#kinda like 'go die in the human lands or get locked in the house of wind' :)

[copypastus]

What if acotar antagonists got the same level of justification as our 'heroes' from the Night Court did?

#my art #acotar #acotar fanart #amarantha #prythian's best worst girl #keir #beron vanserra #anti rhysand #posting this on april 1st pls don't take their excuses TOO seriously #is just so silly to me rhys can excuse anything he does with a 12 page monologue and 2 tears #keir can cry the two tears too! #amarantha can give you a choice between doing what she wants and horrible suffering #but it's YOUR CHOICE of course #kinda like 'go die in the human lands or get locked in the house of wind' :) #with beron i'm just indulging myself

[poisonouspastels]

May i get some...mc lore tidbits of yours. Or all of it. Go wild

god there is actually so much lore but its so funny bc almost none of it directly impacts the main 4 players in the present day (up until a point) outside of them kinda just existing because of everything that went down. BUT because of that I finally get to talk about THIS BITCH in the AU and why she's there and how she fucked up Literally Everything

Groda time lets fucking go.

So, to kind of give a starting point and a large simplification of history, Groda was the descendant of monarchs that ruled a vast kingdom (which is more comparable to a massive expanse of land) that existed a handful of thousands of years ago. These people, known as the ancients, had the elites of society that were well versed in magic, remainders of which we see through enchanting tables and recovered books to this day. Those who practiced magic with a high set of skill would eventually develop black eyes through their connections with the arts, while those who aren't well versed tend to end up with pupilless eyes and the black forming as scaring on the face instead. Exact dates aren't really important so you can really just put it as far back as you want. What IS important though is that she would eventually end up inheriting the kingdom. And she was a TERRIBLE leader. Groda thought of her role as a leader as more of a title to brag about than a position to take seriously, and because of that she pretty much put herself above anyone else in EVERY regard. Those who would question her authority or rebel against the throne were pretty much always killed with no exception if caught. It was essentially considered blasphemy to refer to her in any negative light. Revolts started en mass due to her tyranny, though it'd eventually be the case that she'd rather live on a throne built upon corpses than die fighting for it. Thus, she turned to the beast in the painting to do her dirty work for her, as she moved all her few dedicated followers underground alongside her to avoid the resulting destruction. And destruction it was. Survivors fled in different directions to even have a chance at outlasting the decay. Some went underground much like Groda herself did, some groups rumored to have even found ways to a previously undiscovered dimension... Others found themselves in an already documented dimension known as the Nether, ironically enough housing the same materials that were made to create the beast. Portals were made to be fled through just as quickly as they were destroyed. They did survive for a time, but ultimately seemed to succumb to the harsh environment. Humanity on the overworld was all but eradicated after a while, and countless wildlife species went extinct alongside it, Sniffer being a notable example. Even those that did survive had a hurting population, over time even evolving the intersex traits we see within them in the modern time to upkeep populations. No one knows what happened to the beast when its destruction had withered away enough of the land to be satisfied. Its fate is uncertain.

Time would pass underground, and Groda's remaining group of the ancients, while making do at first and even creating a new city, would slowly come to dwindle in population due to a myriad of factors. Humans were not made to live their entire lives underground. Knowing that her reign would be short lived unless she acted quickly, she began to turn to her studies in magic to seek answers. Shutting herself away from the rest of the underground world, she sought the answers to eternal life. Her experiments only caused more pain for those around her. Reanimating the dead was one of the many unintended side affects of her practices, and only lead to locking herself away further as people died even faster. It was much like a disease, spreading to corpses in any stage of decay. Interestingly, the living dead that were slain near a type of glowing moss found in the caves that they started to inhabit would have their bodies quickly consumed by the spreading plant. This would be inspiration for one of her later, more obedient projects.

She did eventually find the answers she sought, but at what cost? The only kingdom left to rule was rotted flesh and bones in barren caves and a desolate surface. But even then, she could never admit that to herself. No, she won. She got to live in place of everyone who died, everyone who defied her, and she won. She still roams even now, thousands upon thousands of years later, telling herself the same lie. Looking for something, or someone new to put her judgement upon. --- In the present day, Herobrine has found himself shut away from society by his own choice to try and figure out the mystery of what happened to the ancient civilization he's found remnants from. Little bits and pieces of a bigger picture. Old abandoned mineshafts, mysterious structures, and books and artwork with pages and pictures torn out imply something sinister happened, and he wants to know what. Through his isolation with the rest of the world, he's started to lose a bit of his own sense of humanity. He's started writing his journals in Galactic, the same language the ancients used that he's studied, because he's forgotten the common writing for most words. His life has mostly been sustained from eating rotten flesh and drinking cave water, none of which is healthy for him, of course. He replaces the unraveling clothes he wears every now and then in exchange for the only slightly less tattered clothing off the backs of slain zombies. Despite his dwindling health, and likely dwindling sanity, he believes he's close to a breakthrough. Approaching a long forgotten city, he finds the walls decorated with old murals. They depict a woman with red hair and white robes, seemingly a person of high status. Drawn almost as if she was some sort of saint. Some of the other murals are scribbled out. Maybe he'll find out why inside. His expedition is cut short by the sound of distant noises, something that could only be compared to shrieks, and a soon to follow rumble from the depths of the city. That can't be good.

#minecraft #hoh BOY that was a LOT #i dont. know how long i spent writing this oops #i said i was gonna infodump and by god i did!!! #minecraft au mastertag

[schmergo]

Well, my first dream of 2022 was crazy.

I have a lot of dreams that I’m watching a movie or reading a book and the story I’m consuming makes up the plot of the dream- I’m not a character in my dream, just an observer, though it seems to have a 3rd person omniscient vibe where I can tell what the characters are thinking and feeling. This was one of those dreams. It also seemed to include small elements from a lot of things I’ve watched and read recently.

The vibe was kind of similar to The Witch— stubborn dad struggles to provide for family in isolated barren homestead where supernatural things are going on— but it was set in a modern-day Appalachian forest, where a family lives in extreme poverty trying to mostly live off the land.

The dad kinda looked like Vin Diesel and he tried to hunt, grow food, and drove long distances for short-term manual labor jobs, but basically couldn’t put food on the table. The mom barely appeared, but she was mainly focused on taking care of her young son, who had a lot of medical problems. (Dad refused to get any government assistance.) The oldest son looked kind of like a young Andrew Garfield, with tall voluminous messy hair that always made his silhouette recognizable in dark scenes. (This will be important later). He was really smart and wanted to go to college, but dad wouldn’t let him. He kept being forced to stay home from high school to do manual labor and try to farm even though he knew his dad’s farming strategies wouldn’t work. Dad and son were both highly temperamental and the conflict between dad and son was a big theme.

At night, the woods surrounding the family’s shack would be haunted by what the family called “screamers,” vampire like creatures. You never directly saw them, just a vague human-like outline and two glowing yellow eyes. Mostly, you heard them. The sound they made sounded like a mountain lion scream, human-like at first but then animal. The screamers also killed and drained most of the local wildlife, so the family had trouble catching or hunting game and birds.

Nobody in the family left the house at night and they put up all kinds of superstitious charms and stuff to keep the screamers away, like painting the fence a certain color and planting certain plants. The ”movie” did sort of a bait and switch where you’re led to believe at first that the screamers actually ARE mountain lions and it’s gradually revealed that it’s something even scarier and more dangerous and intelligent.

At one point, the young son had a medical emergency during the night and they had to frantically try to keep him conscious until sunrise to drive to the hospital because they wouldn’t risk stepping outside.

I don’t remember most of the stuff that happened in the middle, but I know the screamers got their dog and I think maybe a visitor who came by at one point.

The conflict between the dad and oldest son kept building- the son kept saying he wanted to leave this horrible place and that it wasn’t safe or survivable, dad stubbornly refused to leave or move back “on the grid” and kept guilting the son that if HE moved out, his younger brother would die without his help.

Near the end of the story, part of the small shack and fence was somehow compromised (fire? Flooding? Termites) and screamers got in through the fence during the night. It was only a matter of time before they got in the house. Mom fled on foot carrying the youngest son and a breathing machine (their fate was ambiguous, but it was implied they’d never make it out of the woods). Dad and oldest son stayed behind to pack up some essentials and load up the car. While dad’s in the front room, he hears the back wall give way and and locks the door (with the oldest son inside) and runs into the shed to hide.

From the shed, he heard signs of a struggle and screaming, then everything goes quiet,and he sees in the dark the distinctive shape of his eldest son with his tall voluminous hair running out the front door and into the car.

He figures the coast is clear and runs over to the car and gets in. There’s an aerial POV of the car driving away through the woods with distant screams and you think they’re making it to safety.

Then there’s a brief, like 3-second series of flashes of what happened when dad got to the car.

He opened the car door and his son’s dark silhouette had glowing eyes. Then he jumped at him. More 3-second flashes showed the son in the house when the screamer got in. He dropped his weapon and let her bite him. Back to the car. You see silhouette of the son with glowing eyes driving into civilization with dad’s drained and torn apart corpse slumped in the back seat.

SPOOOOKY

#weird dream #weird dreams #one time I dreamt

[fantasyinvader]

Beat Binding Blade tonight

So, right off the bat I'm going to admit. I abused the arena and save states. This is a really, really hard game. And while I enjoyed it, I'm going to give three things I didn't like about it.

1)Enemy reinforcements arrive at the end of the player phase, and can attack during the enemy phase. That is unfair, especially when I assume that parking a unit on the spawn point will prevent them (It doesn't) or my healer just happens to be in the area. I like difficult games, but when I fail at something in those I want to feel like it's my fault for doing so. When I die in Bloodborne or lose a unit in Fates Conquest, I'm willing to accept it because I felt it was fair (plus I'll just restart the chapter in Conquest anyway). I could have not died if I had played a little better. This game was not fair when it did that.

2)The supports. A lot of the stuff about the characters is locked away in their supports, since this is one of the old Fire Emblems where it throws units your way because it's assuming you didn't reset the game when one died. They don't get cutscenes to be important, and with only five supports per character (barring if one dies, then any unit that had supports with gets those supports back). And even then, getting an A rank doesn't pair up any units except for Roy. So you don't get to play love doctor here, it's only really there for the stat boosts. But in the case of my boy, he needs those supports in order for his character to fully come through.

3)I can take 8 units into the final battle, and they're the only ones who get full ending cards. Everyone else just gets a single line. Kinda weak if I use someone like Fir for most of the game, but bench her at the end to give Rutget Durandal.

Even with my cheating, I still enjoyed this game. Mostly for the story. When Fire Emblem first appeared in Smash Brothers Melee, as a kid it instantly caught my attention. Roy and Marth just looked so cool with their swords and armor (true fact: My favorite design for Link is the Skyward Sword design, simply because it has chainmail under the tunic. I get it, the tunic is iconic but SS's Link just looks practical), and I preferred Roy because I though his fully-charged shield breaker hurting him was cool. I even keep a Cipher card of his in my wallet for good luck. I wanted to know what Fire Emblem was, what kind of game it was. My friend showed me a screenshot of the upcoming GBA game in Nintendo power, which I got for the following Christmas (sadly, I didn't get Sacred Stones as I got a PS2 the following year). I loved that game, but the idea that I was playing as Roy's father always was a bit of a sour point for me. It's because of that game when I got a 2DS a decade later, because I wanted to game but kept getting pulled away from my console, I eventually went back to Fire Emblem.

And, I'm going to admit, Binding Blade hurt me because I played Blazing Blade first. It really did. I mean, Hector dies early on, Lyn is presumably dead hell a lot of my old comrades probably died in this war, Eliwood's wife dies shortly after they are married while Eliwood is more useless than ever, the kid I saved in Bern becomes a genocidal maniac, and the fact that the characters of Blazing Blade kinda caused this to happen by releasing the seals on the Legendary Weapons in their own quest... It kinda bugs me that the Legendary Weapons I used in Blazing Blade are in their trap filled storage places. Like, who returned them there? And if I have characters from that game returning in Binding, I find it strange they don't comment on needing them again. But this is a case of the game trying to be a prequel to a story that wasn't written with it in mind.

But at the end of the day, one thing just kept popping up in my mind. Binding Blade is the antithesis of the Crimson Flower route from Three Houses. I know they said Genealogy of the Holy War was an inspiration, but I can't help it. I've seen so many people try to praise that said route as some sort of denouncement of the rest of the franchise. That it's about putting power in the hands of the people (it's not) instead of having some Lord be the good king. Granted, the Mandate of Heaven seems like it's a running theme of the series, so without understanding what that is I can understand why people don't grasp what that part of the message. But Binding Blade, it just hit so many things on the nose that I needed to say something.

So without further adieu, I'm just going to bring up a few points.

With Regards to Humanity

It's interesting how both Zephiel and Edelgard come at this from different angles. Sure, they both lead wars of conquest across the entire continent, and I'm guessing Zeph didn't tell his troops what he was planning on doing once he won so there's likely a level of deception going on there as well. He really doesn't care for his fellow man, and the game goes out of it's way to show us why. Hatred, greed, or even selling out your people in the name of self-preservation. The game doesn't shy away from showing us any of this, saying that it's wrong and thus why Roy has to kick some guy's arse. Zephiel knows this, but in Edelgard's case? She's out there fighting for absolute power, destroying anyone who won't bend the knee to her while those who do out of self-preservation like House Gloucester are rewarded for it.

In essence, Edelgard is everything Zephiel saw wrong with the human race, she is why he felt we needed to go extinct. The very things he condemns humanity for are the things she reward. Zephiel would have actually handed over power to those he felt deserved it if he had won, whereas Edelgard is demonstrably shown to hold onto power until near the end of her life. One wants humanity dead, the other wants all the dragons. They even oppose each other in their classes. Edelgard is based on the red emperor archetype, she wears red, her class is the heavily-armored Emperor and her weapon of choice is an axe. Zephiel is a king, armoed but wearing purple and he uses a sword in battle.

Even if they both have screwed up history with their family's due to their father's inability to keep it in his pants, they're both presented as villains despite being ideologically opposed which goes to show with Fire Emblem the method IS the message.

Ancient Wars, Super Powered Weapons and Lies.

War of Heroes vs. The Scouring. The former is an event where the full details are shrouded in mystery, up to the player to piece together the clues and figure out the truth for themselves...or in Crimson Flower's case, ignore the truth and act out in your ignorance.With Binding Blade though, when the truth starts coming out, it hits hard. I mean, right from the beginning of the game we're told man was the one who broke the peace by attacking the dragons, but then we learn that those legendary weapons messed up the environment, resulting in dragons needing to use human forms only to be slaughtered by man. Dragons were blamed for the environment, the people who used those weapons were revered as heroes. We don't know why mankind launched their attack, but we do know that they weren't able to slay the Demon Dragon, one who had her soul destroyed in order to control her, because the Heroes felt sorry for her. It's making dragons out to be the victims here, much like the dragons in Three Houses. But Crimson Flower only serves to demonize them, acting like they can't understand humanity when the dragons in that game are a lot closer to humans emotionally than the ancient dragons in Elibe.

The Elites in comparison weren't heroes, and that lie has been confirmed as Rhea trying to make peace.

The good ending for Binding Blade is being able to save the dragon whose soul was destroyed, whereas Crimson Flower ends with slaying a dragon after you've spent the entire game triggering her (and is the ending that leads to oppressive rule under Edelgard, in addition to the only ending without sunlight. What? You thought you'd get the good ending when her final boss theme was playing on the last stage?). Also, you need all the Legendary weapons in order to unlock the final stages, which all play into the big mystery. Crimson Flower requires the player to not understand that the world-building was done to support fighting against Edelgard instead.

Merits of a leader

Let's not beat around the bush here, Roy will not carry you through Binding Blade. His bases are low, and while he has good growths he is unable to promote until the very end of the game. Even then, you need to save the Binding Blade's usage to ensure you get the good ending. Roy is also very unsure of himself, thrust into a position of leadership despite his young age. But look at what happens when he succeeds, he manages to overcome the odds and take down the mightiest army on the continent. At the end of the game, he's shown himself as more than capable of leading. Not to mention, he also believes that humans and dragons can live together, even seeing this in Acadia (and if Ninian was his mother, he's unknowingly proof of this as he is 1/4 dragon himself. May explain his poor bases). If he marries Liliana, he even becomes a King for likely much of the same reason Byleth does in SS/VW (most leaders are dead following the war, plus combining his territory with Ostia which had already taken over Lyn's land after she abdicated/married Hector). Roy learns the truth as already established.

Compare this to Crimson Flower Byleth. Byleth leads the Black Eagle Strike Force, but credit for it goes to Edelgard. Byleth never gets any recognition for this, no position of authority despite proving themselves, instead that goes to Caspar Jenkins of all people, and ends the war continuing to fight TWSITD from the shadows to support Edelgard's regime. And if you read between the lines, Edelgard is NOT a good leader, resorting to bribes, threats, cronyism, secret police, propaganda, and even TWSITD's support and later stolen tech in order to maintain her rule. Byleth lost whatever emotional development they got from White Clouds during this route, once again becoming the Ashen Demon, and is even willing to let themselves die if they can't keep their “humanity” in check showing a distaste for their own draconic heritage (showing humans and dragons can't live together in this timeline). They didn't grow into being a leader, they devolved into being Edelgard's unthinking muscle. Byleth never learns the truth in this route, falling for Edelgard's manipulations resulting in them losing Enlightened One/Nirvana status.

Not to mention, Heroes Relics have really low weapon levels. In theory, they can be used by anyone but only safely by those with Crests and most fully with a matching Crest. Legendary Weapons, on the other hand, can be used by anyone with an S rank in their type. Your characters have to EARN the right to use those things and you'll need them to deal with all the Manaketes during the final level, whereas Relics aren't exactly that level of broken.

Honestly, seeing the ending of Binding Blade and Idunn recovering put at least one tear in my eye. Crimson Flower's just made me feel like the game was calling me an idiot (which considering the Nirvana/Enlightenment thing, it kinda was). I would love if Binding Blade got the Echoes treatment, or even if they just did a GBA collection for the Switch. But after all these years, one thing is as certain now as it was when I was a kid.

In this house, ROY'S OUR BOY!

[the-daily-multi-fandom-post]

Hey can you do Elijah mikaelson x reader where she is a demigod daughter of Zeus and she has similar armor like wonder women and she fight like her. The reader or older then Elijah and the mikaelson and one day the fall Inlove but the family espically Hayley don’t Iike her so they always look at her or say negative things about her not knowing she can hear them. And one day the mikaelson gets in trouble and she save them like in the scene in no mans land in wonder women and their awe of her.

Oh my gods yes!!!

I need more post like this! But I’m glad to be the one writing it! ❤️🖤❤️🖤

The originals: the daughter of Zeus.

Warnings: Death, kinda gore I guess, I don't think there is any cussing for the first time in forever!  cussing. pairing: Elijah Mikaelson x reader word count: 3, 2231 That's a lot of words I think.

"Who is Y/n L/n?" Rebekah asked as she looked at her brother Elijahs phone. "Why are you so nosey?" He asked as he pulled the phone to his chest hiding the screen from his younger sister. "Doesn't matter who is she? Is it someone I need to kill?" "You know who she is."  Elijah looked at his sister with murderous eyes. "If you dare lay a hand on her." He threatened. "Oh you mean this girl?" Klaus asked as he held Y/n up by her neck. "Help- me." You choked out. Elijah looked at his brother with frighten eyes. "Let her go." Elijah told Klaus with a dangerously calm voice. Klaus smirked, and Elijah knew he shouldn't have said that. "Okay." Klaus let go while snaping your neck. Elijah cried out as he jumped up in bed.

"It was just a dream." HE whispers, looking over at the lock on his nightstand flickered a 4:15 am. He sat up against the headboard, trying to calm his racing heart.

Y/n was the woman he had met years ago in (Your home town). She was absolutely flawless. Beautiful Y/s/t skin, amazing bright Y/e/c eyes, long/short y/h/c hair. She was amazingly beautiful. He had recently ran into her in Jackson square a month ago. Since then the two started talking again. *a Few hours later*

Y/n was walking down the french quarter enjoying her day when she heard someone scream. Looking around she seen it was just someone playing. She was always on guard, it was just a bad habit of hers to pay attention to her surroundings. And not like a normal person would pay attention to their surroundings but someone who is paranoid times a hundred. It comes with living for a very long time.

Y/n walked into Rousseau's. Y/n smiled, greeting the blonde perky Barmaid. "What can i get for you?"  She asked with a smile.

"Camille, That's  French isn't? Means Perfect?" Camille smiled and nodded. "You dont look famillar are you knew to town?" camille asked politely. "No, I've been here before. It's just been a very long time since, I've been here." Y/n spoke with a smile on her face. "I'll get a margarita, on the rocks,  please?" Y/n asked nicely, Camille nodded as she spoke, "Alright, I'll get right to it."  Y/n smiled as she waited for her drink to be made.

"Y/n, how are you doing?" Elijah asks as he sits down beside her on the empty bar stool. As she was about to answer Cami came back with Y/ns margarita. "Elijah, you know her?" Elijah nodded. "Yes, I've known her for quite some time." you could hear and see the smile  in his voice.  "Yes, quite a while hasn't it?" Y/n asked with a flirtatious smile.

"Wait is she?" Cami questioned knowingly. Elijah nodded and Y/n quietly giggle. Elijah still didn't know what Y/n truly was. . "Oh.." Cami looked at Y/n curious. "Can I have a bourbon, please?" Elijah asked as an awkward silence filled the air. "Sure, I'll be back."

"So, how are you?" Elijah asked politely, looking at you with his charming smile. Y/n smiled right as she took a sip of her margarita. "Quite well. When a little birdy told me you and your family was back in New Orleans, I couldn't help myself and come visit. It feels like it has been centuries since I have seen you last." Y/n joked, making Elijah chuckle a laugh. "It does seem to be centuries." Elijah continued the joke.

The two continued to talk, just enjoy the comfort of an old "Friend". Elijah updated her on the family even though she knew the met  family didn't like her Elijah had told her about them. So she would politely ask about them, not wanting to be rude. But Elijah always enjoyed talking about his family, but the family didn't like Y/n.

*Home town. 1765*

The L/n were one of the founding families of (Your home town/ or a town of your choice). Y/n was the daughter of Y/f/n and y/m/n. The L/n family were holding a ball for the town. Just to celebrate Y/ns birthday.

Y/n was wearing a light blue ball gown dress. It fit her perfectly showing off all the right things, but in a appropriate way. Your father would die to see how people dressed these days. Her Y/h/c hair was pulled out of her face put into Victorian kinda hair style. She had ruby red lip stick on and she just looked perfect (As always queen ;)

Y/n walked down the stairs, politely greeting the town folk who wished her a happy birthday. She slowly made her way through the crowd, politely reject the boys who asked her to dance. She wasn't a girl who loved big parties, nor the attention she got at the parties. She enjoyed small family get togethers. But ever since they founded the town the L/n family would have  extravagant parties for the entire town.

"My I ask the birthday girl for a dance?" Y/n turned around where the mysterious voice was coming from. Y/n smiled shyly just as she was going to say 'no' the man flashed a breath taking smile. "I guess one can't hurt." She responded with a nod. Elijah smiled as he took her hand walking out to the middle of the dance floor.

"You don't seem to be enjoy your birthday celebration, Lady Y/n." Y/n sighed as she nodded. "Well, it's not that I don't enjoy them. I just feel like after a certain age in life there's no reason to celebrate." Elijah chuckled as he looked at her a bit perplexed. "You're only celebrating your 17 birthday. I don't see how that is a very old age." Elijah said as he spun her around. Y/n nodded as she came back to stand in front of him. "Yes, but to me it does seem like it has been many life times."

Y/n and Elijah had a grand time that night. The two dance, talking about their lives while dancing. When they stopped dancing Elijah introduced Y/n to his siblings. Y/n enjoyed meeting them, though Klaus, Elijah's brother seemed quite skeptical of her. Rebekah began calling Y/n her sister, and Kol well he was Kol, very much a flirt.

Days after the party The mikealson's stayed in town. They were staying as a guest in the L/n family mansion. Y/n's father insisted on them staying. Y/n seemed confused when her father had announced they were staying, but she didn't pay any mind to it.

Y/n had grown use to seeing the mikealson's in her house. She loved when she and Elijah would take a lovely stroll in the garden. The two would talk just about anything, other then about who they really are.

Y/n walking into her house a hand basket full of sweet smelling flowers inside the basket. She laid the basket on the kitchen table. Smiling and humming as she grabbed a clear glass vase, but as she turned around she gasped dropping the vase.  Elijah had appeared out of no where.

"I apologize. I did not intend to spook you." He apologized as he rushed towards her trying to help her pick up the pieces of glass.

"It-t's okay." she stuttered out as she picked up the shards of glass. "Your cut." Elijah says pointing to the dripping blood on her hand. "Oh no, I'm fine. It's just a scratch." She made up as she grabbed a cloth from the counter. Ridding the blood with the cloth she showed him nothing was there, just a tiny scratch. "That's a lot of blood to just be a scratch." He spoke looking thinking maybe she was like him, maybe she was vampire as well.

"Elijah, come on." Rebekah called as she walked into the kitchen. "What's going on?" Y/n asked the blonde. "We're leaving. Did Elijah not tell you?" Rebekah spoke looking between the two. "I was about to, but I scared her making her drop a vase. I was just helping her pick it up." Elijah said as he put the glass in a bowl Y/n had put the glass in.  "Oh, well. I would say your goodbyes quick. Niklaus wants to leave as soon as possible." She said quickly. She gave Y/n a quick hug goodbye, then left the two.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye." She spoke as she walked Elijah to the front door. "Yes, I suppose it is. I do wish to see you again. Maybe, well see each other again in the future." Y/n smiled as she looked at him. Reaching up to him she kissed his cheek. "Its a promise."

Since it was near night time the Mikaelson family decided they were going to stay the night in an empty house in town. Not too far from the L/n mansion. Elijah pasted the living room, upset with his brother about leaving so early. "I don't know what you want me to say, brother. She is just not good for you! There's something about her. It's just not human!" Klaus bellowed towards his brother. "Why do you say that?! Because you think she is taking me away from you?! Because I finally care about someone who isn't family?" Elijah questioned his brother. Klaus rolled his eyes as he took a swig of his whiskey. Elijah huffed as he walked away from his brother. Going to his room for the night. Not feeling the need to talk to him. He was too angry to talk.

"If you feel like she is taking him from us then why don't you do something about it?" Kol spoke looking at his older brother. "What do you suggest I do? Just go up to her house, and murder her?" Klaus asked looking at his brother with a cold look. "It hasn't stopped you before with Rebekah's passed lovers." Kol pointed out as he nodded his head towards Rebekah. Klaus nodded.

Then later on that night as everyone was sleeping Klaus left the house. Quietly, hidden in the darkness of the night, he made his way to the L/n mansion. He quietly made his way up the stairs to Y/n's bed room. She was sound asleep, no lights on in her room, accept for the moon light leaking in from her open window. Klaus quietly walked over to her bed. Grabbing a dagger he had in held it up. He looked at her, she was  utterly exquisite. The way her hair shined in the moon light. "I'm so sorry, love." Just as he brought the knife down to her chest she opened her eyes. Her Y/e/c eyes staring into his blue ones. The dagger went into her chest and she gasped. "W-wh-at a-are yo-ou doi-ng?" She stuttered as blood began to come up. "I can't let you take my brother from me." He whispered, almost as if he was ashamed in what he had just done. She nodded as she looked up at him. "It's okay." She barely got out without stuttering. "I'mm.. I.. not.." Then she stops breathing.

Klaus sighed and tried to stop overthinking. "You did this to keep your family together. She was going to take Elijah away from the Family." He told himself over and over again all the way home.

The next morning they left before anyone could've expected it was them. That was the last time Klaus had seen Y/n. That's when he believed she "Died." But one thing still kept him up at night. What was she saying at the end. She was trying to choke out something but couldn't.

** back to present day.*

"Yes, I do believe that my lovely brother Niklaus tried to kill you." Elijah spoke in a lower voice. "Yes, well he didn't know what I was capable of." Elijah nodded and smiled, just enjoying the company of a "Friend", (The two were secretly together, but didn't want anyone to know. Aka his siblings *Cough Klaus *cough). Hours later the two had to go separate ways. Y/n had business to handle and Elijah had to go home since Klaus called saying he needed his help; which was never a good thing.

"I'll call you tonight?" Elijah asked as he looked down at the shorter woman. She nodded as she kissed his cheek. "Yes." She nodded and with that the two went their ways.

The night continued and Y/n had finished all she had to do for her work. She got an unpleasant text message from Hayley telling her that she was not to talk to Elijah ever again or a lot of bad things were going to happen to Y/n. Then Hayley called Y/n to make sure she would know that she was never going to be with Elijah. (Jokes on her, right?)

She still hadn't gotten a call from Elijah which made her worry. So she gave it an hour before she did anything. By midnight she was out of her house finding going to the Mikaelson plantation  in hopes that Elijah had just forgotten to call or was just a little busy with Klaus.

She quickly arrived at the Mikaelson plantation, it was a complete mess. Glass all over the floor, furniture broken. Something bad happened there. She tried to listen for any sounds in the house, but couldn't hear anything besides a very distant scream.

Running towards the sound she found herself going towards the bayou. It was dark, clouds hiding the once bright moon light. Luckily she found herself able to see. She heard the scream, but this time it was a lot closer.

Y/n quietly, but quickly ran towards the noise. She could see the Mikaelson family surrounded by three giant groups. She could only assume the groups were witches, werewolves, and vampires.

None of the Mikaelson family noticed Y/n lurking in the darkness. She was kind of good at not being noticed, how do you thinks she has lived for thousands upon thousands of years.

Y/n quickly grabbed a hold of a red haired witch breaking her neck then going to three more and doing the same, all while going unnoticed.

Some turned their heads a the sound of a thump, but didn't really know what happened. She smiled as she seen a vampire meet her eyes. She ran towards it as it announced to the others she was there. She like a challenge and there was at least a hundred creatures there in front of.

First three vampires came at her and she smirked. Pulling the hearts out of the first two and taking the heel of her shoe and kicking the third one down to the ground. The two vampires dropped to the ground dead. She took a dead branch from off the ground staking the vampire that lied on the ground.

"This is fun." She spoke with a smirk plastered on her face. Clapping her hands together a giant sound wave came through, throwing them back. Some of the vampires dying from being staked by the branches. Some of the witches were thrown against the trees breaking their necks. Y/n grabbed a stick that had just so happened to be laying beside her. She threw it and it went through two of the witches. Y/n felt an arm wrap around her as someone flung her over their shoulders and slammed her onto the ground. It she was human her spine would've been shattered. She took her leg and kicked the werewolf's knee completely breaking it. She stood up, her hand went through his chest to his heart. "Shouldn't have done that." She spoke with a dangerous glare then ripped his heart out.

She heard the witches begin chanting and she rolled her y/e/c eyes. "Wish that worked on me, but it doesn't."  She said she she rubbed her hands together sparks flying every which way from her hands. "Light 'em up." She thought to herself. Strikes of lighting came out of her hands frying the witches that were left. All that was left was a handful of vamps and werewolves.

"Now, you can either leave alive or you will die." She offered to the two groups. The two groups looked at each other and then back to Y/n. Nobody left so Y/n nodded. "Playing hard to get. Love it." She spoke sarcastically. A blue flamed fire started around the two groups. "My uncle is Hades. And he has taught me a lot. One of those things is how he loves visitors. So when Y'all see him in the underworld, tell him I said hello. The flame ingulfed them quickly killing each of them. After Y/n knew they were dead she put the fire out.

Running over towards Elijah and his siblings she asked, "Are you guys okay?" Completely worried about them. Yet not even out of breath after she had just kill one hundred supernatural creatures. "How in the bloody hell are you still alive?" Klaus whispered as he looked at Y/n.

"I'm not an average person." Y/n answered as she untied the vervain/wolfsbane rope.

"Obviously. How did you do all of that?" Rebekah asked. Y/n was going to answer when the rest of them started asking questions, except for Elijah. He didn't know what she was, but he knew she wasn't a vampire. He thought she was, but now? Now he wasn't sure.

Later that night Y/n and the Mikaelson siblings went back to the Mikaelson plantation house. The Mikaelson siblings got showers getting the blood off of them. Then after they were done they all met up in the living room waiting for an explanation from Y/n.

"I've been alive much longer then the rest of you. I've been alive since the beginning. My father is the god Zeus. He's the god of sky and thunder and the king of all the other gods and goddesses. I've got the powers of pretty much all the gods. I've been taught how to control my powers and sometimes even share them. I don't so Kol don't get any ideas." She told Kol as soon as she seen his face light up.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Elijah asked as he took her hands in his.  "Well, because the same reason y'all don't tell people you guys are who you are. I have a great many of enemies. If I go around saying, 'hey, I'm Y/n the demi god, daughter of Zeus, people would think I'm nuts. And my enemies could easily find me." She explained.

"I'm sorry, for all the horrible things I’ve said about you and said to you." Hayley said as she looked at Y/n sincerely.  Hayley was upstairs taking care of Hope. (She had just came back from a friends house out of town).

"I mean we were all terrible to you. And you saved us." Rebekah said looking at Y/n with a look that showed she was truly sorry. "It's okay, I understand where you guys were coming from

. Nothing gets in the way of family." She says with a smile. And then they just sit around in the living room asking her all about the gods and what they're really like. If Percy Jackson was really Poseidon's son, of course he is. Y/n felt like they really did treat her like family afterwards. Each other them brought her in like she was family. No longer seeing her as someone who was trying to break up the family. But as someone who might just bring the family together.

The end*

#the originals #the originals x reader #Elijah mikaelson #Elijah mikaelson x reader #Elijah mikaelson x goddess! reader #Daughter of Zeus! reader #hayley marshall #Hayley Kenner #Jackson Kenner #Klaus mikaelson #Klaus mikaelson x reader #Klaus mikaelson x goddess! reader #Kol mikaelson #kol mikaelson x reader #Kol mikaelson x goddess! reader #Rebekah mikaelson #Rebekah mikaelson x reader #Rebekah mikaelson x goddess! reader #Freya mikaelson #Freya mikaelson x reader #Freya mikaelson x goddess! reader #marcel Gerard x reader #marcel Gerard x goddess reader #marcel Gerard

[whereisten]

Gentle Monsters

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Intro | Part 6 (End)

Summary: After a night of running from a wild animal, you meet Johnny, the owner of the conservatory greenhouse you accidentally broke into. Johnny is kind and sweet—a little too sweet.

Pairing: Werewolf!Johnny X female reader

Warnings: horror, violence, blood and gore, mentions of scars and bruises, angst, supernatural powers, death, profanity, smut (fingering, penetration, breast fondling, dry humping), manipulation, obsession, possessiveness, yandere themes.

Word count: 12.1K

(A/n: wow wow wowwww this is it you guys! I hope you enjoy the last installment of this fic 🥺 it’s my personal favorite fic that I’ve written so I’m kinda sad to finish it, but thank you all for your continuous support that keeps me going, it’s almost been a year!! Wow! Pls read until the very enddd❤️)

—————

Yuta was ruthless. He never gave you time to breathe once he attacked you. He’d grab your wrist and kick your chest, sending you into the rough cement in his backyard.

“Do you like being best friends with the floor. Get up and fight. If you can’t take a hit from me, a human, how on Earth do you think you’ll survive a werewolf’s attack?” Yuta looked up at the bright sun while you panted on all fours.

“Human? I’m not so sure about that. I mean..you don’t have to go easy on me..but..fuck..please..can we go slower? This is just..a lot.” You pleaded, not realizing that Yuta was walking up to you quickly.

He kicked you in your rib, making you groan in pain and collapse over onto your back. You laid there and struggled to move as Yuta planted his right foot on your chest.

On top of never being the best at physical things, you were still healing from the effects of the killer pregnancy. Your body was fragile.

“Go easy? You’re pathetic, you don’t stand a chance.”

You hugged yourself as you tried to pull his heavy foot off of you. Tears started to run down the sides of your face while you cried and grew hot with anger. It was the second day of training and Yuta expected you fight like Bruce Lee.

“We haven’t even touched the katana’s yet..do you want to die, huh? Because if I don’t kill you by the end of this, I’m sure Johnny will.”

“Fuck you!” You screamed.

Yuta lifted his foot off of your chest and stepped back. “Get up, show me how angry you are.”

You picked yourself up and looked down at your bruised knuckles. Yuta made you spend hours boxing bags of sand until your hands bled, yet you couldn’t fight him, you could never land a punch.

“Johnny was right to choose you.. he knew you were weak, he knew you didn’t stand a chance against him..” Yuta was pushing your buttons now. Would you cry? Would you become furious? He didn’t know, but he hoped it would be the latter. He hoped that you would use that anger to fuel your attacks. The fact that Johnny had put you through so much shit was the the only thing that gave Yuta hope for you.

Yuta stepped closer to you.

“You didn’t put up a fight, you ignored all the signs, and then what? You ran away..oh, and let’s not forget.. you needed the help of another werewolf to get away from him. You couldn’t do it on your own.. and why’s that, y/n? Hm?”

Yuta tilted his head. He took your chin in his hand and watched as your eyes grew watery and your face lose color.

“Answer me, sweetheart.” His voice was sweet even when he was being condescending.

You shook your head, too caught up in his words to know how to respond. So many emotions ran through your mind. You were upset, sad, heartbroken, confused. Everything all at once.

“What’s wrong? Wolf got your tongue?” He chuckled.

And at that moment, you decided you couldn’t take it anymore. You quickly swat his hand away and lay a punch to his jaw. But he recovers fast and grabs your hair, pulling your head back while you cry out in pain.

But you don’t let this pain distract you, you kneel him in the rib and punch him again while he doubles over.

Yuta is caught off guard by your swift actions and doesn’t know how to respond. So you take this opportunity to swipe a leg through his, making him fall onto the ground hard as he loses balance.

He tried to get up but you swing your foot into his side just like he did to you a few minutes ago. You realize that your foot won’t apply as much pressure as his, so you decide to put your entire body weight on himself sit on his chest.

You’re about to lay another punch to his beautiful face, but he grabs your wrist and swings his body over yours so you are under him now.

You grunt and throw your fist with your free hand into the side that you had previously kicked. Yuta groans in pain once more, but his grip on your wrist doesn’t loosen.

Instead, he grabs both flailing wrists and holds them above your head. He’s tightening his fingers around them so tight, you can almost feel and hear your bones start to break. You scream.

“Yuta!”

“Tell me what you are! Tell me why Johnny did this to you!” Yuta growled as your cried out in indescribable pain. Your hits didn’t seem to phase or impress him.

“Fuck you, Yuta! Get off of me!”

Yuta only smirked. His dark eyes widening, he takes pleasure in seeing you suffer like this, especially after you dared to hit him.

He dug his thumb into your rib, the same place he had kicked earlier. Your scream grows louder.

“Weak! I’m weak!!” Tears escape as you struggle to ignore the pains in all parts of your body.

Yuta lets you go and lifts himself off of you.

He rolls his neck as he looks down at you condescendingly.

You roll over onto your side and hug yourself while you cry.

“You’re weak, you’re soft, but worst of all, you’re wasting my time.” He says lowly as he steps into his house and closes the sliding door, locking you out to make you sleep outside in the cold once again.

You looked up when you heard the clicking of the door. Was he opening it up for you? Would he finally let you sleep inside?

“Tako!” He clicked his tongue to get his cat’s attention. You didn’t even notice that Tako had been watching you cry quietly.

He quickly ran inside and you heard the door slide and lock again.

Yuta was half-hoping that this treatment would make you give up and leave. A part of him didn’t care about this drama you were in. But another part of him wanted you to grow stronger. He could see the hurt in your eyes and he doesn’t know why he’s decided to care. He hates that he feels sympathy for someone he just met. You needed to be tougher, but he wasn’t sure how much time you had before Johnny would find you and put you to the test. Yuta couldn’t help but be worried for you.

——————

[A Month Later]

Your training with Yuta got better steadily. You were slow at first, but with practice you started to trust yourself and your body more.

Yuta helped you develop your physical as well as mental well-being. You had grown to be more spiritual, seeing yourself as a being with infinite talents.

“You have to feel every movement in your heart first, then you have to visualize it. But you must do it quickly. Werewolves get off on fear, they smell it, they anticipate it. And if Johnny is as powerful as you say, he’ll smell your fear from a mile away. He’ll know what you plan to do before you do. So you have to be unpredictable.”

Yuta sat across from you with his arms over his crossed legs. His gaze was intense as he spoke. His black hair tied out of his face and his expression stern.

The two of you had gotten to know each other over the weeks, you weren’t best friends or anything, but you felt safe around him.

He still spoke harsh words to make you angry, but you had gotten used to his method of teaching and learned not to take it personally.

Apart from having to eat alone, sleep outside on cold gravel, and adorn bruises in new spots on the daily..living with Yuta wasn’t that bad.

“Johnny has super strength and speed, but he’s not like Jaehyun, he can’t read minds.” You said quietly.

“Doesn’t matter. He’ll still get to you before you even draw the string on your crossbow or pull out your katana.”

Yuta sighed and looked at the ground before continuing.

“We can only be thankful that we do know his one weakness.”

Your brows furrowed. “What’s that?”

He looked up at you and chuckled. “You. It’s you. If he’s this intent on finding you..you were more than just the carrier of his baby..you have a piece of his heart. He clearly can’t let you go.”

You shook your head. “I doubt it, he doesn’t care about me and even if he did, how does that give me the upper hand?”

“Y/n...you really are naive..” Yuta shook his head.

“Johnny has a lust for power..but he also has a lust for you.”

Yuta stands up and draws out his sword.

“Stand up.”

You stand up quickly and grab your katana. The two of you had done this before. You’d fight for what felt like hours with your katana, and you always ended up with cuts on your neck and arms.

But you thought about what Yuta said today. You really thought about your movement. You visualized your attack before actually making it.

You went back and forth, clinking the swords together, making sure to block each other’s attacks so you wouldn’t be sliced open like fresh pieces of meat. It was difficult and scary, you could die at any moment. But what did you have to lose?

Yuta was shocked by your determination. At the end of the day, you always ended up with multiple cuts along your perfect skin, yet you kept going.

He could see the passion in your eyes, you were growing and becoming a fighter, you were no longer filled with immense sadness. You were filled with a beautiful fire that he wanted to nurture and grow even more.

Your robe had come loose slightly as you spun around with the katana after blocking his attack. The move revealed the soft skin of your chest and cleavage, causing him to become distracted for a split second.

You were able to swipe the blade across his abdomen. He cried out and fell to the ground on his knees.

“Shit! Yuta!” You dropped your katana and kneeled down in front of him.

Yuta only chuckled. “It’s okay, that was good.”

“I’m so sorry!” You apologized and took his hand away from his center so you could see how bad the cut was.

“Don’t worry, it’s not that deep, but it sure as hell hurts.” Yuta looked up at you and adored your face. Your eyes wide with worry, your lips parted, your delicate face decorated by sweat and straggly hairs that escaped your ponytail.

Your eyes drifted upwards to his and you caught his stare. You didn’t notice that you had been holding his hand even as you examined the wound.

You also didn’t notice that your robe was lose until he glanced down.

“Oh.” You became frazzled and quickly tied your robe.

Yuta smirked at how nervous you got and stood up. “That’s it for today. We’ll start with the crossbow tomorrow.” He groaned and headed back inside his house.

“Yuta..” you looked to the ground as you called his name, still embarrassed by your exposed skin.

He turned and winced at the pain.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” You were still worried.

Yuta smiled for the first time, and it was amazing. It was like the sun had personally come down to greet you. It was beautiful and brought about a ridiculously handsome look to the already gorgeous man.

You wished he would smile more. Would it take him getting hurt more for you to see this daily?

“I’m fine, I’ve stitched myself up more times that I can remember.” He started to close the door, but stopped.

“Actually, you said you were a bartender, right?”

You ran into Yuta’s kitchen and gathered all the ingredients you needed.

Yuta was getting his first aid kit together while you whipped up a delicious alcoholic beverage.

“Make it strong, I don’t want to feel this shit.” He yelled out from the bathroom.

You smiled to yourself as you watched the vodka fill his glass and disperse the cocktail or lemon juice, sparkling water and berries you collected from his garden. It has been a while since you did what you do best, so you were happy to mix a drink for him.

Y/n..

A voice suddenly entered your ear. It was a soft whisper, but you swore the person was right behind you. You turned around quickly, but saw nothing.

Yuta was still in the bathroom, you could hear the water running.

Y/n...

The voice said again and your heart started to race when you recognized the voice.

“Johnny?” You called out, your grip around the glass grew weak, your eyes became watery, your breathing became shallow. A chill in the air made you shiver.

Time stood still for a moment and you didn’t know what to do. Johnny was nowhere to be found. Were you just imagining things?

“What’s wrong?” Yuta said once he walked into the kitchen and saw the look on your face.

You looked back at him and shook your head. “It’s nothing.. here.” You gave a small smile and handed him the glass from your trembling hands.

He took the glass but stepped close to you, locking you in between him and the counter.

“Don’t lie to me, what happened?” He knew something was wrong when you started crying suddenly.

You shivered. “I-I don’t know, Yuta..I thought I heard him..but I..”

Yuta’s eyes grew and he looked to the floor. “He’s trying to find you..”

“How does he still do this to me, Yuta? I feel like..I can’t breathe..my heart, it wants me to go to him.”

“Don’t...” Yuta turned away from you and headed to the dining room.

He groaned as he sat down slowly.

“You have to remember what he put you through, always remember your pain first and foremost. It’s difficult to remember the pain our loved ones brought us, but we have to in order to be stronger.” Yuta gulped the strong drink down.

You nodded and wiped your eyes. “How’s your wound?”

Yuta closed his eyes tightly as the bitter taste of the alcohol settled in.

He lifted up his shirt to show you a wound almost completely healed.

Your eyes grew. “W-Wait, how-“

“We have witches and herbs here too, you know.” He winked.

You nodded and turned to leave.

But before you did, you turned to him to ask one last question.

“What happened to you, Yuta? How did you become this..a hunter? And why did you stop?”

“What is this? Twenty questions?” Yuta rolled his eyes.

“The truth always comes out when you’re drunk.” You have him a playful wink and smile.

You just wanted a distraction, something to lighten the mood and make you forget about the monster that was so close to finding you. The monster that still made you tremble.

And Yuta knew this. He knew you were shaken up by it, so he caved. He had a painful past too, but he didn’t mind sharing it with you for some reason.

“I was in love once..I was happy..” Yuta looked on the centerpiece that sat on the dining table. It was a small sculpture of a beautiful ballerina.

You sat down across from him and waited for him to continue. He swallowed hard.

“But my younger brother..he grew jealous of me, he had a young love that passed away suddenly of an incurable illness. And when he passed, my brother grew heartless, he hated happiness. He hated anyone that lived happily, because he couldn’t. His lover never got the chance to be happy.. death had snatched him away, but why? Why couldn’t death take someone else? Why him?”

You felt sadness wash over you as you thought of the pain Yuta’s brother endured.

“A year passed and he barely spoke to me, he lived alone and stayed away from us, his family. But once I got married to Hina..my dear Hina..” Yuta’s frowned turned into a small smile as he started to think of the wonderful memories he shared with Hina.

He cleared his throat. “Once I got married..I started to see my brother more often..and I thought he was getting over his lover’s death, I thought he was moving on and finally deciding to spend more time with me...but I was wrong.” Yuta looked up at you and gritted his teeth.

“He betrayed me..he gained my trust, he gained Hina’s trust and one day, he said they were going to the market to pick up vegetables for the family dinner we had planned that evening. At the time, we lived in the city, so I had to clean up our apartment and get things ready while they headed out to the countryside.”

He looked down and blinked slowly. “My brother..took Hina to the werewolves...he was one himself, but at the time I had no idea they even existed. They turned her into one..they manipulated and tricked her so she turned on me. She was no longer my bright Hina that loved cherry pie and Pikachu. She became...a monster, something I couldn’t recognize.” 

“I tried to hold onto her when my brother brought her to me to boast about what he’d done. He laughed as I cried and felt pain, telling me that the alpha had rewarded him greatly for bringing a woman that he could turn and impregnate. The alpha was growing an army of werewolves in the woods and needed more women. I tried to make her stay, tried to tell her that I’d love her regardless of what she was..but..” Yuta choked up. He had never shown this much emotion to you before.

“You don’t have to continue, Yuta..I’m sorry.”

But he swallowed hard and continued, wiping away his tears and staring at the table. “She called me a fool and left me, she said she never loved me and that she belonged to her alpha. I didn’t fight hard enough.. I didn’t try. They would taunt me some nights. I would have dreams of being with her. Dreams of walking under cherry blossom trees, holding hands as we feed birds and swimming in crystal blues lakes. Sweet dreams that I wanted to live in forever, then they’d turn into nightmares. I’d wake up after feeling like I’ve been scratched or bitten.” 

“Then one day she appeared in my apartment with her alpha. She was happy and pregnant, her alpha was always holding her close, kissing her cheek in front of me. And I couldn’t do anything, I was powerless. My brother got what he wanted. He wanted someone else to feel the pain of losing someone they loved, someone they’d cross the Earth for.”

“I still loved her.. I only wanted the best for her..but they started to hunt and kill people in our town as their pack grew. I knew I had to stop them. I trained. I told myself I was doing it so I could stop them, but really..I thought becoming a hunter would give me the chance to get her back..”

Your eyes widened. You wondered what happened next.

“I..killed them..all of them..I saved her for last because she was merciless. She was incredibly strong, and fought me like she didn’t know who I was. At the last moment, she grabbed a child from a nearby village as I chased her through the woods. She was going to eat her so I had to shoot an arrow into her chest.. I tried to save her..but I couldn’t. Ever since then, I’ve tried to save innocent people from those terrible beasts. I’ve made a name for myself as a werewolf hunter and fought the worst of the worst. Jaehyun hates me so much, he got me put on the no-fly list so I can’t leave this place. But I don’t care...I don’t regret anything. The only thing I regret is ever having the nerve to trust someone.”

He paused.

His eyes started to tear up again as he looked on the smiling ballerina.

“She was a dancer..the best..”

“Yuta..” you reached out to hold his hand but he pulled away and stood up.

“Now you know why I’m like this..it’s time for you to leave.”

Your mouth fell open, you didn’t know what to say, but Yuta didn’t want to hear it anyway.

He knew you pitied him, and a part of him was embarrassed to get this personal with someone that he had no future with.

You nodded and got up.

“I’m sorry.” You say and you’re about to open the sliding door but he stops you.

“Y/n..where are you going? It’s raining.” Yuta runs a hand through his hair once he realizes that his tone was unnecessarily harsh towards you.

You shrugged your shoulders. “It wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve slept in the rain, Yuta.”

Yuta walks up to you and places a hand on the door to keep you from opening it.

You look up into his eyes and furrow your brows.

He licks his lips and breathed heavily. “Sleep here..in my bed..”

Your eyes widen.

“I mean, not with me in it..” Yuta rolls his eyes. “If you get sick, it’ll only slow down your training and I can’t have that, so sleep in here after you shower.”

Yuta walks away as your mouth falls open.

You never would’ve thought he’d let you sleep in the house let alone his bed.

Maybe he was a nice man.

“W-where will you sleep?” You ask.

“Lucky for you, I’ve got a sweet hammock with my name on it.”

Yuta plops down into the hammock in his living room. You never noticed it, but it did look comfortable.

“Pspspsps..” he calls over Tako who happily jumps into his lap as the hammock swings back and forth gently.

Tako curls into his lap while Yuta’s head falls back. He closes his eyes and rests his hands on the back of his head.

You laugh to yourself quietly and turn the lights off before heading to the bathroom.

—————

You wake upon a plush bed for the first time in months . It feels heavenly so as the daylight pours in through the blinds, you smile to yourself and hug the blanket over you.

But then, everything clicks, you jump up in the bed and realize that it’s not yours. You stand up and quickly fix the pillows and smooth the sheets.

You leave the room and walk around the house quietly, trying not to wake Yuta up.

Yuta, however, is nowhere to be found, you look over to the hammock and see that he’s not in it anymore, nor is he in the kitchen.

Tako is still eating his breakfast from his bowl in the kitchen.

“Your father just fed you, so where is he?”

You open the sliding door to the backyard and hear water splashing. When you walk around the bushes and go deeper into it, you see Yuta is taking a bath in a large stone that was placed in the ground and shaped like a tub. You always bathed in it, but never thought he used it since he always used the shower in his bathroom.

It was hidden in the center of shrubs and flowers, but you peeked through a small opening and looked on him.

This is wrong, isn’t it? Hmmm a peak won’t hurt.

You look onto Yuta radiant skin, created and graced by the gods themselves. His waist slender but his arms were quite brawny.

His skin was littered in scars. He had been through so much in his life as a hunter, and his scars showed that it wasn’t easy. It took a toll on him physically and mentally as well. You understood why he no longer hunted.

Yuta turns to rinse his chest and stomach now and you bite your lips at the site of the water running down him. His abs and pecs are strong and sculpted, his wet hair is slicked back, revealing his dark, long lashes and high cheekbones. He so perfect it almost seems like he’s moving in slow motion. It’s like he’s shooting a commercial for some expensive cologne.

Just when your mind starts to run wild with lustful thoughts, you feel a light scratch on your ankle.

You yelp and look down at the source.

It’s Tako, gazing up at you with those big green eyes. He’s clearly not amused by you watching his father bathe.

But your sound of shock gives your location away. You look back up at Yuta and see that he is still rinsing himself off. Maybe he didn’t hear you.

You hurriedly tip toe away and back into the house.

Yuta smirks to himself and thinks about how cute you are, peeping through bushes to watch him bathe.

———————

[A Week Later]

You continue to improve and become familiar with the crossbow. Yuta tells you all about it and how the arrows must be covered in silver to make any sort of impact.

Your aim becomes better, but you have to be faster.

“If a werewolf is coming at you full speed, you can’t hesitate.” Yuta looks into your eyes. He stands to your side and places his hand over yours on the arrow.

He has to step closer to you so that you can draw the arrow back together. You feel his hot breath on you, you smell his fresh scent and feel the warmth of his body on yours. His hands are rough, but he touches you ever so lightly.

Sweat formulates on your forehead as you breathe heavily.

“And just like that..” his voice comes out in a low whisper.

“Release.”

When you both let the arrow go, it shoots straight through the center of the  mannequin’s chest.

Yuta still stands close to you. You turn to look up at him as he stares into your eyes.

“What’s wrong?” You ask him.

“That was weak, what were you thinking about?” Yuta is intimidating. It’s like he always knows when you’re not focused.

“Nothing, Yuta. I just..” you stumbled over your words.

“Just what? Thinking about last week when you watched me bathe?”

You blink fast. “I..wasn’t watching you..what are you talking about?”

“I’m a werewolf hunter, you can’t hide from me, y/n.” Yuta smirked.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You walk towards the mannequin to remove the arrow.

Yuta stepped back and chuckled. “Suuuure.”

You rolled your eyes, but silently curse yourself.

There’s a growing tension between you and Yuta and you can’t explain it, but the more familiar the two of you got with each other, the more you wanted from him. Yeah, maybe the two of you were emotionally unstable, but that didn’t stop you from wanting a physical connection with someone. Yuta would touch you more, he’d let you sleep in his bed while he slept on the hammock, and now, he started to cook for you.

He was doing the bare minimum, but it meant so much to you and you couldn’t help but look on him fondly.

Later that evening, you’re taking your usual evening bath. You lay back and enjoy the warm water that soothes your aching body, your arms laid out along the sides. The soft breeze and gentle, dimming sunset makes you feel euphoric. You close your eyes and try to clear your head, unaware of the peeping eyes that now watched you.

Yuta watched the way your head fell back and you neck elongated. Your hair shiny and long lashes darkened by the water.

You looked incredibly beautiful in the sunset, he had to watch you. He had been watching you since you washed your back and revealed the large scars on it. He wondered how you had gotten them since Johnny never seemed to have hurt you.

You hear the bushes shuffle a little bit as Yuta makes noise on purpose to scare you.

Your eyes flicker open and you look to the side that you heard the noise from.

“Hello?” You call out and sit up straight in the large tub.

Yuta steps out from the bushes, he looks into your eyes and doesn’t hide his stare even when you cover your chest with your arms. It looks like he’s just left the shower as he stands in front of you in only a silk robe and his long, wet hair.

“Yuta...” you call out his name in a sweet, but low tone. He steps closer and you relax, removing your arms from your chest and sinking back down.

“What happened to your back?” Yuta’s gaze is hungry and you want him to come closer.

“Tell me about your battle wounds..and I’ll tell you about mine..” you tilt your head to tell him to come inside the tub with you.

Yuta drapes his robe off and steps into the tub. He steps closer to you, your back hitting the edge as you can’t back away any more.

“It’s not so nice being watched, is it?” Yuta smirks.

“Well..I don’t mind it, as long as it’s you.” You whisper but you look at his lips as you speak, ready to feel them on yours.

Yuta leans forward and kisses you, his tongue instantly darting across the plump surface for entrance. You hold onto his back and press his  body closer to yours. You kissed with a sense of urgency, like you had both been longing for this moment for some time.

Your heart beat fast as he bit your bottom lip lightly then kisses your jawline. His steamy breath decorates it while his hand runs through your hair.

The warm water feels amazing on your two bodies joined together like intertwined fingers.

Yuta cups your breast, massaging the nipple in between his thumb and index finger while he watched your mouth fall open.

He kisses your mouth once again, kissing it sloppily and with haste as your whines push him along.

Yuta continues to mark the delicate skin of your neck while massaging your scalp.

You take his face into your hands and look into his eyes deeply. You bite your lips.

“Touch me.”

Yuta kisses you again, never letting go this time while you wrap your arms around his neck and let your body float upwards in the water.

Your legs wrap around his waist. You feel Yuta run his hands up and down your thighs before running his fingers along your slit.

You shiver at the light touch on your sensitive skin, but whimper quietly.

He pushes his fingers into you, letting go of your lips once more so he can watch you shudder at the feeling of his fingers inside you.

You reach down and stroke his member as he continued to push his long fingers into you, his thumb drawing circles on your bud while you cry out his name.

He groans as he feels your soft hand pumping him and rubbing along his tip.

He can’t seem to focus now as the feeling begins to take over, he stares at your naked body, your breasts rising up and down in the water as you ride his fingers, the way your mouth stays open as he stretches you out.

You let go of his member and place your legs down. You turn around and push your butt out as you hold onto the edge of the tub.

“Fuck me, Yuta.”

Yuta gently places your hair to the right side of your neck so he can see your beautiful face as he takes you from behind. He places small kisses on the exposed side before holding your waist and pulling you back towards him. Pushing into you slowly while you gasp.

He takes both wrists in his hand and places them above your head before pushing in and out of you, taking his time so he can feel your walls tighten around his veiny member.

His thrusts are slow but hard, hitting your sweet spot once he finally pushes in all the way.He groans when you clench around him, throwing his head back to keep his hair from falling in his face.

The water splashes onto the ground as he moves faster. Your whimpers grow louder and your satiny walls start to clench around him without control, driving him crazy. He kisses your lips while he makes sultry, hot love to you during the sunset. His chest covers your back and you feel safe. The love Yuta makes to you feels sincere, he kisses you like he can’t let go, like he needs your love to breathe.

And when he isn’t kissing you, his touch is gentle. He gazed at you like you’re a precious gift.

His hips snap into you and you cry out his name. He grunts and starts to rub your clit again with his other hand.

You can feel the bruise start to form on your neck as Yuta sucks on it harder.

Yuta kisses your lips then looks into your eyes as he rubs and pushes in faster. “Cum for me, baby.” he leans into your ear and whispers lowly.

You quiver around him as you climax, a loud moan leaving your mouth as you become dizzy and your eyes close tightly.

Yuta climaxes after, still kissing your lips as he comes. His movement slows and you both breathe heavily once your done kissing.

He pulls out and steps away to the opposite side of the tub while you turn around.

Yuta brushes his hair back with his fingers, his face looking stressed as he looks into the water.

“What’s wrong?” You ask him.

“Nothing.” Yuta says sternly, his tone and mood is the complete opposite of what it was just minutes ago.

Did he regret doing this? Was he thinking about Hina?

“Yuta-“ you start but he gets up and walks out of the tub. He swiftly throws his robe on and heads back to the house.

When you dry yourself and head in, you see that he’s already fallen asleep on his hammock.

—————

[Later That Night]

You’re sleeping when you hear an airy voice call your name. You shift on your side and ignore it, thinking it was something from your dream.

But then, you hear it calling you again. You open your eyes lazily and look around for Yuta.

You squint and see that no one is there in the darkness. So you lean over to the bedside lamp and turn it on.

When you look back at the end of the bed, you’re startled to see Jaehyun..

“Jaehyun?” You whisper his name then jump on the bed and crawl towards him.

“What happened?”

Your eyes widen when you see that Jaehyun’s chest has been ripped open. The bones of his ribcage stick out into the air. He is covered in blood and his face is covered in scars. His chest is hollow and when you look closer, you see that it’s empty, no heart rests in the cavity.

Your eyes start to tear up. “J-Jaehyun..”

Jaehyun looked away from your eyes. He exhales then sits on the foot of your bed. You rush to sit beside him and look at him questioningly.

“He won, y/n. I tried..but..I wasn’t strong enough.” His voice was somber, his eyes low as he stared at the floor. This was unlike him, he was quiet, sad, defeated.

You reach out to hold his hand, but your hand falls onto the bed and that’s when you realize what else is different with Jaehyun. He doesn’t have a glow about him because you’re dreaming, no, he glows because he’s a ghost.

Jaehyun looks at you while your mouth falls open.

“He..he did this to you?”

“Yes..and he’ll do the same to you. You have to stay away from him. When you ran away, father died shortly after. Johnny lost it. He started killing anyone that would challenge or disagree with him..”

Jaehyun looks to the floor again.

“I couldn’t stop him..I don’t think anyone can. Don’t go back, y/n, you can’t go back.”

You swallowed hard. “I have to stop him. I have to-“

“You don’t understand! He’s powerful, by killing me he’s attained my abilities. He’s still trying to harness them, but in no time he’ll be unstoppable once he controls them. He told me that he will find you and kill you since he can’t have you, y/n. He’s furious that you ran away.”

Jaehyun’s voice got louder. He furrowed his brows and looked at you with anger.

You drew in a sharp breath. “So it was him..”

You thought about the afternoon when you were in the kitchen and heard his voice. Johnny was using telepathy he attained from Jaehyun and was trying to find you.

“He spoke to me the other day, Jaehyun. What if he already knows where I am.”

“He is still in the learning phase. It takes much energy to find someone that is thousands of miles away. He won’t be able to find you for now, for sight and touch are the most difficult senses to develop when trying to contact people telepathically.” Jaehyun’s face relaxes.

“I’m going to kill him, Jaehyun..” tears run down your cheeks as you look at the final state of Jaehyun before his death. You could tell he put up a fight.

Jaehyun closes his eyes and sighs. “I had a feeling you’d say that...it seems I can’t stop you either.”

“I can’t run away forever, he’ll think I’m afraid and he doesn’t deserve that satisfaction.” You shake your head.

“If you do decide to fight him, you have to do it soon. He’ll kill more people to get stronger. He’ll destroy towns until he gets to you. He has broken the laws of nature because he knows no one can stop him. There is an imbalance that can only be corrected if he is stopped.”

Jaehyun looks around and down at his hands as he starts to fade.

Your eyes widen. “W-what’s happening? Don’t leave me, please.” You beg but Jaehyun only smiles.

“I don’t have much time, I transferred all of my funds to the credit card I gave you. I had a feeling that everything would go to shit fast, so I forged a marriage license between us. Everything from my life insurance policy will go to that card, because I listed you as the beneficiary. I told my some guys I know not to look for you, but to make sure everything runs smoothly in case I’m gone..”

“W-Wait, Wait..we’re married? How-“

Your brows furrow.

“I have connections, baby.” He gives a wink, but his tone turns more serious when he glances down to your lips.

“We could’ve been great, you and me...” Jaehyun says softly. “I’m sorry I was greedy, I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him in time. This is the least I can do to help you.”

“Jaehyun..” you tried to touch him again, but felt nothing but cool air at your finger tips.

“Live as I would live, y/n. Take care of yourself. I hope you can forgive me.” Jaehyun leans forward and kisses your forehead. You barely feel it as he starts to disappear completely.

You burst into tears. “No..no, don’t leave.”

But Jaehyun is no longer there. It’s just you now on the bed, you hold your face in your hands and sob quietly.

—————

[A Week Later]

Doyoung is gathering medicine from trees in the woods behind his house, he places them into his basket and heads back to his house.

Once he enters it, he notices that something isn’t right. The air is different, the smell is putrid. Something smells of death.

When he looks down, he sees that the trail of wolf’s bane he placed on the floor has been disturbed, it’s no longer straight and has been broken in the middle.

Doyoung’s eyes grow, he looks around and listens closely.

“You dare to enter the house of a witch without permission?”

Doyoung sees Johnny with his all-Seeing eye, he’s looking around his bedroom while Doyoung stands still at the doorway waiting for him to appear.

Johnny turns the corner and walks slowly towards Doyoung.

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, Doyoung.” Johnny’s voice comes out gravelly.

Doyoung looks sternly at Johnny, he already knows why he is there. He knows that Johnny has gone on a killing spree since you ran away. He’s dangerous and from the look on his grim face, his red eyes and messy hair, he can tell that he hasn’t slept for days. Doyoung can also smell the blood on his hands, he can hear the screams of both innocent people and other werewolves, he can see the fear in their eyes as Johnny took their lives away.

It’s too much for Doyoung, it makes him sick. He knows Johnny has broken the laws of nature and deserves to die for it, but he didn’t want to challenge him alone. He would need multiple witches to take him down with him and they were nowhere to be found.

“You must leave.” Doyoung turns to his kitchen and starts to take his herbs from his basket.

Meanwhile, Johnny tried to read Doyoung’s mind, he tries to access his thoughts and previous conversations in an effort to find out where you are.

But Doyoung has protected his mind with a spell, no one can read it.

Johnny curses to himself and feels the fury in his chest start to build. The desire to kill grows strong. He’s so angry he can’t control it, every time he thinks he gets closer to finding you, he gets blocked and ends up with nothing. But not this time, he would see to it that he’d get information.

He looks around Doyoung’s place, sniffing so that he can pick up your scent. If you did get rid of his baby, Doyoung was the closest witch to town. Jaehyun would’ve surely taken you here.

“Where is she, Doyoung?” Johnny walks around calmly, and right then, he picks up a subtle scent of your hair from the corner of the center room.

He walks over to it. And closes his eyes, tapping into his telepathic ability to hear and see what exactly happened in that corner.

But he has no luck. He only smells you, so he knows for sure that you were there.

“I don’t know who ‘she’ is, I’ve been alone for quite some time now.” Doyoung responds, still tending to his herbs.

“You’re lying to me and I don’t like being lied to..” Johnny chuckles. “I can smell her.”

Doyoung sighs. “You’re a fool, even if I did know where she is, I have no obligation to answer to you. You’re pathetic and a coward, killing everyone to find her. She ran away from you for a reason, Johnny. Just let her go.”

Johnny’s expression grows serious. “Tell me where she is, and you won’t get hurt like the others.”

Doyoung scoffs and turns to him. He places his herbs down then walks over to Johnny.

He swings his hand and the front door to his house flies open.

“Are you threatening me? Do I need to remind you of what will happen if you kill a witch? There’s the door, get out.”

And Doyoung was right. Johnny was breaking many rules, but the one rule he couldn’t break was to kill a witch. Centuries ago, supernatural creatures made an agreement that they would all be bound to. And in that agreement, a law states that a werewolf’s supernatural abilities would only remain in tact if they agreed to never kill a witch. Furthermore, they would be instantly beheaded by the High Priestess, the oldest witch on Earth.

Johnny knew he couldn’t break this rule, but he also knew that he wanted to send a message to all supernatural creatures.

“Who said anything about killing you?” Johnny gives a devilish smile, his eyes grow into a stronger, deeper shade of red. Doyoung’s brows furrowed and he backs away.

Johnny uses his elongating claws and grabs Doyoung’s neck. He raises him until Doyoung’s feet dangle two feet above the floor.

Doyoung tightens his hand around Johnny’s wrist as he struggles to breathe.

With his other hand, Doyoung motions for a wooden chair to fly into Johnny’s back, but Johnny uses telekinesis to stop it from colliding into him, causing it to shatter into one hundred pieces.

His hand tightens around Doyoung’s throat as his face turns red.

The Johnny you knew wouldn’t have done this, but that Johnny was gone. He was now a tiny voice in the back of the head of a monster.

“Since you won’t tell me, I’ll make sure you never speak to anyone else again.” Johnny smirks, his eyes grow and he uses his other hand to force Doyoung’s mouth open.

Doyoung screams when Johnny pierces the center of his tongue with his big, sharp nail.

He then uses it as a hook and tugs it, ripping Doyoung’s tongue out of his wide open mouth.

Blood gushes out from Doyoung’s mouth, he starts to choke on it. He’s in so much pain, he doesn’t know what to do. If he should attack Johnny or think of a spell to reattach it.

His tongue flies onto the floor as Johnny drops his body. Doyoung cries, holding his bleeding mouth with one hand. He reaches out to his tongue with the other hand and attempts to pull it towards him, but Johnny picks it up and tosses it into his mouth, his fangs tearing through the tough and thick organ before swallowing it.

Johnny laughs loudly and licks his lips.

Doyoung tries to cry out “No,” but he can’t, he can no longer make any sound.

In a fit of rage, Doyoung motions to a glass of hogweed sitting on his counter.

He tries to throw it at Johnny, in an effort to blind him, but Johnny quickly reverses Doyoung’s telekinetic action, forcing it back to Doyoung. The glass shatters and the powdered hogweed enters Doyoung’s eyes.

Doyoung now rubs his eyes as the sharp, stabbing pain rubs throughout his entire body.

He flops on the floor, unable to think of what to do to ease the pain. Johnny looks down on him and tilts his head.

“You can’t see, cant talk..what good are you now as a witch?” Johnny chuckles and steps over him before heading out the door.

—————

[The Next Day]

Johnny uses his acquired senses from killing Jaehyun to reach out to you in your dreams.

He thinks that he is able to finally harness the ability. He wants to see your surroundings, but even more, he wants to see you, touch you, feel you again.

He sits up in the center or his dark room and crosses his legs. He is surrounded by the old silk robe you left, a hair tie you used to use, and your silver ring that he had to pick up with tongs. Having your things around him would allow him to bring about your image in his mind.

His eyes close, his eyes roll in the back of his head and he breathes slowly, he drifts into his dark mind, gradually forgetting about everything else and only focusing on his memory of you. 

After a few minutes, he finds you.

He sees that you’re sleeping in a bed, but he can’t figure out exactly where you are.

Your room is pretty plain, you cover yourself tightly with white sheets.

He looks down on you as you sleep quietly. He makes note that it’s nighttime where you are but daytime where he is, you’re no longer in the same country as him.

He looks out of the window in your room, and sees a few bushes but nothing that stands out.

So he turns back to you, adoring the way you’re curled up and you’re lips are pouted. He hasn’t seen you in so long, his human heart jumps in happiness for the first time in weeks.

He felt a tinge of hope when he had called out to you a few weeks ago and you said his name. He knew he was getting close. But now, he needed to know if he could finally touch you.

He gently rubs his finger across your face, his breath hitching in his throat and eyes widening when he feels the soft, cool skin of your cheek.

He starts to smile and sits down on the edge of the bed, waiting for you to wake up.

“Oh, my love, where are you?”

He says lowly.

Your eyes open slowly, you rub them with your small fists and squint.

“Hello? Who’s there?” You ask, but as your eyes focus, you see a pair of glowing red eyes and jump up in your bed.

You turn on the light and start to pant.

“J-Johnny? How did you-“

You’re shocked to see Johnny, he’s stronger and still handsome but his eyes are darker, they’re no longer doe eyes of kindness, they’re eyes of horror. He’s nothing like how he was when you were together.

He smiles as he looks at you and takes in your features.

You look around nervously when you realize that he might know where you are, but then you remember that he doesn’t know you’re with Yuta because Yuta sleeps on the hammock in the next room. If he’s contacting you telepathically, then he can only see your room.

You sit up straight and calm yourself.

“I know why you’re here, Johnny, I know your plan, I know that you lied to me!”

“I’m sorry..y/n..” he reaches out and places his large hand on yours.

“You were gonna kill me! You got me pregnant just so you could be the alpha! You told me..you loved me.” You couldn’t help but cry as you watched the monster in front of you, what did he do with man you once loved?

Johnny wipes away your tears, his face full of regret and sadness once he sees you cry.

His human side had taken over now, it always did when he thought about you, you made him weak, you calmed him down, made him remember he had a heart. It made him...human.

“Shhh don’t cry..I was going to save you, y/n.” The werewolf within him chuckles as he hears himself lie.

You know you couldn’t save her.

“Come back to me please..I miss you.” Johnny swallows hard and scoots closer to you.

You know that Johnny is trying to lure you in, but with each touch you remember all the moments you had together. The summer days you spent laughing and talking, the winter nights you spent cuddled up and watching horror movies. The days at the conservatory when you would walk around and listen to him talk about the beautiful shrubs and flowers in it. You would watch him speak with such passion because he clearly loved his job.

You remembered waking up to him cooking breakfast for you, the wonderful omelettes he made. You heard the sounds of the fair you guys went to and his glorious laugh, you saw his smile and felt his lips on yours, it all felt so real, like you were experiencing everything all over again. Johnny was manipulating your emotions, making you see these memories so it could break you.

And it seemed to work.

Johnny holds your face in his hand, he looks into your large eyes and leans down to kiss you. You kiss him back, closing your eyes and allowing yourself to fall weak into his arms like putty. It feels like the first time you kissed, slow and magical, his tongue playfully dancing with yours.

Everything feels so real, his soft lips on yours, his gentle touch.

He lays down beside you while your lips are still attached to his.

You caress his arms as he leans over you and fixes himself between your legs.

He draws the strap of your nightgown down and kisses along your collar bone.

You moan when you feel his broad chest on yours. His fingers prance along the skin of your inner thigh, moving dangerously close to the apex.

He lowers his lips to your chest, bringing the trim of the gown down to reveal your perky nipples. He licks around them while you whimper. You can feel your legs start to waver, you can feel his growing member push against the fabric of your panties.

You push your body upwards and grind against him to increase the friction. Your head falls back and Johnny moans as he continues to rub his covered member along your growing heat.

He sucks hard on your collar bone to decorate it with a bruise. His mind becomes giddy, he smells your beautiful womanhood, he can’t taste your sweet skin, your lovely mewls enter his ears and he silently goes crazy. He finally gets to feel you again. He finally has you under him and in his hands.

You lock eyes for a moment when he pulls away and looks down at you. You cherish his beautiful face, his hair wavy and dangling in front of his forehead. His eyes were softer now, you no longer saw red and he smelled like flowers, the ones he always brought home from his conservatory for you.

He licks his swollen lips then goes back to kissing you. Your kisses become hastier, he pushes into you harder, making sure to feel your covered slit.

“More..more please..” you’re tired of his teasing.

“I can give you more...just tell me where you are..and I’ll be right there..” Johnny sucks your nipple again and listens to you moan.

And you’re so needy and hot that you almost fall for it, you throw your head back once you feel his fingers push into your panties, and trace up and down your needy bud.

“I-“ you start but stop when you hear Jaehyun’s voice echo in the back of your mind.

Or was it more than that?

You quickly glance over to the side while Johnny still kisses your neck and see the ghost of Jaehyun actually in your room again.

You see his bloody chest and it all comes back to you.

“He’s lying. He wants to kill you, y/n. Don’t forget why you’re here.” Jaehyun looks on you sternly.

Your eyes become teary, but Johnny places his lips onto yours again. Your eyes flutter shut and when you open them once again, Jaehyun is gone.

You stop kissing Johnny and holds his face away from yours. He furrows his brows and looks at your lips while breathing heavily.

“I don’t..love you anymore, Johnny.”

Johnny blinks slowly and lifts himself off of you. His eyes become watery as your words echo in his head. He lost you.

You fix your gown and look up at him before swallowing hard.

“I’d like you to leave.”

Johnny’s eyes once filled with regret and yearning are now full of fire. They return to the glowing red color you had seen before.

“You can’t run away from me forever.” He says huskily and holds up his claw with scary, elongated nails. He’s about to gash into your chest, but you stop him.

“I know..I’ll be seeing you soon, Johnny.” You say before grabbing a small knife under your pillow and slicing Johnny’s throat, his apparition disappearing right before your eyes.

Johnny is abruptly transported back to his dull room, he holds his throat and takes in a sharp breath, shocked by how real the attack felt.

You lay back down in your bed and gaze at the ceiling. Johnny almost had you, he almost made you his again. You were weak and you shouldn’t have been.

You had to remember who he really was, what he had done to you.Your mind runs wild with thoughts, you know you can’t go back to sleep, so you decide to practice shooting with your crossbow until the sun rises and another day begins.

—————

[A Month Later]

“Do you think you’re ready?” Yuta asks while wrapping your arms with tape.

“Do you think I am?” You wait for him to look up at you. Ever since you made love, Yuta was hesitant to look into your eyes. He felt something he couldn’t explain.

He does look up at you as he tightens the tape. “I’m worried for you.”

He finally lets out and it’s true, he doesn’t want to get closer to you because he’s not sure if you’ll make it out alive. And he can’t help you because he is forbidden from being involved in supernatural affairs. Not to mention the fact that he’s also on the no-fly list.

He can’t lose another person he cares for.

You purse your lips and look away. “Don’t be. I’m ready.”

You want to get it over with so you can finally be free of Johnny. You want to live your life. What he did to you was unforgivable and he had to pay for it.

You’ve been training for a while and can finally keep up with Yuta’s attacks.

Yuta walks away from you and holds his head low.

“Yuta..will you come with me? We can find someone that can make you a passport, change your identity..”

Yuta shakes his head. “No, I haven’t been involved in werewolf issues for some time, I don’t plan on getting involved now..not even for you.” His tone was cold.

You huff and walk towards the sack of sand you used to practice kick boxing with.

“This so your battle. I will only complicate things” Yuta continues but you stop him.

“That’s not true, Yuta. You’re just scared to lose me. You’re scared that you’ll be the one to blame if I don’t survive.”

Yuta turns to you, his mouth falling open but no words come out, he doesn’t respond.

“I’m not Hina and I’m not your brother, I’ll kill this bastard with or without you.” You can feel the anger in your tone.

“Y/n..I’m sorry.” Yuta says quietly but you’ve already left to gather your things.

Yuta is unsure of how he feels about you, you have a place in his heart and as you spent more time together, that’s peace grew bigger. He’d watch you and fall in love with everything you did, from the way you played with Tako to the way you mixed drinks, the way you washed your hair to your determination. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t think of Hina. 

He only thought of you. And the truth was that that one evening he spent making love to you stayed in his mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about you. So he decided to distance himself, in fear of the inevitable pain he would experience when you were gone like everyone else.

He knew he was a coward for not saying goodbye to you.

————

[The Next Day]

You’ve arrived back in your hometown alone. You’re nervous and scared, but you know that you must face Johnny, even if you’re on your own.

The town is dark and sad, the streets are empty, the bar you once worked at was permanently closed. Your old apartment was abandoned.

The city had been turned upside down since you left and it was all because of him.

He had killed so many people that residents got scared and fled. The police couldn’t explain or help, and officials in higher levels refused to get involved because even though they knew the source of the madness, they knew better than to challenge it. So instead, they let a small town suffer and ignored the issue.

It’s a cold night, the moon shines brightly above you. At first, you thought it was naive to challenge a werewolf at the time when he’d be strongest, but Yuta taught you that this would be the best time, for his werewolf heart would be more exposed, switching places with his human heart, and thus, making the werewolf side more vulnerable.

Johnny knows you’re in town, he can feel a shift in the air. He knows you’ve come to fight him. All this time he was trying to find you, only to realize that you would come to him and fall right in his trap.

You push the doors to the conservatory open and walk inside it. You can see that the flowers and shrubs have wilted. It’s not like it was before, it was dark and sad, the waterfall in the center no longer poured out crystal water. Everything seemed to be dead or in the process of dying. Everything except the brilliantly green water lilies that looked magical as they floated on the surface of the pond.

The vines drooped down from the glass ceiling and fell into your face as you walked through it.

The once colorful and happy flowers hung low as if to represent the own feeling of defeat and grimness in your heart.

You hold your crossbow by your side, ready to use it at the slightest sound.

“Welcome home, my sweet strawberry shortcake.” Johnny’s voice echoed out, bouncing off of the high ceilings.

You looked around, but couldn’t find him.

“Enough with the games, Johnny.”

You looked to the side carefully, he sounded close but you couldn’t tell which direction he was coming from.

“But I like playing with you..” Johnny says lowly, you can almost hear his pout, but his voice tells you that he’s getting closer.

You listen closely and hear movement above you. You quickly aim your crossbow above you and shoot an arrow towards him. He hangs from the ceiling upside down and lets out a loud road as he dodges the arrow.

He’s fast and disappears from your sight when he drops down to the ground behind a group of ferns.

You quickly reload and hold your crossbow up again. Turning slowly until you get a glimpse of him.

Johnny is caught off guard by your swiftness. The human in him calls out to the werewolf in an attempt to stop himself. He just wants to hold you and love you again. He doesn’t want to fight, but the other part knows that he has to. He knows that there is no hope for the two of you. But you’re making him weak nonetheless. Unlike his other opponents, he still has feelings for you. A part of him doesn’t want to kill you.

While Johnny is in his thoughts, he doesn’t realize that you’ve spotted him.

You quickly pull back the arrow and release it, this time, landing a successful shot into his abdomen.

His wolf form is huge and unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, but you try not to be frightened by it. You thought of the very first night you dealt with one of these creatures and reminded yourself that you’re not that scared girl anymore.

You loaded another arrow while Johnny lets out another howl.

Johnny runs around the ferns with his super speed, knocking the crossbow from your hands. But before he does, you’re able to pull back and release another arrow into his shoulder. The contact of the silver and his skin causes a sizzling sound to emit.

Johnny towers over you and swings his claw into your side, scratching you so hard, you’re thrown to the floor twenty feet away.

You’re hoping the two shots make him weaker so you can attack his heart and finish him.

You wince in pain and hold your side as blood gushes out of it.

You start to stand up slowly, but Johnny grabs you by the throat and holds you up high.

“Let’s not fight. Make this easy for me, baby.” he growls.

You grunt and grab your katana that’s attached to your back, swiping it through his chest. Your sword cut deep, causing him to curse and toss you to the side as he bent over. Your sword was also coated in a special silver so the cut was unlike anything else. It burnt through the hairy flesh all the way to his lungs and other organs.

He coughed up blood and held himself up off the ground with one claw.

You yell and run towards him while he’s down and swing your sword again, but miss. He disappeared before your eyes and ends up behind you. He claws at your back over and over with ridiculous speed while you cry out in pain.

You fall onto your back and cry out in pain. He moves to kneel over you, but your cries distract him for a second. His facial expression changes to worry when his human side sees that you are hurt badly.

You look into his eyes and plead. “Please Johnny, don’t do this. I love you.”

You’re not lying when you say this, a part of you still does love him, but you only say it out loud to make him weaker.

He leans forward and his red eyes dissipate for a moment. Right then, you grab your katana and aim it at his chest. You put pressure on it so that it starts to pierce his skin but he quickly shifts back into full werewolf mode and grabs it with both hands.

You fight hard against his grip and push it in further while he starts to cough up more blood.

Before it can go in all the way, he grips the sword tightly, ignoring the sounds of his burning flesh on the blade and forces it out of your hands before tossing it to the side.

He picks you up angrily and bites into your shoulder. You cry out a blood-hurdling scream as the feeling of his sharp teeth breaks your skin, tears through muscles and shatters your bones. You can hear the cracking and feel your nervous system become overwhelmed with antagonizing pain. He tosses you to the center of the conservatory, then walks over to you while shifting back into human form.

“I didn’t want this..I didn’t want to turn you..”

He says softly.

“But you left me no choice...”

Your back rests against the same bench that you slept on the first night you entered this place. You breathe heavily and wince in pain, grasping onto as a much air as possible as you feel yourself start to fade.

You shakily take your gun out of your harness and hold it behind you while Johnny is distracted.

He’s too caught up in his own emotions and thinking he’s finally become victorious to read your mind and realize that you have yet another weapon that you plan to wield against him.

He kneels down to you and wipes your tears from your cheeks with his thumb. You’ve got him right where you want him.

“I can’t live without you..” he looks into your eyes, his own brimming with water.

You chuckle and he watches as blood stains your beautiful lips.

“Then die.” you let out.

Johnny’s brows furrowed and looks at you in confusion. He reads your mind a moment too late. You’ve already drawn out your gun and shot two silver bullets into his heart.

Johnny falls to the floor on his knees and winces in pain. He’s still confused as he looks back up at you. His mouth opens once he stands up and backs away from you. He feels his body start to shut down. On impulse, he tries to heal himself, but it seems as though the bullets have pierced through both hearts.

He can’t seem to heal fast enough, his vision becoming blurry. He coughs up blood and can’t back away anymore, his ankles being met with with short wall of the waterfall in the center of his beloved conservatory.

He trips and falls into the pond filled with water lilies. His body becoming limp as he can no longer feel or control his arms or legs.

You struggle to stand up on your feet, but eventually, you slowly stumble over to the pond and see his eyes are closed and his chest is no longer moving.

It’s over, it’s really over. You start to cry when you realize that he’s gone, feeling a mixture of both relief, pain and sadness wash over you.

You sit on the edge of the pond beside his body and look up at the sky. You cry out loud and uncontrollably, you can feel your body start to change, a vibrating sensation runs through it at the sight of the bright moon. But you’ve lost so much blood, your vision becomes blurry and you pass out.

You don’t feel the gentle fingers that cover your own as your body slouches over. Johnny uses the last of his energy to heal you just enough so you survive. He holds your hand tightly, giving you all that he has left as he cries quietly, waiting for death to finally consume him.

—————

[6 Hours Later]

Someone picks you up and takes you out of the conservatory. You can hear the person’s heartbeat and breathing, it’s strange. Your senses are heightened and you can feel the presence of another person beside the one carrying you.

The person places you onto a soft bed.

Your heavy eyes struggle to open, but when they do, you’re shocked to see that it was Yuta carrying you.

“Y-Yuta?” You ask quietly. As the sensation of sleeping dissipates from your body, you start to feel all the pain and memories of what happened flood your mind.

Yuta looks at you and sighs. “I’m sorry.”

He gets up and leaves the room before you can ask why he’s apologizing.

Doyoung then enters and you’re frightened.

Doyoung has a scarf around his eyes, but walks straight towards you with a bowl of liquid.

“Doyoung..what..what happened?” You start to sit up straight and wince at the radiating pain in your shoulder.

“He can’t talk..” Yuta comes back in.

You look up at him then back to Doyoung.

“Johnny ripped out his tongue when he wouldn’t tell him where you are.”

Yuta sits beside you on the bed and take a cloth out of the bowl of liquid.

Johnny.

You hiss in pain as he tends to your wounds.

“He’s dead right? Please tell me he’s dead.”

Yuta nodded. “Yes, it seems as though you did what you set out to do, you got a clean shot. Or perhaps you just got lucky.” He gives you a small smile and a wink.

You swallow hard and look to the ceiling.

“Why did you come?”

“I felt bad. I figured you’d need my help..and..” Yuta stumbles over his words.

“I was a dick to you back there..”

You smiled, but it quickly faded as you remembered your reality. You knew that you were a werewolf now. Even if Yuta did like you, there was no way you could be together.

You held his hand and stopped his movement.

“You have to kill me, Yuta. I can’t live like this..I can’t become him or..” you stopped before you said her name, but he finished it.

“Hina...” Yuta looks into your eyes somberly.

You nod as you cry.

“I know, but you won’t..not with me around..I’ll take care of you.” Yuta continues to cleanse your wounds.

“Why? I’m not your responsibility, you’ve helped me get this far, you don’t have to-“ you plead. You’re worried that you will bring him pain like the others did, you can’t bare to see his heart break when you become the monster he hates.

“I know..” he says strongly and puts the cloth back in the bowl. “I know..y/n..” he brushes your hair back with your hand.

“But we’re in this together, you’ve made my life exciting and worth living again. I won’t run away like a coward this time, I’ll fight for you.”

Your heart is warm, you start to smile and finally feel at peace. You were scared to see what would become of you now that you were a werewolf, but you were glad to see that you didn’t have to endure the pain alone.

——————

[The Next Day]

Johnny’s omega, Donghyuk goes to the Johnny’s house to look for Johnny. He discovers that the place has been destroyed. Broken glass is everywhere.

When he calls on police to tell them that someone has broken into Johnny’s house and that he can’t make contact with him, so they arrive and check out the house.

They see that all of Johnny’s belongings are still in the house so it couldn’t have been a robbery. So they head over to the conservatory to see if there are any clues there.

When they enter it, they see that the pond in the center is full of blood. And upon closer examination, they see that despite it being filled with crimson liquid, there is no body.

Johnny is nowhere to be found.

--------

A/N: YOU GUYSSS THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!! i hope you liked the ending...mayhaps there will be a book 2??????

#nct au #nct ff #nct angst #nct johnny #nct moodboard #nct johnny au #nct smut #nct series #nct johnny smut #johnny smut #johnny suh #johnny seo #johnny angst #nct sci fi #nct werewolf au #kpop werewolf au #johnny x you #johnny x reader #nct 127 johnny #gentle monsters #nct 127 #werewolf au #nct horror #nct supernatural #kpop roleplay #nct romance #nct boyfriend #johnny moodboard #nct scenarios #nct reactions

[imma-fucking-nerd]

Canine Conundrum (Part 2)

(Connor x Reader x Nines)

A/N: Ask and yee shall receive! heres part 2! (Electric boogaloo)

———————————————

Loud knocks at your door jolted you awake from your slumber. The sudden sound also alerting the two dogs who layed either side of you. It seemed like you must have fallen asleep in the same position on the couch you had been the night before. You glanced from the husky on your right to the shepard on you left in confusion before memories of the previous day came back to you. A grin made its way to your face.

"Morning boys," you said, stifling a yawn.

Another couple of heavy knocks sounded at the door and you pulled yourself from off the couch. As you trudged over to the door your two canine companions followed close behind, eyeing the door cautiously. The sight made you smirk slightly.

Upon opening the door you were faced with none other than Hank.

"Hey Hank, what brings you here? And so early?" you glanced over to your clock on the wall that read 4:36am as you spoke.

"Got a call about a lead that might have info on where their bodies are," he grumbled, motioning to the two who sat by your feet.

"Oh, okay. Let me just go get dressed real quick," you opened your door wider for the older man to step inside however he just gave you a funny look.

"And where the hell do you think you're going?" he asked, really hoping you weren't about to say what he thought you were going to say.

"I'm coming with you," you stated as if it were obvious.

"Like hell you are. You're not even a detective, you aren't trained to be out in the field," he argued.

"I can handle myself thank you very much. Plus I've got you and these guys to protect me," you retorted with a grin, pointing to the basically guard dogs.

"Besides, would you rather go ask Gavin for help instead?" you added, knowing full well that won the argument.

Just as you thought, Hank just sighed and stepped inside your humble abode.

"Fine. But you do exactly as I say and never leave my sight, got it?" he ordered.

"Got it. Thanks dad," you gave him a little wink and shot him with finger guns before hurrying to your room to change.

Although he wouldn't admit it, he kinda did think of you as a daughter/son figure. Hence why he was so reluctant to let you accompany him. He was already worrying about the possibility of Connor being (and even Conan) being stuck as dogs, he didn't want to have to worry about you too. But Hank rarely got his way. Poor man.

A soft whine drew Hank's attention down to Connor, who he guessed disapproved of hom giving into you so easily.

"How about you tell her/him to stay then?" he said with a little smirk, crossing his arms.

Connor gave a short bark to which Hank just rolled his eyes.

"That's what I thought."

After about roughly five minutes you came back out from your room dressed and ready to go. You just needed to throw on a jacket and boots.

"Alright. Let's get going shall we?" you grinned as you opened your door for the three.

Quickly, you locked your door after you all before heading over to Hanks car. Hank was already in the drivers seat and just as you opened the passenger side for yourself, Conan took the opportunity to steal your spot.

"Hey!" you whined with a small pout.

Even in this dog form you could almost see him smirking. You rolled your eyes at him but leaned in to buckle in his seatbelt, because safety is important. An action which earned a weird look from Hank. However you got your revenge by pecking canine Conan's furry cheek before quickly leaning away and closing the door. He just huffed in response.

"Welp, guess were backseat buds," you say looking down to Connor.

You opened the back door, he jumped in first and you followed suit. As Hank started the car you fastened Connor's seatbelt before doing your own. When you looked up to meet his expectant big chocolatey brown eyes you gave a chuckle, bringing up your hand to pat his head. This earned the best smile a dog was able to muster. Oh you were so going to tease him about this later.

"So, where are we going?" you asked, leaning forward to look at Hank.

"Activity was reported at an abandoned house on the more secluded side of town," Hank replied, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Cool cool cool," you nodded, leaning back into your seat.

The drive didn't take more than a half hour at most and when Hank pulled up to the old run down looking house you immediately got bad vibes. It screamed 'someone definitely got murdered here and their ghost still hangs around'. Before getting out of the car you unbuckled yours and Connor's seatbelts. Then you had to go undo Conan's as well because Hank couldn't be bothered. After the four of you were out you headed towards the building. Once you reached the entrance Hank stopped and turned to you.

"You stick with me and stay quiet, got it?" his tone was serious.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," you waved him off .

Upon entering the house it was seemed as if it had been abandoned for years. The paint was chipping off the walls, the hardwood floors looked like they were rotting, and you could practically see the dust particles in the air. But you knew better than to take its rundown state for face value.

"Alright, you two search the ground floor and me and (Y/n) will search upstairs," Hank spoke up, keeping his voice down.

You watched the two dogs share a look before going their separate ways to search the house. You had to stifle a laugh when you saw them starting to sniff around. It wasn't like they had their cool detective scans anymore so you guessed they had to make due with what they had. It was still adorable though.

Just like Hank said, you followed him up the stairs cautiously. The gravity of the situation finally hitting you that this might have been dangerous. Who knows what kind of weirdo was squaring here. If they were able to fuck with the two most advanced androids around who knows what else they were capable of?

As you followed Hank down a corridor with a couple doors on each side you suddenly stopped when you saw a faint blue glow coming from one of the rooms. Hank didn't seem to notice you stoping and kept on ahead. You opened you mouth to call for him but shut it, deciding it best to just investigate yourself. Sure you weren't a detective per say, and sure you had no training in combat or self defense, but you knew where to land a mean kick and that was good enough for you. So you broke one of Hank's only rules to go investigate on your own.

Slowly walking into the room you felt your heartrate start to pick up. Okay maybe this wasn't the best idea, but you were here now and apparently there was no turning back for you. When you entered the room fully your eyes were immediately draw to a set of monitors on the right wall. You also noticed a slew of wires, and when you followed them with your eyes you lifted your gaze to see none other than the bodies of your best friends/kinda crushes. You grinned at the discovery and felt pride well up inside you. This would show Hank you could totally be a detective if you wanted to.

You opened your mouth to call out to Hank and co when suddenly a hand harshly clamped over your mouth and a cool metal object was pressed into your temple.

"Don't you make a fucking sound," a low voice hissed in your ear.

Well, shit.

Your heart was beating so fast you weren't sure if it was just going to stop right then and there. Slowly you brought your hands up in surrender, not really sure what the hell else you could do. So much for being able to take care of yourself. You could feel tears stinging your eyes as a million thoughts flooded your mind. This was it. This was how you were going to die.

However your existential thoughts were cut short by the sound of Hanks voice coming from the entrance of the room.

"Detroit police, put the gun down asahole," he spoke firmly, his own gun trained on the assailant who had turned you around to face Hank and was now using you as a meat shield.

The man who was holding you hostage pressed the barrel of the gun further into your temple and you couldn't help but let out a whimper.

Hearing the commotion upstairs, Connor and Conan met up with each other in the livingroom. They exchanged a look before racing up the stairs, making their way to Hank's side in less than a minute. As soon as their eyes landed on the sight of the man that put them in the body of a dog, holding a gun to your head, they immediately started growling.

Now that there were three threats, the assailant didn't know who to pint the gun at. He kept shifting it from Hank, to Connor, to Conan, and back onto you.

"S-Stay back!" the man demanded.

You could tell he was scared by the way his voice shook, and the sound of the gun rattling as his hand trembled. However you made no move to get out of his grip because you knew that would lead to you getting shot.

"Put the gun down and let the girl/boy go and maybe you'll live," Hank said, not backing down.

The two dog detectives on either side of him snarled and growled, their stances ready to attack at any moment. It was weird how they managed to go from adorable to terrifying in no time flat. But then again the same could be said in their regular human bodies.

The gun that moved away from your head and pointed in the same pattern as before frantically. However before he had the chance to point it back to you, Conan suddenly took the opportunity to lunge at the attacker. The gun went off and Connor didn't give him the chance to fire again, sinking his teeth into the man's arm making him drop the gun, and you. When you looked over to Conan you immediately saw the blue blood dripping from his shoulder.

You ignored the pained screams of the man, Connor's angry growls as he kept him down, and Hank reading out the bastards rights as he cuffed him. Your attention was solely on your injured android friend who was trapped in the body of an equally android dog. The combination made your heart break twice as much.

"Conan! Hold on okay, I'm going to get you out of there okay?" you spoke, your voice showing obvious panic.

While you had you were on your mission of getting Conan back to his body before it was too late, Hank had taken the assailant who had passed out downstairs to his car. But Connor didn't leave the room. He hated how helpless he felt as all he could really do was watch you struggle.

As carefully as you could you picked up Conan and carried him over to lay him down in front of his regular body. As you laid him down he let out a pained whine and you had to stop yourself from sobbing right then and there. Moving over to the monitor you realized you had no clue what you were looking at. Time was running as you searched through files upon files and you felt like you were about to have a breakdown. If you failed to save Conan after he just tried to save you, you'd never forgive yourself.

When your eyes spotted a file called 'Memory Upload' you clicked it immediately, and when you did a message popped up that read 'Please Connect Device'. You assumed that meant an android, or at least you hoped that's what it meant. So naturally you dropped to your knees to find what wire to plug into the android dog. But once you saw the mess of wires your hope started to dwindle.

"You've got to be shitting me," you muttered to yourself as you started sifting though the wires.

Suddenly you noticed Connor come up to your side and nudged a yellow wire in your direction. You grabbed it immediately, assuming it was the right one, and crawled over to Conan who seemed to be just barely holding on. You gave him a quick reassuring pet through his fur, whilst also trying to simultaneously trying to find a way to plug in the damned wire. It felt like forever before you finally plugged the damned thing in, when reality it was only a couple seconds, and you practically flew up to monitor.

You barely read the words 'CN300 Canine Model Connected' before smashing the 'Transfer Memory' button. Once you saw the 1% you moved back to Conan's side to whisper reassuring words, trusting the upload process wod work quickly.

"Please, please don't die on me," you pleaded, resting your forehead on his side.

When you looked up to his doggy eyes next, they were lifeless. Your eyes widened and you felt like your whole world was coming down on you.

"Conan? No....nonononono," your voice cracked as you spoke and the tears that had threaten to spill the entire time finally spilled.

However what failed to notice in your grief struck state was the big 'Memory Transfer Complete' on one of the monitors. It was only when you heard someone clear their throat you looked to see Conan, staring down at you with his steel grey eyes, that were very much alive.

"Conan?" you said in disbelief, your glossy eyes widening.

"Hello (Y/n)," he replied simply, as if nothing had happened.

You immediately hopped up to your feet, your arms flying up to wrap around his torso in a tight hug. If he was anyone else he would have probably been tackled to the ground by the sheer force. He didn't reciprocate the hug immediately, but eventually he gave in and gave your head a little pat.

"I thought you died you asshole," your words came out muffled as your face was currently buried in his chest, but he heard you clear as day.

"Yes well, it was the only way to ensure you'd never make me go into that body ever again," he said as a smirk tugged at his lips.

"Wait are you serious!? You risked your life just to destroy the dog android?" you pulled away from him and looked up at him in utter disbelief.

"Correct," he said, his smirk widening at your reaction.

"Oh haha very funny," you huffed, punching him in the chest weakly.

"I don't understand why you think I'm joking," he tilted his head slightly, lifting an eyebrow as he feigned confusion.

"Yeah, suuuuuure. It totally wasn't to save my life or anything," you said rolling your eyes, not buying his bs for one second.

"Believe whatever you would like (Y/n)," he shot back.

You were about to reply back when a whine from your right cut you off. Looking down you saw Connor sitting next to you, who must have been waiting patiently for you and Conan to finish your little reunion.

"Oh shit, sorry Connor. Let's get you back to your body now that your asshole brother is fine," you gave him a little apology pet as you spoke.

Conan rolled his eyes at your little insult but didn't take any offense by it. He knew you loved him, and he loved you. Though he'd obviously would rather die than admit it. The stubborn bastard.

Thankfully when you had to redo the steps to transfer Connor's memory back to his body, you could do it calmly not that there wasn't so much pressure. Just as the transfer was almost 100% complete Hank returned to the scene. When he saw that Conan had been restored to his body, and now Connor as well, he looked over to you with a proud smile.

"Glad to see you didn't manage to fuck anything up," he said just as Connor opened his eyes.

"Gee thanks for the vote of confidence," you said sarcastically.

"You did good kid," he said sincerely.

"Thanks dad," you looked over to him with a smile.

"Hello Lieutenant, and (Y/n)," Connor greeted you both.

You looked over to him and offered him a wide grin before walking up to him, engulfing him in a hug. Unlike your hug with Conan, you wrapped your arms around Connor's neck since you could actually reach. Also unlike Conan, he almost immediately wrapped his arms around your waist. This boy always loved your hugs.

"Good to have you back Concon," you said as you pulled away.

"But I didn't go anywhere. I was just a dog," he said in confusion with one of his classic head tilts.

"Yeah I know Con," you chuckled.

God how you missed his adorable cluelessness.

"By the way, you were a very good boy," you added with a sly smirk.

"O-Oh um, thank you," he said with a timid smile, a light tint of blue dusting his cheeks.

You heard Conan scoff from your left and you glanced over to him, your smirk widening.

"Oh Conan, you were a very good boy too. No need to get jealous," you teased.

He rolled his eyes and turned his back to leave the room, however you noticed how his cheeks were turning a lovely shade of baby blue as well.

"Alright you weirdos let's get the fuck outta here," Hank said as he followed Conan out.

You were about to follow the two but stopped when you didn't hear Connor behind you. Looking back at him you saw he was picking up his dog equivalent. When he met your eyes he smiled sheepishly.

"I was wondering if I could keep this, for the future. If you'd ever like a dog. Me specifically," he tried to explain himself.

"Yes. That would be amazing Connor," you grinned.

At least one of them would be willing to explore the world through the eyes of a dog once again. However either way you were never going to let either of the two androids live this down. Ever.

——————————————

A/N: As alwayssss I did not mean for this to be this long wooooopss. I kinda have no clue where tf this went and I'm so sorry if its terrible lmaooo. Anyways I hope y'all enjoyed anyways 💙

#dbh #dbh x reader #dbh rk900 #dbh connor #dbh nines #dbh rk800 #detroit #detroid become human #rk900 nines #connor x reader x nines #nines x reader #connor rk800 x reader #connor rk800 #connor x reader

[trifoliate-undergrowth]

Pacific Rim 3

I outline the plot of Pacific Rim 3 as experienced by me in a waking fever dream before and during today's 4am shift as a way to distract myself from real life stress with imaginary stress, written in breaks during work and in the parking lot before driving home because I'm going back to sleep when I get there and I want to preserve this fever dream first before I lose the details of it,

Ok I've been here for 3 hours and I don't know how to do a read more link on mobile I'm sorry you're getting this as is whether you want it or not I need to sleep goodbye

Dr. Gottlieb and Liwen are working on building their own portal to the Precursors to beat them up once and for all

Jake is seen giving an inspiring speech to a new wave of cadets who've been training with the old ones, now fully realized Jaeger pilots. Amara is everyone's favorite instructor.

Jake is very imposing and military and inspiring. Jake is everything the kids need him to be. Jake slips away from the party early and tears off his uniform before disappearing down a side street in his civilian clothes

Nate has the visible emotional human reaction of milk curdling and goes after him

Dr. Gottlieb and Liwen Shao are talking to someone about how they're making progress on the rift but they need help. Someone in particular who knows about alien tech. He's coming in on the next flight, actually. The person they're explaining this to gives a disbelieving "no..."

NEWTON

Wakes up in his house in the middle of fuckass nowhere. Somewhere away from technology he could theoretically use For Evil, or people he could theoretically hurt. This is, however, a self-imposed isolation, as he seems to have been granted his freedom, conditionally.

We see his morning routine, featuring normal stuff like making coffee, panic attack in the shower ft. indistinct memories of the Precursors, taking a massive dose of PPDC-granted experimental medication, starting the car, another indistinct alien trauma flashback, listening to the radio on the way to the airport where people appear to recognize him and he low-key has a panic attack because oh God everyone knows what I did

Jake leaves the bar and runs into Nate, who gives him the old Argh Argh Responsibility And Pride talk and Jake is like yeah man I know shut up

They have a fistfight in the rain and the neon lights in the alley outside the bar

No one properly wins because they've drifted so many times and they can predict each other's attacks but they both land a few and take a few, Jake gets hit a bit more because he's drunk

They both end up just sitting in the rain feeling sorry for themselves

Nate: Jules proposed to her girlfriend.

Jake: I know

Nate: they're getting married.

Jake: yeah that usually happens when someone proposes

So Jules wasn't going to end up with either of them and they're both sad about it. Nate suddenly suggests they go back in the bar. He'll buy Jake a drink to make up for beating him up. Jake is like ok sure but the drink's gonna be soda because I was LEAVING the bar because I was ALREADY drunk

They share a Soda Of Angst at the bar and talk about how they're gonna die alone. Jake says "at least we've got each other" and it's impossible to tell if he's joking. Nate is like "you know what this place isn't that bad we should come back sometime."

Newton reaches the lab. He is terrified of Liwen and awkward around Hermann. He instinctively calls Liwen "boss" and she reminds him matter-of-factly that they're working as equals now, "since you ruined my life's work."

Hermann asks how the medication is working and Newton indicates that it works fine but he still gets anxiety about it not being enough. Hermann promises him it's been proven effective, thus why the PPDC let him out of his crimes against humanity iron cell of shame. It's revealed that what they're giving him is a stronger dose of a medication originally developed for burned-out Jaeger pilots with unmanageable symptoms, and that it blocks out memories related to the drift--and since this is how the Precursors were reaching him, this works to block out their influence. The cost is that Newton doesn't remember much of anything past building his own neural bridge. He knows it happened but the details won't load. He's constantly worrying that it's not enough, that the Precursors will come back, and is taking a dangerously high dose that gives him constant hand tremors and worse insomnia than usual.

The first time he and Hermann are left alone they have an uncomfortable attempt at talking which gradually turns into an argument about nothing in particular. Newt keeps calling him Hermann but it sounds Wrong and Hermann hasn't been allowing people to just use his first name here and he finally snaps at Newton to stop it and he's like "oh my God I can't call you your NAME? what the hell am I supposed to call you??"

Newt says something angsty and Hermann says something like 'yes well the nicest thing that ever happened to me was drifting with a dead and decaying piece of kaiju viscera' and he says it sardonically but he's serious

Newt doesn't remember any context for the time they drifted.

Newt assumes he's being maliciously sarcastic and starts SCREAMING at him

Hermann just looks at him in shock at first then just lets him go for a little while

Eventually shutting his mouth by jabbing him under the chin with his cane and saying, very quietly and coldly, "get out of my lab"

Newton gets out of the lab

Newton runs into Nate and Jake at The Angst Bar and they recognize him but he has no idea who they are but he's willing to just roll with it at this point and asks them if they know Hermann well enough to give him advice

"like that was sarcasm right? I'm pretty sure he was making fun of me but now I'm less sure idk"

Nate's: no he's immune to sarcasm

Jake: yeah it's kinda funny

Nate: *the gaze*

Jake: I mean, nothing wrong with that, but yeah if he was being sarcastic that'd be first time it's happened as far as I can tell

Newt: are. Are you telling me. That someone actually. For some reason. Offered me a sincere compliment. And. I yelled at him

Jake: that's your call, I mean, you know him better than us, right? You guys were friends right?

Newton, who doesn't remember any of these people:

Nate: I mean I wasn't there, only way to tell is to go back and ask him

Newt: aaaaaaa

Newton goes back and Liwen is like "hey I've got no idea what's going on here but can you weirdos just act normal for two seconds so we can get some work done" and Hermann and Newt both just kinda. Laser focus on rift stuff

Remember the guy with the "no why would you involve Newton"reaction? No because he's but important and has no name or real identity? Yeah ok every Pacific Rim movie needs one Designated Douchebag to cause Interpersonal Drama and this guy is it. I'll call him DD for short

DD shows up and is like oh my God you actually turned Newton loose in the lab?? Why would you do this we're all going to die

Everyone just ignores him

Designated Douchebag has the self-importance of a high elf and the confidence of a fucking walnut and doesn't like being ignored

And starts talking directly to Newton, which really freaks Newton out but he continues pretending to ignore him

DD: so you're safe now? Not going to start speaking alien gibberish?

Newton: don't plan on it

Hermann, without turning around: DD you may not like to hear this but it was never your business who we brought in to assist, we don't need your permission, and complaining about Newton now that he's already here is certainly not going to do any good.

DD: alright fine but you'd better keep a close eye on him.

DD: anyways Newton tell your girlfriend I said hi

Newton, blank: who?

DD: you know, Alice?

Newton's face registers several emotions as he grapples with a name from the buried memories-confusion, disgust, terror-mostly shock

There is an abrupt cut

Liwen, thinking her two colleagues were acclimated to each other enough to allow her to leave the room and get tea without disaster, is walking back down the hallway talking with a lab tech when they hear the sound of something breaking

A moment later the doors to the lab are flung open and DD is forcibly ejected, collapsing on the floor in front of them. Dr. Gottlieb exits the lab behind him, holding his cane like a cricket bat. There is a muffled sound of Newton yelling OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING

Liwen backs out of range of cane damage and sips her tea, mildly intrigued. The lab tech starts to run for help and nearly crashes into Nate and Jake, who came running to see what the yelling was about.

Nate: what is--

Dr. Gottlieb, panting with restrained bloodlust: HELLO SIRS GOOD TO SEE YOU I BELIEVE THERE'S BEEN A SECURITY BREACH BECAUSE THIS FELLOW HAS JUST BEEN CASUALLY CHATTING ABOUT RESTRICTED CLASS-J49 INFORMATION PLEASE LOCK HIM UP

DD: it's COMMON KNOWLEDGE and he ATTACKED me

Dr. Gottlieb: YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID SIR!! *He takes a handkerchief out of his pocket and wipes some blood off the handle of his cane*

Nate: WHAT is happening

Newton: *trying to have a quiet hysterical laughter meltdown in the lab before anyone remembers he's there*

Anyways next plot point. An alien shows up

Not a Precursor! A nice alien

Listen if PR:U gets to pull all that bullshit with Mt Fuji I'm allowed to add aliens okay

Hermann should have a nice non-genocidal alien friend I think he deserves it

Anyways the alien is clearly a different species than the Precursors (or Kaiju) and seems friendly but they can't communicate with it, the linguistics team is working on it but it's going to take A Lot of Work

Hermann goes "hm I've got a quicker and more accurate option"and wheels out the drift interface

This alien's mind doesn't link well with human minds but Hermann is a pro and powers through

He gets seasick and throws up and finally comes out shaky with a bloody nose and eye but he's managed to communicate!

The alien is a diplomat from another world the Precursors attempted to colonize, they survived because the Precursors underestimated the humans' resilience and spread themselves too thin, trying to invade earth and the alien homeworld at the same time and then getting distracted dealing with the humans, which left the aliens time to prepare their defense

They're here to help with the war effort, they don't have a lot that's relevant to current human scientific understanding but they can help fill in some of the gaps in the human's knowledge about rifts

They're making progress! Yay!

Things are getting serious, training montage Jake and Nate and the new pilots getting ready to kick ass

Newton finally brings himself to apologize to Hermann and explain he was confused but the net progress here is still zero because then they immediately have ANOTHER argument

Hermann has started writing his notes in the alien's language, he wants to make sure he can remember it well enough to help the linguistics team, and it's also beautifully precise and he just loves it and loves that he's able to write it, come on who wouldn't be proud of being the first contact human

Newton sees a bunch of notes of Alien Gibberish (to him) and gets Bad Vibes

Newton doesn't think they can trust the alien, Hermann does but his proof is mainly "I can tell because I drifted with them" and Newton 1. Doesn't remember what that's like and 2. DOES remember that the last time he thought it was a good idea to drift with an alien he ended up nearly killing literally everyone on earth

They yell at each other some more

At some point Hermann tries to deescalate and asks why they can't be friends again and Newton, still yelling, says "people keep acting like we're friends and I don't remember it! As far as I'm concerned this is all we ever had! I barely remember you at all and what I do remember is that we hated each other!"

Hermann: ....I never hated you. .. alright, colleagues, then? We've got a rift to build

Newton, still hyperventilating slightly: ok ok yeah sure yeah

Interlude: Jules gets married!

She asks Hermann to walk her down the aisle (where she meets her wife, who walked down the opposite aisle to meet in the middle)

Newton, protesting "I don't know I don't feel like I should be here," is physically dragged into the venue by Liwen, who is telling him that this is a diplomatic event it's his duty to be at.

She drags him over to Hermann and settles between them, soaking in the chaotic gay science panic vibes

She seems to be enjoying herself

Jules sees Hermann in the audience and an evil gleam comes into her eye

She has a strong arm

She hurls her bouquet directly at his face

Hermann ducks, panic granting him lightning quick reflexes

The bouquet, travelling at about Mach 5, zooms past him and hits Jake Pentecost squarely in the nose

He inhales several petals of baby's breath and gets slapped in the eyelid by a vine and goes into a dramatic coughing fit. Nate pounds him on the back.

Alien, speaking through a translating device they've got set up (it isn't perfect but it works on a basic level mostly): is it bad luck to touch the flowers?

Hermann, still slightly panicked from the near miss: no it's ahh, there's this silly tradition that whoever catches the bouquet is likely to get married next, and ah, as you see there, sometimes a bride with a sense of humor will, err, intentionally aim it at someone who, uh, didn't necessarily want it?

Alien: I think I understand. My sibling often tells me to go the southern hills of ^°^=^^°^°^^°°= to find a mate, though I have told them many times that I have no such desire.

Nate and Jake are like "ok neither of us have a date I guess we're drinking our sorrows away together at the reception" and do that

And maybe make out a little bit

Neither of them is ready to deal with Feelings so they both just blame it on the alcohol and try not to think about it too hard

Newton, venting @ someone, explains that there's an empty space in his memory where he knows that that something about Hermann is supposed to go and it doesn't feel like the other, worse memories he's blocked out, it feels like he lost something precious, but he has no idea what that is

Hermann tells Newton he's been working on a device that might block out the Precursors' influence without affecting his memory, so he can use all of his knowledge. And so he isn't constantly so confused about who he does and doesn't know but he doesn't say that part

It connects to his skin a bit like a drift interface

Newton is terrified but enthusiastic about maybe being Less Confused All the Time

The fact that he is guarded by a full security detail to make sure he doesn't Become Evil Again the whole time he's going off his meds really doesn't help the stress much

Memories start coming back but they're confused and jumbled and at first he's not much better off

The Precursor nightmares are about what he expected but he keeps hearing Hermann's voice in there too and he's not sure why and he can't remember when he heard it like that

Meanwhile Hermann keeps needing to drift with the alien to clarify important details about the rift that they don't know how to translate into human terms, but it fucks him up a little bit more each time he does it until the last time he passes out for like at hour and wakes up disoriented with a nosebleed that just won't stop and Jake orders him to stop drifting

He's ok with that because they've got the information they needed anyway!

IT'S TIME, THEY'RE SENDING THE JAEGERS INTO THE RIFT

Newton, despite his misgivings, reluctantly joins Liwen, dr. Gottlieb and the alien in command to supervise the mission, still wearing the device and getting random bursts of confused memory

Jake and Nate are piloting the Lady Avenger (did u know gypsy is a slur and they prefer to be called Romani) and go though first and start punching Precursors and their bodyguard Kaiju

Newton goes very still and just stares at Hermann for like a solid minute while he's trying to work, his expression shifting to something new

Hermann, softly: what?

Newton, smiling: I remember you.

Hermann, furiously trying to interpret alien data: is this really the best time??

It's a close fight across the rift, the Precursors are on their home turf and the Jaegers are not, fighting in a bizarre low-gravity environment that doesn't really have floors

Their base is set up differently than expected and Hermann decides he needs to check something with the alien. By drifting with them. He's still bleeding uncontrollably after the last stunt that got him banned but he's determined to do it because It's Necessary

Newton takes the headset from him and puts it on instead

It feels Bad

But then he sees another planet, beautiful, so different from his own yet so similar. He sees aliens attacked by monsters from the deep, responding more or less how the humans had, moving inland, building useless walls, building their own monsters for defense. He sees the alien diplomat losing friends and family.

He sees the journey to earth, and drifting with Hermann. He sees the alien's memories of Hermann, and Hermann's memories in the drift. He sees how Hermann remembers him. What he forgot. What the Precursors had blinded him to.

He doesn't have time to think about it because he's feverishly trying to translate the knowledge he's receiving into data that works with their human technology so they can help the Jaegers and there's blood dripping from his face onto the controls but it's there, in the back of his mind, he knows now. Hermann missed him.

The Lady Avenger is hit and Jake is knocked unconscious. They begin to drift downwards as Nate, unable to move the Jaeger alone, yells at Jake with no response

Newton disconnects from the drift, nearly blacks out, and has to sit down for a minute. When he comes back around he sees the Jaegers are in trouble--none completely disabled yet, but they need more help

Newton has an idea

Newton: ok I'm gonna do something stupid. *To his security detail* listen I need you to aim your guns at me and shoot if you think I'm out of control

Liwen, with zero hesitation, reacting quicker than anyone else in the room, pulls out a gun and sticks it right in his face

Newton: see, yeah, that's what I was saying, like that. Thanks boss, glad someone here's got guts.

Liwen: not your boss

Newton: I kinda like saying it tho

Liwen: hm. I'll allow it.

Newton: ok. Hermann--uh

Hermann, hearing his name said right this time: it's ok

Newton: :) ok cool I'm going to deactivate the blocking device I need you to turn it back on as soon as I squeeze your hand, can you do that

Hermann: absolutely.

The Precursors are a hive mind. In battle, when pressed, they can force their thoughts outwards, confusing and scrambling the communications of other species while keeping in contact with each other. This is going well and normal until there's an unexpected distortion which resolves into Newton's voice

Yelling WHAT'S UP MOTHERFUCKERS I'M BACK

(epic Tom Morello riff)

Newton can't keep the connection open for more than a few seconds before they start to overwhelm him, Hermann pulls him back. It was enough to confuse the Precursors and give the jaegers an advantage.

During the delay, Jake wakes up. He's disoriented and in pain and so is Nate, still linked to him, but they can move again. They one-hit-k/o the Precursor that was creeping up on them, turn around, and realize they've drifted almost right into the reactor they've been looking for

So they blow it up

Hermann is still holding Newton's hand as everyone else celebrates. He looks at Newton for confirmation, who nods in relief.

"they're gone. Well, those ones are, anyway."

Humans start opening rifts across the galaxy to kick Precursor ass across multiple star systems

(epic Tom Morello riff intensifies)

Humans team up with multiple alien races previously menaced by the Precursors to take out their common enemy. Jaeger tech is combined with alien science, humans and aliens drifting

They figure out how to use a recording of Newton's Precursor-influenced brainwaves as a weapon to confuse them

So basically Newton makes a recording of himself screaming at the Precursors that's weaponized by teams across the galaxy and it's incredibly cathartic

Jake, in a hospital, is woken up by an infuriating snoring noise. Nate is sleeping in a chair by his bed. He's both annoyed and touched. Mostly the latter.

Hermann writes a book in what is now his third language, the alien script precise and beautiful

We see Newton and Hermann getting dressed together for an Important Event, they're both complaining about having to go but seem not to mind too much. Newton ties his tie too loose, like in the good old days. Hermann fixes it for him.

No one died

The free peoples of the galaxy took down the Precursors with no casualties and the power of screaming

#personal (ok to rb) #pacific rim #what to tag as #headcanons #fanfiction #sorta #humor #extended fever dream that wouldn't let me rest #EVERYONE'S GAY AND NO ONE DIED

[chupacabrahhh]

*~{ Garden of Golden Deer }~* a Fire Emblem: Three Houses Part 1 drabble

okayyy this is kinda brazy, I've never written fanfic for a video game before but man fe3h really got my imagination juices goin, and it's all thanks to my wonderful Golden Deers Q v Q

[ set during the aftermath of ch5 when Miklan is defeated & you rescue the Lance of Ruin. I recruited Sylvain the previous chapter and he replaces Lorenz in my house. The professor tells her students a story her father Jeralt once told her long ago. ]

~

It was nearing late afternoon, and the end of the Golden Deer’s lesson for the day. Byleth had everyone practicing combat moves they had drafted earlier, the sounds of weapons clashing ringing throughout the training grounds. The professor herself was locked in special dedication with Sylvain, the Sword of the Creator parried against his newly acquired Lance of Ruin. This was the first time he was allowed a feel for the relic in combat, but his clammy grip and furrowed brow gave insight to inner turmoil unlike Byleth had ever seen on her student’s face, especially when wielding a lance with which he was already very proficient.

“Of course he must still feel some type of way over Miklan. I bet he hasn’t laid a hand on the relic that stole his brother’s humanity since the day it was handed over to him. This must be very difficult for him..” she thought empathetically. Next to Claude, Sylvain was her most cocky and skilled student with their weapon of choice. She had never seen him mishandle a lance or without a confident smile on his face, but in front of her now he kept changing grip position and shifting the weight of the Lance of Ruin away from him, his body language screaming that he still wanted nothing to do with the thing. Byleth wished she could ease her student’s troubles, but she didn’t know what to say to comfort him about wielding this Hero’s Relic when she herself still wasn’t all that acquainted with the Sword of the Creator. And her past experience as a mercenary made her nothing if not numb to the taking and end of life, either around her or by her own hand. Suddenly, a memory from years past flickered back into her consciousness from a time when she was very small and had questioned death for the first time, before it became a daily part of her existence.

“Sylvain, that’s enough for today,” she nodded at him with eyes as kind as she could emote, and sheathed her sword. “Everyone, wrap up your sparring and meet me underneath the oak tree outside of the training grounds.”

She turned her back to the sounds of her students exclaiming victories over the others or getting into teasing squabbles. Byleth grabbed her water canteen on the way out and took a few gulps, knowing she would need the hydration for what she planned next. A part of her felt nervous at the coming prospect but an even greater part was assured in the comfort she hoped to bring her Golden Deer. Taking a seat on a large rock underneath the shade of the great tree, Byleth closed her eyes and tried transporting herself years back in her memories of being a small girl in her father’s arms. She could recall the feeling of his fur coat’s neckline as she gripped it, could smell the crisp air of winter’s final gusts as spring made its grand appearance across the land. At this time the mountains were still capped white but the valleys were turning lush and verdant, and buds of the bravest flowers were starting to stand tall, yet withheld the magnificence of their blooms.

Opening her eyes now, she gazed upon seven colorful and expectant faces all looking up at her with mixed expressions, her own little garden she was tasked with tending. Sigh, but the face of their biggest problem plant- er, child, was not among them.

“Claude, get your golden butt over here and sit down with the others. I haven't dismissed you yet.”

“Augh Teach, I was just a few steps away from making it home free, if only you had stayed in your trance a moment longer,” the house leader lamented teasingly but obediently plopped down in the back of the bunch beside Leonie and the Lance of Ruin, which Sylvain had expectantly distanced farthest from him as he sat towards the front of the bunch.

“Professor, are you going to make us meditate because that’s really not my thing and I already promised to meet someone for tea so,” Hilda piped up next and smiled sweetly as she twirled the ends of her pink hair, hoping to be obliged to leave as well.

“No, Hilda, we are not going to meditate and I promise this won’t be long. I’d like to share a quick little story with you all.”

“A story?” Lyisthea spoke next with a twinge of annoyance coloring her tone, but her doe eyes gave away her true excitement.

“Yes, this is a story my father told me back when I was a young child, and it’s stuck with me ever since. As we continue receiving missions that send us onto the battlefield, you’re all going to have to become very acquainted with death, which still might be a difficult or painful concept for you to grasp, understandably.” The mood had shifted from playful to pensive as she brought up death, and the change had caused that prickle of anxiety to return. Lecturing about battle tactics was something she had been forced to get used to by now, impersonal, automatic and well within her wheelhouse, but storytelling with colorful language and emotional sentiment was definitely leagues outside of her comfort zone. She gulped back the fear quickly and cleared her throat to begin, not wanting the silence to stretch any longer than it had.

“This is a story about what becomes of those who die on the battlefield.” Her opening statement grabbed the attention of all her students, with Leonie leaning in the most, obviously setting her expectations high as she hungrily awaited the words of Jeralt. “It was around the end of the Lone moon and I was small enough to be carried by my father but had already seen the handiwork of what he and his fellow mercenaries were hired to do. The image of bodies lying facedown on the land had been imprinted into my mind, and as we walked among the melting snow and coming flowers, I asked him what would become of those who died fighting? Accomplished nobles had grand sendoffs, and villagers were lovingly prepared by the hands of their families, but what was to become of those violent strangers who met their end in a random battlefield? Without missing a beat, he said…”

Byleth took a moment to appreciate the looks on her deer’s faces, with Sylvain’s amber eyes gleaming the brightest of the bunch.

“They become flowers.”

“Flowers!?” Raphael booming incredulous tone contrasted the professor’s soft spokenness.

“Yes, the fighters become flowers. As their blood and life force seeped out of their bodies and into the land, the great exchange was transmuted by the goddess into the most delicate and lovely creation, flowers. What’s more, he explained, was that the soul of each warrior who had taken life as their means of living would spend their next reincarnation as a flower, to learn the lessons of fragility, powerlessness, and surrender. A brief moment in their soul’s journey back to the goddess where they embody what it means to be defenseless. A child could come running along to pick it, a deer grazing and eat it, or at the end of the year it withers to the natural cycle of the seasons, never once harming another soul in its lifetime. He says that is how balance is restored  and how all warriors learn the lesson of gentleness.” Byleth concluded her storytelling with a breath and leaned back with a tiny amused expression watching the unexpected existential and poetic tale turn over in their minds.

Leonie was the first to speak up. “Pardon me, Professor, but I have trouble believing Captain Jeralt the Blade Breaker came up with a story so… uh, flowery.”

“Very perceptive, Leonie, you do know him well. You’re right that that tale didn’t originate from his thoughts. My mother told it to him. But I can assure you he does believe in its message.” Leonie blushed and huffed embarrassedly at being praised by her one-sided rival but nodded once in acknowledgement.

“So Teach, do you believe in that myth? That you and he and all of us will reincarnate as flowers in the next life?” Of course she was expecting that from Claude, a languid smirk on his face as he awaited her answer with interest.

Byleth pondered her inner self for just a moment then nodded slightly. “Yes, I do.”

“Oh, I knew that to be true, Professor! I always noticed that wherever you walk, you always take care to never step on flowers. It’s something I always admired about you..” Marianne was softly glowing with a rare joy then remembered she was in the company of all her classmates and immediately wiped the smile from her face and looked downwards.

Ignatz spoke next, the stars of inspiration lighting his whole body language. “Professor, thank you for sharing such a moving tale! I believe it must be true, as it aligns with all that I believe the goddess values as well! A-and if I may, Professor, I believe that in your next life, you will be a grand and magnificent tree, just like the one we’re all gathered under.”

“Ignatz, so bold! I’m impressed with you!” Sylvain smiled teasingly and ruffled his peer’s olive bowlcut, causing the boy to blush an even deeper shade than his proclamation had him before. “And I have to say, I agree with you. The Professor has to be a majestic and wise tree,” he said, turning his smile towards her. Byleth noticed most of the darkness had left his amber eyes and his inner light was shining through once again, so even though the storytime was a bit embarrassing and uncomfortable, seeing him embody a bit of his old self again made it all worth it, as much as the wonder in the rest of her Golden Deer’s faces. Yes, she felt herself smile genuinely, they were indeed a vibrant garden of individuals.

#WHEW UM YEAH #STAN GOLDEN DEER #fe3h #fire emblem three houses #fe16 #fe3h fanfic #golden deer #fear the deer #moomoo ramblings #sylvain jose gautier #claude von riegan #Byleth eisner #Leonie pinelli #Ignatz victor #raphael kirsten #lysithea von ordelia #jeralt eisner #marianne von edmund #hilda valentine goneril

[hotbrownmourningpotion]

The Dragon Prince and History

There’s not a lot of historical references in The Dragon Prince, but I am stuck at home and bored so I may as well put my history degree to good use. I studied European history, and my specialty is the Wars of the Roses, so mostly this is from around that era. Some of these are stretches, really big ones; but if nothing else I hope that this encourages you to read more about these fascinating men and women throughout history. And if anyone has other ideas about historical references in this show please let me know, I would love to open a discussion and hear your thoughts.

Harrow - Edward the Fourth

Edward the fourth was King of England from 1461 to 1470 and then again from 1471 to 1483, until his death. Edward’s father was leader of the York faction of the War of The Roses, who tried to depose Henry the Sixth. But his father was killed in battle and Edward took the throne. Now is when the parallels start to come in. Edward enjoyed military success against the Lancasters during the War of the Roses, a feat we see in Harrow as he did take down a dragon and a magma titan. Like Harrow, Edward’s wife had been married before. However when Edward decided to marry the young widow instead of the woman he’d been betrothed to, his allies turned against him. They deposed Edward and Henry the Sixth was briefly returned to the throne until Edward returned with an army and took back his throne. The remainder of his reign was said to be peaceful, but when Edward died a new conflict arose. Edward’s son was twelve years old when he was set to take the throne but the child king was never crowned because of Edward’s brother, Richard the Third.

Harrow could also be based on King Henry the Fifth for his military prowess and untimely death.

Viren - Richard the Third

Richard the Third was king of England from 1483 to 1485. After the death of his older brother, his twelve year old nephew was set to take the throne. Richard, however, deposed his nephew on the grounds of illegitimacy, as Edward had been betrothed to another young woman before he married the widowed Elizabeth. Richard locked his two young nephews in the Tower of London and neither were ever seen again. It is said that Richard killed them but the bodies were never found. While on the throne, Richard personally drowned his older brother and married the widow of Henry the Sixth’s only son (who he killed.) Like Richard, we see Lord Viren as manipulative and conniving, he is smart and knows how to take advantage of a situation so that things go in his favor. Similar to Richard, Viren locks up the heir to the throne in order to take his crown. Of course he didn’t murder anyone to get to his position (that we know of) except for the creatures he’s used for dark magic, but he is a power-hungry narcissist who did conspire to have his son kill both heirs to the throne. Richard is often regarded as one of the most evil Kings in English history, he was defeated by Henry the Seventh, who then married Edward the fourth’s daughter, Elizabeth of York, and the two of them joined the York and Lancaster houses to end the war of the roses and began the reign of the Tudors.

Callum - Henry Tudor

Okay so this is actually for Callum and kinda Rayla. Don’t worry, I have some for Rayla separately but there are a few parallels in their relationship that I can’t ignore. Symbolically, Rayla and Callum remind me of King Henry the Seventh and Elizabeth of York. The War of the Roses had been going on for generations between the Lancasters and the Yorks, and these two joined the houses of Lancaster and York together with their marriage and ended the War of the Roses. After the defeat of Richard the Third, Henry became the first Tudor King and Elizabeth became his consort. But being consort, she didn’t have the same power as her husband, which is where our second couple comes in.

King William the Third and Queen Mary the Second.

I’m gonna leave the War of the Roses behind now and talk about the couple who co-ruled England. Mary was the older daughter of King James the Second and she insisted that her husband rule alongside her, not as her consort but as her equal. I mention this only because even though I don’t think Callum will ever become King, I think that if he hypothetically ever did he would want Rayla to rule alongside him. Just hopefully no one dies of smallpox this time.

Rayla - Æthelflæd 

Before anyone asks no, I am not sure how to pronounce that, so for simplicity sake we’re gonna call her Ethel. A lot of different historical figures come to mind as potential influences for Rayla, Joan of Arc being a pretty obvious one but I feel everyone knows her story so I am going to tell you about an Anglo-Saxon queen who killed a bunch of Vikings. Ethel was born to Alfred the Great, who was known for being great, around the year 870. Usually women were not allowed political roles but Ethel said fuck that and learned how to fight, which was a good thing because her land was being invaded by the Vikings. She fought against the Viking invasion and won because she was strong and intelligent, avenged a bunch of deaths, and was just an all around awesome badass queen. Her crown was passed down to her daughter, who was later overthrown by some particularly awful male relatives. I feel Rayla embodies the spirit of a woman who could outsmart and kill a bunch of Vikings, as we’ve already seen just how smart and badass she is. However as I've said before, a lot of historical figures could also easily fit into Rayla’s character; some of the others include Grace O’Malley, Black Agnes, and some pretty fierce Scottish queens.

Claudia - Lady Jane Grey

The nine days queen was named heir to the throne by her cousin, Edward the Sixth. Edward was the son of the famous Henry the Eighth and his third wife, Jane Seymour, and he feared that his older sister, Mary, would return the country to Catholicism if she took the throne so a plan was drawn up to skip both Mary and Elizabeth and place Jane on the throne. The fifteen year old Jane fainted upon hearing that she’d be queen. This plan was doomed however, as Mary was popular with the people and was already raising an army. After nine days on the throne, Jane was arrested by her own father and Mary beheaded her cousin. Now you might be wondering what this has to do with Claudia. Well like Claudia, Jane had a father who cared more for what his children could give him than he did for their wellbeing. Claudia is also just a teenage girl who wants to make her father proud and doesn’t realize she’s his pawn. That’s not to say she’s naive, she’s smart but she’s scared and will do anything to ensure her family doesn’t fall apart again. In the end, like young Jane, she is fiercely loyal to her father and wants to do right by him. Do I think this means Viren will abandon his daughter the way Jane’s father abandoned her’s? I actually don’t know. I think Viren loves his daughter very much, but he is taking advantage of her love and her loyalty. I also don’t think that Claudia will ever be beheaded (it is a kids show after all) and I don't think she will be queen but there is another parallel as she was heir to a throne for a very short time when Viren crowned himself King.

Amaya - Marguerite de Bressieux 

(and Christina of Sweden, pictured below)

Wanna hear about the awesome lady knight who killed rapists during the Hundred Years War? Of course you do, so allow me to introduce one of the coolest women of the 15th century. Marguerite was a Lady whose castle was captured by the Prince of Orange (not to be confused with the prince of banana) who assaulted her and other ladies of the castle. So she donned knight’s armour, rode into battle and killed her assailants, making sure to remove her helmet as they were dying so they’d know exactly who’d killed them. It was a proud moment but she unfortunately did not survive the battle. Amaya will never die in battle (we will rise up and kill the writers if that happens) but the rest of her story fits pretty well as it is about a woman overcoming hardships and wanting justice. Amaya is just as badass and awesome as a lady knight who leads armies and such. Of course, this isn’t the only historical parallel with Amaya’s character but it is the most badass. Another historical badass woman she could embody is Christina of Sweden, who lived how she wanted, dressing as a man, loving women, and smashing the patriarchy.

Ezran - Queen Elizabeth the First

Okay so obviously Ezran isn’t a girl but just stick with me for a second here. Elizabeth grew up in a time of great political turmoil and wasn’t seen much as a princess as she was seen as a pawn. She was locked in the Tower of London by her sister Mary, who was a devoted Catholic who earned her nickname “Bloody Mary” by burning an estimated 300 Protestants. When Elizabeth came to power she promoted religious tolerance, and today we remember her as one of the greatest monarchs in history. Ezran has the potential to be a great monarch, one that Katolis will remember. By working alongside Elves and Dragons in Xadia, he is promoting a message of equality that the human kingdoms have yet to see. 

As for the rest, I’m not really sure. I mean, lots of really awesome assassins have existed that could be Runaan but none of them really feel right. And Janai, I’m not too sure who her historical counterpart could be, possibly Arawelo (another awesome queen who said fuck the patriarchy) but that might embody her sister more. Sarai could be Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was granted a divorce from her less than favourable first husband and became Queen consort of England but she could also embody aspects of Isabella of France and Cecily Neville. Soren I actually don’t have any ideas. I mean, he could be Richard the Lionheart but I’m not too sure. Ultimately I’m stumped on Soren and Janai.

So there it is, my personal analysis of The Dragon Prince characters and their potential historical counterparts. If anyone has any other theories please share them, I would love to hear other opinions. 

I hope that everyone is having a good day. Stay safe out there friends.

#the dragon prince #the dragon prince season 3 #tdp #tdp season 3 #rayla tdp #callum tdp #claudia tdp #viren tdp #soren tdp #tdp ezran #prince ezran #janaya #amaya the dragon prince #rayllum #claudium #history #tudor history #the wars of the roses #the hundred years war #tdp runaan #tdp ethari #tdp sarai #tdp harrow #the tudors #rayla x callum

[thiswasinevitableid]

You what would be hella? An angsty-ish fic with the ice prompt. Your work is so lovely and well-written, I cant wait to read what ever you next produce!

Thank you so much for that, I’m glad people are excited to read my stuff! Since you didn’t specify a pairing, I went with Sternclay. Angst ahoy (but with a happy ending), along with me playing fast and loose with arctic geography.

He’s one of the lucky ones. 

Joseph Stern, scientist aboard the HMS Erebus, is a fastidious man. He is also, unfortunately, prone to bouts of seasickness meaning his meals have been scant, even before the ships became locked in. 

But it also means he was not eating food tinned in cans laden with lead. And his experimental water system, with which he occupied himself on long days, meant he drank more filtered sea water and ice than he did from the stores tainted with the same blasted material. 

So when he and the remainder of the skeleton crew left the Erebus and her sister the Terror, his mind was much clearer than most. 

And that is why, when the bulk of them turned a direction that likely held only more ice, more death, carrying a writing desk while leading freshwater behind, he refused to follow, insisting their best hope of civilization laid the opposite way. 

They left him and his supplies, unwilling to listen to his case. And so he has walked, then trudged, then barely moved, across the ice.

When he hits water, cursed sea water, he contemplates stepping into it. But drowning would be worse than freezing, or so he’s heard. 

A head surfaces in a hole through the ice. A mans head. 

Stern blinks, confused. Then he laughs.

“Maybe I should take to the sea after all. You look well fed.”

The man frowns, “You look nearly dead.”

“I am.” He sits down, knees hugged to his chest for warmth. 

“I’m, uh, I’m sorry.” The man emerges from the ice, and in place of legs he has a spotted and strong tail, like that of the seals Stern used to watch from his cabin window. 

“Unless you control the weather, I don’t think you need to be.” In any other time, the sight of a legendary creature would send him into a frenzy of delight and curiosity. Now he simply stares. 

“Why are you here?”

“The Northwest Passage.”

“That’s, um, that’s a trade thing, right? Your kind wants to move the things you sell more easily across the waters.”

“You’re well read for a merman.”

“My home isn’t that isolated.” He shrugs.

Stern stares at the water, peeking through cracks in the ice, “So many dead. So many more will die, I’ve no doubt, and all for a quicker route for spices and gold.” He can’t even weep, his body won’t let him use the energy, but he shudders in distress. 

“Hey, hey it’s okay. “ The merman slides to him, cups his cheeks, strokes his beard, and his hands are warm, warm and real, and Stern presses against them, “I mean, it sounds fucking awful, but that, um, that doesn’t sound as comforting.”

“I don’t mind the comfort.” Stern rests his hands on the man’s chest, then his mind gets a moment of true clarity, “wait, your home. You said your home is not that isolated. Is it near?”

“Um, I can reach it in a few hours but” he points to his tail, “that’s the way I can. On foot it’ll take longer. And unless the humans I know have been really wrong about some stuff, I think if you try to swim with me you’ll die, like, right away.”

“I’ve walked lord knows how far. I can manage a little more, if you point the way.”

The merman looks torn, then takes Sterns hands, “I can do one better. I’ll be your guide. If you’re closed off from the water’s edge, look under the ice.”

He slides back the way he came, surfaces a few moments later to Sterns right. So Stern follows him, sometimes no more than shape to his right, other times a ghostly shadow swimming beneath and in front of him. When night falls and Stern manages a paltry fire and shelter with his supplies, Barclay, as the mer calls himself, promises to return at sunrise, and does so without fail for the next two days. 

As he trudges across the icy ground, the best moments are when his path allows Barclay to swim right beside him, head above water so they can converse. It’s worth the effort, the inhaling of cold air, to converse with another being. Better yet, Barclay is bright and friendly, curious about Stern’s research in a way none of his crewmates were. Barclay tells him stories of merfolk and sea monsters, even makes him laugh,  in return for Stern telling him about life in England and his research into undiscovered species. 

“They offered me the chance to study far off lands, discover creatures thought only to be legend. Silly thing to die for.”

“Doesn’t sound like you were the one who got the ships stuck. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to learn about the world.”

Stern’s rations have run out, and when he stumbles, Barclay doubles back, concerned. 

“I, I need, food, I’ll-”

“Wait right here.” Barclay disappears. Stern counts snowflakes, heartbeats, anything to distract from the pain in his belly. 

A fish hits the ice in front of him. Then it flops and wiggles across the slick surface, back into the water.

“Damn it.” He giggles, near hysterical. 

The fish lands again, head now gone. 

“Sorry, forgot humans aren’t great with live prey.” Barclay says sheepishly. 

Stern eats five more fish Barclay brings him, manages to get to his feet and continue on. 

Night falls, colder than the last few, and Barclay disappears with his usual promise to return.

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

“He’s not going to last the night, Barclay.”

Barclay turns, finds his friend Indrid in his human form at the door of his house on Amnesty Island. The seer gives him a sad smile. 

“No. No he can’t. I won’t let him.”

“Barclay-”

“Indrid” Barclay grabs his shoulders, “do you remember when you found Duck? How frightened he was, how he was certain you were death coming for him?”

“Yes.” Indrid says, pain flashing on his face. He’d found the human, left behind by his research expedition. Duck had volunteered to stay behind and freeze, in hopes of his team having enough rations to make the nearest town if they were a man short. Indrid found him, brought him back to Amnesty, cared for him. Fell in love with him and Duck, after a few weeks, returned the sentiment with gusto. 

“I can’t let that happen to Joseph. I can’t, Indrid, please, the last week, I, he’s unlike any guy I’ve ever met. I can’t let him suffer that way.”

Indrid’s face goes blank. Then he gives Barclay an unusually severe stare, “You have very little time, and you must follow my instructions to the letter.”

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

He’s going to die. It’s too cold, his body too weak. He is going to die alone, his family will never know what befell him, and he will never even get the chance to thank Barclay for his kindness, for making his last days bearable, at moments almost enjoyable. 

Lord have mercy on his soul. Let it be painless. 

All for nothing, for trade and money, is this end in the ice. 

Have mercy. 

He can’t see. His heart seems to slow. In the distance, something crunches on the snow. 

Mercy. 

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

“So this is the fella you took my boat and my dogsled for?”

“Yes, Mama, I’m sorry.”

The woman’s voice has a laugh in it, “You always did have a big heart. Guess it was only a matter of time before you brought some hard-luck human in.”

“He’s not just any human.” A warm hand brushes Stern’s hair, “I’ve never felt this way about a human before. A few other mers maybe, when I was younger.”

“Uh, Mama? Indrid says we got a ship comin in soon and we might wanna buy more’n normal.”

Why in the lord’s blessed name is hearing a southern accent?

He tries to ask this question, gets a groan out instead.

“He’s awake!” Barclays’ voice gets closer, and when he manages to open his eyes he finds familiar, deep brown ones looking at him.

“How...where?”

“Amnesty Island. My home.” He supports Stern’s head, helping him drink blessedly clean water.

“That’s...that’s not on any map I’ve seen.”

“And for damn good reason.” A woman with graying hair stands behind Barclay, “only those who need to know can find us, on account of the northern mers wanting some islands that were safe for them. Barclay decided you needed to know.”

“Thank you, Barclay. And thank you Mrs, um?”

“Cobb. But just call me Mama. Now, rest of you get, we need to haul supplies off that boat and Barclay needs some time with his fella.”

When the door of the small cabin closes, Stern reaches out, stroking Barclay’s coppery beard, “Why did you save me?”

“Because you’re a good guy. And, well, I care about you a lot. I like you even more. I couldn’t just leave you to die.”

This time, Stern weeps, with relief and exhaustion and the ghosts of his fear. Shivers even as tears dot his pillow. 

“Shhh, shhhhh it’s okay, I mean it this time. You still cold?”

Stern nods and Barclay tosses another blanket on top of him in bed. When the next wave of tears clear, the larger man is down to long underwear.

“May I?” He points to bed, and Stern weakly lifts the covers. Barclay climbs beneath them, wraps Stern in his arms, body flooding him with warmth and safety. 

“Been wanting to do this since that first day, but mer bodies aren’t great for keeping humans dry and warm. Kinda damp.”

“All-” Stern yawns, “all the same, I would like the chance to explore yours in more detail some day.”

“You got it.” Barclay hesitates, then kisses Stern’s temple, “but right now, time for you to rest. I’ll make you breakfast in the morning. Raw, decapitated fish aside, I’m a damn good cook. Any requests?”

“Eggs. Good lord I’ve missed eggs.”

“Think I can rustle something up. Heh, that tickles.” He chuckles when  Stern rubs his cheek against the exposed patch of dark-haired chest. 

“It won’t for long. I’ll be clean shaven as soon as I can hold a razor without shaking. You think I’m handsome now, just wait til you see me well fed and groomed.”

“Looking forward to it.” A kiss on the cheek, then snowflake-light on his lips, “ goodnight Joseph. You’re safe here, I’ll see to it. And I’ll be here when you wake up, I promise.”

“Just like old times.” Stern says, only half-joking.

Another, tender kiss, “Yep, just like old times.”

#agent stern/barclay #sternclay #angst #hurt/comfort #mermay fills

[the-peachpit]

NO SHIPPING

Wanring: Blood, Very loose interpretation of the dream smp lore lol

Summary:Technoblade Get's To Dream Before Quakity, Before Time Is Altered By Dream. Before Tommy Has A Chance To Return.

Notes:Hi! I'm really nervous to be writing for this group. I tried hard to respect boundaries using a master post on tumblr to double check. if I over stepped anywhere or was wrong in my interpretation let me know.

It wasn’t his fault. The blood on his hands meant nothing cooling and seeping into his fur. Fur. He hadn’t even noticed that he’d transformed back. Was it that easy for him now to lose control?

Stumbling his way into his home inviting the snow on his heels Technoblade let the door shut enveloping the room in darkness, not even the moon was out tonight. Limping like the beast he was Techno lit a torch on the wall with shaky hands. He caught a glimpse of himself in the small hall mirror the deep cut in his snout darkening his pink fur grungy and matting. It’d been so long since he’d returned to his true piglin form. He wasn’t a beast; he was a man. He lived like a man; he grew up among great men. His father was the best man he knew, and his brothers- men of action and determination. Skirting a fine line into madness over their pride, maybe his brothers were beasts, and maybe he played a part as the eldest. Hearing voices, unable to control his shapeshifting, giving into the voices and pushing Wilbur a little too hard outside. Maybe he had been the plague, but he changed. God he had changed. Refining himself in the image of those around him wanting nothing more than peace among the outskirts and land of his own to farm.

Now he stood covered in blood that wasn’t just his huffing his snout fogging the glass. Where did he go wrong? Was it demeaning his brothers dreams? To be leaders, Wilbur was always meant for something great, and even Philza could see it fostering his natural leader instinct. Sometimes it felt like Wilbur was the eldest. The way he would stir up Tommy for a laugh, but always taught the boy to be patient and gentle. How he took care of Technoblade when the voices demanded blood and his hand twitched over his sword. The way Wilbur had found techno doubled over in the closet scratching at the wooden floor with claws piercing long marks. At that point Techno had been in his human form for a while but was losing control that night with Philza out of town. Techno was supposed to protect his brothers. Instead, he chucked his sword to the corner so he wouldn’t be the one to end their lives as his piglin form emerged. Wilbur was slow, but fearless as he spoke softly placing a hand over Techno’s. it was the warmest he’d ever felt. Wilbur told Techno he trusted him, that his brother could never hurt him piglin or not. Wilbur promised to always be louder than the voices. How fast L’manburg had risen and fallen. Techno almost couldn’t believe it when he heard the news. Wilbur had been exiled from all he loved. Instead of coming home Techno found Wilbur and Tommy looking battered and defeated in a cave. Techno’s heart broke seeing them look so dull he offered to help. When he handed Wilbur his first sword techno ignored the flame he saw, the glint in his brother’s eye. He should have said something, instead he led his brothers charge into battle sealing their fates unknowingly.

When Wilbur died Techno felt like his own life had been taken from him. He watched his brother die at the hands of his father and there was no good in the world anymore, nothing mattered. He wanted to scream, but instead scowled hiding himself away. Until his youngest brother betrayed him. Voices seared his brain and Techno knew releasing those withers was a bad idea, but he was so angry. Betrayed by the boy with wheat colored hair who shot for the stars letting nothing stand in his way. The boy who followed his older brother anywhere even into madness. Techno felt like he had no family after that. When he got home from that battle as L’manburg burned he felt the sting of it all. The blood on his hands was almost Tommy’s.

Techno smashed the mirror forcing himself to transform, to see the human hand covered in blood. He was a person. With little strength left he popped back to a pink furry beast. He continued to light his small home trudging to the bathroom. His clothes were torn in spots partially from the transformation. Forcing himself to turn again he saw the damage to his human complexion, the dark bags under his eyes, the scar on his snout ran from the right underside of his cheek to under his left eye. A trophy of sorts.

Techno cleaned his wounds slowly, deliberately, letting himself feel the sting of antiseptic. He deserved it- to hurt like they hurt. Changing his clothes and moving to the living room techno lit his fireplace when the vase in the corner of the room caught his eye. It was filled with various flowers from Ranboo who would generously give them away when Techno would visit Tubbo mostly to see Tommy. Techno never understood why Tommy had forgiven Tubbo for anything, and so easily at that. Techno had gotten revenge on Tubbo watching blood seep from his face by his own hands and still wasn’t satisfied by the punishment. In fact, Tommy was ruining it, because when Techno saw Tommy make Tubbo smile moving the burn scars on his face Techno felt weird. Remorse? Tommy was a spitfire who never thought anything through including befriending the enemy. Techno wondered if in the end he was an enemy? The thought squeezed his heart like a vice.

Techno looked at the chair in the middle of the room, he’d wanted to read a book and call it a night, his bones ached, and his head throbbed. Was he getting too old for this? Fighting everyone, why was he stilled pulled into this? He asked to be left alone, it’s all he wanted.

Huffing he knew he couldn’t just sit there. Opening the front door, he grabbed his coat before walking towards the stables stomping through the snow to his polar bear. It would make the trip faster, and Tubbo enjoyed seeing his pet. It would make things, easier.

Ridding through the dark with just the gentle glow of the stars to guide him Techno let the blistering cold nip at his face. To perk him up or make him feel alive he wasn’t sure. He rode through the frozen tundra watching the snow melt to warmer climates. It was spring where Tubbo lived a new life. He never locked himself away. Knocking on the door Techno waited unsure what he could even say when he saw the charred face of the small ram boy.

“Do you have any god damn idea what time it,” Tubbo’s curses slowed as he rubbed his eyes taking in the sight of his former foe.

“I’m not sure time’s been a blur tonight,” Techno shrugged.

“Why are you here?”

Techno could practically hear Tubbo’s teeth grinding.

“I just want to talk about,” Techno sighed, “Tommy.”

“Leave,” Tubbo’s normally cheerful voice sent shivers through Techno’s spine.

“I will just,” Techno stood straighter saving face his 7-foot frame usually kept him brave.

“Leave!” Tubbo shouted, “Tommy’s dead! I had his funeral and, where were you? Couldn’t be bothered to show up! Did you even know?”

Techno felt it the crack in his heart, he knew Tommy was dead. He was probably one of the last to hear in passing from Ranboo before being left on his own in his self-made snowy dungeon. His hell he personally crafted. He didn’t sulk at first, it sunk in over a glass of whisky, his youngest brother had been beaten to death in a prison he was never meant to be in. The brother he had cleaned scrapes for and applied bandages. The brother he taught how to fight and had dinner with hearing his plans for his future. Tommy, the boy with wheat colored hair who shone like the sun. It wasn’t fair. His light was snuffed out in a cold dark place at the hand of his tormentor from day one. Beaten to death. Techno couldn’t get over it. He smashed his glass and knocked his bookcases to the ground. Beaten to death! Brutal, soulless, painful. God Tommy was probably in so much pain. Pain Techno couldn’t protect him from or make better. He died alone.

“I killed him,” Techno’s voice was a whisper that stung.

“What?” Tubbi stuttered.

“I killed Dream,” Techno looked at his hands he could still see the blood.

“I don’t,” Tubbo stepped forward driven by curiosity.

“I went to the prison,” Techno shouted, “I kicked the crap out of Sam, and I killed Dream!” He ran his hand frantically through his messy pink hair, “I was just going to talk to him, but I saw Tommy’s body, and I had my axe.”

Tommy’s eyes were milky a far cry from his curious blue gaze. His face was bruised and bloodied. He looked so cold not even the lava could warm him. Dream just sat there welcoming Techno assuming he was a break out party. The voices screamed demanding blood, and Techno obliged happily. With a fierce swing Techno planted his axe between Dreams ribs.

“He laughed,” Techno smiled, “The damn bastard cackled as I slaughtered him. All he did was scratch me once as I lost control and mauled him.”

“Kinda looks like he scratched you pretty good,” Tubbo observed the large scar.

“Heh,” Techno laughed, “I guess.”

“Did you come all the way here just to tell me this?” Tubbo leaned against the door frame.

“I want to know if you’ve seen Philza,” Techno asked, “I brought back Tommy’s body, it’s in the snow at my place. I want to bury him properly. Him and Wilbur. I’m not sure if Philza knows about Tommy yet, and I should be the one to tell him.”

Philza hadn’t talked about Wilbur either since the tragedy. Techno wanted to walk about that too.

Tubbo nodded, “Let me talk to Ranboo, I’ll be back out.”

The plan was set in motion. Tubbo accompanied Techno back to his house refusing to look at Tommy’s corpse and Techno couldn’t blame Tubbo. They rode for a day and a half returning to the small cabin Techno remembered growing up in. He could hear the laughter of Tommy and Wilbur echo on the breeze that rustled the trees. He saw Philza standing on the deck looking down at them. When did he get so old? He looked so tired. He knew.

No words were exchanged as Techno dismounted his polar bear and Philza descended the stairs. Techno tried his best to make the words come to him. He was told he always had a way with words. Before he could open his mouth, strong arms embraced him. They were warm and comforting. They felt like support. Slowly Techno raised his arms grabbing onto Philza’s shirt hands balled into firsts. When was the last time they were this close?

Tommy and Wilbur were buried in the back of the house under the tree Tommy had fallen out of breaking his arm. Under the tree Wilbur wrote songs on lazy afternoons. Under the tree Techno taught his brothers how to wield a sword and be strong. The tree they grew under.

“Welcome home Theseus.”

#dream smp fanfiction #fanfiction #ao3 fanfic #fan creation #dream smp

[badass-at-fandoming]

OTP Meme

Grabbed from @robotslenderman. Thank you! I liked learning about Arturo and Olivia. :D

I felt like a little pick-me-up so I decided to do this. Thank you @brightstorm98 for suggesting Beckett and Sergio.

Beckett is Beckett. Sergio is my original Malkavian ghoul character. You can read about them in my fanfic series, A Kinder Universe. Sergio first briefly appears in “Bad Idea” is the star of “First Date,” and pops up again in “Bonpensiero Bloodline Remix.”

Quick n’ dirty: Sergio is a former Prince of Sicilian Mafia, who faked their death and became an Los Angeles fashion designer and ghoul to a Malkavian. Sergio uses he/they pronouns.

DISAGREEMENTS.

Who is more likely to raise their voice?

Sergio. I kinda picture them as Dante’s Inferno with their temper. They run very hot, but their truest, purest anger is ice cold. That’s when bodies start dropping.

Who threatens to leave but never actually does?

I think it’s probably about even. It’s more of a “Maybe I should leave you be” sort of vibe. Both of them can recognize when it’s time to take a step back and cool off. Sergio would still let loose a couple invectives before leaving. Beckett more bottles it all up.

Who actually keeps their word and leaves?

Unless it’s a case of “I’m going to do a suicide mission so you don’t have to,” neither would actually leave the relationship. But they’re both independent spirits in a loose polycule, so there are periods where they’re not together. Sometimes Sergio doesn’t want to go places. For example, Liberteria is awesome, but it’s a chock full of blood-hungry, stinky Brujah, so Sergio would rather stay in Casablanca and party. Sometimes Sergio wants to focus on a different relationship, such as them and Cesare. Sometimes the projects one of them embarks on are of an extremely personal nature, so space is granted. Example: Sergio has no clue that Beckett is paying off that Giovanni scumbag to not hurt Emma’s ghost. Only Anatole has one inkling about that.

Who trashes the house?

Sergio. Listen! The mess is part of the creative process! They’re designing the next big sensation in fashion! It will be the talk of Paris! Please don’t touch the fucking scissors; they’re the only decent sharp ones. I KNOW they’re in a slipper, but that is the only place for them.

though lol @ beckett having a house aldkfjalkjgl

Do either of them get physical?

I assume this means during an argument? Sergio has a bad(?) habit of kissing Beckett to prove a point, or encourage him to agree.

How often do they argue/disagree?

I feel I’m being terribly boring here. A normal couple amount?? They’re both adults. They hash things out. A hot button topic would be safety. On a dare, Sergio will rush in where angels fear to tread. Beckett disapproves when Sergio breaks into places without telling him beforehand. But it was easy as pie! They turned invisible, picked the locks, decapitated some patriarchs, and whallah, they have the artifact he wanted! Stop looking at them like that, you know we will be out of the country before those wraiths can snitch. Also: I took their fetters.

Another hot button would be their mutual stubbornness. Sergio will insist they have the best idea. Beckett will think he’s right. They butt heads, and Sergio’s not above playing dirty, which is a whole other problem.

Beckett would land in hot water with Sergio if he kept his heart closed off. Sergio is all about openness and feeling one’s feelings.

Who is the first to apologize?

Sergio. They are like EMOTIONS. Beckett is like “My plan is I will keep all my emotions locked in my chest, and, eventually, I’ll die.” Sergio is overt. Beckett is covert.

SEX.

Sergio is Beckett’s dom. Beckett goes to them when he wants to surrender.

Who is on top? Who is on bottom?

Beckett canonically says Bottom Rights

Any kinks?

Dom/submissive. Bondage. Leather. Bloodplay. Orgasm delay/denial. Nipple clamps.

You know when cats get overstimulated and they just lay there with their paws in the air? That’s Beckett after a session with Sergio.

Who has the strangest desires?

.It’s pretty strange that a Kindred of Beckett’s age is into sex at all, but it’s my AU and I do what I want. In my world, he’s a touch starved disaster.

Who’s dominant in bed?

Sergio. They’re the dom, and it’s a reward to touch them.

Sergio is a stone bisexual, which means they don’t like to be penetrated or have their genitals touched at all. I did this partly because I’m wary of writing a scene that depicts Sergio’s junk. An enby reader who identifies with Sergio might read that they have ABC, and the presence of ABC might trigger gender dysphoria. I want those readers to keep however they picture Sergio in their head. Overall, I also don’t like the cis reader tendency to await for an enby character’s genital reveal, in order to figure out “what they are really.” As if genitals had anything to do with gender.

I created Sergio because a)there needs to be more enby characters in Vampire and b)I need practice writing enby characters. I’m not nonbinary so I KNOW I’m going to mess something up. Nature of the game. There are plenty of strategies for writing sex with a nonbinary partner, but I’m not confident in my ability to do so as of yet. So, for the moment, Sergio keeps their pants on and orders Beckett around.

Is head ever in the equation?

Yes! Sergio will lick Beckett like a lollipop.

If so, who is better at performing it?

Sergio, haha. They spent a long chunk of their life living loose and fast in Hollywood.

Ever had sex in public?

HA! Yes.

Who moans the most?

Beckett, and Sergio loves to tease those noises out.

Who leaves the most marks?

Beckett. He’s delighted that he CAN leave marks on Sergio. His other lovers are Kindred, and they heal too quickly to leave a fantastic hickey.

Who is the more experienced of the two?

Depends on how one defines experience. Beckett has had more lovers. Sergio has notably better technique.

Do they ‘fuck’ or ‘make love’?

They and other characters refer to them as “sessions.”

How long do they usually last?

Hmm...probably depends on what they’re doing. I think it would average out to about an hour? Maybe two hours? Four hours at the longest. 10 minutes at shortest.

Rough or soft?

[Lady Gaga’s “I Like It Rough” starts playing in the background]

Is protection used?

Now that I think about it...that’s probably a good idea. They don’t have to worry about pregnancy, but STIs are a pain. The AIDS crisis is freaking dicey and utterly terrifying.

Does it ever get boring?

No. It becomes familiar. Comforting and warm. As easy to slip into as a daydream.

Where is the strangest place they’d have sex?

I haven’t written any strange places yet. Making out in an open alley during the 1940s was certainly dangerous. End of the world or no.

FAMILY.

Do they plan on having children/or have children?

Nope. Sergio isn’t interested in acquiring children, and Beckett wrote off having children long ago. Sergio is happy to be the immortal cousin to the Garcia family. The Garcia’s are a human family their regnant, Cassandra, takes care of.

Sergio knows how to care for a child, in the casual way one acquires when living under the same roof as one. To Beckett, children are more foreign, and he’s extremely worried that he’ll accidentally hurt them. That being said, put a baby in his hands and, after the initial nerves pass, he absolutely melts.

If so, how many children do they want/have?

n/a

AFFECTION.

Who likes to cuddle?

Both! I’m a sucker for cuddlebug characters.

Who gets naughty in the most inappropriate of places?

Sergio. They initiate a lot of the casual affection.

Who struggles to keep their hands to themselves?

Once he gets going, Beckett.

How long can they cuddle until one becomes uncomfortable?

Depends. Sergio is human, so there’s varying tolerance for how cold Beckett is. Sergio is the one who gets uncomfortable though.

What is their favourite non-sexual activity?

murder Going on Noddist adventures!

Where is their favourite place to cuddle?

Bed. Do you know how cozy bed is

SLEEPING.

Who snores?

Sergio, as the one who has to breathe.

If both do, who snores the loudest?

Sergio.

Do they share a bed or sleep separately?

Depends. They like snoozing together, but they’re not always in the same place.

If they sleep together, do they cozy up together or lay far apart?

They’ll cozy up temporarily, but the need to get into an actual comfortable position for sleep will pull them apart.

What do they wear to bed?

Nightgowns. Both of them grew up wearing those to sleep.

Are either of them insomniacs?

Beckett has a God-ordained sleep schedule, so moon’s out, Beckett’s out. Sergio is variable. They have depression, so sometimes they’re asleep like 12 to 16 hours a day. Other times, when their brain is providing the serotonin, Sergio will push themself to stay up at all hours. During “First Date,” Sergio is awake all day doing work and stays up all night to smooch Beckett.

Can sleeping pills be found by the bedside?

Beckett has picked Sergio up, laid them on the bed, and squished them until they fell asleep. That’s all the help to snooze Sergio needs.

Do they wrap their limbs around each other or just lay side by side?

Like I said above, they’ll wrap around each other for a bit, but eventually straighten out and just lay beside each other.

Who wakes up with bed hair?

Both! Beckett more.

Who wakes up first?

Sergio, most like. Being an Elder, Beckett usually wakes up an hour or two after sunset.

Who prepares breakfast in bed for the other?

If he’s feeling especially mother hen-ish, Beckett will bring Sergio breakfast in bed. Whenever Sergio is in bed, there’s breakfast for Beckett.

What is their favourite sleeping position?

Sergio likes to snuggle up to Beckett. When Beckett needs a lot of reassurance, he may put his head on Sergio’s chest to listen to the sounds of their living body.

Do they set an alarm each night?

Sergio will set alarms to rouse themself at the appropriate The Vampires Are Up(TM) time

Who has nightmares?

Both, though rarely.

Can a television be found in their bedroom?

Life with Beckett is a life on the road. Motels will have TVs so yes. In Sergio’s bedroom in LA or Beckett’s airplane? No.

Who has ridiculous dreams?

Beckett. He has the more bizarre connection to the Cobweb.

Who sprawls out and takes up most of the bed?

Neither of them are bed hogs, but I guess Beckett? He’s bigger.

Who makes the bed?

They each make their own sides of the bed.

What time is bed time?

Dawn.

Any routines/rituals before bed?

Cuddles!

Who’s the grumpiest when they wake up?

Sergio can be grumpy or frustrated, but that’s not as much as an Emergency Alert if Beckett wakes with a hungry Beast.

WORK.

Who is the busiest?

Beckett, as he has a never-ending trot across the globe.

Who rakes in the highest income?

Sergio. By virtue of them actually having a steady trust fund and investment portfolio, plus any clothes they design and sell under a false name.

Beckett is like #FreelancerLife and leaves notes on museum doorsteps asking if they want this 400 year old piece of pottery and the curators are like sir what the fuck

Are any of them unemployed?

Nope

Who takes the most sick days?

Sergio, by virtue of ability to get seriously ill and more prone to injury. Beckett can only suffer from the Withering.

What are their jobs?

Beckett is a Noddist scholar, anthropologist, and archeologist. Sergio is fashion designer.

Who sucks up to their boss?

I guess the closest thing either has to a boss is Cassandra, as Sergio’s regnant. They will flatter her to the stars and back.

Who is more likely to turn up late to work?

They’re both likely to be delayed by complications. Complications such as assassins, traffic, angry Kindred officials, mascara not cooperating etc etc.

Who stresses the most?

Beckett. He worries a lot.

Do they enjoy or despise their careers/occupations?

They’re both in love with what they do.

Are they financially stable?

This is fantasy fiction so of course they are. I have enough money troubles irl.

HOME.

Who does the washing?

Most of the places they live (like motels) have a dedicated maid service, so it would be a mix of Sergio, Beckett, and the professionals.

Who takes out the trash?

Ditto to above.

Who does the ironing?

Sergio! They find it soothing.

Who does the cooking?

Also Sergio! Beckett is fascinated and regrets that he didn’t have the chance to eat Italian food while he was alive.

Who is more likely to burn the house down just trying?

BECKETT NO

Who is messier?

Like a messier eater? Beckett, because blood stains are pain. He is very neat, but when he does fuck up, ugh.

Who leaves the toilet roll empty?

No one, what the heck

Who leaves their dirty clothes on the floor?

Both of them. Sergio is fussy with clothes when they’re wearing them, but is more lack when it comes to taking clothes off. Ideally, the outfit lands in the hamper, but sometimes one is too tired or preoccupied with kissing.

Who forgets to flush the toilet?

Dude, what, no.

Who loses the car keys when it comes time to go somewhere?

Beckett: Sergio, my dear...why is the car making a horrendous beeping noise.

Sergio: My God, that is awful--oh, I see, it thinks you have stolen it.

Beckett: wha--the car is mine!

Sergio: And this is what happens when you break into your own car

Who answers the telephone?

Both of them have their own cell phones. They could pick up a call for the other if the other is preoccupied, but it depends on what the caller ID says.

Who mows the lawn?

Neither of them knows how.

Who does the vacuuming?

Ditto for the other cleaning questions. Sergio vacuums more than Beckett because vacuums hurt my ears and I don’t even have super senses.

Who does the groceries?

Sergio, because they eat. If Sergio asks and gives Beckett a list, Beckett will go.

Who takes the longest to shower?

Beckett. He likes to stand in the warmth and soak.

Who spends the most time in the bathroom?

Sergio because makeup is awesome.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Is money a problem?

Nope.

How many cars do they own?

Neither of them own cars. They rent ones when they travel. Beckett has a jet.

What’s their song?

I haven’t found one yet. “I Like It Rough” by Lady Gaga is my best guess.

I do have a Beckett playlist here and I associate Sergio with “Que Sera, Sera” by Doris Day, “Crying Lightening” by the Arctic Monkeys, “Gangster’s Paradise” cover by Postmodern Jukebox, and the “Careless Whisper” cover by Postmodern Jukebox.

Do they live in the city or in the country?

They globe-trot, but Sergio’s “home base” is in LA.

Do they own their home or do they rent?

Hotel and motel bills oh no! Or they rough it.

Do they enjoy their surroundings?

Yes! Sergio and Beckett love traveling.

What do they do when they’re away from each other?

When Beckett is off adventuring with someone else, Sergio follows their other passions. They design new outfits, romance their other partners, adore their fish, try new beers, help Zelde build her inventions, and generally lives their life.

Where did they first meet?

LA. Read it here, but again it’s more a cameo.

Who spends the most money when out shopping?

LOL Sergio.

Who’s more likely to flash their assets?

Sergio is more likely to flash their cash to get what they want. Or flash Beckett’s prestige FOR Beckett. “Do you know who this is? This is the Beckett, scholar and the smartest man you will ever meet. He has thought more thoughts than you have in your entire pathetic life. So why don’t you run along to your little Elysium and tell your Keeper to let us in.”

Any mental issues?

As a Malkavian ghoul, Sergio has a lighter version of the Clan bane. They have depression. It’s the type where one has periods of low moods.

Who finds it amusing when the other trips over?

It’s hilarious when Beckett trips.

Who’s terrified of bugs?

No, haha.

Who kills the spiders around the house?

Neither mind the spiders. Sergio would kill a spider in a silly, dramatic fashion to make Beckett laugh.

Do they have any fears for their future?

Oh yeah. Beckett’s fears are more the personal, about the future of those around him. Besides the obvious of their regnant dying, Sergio worries are broader, about USA and global politics, cultural changes, justice etc.

Their favourite place?

No place is better than a lover’s arms.

Who’s more likely to surprise the other with a fancy dinner?

Sergio will surprise Beckett by spiking their blood with something interesting. Like, they will tell him before he drinks, but Beckett didn’t plan on experimenting with acid.

Who pays the bills?

Beckett tries to, but Sergio is more likely to pay things off.

Who’s the tallest?

They’re the same height.

Who’s more likely to just randomly hop into the shower with the other?

No, they’d ask permission first.

Who wanders around in their underwear?

Sergio, haha. Beckett automatically gets dressed every night.

Who sings the loudest when singing along to the radio?

Neither of them are real singers, but Sergio is more likely to be caught humming.

What do they tease each other about?

Beckett will tease Sergio about their recklessness and cosmopolitan ways. Sergio will tease Beckett about his fashion sense and disaster bi ways.

Who is more likely to cringe at the other’s fashion sense at times?

Sergio spends a lot of their first date roasting Beckett’s outfit.

Who crushed first?

Sergio. It’s subtle, but Beckett has to slowly remind himself that ghouls are people over the course of “Bad Idea” and “First Date.” It’s like a compassion muscle that he has to limber up.

Any alcohol or substance-related problems?

Sergio is addicted to vampire blood. Cassandra’s specifically.

Who is more likely to stumble home, drunk, at 3am?

Hahahaha, probably Sergio? They get drunk WAY easier. If Sergio and Beckett are hanging out, Sergio will likely give Beckett a sip, which means Beckett will be drunk too.

Who swears the most?

We’re beginning and ending this with Sergio swearing, hahaha,

#text post #vtm #cuthbert beckett #original characters #sergio tessaro #tumblr life #otp meme

[nelvana]

In which the tower of time is explored

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which the god of time is met Previous: In which the land between time is explored

    “They’re expecting us…?” Alex repeated, his brows creasing at Ceebee’s comment.

    “I didn’t do anything to activate this. It had to be someone else, and based on how we’ve gotten this far, it was probably manually activated,” Ceebee explained quietly, “right?”

    Giratina, speaking from the rock still being held by Edgar even after all this time, let out a hum of confirmation, but did not divulge into the subject further.

    Alex sighed, “I suppose that I shouldn’t be too surprised. Even if our arrival didn’t come in some sort of time vision, Dialga must know by now that if anyone was going to step up to handle this, it would be us.”

    Dusknoir sat up, “they may have been expecting my… return here, as well,” he added.

    Frowning, Alex turned away, staring out into the now clouded horizon. His gaze followed some of the floating islands as they slowly moved like on a fixed axis around the Temporal Tower. The Rainbow Stoneship continued its journey at a steady pace, navigating around any stones in its path as if it had always been a natural part of its path.

    Dusknoir slouched slightly as the conversation died at his words, idly tracing the markings on their cruise. A few eyes continued to watch each other, but soon everyone had glanced off to either watch their surroundings or their ride.

    Carefully padding towards the edge of the Rainbow Stoneship, Nelvana crouched at the back of the platform, studying the rainbow trailing behind it with wide eyes. The glow of the colors bothered her eyes slightly, but at the same time she never wished to look away. Hesitantly, she reached a hand down, waggling her fingers through the arc. It didn’t feel like anything, and unlike natural light, it did not bend around her hand, giving the fur no illusion of extra color. Regardless, the act of touching a rainbow at all brought a smile to her face, and she only moved her hand back to sit on her lap due to her concern for safety.

    “Now this is really cool,” Damien gasped.

    Nelvana glanced up at the gengar, only mildly surprised by how silently he had wandered up beside her. He leaned down to poke the rainbow as well, but leaned back much sooner than Nelvana had, sitting down and leaning back with his hands palm down behind him for support.

    “Well, I can knock ‘touching a rainbow’ off the bucket list,” he joked.

    “Touching a rainbow was on your bucket list?” Nelvana chuckled, smirking back at him.

    “Not really, unless you ask, like, maybe eight-year-old me,” Damien responded, “I’m more surprised that you know what a bucket list is,” he commented.

    “Oh, yeah, bucket lists were kinda common, for humans at least,” Nelvana replied, wrapping her arms around her knees to pull them up to her chest and rest her chin onto. “I can’t remember if I ever had one. I guess the knowledge that I would either succeed my one goal and disappear, or die trying, kind of discourages the idea.”

    “Or encourages it,” Damien pointed out, though the casualness at how Nelvana spoke of such a dark fact got him the frown momentarily. “I never really had one either. Maybe we should all work on one when we get back. It’ll keep us occupied, at least.”

    Nelvana snorted, “add it to the ‘we’ll do it when we get back list’.”

    Shuffling up in between the pair, Keahi ruffled up zir feathers and leaned up against zir partner, smiling and looking out at the rainbow trail behind them as well.

    “I can see why Alex was pretty excited for this. This looks amazing!” Keahi commented.

    “It really does,” Nelvana agreed, and then paused. “Has he or Ceebee come back over to get a look at this?”

    “Dunno about Ceebee, but Alex is still busy brooding over there.” Damien leaned his head back to peer at the grovyle sitting on the other end of the platform. “Here, you two can keep sitting here together, I’ll go check up on those two. Maybe see how Edgar’s holding up afterwards… seemed a bit shaken up by some of those monster houses.”

    “Oh yeah, I asked Edgar about that, but he said he was fine… maybe you’ll get some better comfort out of him, he’s always been pretty close to you,” Keahi responded, “thanks Damien!”

    Nodding a farewell to the pair, Damien stood up and walked off towards Alex. Both Nelvana and Keahi watched him head over to the grovyle, but then turned back to watch the colorful trail being left behind their ride. Keahi snuggled closer to zir partner, who shifted her position so she could wrap an arm around the torchic.

    “Is it just like you thought it’d be?” Keahi asked, turning to look up at Nelvana. “Just the Rainbow Stoneship and all, I mean,” zie added, before sighing. “Wow, it’s been a long day. Can’t see where the sun is from here though, wonder what time it is.”

    “This area must be locked into daytime. I have no idea what time it really is anymore,” Nelvana responded, “but… yeah, kinda how I imagined it. Kind of different. I guess the people here and the circumstances really make the difference though. I don’t think the Rainbow Stoneship itself has really changed.”

    Keahi let out a hum, “that’s true,” zie agreed, closing zir eyes as zie leaned zir head to fit in the crook of Nelvana’s neck.

    “Am I interrupting something?” Alex joked, going to sit beside the two without waiting for an answer.

    Keahi flinched in surprise, lifting back up zir head, but not making an effort to move away from Nelvana otherwise. Nelvana blinked over at the grovyle, before chuckling and shaking her head, not moving much either.

    “Nah, we were just talking about the Rainbow Stoneship here,” Nelvana told him.

    “Hm, yeah… quite the view, huh?” Alex replied, “Damien insisted that I should come back here to look at the rainbow, and he was definitely right that moving back over here would be worth it. I had only been waiting to see if anyone else would rather get situated here first; I’ve already seen this,” he explained.

    “Yeah, I mean, may be yo- our second time, but who knows when we’ll get the chance to look at this again?” Nelvana responded.

    “At least this ride is pretty long, so we can take it all in,” Keahi added, “makes for a nice break too. I was just saying to Nel, that it must be getting pretty late now.”

    Alex turned back to glance over at Temporal Tower, steadily growing closer, “I was hoping we could make it through the tower before resting; we don’t really want to hang around at the base of that thing.”

    “Do you think it will be any better at the top?” Nelvana asked.

    “Had better be. A good night’s rest is the least we deserve once we get all the way up to Dialga,” Alex sighed.

    The trip lasted at least ten minutes, the Rainbow Stoneship not being the fastest method of travel, but finally they had arrived at the base of Temporal Tower. They stopped by another rocky island, the cliff of such a platform rough and jagged. Though this base seemed small, the structure built on it stood tall into the swirling clouds above them all. The outside walls were deep blue, with a lighter metal forming patterns around the tower, likely adding extra support to such a massive building. Their only entrance to Temporal Tower were huge, double doors right ahead of where they landed.

    Silent from the awe of such a building, the group one by one carefully stepped off the Rainbow Stoneship, which depowered once they had all gotten off, remaining in place beside the rocks in case of their return.

    “Woah… so this is Temporal Tower,” Keahi murmured, “this feels… different than looking up Sky Tower, in a way. I can’t quite explain it.”

    “This is an actual dungeon?” Edgar suggested.

    Keahi laughed, “maybe.”

    “That, and this certainly has… a much more powerful aura to it,” Tsuki added, “Sky Tower may have been Rayquaza’s home, but Temporal Tower is an extension of Dialga’s power. You can feel it.”

    “Yeah… that’s probably it,” Keahi murmured.

    Sizing up the next step in their quest, the group fell into another comfortable silence. Keahi turned away from studying the tower though to look over zir teammates, and extra allies. Despite the turmoils of the day, no one appeared tired enough to have to call it quits yet. Zie couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief; zie didn’t want anyone getting too exhausted to complete this next dungeon mid-war, including zirself.

    “Same number of floors, same safe floor spot, and same dangers as Hidden Land,” Alex stated, crossing his arms as he stared up the tower. “Big difference is that here, the main type is psychic, with some steel, poison, and ghost pokemon lingering here and there as well.”

    “Mainly psychic pokemon? Good thing we have three ghost-types here!” Keahi commented.

    “With two of us as mainly support,” Damien pointed out.

    “You were doing really well with your thunderbolt attack! You can give yourself a bit more credit,” Keahi insisted.

    “Still… we should be back to the usual dungeon pace. Plenty of different pokemon, not all fully evolved,” Alex continued, “doesn’t mean that this will be easy though.”

    “Will this all be similar as to when you were last here, though?” Tsuki questioned, “Temporal Tower was broken when you had travelled through here; now it is fully functioning.”

    “Giratina? Do you know?” Edgar asked, shaking the rock slightly in his grasp.

    “What Temporal Tower is like typically… unfortunately, my experience out here specifically is not much. What Alex has been saying so far has been correct, and stays… fairly the same between the two timelines. You may find less variation of pokemon here, as less have attempted to enter but got trapped in this timeline than the other, but that should be the largest change,” Giratina responded, “if anything is this world manages to stay strong throughout destruction… it’s mystery dungeons.”

    “How mysterious,” Damien joked.

    Alex sighed, shaking his head, “well, no sense in dilly-dallying; we’re almost to Dialga now.”

    Small nods of agreement. Taking a couple steps towards Temporal Tower automatically summoned the doors to open wide in front of them. Despite any mild surprise, they were forced to simply chalk it up to Dialga expecting them, like Ceebee had said before. Now without any troubles due to habitude from doing this a couple times before, the group formed their line, and entered Temporal Tower.

    Perfectly cut stone floors, and metallic walls with a mild blue hue filled their surroundings indoors. This simplistic design to the dungeon gave it something closer to the appearance of an actual, ordinary building than any dungeon before this one, which only served to create an eerie feeling. The way the ceiling constantly stretched out high above them, and how each hallway exiting a room had its own doorway made everything almost as if they were walking through a strange mansion than the ruined and overgrowth mystery dungeons they were all accustomed to.

    “Hey… does anyone else hear that?” Damien asked quietly, eyes flitting around their current room.

    “Hear what?” Edgar responded.

    “That… ticking noise, like a clock,” Damien told him.

    Everyone paused momentarily to listen more, though some, already hearing it at the same time Damien did, were already nodding back to him, but respected the current silence and everyone else wishing to listen and didn’t say anything. Faintly was the sound Damien had described; ticking, just like an old hand clock. The ticking, while almost sounding distant, was still clear as if it were in their current room, despite the source clearly not being here, if there was a solid source at all.

    They waited for nearly half a minute, listening to the tick, tock, at every second, before someone spoke up.

    “That’s weird, I don’t remember that being here when we were here last, but you’re right, there’s definitely a ticking here,” Alex commented, “think it’s because time is flowing?”

    Ceebee nodded slowly, “that was going to be my guess. It must help symbolize the time passing in real time. A tick for every second.”

    “Oh, yeah, that would make sense…” Damien murmured, “with everything being time based here.”

    Continuing onwards, their first dungeon spawn encounter of Temporal Tower was the psychic-type solrock; just as foretold, and something almost all in the group had seen before. Nelvana dealt with it with a couple swift bonemerang attacks, and they continued onwards without terribly much difficulty.

    In fact, the more the continued exploring the dungeon, the more they found that many of the spawn here were not only familiar, but easy to defeat. These foes were certainly stronger than any previous of their kind any of the group had found in dungeons, but still shared weaknesses, and that knowledge helped deal with any of their opponents before they had the chance to become much of a problem.

    No, it wasn’t the spawn themselves that were the main problem of this dungeon, as they quickly became aware of. The true challenge began when a grovyle leapt from another hallway in front of the group. Nelvana jumped, startled, but her surprise and confusion only grew as she identified the scars of this grovyle as being the same that Alex had. There were fewer than what Alex currently had, but the scar that stretched across his muzzle was unmistakeable.

    “Wha…”

    The grovyle ignored the group, even as they looked in their direction, the golden eyes seemed to look past all the pokemon crowded by another hallway. Instead, the grovyle turned back towards something or someone. Their mouth opened as if they were speaking, but no sound came out. In response to their silent words, someone else hurried out from the hallway; a human.

    “Is that…” Keahi trailed off, tearing zir own gaze from what was happening in front of them to glance up at zir partner.

    “That’s me,” Nelvana confirmed, her voice scarcely a gasp.

    The… duplicates of Alex and Nelvana paused in the middle of the room momentarily, talking to each other without any sound. Strung over the grovyle’s shoulder was even the same bag he had now, slightly less worn than currently, but inside the satchel a slight blue glow emitted; a time gear.

    Just as soon as the pair entered, they left. Hurrying off to the other end of the room as if in a hurry and fading away from sight before they hit the wall.

    “They’re illusions,” Nelvana whispered, letting go of the breath she had been holding.

    “Illusions…” Keahi murmured, “you didn’t say there were illusions here,” zie said, glancing back to the back of the group.

    “I didn’t know there were any either,” Alex replied, voice sounding far away despite having entered the room with everyone else at the tail end of the illusion display.

    “Is this… the normal for here, then?” Tsuki asked, cautiously padding towards where the illusions had disappeared, sniffing the floor and finding nothing unusual.

    “It is,” Giratina answered, “I apologize, I had not realized before… But yes, these illusions are us seeing pieces of time.”

    “Why weren’t there any when any of you went through here?” Damien questioned.

    “Time was frozen then. It must not have been able to… display anything from other times,” Ceebee told him, “it must be that when it flows normally, visions of other times leak in.”

    “That must explain why the spawn was not up to the same caliber as Hidden Land; the dungeon’s energy is seeping more into these illusions than typical dungeon tricks,” Dusknoir added, gesturing with one hand vaguely as he spoke.

    “Why was there no sound from it though?” Edgar asked, “I didn’t hear anything from it, at least, but it looked like… it looked like, uh, they were speaking.”

    “Could be for a number of reasons. I have not seen these illusions before, so it could be normal for Temporal Tower to only display the sights and not the sounds from these points in time it chooses to create as illusions,” Giratina responded, “or it could simply be from the fact that that was an illusion from the dead timeline. Illusions specifically from that timeline must be more challenging to grab.”

    “I am surprised we saw an illusion from that timeline at all,” Tsuki admitted, padding back over to her vague place in the lineup; the group now closer to a huddle in the room together than a line. “It must still be slightly connected to then; dungeons tend to latch onto more disastrous energies, I’ve found,” she added.

    “That must be it then,” Keahi murmured, “are we all okay to keep going, then…?”

    Alex shook his head, exhaling, “yeah, yeah… we’re going to have to get used to that soon anyway.”

    “Nel?” Keahi stepped up beside zir partner, who was still silently staring towards where the illusion first appeared, as if expecting it to return.

    “I… Yeah, let’s get going,” she replied quietly, continuing onwards in more of a daze, almost stumbling over her own feet after the first step, but catching herself and moving forwards as if that had never happened at all.

    They ran into another illusion on every floor.

    The next illusion they found was another from the dead timeline, and another with Alex and Nelvana. The group almost didn’t see this illusion, and almost didn’t want to. In the corner of a room they barely peeked into at first, was an illusion, showing the pair sitting together, Nelvana wrapping bandages around Alex’s right leg. It was a simple vision, and unlike the other, did seem to loop, and never disappeared, even as Nelvana paused to stare at it for a long time before coming back to her senses and moving on, skipping the room.

    On the third and the fourth floor were more illusions from the dead timeline, one with a horde of sableye running through the hallway and startling everyone enough to move aside despite the fact that the army wasn’t actually there, and one with a trio of pokemon, an audino, a mamoswine, and a porygon, that no one in this group recognized personally, but this trio were quickly surrounded by sableye in the illusion, disappearing before the inevitable could be displayed.

    It was on the fifth floor that they finally spotted a vision from the past, an incineroar and a salamence, both sporting rescue team badges, cautiously walked together, tired from assumedly having walked for much, much longer than this illusion would show, yet their eyes narrowed with determination and focus. Suddenly, the pair reared up at an unseen enemy, Salamence blasting it with a powerful beam shot out from their mouth, surely defeating whoever their opponent was in a single hit. The illusion disappeared soon after, but not before Incineroar gave Salamence a small pat on the back as a silent compliment.

    “That was a rescue team…” Nelvana murmured, “have you heard of them, Keahi? An incineroar and a salamence?” she asked, glancing back at her partner.

    Keahi nodded, “yeah… I think that was Team Endeavor!”

    “The diamond rank team?” Damien interrupted for clarification.

    Again, Keahi nodded, glancing back at the gengar momentarily before going back to facing forwards, staring past Nelvana and out to where the illusion had been.

    “That wasn’t all of them though. There are four members. Er, well, at least four from the last time anyone heard from them….” zie continued, “the team has been missing for a long time now… it’s a mystery as to what happened to them, but Drapion keeps them as the diamond rank team anyway, so they must be okay.”

    “Perhaps if we see more visions of them from here, we might be able to figure out where they went,” Tsuki suggested.

    “Maybe…” Keahi replied, “I kinda hope so; that would be nice, huh? It would be really cool to actually meet them, and it would be great to have some confirmation on what they have been up to.”

    “They looked tired,” Nelvana commented quietly, “I hope they made it out of wherever they were, at least out of what we just saw there, alright.”

    The next few floors continued similarly, but nothing got easier. To say that other dungeons got easier as they progress as well would be untrue, however, in most dungeons, getting used to the pokemon that showed up and picking out signs of traps or monster houses granted some more ease for exploration. Here with the time illusions… no one could get used to that. How could they? How does one get used to seeing visions of other times, including the timeline of the darkest future, whenever one least expects it?

    And unfortunately, simply because this dungeon had an extra trick, didn’t mean that it laid off on other, more typical, dangers. There were times the group would pause to watch one of the illusions, and wind up getting attacked from behind from one of the spawn.

    On a couple floors, they ended up finding a monster house in the same room as one of the illusions. In those cases, it could be challenging to discern which pokemon they were seeing were really there or not.

    The traps, while few here, still would crop up here and there to throw everyone off. Traps could never be perfectly predicted, dungeons always hid them too well for that, but sometimes the more experienced one could take a moment and pick out spots where not to step. Any chance of those predictions being successful were thrown off as well, with sometimes everyone feeling too caught up in everything else to remember that traps were, in fact, still a problem.

    Fortunately, for the most part, the few traps they ended up stepping on were mostly harmless. Nelvana stepped on a slumber trap in a hallway, but the effects were temporary and she woke up again after a couple minutes. The spin trap and the slow traps that Keahi and Damien accidentally stepped on turned out to be ways to lighten the mood more than anything else, with those two making jokes out of their temporary situations while they waited for the effects to wear off. Plus, if they had to, there were still heal seeds packed just in case to handle those sorts of effects from traps.

    On the tenth floor though, they ran into a more inconveniencing trap, paired with an illusion.

    The illusion itself appeared in a large room, a couple moments after everyone had entered. A portal swirled and glowed from the back wall, and the figures of Alex and Nelvana could be seen in front of it, almost entering, but not quite. Nelvana was slouched over so low that Alex standing beside her appeared taller than her, despite the full group now knowing that as a human she was about twice his height.

    He turned back, calling out across the swarm of sableye, out to Ceebee, fluttering weakly not far from the portal as well, arms outstretched in front of her and antennae twitching with the telltale sign that she was focusing her abilities. Alex yelled again, the desperation stretching across his face despite the illusion bringing no sound to his voice. Ceebee glanced back, calling something out to him in return. He screamed at her, evidently not liking whatever she had said, but as another sableye lunged at him and Nelvana, just barely missing, he swallowed his pride and guided Nelvana into the portal with him, it closing behind them, them and a sableye leaping in last second, as a couple in the group watching this all managed to glimpse, and leaving Ceebee behind.

    Continuing still as one of the longer lasting illusions, they could see the image of Dusknoir roar in fury. While Ceebee was putting up a good fight against the numerous sableye with her fairy-type move, she was inevitably knocked out by a powerful shadow punch attack, Dusknoir shaking with rage as he pulled off the attack. The illusion faded soon afterwards, with the image of Ceebee slumping to the ground, defeated.

    “So that’s…” Keahi was the first to speak afterwards, zir voice quiet and hesitant. “…that’s why Ceebee wasn’t with you guys at first when you traveled back in time.”

    Ceebee nodded somberly, “with one of the time gears broken, it was important that I managed the portal. It would have been risky for me to get in there with them in the moment,” she explained, “we were already cutting things close.”

    “That makes sense…” Keahi murmured, “but Nel, you looked really hurt there. What happened before what we saw to-“

    Keahi was cut off suddenly at the familiar sound of a click somewhere in the room. Everyone managed to look over in time to see Dusknoir, having moved to the side slightly during the illusion to watch better, now had a warp tile below him. And just before anyone could say anything, the trap activated properly, and Dusknoir disappeared.

    “Where did he go?” Edgar blurted out in alarm, “if we step there too, will we go to the same place…?”

    “No, we won’t. Warp tiles always take you somewhere random in the dungeon; no one should step on that,” Tsuki warned.

    Ceebee sighed, “I’ll go looking, I can already sense him from here. You all can keep exploring, we’ll catch up later, just don’t go to the next floor.”

    Taking the mobile scarf to make the trip quicker, Ceebee bid small goodbyes to everyone before flying through one of the walls to search for the missing Dusknoir.

    Traveling through walls was, of course, still disorienting, but her own practice using this item in Murky Cave helped her stomach feel better about it all. She found though, that akin to the rest of the most building-like structure for this dungeon, that the walls were thinner and always seemed to offer more rooms behind them, unlike many other dungeons which truly felt like tunnels more than anything else. This meant she had more walls to travel through, but each wall took less time to pass through.

    Eventually, she located Dusknoir in a small room. He had run into another illusion, and Ceebee found him watching it, frozen in place. She couldn’t see his expression, or much of the illusion itself due to her coming in behind Dusknoir. However, what she could see was the images of two septile laying on the ground in front of him, blood pooling over unseen grass. They were dead. Unable to help herself, Ceebee tried peering around Dusknoir, and met the gaze of his duplicate, a younger version of Dusknoir, with bloody hands and no remorse in his eye.

    The illusion faded, and sensing the extra presence in the room now, Dusknoir spun around, eye wide, to face Ceebee. For a few moments, neither of them said a thing. They only stared at each other in silence.

    “Come on,” Ceebee finally muttered, “the others are waiting; they might have even found the stairs by now.”

    Wordlessly nodding, Dusknoir followed Ceebee out of the room, and continued remaining quiet as they made their way back to the rest of the group. By the time they had returned, the others had managed to find the stairs to the next floor, and after forming their lineup again, they moved on up the steps.

    Proceeding past the eleventh floor afterwards finally brought them to the safe floor, where they could rest. Though there was the lingering thought of if illusions could reach them here as well, when nothing happened for the first few minutes, the group slowly began to relax again. For once, this floor became an opportunity for them to discuss what they had previously seen more, rather than focusing on specifically checking on supplies and whatnot.

    Nelvana sat against a wall with Keahi beside her, leaning up against the cubone for comfort again, while Alex chatted with the both of them, starting out mostly speaking about the illusions from the dead timeline, but eventually curiosity brought them to talk about Team Endeavor again; fascinated by the mystery surrounding the elite team. Looking for more clarification otherwise, Ceebee talked with the rest of the group, explaining to them about what she knew.

    Dusknoir, for the beginning of their break, separated himself from everyone else to lean on the wall across from where Nelvana, Keahi, and Alex were gathered. He said nothing and did not move, at least not until moments after Alex got up to check on the others with Ceebee.

    Cautiously, Dusknoir floated over to the pair still sitting against the wall, letting himself drift lower to the ground as to not appear as large, at least slightly. Despite his efforts, Nelvana still stiffened as she realized he was approaching, though she remained frozen in place, allowing him to reach a comfortable conversation distance from the two. Sensing Nelvana’s returning unease, Keahi leaned closer, bumping zir forehead on zir partner’s shoulder for a moment before turning zir head to face Dusknoir again.

    “Hello, Dusknoir,” Keahi greeted after a few moments passed where Dusknoir still said nothing despite his closeness. “Did you need something?”

    “I had been hoping to speak with Nelvana briefly, if that would be possible,” Dusknoir requested.

    Keahi glanced at Nelvana, who, after a pause, hesitantly gave zim a small nod.

    “Okay,” Keahi replied, without moving.

    Dusknoir waited for a moment, but when he realized that the torchic would not be moving, he simply let out a sigh before continuing with what he wanted to say anyway; he didn’t want to have to force Keahi to leave, it was clear why they were refusing already to do so.

    “I wanted to tell you this, since I do not know that the other two will give me a moment to listen, so I do thank you for giving me a moment despite everything,” he began, “in my time here in this timeline with you all, I have come to realize my faults, and that I was wrong in what I did before. I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry,” he told her, “I know that you may not believe me, or that this does not fix what I did to you and your friends, but I do not know when I might get another chance to apologize. Though I regret my actions before when I worked under Dialga, they still brought me back here, and I wish to repay them, so my plans of staying with then after this have not changed. However, if there is something I can do to make anything better for you… please let me know. And if you could, let… let Grovyle and Celebi know that I am sorry too.”

    Nelvana stared at Dusknoir, unsure of what to say. This was completely unexpected to her, and if she didn’t trust her ability to read others so well, she would have thought that he was completely lying. Though, knowing that he was telling the truth only made it harder to wrap her head around.

    “Okay,” she finally croaked, unsure of what else to say in this moment.

    Dusknoir’s gaze softened, “okay. Thank you for listening, despite everything. Again, I’m sorry.”

    With that, unwilling to bother Nelvana any longer, Dusknoir turned away and floated back to where he stood before. Nelvana watched him leave, her throat dry and heart still pounding. She didn’t understand.

    “You alright?” Keahi asked, sitting up more to properly rest zir own forehead against Nelvana’s.

    Merely humming back in response for now, Nelvana leaned back to Keahi’s touch, letting herself breath for a few moments. She let her shaky hands find the comfort of brushing through her partner’s warm feathers, listening vaguely to the background noise of the others still wrapped up in their own conversation.

    “Do… Do you believe him?” Keahi asked hesitantly, curiosity already eating away at zim after what had just happened.

    “I don’t know,” Nelvana whispered, denial at the truth of the answer twisting her thoughts and leaving her with uncertainty in her words instead.

    Keahi didn’t say anything else, not trusting zir own knowledge of the situation to make any sort of assumptions. To zim, Dusknoir sounded sincere, but there was always the option of him being a good liar. Admittedly zie still hadn’t spent enough time around him to pick out which was most likely.

    “We should keep going,” Nelvana announced quietly, leaning away from her partner and immediately missing the warm touch.

    Without waiting for a proper answer, Nelvana shakily stood up again and moved towards the exit of the safe room. Keahi sighed, but got up to follow after only a moment’s pause. Gathering the attention of everyone else, the group quickly collected themselves and headed out to tackle the next half of the dungeon.

    Though by now they considered skipping by any illusions that they came across, the possibility of valuable information was far too important to pass up, despite the extra time it took to watch the images came appeared in various rooms, despite how emotionally draining it could be to view something from one’s own past so openly displayed.

    This was, at least, fortunately the only major delays they would have throughout the dungeon. The latter half of Temporal Tower introduced more pokemon for them to battle against, but there were only a couple new encounters of which none of them had seen in any dungeons before, but even those ones were the evolved forms of pokemon that they had just seen in the earlier half of this dungeon, and often the same sorts of battle strategies could be used on them as had been used before. Their largest difficulty with the spawn came with the salamence that would appear, which were mistaken from the illusions of Salamence of Team Endeavor a couple times, catching them off guard.

    After a few hours after entering the dungeon, surely getting late into the night in the outside world, they stepped up to the final floor. Alex announcing this achievement was met with tired cheers, all thankful to finally be so close to their goal after all this time. They quieted down after this for a few moments, until Damien spoke up again.

    “You know… and I’d hate to jinx myself here, especially so close to finishing… but we haven’t seen any illusions from my past,” Damien commented.

    “That is an interesting point, actually,” Tsuki replied, licking her whiskers idly. “The illusions we have been seeing do not seem to range that far into the past, or into the future aside from the dead timeline; at least from what we can assume.”

    “Does the Temporal Tower have a range of time that it can create illusions from?” Edgar asked.

    “I am not certain about that, but it would make sense,” Giratina answered, “this is a dungeon, but it is distantly affected by Dialga themself. It is possible that they may force the dungeon to create… more relevant illusions.”

    “I would have been interested in seeing some illusions from that far in the past though,” Nelvana admitted quietly, “your time sounds incredibly fascinating from what you’ve told us, Damien.”

    Damien shrugged his shoulders, glancing over at the walls, “nah, nothing really that special… a couple big events happened that I can recall, but honestly nothing as exciting as these mystery dungeons and stuff.”

    “I’m sure there would be something interesting to see!” Ceebee chimed in, “you lived centuries before any of us! Well, except for Giratina, that is.”

    Giratina chuckled, “Damien is not giving his own time enough credit. The humans then did some incredibly interesting things. You’d get some group of them attempting to summon one of the legendaries every decade or so.”

    “Really?” Alex responded, “and you call that not interesting, Damien,” he teased.

    “We’re literally about to talk to a legendary right now! We’re currently talking with a legendary and a mythical!” Damien pointed out.

    “How do you summon a legendary though? Aren’t there just places to find them?” Keahi asked, “we’ve walked to most legendaries we’ve talked to, and there weren’t even mystery dungeons back then.”

    “That’s exactly it though. The legendaries would often have to hide themselves in more… creative locations without mystery dungeons being available to guard themselves. Those that could hide in pocket dimensions often would, and many others would sleep deep underground,” Giratina explained.

    “Oh. I guess that makes sense,” Keahi murmured, “you know, we haven’t seen many humans from these illusions either. How many humans were in the dead timeline?”

    Alex clicked his tongue, “not nearly as many humans as pokemon, but their numbers were steadily growing over the years. Because they needed good weapons to handle themselves in battle though, it wasn’t often you’d see them exiting the safety of their communities. That’s probably why we haven’t seen many illusions of them. The illusions we’ve seen from the dead timeline that haven’t been of us have been of other traveling pokemon; the humans couldn’t afford to travel as much as pokemon, and pokemon travellers were even few and far in between.”

    Keahi nodded, though any previous response was interrupted as zie peered into the next room they were entering, “oh hey, the stairs! Good job, Nel!”

    “Finally,” Damien groaned, “my feet are killing me, and if I see one more damn il-“

    The image of an enormous pokemon appeared in front of the stairs. The tall quadruped stood on pointed, golden hooves, and it was coated in a smooth white pelt with a grey underside. A golden cross-like wheel was attached to its body with green jewels on each point that matched their eyes. Their long neck was covered in a flowing mane, which reached up to their head and flowed out back from it, appearing similarly to their long tail.

    Though no one in the group had seen this pokemon in person before, a few pieced together their appearance to one of the images they had seen carved into the walls of the Old Ruins to go along with the story of creation.

    This was Arceus.

    The god of all gods gazed across the group, almost as if they were more than just an illusion. And for a moment, everyone was caught up in the silent and peaceful awe at being able to look back at such a powerful being that even some legendaries would not have seen in centuries.

    Suddenly, something struck Arceus in the side. They roared in pain, and even though there was no sound to the illusion like all the illusions were silent, the feeling of what the sound would have been seemed to strike right into one’s heart. Arceus, like a tall and powerful tower, slowly toppled over, and unlike all other illusions, they did not merely fade away as the vision ended. Instead their image seemed to peel away and disintegrate, the individual pieces finally disappearing into the air.

    The horror at what had been witnessed gripped the group into silence.

    Tsuki moved first, as her eyes lidded shut and she collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Not before brushing against Damien during her fall though; who screamed at the sudden touch, jumping up in shock before immediately slapping his hands over his mouth as his voice echoed in the room.

    Fortunately for Damien’s dignity at least, attention was drawn to their fainted friend before anyone could be bothered to focus on his shriek. And fortunately for everyone’s worries, Tsuki woke up and began shakily rising back to her feet just as quickly as she had fallen.

    “Are you okay?” Keahi was the first to ask, though the question was surely on most minds, and zie shuffled around Damien to stand in front of the absol as she pulled herself up into a crouch.

    “I…” Tsuki breathed heavily, her eyes still not focusing properly. “I don’t know,” she admitted quietly, “what was that? What could have harmed Arceus like that?” she questioned instead, staring blankly out towards where the illusion once was.

    “What did you see?” Giratina asked worriedly, unable to have been able to see the illusion.

    “Arceus. They were hurt by… something, and it looked bad; only one hit too and it almost looked to defeat them on its own,” Ceebee told them, “do you know what could have damaged them so much?”

    Giratina paused, “I… I’m not sure. A legendary or mythical at least. Mortals can fight us legendaries and even win, as you’ve proven, but to beat Arceus in one hit… I’m not sure if I would have ever been capable of doing something like that even.”

    All questioning faded out for another moment as everyone considered this answer. Even Giratina sounded nervous as they responded to Ceebee; the idea of something that posed such a threat scaring even a legendary that existed on another dimension didn’t inspire any confidence in anyone either.

    “I think… for now at least, the more important question is… did this happen in the past or the future?” Alex pointed out.

    His question brought heads that previously looked either towards Tsuki or the rock that Giratina spoke from now turned to the grovyle.

    “That’s a good point… Is this a threat that’s already here, or can we prevent it from happening…” Nelvana murmured.

    Dusknoir’s gaze hardened, “we need to speak with Dialga. Now.”

    Never had anyone in this group found had themselves agreeing with Dusknoir more than they had now.

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which the god of time is met Previous: In which the land between time is explored

#galaxies above #pokemon #pokemon mystery dungeon #pmd #writing #my writing #fanfiction #drawing #art #my art #digital art #team galaxy #nelvana #cubone #keahi #torchic #alex #grovyle #tsuki #absol #edgar #duskull #ceebee #celebi #damien #gengar #dusknoir #arceus

[ladyseaheart1668]

Endless Summer Book 4 : Daughter of Vaanu (Chapter 46)

Description: The captive Catalysts struggle to keep it together. Tahira fights a battle of her own. Meanwhile, Zahra receives a break in the case.

Tagging: @endlesshero1122 @mysteli @xo-endlessmayhem-xo @feartheendlesssummer @whatmcsaid @tigerbryn11

Jake

I don't know exactly what to expect after I feel the wheels touch down and the plane slows to a halt. I guess I'm not surprised when the armored goons who stomp into the bathroom gag us and shove our heads into dark flannel pillowcases before dragging us upright. Makes sense that they don't want us to know where we are—or call out to anyone who might be passing. But that doesn't mean I'm not keeping alert. The landing was rough. Rougher than I would have expected on a sky-worthy private jet. The angle we landed at was steeper than expected, too.  

The staircase getting us down is narrow. So narrow that my armored escorts have to move into file ahead and behind me, and I can feel the handrails on either side if I just lean one way or the other a couple inches. The goon ahead of me must be taking the steps backward, because there's something sharp pressed to the soft flesh just under my sternum, just hard enough for me to feel its point. There's also what's unmistakeably the barrel of a pistol at the nape of my neck. They don't say anything. They don't have to. The warning is clear: don't try any shit.

After the bottom step, I set my food down on a surface that doesn't feel like tarmac or asphalt. It's soft. Dirt. Or grass. Explains the steep-angled landing—and it tells me that the plane transporting us has to be smaller than I was originally imagining. The air on my exposed skin is warm. Humid. Unfortunately, I can't notice any distinct smell to it. There's not much penetrating whatever fruit-scented detergent this pillowcase was washed in before my head was jammed into it. ...Which is either coincidence, and whatever pillowcases they grabbed before starting just happened to come straight from the wash...or there's actually a distinctive smell to this place that they're purposely hiding.

Wherever the plane landed, it isn't far from where they plan to hold us. It's only about ten minutes of being shoved along before I hear a door creak and the heat and humidity is replaced by the sudden icy chill of air conditioning turned on full-blast. I lose track of myself for a moment, but before long, I'm shoved hard from behind. My knees buckle under the assault and connect sharply with a cold concrete floor.

I'm almost surprised when I hear a key click, and the cuffs fall from my wrists. I immediately yank the pillowcase off my head and go for the gag at my mouth, but by the time I've gotten both off and oriented myself, I realize that Sean, Michelle, and I have been locked inside what appears to be an industrial tool cage in a warehouse somewhere, lit by a single lightbulb directly above us—and the goons who dragged us in here are all on the other side of the bars. They don't seem to be leaving immediately, so I stand and turn slowly to face them, glaring.

“Where is your boss?” I growl. “I have a couple questions for him.”

“Yeah, Wolf. Kinda figured you would.” Lundgren's voice hits me like a fist in my gut. He appears first as the cherry-red tip of his cigar gleaming in the dim light beyond the cage before emerging where I can see him. He pulls the cigar from between his teeth and blows a pungent cloud in my direction. I grit my teeth, resisting the urge to cough.

“Where are Mike and my wife, you piece of shit?”

“Darwin's around. Behave yourself, and maybe I'll let him say goodbye before I beat your brains out.”

“What the fuck is this, Lundgren?”

“What the fuck do you think it is? It's revenge. Everything you boys did to me, you think I haven't been dreaming of this moment for the last five years?”

“You got what you deserved, you rat bastard!” I snarl.

“And you'll get yours soon enough, Wolf. I can guarantee that.”

I step up to the barrier between us, the fence of thick wire. I grip at the links, locking eyes with Lundgren.

“I know you aren't in this alone, Lundgren. You died and left a body behind same as Rourke, but that wasn't you. That wasn't the you that's here right now. You're not nearly smart enough to pull that stunt on your own. I know Jeanine was the one who took my wife. So I gotta figure you're both back in Rourke's pocket.” I lean forward slightly, my voice low. “Where is she, Lundgren? Where is my wife?”

“Ahh, right. Alodia. Cute little blonde cunt. Pretty face hides a goddamn superweapon living in a devious bitch. Rourke's beautiful 'mystery,' the key to everything. I'm impressed you managed to knock her up. She looks human enough, but I wouldn't have been surprised to find her kind had crystal teeth down there.” He takes a long drag on his cigar and exhales luxuriously before grinning at me. “Don't worry, Wolf. You'll see her again. I want you to have a front row seat when Rourke cuts the brat out of her. ...I want to watch you watch her die.”

The rage that surges through me is white-hot and blinding, and it swallows my conscious self. I can hear myself screaming, an animalistic howl as I rattle the bars with all my strength, beating the sides of my fists against the metal frame of the locked door. I throw my whole weight into the door again and again until something drags me off, holds me back, pins my arms to my side.

“Easy!” Sean hisses in my ear, holding me firmly. “You're gonna hurt yourself more than him like that!”

I slowly settle, my breath quivering. He's right. As my rage cools to a controlled simmer, I can feel the throbbing at various points where I connected with a metal support pole or the door frame. When he's satisfied that I'm in control, Sean releases me, though he keeps his hands steadyingly on my shoulders. I raise my head to find Lundgren grinning like a kid who's found the cookie jar.

“Thing is...you and Mouse are the only ones Rourke promised me. He might have plans for the lovebirds in there, but I doubt they're gonna be anything but leverage to keep your baby mama in line. And he might not need 'em at all. Maybe I should check. ...Maybe he'll let me kill 'em in front of you as a warm up.”

“You put us in a room together, asshat,” I snarl. “That means you'll have to fight me to get to my friends.”

He shrugs. “That sounds like it could be fun.” Without another word, he turns and marches out of the room, leaving four armored goons standing guard with rifles ready.

There are tears coming to my eyes. I scrub at them furiously with my forearm as I pull away from Sean and look around desperately for something to kick or punch in this room. The only thing here is a metal bucket. Probably our piss bucket, but it's empty at the moment, so I kick it viciously into the wire wall, making the cage rattle. Then I sink to my knees.

“...Rourke isn't going to kill Alodia,” Michelle says softly.

“Damn straight, he's not!” I growl through my tears. “I won't let him. I'll find a way to get to her. I'll protect her.”

“Of course. But I actually meant that I don't think killing her is in his plans.”

“You don't?” Sean asks.

“Think about it. Sure, Lundgren's out for revenge, but from everything we know, isn't it more likely that Rourke's going to try to restart Project Janus? We don't know exactly what kind of power Alodia has in her current incarnation, but I find it hard to believe he's just going to kill her when she's probably more useful to him alive.”

“That doesn't exactly make it all better,” I mutter. “Alive is better than dead, but it doesn't mean she's not suffering right now. And River...and Mike...”

Sean kneels to put a hand on my shoulder. “...Jake's right, Michelle. We gotta find a way out of here, ASAP.”

Bernadette McKenzie

The local time is about 5:30am when the plane from Louisiana touches down in California. The flight is virtually empty. Frank and I meet our daughter at the baggage carousel with fierce hugs, collect our meager luggage, and pile into her car to make the trip to Laguna Beach.

“How was the flight?” Rebecca asks.

“Smooth,” I reply softly. “No troubles.”

“What's the latest news on your brother?” Frank asks.

“They've got various coast guard ships scouring the Caribbean for the yacht he took off on. Apparently, he made it to La Huerta and he and his friends set sail from there okay, but then the signal got lost about an hour north of there.”

“...What about Alodia and her friend?”

“...Everyone's looking into ambulances that have been reported missing in California in recent weeks. There are a couple promising VINs, but there's always a possibility that the license plates were switched.” Rebecca shakes her head. “...I think we're dealing with pros here, Mom. ...No one really looks at an ambulance speeding by with its lights on. No one wants to delay them in case there's a real medical emergency they're dealing with. Procuring one wouldn't have been easy, but once they had one, it was the perfect way to transport captives.”

“I don't understand,” Frank murmurs. “I don't understand why. Why Jake? Why his partner? Why their friends? And why all at once like this? Did they really think none of them would be missed? Or are they trying to send some kind of message?”

“I don't think the why matters, Frank,” I say softly. “...I just want my boy back. I want him back, and his partner, and our little granddaughter, and all their friends.”

“That's all I want, too,” Frank assures me. “...But I also want to know why.”

* * *

The house in Laguna Beach is unlike anything I've ever seen in person before. Under normal circumstances, I would be intimidated—even put off—by the obvious wealth put into such a place. But not today. Today, I don't see the house as containing folks with millions of dollars more than me. Today, I see it as the house containing scared parents—or legal guardians as the case may be, but the point stands. In this gleaming mansion are the frightened family of the woman my son loves—the people who raised the mother of my unborn granddaughter.

Rebecca lets us in. Apparently, they gave her a key, at least while she's staying here with them. The house is quiet, though there are faint sounds coming from a room near the back. We drop our bags in the front hall and Rebecca shows us where to hang our jackets before we make our way through the lower level of the house, following the sounds to a rec room. The light from a massive, wall-mounted television flickers across the floor as a news channel with a droning newscaster plays at a volume I would consider slightly too loud. A woman in a bathrobe lies motionless on the pristine French-style sofa, the screen reflecting in her sapphire-blue eyes. I know immediately who she is. She looks so very much like her niece.

“...Molly Fisher?” I venture, hoping I remembered her name correctly. She looks up at me with weary eyes. I think I can see her summoning the will to greet us. I hold up a hand. “...No need to get up. We're all in the same boat here. ...I'm Bernadette MacKenzie. This is my husband, Frank. ...We're Jake's parents.”

“...And grandparents to my niece's child,” Molly murmurs with a sigh. “...The only living grandparents that little girl has.”

“--Next up, an unusual and alarming string of suspected kidnappings involving a pregnant woman, a best-selling author, two former Navy pilots, an NFL quarterback, and his new wife.” The news segment captures everyone's attention as it starts up. “28-year-old Alodia Chandler of Laguna Beach, California; as well as her housemate and long-time friend Diego Soto, also 28, both went missing yesterday afternoon within hours of each other. Mr. Soto and Ms. Chandler—who is currently 36 weeks pregnant—intended to meet for lunch in Riverside, where they both grew up, and where Ms. Chandler is working as a dance teacher, but they never made it to their rendezvous. Around the same time, Ms. Chandler's partner, 33-year-old Jacob MacKenzie, as well as their three friends, Michael Darwin, aged 32; Sean Gayle, aged 28; and Michelle Nguyen Gayle, aged 28, were all reported missing in the vicinity of the Caribbean islands. Now, details are still emerging on all of these disappearances, but it does appear that Mr. Darwin and Mr. MacKenzie were escorting Mr. and Mrs. Gayle off the island of La Huerta, where they had spent part of their honeymoon. All six victims were part of the infamous Vacation Gone Wrong in 2017, involving La Huerta and the island's owner at the time, Everett Rourke Senior. Police have stated that the close connection between the victims does suggest a personal motive. They have also stated that the disappearances were almost certainly orchestrated by a large, and very organized group. They are asking for the public's help in locating the victims. Any information anyone can provide will be greatly appreci--”

“I hate the language they use,” Molly whispers. “'Suggest a personal motive'. As if it isn't obvious to anyone with half a damn brain.”

She slowly sits up, letting her slippered feet meet the floor. She makes a vague gesture towards the armchairs with one hand, nodding. No one needs a translation. Frank and I both sit down.

“...I'm glad you're letting us stay here while this is sorted out,” I tell her. “It's so much easier to have support at a time like this. People outside of yourselves who understand what you're going through. ...I wish we had known each other five years ago.”

Molly's lips quiver just a little before she draws them tightly together, but I can't help seeing the sparkle of tears in her eyes, even as she ducks her head.

“...I'm scared it will be like last time,” she confesses hoarsely. “...That everyone will come back except Alodia. Everyone will get their kids back except me. ...I never even wanted kids. But she was my little sister's baby. Cassie was gone so damn fast and I...I couldn't just...”

“...Of course you couldn't.”

Molly looks up at me. “...She was a good kid. High-spirited. Rob and I just weren't ready, no matter how much I wanted to keep that piece of my sister. I thought if we hired a nanny, I could have my cake and eat it, too. Keep Cassie's kid around without having to really parent her. In so many ways it worked. ...I never really had to answer the hard questions about who her parents were, because she mostly didn't ask them. I don't think she trusted me enough. I got to spoil and indulge her and dress her up like a little doll and feel proud of her accomplishments when I knew what they were...but she figured it all out. She's smart. She knew we weren't great parents. She knew we couldn't really handle her. She got to be a teenager...she got rebellious...by the time she went to college, it was like she was just a tenant in a boarding house who came to stay with us over summer, Christmas, and sometimes a week or two in the spring...”

“No one's teenage years are easy to parent through,” Frank says soothingly. Molly gives a short, bitter bark of laughter.

“But we didn't parent! That's my point! We punished when she broke our rules and ignored her when she wasn't making trouble. ...We lost her for five years, and we swore we'd do better with our second chance, but it's all been the same shit! We throw our money at her, buy her expensive gifts, but we don't know what's really going on! We've never asked her about how her pregnancy is going. We only know she's having a girl because Jake told Rob at work after they found out! We didn't think to ask. We've never thought to tell how proud she's made us or how much of a wonderful person we think she is or how much we lo-love her...!” She gulps and lets out a sob, covering her face with her hands. “...I'm sorry. I shouldn't be pouring my regrets out onto complete strangers who are guests here...”

“Oh, shah!” I can't help myself. I go over to the couch and sit down beside Molly, drawing her into my arms. “We're not strangers here. We're mothers. Mothers and fathers. Now, don't argue. You're that girl's mother, no matter who gave birth to her. Every mother has regrets. I'm not here to judge you for what you could have done better. I'm here because right now, we don't know where our kids are, and we're scared out of our heads.”

It takes a moment, but Molly melts into my embrace, winding her arms around me like a child with a teddy bear.

“I can't do this again!” she sobs piteously. “God, how can I do this again?!”

Alodia

The small portion of the sky that I can see from the bed is still dusky when I'm wrenched from my sleep by a loud noise. Vague images from my dreams—a plastic doll swaddled in my arms, a brightly lit stage wooden stage, the darkness beyond the polished lip, and the dark, narrow staircase that impeded my path up to the stage where I was supposed to be dancing--linger in a cloud on top of my brain, the fog pierced by footsteps, and finally by hands that yank the  blankets back and drag me upright by my arms. My baby twists in my womb, no doubt agitated about being suddenly jostled. When Diego yelps, I finally come fully awake.

Arachnid goons have us both by the arms, and we're being dragged to opposite sides of the room while Fiddler stands in the center of the bare wooden floor, looking between us with a smug, predatory smile.

“Wh-what are you doing?” I manage to croak.

“I intend to make sure you remember who is in charge here, my little blonde brat. Don't think no one noticed that you puked on one of my friends last night.”

“I was motion-sick,” I protest. Even as I do, I realize that she probably doesn't really care. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that what's happening right now is a power play, nothing more or less. The problem is that I have a sinking feeling that I know how she plans to assert her authority. “It wasn't something I did on purpose.”

“You're probably telling the truth,” she concedes. “But, it was still nasty and smelly. And in the event that you're lying and you did do it on purpose...”

Before I can react, she whips around and drives her closed fist into Diego's gut. His knees buckle as he doubles over in pain, coughing. The Arachnid goons hold him upright as I struggle against my own captors, crying out angrily. Fiddler crosses the room and grabs my chin, pressing the walls of my cheeks into my teeth.

“That's me going easy on you,” she hisses, bringing her face close to mine. “If you don't do everything I tell you to do, I'll go harder. Understand?”

I can't really talk with her fingers squeezing my face, but I nod as much as I can. This seems to satisfy her, because she releases my jaw.

“Good girl. Now, you and me are gonna go downstairs. You try fighting me on it, I'll give your buddy a beating he won't forget.”

I'm not going to fight her. I don't have it in me to test her right now. The Arachnid soldiers holding Diego let go of him and he sinks to his knees, clearly trying to swallow a grimace as he looks up to meet my eyes. I can't think of anything reassuring to say. My vision blurs with tears as I turn and move dazedly toward the door.

I'm quiet on the stairs, concentrating on taking each step without falling. I'm not blindfolded this time, but late pregnancy has me prone to weakness and dizzy spells, even without the added stress of being goddamn kidnapped by someone I watched die five years ago.

The downstairs of this cottage or cabin or whatever is just as sparse as the room at the top of the stairs. The curtains over all the windows are heavy and drawn, no doubt to keep us from seeing out���and possibly to keep anyone else from looking in. But what I find myself really fixating on is how clean everything is. Like someone swept and scrubbed in anticipation of our arrival. That feeling is only compounded when it turns out that Fiddler is leading me into a rustic but pristine bathroom where hot, clear water is flowing out of a polished tap and crashing into a clawfoot tub. Steam rises off the surface of the water, nearly halfway up the tub. A washcloth and towel hang on the bar beside the vanity. A pair of gray sweatpants and sweatshirt sit neatly folded on the closed lid of the toilet, along with a pair of cotton panties and plain white socks.

I can't stop a faint, “What the fuck...?” from passing my lips. Fiddler snorts.

“Are you blind? It's a bath, blodie. A healthy fucking bath, heated to 98 degress.” She goes to turn off the tap. “And a change of clothes. I told you my employer wants you and your parasite healthy.”

“...You can say 'Rourke',” I mutter. “We all know who's greasing your palm. ...Am I going to be permitted some privacy?”

Fiddler snorts. “And risk you trying something stupid? I don't think so.”

I roll my eyes. “What exactly do you expect me to do? Climb out the window with this belly? You think I'm just going to abandon Diego?”

She shrugs, but she doesn't move, nor does she attempt to argue her point. She doesn't have to. She's got the power here, and she knows it. I sigh and start to undress. I'm still wearing the sweat jacket and unitard that I left the studio in yesterday. I peel them off and fold everything neatly and deliberately before stepping carefully into the tub and lowering myself into the water.

I can't deny that the water feels amazing. But the fact that it feels good only serves to upset me more when I remember that I'm a prisoner here. I find the soap in a dish beside the tub and start to scrub resentfully.

“...This isn't going to end how you want it to end,” I inform her flatly.

“Tell yourself that if it makes you feel better,” she replies, which I might have expected.

“My baby will not be born in captivity. ...This isn't La Huerta, Fiddler. This isn't Rourke's territory. We're not isolated on an island while the rest of the world is burning.” I turn a sidelong gaze on her. “And my husband is still out there. Do you really think he's going to rest before I'm home safe?”

The slow way she smiles makes my blood freeze. When she speaks, her voice is a purr. “Oh, I was so hoping you would bring him up. I absolutely wanted you to find out this way.”

My heart drops like a stone, splashing into something icy in my stomach. “...Wh-what are you talking about...?” I ask, my voice thin and breathless.

“Rex Lundgren's got Wolf now. Oh, don't panic. I can pretty well guarantee he's not dead yet. No, it's too soon. And I'm pretty sure he and Rourke want to make sure you see it when he does die. But he probably isn't having a whole lot of fun right now.”

The soap slips from my numb hands as I grip the edges of the bathtub, struggling to breathe. I stare into the rippling water between my bended knees. On the edges of my vision, my submerged thighs are a strange shade of gray, starkly contrasting the pink kneecaps that peak up above the surface like islands. My panicked thoughts chase each other through the storm in my head, tackling, wrestling each other for dominance.

Jake...oh, god, Jake...He isn't dead! He can't be dead. Even Fiddler says he isn't dead...Yet'! Not dead 'yet'!...And he might be suffering...he might be in pain...

“...Why...?” I whisper. Fiddler rolls her eyes.

“Jesus, do you really have to ask?” she sneers. “You said it yourself. He'd only be getting in our way if we left him to his own devices.”

I glare at her, feeling my expression twist into something ugly with sorrow and anger. “Why do you hate him so much?” I snarl. “Did he dump you or something?”

Fiddler raises an eyebrow. “Now why would you assume that?” she sounds irritated.

Her question actually catches me off guard, but only for an instant. Just enough that I can get the tears under control. I fish the soap from the water and rub it between my palms. “Your hatred is clearly more than professional. It's personal. You were glad to turn him and Mike in all those years ago.”

“I was thrilled,” she agrees. “But why do you assume it's because we were lovers? Because I'm a woman, any hatred I have for a man has to be because he scorned me?”

That actually gives me pause for a moment. “...I just can't imagine Jake doing anything else that could possibly explain why you hate him so much.”

“Of course not,” she scoffs. “You're his perfect 'princess', and he's your dashing goddamn rogue hero. You're a fucking fairy tale, and neither of you will ever be anything except perfect in the other's eyes. I could tell you why I hate him, but it won't make sense to you because he'll always be a paragon to you!”

“...So what did he do to you?”

“He showed me up!” She practically spits the words. “Five years I had been fighting and clawing my way into the elite ranks, and then suddenly this scrawny kid from the fucking swamp just comes in and is immediately the best pilot in the whole goddamn Navy?! Everything I worked for was just snatched away and handed to someone else?!”

“...That's the way life goes sometimes,” I reply softly. “There's always someone better, Fiddler.”

“Yeah, well. Sometimes you get the chance to tip the scales back in your favor. You know the only reason I don't just kill you right now is I'm sure whatever Rourke is planning for you is worse. And whatever it is, I hope Wolf lives long enough to see it.”

* * *

When my bath is finished and I'm dressed in the unflattering gray sweatsuit provided to me, I'm hustled back to the attic room. Diego isn't there when I get back, and I almost panic. But within a few minutes, he reappears with damp hair and wearing the same plain gray sweatsuit that I am. He smiles mirthlessly when he sees me.

“...Guess this is the uniform for prisoners here. Gray is the new black, anyone? ...Doesn't really have the same ring to it as 'orange,' but it also goes with more...”

I don't answer. I'm crying again, and all I can do is run to him and throw my arms around him. I press my face into his shoulder as he winds his arms around me.

“I'm sorry...” I whimper. “I'm so sorry...”

“Oh, Allie...this isn't your fault. None of it is your fault.”

I pull back to look at him. “Are you okay? It looked like she got you pretty bad before.”

He winces a little. “Well, I won't say it didn't hurt. But I'm undamaged. I'll be okay.” He puts an arm over my shoulders, leading me over to the bed. “C'mere. Come sit down.”

I go where he leads me, sinking down onto the bed. I scrub at my eyes with the sleeve of my sweatshirt, sniffling.

“...Do you remember back on the island, when we found the game room in The Celestial?”

“You mean when we still thought the Vaanti were trying to kill us?” he says wryly.

“Yeah. And we found the dossier with my name on it?”

“Right. The one with like, zero information on it, except your birthday and your birthplace.”

“...I didn't understand it. At that point, I still had this whole timeline in my head. The one where you and I grew up together. The one we're living now. I couldn't understand why I was the one with the highest threat rating, the one no one could figure out. I thought I was simple. Nothing special. And if I didn't know what I am now, I still wouldn't understand.”

“...What do you mean?”

“...The people I love most in the world are all smart and successful. Geniuses, athletes, revolutionaries. You write books that make the best-sellers list. My husband was an ace pilot in his day. Raj is a world-famous chef. Michelle is a doctor. Quinn is changing lives. ...I'm a dance teacher who didn't even finish college. To the casual observer, I don't really seem to fit in with the rest of the family.”

“...But you know none of us would be where we are without you, don't you?”

I know. Of course I know. It's the whole reason I was born, and it's the cause of all the existential angst I've been experiencing for the last ten months. But I'm not up for rehashing all my insecurities right now. Not even to Diego. In any case, my mind is only leaping to them in an attempt to distract me from much more pressing fears. ...It isn't working. I look up at Diego.

“...Lundgren is alive, Diego. He has Jake.”

Diego's expression crumbles as the color drains from his face. “...Oh, god...Oh, Allie...” He pulls me into his arms and holds me hard against himself, rocking me just a little forcefully. I didn't think I had tears left, but here I am, soaking Diego's gray sweatshirt with them. His hand trembles at it strokes my hair.

“...Fiddler says he's probably alive. ...But just because Lundgren wants him to suffer.”

I feel his grip on me tighten. “...We're getting out of here. I don't know how yet, but we're getting out. Either we get ourselves out, or someone will come for us. All I know for sure is that we have the best family anyone could ask for, and they have never let us down.”

In spite of myself, I feel the weakest smile tug at my lips. “...Aren't the inspirational speeches my thing?” I mumble.

“Yeah, usually. But it kinda seemed like I needed to step up here.”

A sound escapes me that might be a mix of a cough, a whimper, and a half-hearted laugh. I feel like I'm back on the mountain pass leading to the La Huerta Observatory, helplessly dangling miles above the rainforest with the rope knotted around my waist and a failing grip above me as the only things keeping me from plunging into the arms of the open air and oblivion. I grip Diego more tightly.

“...Stay with me, Diego. Whatever happens, just promise me you won't let me be alone.”

“...I promise, Allie.”

I don't know if it's a promise he'll be able to keep. But I appreciate him making it.

Kenji

I get to the hospital early the morning after the attack. I didn't sleep very much, but I don't feel tired. I'm anxious and agitated and a single cup of black coffee doesn't really help matters. I have to stuff my hands in my pockets to hide how much they're shaking.

Eva is waiting in the hall outside Tahira's room when I arrive. Seeing me approach, she pushes herself off the wall she was leaning on and comes to meet me. Her expression is one of grim determination that makes my heart twist painfully. That's not a good news expression.

“...How is she?”

“Stable. But still unconscious.”

“Is that normal?”

“For anyone else? I don't know. Doctors are being kinda vague about that. All I know is that it's not normal for her.”

“What are the doctors saying?”

“Very little, according to Rochelle and Grayson. Just that the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been and her vitals are strong.”

I sigh, and pull my hands out of my pockets without thinking to rub them over my face. When I pull them down again, Eva is frowning at me.

“You okay?” she asks. “You're...kinda shaking like a leaf.”

I shake my head, stuffing my hands back into my pockets. “It's fine. Coffee jitters. Plus I didn't really sleep last night.”

“Yeah, me neither,” she admits. After a moment, she reaches out to put a comradely hand on my shoulder. “...She's gotta be okay. They can't just...they can't just take her down...”

“No,” I agree, my voice grim. “They can't.”

I feel the tingling on my fingertips a moment before it registers that my phone is going off in my pocket. I groan, pulling it out to glance at the screen. I don't recognize the number, and I tap to ignore, stuffing my phone back in my pocket.

“Who's calling?” Eva asks.

“No one I know, and no one I care to talk to.” I lean back against the wall. “...So, can we see Tahira?”

“Yeah, I think so. I was in there for awhile before you got h--” She cuts herself off when my phone starts to buzz again. I groan, pulling it out of my pocket to read the screen.

“Same number.”

“You should answer.”

“Probably some over-enthusiastic telemarketer,” I grunt, tapping ignore again.

“...You sure about that?” Almost before she's finished her sentence, the buzzing starts again. I swear under my breath and finally raise the phone to my ear.

“Hello, who is this?” I snap.

“Katsaros,” a familiar voice grumbles back. “About time you answered, you shiny bastard.”

“...Caleb?! What the fuck?! Where the hell are you?!”

“Never mind that.”

“How did you even get this number? Did Tahira give it to you?”

“No. Never mind how I got it. ...How is Tahira?”

“Stable,” I answer flatly. After a brief hesitation, I add. “But...still unconscious.”

“...I gotta tell you something. Something she said when she was in my van. It didn't register at the time, but it might be important. ...She said, 'I think there was something on the knife'.”

“...What does that mean?”

“The fuck do I know?! Maybe it means she was poisoned somehow!”

I feel the blood rush out of my head. It makes sense. Too much sense. “...Shit...” I whisper, my voice weak and hoarse. “...If you're right...”

“...Look, I'm gonna do what I can to track down her attacker. Or at least the weapon. If I can get that back to your brainiacs, maybe they can do something with it.”

I don't mention that the only medical doctor we could actually trust with the secret side of Tahira's biology has been kidnapped from her honeymoon. I guess Dax's biologist friend at Prescott Industries could be trusted with a sample of Tahira's blood...but that would mean acquiring it...

“Caleb, be careful,” I murmur, lowering my voice. “The...person that attacked her...they aren't human.”

“Aww, you worried about me, Katsaros?”

“Fuck you!” I snarl. “I don't give a shit about you! I just care about getting hold of whoever hurt Tahira!”

“Okay, okay. Calm your tits. Seriously, relax. Remember I can conjure fire. ...But you mind telling me what this thing is, if it ain't human?”

“They're...like a hyper-evolved human. Superior strength, speed, and super senses.”

“...So it's like us.”

I sigh. “...Superficially, yes. ...You get your hands on them, or on the weapon, I'll explain in more detail.”

“...You saying that'll make you trust me?”

“I'm saying that if you help us save Tahira, it will be a huge step in the right direction.”

Tahira

I'm not conscious. I'm sure that I'm not conscious. The last thing I remember was the bright florescent light in the operating room and a face in a surgical mask hovering over me. I was cold. But the right side of my torso felt like it was on fire. Neither of those two sensations have altered, even as I open my eyes to a familiar fuschia sky. I roll my head carefully from one side to the other. The world takes a moment to catch up and slide into focus, almost like I'm drunk. But I see what I was expecting. Crystals. Giant crystals sprouting from the landscape. I'm back in the crystal dimension. The planet where I was born.

I roll carefully onto my uninjured side. The pain remains suspiciously steady. The motion doesn't cause it to flare. There's no tugging sensation to warn me that I might be about to tear whatever stitches they put in me. I sit up slowly and lift my shirt to examine the wound. But there is no wound. Just a red glow, as if there's a flashlight lodged in my torso. It burns. But the rest of me is cold. But I'm not shivering. I press a hand to my chest, and feel the steady throb of my heart under my palm. I raise my hand to hover under my nose and deliberately push out a hard breath. The rush of air tickles my skin. I'm breathing. My heart is beating. I hurt. I don't think I'm dead.

Tahira...!

The voice fills my head and spills out into the air around me. I look up sharply to see a shimmering figure floating among the crystals. I squint. Only three beings I would expect to appear to me this way. Its shape is vaguely masculine, which narrows it down to two.

“...Dad?” I venture to guess. But immediately I realize that isn't right. “No...Vaanu. Uncle. What's happening? What am I doing here?”

Wake up, Tahira. There is desperation in the voice in my head. You must wake up. I cannot reach my daughter.

“Alodia? What's wrong? Is she in trouble?”

Your enemies are moving against you. I cannot reach her. You must wake up.

“Of course. Right away...” But even as I say it, I am aware that I can't. “...Wait...I don't think it's gonna be that simple...”

Wake up, Tahira.

“I swear I'm trying! ...I think they poisoned me, Uncle. I felt so strange before I slipped off. Like I could feel a fog filling my head...” It had all come on too fast, I remember thinking. With my enhanced strength, I shouldn't have collapsed so quickly. I shouldn't have gone into shock. I should have been able to hold out longer.“...Am I dying?”

Though the thought does bring on a twinge of anxiety, I'm not nearly as scared as I probably should be. Still, Vaanu's next words are comforting.

You will not die. But you must fight.

“Right. Fight. ...Um...how?”

...Wake up, Tahira! WAKE UP!...

I grit my teeth as I struggle to my feet. The pain doesn't change with the motion of my body, but it still hurts enough to be hindering. Still, Vaanu has told me what I need to know. I'm alive. But I'm trapped. Trapped in my mind. And I am not going to escape lying in the dirt. I gather my strength and take a step. My bare foot sinks into soft purple dust. It supports my weight, and I raise my other foot to place it in front, leaving behind a neat impression in the dust behind. That's the hardest part over. I don't know where I'm going, but I've taken the first step. I'm coming, Alodia. Wherever you are, I'm coming.

Zahra

I spent the night on the floor of the office. Iris has been plugged into our systems since the news broke. Her hologram has mostly stayed off, but the lights flickering on the surface of her drone assure me she's staying vigilant. Craig came by sometime after midnight to bring me food and coffee—and an extra-large sleeping bag and pillow for us to share. I didn't get a lot of sleep, but that's par for the course. And it was nice to have Craig spooning me all night, feeling his breath against my neck. I catch a little sleep around four in the morning, waking up a couple hours later to find him gone, the heat fading from his spot in the sleeping bag. I check my phone and find a text alert:

P2: Gone to get breakfast! BBS! <3

I smirk, tapping out a reply: Better b donuts

P2: So many donuts!!! I R best bf evar!

An email alert scrolls down at the top of my phone screen. At the same time, Iris' drone chimes, her hologram flickering to life.

“Zahra, an email message has come through, marked high priority.”

“Thanks, Iris. I got it.” I double-tap the alert with my thumb and my email opens. I don't recognize the address—a string of apparently random numbers and letters—and there's an attachment. I would brush it off as a phishing scam or a virus attack, except for the message that accompanies it:

To find Cassandra Sullivan's daughter, consult her first baby. Everett Rourke was never above buying what was useful to him, no matter how ill-gotten.

“...Cassandra Sullivan. That was Alodia's mom's maiden name,” I murmur aloud.

“What about Alodia's mom?” I turn to see Craig pushing through the door, balancing a box of donuts in one hand and a dangerously sagging cardboard tray of two coffee cups in the other. I leap up to grab the tray of cups before our precious caffeine fix ends up all over the carpet.

“Jesus, Craig! Put the cups kitty-corner when there's two of them! It's too heavy when you put them both on one edge!”

“Sorry. So, what about Alodia's mom?” I show him the email pulled up on my phone. He frowns. “...What does that mean? And who sent it?”

“No idea. Iris, can you trace the IP address?”

Iris' holographic eyes flicker for a moment. “Email was sent from an internet café in Barcelona, Spain.”

“Internet café?” Craig repeats. “Those still exist?”

“...'ProjectGalatea'...”

“Huh?”

“That's what the attachment is called. ...How's our antivirus software, Iris?”

I swear Iris's smile looks smug. “Useless compared to me, Zahra. That is why you always take me with you when you go hacking.”

“Touché. Well, I'll let you take care of opening that attachment, then.”

“Of course, Zahra. I...oh, dear...” She trails off, frowning.

“What? What's wrong?”

“Observe the screen, Zahra. I believe there is something you ought to be aware of.”

I move to sit in front of the computer, where Iris has displayed a readout of security data. It takes a few times going over it to realize what I'm looking at. When it finally sinks in, I feel the blood drain out of my head. My hands start to shake on the desk in front of me.

“...Shit...oh, shit...how...?!”

“Z? What is it? What's wrong?” Craig comes to grip my shoulders. “Hey, P1, take a couple breaths.”

“...Security breaches on the island. Three of them. They weren't there when I originally went through the data logs. Iris, are these time stamps accurate?”

“I am afraid so, Zahra. These files came from the back-up archives. I was only just alerted to the discrepancy. I don't know why I didn't catch it sooner.”

“I think I know why,” I reply grimly. “Whoever is responsible, they had access to the latest codes or they would have tripped the alarm. And they were able to delete the records from the primary logs, so they have access to the security system. ...The first breech is about an hour after we lost contact with Jake, Sean, and Michelle.” I feel Craig's grip tighten at the mention of Sean.

“So...what's that mean?”

“...We won't know for sure until we look. But I have a hunch that those three at least are still on the island.”

#playchoices #choices stories you play #pixelberry choices #Endless Summer #hero #Jake McKenzie #Diego Ricardo Ortiz Soto #sean gayle #Craig Hsiao #aleister rourke #raj bhandarkar #estela montoya #quinn kelly #zahra namazi #michelle nguyen #grace hall #eva minuet #dax darcisse #poppy patel #kenji katsaros #grayson prescott

[antagonisms]

BASICS

Name: Evan Czarnecki

Gender & pronouns: cis male, he/him

Species: werewolf

Age: 27. Jokes about being 63, because he was a wolf for 6 years, which is 42 dog years + those 21 normal human years. Either way, age is a really weird concept now.

PERSONALITY

Traits: Pretends to be flippant to put the world at a distance. Vulgar as a means of distancing himself from genuine vulnerability. Perceptive, but won’t let you know that. More self-aware than he lets on. Self-absorbed. Self-destructive. Loves being seen, hates being known.

Moral alignment / MBTI / enneagram: Chaotic neutral. INTP-A. 5w6.

Values: In other people, he likes independence, open-mindedness, the ability to dress well, a lack of tolerance for bullshit, genuine altruism, and resilience.

Flaws: Judgmental. Narcissistic as a defense mechanism. Occasionally rude, but mostly just cheeky. Not a team player. Reckless. Hedonistic. The brokest bitch in Blackrock.

HISTORY 

( shorter version is in the app. i just like details. trigger warnings for child abuse and sex as self harm.)

1) CHILDHOOD

You had a family, once. Your mother’s a piano teacher and your father is — you don’t know, really, but he’s got enough old money to buy nice things even if he’s stingy on principle. He’s polite, and she’s funny, and your fellow patrons at Sunday Mass love all three of you because you’re down-to-earth, surface-level beautiful — a perfect American family.

But they don’t know what happens inside the too-big house at the foot of the mountain. Your mother’s a pessimist, and your father’s a sniveling piece of shit who copes with his worthlessness by making everybody feel small. He’s kinda good at it. They’re both as loud as they are erratic and it’s all a matter of bracing yourself for when the floor inevitably falls through. You make do, mostly. You hide in your room. You lock the door. You put your ears behind headphones. You drown out their screaming matches and your too-loud mind. 

It all falls apart when Mommy decides she hates Daddy more than she loves you. No goodbye. No explanation. She just leaves. 

Her departure plants a lesson you will later find impossible to uproot: love is earned, Evan, you’re not working hard enough. At least your father stayed. At least he sometimes loved you. At least, you think so. He might have loved you when he took you fishing, or gave you that book you really liked, or when he buys you clothes that look really nice. You flip through your mother’s old sheet music and fumble through the piano keys, and you think he might love you when he watches you fill this house with her memory without saying anything.

But mostly, he’s not very kind. You don’t want to think about it anymore.

2) ADOLESCENCE

You inherit your mother’s cynicism and your father’s stingy heart. The skill you develop is as much a sense of humor as it is a safety net. If life’s a joke, beat it to the punchline. By the time you’re fifteen, you can no longer pretend that your world is worth saving. You keep it at arm’s length. Your mind makes a mockery of the darkness to keep its jaws at a distance, because if you couldn’t do that, your pitch-black pessimism would swallow you whole.

Growing up feels less like maturing and more like mutating. By the time you’re sixteen, you stop feigning perfection to earn the affection of a father who’s heart is colder than your Blackrock winter. Popular misconception claims control is a word you never learned, but that’s just what you let everyone think. The truth is: control is a lesson you pried out of your body when the need for acceptance evolved into a need to rebel. You’re an embarrassment, Evan. Adolescence meant insurrection. You’re a failure of a son. Pills and booze and boys and girls biting the hand that hit him. Your heart is a bullet and your mouth is a shotgun and you will make yourself repulsive if the alternative is admitting that — Evan, I wish you knew how difficult it is to love you.

You only apply yourself when it matters. You get into Stanford. You take a loan. You don’t let your father pay for tuition, because you’re not letting him control your life anymore. You leave your tar pit town the way your mother did, and it’s only a matter of time before your goodbye is permanent. 

It gets better as much as it gets worse. You leave home, but home doesn’t really leave you, and you don’t recognize your body when it’s not in pain. You’re beautiful, though. People see you and want to make you theirs. You let it happen. Too-rough hands salve the ghosts of bruises your father left you. This is the ugliest way of putting it: you feel damaged. Every person you kiss has too-sharp teeth, and maybe that’s exactly how you want it, because if this body doesn’t feel like it belongs to you, then offer it up in a way that feels good.

You always leave first. You love much how it tears them apart. This is your inheritance: your Momma’s love of leaving, and your Daddy’s stingy, stingy heart.

3) THE BITE

Unlike your mother, you tried to come back. Your father called one night, asking if you wanted to return for Christmas, and the small, stupid flicker of hope that your pessimism couldn’t kill begged that you give him a chance.

He didn’t change. He argues about the degree you’re taking with the money you don’t have and insists on carving a future for you, his way. He doesn’t like your independence. He doesn’t like your protests. Your fights are explosive until they aren’t, until a raised fist reminds you exactly what violence he’s capable of.

At least he sometimes loves you. Maybe he loved you when he picked your wounded body up, carried you out of the woods, and bandaged up bite on your side. Maybe he loved you when he brought medicine to your room, and maybe he loved you when made you chicken soup just the way you liked it, even when you didn’t ask. Maybe he loved you when he sat by the side of your bed, and talked about his father, and his father’s father, and how none of them really knew how to grow up without making their sons feel small.

But the fever is strange. A new kind of anger tears out whatever capacity for forgiveness you might have had. Your bones are changing. Something wretched twists and grows inside you, and with a hot flash of pain, you’re something new entirely.

You have one last coherent thought before the wild takes your mind completely.

I have to kill him. So you do. 

3.5) THE THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW

The news of your father’s death spreads like wildfire in Blackrock. It’s not your father’s mangled body that causes intrigue, it’s your disappearance. Wolf attacks, while uncommon, aren’t exactly rare, and everyone’s heard the folktales. Neighbors assure that you were there during the evidence, but the police find no evidence of carnage, not a pound of flesh nor drop of blood to support the fearful need to conclude that there’s nothing supernatural about this. You can’t prove the Czarnecki kid isn’t a werewolf, the gossipers say. Nobody can even prove that he’s dead.

4) WOLF-HOOD

You don’t know what strange circumstance landed you in your new body, but maybe you don’t care. Maybe the bite and the fever killed you, and the Buddhists were right. You don’t really know if you earned enough good karma to deserve this reincarnated form, but either way, you’re never letting it go. You hunt deer. You roll around in the snow. You snarl at any predator that dares to get near, and bite the ones that move into your space without permission. Sometimes you walk into the backyards of strangers and wait for children who aren’t afraid to try and approach you. You don’t eat them, because just because you’re a monster now doesn’t mean you don’t have principles.

You lie down. You let them rub your belly.

It’s a really nice life.

5) NOW

Six years after you thought you died, a woman drags you out of the woods you back into your body. Even a lifetime of pain couldn’t prepare you for the shift back. New bones tear your animal flesh apart, piercing your skin open to make room for your wretched old body. It aches in too many ways. The people — the wolves — the ones who did this to you, they tell you this is your home now.

So it wasn’t Buddhism. Maybe it’s the Catholics who’re right; eternal damnation does await the unrepentant sinner, and it looks like this: you’re here, trapped in a frat house for furries, without a  cellphone, a car, or clothes of your own, or money to pay a doctor to confirm whether or not you’d acquired a tapeworm.

You realize you owe Stanford 213,000 dollars.

You are a very tired wolf.

TLDR:

Evan has a bad childhood. He becomes a wolf. He kills his father. He mistakes lycanthropy for reincarnation and lives in wolf-nirvana for six whole years. You drag him out of nirvana. The realization that he didn’t actually die puts him in a terrible mood. 

CONNECTIONS 

( So uhhh I wrote up possible prompts for the existing werewolf skeletons before I knew what anyone was like and I think they can be good jumping points! If you don’t feel this fits your character, or if you want a different sort of dynamic, just message me! )

1) WOLVES (AND BITTEN HUMAN)

ALDER: You’ve seen him at his ugliest — a small, scared creature writhing on the floor, that horrific cross between a howl and a screech leaving his shifting throat. Now there’s a flare of red-hot resentment in his eyes whenever he looks at you, and it makes you wonder if he’s more monstrous as a human than he is a beast. You saved him from death. You realize you cannot save him from life. He’ll never forgive you for that.

HEMLOCK: You are a bootlicker and he does not like you.

HICKORY: It’s not your job to keep the feral wolf in line, but your brother seems to resent whatever circumstance it was that landed him the role of mongrel babysitter. Consider picking up the slack. The guy’s only half-terrible — sullen and strange but mostly manageable, and maybe earning his trust is only a matter of affording him the patience that nobody else wants to offer. If it’s an opportunity to prove this pack your worth, try taking it.

MAPLE: You’ve worked too hard to protect this pack, to earn your position. Now your lot has dragged some feral creature out of the woods, offered him their home, their humanity, and still, he has the nerve to be ungrateful. He makes it clear that he doesn’t trust you. He makes it even clearer that you cannot trust him. Maybe the demons in your head are concussed, but the new demon in your home now insists on giving you a migraine. 

PINE: You are a mirror of lost days. You are the young flighty creature he once was and can never become again. Home is a word you might have both forgotten, but circumstance has offered you both a new roof over your heads, and a family to go with it. Maybe these similarities should draw you closer, but there’s a glimmer of resentment in his eyes whenever he looks at you. You don’t know why it’s there. It could be pity. It might be envy. It must be grief. 

OAK: He had a father, once, and that shit didn’t end well. For some reason, he sees it fit to pass some unearned blame on you, and now years of buried resentment are yours to bear. Family’s a broken word, he seems to think, but you cannot let him break yours. Still, it’s evident that he lacks the capacity to be as self-sufficient as he’d like, and as long as that’s true, it’s your thumb he’ll be under. You know he needs you. Offer an open hand, or pull the leash tighter. The choice is yours.

REDCEDAR: He shows up at the bookstore to read a new title of Animorphs every other day and you don’t know how that makes you feel.

WILLOW: He might take more kindly to you than he does the others. You’re both new to a home you’re not sure will ever welcome you, and more importantly, you both wanted this. The bite. This beastliness. The difference is that he’s certain. Your condition is a new part of yourself that you have yet to fully love, but he seems to think he can teach you. Man and beast are equally monstrous, he tries to convince you. So let’s be the kind with bigger teeth.

2) OPEN CONNECTIONS

( Open to humans ) has taken an interest in the Czarnecki Werewolf Conspiracy. They’re familiar with the incident — a dead father, a missing son, and the wolf that allegedly kill them both. All the facts line up too neatly, and when somebody who looks to be the ghost of one Evan Czarnecki returns to haunt the streets of Blackrock, they think it’s finally time they get some answers.

( Open to humans ) once knew Evan. Yeah, the kid who always got straight A’s and played piano for Catholic mass? What the actual shit happened to him? They’re watched Evan go from familiar face to murder case overnight, but now, the town recluses have found a new adoptee — and he’s the splitting image of the boy they once knew. Maybe it’s time to reconnect.

3) VAGUE CONCEPTS

he uhhhh (spins wheel) flirted with ( open ) at last drop for free drinks and then realized that spending six years as a wolf made him de-acquire the taste of liquor and now he’s having a crisis

( open ) tells him he needs therapy. evan laughs

this is actually very hard he’s so unsociable

jsut message me... we’ll think of something

#shipper. #about.