taruchi’s fingers tensed around his device as he looked at me solemnly. “I’ll defend you in Cafeteria, don’t worry about it.” Taruchi promised, leaving first as I regained my senses and followed after him.

Taruchi lived up to his word, even when Yellow brought up how Purple was dead after accusing me a few days ago.

“Purple’s dead after they targeted you? Seems sus to me.” Yellow scoffed, kicking their feet up onto the table and crossing their arms. Murmurs spread around the cafeteria table, my own crew mates beginning to further doubt my allegiance.

“They just did a task in Reactor. Can’t you see it in the taskbar?” Taruchi retorted back, holding up his own screen as evidence. The rest of the crew checked to confirm, and voiced their agreement.

“How did you know that, Orange?” Blue questioned out of nowhere, leaning forward to stare at Taruchi and me. I didn’t know what to say, should I admit I was with Taruchi or would that make both of us seem suspicious?

“Stalked them from the vents, of course.”

It went so silent I could hear the beeping from navigation. Everyone was looking at Taruchi at this point. The vent from Lower Engine did lead to Reactor… but, that made no sense. Taruchi had walked into the entrance, he didn’t vent up.

“Haha, just kidding.” Taruchi said after a moment too long, leading to everyone relaxing after an uncomfortable but relieved sigh. I didn’t know why I didn’t defend Taruchi immediately, except... I did. I just didn’t want to say it out loud. Even I wasn’t sure if Taruchi was another Impostor or not.

Two (2) imposters on one (1) ship… I shuddered at the thought.

Once again, we ended up skipping. I think the crew was afraid of what would happen if we lost another innocent. Everyone else left to mourn yet another death as Taurchi and I stayed behind again.

Taruchi couldn’t be Imposter. Not when I felt this safe with him. Taruchi was the one to stand up first again after he noticed I wasn’t saying anything. This time, he leaned over me instead.

“Your helmet isn’t put on right, it’s not adjusted correctly.” Taruchi reminded me, fixing it so we both could hear the latches hook onto the helmet. I wondered what his hands would feel like without those orange gloves, but, I nodded instead.

“Remember tomorrow, here, 8, got it?” When I nodded again, he laughed. It was a sound that made me feel relaxed even when the rest of the crew was on high alert.

“It’s a date, then.” Taruchi added on before strolling out towards his dorms, I assume. I just waved goodbye before freezing. Huh? What did that mean? Was it actually a date?

Even when my crew mates were facing the threat of death, I couldn’t help but get excited over seeing Taruchi tomorrow morning.

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 6, 20XX ☆ 12:07

Taruchi took off his helmet today.

He said to stop calling him that alias, his real name is Chigasaki Itaru. Itaru… I like that more than Taruchi.

His eyes are the same color as Pink’s uniform, with blonde hair that fell over his forehead after wearing his helmet all day. When Itaru saw me stare, he smiled and it only made my heart beat faster.

“Uh oh. Does someone have to go to MedBay to check their vitals?” Itaru joked, nudging me with his helmet. Itaru had broken rule #1 of the spaceship, he had taken off his helmet… for me.

“See? I told you I wasn’t Imposter. I could tell you were thinking that, but, I promise, I’m on your side.” Itaru didn’t ask me to take off my helmet. He just put his back on and we continued taking down the Halloween decorations.

Taruchi—no, Itaru, wasn’t an Imposter. I knew that for a fact.

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 15, 20XX ☆ 02:52

I really like Itaru. I want to play this game with him forever, but, I can’t.

YOUR LOG. STARDATE:

November 24, 20XX ☆ 23:11

Itaru and I were watching the stars as we patrolled Navigation for the night. As we slowly made our way through time and space itself, I could hear Itaru turn on automatic cruise control. I looked towards him as he yawned despite being the biggest night owl on the ship.

When Itaru took off his helmet and shook his head, fixing his hair in the process, he leaned back in his pilot seat with a lazy smile.

“Me, you, and the stars. What could be better than this?” Itaru sighed, as if at peace after leaving the tense atmosphere of the ship. Now that it was night, the suspicion was asleep as everyone took their appropriate night shifts.

Underneath the starlight, I couldn’t help but admire him yet again. Itaru was beautiful and I found myself subconsciously smiling at him like a fool. Itaru glanced at the sky before meeting my sight, seemingly lost in a daze for a second before swearing, taking his feet off the control panel.

“I can’t see you, but goddamn it, I want to kiss you so bad.” Itaeu put his head in his hands, his words muffled but clear enough to make my heart skip a beat. Before I could stop myself, I revealed what I’ve always wanted to say ever since I met Itaru.

“I trust you, Itaru. Kiss me.”

Itaru slowly lifted his head, silently asking if you were serious. I leaned in closer, pushing my chair towards him as if giving him permission. Itaru was in shock and disbelief, before breaking out into a wide smile as if this was the highlight of his night.

When he leaned in as well, his hands ghosted over the latches of my helmet warily, meeting my eyes again to confirm. I nodded, and right before Itaru took it off, he whispered his last confession.

“I love you.”

Black alien tentacles pushed past the opening in my helmet and wrapped around Itaru’s throat without any warning. The helmet clattered to the floor noisily as tens of intergalactic limbs spread out and searched for their next victim. It had been so long since I last killed that my extraterrestrial tentacles were deathly hungry, and Itaru was next.

Itaru was lifted into the air, his feet dangling as he desperately tried to grab the tentacles off him. I couldn’t help but smile even as I watched the light fade away from his eyes. My parasitic tentacles squeezed tighter and tighter around every square surface of his body. It wouldn’t be long before he exploded all over the entire Navigation room.

“Rule #1: Never take off your helmet, Itaru.”

I dropped his lifeless body onto the floor without a care in the world. Orange’s suit was stained with blood with what was left of him. I put my helmet back on, wiping the evidence away like I’ve done many times before.

I made sure to set off O2 malfunction on my phone before I hopped into the vent, quickly coming out of Shields before running with the rest of the group. When I managed to report Orange’s body, I watched his corpse float millions of light years away in the distance.

Itaru was not the Imposter.

I am, and I’m going to win, no matter who died.

#chigasaki itaru #itaru chigasaki #a3! act! addict! actors!#a3!#act! addict! actors!#a3! actor training game #a3! one shots #act! addict! actors! one shots #mankai a3!#mankai company #a3! x reader #a3 x reader #itaru x reader #a3! itaru #a3 itaru

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aelaer · 3 years

Text

The Blood in My Veins: Pt 4

Heyyyy I'm back. Now that one of my big fic projects is done/being rolled out I can concentrate on getting this finished (as well as other prompts). Here are the earlier parts if you can't remember what happened in this long-running prompt fic, since my last update was like, the summer.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Prompt (via @ironstrangeprompts that I can’t tag for whatever reason qq): Kidnapped to play doctor for a still unseen other prisoner; Stephen realizes there is only one person on the planet who would have palladium in their blood.

The Warnings: Okay guys, I want to cover all bases for this part and all parts henceforth. The bad guy I've written here really really sucks. He's a complete asshole. Part of his assholeness can include behaviors such as racism, sexism, homophobic remarks, religious bigotry, and overall just being a terrible human being. This terrible human being is not a typical representative of his nation/culture and is very thankfully fictional. There's plenty of Canon-Typical Violence around, too. All of the above are not be in this specific part but could be in future parts (I'm writing this as I go so I truly don't know, I just know he’s a dickwad). I didn't know this section was gonna happen until I finished Part 2, for instance, otherwise I'd have put a note at the beginning. I'd consider the fic a heavy teen fic, if you're looking for a rating, so it shouldn't get to graphical violence beyond what you'd see in high teen rated content. Also, there's going to be Medical Procedures in the future, though more clinical rather than graphic. Hopefully that covers everything, please ask me anything if you have a question.

I always put these longer writings on tumblr into "read more" cuts, but the mobile app does not always work correctly if you're looking at the original post from my tumblr, so I apologise for the length if you're on the app and viewing the original and said cut is not working. Still unbetaed, all errors are mine.

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

Part Four: Seeing Red Again

Another three days passed with little change in Stephen’s schedule. He went for his sleep shift at 12:30 a.m. New York time, and was woken up by one of the others between 5:20 to 5:30 a.m. It wasn't enough time for even two full complete sleep cycles, but everyone there—perhaps with exception to Steffen Baar, who was a chemist—had gone through grueling schedules during medical school and residency. So they were, in some ways, used to it.

After waking up, he had fifteen minutes to shower, shave, and change into the clothing about his size, provided for by his captors. From there, he then got to work. His sleep shift ended about three hours before dinner came—about 8:30 a.m. New York time—and a small snack arrived at what he assumed was this place's midnight, but was 2 p.m. according to his watch. Breakfast came twelve hours after dinner, at 8:30 p.m. in New York, and he went to bed again half an hour after midnight. Apparently while he slept, another snack break came for those awake.

The one small blessing in all of this was that the people holding them realized the power of caffeine and provided black tea and coffee every time they brought them food. He didn't think there were any cameras in the showers or toilets, either, which was—hopefully true. There was nothing obvious and, truth be told, he didn't really want to look much further for evidence.

Throughout his waking day, Stephen largely helped prep samples for blood analysis. He tried to strategize with Summer about how to best utilize their resources, should a surgery be required, but they had little to go on. They had yet to receive better X-rays of their patient—of Tony Stark, which still baffled Stephen—so much of their planning was about logistics.

"Doctors in the United States are required to complete a surgical rotation in their third year of med school," Stephen said, "so Jada will know basic surgical procedures. Do you need to do the same in the UK?"

"Yes," Summer answered. "All doctors go through the two-year Foundation Programme which always includes training in general surgery. So Dr Mahajan will be able to assist us as well."

"They can serve as our nurses and techs," Stephen muttered. "But what about Dr Baar?"

Summer pursed her lips together. "No medical training—but I would rather have him on hand than not. If we said we can't use him…"

Stephen grimaced and nodded. "Point. He can certainly hold a retractor." He blew out a breath. "We'll need a heart-lung machine. Those aren't easy to come by."

"None of this machinery is," she pointed out, jutting her chin to the advanced machinery scattered around the room. "I don't think that will be an issue for us. Whoever these people are, they have resources."

He pursed his lips together. "We also need an anesthesiologist."

She paused at that and sighed. "Yes. Yes, we need one of those. Unfortunately, I think we're going to be working with someone on their team if the surgery happens."

Stephen made a face. "What makes you think that?"

"When they first showed me the X-rays, I told them I would need another surgeon for the spinal area—you—and an anesthesiologist. They only spoke about finding me a surgeon, so they must have their own medical team that includes one."

He sighed. "Of course they do. He better be competent."

Summer shrugged. "Not much we can do about it. And there's not much more we can plan on this hypothetical surgery until I have better X-rays."

And so that ended that discussion and, three days later, there were no changes on that end. No new X-rays had come in, so both he and the other surgeon were stuck helping prepare samples and input data. And Stephen hadn't been so bored in years.

One wouldn't think that being captive would be boring, especially if one was doing medical work during that time. But when said medical work was repetitive lab work he hadn't done since med school? And doing it for about fifteen hours a day for three days straight with no music, no reading, no nothing to help bring some distraction or variety to his work? It was absolutely mind-numbing. A small part of him wasn't entirely sure if he could survive like this for—how long did Jada said Stark had to live without a cure or intervention? Two months? He couldn't do this for two months. He was going out of his mind after three days.

It was about halfway through his shift on the fourth day that he regretted ever thinking that he was bored.

He was typing up results from various tests performed by Jada when the door to the room was suddenly slammed open. Startled, Stephen immediately turned towards the sound, only to see five men enter, all of them with guns pointed to the rest of the room. Beside him, Jada immediately threw her hands on top of her head, and he quickly followed suit.

"Come quietly! Do not fight!" said one of the men. Stephen couldn't even begin to guess his accent; maybe it was Eastern European? Russian? Former Soviet bloc in Asia? Somewhere in that rather wide region of the world, which wasn't particularly helpful information considering there were some twenty to thirty countries there.

Summer was the doctor currently asleep, though looking over his shoulder, Stephen saw that she had woken up to the sound and was pushing herself up. But he couldn't look at her or the other doctors long as he was grabbed by one of the men and forced to walk. The gun the man carried quickly negated any ideas of retaliation.

They were led down a hall; he could see Steffen, Meera, and Jada in front of him, all being led in the same rough manner he was going through. The walk itself wasn't very long, perhaps a minute, but to Stephen it felt like every second was dragging. Despite his best efforts, his heart was starting to race at this new development.

The man with Steffen finally stopped in front of a door and unlocked it, then shoved the chemist inside. Within seconds, Stephen was at the door and being pushed forward himself. He took a quick look around, as much as he could without moving much: a large room with concrete walls and no windows, just like where he and the other doctors were being kept. Cot in the corner. Table with a computer and covered in bits of wires and electronics that he couldn't begin to label. Two other men armed with enormous guns—some sort of automatic rifles—and then one man who was crossing his arms and staring at him and his fellow doctors with a look that immediately put Stephen on edge. This man, this man radiated the air of a person in charge.

And then there was him. The famous Tony Stark, or Iron Man as he was calling himself these days. He looked like a former shadow of himself, being several pounds thinner and bearing a sickly pallor that Stephen immediately noticed, even during these circumstances.

A look of surprise was upon Stark's hollow face, but even as Stephen focused more upon him, it was quickly replaced by the cool anger of a man biting his tongue.

All five doctors were maneuvered to face Stark in a line before being forced to their knees. Stephen bit his lip to hold back a grunt of pain from his knees hitting the concrete floor.

"You say you are 'calling my bluff' with your medical team," said the man. He pushed himself off the wall and passed out of Stephen's line of sight. "Here they are." He started at Stephen's right as he went through the doctors. "Steffen Baar, chemist." A step closer. "Jada Ferguson, hematologist." Another step, and he heard Doctor Mahajan inhale sharply. "Meera Mahajan, pathologist."

Another step, and the man was behind him. To Stephen's utter horror, he felt cold metal press against the back of his head. "Stephen Strange, neurosurgeon." The metal then left his head and he heard another step. "Summer Weston, cardiothoracic surgeon." Another step, and he could see the man in the corner of his eye again, this time on his left.

Tony Stark kept his lips pressed in a tight line as their captor went through the line. When he finished, the billionaire swallowed and looked at them all. "Good job keeping me alive this long, docs," he said.

"Not good enough, Stark," the man snapped. "Their solution is only a band aid. They give you but a few more weeks. They are called the best doctors in the world, and they cannot yet make a cure?"

Stephen forcefully held back his retort regarding the man's utter ignorance. It was an outright miracle they found any sort of solution as quickly as they did to delay the spread!

Stark, it seemed, agreed with him, and had no such reservations with holding back. "That's insane, Yusifov. It takes teams of doctors months, if not years to create what you're looking for."

He couldn't see it, but Stephen could almost feel the sneer from their captor, this Yusifov. "In that case, you don't need this many doctors, do you?" A couple steps and he was again behind Stephen, further to the right. "I'm no doctor, but as far as I can tell, these two both look at blood and try to fix the problem. Neither of them fixed it, not fully. So who do you want to keep, Stark? The black American or the Indian Brit? One less woman won't make a difference."

Stephen dared a glance to his right when he heard quick breathing. Doctor Mahajan was visibly shaking and starting to hyperventilate; to her right, Doctor Ferguson was quiet, but her lips trembled and tears pricked her eyes.

Stark stepped forward, and several guns rose at the action. He stopped but held his ground, raising his hands. "Don't do this."

"Why not?" the man retorted. "You refuse to work because you are dying. They have failed you and one will pay the price. Perhaps both; they are both from lesser races."

As Stephen processed the fact that he heard a comment like that in fucking 2010, Doctor Mahajan's breathing accelerated into full on hyperventilation. His medical mind noticed it immediately.

But another was quicker to the draw. "Breathe through your nose, Meera," Summer said lowly. "Try to inhale for one-one thousand, then exhale through pursed lips. You can—"

"Shut up!"

Doctor Weston was smacked on the back of her head hard enough to send her sprawling to the floor.

And Stephen snapped.

Now, if one were to ask Doctor Stephen Strange, he would by no means consider himself heroic or noble. His role as a doctor was one of service, but even within his relatively short time as a neurosurgeon, he had already gained a prestige that recognized his rising star and already people in the medical community were considering him in the top ranks of neurosurgeons. Soon, demand for his expertise would be large enough for him to have the option to turn away those who weren't worth his time, and he felt not a lick of guilt for that. His skills were valuable.

But to hear this brute of a man first throw slurs at two of the most brilliant women—no, the most brilliant doctors—in their fields followed by an outright assault on the other caused a protectiveness Stephen hadn't felt since his sister's death to completely overtake him. He saw red.

He leaped up at Yusifov in a fiery anger, no particular idea in mind except stop him from hurting anyone rushing through his head. At this point there was little thought, only adrenaline and a near primal fury running through his veins. It wasn't like him to be so hot-headed; he was a man who kept his cool under the most stressful of circumstances. But perhaps several days of poor sleep combined with the stress of the situation finally got to him. When he thought about it in the aftermath, even he would admit he had no idea what he was thinking.

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision he would come to regret.

In one moment he managed to knock the pistol out of Yusifov's hands and punched him in the face. He recognized screaming, shouting, fighting in the noises behind him, but he was focused on his own target.

Stephen hit him twice more before someone threw an arm around his neck and dragged him back and began to choke him. He clawed at the arm, which did nothing, but then he aimed his heel down right to the sensitive part of his attacker's instep. The man grunted in pain and the grip around his neck loosened.

A shot shattered through the enclosed space, causing Stephen to freeze in surprise—and that proved to be his downfall. He saw Yusifov raising his pistol just before he was whipped across the face with the weapon. The hit threw him off balance and he fell to the floor and lay there for a second, stunned. He felt wetness on the side of his head.

As Stephen attempted to push himself up, a kick to his back sent him back to the floor. An involuntary grunt of pain escaped him. He closed his eyes, pausing for breath, but was given little time to recover as he was grabbed by both arms and dragged up to his knees. From his new position, he could see the rest of the room once more, and Stephen's heart skipped a beat at what was before him.

There were several alarming sights: Tony Stark on his knees just like him, nose bloodied. One of the gunmen near Stark with a screwdriver sticking in his neck and very much dead. Summer in the corner of the room, holding a shaking Meera against her chest.

And Doctor Steffen Baar on the ground, bleeding out from his stomach as Jada desperately tried to stem the blood flow with her sweater. The red dripped through the fabric and onto the concrete.

Stephen felt ill. He instinctively reached forward towards Steffen, to try and help, but the grip on his arms tightened and kept him in place.

Stark was the one to speak first. "Let them help him. I won't fight further. I'll do what you ask."

Yusifov came back into Stephen's line of sight as he stepped in front of him, though his gaze was on Stark. He said to the engineer, "You killed one of my men. A life for a life—that is fair, wouldn't you say?"

"He did nothing," Stark hissed, pulling against the hands that held him down. Stephen could see the men pull him back and tighten their grip in response. "And he's needed. You wouldn't have brought him here otherwise."

"He didn't do anything," Yusifov agreed, then turned to Stephen. "This one did." He then sent a sharp kick into Stephen's stomach, causing him to double over in pain as far as the men holding him allowed. He almost missed the next statement. "And I should kill him for it. But the surgeon will be needed. The chemist, though? He failed to make a cure for your ailment with a month of time, and you don't have much longer to live, Stark. The chemist failed, and at this point, he's a waste of medical resources."

Then Yusifov nodded at one of his men, and he grabbed Jada by the arm and yanked her up to her feet.

"No—please, no, don't do this!" she shouted as she was dragged away from Steffen. Their captors ignored her and Yusifov walked up to the wounded man. He aimed his pistol at Steffen's head.

"Don't do this!" Stark shouted.

A shot rang through the room. A loud sob came from the corner before it was muffled. Stephen's ears rang, half deafened from the sound. His stomach churned; he felt like he was going to vomit. He hung his head and closed his eyes, trying to breathe slow breaths through his nose.

All he could smell was blood. He forcefully suppressed his gag reflex.

Stephen missed whatever conversation came next, too busy trying to calm his breathing, trying not to throw up, and not having the energy to make out the words beyond the ringing in his ears. But then the world was moving as he was pulled to his feet and shoved out of the room, leaving behind Tony Stark and the body of Doctor Steffen Baar.

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

I was stuck on what I wanted to do with this part with a handful of ideas and consulted my beta for ideas. She suggested death which I wasn't even thinking of because I'm very bad at killing off characters. I blame her fully :P

Tag list (just let me know if you want to be added/removed with a comment - still not on AO3!): @sobeautifullyobsessed, @tashacumberbitch, @babywarg, @nishtha3012, @ragingstillness, @walkin-in-the-cosmos (I think the reason I can’t tag you is because you’ve flagged your tumblr for sensitive media, possibly), @lafourmii20, @asexualchemist, @iveneverbeenmorestressedinmylife, @oo0-will-of-the-wisp-0oo, @animefanfreak45, @rulerofthefandomsnow, @killaspyglass, @renlybaratheon-tyrell, @symmetria42, @kay-lock-key-lock

#tony stark #stephen strange #avengers fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #mcu #prompt fill #my writing #my fanfiction

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let-it-raines · 4 years

Text

your wonder under summer skies (10/?)

Summer in Storybrooke, Maine means one thing for its residents: tourist season. This year, for Emma Swan and Killian Jones, it means relationships ending and friendships changing all the while they attempt to figure out just what their relationship is. It’s somewhere straddling the line between friends and lovers, and there’s no guarantee of a soft landing if they fall into new territory.

rating: mature

ao3: beginning | current

tumblr: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |

-/-

“Swan? Let’s do what?”

Emma’s lips are parted, and he keeps waiting for her to finish her sentence, to say something. He was rather interested in hearing what exactly she was about to suggest that they do, but she’s no longer paying him any attention.

What could have possibly gotten her attention?

Killian twists his head around to look behind him, and it would be impossible to miss Neal.

Neal and Tamara and the way that they’re standing hand in hand in line for the Ferris wheel like some kind of cliché out of a bad movie that plays on TV every Saturday night.

Well, fuck.

Killian’s hands fall from Emma’s hips before he moves them to her shoulders, tugging on them and trying to get her attention. It doesn’t work at first, but then she’s blinking and shaking her head before snapping her mouth shut, her lips pressed into a firm line.

“Hey, let’s get back to my place, yeah? The fireworks will be soon, and we don’t want Liam and Elsa to get the good spots. Liam’s got that huge head, so he might block the view.”

Her laugh in response is pathetic, and she obviously knows it from the way she overcorrects and attempts to make her laughter genuine. It falls flat. She’s an open book to him sometimes, he wishes all the time, and right now, he knows the path her mind is about to take.

He would know. He’s pretty much paved the damn path for her.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” she hisses, eyes slanting.

“It’s a holiday. Everyone here spends it at the pier.”

“Not Neal. Never Neal. He told me every year that he would never come with me. That asshole.”

Emma pulls away from him, and he loses his grip on her shoulders as she storms off toward Neal. Her swan falls off, and he has to lean down to pick it up.

Bloody hell.

Is he ever going to get to quit chasing this woman?

“Emma,” he shouts before cursing under his breath. He doesn’t need to bring attention to them. “Swan, hey.” He has to jog to catch up to her, tugging on her wrist and pulling her back and away from the main path until they’re standing between two booths.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to go yell at that fucking bastard for showing up here with her.”

“That is not going to make you feel better.”

“Really? Because I think getting to tell him that I absolutely despise him would make me feel a hell of a lot better.”

“For a moment, yeah, but then it all goes away and he gets the satisfaction of knowing that he is still affecting you like this.”

She scoffs and rolls her eyes. He may be a stubborn ass, but she’s the exact same way.

“Really? You’re telling me this? You, who if I remember correctly, had sex with me to forget about your ex when she showed up, is preaching about momentary satisfaction not being good enough.”

Killian flexes his hand and tries to keep it from balling up into a fist. He’s got the stuffed swan in his left hand, and it’s already straining from how he’s clenching it. Damn thing. He hates how easily it hurts now.

He hates that this is the way Emma is about to be, but if she’s going to have to realize that he’s more than capable of giving what he gets.

Stepping closer to her, Killian dips his head down until his looking into Emma’s eyes. “Aye, that I did, but I was not the first to do it and I also regretted treating you like that. I think it may be smart for you to remember that before you decide to throw stones at me because you’re upset with Neal.”

Her jaw clenches, and her eyes cut away from him. He can feel the heat radiating off of her, and her chest heaves as she breathes. There’s this part of him, something he knows is primal, that can’t look past the way her breasts look as they move or the way that he can see her stomach when he looks down. She’s been wearing a bloody bikini all night, the flannel shirt on top of it not at all buttoned, and he’s tried not to think too much of it.

He has spectacularly failed. The woman is a temptress.

But she is also his best mate, and none of that is what he should be focusing on since it doesn’t even make the list of his priorities at the moment.

“I think I need to be alone.”

“Swan – ”

“It’s…you’re fine. We’re fine. I’ll be on the rooftop at ten like I’m supposed to be so we can all watch explosions in the sky. I just need some time to breathe.”

“Emma.”

She finally looks at him. “I’m not going to talk to Neal. I promise. See you later, okay?”

“In half an hour, love. I’ll save you a seat.”

“Good.”

And then she’s walking away and turning in the opposite direction of Neal and Tamara. Killian, however, can’t seem to do that.

He’s seen Emma upset more times in the past month and a half than he has in the past five years. There have been times when she’s broody and annoyed and mad as hell, occasionally at him, but it’s never been like what he’s seen lately.

It’s never been heartbreak that she’s been attempting to hide.

If he’s honest with himself, he’s never cared this much either.

Right now, though, all he can think about is what a fucking idiot Neal has to be to cheat on Emma and to keep doing things that are going to upset her.

She doesn’t deserve it. No one does.

Well, Neal Cassidy might.

He and Tamara are still standing in line at the Ferris wheel, but Killian now realizes that they’re not in line at all. They’re simply standing there talking with Neal’s hand on Tamara’s ass as she throws her head back in laughter.

If Emma wanted Neal to come here every year, Killian can’t understand why he wouldn’t. They were together for half a decade, and the man couldn’t come once? It’s not asking much. Hell, it’s barely asking anything.

But he’s here with the woman he was sleeping with behind Emma’s back?

Maybe he should have let Emma tell him off because that would feel so damn good right now.

Breathing in, Killian pushes down the urge to walk toward Neal and decides to walk past him. Momentary satisfaction, he reminds himself. If he discouraged Emma from doing it, he can’t be the hypocrite.

Damn does he want to be.

Fortunately, or unfortunately really, for him, Neal seems to want to let him have the opportunity.

“Hey, Jones.”

Fuck.

Killian stops walking and slowly turns on his heels. Cassidy is walking toward him, his girlfriend staying back where they were standing, and Killian is definitely going to rip the head off of this swan before the night is over.

Better it than Neal, he guesses.

(Logistically. He would much rather rip the bastard’s head off, but he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life in prison.)

“Cassidy,” Killian greets, but he doesn’t offer anything else.

Neal smiles and laughs before sticking his hands in his pockets and shrugging. Is he trying to look nice? Because it sure as hell isn’t working.

“Can I talk to you for a minute? In private.”

“You can talk, but you can talk here. I’ve got somewhere to be in a few minutes.”

Neal’s eyes narrow, and he looks down at Killian’s hand. Out of instinct, Killian wants to pull his shirtsleeves down and cover his scars, but that’s not what Neal is looking at.

“Look, man,” Neal sighs, that same, insincere smile on his face, “I saw you walking around earlier with Emma, and I feel like I’ve got to warn you.”

Oh, this asshole definitely deserves to have his head ripped off.

“Pardon?”

“You and Emma.” He shrugs again while Killian straightens his shoulders. “I always kind of knew you two had a thing going on, but I didn’t believe it until I saw you walking around with her earlier. I’m cool with it and all, but I don’t think you know what you’re getting into with her. There are a hell of a lot consequences when it comes to choosing to be with Emma, and they’re not good ones.”

Killian swallows as his teeth start to grind. What kind of bastard is this man? Who the hell does he think he is to tell Killian that there are consequences to being with Emma? Killian wants to laugh, he really does. He wants to laugh and tell Neal that he has no idea what he’s talking about since Killian is most definitely not with Emma.

Mostly, he wants to knock the man’s front teeth out and break his fucking nose. He used to not be this bad. Killian was rarely a fan, but Neal had his redeeming qualities. They could have been friends in a way.

He doesn’t mourn the lost opportunity there.

“What could you possibly know about choosing Emma?” Killian sneers, stepping into Neal’s space. “Because it seems to me that you didn’t, that you did the opposite of that, and for you to think that you have any right to what she does with her life has got to be the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard.”

“So, you are fucking her then? I was right.”

It’s like he’s just been slapped across the cheek.

“What could possibly make you think that?”

“You wouldn’t be defending her like that if you weren’t.”

He scoffs and closes his eyes, his breathing heavy. “You said there were consequences to choosing Emma, aye? Well, I would still choose her every damn time even though I’m not with her. You, on the other hand, left, and the consequences of that mean I never want to hear about you trying to interfere with her life again. Go spend time with your girlfriend, Cassidy. I’m sure she’d love to know that you’re still hung up the woman you left to be with her.”

“Fuck you.”

Killian bites his tongue and focuses on the feel of the stuffed swan in his hand to keep him from doing something stupid.

“Emma has always deserved better than you. It’s a shame it took you hurting her to see it. Fuck off, Neal. I think it’s time that you moved on.”

“Neal?” Tamara calls from behind them. “Is everything okay?”

Neal blinks, slowly, and then the smile on his face transforms from sinister to charming. “Just catching up with an old friend.”

And then he walks away and goes back to Tamara.

Killian has no idea what just happened. All he knows is that he’s pissed off, still desperately wants to break Neal’s nose, and he doesn’t know how he’s going to act normal around everyone when they’re watching the fireworks.

He just really needs a damn drink.

But he is not paying for an overpriced one when he’s got perfectly good rum at home.

It’s easy to get back to his apartment once he gets out of the crowd. It’s quieter, too, and he can hear voices coming from the rooftop already. The darkness of the night makes it impossible to tell who’s up there, but he’ll find out soon enough. When he walks inside and makes his way upstairs, Skipper is asleep on the couch. He doesn’t bother to do more than lift his head when Killian comes in. Some guard dog.

Killian puts the swan down on the kitchen island, reaches into the cabinets for a bottle of rum, and takes a long sip. He doesn’t need a glass, not yet.

“You planning on sharing that?” Emma asks.

Shit. He didn’t even know she was here yet, but she’s sitting in the dark corner of the living room with her knees pulled to her chest.

“Do you want some?”

“You don’t have my wine, so yeah, yeah I do.”

She stands from the chair and walks over to him, grabbing the bottle out of his hand before taking a long, slow sip. She’s usually not much of a rum drinker, but it does happen on occasion.

“Why aren’t you up on the roof with the others?”

“Didn’t feel like climbing up there yet. You know, it’s really a shame that the fire escape is not on the side of the building that your room is on. Would have saved me once or twice.”

“I’ll have a talk with whoever built this place a few decades ago.”

She huffs and takes another sip before putting the bottle on the counter. “I wasn’t ready to see everyone. I don’t know. I felt like maybe I couldn’t keep it together, and I…well, I felt really damn pathetic.”

“Hey, hey, no, don’t do that. I – ” Killian sighs and reaches forward to put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing. “Do you want to go to my room and talk? I know we don’t have our slushies, but I think it can still work.”

“To talk or to…”

His lips press together. “To talk, love. Come on.”

Killian gently pushes Emma out of the kitchen until she’s walking toward his bedroom. He grabs the swan off the counter as a last-minute thought before following her. She doesn’t turn on the lights, so he doesn’t either. Instead he moves to open the curtains on all of his windows so that moonlight filters through. The fireworks will be starting soon, and he doesn’t want to miss them. He’s got a pretty good feeling they won’t make it up to the roof tonight, but he’s fine with that.

His mattress squeaks as Emma settles down, and it shifts when he joins her, the both of them settling against the headboard and under the comforter. It’s silent for awhile, and while Killian thinks Emma is going to take the lead, he finally realizes that she isn’t.

For once, it might have to be him making the first move.

Out of the corner of his eyes, his scars flash silver in the moonlight, and all of the sudden, Killian has this unbelievable need to share something he hasn’t talked about in years.

Something he’s never wanted to tell Emma before, but now, it’s all he can think about.

“Do you know how I got the scars on my arm, love?”

She twists her head. He’s not looking at her, but he can feel her gaze on his face instead of his arm. “No.”

“I was in an accident.”

“When you were in the Navy?”

Killian clicks his tongue. If only.

If only it had been that. He imagines that might be easier to deal with when it’s all said and done, but that’s not at all what happened.

“It was a car accident, actually.” He swallows and braces himself. If he focuses on simply staring at the painting of a sailboat hanging above his television, he might be able to get through this. “I was with my girlfriend at the time. Her name was Milah. We’d been out to dinner, and I was driving us back to my place. The roads were empty. I swear, I’d never even seen them that empty, and our light turned green so I started driving when an SUV ran a red light and crashed right into us in the intersection. I don’t actually know what happened after that, but the police report said we flipped several times before hitting a tree.”

A soft, small hand brushes against his own, and he spreads his fingers so Emma can twine hers together with his. It’s the most comfort he’s felt in ages, so he doesn’t stop himself when he brings their joined hands to his lips.

“Milah died in that accident, while all that happened to me was my hand getting caught in the door and shards of glass leaving some pretty nasty scars. I don’t even know how I stood up again after Liam told me she was gone. I didn’t think I would survive. I was so young and in love, and I thought she and I had the entire world in front of us.”

Emma squeezes his hand, and really, it’s better that way instead of her trying to say anything.

That’s not why he’s sharing this.

“I was so heartbroken. I’d never felt pain like that before, but then, as I started to make funeral arrangements, I got a call from her husband telling me that I was not welcome. I didn’t know she had a husband, that she had a son either, and it was like I was grieving two different things: the woman I’d lost and the woman I thought I knew.”

“Killian.”

“Don’t,” he whispers, pulling their arms over Emma’s shoulder and tugging her closer. “Don’t say anything. I don’t want pity. I simply felt like you deserved to know this about me and to know why I am so unbelievably fucked up when it comes to relationships. I loved a woman who lied to me for years, and I loved her still even after I knew about it. That anger you feel toward Neal? The one that’s mixed with betrayal and sadness and this underlying love, I have felt it. Sometimes I still do, and you are not pathetic for feeling anything that you’re feeling. I don’t care how many times we have to have this conversation. I will tell you the same thing every damn time.”

“Maybe one day I’ll actually be able to listen to you and believe it.”

“It takes time, and while I’m sure one of our friends is much better equip to understand emotions, I know that I understand you, Emma. I always have, and though you piss me off half the time, I’m never going to judge you for anything.”

She sighs, her shoulders moving with it, and then she leans her head over to his shoulder, strands of her hair tickling his chin, and Killian tugs her closer before brushing his lips against her forehead. There’s a loud whistle outside and then an explosion of light that flickers down over and over again as the fireworks show starts. the view isn’t quite the same from in here, the height of the windows not quite right, but he’s not going to complain. There are things much more important than lights in the sky.

“Do you want to hear something stupid?” Emma suddenly asks.

“I always want to hear something stupid.”

“I’ve never won a stuffed animal before. Hell, I’ve never even had one as a kid.”

Suddenly, he gets why it was such a big deal to Emma that Neal come with her to the festival. He understood, partially, but sometimes he forgets that Emma’s childhood wasn’t ideal. It was hard and painful from the few things he’s been honored to hear from her, and even with how much his sucked, it wasn’t like Emma’s. He at least had a few good experiences before his mum died and before his father became one of the biggest asses in the world.

It’s not a competition in who has had a shittier life, but it does help him keep on understanding her. A few days ago she made some off-hand comment about having a few minor run-ins with the law as a teenager, something about stealing food from convenience stories, and it clicked in his mind why she doesn’t like when Neal works at the pawn shop.

She doesn’t want to fall back into her past, and she doesn’t want to take any risks that are going to lead her there.

Knowing that and knowing that Neal must have known too, makes Killian seriously regret not breaking the man’s nose.

“It’s not stupid, love. If it’s important to you, in any way, it’s important to me.”

Her laugh is lost amongst the sound of the fireworks, but he still hears it. It’s a good sound to be able to hear.

“I always wanted to get to play the games as a kid, but I didn’t have the money. So, I don’t know. It was nice. It was stupid, but it was nice. I’ll have to find a place to put it in my apartment even though I’m not sure where in my apartment it would go.”

“On that chair in your bedroom where you put all the clothes you’re supposed to put up but never do.”

“Shut up. Just accept that I’m thankful for it. Don’t make fun of my laundry habits.”

“Sweetheart, I’ll win you however many stuffed animals your heart desires. No questions asked.”

“Then I expect several next year.”

Killian laughs into her hair as something unfamiliar settles in his stomach. “It’s a deal.”

-/-

@qualitycoffeethings @mrtinski @klynn-stormz @scarletslippers @jonirobinson64 @snowbellewells @therealstartraveller776 @thejollyroger-writer @sherifemma @galaxyzxstark @galadriel26 @idristardis @karenfrommisthaven @teamhook @spartanguard @searchingwardrobes @jamif @shireness-says @ultimiflos @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @onepunintendid @bluewildcatfanatic @superchocovian @killianswannn @carpedzem @captainkillianswanjones @mayquita @mariakov81 @jennjenn615 @onceuponaprincessworld @a-faekindagirl @scientificapricot @xellewoods @ultraluckycatnd @stahlop @kmomof4 @tiganasummertree @singersdd @tornadoamy @cluttermind @lfh1226-linda @andiirivera @elizabeethan @captain-emmajones @csalltheway @itsfabianadocarmo

#your wonder under summer skies #cs fic #cs ff #cs fanfic #captain swan fic #captain swan fanfic #captain swan ff #captain swan

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blackypanther9 · 3 years

Text

Part 39 - Stories about the past Destiny...

No one’s POV...

Laufey mentioned for you both to go outside, you nodded and you both made your way out of the house.

"So..it worked ?", Laufey asked.

"Yes it did."

"What did you see ?"

"....Before we start about my past...We need to change my plan about the Infinity Stones. They have a strong gamma radiation, Thanos can detect them with that. So the Guardians got a fake gem and will say a spell to make it look like the stone never left. It will weaken my magic and maybe this body won't be my host for long. This gamma radiation will also be stronger than the originals. And they will all go to Midgard into my hide out."

Laufey stared at you and nodded slowly.

"Now...I believe that I knew Lena once...your wife...", you mumbled.

"How ?"

"I lived once, long before even the Midgardians existed. I believe I should be over 65 million or so years old...Which means in my old home that I am maybe...22 years old...And still we look young. We won't age until we are in our own home 10 000 years. And in...I believe 18 years you start to be a teenager. With 20 years I got send into exile. For 1 year and...In space flashed millions of years before my eyes...It was scary..."

"WAIT ! 20 years on your home planet are almost 61 million years and 8 months long ?! How is that even possible ?!"

"Time...The deeper you are in space the slower you age."

"Holy...shit..."

"Yeah...Asgard is an example. Most of them count in Midgardian years, newly. If we would go for Asgardian years...Loki wouldn't be 362 years old, but maybe 19 years old now...If I calculate correctly. Soon turning 20... When I was still there, as little kid, I just handled with Asgardian years...Now not anymore."

'Lena ran maybe to her lover. She never told me what race he is, but she said his name was Laufey.', you heard yourself whisper.

"LENA !!", you screamed.

Laufey jumped.

"What is with a Lena ?"

"Your fucking wife Laufey ! She was an eternal being just like me ! Is there something you never told me ?!"

Laufey looked taken aback. Then sighed.

"She never told me, what she is. The only thing she said was that our son is very different from everyone. He is something special."

"Laufey...Loki is half Frost Giant, half eternal being ! A being with immense power ! He is a dangerous weapon ! Like me !"

Laufey stared at you shocked.

"WHAT ?!"

"He could control the Infinity Stones. I bet Loki or even somebody else never knew or found out ! Odin would have raised Loki like Hela ! And if Thanos would have known, he would never let him still live ! My kind is standing above Thanos' kind and Loki is half of that !"

"What means...!"

"He lives longer than even Thor and his heir. He would outlive them all and see them all die."

Laufey stared into space.

"I need time to let that sink in...", he said breathless.

"Laufey...Odin can never find out about this. We both know what he would do to Loki if he would know."

"Kill him..."

"No. Worse. He would torture Loki until he is agreeing to cause chaos in all realms and make them tremble under Odin’s mercy. Odin would make a monster out of Loki, like he did to Hela."

"We need to tell Loki.."

"No ! Loki can't know it ! He isn't ready for that. He just found out that he is a fricking Frost Giant, he got tortured, forced, manipulated, beaten, almost got killed, almost imprisoned and is traumatized. He is too broken to know ! We firstly need to fix him. He hates himself enough already."

You started to look even more sad.

"And he will soon hate me too..."

"What do you mean ?", asked Laufey confused.

You sighed.

"We need the Soul Stone and it is practically cursed. I cursed it...and...I can't undo it. It wouldn't work..."

"What wouldn't work ? And why are you pulling Loki into this ?"

"To get the Soul Stone you need to sacrifice what you love dearest. We can't let Odin know anything. Thor wouldn't have the ass to sacrifice someone he loves dearest. Leaves only Loki, because I can't sacrifice anything. And even if I could sacrifice anything, it wouldn't work, because I put that spell on the Stone. It wouldn't react by me."

"Who does Loki loves dearest ?"

"You know who. It's a woman, family member also."

"Frigga...", Laufey whispered.

"Yes. Loki has to sacrifice her in Vomir. The thing is...it is a big price. A Soul, in exchange, for the Soul Stone. Which makes us come to the conclusion..."

"Loki has to kill her...", Laufey mumbled.

"Sadly yes. He has to kill her. Frigga is the person, Loki loves dearest. He has to push her off of a cliff. And Frigga's soul will never move on, nor you can bring her back with all stones. An exchange is an exchange."

"Never move on ?"

"Her soul will forever stuck in the Soul Stone. Once done, no turning back. It will be hard for him and Frigga, but we have no other choice. I don't know how I shall teach that to them..."

Little did you both know that someone eavesdropped on you... The person ran quietly and quickly back in the house. Loki opened the door and awoke Frigga with panic. As she was awake, she stood up and Loki told her to follow him. After they were in the living room they sat down and Loki let his facade fall, breaking down crying and hugging Frigga. Tight.

"I don't...I can't...Mother !"

Frigga looked at him worried. Loki never acted like a 5 year old child before. Not even when he was five. She hugged him back, rocked back and forth with him and humming a calming tune. After Loki calmed down again Frigga asked Loki worried.

"Son..what happened ?"

Loki slid down on his knees and buried his face into Frigga's stomach. He cried harder again.

"They want me to get the Soul Stone !!"

"Who, son ?"

"Destiny and Laufey !!"

"That is great ! They trust you."

"No ! You don't understand !! The gem wants a sacrifice !! You need to sacrifice what you love dearest !! A soul in exchange for the gem !! And I love you dearest, Mother !! I can't do this ! They can't do this to me ! Please !!", he screamed into Frigga's stomach.

She heard every word he said and then understood. He has to sacrifice her for the Soul Stone in exchange. She rubbed Loki's back, trying to calm him.

"Shh, Son. If you have to sacrifice me then so be it."

"No ! You could never move to Valhalla ! You would stuck in the gem forever ! I can't let that happen !! We can't even bring you back then either !!"

Frigga frowned for a second then smiled and lifted Loki's chin up with her finger.

"Loki. If it is the only way, then so be it. Also I do not think that Destiny wouldn't find a way to get me out of the gem. She made so many impossible things possible, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. I will never be mad at you, no matter what you did."

Loki's tear stained face broke Frigga's heart.

"What did she do ?"

Frigga smiled and created a little video screen then she told him...

Flashback Frigga's POV...

Many things. Like I said she made the impossible, possible. Without much trickery, lies or murder. I remember that one time when she ran down the halls with a determined expression. Many of our people just disappeared and didn't return in a couple of days we started searching. Destiny had a firm lead that day and ran to King Bor. She was still a freshman but was still better than anyone else.... for causing very much mischief. *chuckles*

"King Bor ! King Bor !"

As Destiny spotted Bor she yelled after him and he stopped in his tracks.

"I think I know where they are ! They are in a cave not far from here ! I saw 2 people go there ! Please let me go there with a few men."

At first Bor didn't believe her and shook his head.

"I am sick of your tricks, Destiny."

"B-but king Bor, I am not lying ! I saw Augustus Verlan go in there ! One of our guards ! King Bor please-!"

"Enough !! Guards ! Bring Destiny Dust in the dungeons ! For trying to lie to me again."

"But King Bor ! I swear on my life I am serious ! I saw- Hey ! Let go of me !"

"Lady Dust, you are herby a prisoner and you will stay there chained on a wall for 20 years and are fired as a guard ! After your years in prison, you aren't welcomed here anymore and get thrown out of the castle ! Take her away !"

She struggled to get away, but it was no use. The last thing she screamed was a warning, which Bor didn't took serious.

"THEY ARE AFTER YOUR SON ODIN !! WATCH OUT OR HE IS NEXT !!"

It didn't take long, maybe 2 days after that and Odin was gone. No trace left. At first we thought he comes back...but the next day we grew worried...Bor ran down the dungeons to Destiny, in anger. He still didn't believe her and thought that she was still pranking him. But I knew she wouldn't dare go that far.

"WHERE IS MY SON ?!"

Destiny knelt there in chains on the ground. Never touched her food, never spoke, she just knelt there. Her head hung low and Bor was even more furious he banged on the glass.

"ANSWER ME !!"

As Destiny lifted her head, you could see black, very visible, circles around her eyes and her body was very skinny, her face a deep frown. You never saw her like this. She still didn't speak.

"Destiny AnDrEa DUST !!! ANSWER MY QUESTION !!! NOW !!"

Destiny just looked at him and then opened her mouth. Bor saw what he thought couldn't be.

"What happened ?!"

Someone cut out her tongue. He send healers and me inside there and we gave her something, so that her tongue is growing fastly in her mouth and after that we tried to give her water, but she refused and glared at Bor.

"Why should I tell you ? I warned you, I told you that I think I know where they were and still you stand here and ask me again ? You said I no longer serve you, so be it. Have fun finding him alone. And never heal me again, so I can't 'lie' to you anymore !"

Destiny spat and then just like that, she bit through her freshly new tongue and it fell out of her mouth. We all were disgusted, but I understood her too and pitied her. The next day more of our people disappeared and Bor again went down, just to find Dest gone. She broke out. Bor send out many guards to find her, the traitor. Later 10 guards saw her and chased her, in the end they lost her, but heard screams from afar. They followed and were on a cave, as they went inside they were shocked what they saw and that was all the Asir's who went missing. With Destiny on a wall trying to break free. She send out illusions to come to them. Not every trick was a trick. More a signal for help. As they killed the kidnapper, who were cannibals, Destiny was gone again and wasn't seen for a long time. The guards told Bor what had happened and he felt terrible, he was begging that she would return. And she did. She got captured, while she was sleeping in the dirt of the forest in Asgard. Thanks to Heimdall. She looked absolutely terrible. Her clothes torn, very skinny you saw every bone and very dirty. We healed her tongue and were shocked that she tried to kill herself with starvation and thirst. She was almost there. Bor quickly brought her back on her feet. He forced her to eat, drink, talk and lastly listen to him again. We even found out that the chains she was in, were blocking her magic. We still don't know how she made illusions of herself, without magic. After Destiny was fit and on her feet again, Bor gave Destiny's reputation back to her and she was a guard. And she was allowed to cause more mischief.

End of flashback No one’s POV...

Loki stared at the magic and was amazed from the story.

"What did she do also ?", he asked.

"She came back from the dead more than 2 times. Once against the Dark Elves, then against Hela and then against the Frost Giants. Because of Destiny we won all 3 times, sadly...she didn't return after the Frost Giants in war, like we expected.

"How did she defeat the Dark Elves ?", Loki asked curious.

Frigga smiled a soft smile.

Flashback Frigga's POV...

It was a dark time. Everyone was worried and afraid that Asgard can't safe anything this time. Bor broadcast desperately many men to Svartalfheim to stop the Dark Elves. No matter how many he sent...they never made it back alive. It was the first war with them.

"Wait ! You had a second war with them ?!", Loki interrupted.

Yes. Yes we had. Anyway ! Destiny was sick of his failures and planned a plan. Her job was to train a newbie. His name was Jackson. He did everything without getting it said twice. Without doubt and questions. But she gave Jackson to someone else to risk her luck and ask Bor to handle that herself with a few guards.

~Knock ! Knock !~

"Come in !" (King Bor)

~Door creaks open slowly~

"King Bor ? Am I interrupting something important ?"(Destiny/You)

"Who is this beautiful servant, Bor ?"

Bor was in a meeting, planning a big war. One of the men had to be a pervert. Destiny told me how the man stared her up and down. It was giving her goose bumps. If some random men just compliment her and stare at her like a pervert she snaps...

"First of all, I am not a servant ! Second I am not beautiful ! And third my name doesn't concern you ! Now...Can I speak with you king Bor ? Please in private ?"

Bor got a wolf whistle as he nodded. She glared at the man and slapped him across the face.

"Shut the hell up ! Get yourself together or leave !", she yelled angered.

After that they both left and Destiny told him her plan. He refused it and said they will go tomorrow with all guards and kill the Dark Elves. Destiny argued with Bor that he is doing it again.

"But I know that it'll work !"

"No is no, Destiny."

"You are doing it again ! You don't trust me ! Just like last time !!"

"Why should I trust you ?! All you do is causing mischief ! All you do is trick and lie to us !"

"That is not fair, Bor ! I once before showed you that I am not kidding if it is about Asgard and shit about going down ! Who do you think is always doing your fricking paper work ?! Odin ?! He gives it to me and I finish them, so he can rest ! Who is still polishing weapons, shields and armor ?! Do you really think I let the Newbie do all that ?! Who do you think is never really sleeping to work all around the palace ?! Huh ?! YOU ?!"

"Destiny that is enough !!"

"I hate it to always prove myself to you, Bor !! Then go there ! Die like everyone else ! I quit !!"

With that she stormed out of the hall and into her room, packed her stuff, some money and left, before Bor could talk to her again. The next day they went and Bor just took a half of the guards with himself. He returned with dead guards and badly injured ones. His plan didn't work. And now Destiny was gone again. He told Jackson to try and find her.

"Jackson try to find Destiny and bring her back to us. She was right...if I would have taken everyone with myself they would be already dead. If her plan works...I will never doubt her again and do what she asks of me. Never proving herself to me again. That I swear."

And like always...Jackson did as he got told. Meanwhile Destiny saved a little girl in a forest, from a beast and brought her back to her family.

"Joanna !", a woman screeched in happiness.

"Mom !!"

They hugged each other tight, crying in happiness. The woman looked up to see Destiny.

"Thank you ! H-how can I ever thank you enough for saving my daughter ?"

"The words 'Thank you' are enough for me. Just watch more out. The forest is dangerous and not for kids to play there. Next time I may be not there to safe her. Have a nice day ma'am."

"Destiny !!"

She turned and saw Jackson running to her. He was smiling, but she started to run away.

"No ! Wait ! I have a message for you !!"

"I don't wanna hear it ! Go home Jackson !"

"Destiny please ! I NEED YOU !! YOU ARE MY ONLY FRIEND !!"

She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. Now they stood face to face. She crossed her arms.

"What is it ?"

"You were right."

"About what ?"

"About the Dark Elves and all. If Bor would have taken everyone with himself they would be dead. He is sorry and needs your help now. If your plan works...you never have to prove yourself again. He will do everything. That he swears. He wants you back as his guard. And my...teacher."

Destiny was touched but also still angered. She turned her back to Jackson.

"I won't return. He always thinks he is better than me. I am sick of it. He can use my plan, but I won't be there. That is my last word."

With that she was gone and Jackson alone. Jackson fell on his knees and cried silent tears.

"But we need you...I need you...You promised to never leave me..."

Later he returned and told Bor what Destiny said. Bor was shocked that she didn't join them this time again. He just then realized that he crossed her line. He sighed and said that tomorrow the plan will be in action. The next day was on and guards stood at the Bifrost. Armed from head to toe, on different places will they get set. Always a 10 men group will be on a different spot of Svartalfheim. They will trap the Dark Elves like that and win. It almost went all as she planned, but Bor didn't watch out for Jackson and he almost died. A hooded person pushed Jackson out of the way and stopped the weapon to pierce through themself, in a close catch.

"Keep fighting and look everywhere you idiot ! What did I train you for ?!"

"Dest...?"

"....Hello....Jackson.", the person whispered.

"KING BOR WATCH OUT !!"

As Jackson and the hooded person turned around, Bor was at the mercy of the Dark Elves.

"Go back or your king will die !"

"Not under my watch !!", the same hooded person yelled.

Malekith turned and saw 6 more hooded people, all the same. Suddenly someone tapped his shoulder and as he turned he had a dagger pressed against his neck.

"Kill our king and I kill your dear leader, you bastards !", the now un - hooded person yelled.

"Destiny !!", Jackson yelled happily.

"You were right, Jackson. I promised you something. And to be frank...you are also my only friend. I thank you for making me to see my wrongs."

"Let the king go ! They have our leader !", one of the Dark Elves yelled.

Bor was released. But Destiny didn't release Malekith.

"Drop your weapons. Or else !"

They really listened to her and let their weapons fall.

"Now...IF YOU LITTLE SHITHEADS EVER DARE TO START A WAR AGAIN I AM AT YOUR DOOR AND KICK YOUR SORRY ARSE'S !!! UNDERSTOOD ?! YOU REALLY ARE BRAINLESS DUMBSHIT'S !!"

They all nodded and Malekith shuddered at her outburst.

"Mmh...Someone is stressed, should I help you out ~?"

"Eww...Heck no !"

She then pushed Malekith from herself and went home with the others. On the same day she became General. Irrevocable. Not even Odin could undo it. And if Destiny doesn't follow Odin, then the guards and fighters don't follow him also. As their General they have to follow Destiny.

End of Flashback No ones POV...

"That's why you are not in prison. Her name appeared and he knew that he can't do anything against her agreement, or else she would stand up against him with all the guards. He isn't allowed to banish her and everything else. Or he has to live with the consequences." , Frigga finished.

Loki stared at her in shock.

"That means she is like...my...guardian ?"

Frigga smiled at him.

"Yes. She and I. We both are your guardians, sadly I am a little trapped...but Destiny ? She can do what she wants. She escaped so many times death or punishment. And she saved so many times Asgardians...I lost count after 10 000, on her second rescue of Asgard. All the stories I told you and Thor...were mostly from her."

"Wow..."

"She once brought someone back from the dead too. I believe she can do it again, with me this time. Don't worry Loki. She always finds a way. Like she found one to safe you and let you grow up, knowing what life means. And you just learned a part of all this. Wait until you find your true love and have your own little family."

"I don't think I deserve love and a family...I am a monster, mother. Nobody will ever forgive and accept me, for who I am. Not even Thor."

"Loki...You tell that yourself. I love you as my son, no matter the race. I love you as what and who you are. Destiny loves you as a friend, dearly. And Thor...he does too, but because of what you did and tried to gain...he loses his trust in his younger Babybrother. Yes, you aren't related or connected by blood, but you were raised together. Means you share a bound. You both just need to find the way to this bound and accept it. Fighting and hating the other won't help you both. One day Odin and I won't be there anymore and Thor and you are all alone. While you maybe can live on your own...Thor couldn't. Without you there is a hole in his chest, he can't fill. He tried as you were gone for 2 years, but couldn't. He never celebrated and swore to celebrate when you are back and well."

Loki was surprised to hear this. Frigga stroked Loki's leg stood up and went back to the room to go back to sleep. Loki laid down on the couch and quickly fell in a deep sleep.

Part 40

Masterlist with all Chapters of this Story click here !

#Marvel #Thor #Loki Odinson #Loki Laufeyson #Loki x Reader

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1phoenixfeather · 3 years

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Blackmail #14

#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12 & #13 So this was pretty nice one to write, can’t help but bring in more characters which will stir up some drama and also Hero’s past. There is a part 15 as well, it will be a part after that and tbh, I have no clue how or when this is gonna end.

Enjoy.

Antagonist slowly woke up to an unbearable pain, half-sitting on the bed. “It’s like waking up from a fucking nightmare” they mumbled and opening their eyes. Seeing Vigilante lean closer to them, “right… You’re here.”

Vigilante smirked, I’m glad to see you too, I heard you made quite the name for yourself on the racetrack.” Antagonist could only remember the accident… The sabotage leading them here once again. Making them relive and remember everything they have tried to forget. “Something you would like to talk about?”

Antagonist shook their head, “how’re your streets?”

“Better when you’re off them” Vigilante laughed and looked at Antagonist like they looked for something. They turned away to face the empty wall, didn’t want to face whatever waited for them.

“Stop looking at me I’m about to die!” Antagonist snarled glaring at Vigilante who leaned back and observed their hands instead.

“At least we know you’re back to normal.”

Antagonist didn’t want to know what they had said while they had been drugged, just snorted as an answer and as soon as they moved their legs they remembered the injury. “Dammit… Do you ever think that you hate your life?”

Vigilante scuffed, “only a quarter of the times I rush into danger.” Antagonist can’t help but smile while the pain penetrated their whole being, “you remember the time you shot me?”

Antagonist tensed a tiny bit, nodding and turning slightly away. “If I recall correctly you followed me” they answered and hawked nervous. But Vigilante didn’t seem like they took it so hard, not like the last time when they almost had ended up in an unfair fight.

“I’m sorry, I know the effects off my gun.”

Vigilante gestured it away, it meant they were forgiven. “Anyway… Hell of a first introduction, if you ever get the chance. Do the same to Villain” Vigilante winked with a nice smile. “Oh good, here comes the breakfast. I’m starving.”

“What are you two talking about?” Hero nervously asked them both about, the relief sank into Antagonist. But they had no words for what had happened at this moment. “Take this Antagonist, it’s gonna be a rough few hours.”

Vigilante made a simple sandwich with cheese, “our first meeting. Don’t worry, we both behaved. We’re friends.” Hero was lucky to have put down the tray before and dropped everything else in the process. Looking at Antagonist who didn’t have any words for what they were.

“Something like that” Antagonist carefully stated, it had taken them and Hero a while to be friends. Nights and days of trying to reach out before anything happened. Antagonist was about to drink, but the smell made them grimace. The taste was worse, afterwards they threw away the plastic mug.

Hero picked it up and put it on the tray, “I know it tastes bad. It will help though, breakfast?” Hero made a sandwich, and Antagonist wanted something to calm their empty stomach down.

“Only if I can get some juice to get this taste away.” Vigilante murmured annoyed, and the other two were clearly entertained by their answer. Hero smiled and it, as usual, it was a yes. “Any sign of Villain?”

Hero shook their head, reached some breakfast including juice to Antagonist.

“Next time we see them we’re screwed aren’t we?” Vigilante sighed and leaned even further back in the chair. Hero nodded, but Antagonist could see that Hero thought long and hard on something.

Hero went out in the hallway, walked to their room, and closed the door behind. Picking up their phone, looking for a number they found noted down on a note. “I guess it’s time.”

Calling the number felt like giving up, the signals went through a few times before someone answered. “Hello, who is this?”

Hero tensed only by hearing the voice again, a million thoughts went through Hero’s head. “Mentor… I need your help.” It was quiet for a second on the other end, what if this was a waste of time. “I wouldn’t call if I wasn’t desperate.”

“I thought you could make it on your own.” Hero’s past swept by them in a second, the pain and… They had to look past it. “Wasn’t my method wrong?”

Hero covered their face, “don’t remind me.” They sighed, “I have got into trouble I fear is beyond me, so please…” Mentor laughed, “just get that team I know you got and come over here will you?”

“What kind of trouble?”

Hero hadn’t forgotten how smug they could be. “Villain… And Twin, they gonna get us and get us hard. I can’t let that happen.” Hero had known what they started when they took Antagonist in. But that it was gonna go this far, “I haven’t seen any sign of Villain yet, and that only means they plan something big.”

“Either they act fast or they plan something that most likely will kill you,” Mentor said and Hero must have heard the history between mentor and Villain thousands of times. Maybe it meant the death of Hero and Vigilante.

“This might be worse than death, we can’t get through this without help.” Hero confessed and last time when they had arrested Villain they were lucky and Villain was injured. This time will be different and it scared Hero. “Let’s put our pride away to save lives.”

Hero didn’t get an answer and had to check so the call still was on. It was.

“Come on, if Villain get…” Hero stopped themselves before ending the sentence, but it was too late.

“Finish, Hero.” Mentor demanded and Hero remembered how they brought out the worst in them. On the other hand, Mentor knew everything and could be really judgy.

“If they get to Antagonist the whole city is in danger” Hero answered low and waited for Mentor to scream.

Hero knew it started as soon as a deep breath was heard, “the weapon smuggler.” Hero tensed, even more, taking three deep breaths to be able to make this.

“That was months ago, they make weapons for me now.”

“What?!” Hero made some distance to their phone and knew Mentor would put them in prison. This was as much a crime to them as selling weapons illegal. “What are you thinking?”

“They turned to me for help, because Villain blackmailed them to do the same for them.” Hero started to explain, with no regret. They needed the confidence to convince Mentor to help them. “Take it as a civil service.”

“A grey area…”

“Yes, but you have done so much worse than I or Antagonist have done. So quit being stubborn and do this for the better of the city.” Hero almost yelled annoyed, they heard the call end. Hopelessness settled into their chest.

Sitting in the corner, fighting the tears for at least ten minutes. This could turn into a minor panic attack, the thought of waiting for Villain to get them was unbearable. “Fuck…”

If you like my work, please click this link -> https://ko-fi.com/phoenix_feather711

#hero and villain #hero x villain #withdrawl #a day to heal #it's more about the hero then Antagonist in this one #hero's past #writer #writers on tumblr #sorry for being so lazy these past days #i try and get back to more productive times

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greenflamedwriter · 3 years

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Percy AU NOTES

Keith as Nico di angelo and Lance as Percy Jackson.

But Lance was never claimed so he assumed he was Hermes kid he meshed well with them.

But once Keith got claimed so did lance and then shiro their dads had some sort of rivalry.

They didn’t account for the three to fall in love with each other. After and intense mission to save medusa. For lance. Personophene for Keith and Ganymede for Shiro.

Lance is also adopted by aphrodite goddess of the sea which passes on her powers so Lance can make people listen and share secrets with him like a siren.

_________________________________________________________________________

1 Lance is really nice and open with people until he realises that both Keith and Shiro are Roman descendants and not greek so they clash a little, Keith insults greeks and Lance is offended.

2 dinner and theres a party and lance is in the middle of it trying to get the daughter of Athena (Allura) To dance with him and that’s when it happens. Shiro is claimed by zues and everyone applauds then Keith by Hades and hears other say (it was so obvious he was an emo) But then lance is claimed by poseidan and everyone just stops and stares. What?

3 Lance is mad, he was a hermes kid wasn’t he? He looked like them, he had the same jaw line and nose and they all got along so well...this had to be a mistake and why now? He blames the new kids and this is when the party Lance becomes grouchy. And Allura hates his guts because athena and poseidan are rivals

4 They get a quest (to save the victims by the abuse if the main three gods. Ganymede, Medusa with Aphrodite, Persephone)

5. Ganeymede. The boy who was stolen, raped and made into Zues personell wine waiter then demoted to a fate taxi cab telepromter. Boy he hates Shiro because who can actually hurt Zues? he is what clues them in on rape victims which narrows it down immedietly and when Lance realises that Medusa is next for him and Keith looks horrified that they're all related to rapists, but Shiro felt relieved since at the end of the day does it stop at ganeymede or will it keep going- they are giving tokens once they have won.

6. Personophene and Keith, Keith apologises since Personophene hates Hades he thought and she blinks “I’m a god, I don’t eat. Period. I knew underworld food would keep me trapped I hadn’t eaten in months and all of a sudden I’m peckish? Pul-ease.” Keith blinked confused.

“And I don’t hate you, you didn’t ask to be born. And I know Hades returns to me in the end.” Personophene brushes his cheek “You have his eyes, maybe thats why I can’t bring myself to hate you.”

8. Lance remembers his mother, and he always heard the tale of Medusa and thought it was sad. So when they go to the statues, and realise it’s people Lance keeps talking about how sorry he was and how being how she looks was to protect herself, Lance wanted to sacrifice himself and asked to let Keith and Shiro go to save kids. Medusa turns him to stone then aphrodite turns him back and medusa decides to fight against rapists and attack them instead of taking it out of posedions kids.

___________________________________________________________________________

Journey towards the west,

And save the tragic three,

Punished by thy fathers,

For their own luxary,

Succeed and save more lifes from this venture,

Remember to be calm and endure their gruelling temper.

__________________________________________________________________________

Lance hides behind a pillar panting with a cut down his cheek. Oh god he was going to die!

“Hey!”

Lance turned to see Shiro lunge forward eyes closed “If you want a fight come and get me!”

Lance gaped what?

Lance scowled and saw Shiro with the shield looking through the mirror, and froze, Shiro always fought in gladiator fights, he was always the hero the sel sacrificing idiot. And Medusa she was scorned by posidion. This was his fight.

Keith- he had no idea where he was but, he stood up from behind the pillar luckily seeing the hose pipe in the corner. He used it and yelled.

"Medusa!" He heard her move and shivered waiting for the attack.

"Lance no!"

He aimed his water and it stopped her short, only for a second "I surrender!"

"...What?" She paused and Lance took a breath keeping his eyes shut. "Medusa, I always heard stories about you, some saw it differently, that athena changed you so no man would ever hurt you ever again not in that way- but it didn't matter because men take what they want regardless of what you look like."

He was shaking his water diminishing "I may be son of posedion but I am digusted by what he did and want nothing to do with him, but if you want to take revenge against him by hurting me," he outstretched his arms "That's fine- just let the other two go- they did nothing to hurt you, you can do whatever you want to me, but please, let them go."

"Why should I listen to your pleas? When posedian and Athena never listened to mine?"

"Because you'll be no better than them, just a monster preying on someone weak for your own justification."

"I am nothing like them."

"Then let my friends go...please."

Medusa tiled her head considering "Maybe I should do to you what posediian did to me," she leaned closer the snakes hissing across his cheek and Lance trembled "Send you back to your god with the pieces left, to show him what he did to me."

"He wouldn't care, he has thousands of children in the roman camp, percy is his favourite." She growled "Percy ripped my head off and stuck in a drunk mans fridge." Lance grimaced "And if you kill everyone of posedions children it won't make a difference."

"True, but it'll make me feel better."

"Then you won't be different than your tormentors."

Silence

"You know nothing, demigod."

oops she was pissed.

"Look at that." Lance pointed, knowing in the garden and where he was guessing he was pointing at the right thing.

"What?"

"That is a child correct?"

"So?"

"Did she deserve it? Was she any different than you? Her mother or father here? Did they honestly come here to attack you-"

"Well...no- but they-"

"Please, Medusa, they are people out there that hurt others the way posedion hurt you, ones who deserve justice. But not here. Not in this garden- it's your cage."

"No it's my haven and they still come here and hurt me."

"Then why stay? No matter what people will still try to use you- don't let them. I won't speak for Athena but, giving you the power to turn people to stone with just a look before they could even get ten feet in front of you, making your lower half a snake, making your hair venoumous, Those seem like tools to me, to stop people from touching you ever again."

Lance held his head up high his body trembling.

"As a son of posedion I'll take responsibility, but posedion himself wont since he won't see he's done nothing wrong, you can't hurt him so you hurt others weaker than you."

"no."

"you're a bully medusa, if anything that's worse, because you want people to hurt as much as you but you should know better and know how it feels to be violated."

"Stop it."

Lance opened his eyes and Medusa was looking away covering her face he gaped.

"Medusa?"

He took a step forward and she hissed "Don't look at me!"

He flinched ripping his arm back "I...I am terribly sorry, Medusa. You- no one deserves that. But staying here...it's not healthy. To repeat this over and over again until another demi-god kills you?"

She still had her face covered and Lance bit his lip "Medusa? C-can I touch you?"

She didn't move until a stiff nod.

He took a hesitent stop forward then hugged her, his hands only around her stomach and felt her tremble.

"It's okay to be mad, Medusa." She was trembling "It wasn't my fault."

"No it wasn't."

She started weeping falling to the ground and Lance moved with her.

"You- you need token to go to Hades?" She asked them finally wearing her sunglasses and hijab to cover her hair, Lance nodded "If you don't mind- if not we can go that's tottally okay-"

"No, it's the least I can do and...leaving here would probably be best for me"

A/N Another thing, why would Persphone and the lotus people have tokens to get to the underworld? Like the lotus and Nico and his sister so did persophone not care or know they were there? I mean the lotus would've told her since they're bffs who's visitng perce for tea partys and Medusa? I know people think Hades/Persphone are good but there;s different sides on one hand they are like beauty and the beast on the other, perse is another rape victim. I know I didn't write this correctly.

I just tried to write it the best I can but Lance has a reason for Medusa trusting him, even though he's the son of poseidon.

___________________________________________________________________________

“Cone on Keith wheres your sense of humour!”

“Lance, no.”

Lance grabbed his arm and dragged him backwards towards the carnival with Shiro following behind. Lance pulled Keith onto every ride forced him to eat cotton candy but what stopped Keith from snapping at the kid.

Was when Lance played a shooting range gane and gave Keith a hippo.

“Only the best for the prettiest boy.”

Lance grabbed his hand and pulled Keith fir more open stalls with merchendise.

Keithseyes were shinning theough the whole trip and Shiro was able to watch it all.

Carnival leads to persophene

After Aphrodite crisis to pair the three up.

Lance jumps at the teenage girl sitting at the pool beside him, “So why don’t you try them, I know you like them.” Lance flushed “What?”

“It’s obvious, except not obvious enough for those two. Love does make a person go blind.” Lance shook his head “What no? Come between Keith and Shiro?”

She looked amused as he babbled “I can’t do that to them, they’ve been through so much.” Lance looked over to the two his eyes softening “Shiro has been hurt so many times, gladiator fights? It was compeltely barbaric and his hair is white- and Keith he’s a demon with a sword and can raise skeletons from the dead! Both are so strong but only vunerable around each other...they’re perfect for each other. When I think of Soulmates I think of them two...I hope I can find someone like them one day.”

“Like them? Why not just court them, I doubt the two would mind.”

“Making them pick each other or me? That’s stepping down.” Lance said unknowing why this stranger tried to sabotage Keith and Shiro, was she a siren? If so it wasn’t working.

She shook her head “No, it is possible to be partners with three people. I should know, Hephaestus is very accepting of who I am and who I bed with.”

“Heph- wait.” Lance’s eyes widened in shock as he looks at the golden teen properly.

She was big, round belly and thick legs and arms with golden healthy hair curling at her shoulders her face plump lips tilted into a smile as sea green eyes seemed to swirl, unnatural. God like.

She looked exactly like the painting, Venus stepping out of her sea shell.

She stroked his face “We share waters, both are lovers of the sea.” She kissed his cheek “If Gods could adopt demi-children, all of Poseidon's folk would be mine. Artemis can do it, why can’t I?”

Lance gaped “I can’t turn my back on poseidon he’ll drown me.” She smiled “What’s wrong with co-parenting? Do him proud by defending his name and waters and do me proud,” She nudged his shoulder and glancing at Keith and Shiro “By falling in love.” Lance’s eyes widened “I give my blessing, and I wouldn’t do this for a lost cause I stoke the fires for love. Never extinguishing them.” Lance blinked and she was gone.

The beautiful teenager, Aphrodite.” Lance stepped out of the pool and almost stumbled at the looks Keith and Shiro had sending his way.

“What? What’d I do?”

“What were you doing?”

Lance shrugged “Having fun at the pool what of it?”

“Why sid that girl kiss your cheek?”

Lance blinked at Keiths angry response, any other time he would’ve felt hurt but he paused at what aprodite just said, he swallowed suddenly nervous but had to ask.

“Why? You jelous?”

Keith scowled “Lets just go,” Shiro gave him a look then followed “Come on we’re on a mission.”

Lance watched the two walk away his heart twisting. Keith didnt answer his question.

Ganeymede they use their powers keith summons dinasaurs lance dives underwater to save shiro (ganeymede drowns shiro as zues cant save him)

Ganeymede “Zues is gay!?”

Both Ganeymede Keith and shiro raised an eyebrow “Ih yeah, who wasn’t gay with the greek gods.” Lance felt as if his whole life was a lie.

“I feel like I should know this as a fellow gay,”

Keith oatted his head “Your a newbie gay it’ll take a while to figure out.”

Now the weird part “We uh, this is going to blow up in our faces isnt it.”

“What?”

“Posidion, Zues, Hades?” Dont they think they’ll be mad

Thunddr lighting

You had to say it

Hades! How can you just stand there do something about your son!

Hades: i dont really care?

What!?

First nico now keith ? I dont care!

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