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stayarmytinyzenmoa-l · 3 years

Text

Locked and Reloaded [Ch. 5]

Marvel AU

TW: Language, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Blood, Gun Violence, Implied Abusive Household

Genre: Action, Light Comedy, Angst

Pairing: NCT Dream x Reader

YN Pronouns: Female (She/Her)

(5/?) [First] | [Previous] | [Next]

[Main Masterlist] | [Locked and Reloaded Masterlist]

Word Count: 6.5K

Notes: It’s about time these members entered the story. I’m dropping this now instead of a Saturday upload because I’m getting my second dose of vaccine in about nine hours, and from how both of my parents reacted something tells me that I’m going to be incapacitated for the next two days, so I decided to finish this bad boy up now! Currently next on my list to work on is Infatuation, so I’ll see you in that update!

Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in or condone these actions. I would never wish any of these actions to occur to the Idol(s) mentioned in the writings of these stories, nor do I wish any harm on them.

“That’s stupid,” you told your older brother. Baekhyun just laughed. You had just finished ranting to him how a majority of the premise of chemistry was ridiculous, being founded on one key theory that could be amended at any moment, something now set in stone or put to law. It was a theoretical science that clashed with the lawfulness of physics and the puzzle of biology. “Chemistry is literally the weakest link.”

“I don’t quite think so, songbird,” the nickname was sweet in his voice, it was one you had had for as long as you could remember. He leans against your desk and he points at the picture. “It’s just atomic theory.”

“Yeah, and it’s stupid. Imagine, all of this work, all seven hundred of these pages and countless other books could get proved incorrect if someone disproves it.”

“You read this entire textbook and that’s all you have to say about it?” Baekhyun raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Wah, you’re so amazing and you don’t even know it,” he hugged your head to his stomach and you pushed him away.

“Ew, you’re so gross,” you wiped the sweat from your face. “At least shower before coming into my room! You’re disgusting when you use the gym.”

“And miss my darling sister? No way, that and I came to congratulate you!” He points at the certificate on your desk just under your coffee mug. “Not every day you win the science fair… again.”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks,” you put a textbook over it. He was right, but it was hardly an achievement for you at this point, it was an expectation.

“What did you do this year?” None of them even showed up, the only person there to help you with your project was Jeno, but he was always there whether you liked it or not.

“You don’t know?”

“I was at the conference, remember?”

“Oh, right,” you sighed. “It was just an observation on bees.”

“Whoa! Bees are great! They’re so helpful for pollination, for honey, and so much more!” Baekhyun smiles. “Hey, your birthday’s coming up, right? Fourteen? Oh god, oh no, my songbird? A teen? I don’t think I can handle this.”

“You’re overreacting! It’s not like I’m going to be any different. Plus, I’m already a teen.”

“Oh, (Y/N), you have no idea. Thirteen is the one year free trial before you start having to pay to be a teen. Once you turn fourteen, ugh, I don’t even know how to say this,” Baekhyun fake cries and wipes away the invisible tears. “It’ll be like you’re a whole different person.”

“Stop that! Why are you acting so weird?” You laughed and turned to him. Baekhyun crossed his arms over his chest and your smile dropped. You knew that look on his face better than anyone. “You’re leaving again, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I leave tonight,” he says.

“How long?”

“Maybe a week this time, dad wants to show me the properties over in Zone 8.”

“Seriously? What for?” The factories that far out from the city were nearly ghost factories, they just handled building the smaller removable parts of the weapons your father developed. You couldn’t think of a possible reason why Baekhyun would have to go out that far.

“I have no clue, maybe he just wants me to see the Byun system at a smaller scale,” Baekhyun sighs. “Will you be okay here?”

“Will I be okay here? Don’t make me laugh,” you slammed your textbook shut and stared at him. “She hates me.”

“Don’t say that.”

“She does! You’ve seen the way she talks to me when you’re not around, Baek, I genuinely think that woman wants to get rid of me.”

“She’s your mother.”

“No, she’s your mother.” You didn’t mean for it to come out as accusing as it did. But you could genuinely say that you never felt anything from her aside from the obvious disdain she must have held for you. But what could you do? You’d hate you too. If one day your husband showed up at your doorstep with a kid you didn’t recognize telling you to treat her as if she was your own, you’d despise that child’s existence. All you were was proof of infidelity, and your stepmother made that very clear. You were her daughter on paper alone, but in reality, you were nothing more than a freeloader. “I’m just the bastard kid from dad’s mistress.”

“Do not,” Baekhyun held a finger up and stared at you with an intensity you’ve never seen on his face before. Seriousness wasn’t something that Baekhyun often used, especially around you. “Do not ever reduce yourself to that. Do you understand? You are so much more than that and you can’t let anyone who says that to you bring you down, you cannot let that weigh on you. Who even told you that?”

“She did. Who else?”

“God…” Baekhyun looked away and huffed. He held his hand to his forehead and sighed. “Keep in touch with me, okay? Just one more year and I can take it to court.”

“Forget it, Baek,” you waved your hand. “It would never work. We have no proof.”

“Well,” Baekhyun pressed his lips together and placed a tape in front of you.

“A tape? Seriously?”

“Don’t hate on old tech, they’re still around for a reason. I have a walkman in my room, second drawer on my desk. Listen to it later, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” you placed the tape in your own drawer, out of sight and out of mind.

“Just wait for me, alright?”

“Yeah.”

“(Y/N), I’m serious.”

“I know.”

“I’ll be back, okay?”

“Okay, just go, dad’s probably waiting for you,” you opened your textbook again and stared at the passages on it. You had a really bad feeling about tonight, but you couldn’t quite place your finger on it.

“Love you, songbird.”

“I know.”

“Sungchan! Four o’clock!” You shouted towards the agent. Sungchan, moving a second too late was met with the spine of a book to his face, promptly knocking him out. “Aw, geez,” you shoved your bag under a table, hoping that it would be somewhat okay after the fight, and threw a metal tray, the circular object blocking one of the flying weapons from hitting Shotaro on his way to Sungchan.

“Thank you!” He shouts. He leans next to his best friend and tries to wake him up while the fight continued.

“I’ll try to keep you guys covered, but you might need to fill in for me eventually, Reaper’s not doing too good over there,” you stumbled over to the two and handed Shotaro one of the pillows from the couch. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, just knocked out, but I have to watch him just in case… you know.”

“I do, just make sure he’s fine.”

With Jeno’s sudden appearance the Sanctum became a new battleground. Ancient artifacts were being used left and right for battle, whether they were used correctly or not, and with incoherent shouts filling the previously calm room. Strange was doing his best to prevent anything potentially world-threatening from happening, the Sorcerer Supreme understanding the laws of the universe, as well as any of you did, while the Maverick worked to bring down Vulture. The surprise attack rendered them at an unfortunate disadvantage. Strange was more concerned with keeping the battle within the Sanctum than he was helping any of you out, which was entirely understandable.

“I got it!” Peter shoved back the bookcase that was about to fall on you.

“Thanks, Peter.”

“Just so you know I am so sorry I did not mean for any of this to happen I didn’t know.”

“Oh goodness, no hard feelings, Peter, it happens to the best of us,” you said to him. “There’s no way you could’ve known.”

“Thanks, (Y/N), that means a— Watch out!” He pushed you out of the way just as a shield lodged itself between you, you turned towards the source and saw Vulture, and you had to stop yourself from getting any more frustrated than you already are.

“Fucking hell,” you clapped your hands together and jogged in place. “Stretching before fights is good for you, Peter, don’t forget that,” you said to him. Then you saw Cap waving his hand. You pulled the shield from its spot and threw it back to him.

“Nice arm!”

“Don’t lose your shit!” You moved your head to the side just as a bullet whizzed past you. “And watch where you’re aiming!” You dodged another bullet as it ricocheted off of one of the metal artifacts of the Sanctum.

“I am,” Jaemin’s voice was steady despite the chaos. “Reaper!” Jaemin tossed one o the artifacts towards the other, particularly a sharp one, and Jeno drove it into the wall next to Vulture, just barely grazing the Follower. Vulture grabbed onto the back of Jeno’s neck, the razor claws on his hands emerging and sinking into the half-demon before Vulture slammed Jeno’s head through the wall.

“Urgh, I felt that,” you rubbed the back of your neck as the phantom pain shot through it. You quickly stepped back just as an eldritch whip snapped in front of you.

“Mr. Wong?!” Peter gasps.

“That one isn’t in our database,” Jaemin grabbed onto the whip as it went towards you again, ‘Wong’ staring at him with a slight confusion, to which Jaemin just tugged it away from the other’s hands, watching the concentrated energy dissipate.

“Well then add him later, dammit,” you charged towards Vulture but soon felt something wrap around your ankle. You looked at the portal next to your foot and the hand around it. “Ew! Oh my god!” You yanked it out of ‘Wong’s’ grasp and shot towards him, the bullets disappearing before they could get anywhere close. No wonder it was so fucking convenient, you hoped whoever the real Wong was and where he was currently wasn’t too horrible.

“We should name this guy,” Jaemin dodged the eldritch disk that nearly sliced his throat. “I’m thinking Frisbee.”

“Oh come on, let’s stay true to tradition and wait for Hyuck,” you pulled a sword from the suit of armor next to you and blocked the whip again. You turned the hilt in your hand and smiled. “Ooh, I like this. You know my ex used to be an expert fencer.”

“I almost forgot about that one,” Jaemin hums. “What’s with sleeping beauty over there?”

“Got hit in a face with a book.”

“Oh that’s good, one less bomb we have to worry about.”

“That’s rude,” you scolded him.

“Can someone help me over here?!” Jeno’s pissed off voice came from the office. He pushed himself up from the rubble and cracked his neck before his knuckles. “I’m going to kill this guy, fuck the Agreement.”

“Does the Agreement even apply this far out?” You asked. Jaemin pulled out his phone briefly. The Agreement was offered by the D98 Avengers, basically promising not to do any dimension altering things, but it was just a promise, nothing was set in stone and thus was lacking in any legality. It was a gentleman’s promise, so to say.

“Technically it doesn’t, D62 is far out of D98 bounds. And since none of the Avengers are here…” Jaemin let Jeno fill in the blanks himself.

“Good,” Jeno tapped his wrists together, a blood-red magic circle appearing between them.

“Wait, do you guys hear that?” You looked around while skillfully parrying evil Wong’s attacks.

“Hear what?” Shotaro was nursing the passed out Sungchan while blocking any projectiles that made their way towards him.

“It kind of sounds like screaming,” Jaemin furrowed his eyebrows.

“No, it sounds like… no, of all the members to send,” you groaned. Then the sound of doors crashing open accompanied the chaos that was the Sanctum while a familiar face ran in head first, literally, screaming his head off, and rams into Dr. Strange.

“I got this one, V! Don’t worry!” Chenle shouts.

“You idiot he’s on our side!” Jeno grabs a polearm from a nearby suit of armor and whacks it over Vulture’s head, the polearm breaking in half right after and really just pissing off the Follower more.

“Oh is he? Sorry!” Chenle detached himself from the sorcerer.

“Looks like we’ll be having a change in plans,” Strange murmured and disappeared from the room.

“Did the wizard just dip?!” You yelled.

“I think so!” Chenle yelled back, despite being right next to you.

“Why are you even here?!”

“We were talking to Fury when Jeno just fell into a sudden pool of blood! I followed your tracker here because I figured you’re in trouble. Be grateful!”

“I never said I wasn’t?!” You heard a pang next to you and turned to your side, a circular shield blocking your vision for only a brief moment before connecting with Other Wong’s abdomen.

“Thanks,” you nodded towards Steve.

“No problem,” he says. “But where’d that bullet come from?” Cap looks around the room. Jaemin rushes next to you and grabs something, pointing it upwards. Within a few moments, someone materializes next to him. A classic cloaking spell, of course, right when you needed it most.

“Monsieur,” her voice was hoarse.

“Lynx,” you saw him grimace while the woman drove a knife into Jaemin’s side and twisted it harshly. A loud groan left the man’s throat while you darted next to him and tackled the woman to the ground.

“I like your D62 version better!” You pressed your gun to her head and she threw you off before you could pull the trigger.

“Nat!?” Steve blocked another gunshot from her with his shield.

“Not Nat,” Bucky answers.

“Where have you been?”

“This thing’s still glowing,” Bucky held up the crystal.

“Give that to me!” Chenle appears next to them and grabs it. “You meaty idiots don’t know what to do with this.”

“Was that an insult?”

“Apperio!” Chenle ignored the Captain and chanted the charm, a magic circle appeared around the crystal. Following the ripple of two blue circles that expanded throughout the room, two more people appeared.

“There’s more of them?!” You shot Vulture in the leg. Before you were two other notorious members of the Elite. Arachnid, who you fought before, and Dead Shot, someone you were hoping not to run into in this dimension. “Someone get Parker out of here as soon as he touches Arachnid it’s over!” You shout.

“Oh please, I wouldn’t even try that. What good is this mission if any of us blow up the dimension while we’re at it,” Arachnid catches the flying dagger and flings it back towards Jaemin, who easily dodged it.

“We have orders to keep you alive, Vendetta, comply and the others will live,” Dead Shot spoke in his trademarked mechanical voice.

“Fuck that,” you pointed your gun at Arachnid and click. Click, click. “Well, this is awkward,” you chucked the magnum at Arachnid, the handle of the gun hitting the area between the mutant’s eyes and stunning him briefly, while Dead Shot released a flurry of bullets. You ran along the wall to dodge them, looking for something to shield yourself with now that Cap and Bucky were busy with Lynx, Jeno had Vulture busy, and Jaemin moved over to Arachnid so that Peter could handle Evil-Wong instead.

“Surrender or be forced to, Vendetta.”

“Well, shit,” you held a book in front of you while Dead Shot went through consecutive rounds.

“How could you not know a Follower was here?!” Jeno was pushed back next to you while deflecting Vulture’s attacks.

“How the hell was I supposed to know?! I didn’t even know that those three were here until a couple of minutes ago!”

“Are you kidding me?!”

“No, I’m not kidding you because if I was we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“It has been thirty minutes! I let you and Jaemin go for thirty minutes and this happens!”

“In our defense,” Jaemin gets pushed back to the other side of you and clears his throat. “Peter brought us here.”

“I said I’m sorry!” Peter brushes off the embers on his suit. “Aw man, how am I going to explain this to Mr. Stark?”

“Explain? Have you been reporting us to him?!” You asked.

“Uh… no,” Peter’s phone goes off and he answers it. “Hi, Mr. Stark, there’s kind of a situation going on right now—”

“Tell them not to come here! If any of the other Followers show up it could tear the fabric of reality apart!” Chenle shouts. A magic circle appears under Peter’s phone and it short circuits. Chenle adjusts the watch around his wrist, a much larger magic circle appearing from it.

“Vocavi te ab umbris,” at the utterance of the words the shadows in the room gathered together to a much larger amalgamate. “Go, Vendetta, I’ll keep them handled.”

“Fuck,” you spotted your backpack, which was pushed up against the wall on the other side of the room.

“What now?” Jeno asks.

“Backpack.”

“What about it?”

“There’s something really important in there,” Jaemin sounded disappointed. “We could hole-in-one it, V.”

“We could,” you said. “But that risks shaking it up too much.

“Hot potato then?” Jeno offers.

“Who would start it?”

“The closest person is Shotaro, if he throws it far enough I could probably catch it,” Jeno says. “Pass it over to Jaemin.”

“Then I’ll pass it to you. But by then you need to be in that hallway,” Jaemin says.

“Got it, I can do that.”

“And if anything goes wrong?”

“Wing it.”

“We’re going to die in this dimension, aren’t we?” Jeno frowns.

“On the count of three, break,” Jaemin says, ignoring his best friend’s words. You hand Jeno the old sword, which he took without question. “One.”

“What do I need this for?”

“Well, I certainly don’t need it.”

“Two.”

“Wait, are we even on the same page?”

“I don’t know, are we?”

“Three!” Jaemin shoved you forward and you took off, dodging literally everything on your way to get out and probably get some more help.

“Shotaro! Pass me that backpack!” Jeno shouts over the gunshots. Shotaro perked up and grabbed the black bag, chucking it towards Jeno, who caught it easily. “Monsieur— Fuck, too far, Apollo! Pass this over to him!” Jeno tossed the backpack towards Chenle, the heavy bag slamming into the magician mid-spell.

“What the hell?!”

“Pass it here!” Jaemin knocked over Lynx and used her head the propel himself up and grab the backpack after Chenle threw it. He ran over towards you and threw it. Right as your hand grabbed the strap, it was yanked away from you.

“Fuck!” You looked back at who had it now, seeing your backpack in the hands of the last person who should have it. You were about the run over to him, but the bullet that landed too close for comfort reminded you that you had to leave now. “Arachnid has it!” You’d just have to put your trust into the three that were already here.

“Got it,” Jeno bashed his knee into Vulture’s head, finally incapacitating the Follower and switched targets. You turned around and ran into the hallway. You just had to call one of the other members to run over here with some extra materials. You hit the side of your phone, which only frizzed at the motion. Chenle must have jammed the signals to prevent more reinforcements from coming, great. You couldn’t run around forever, Dead Shot always hit his targets in the end, you continued down the hallway, not bothering to look back, but when you found yourself cornered against a hallway, you forced to figure out a solution. With the smell of smoke and the sounds of bullets hitting the ground— Wait a second. You looked down the hallway, bullets hitting metal and ricocheting towards you but never hitting any intended destination, there wasn’t even a bullet hole in sight, instead there were just empty shells on the ground. But in your analysis you failed to notice the stray bullet that was right in front of you. Then you saw someone’s closed fist in front of you.

“Did I get all of them?” He panted. He opened his hand and twelve bullets fell out of it.

“Oh my god, Mark, you’re just in time, I don’t remember you being this fast either,” you caught your breath and hugged the speedster, separating quickly. Mark pat down the smoke on his boots.

“I don’t think I’ve ever run that fast…” He stretches his back and kicks the bullet shells aside.

“How’d you even get here?”

“The sorcerer guy called Baekhyun and asked us to come right away. I had a feeling it wasn’t anything good so I came first, told them I’d scout the area. It’s a good thing I came, otherwise you’d look like Sponge-Bob…” He laughs awkwardly. “You’re at your quota, aren’t you?” He looks down at your feet. You followed his gaze and saw the rusted knife sticking out from it, then you noticed the bloody trail you left behind. You sighed and pulled the old thing out.

“Remind me to get a Tetanus shot.”

“You are at your quota,” he gasped.

“Can’t afford to possibly die right now,” you shook your head. “I thought since the dimension was far enough it’d get me some leeway, but I guess not,” you grimaced.

“Shit, it really is a good thing that I came just in time,” Mark looks over his shoulder. “Dead Shot should be on his way, you didn’t make it hard to find you.”

“Don’t smart-mouth me right now, Mark.”

“Right, yeah, sorry about that,” the speedster ruffled his blue hair and unzipped his jacket, pulling out a book from it. It was heavy, no doubt, leather-bound with metal embellishments around it. The book had lived through as many eons as it did dimensions. You had asked Mark to try to get it for you if he could, but nothing more than that. Better to leave him in blissful ignorance. “Look, I don’t have a lot of time to say this,” he says while he hands it to you.

“Just spit it out.”

“I was looking into that thing you asked me about and here, this is all I got,” he says. “Whatever you need it for it’d better be important, I almost got turned into a frog for it. The guy I got it from warned me not to read it though.”

“Why?”

“I dunno, something about corrupting the person who reads it.”

“Oh shit, I should have Jeno read it then.”

“True, you can’t corrupt a demon.”

“But then again he is only half.”

“Look, (Y/N), I only got you the book because you were so insistent on it. Just reassure me and tell me that you won’t do anything stupid with it.”

“I won’t, I won’t, I may be stupid but I’m not that stupid, Mark. When are the others coming?”

“I just gave them the signal to enter, they’ll be taking care of the Follower problem here in a bit. But you’re going to have to explain why you’re here to them, and I’m afraid that it might involve you revealing your identities this time.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Why else would you be in D62 being housed and paid by this dimension’s Avengers?”

“Fair enough—” you were cut off by the bullet grazing your ear and landing in the wall behind you. Another one rang out and Mark grimaced, holding his hand to his shoulder

“Argh! Come on!” He grunts. He puts a hand on your back and one behind your neck.

“Why?”

“Whiplash,” you blinked and suddenly found yourself back in the Avenger’s Compound.

“Mark, don’t you dare!”

“Sorry! Jeno’s orders! I’d rather a pissed off you than Jeno!”

“Mark, I swear if you zoom out of here—” but the speedster was already gone by the time you turned around. “Dammit!” You kicked the wall and winced immediately, you completely forgot that it was the same foot that had a knife driven through it earlier.

He was right, you’d reached your quota. There was a certain amount of times you were allowed to “die” until it would be too much, and you knew you’d be at this quota when your body would stop healing itself, it was getting ready for its original host to return. You just didn't think you’d reach it soon, and who knows until the number resets? It was always a varying number, and until it did you had to lay low. It was such a hassle that you always tried to avoid it, but coming to this dimension seemed to have expedited the whole thing. You heard a bag of chips drop behind you.

“(Y/N)? When did you get here?” Jisung stared at you while he picked up the bag.

“Mark.”

“Mark’s here? Where?” Jisung looks around.

“There was a complication at Dr. Strange’s place,” you limped towards him, he rushed over to you and reached for your hand to help you, but you tugged it away. “I’m fine.”

“Oh, okay,” Jisung gave you a little more space, but still walked next to you, sporting that easy-to-read concern. “Do they need help?”

“No. The Avengers are coming.”

“Oh… oh no,” Jisung caught onto why you were being short now. “Oh no, oh no, we won’t have a choice then.”

“No, we won’t,” you heaved the large book under your arm. Jisung looked at it but chose not to question you. “I’ll be in my room, I have a lot of thinking to do before we explain ourselves to the lapdogs so, if you need me, I’ll be in there,” Jisung says.

“Oi, (Y/N)!” Haechan held his hand up and Jisung furiously shook his head. Hyuck pressed on regardless. “Think you need this,” he waved the small box in his hand and you did a doubletake.

“Where did you get that?!” You rushed forward and snatched it out of his hands. “Be a bit more gentle with it!”

“Whoa! What’s got you pissed? Jeno drowned and dropped this. Changmin said to give it to you so I figured it’s important, damn.”

“The Avengers are coming.”

“Like… these Avengers?” He points around the room. “Or our Avengers.”

“The second one,” Jisung nods. “Right, (Y/N)?” You didn’t answer, you were already halfway to your room. You tossed the book on your bed and you opened the small box, pulling the vial of iridescent liquid from it. You twisted it open and downed its limited contents in one gulp. You felt all of your muscles relax at once and you sat on the bed. The wound on your foot closed quickly.

“Postponed, at least for now,” you stretched your arms. “But not permanently,” you placed the vial back in the box and you grabbed the book. As you held the two sides in your hands, ready to open it, you recalled Mark’s warning. Then you remembered the words of the Demon King himself.

“If you know what’s good for you, and what’s good for the world you reside in. Do not seek more than you already know about yourself.”

The times you spoke to Jeno’s father were limited, and your best friend liked it that way, preferred it actually, but the times you did talk they were always pleasant. Save for that warning. He knew something you didn’t, the both of them. You acquired this book without any of their knowledge. For years you just went with it, there’s a quota for death, there’s a reason why you can’t die, there’s a reason why you should avoid stepping near the Seraph, but now in this new universe, you had to know. There was something calling out to you in this dimension, it was very faint, and you didn’t truly notice it until you walked into the Sanctum.

You put the book away, sliding it under the bed.

Trust is mutual, if two very powerful beings are telling you to stay in your lane you probably should. You knew the bare minimum of your condition, so to say, you knew what you had to. Die too many times too close together and something else will come and reclaim its host, and all you knew about that entity was that it was some eldritch creature that took a millennia to finally contain, and for some reason, it had some affinity for you. That is where your knowledge stopped and your curiosity began. What could be so powerful that even the all-powerful Demon King wanted to keep it contained, and what did it have to do with you? Your answers were under your bed. But you risked too much by simply opening the book on its own. You hit your head lightly on the wall behind you. The liquid in the vial would extend your quota by at most three, you had to use them carefully. If you were going to attract a horrific monster, it would probably be best to not do it in a world that you didn’t belong to.

There was a knock at your door.

“What do you want, Renjun?”

The door opened slowly, and someone else stood at it.

“Is now a bad time?” Stark asks. You shook your head.

“It’s your building, come in,” you sighed. He walked in at your invitation, sitting at the table to the side.

“So this is what S.H.I.E.L.D. meant by living accommodations,” he laughs.

“What did you need, Mr. Stark?”

“Tony’s fine, thanks,” he says. “Sorry, it was eating away at me, I had to ask.”

“You wanna know about what you’re like in my dimension, right?”

“I’d appreciate it, but, something tells me I should come back later.”

“Oh, no, no, it’s fine.”

“Where are your friends?”

“Probably getting their asses kicked, but I’m here instead,” you shrugged. “Honestly, you’re not that different. Maybe a little less depressed, but that’s about it. For what it counts, to our knowledge, you aren’t a Follower. You work closely with the Seraph, if they found out then you would’ve been executed on spot, at the very least.”

“Oh yeah? Crazy leader or rational one?”

“Bit of both,” you leaned forward on your bed, kicking the book further under your bed. “Want to know anything else?”

“I was wondering if you could walk me through your Traveler of yours, is it anything like Time Travel?”

“Let’s call it two sides of the same coin.”

“How so? What do you use? Cosmic strings? Möbius strip?”

“Have you heard of the infinite cylinder theory?”

“Also known as Tipler?

“Yes!”

“Then yes, I’m aware.”

“How about Schrödinger’s Equation?”

“We’re talking hamiltonian operators?”

“Bingo. If you can manipulate those two concepts, you can get time travel, but it’s not perfect. So manipulate them differently, add a few more concepts because you have to take relativity into account, and bam. Dimensional Travel.”

“That easy?”

“Yeah, well, no, but in theory sure.”

“And you never went to high school?”

“What’s that got to do with it? If you need a degree to prove you’re right then you’re probably not the sharpest tool in the shed,” you shrug. Tony opened his mouth to retaliate, but couldn’t think of a good comeback to that. “Something tells me you want to ask me something more specific though, Peter let slip that he’s been sending you updates, so I’m sure you’re here for a different reason.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why help us?”

“Don’t really know how to answer that one, Tony,” you placed your ankle on your opposite knee and rolled out your ankle. “Usually we just take whichever job pays the most, but Changmin asked us personally to take this one, so how could we say no? The guy rarely ever asks us favors, and it was the least we could do.”

“That simple?”

“What? Did you want me to say that we wanted to meet you guys? I mean, it’s certainly a plus. Most of your team happen to be carbon copies of the same one who wants to kill us, so there’s that, we’re observing the ways you act, maybe it’ll help us in the future, maybe not. It’s like a two-way deal, you get your Traveler, and we get data.”

“Data,” Tony scoffs. “I can see why you’d come to that conclusion.”

“What can I say? It’s helpful. But, I can definitely say that we might be relieved of our duties soon, we’re technically here illegally, I’ll have you know,” you said to him. “We’re supposed to get official approval from the Secretary of Travel before jumping dimensions, but we’re not exactly law followers so we never did. But now that an official government team is on their way, hoo boy, my greatest rival is yet to come. Paperwork,” you made light of what would otherwise be a very very bad situation.

“I heard, so we get to meet the other Avengers.”

“Yup. And, let me tell you right now, they’re not the nicest people.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, just you wait until I tell you about them.”

The shadow amalgamate shattered into what it once was, scurrying back to their original positions, once Chenle had the wind knocked out of him by Lynx. He landed harshly on Jaemin, who then lost his balance and sent the two tumbling down to the first floor of the Sanctum.

“Sorry,” Chenle rolled off the top of Jaemin.

“It’s fine, call it even for the incident with the banshee.”

“Agreed, ugh, my head’s doing cartwheels…”

“Cartwheels? I feel like mine is being churned,” Jaemin holds his head. Chenle and Jaemin lay next to each other for a moment, trying to stop their spinning heads when someone stood over them.

“Are we bothering you, gentlemen?”

“Ugh, these fuckers are here,” Jaemin covered his eyes with his arms. “Tell me when they’re gone, Apollo.”

“That’s kind of mean,” Mark frowns. Jaemin moves his hand.

“Mark’s not a bad person, actually, Tony. I feel bad because I encouraged him to join the Avengers when they asked, but the other guys saw it as a complete betrayal. But he’s loyal, he doesn’t hate us and we don’t hate him, or at least I don’t.”

“Oh look! The traitor!” He lazily points at him. “Do you know how much shit we’ve been through since you left?”

“All the dishes we’ve had to wash?”

“V won’t even let us take your room because she thinks you’re coming back! You dumb traitor, what happened to our friendship bracelets, Mark?! Huh?!”

“You guys, don’t call me that, come on! Look I’m still wearing it!” Mark whines.

“Go away! You left us for your cooler friends who can legally blow things up, go! Go have fun with them!” Chenle points an accusing finger towards the speedster.

“Just leave them there,” Mark whispers.

“We’re looking for Strange,” a deeper voice says.

“Oh my god, is that Wong Yukhei?” Jaemin asks, his blurred vision not helping him at all. “You know, Vendetta has a cardboard cutout of you, I think she talks to it sometimes,” he laughs, his words slightly slurred as a result of the head damage received when he fell on the hard floors in the first place.

“Flattered,” Yukhei responds.

“Wong Yukhei, decorated soldier from the order of war and the first in the super-soldier experiments. Actually not a bad guy, but feels the need to flex his bravado every now and then because of the team he’s on, and honestly, I kind of relate to that.”

“The hatless wizard is somewhere upstairs,” Chenle points up and lets his arm drop to his side. “We’d help, but you guys look like one big ugly walrus right now.” Jaemin starts cracking up and the two high five.

“Do we have to work with them?” Another voice snapped.

“Li Yongqin, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul, Lee Youngheum, he has too many names to remember so people usually just call him Ten. He was a perfect student in the military academies, which I’m guessing where his nickname comes from. But he’s pretty impatient, rather ill-tempered from my experience."

“We don’t have a choice,” a more suave on this time.

“Ooh, Lee Taemin. He's an interesting one, Tony. We’re actually pretty close, or used to be at least. He’s very good at what he does, he has years of experience under his belt, but it’s pretty scary. He’s probably done his research by now, be careful, he knows you better than you know yourself. Don’t argue.”

“Gentlemen, let’s end this, we have clearance from the Seraph to exterminate the Followers,” a more powerful one.

“Oh, oh, Lee Taeyong! He’s great. I’ve seen him work a couple of times, I think he’s shot me in the head before. Don’t ask. I have a great deal of respect for him, but he’s kind of anti-social, not easy to get along with him, but I think it’s all miscommunication in the end. I think if we really got to know each other we’d hit it off, but otherwise, I think I’m just a person with a bounty on her head in his eyes.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jaemin pushed himself up, his eyes finally focusing. “Exterminate? Yeah, you guys do that, but let the Maverick leave first, we don’t want to get caught up in your deathmatch again,” Jaemin hits the side of his head a few times.

“Where’s the Vendetta?”

“Not here! She left because Reaper was being a little bitch!” Jaemin laughs again and Chenle joins him.

“We’re wasting our time here with these idiots,” another person says. Chenle squints his eyes to make out the figure.

“Now there’s Kim Jongin, he’s one of the people who started the Avengers project and got them all together. He’s an indispensable member, in my opinion. But when you’re in a team with that many star-studded members who are constantly in the public eye, it’s easy to get lost in the lights. But he knows how to keep things according to itinerary.”

“Who are you again?” He asks. “I thought the Avengers only had six members,” he stifles back a laugh.

“Dude that’s low!” Jaemin cackles. Mark swallows down a laugh when Taemin looks over at him, both of them trying to be respectful to their teammate.

“I know that’s why I said it!” Chenle hits his teammate’s arm and Jaemin winces, but the two continue in their little circus.

“Forget them, let’s just go,” Jongin. The team ascends the steps.

“Enter, the Avengers,” Baekhyun smiles.

“And finally there’s their leader. Byun Baekhyun— yes, he’s my older brother, no we don’t talk, and I don’t think he even knows I’m alive. He’s similar to you in some aspects, he pays for all of their shit. But he’s manipulative. He knows how to get into your head. Be careful with him.”

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slytherinbarnes · 3 years

Text

Sub Rosa [72]

i. sanctum

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 10.1k

Warnings: mentions of past injuries, angst, sadness, death, anxiety, language, bugs (I know some people get the creepy crawlies), violence.

Summary: Monty has given all of you hope after charting your course to a new planet: Sanctum. You and a small group of friends head to the surface to explore the new planet you plan to call home.

a/n: HAPPY SEASON 6 PREMIERE! I CAN’T BELIEVE WE ARE IN THE LAST TWO SEASONS NOW, WE ARE NEARING THE END AND I THINK I MIGHT CRY!!!!! p.s. sorry for the late upload today, I was getting a christmas tree with my family!!! the taglist for this series is open! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!!!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

Jordan gives you, Bellamy, and Clarke a few minutes to process everything you’ve just learned before informing you of the last of Monty’s instructions: tell your friends.

You wake a small group of people, those who were present at the meeting 125 years ago, including Spacekru, Shaw, and your mother. You tried to wake Octavia too, but Bellamy stopped you, telling you to wait for now. Though you disagree with him, you respect his decision and keep her asleep. Everyone gets a brief rundown of what’s happened since they were last awake, and then you play the videos for them too, revealing planet Alpha the same way it was revealed to you. As Monty's last lines play and the video ends, there are no dry eyes in the room from anyone that knew Monty and Harper. Everyone is crying as they peer down at the planet Monty found for the rest of you to survive on.

Bellamy takes in the group’s silence, and softly says, “I know this is a lot to process. Take an hour and meet in the mess, we need to game this out.”

Clarke looks over everyone, reminding them of Monty’s sacrifice. “Guys, we survived. Monty made sure of it.”

“Now we get our humanity back.”

Your mother’s words send Raven reeling, though you don't know why. She turns on her, pissed, and snaps, “Some of us never lost it.”

Then she storms out of the room, leaving Shaw to run out after her. You turn to look at Clarke, confused, and she mutters, “There’s a lot I need to tell you.”

“Then tell me.”

“Not here.” She nods towards the door, motioning for you and Bellamy to follow her. “Someplace more private.”

Clarke takes you and Bellamy to one of the many abandoned staterooms and proceeds to catch the two of you up on everything she learned while in Shallow Valley with the Eligius prisoners and your mother. She finally lets you both know about the Dark Year and the cannibalism in the bunker, which shocks you and Bellamy both. She also tells you about your mother’s addiction to pain pills, and her overdose that nearly killed her, and you realize now that all the times you thought she looked incredibly exhausted were because she was going through withdrawals. When she finishes updating you both, you and Bellamy sit in shock for a few minutes before she leaves to check on Madi, leaving the two of you alone to come to terms with everything you’ve learned.

You and Bellamy sit in the stateroom a while longer talking before you head back to the bridge to read over the files Monty gathered on Eligius III. As you read, you and Bellamy discuss a bare bones plan, one that can be expanded on as you talk to the rest of your friends. Once you have an idea of what to do next, you walk down to the mess hall to meet up with the others. Echo, Murphy, and Emori are already there when you arrive, sitting at a table and drinking algae from bowls that Jordan is passing around. He brings you and Bellamy both a bowl, which you eye warily before setting it down in front of you, not eager to taste it just yet. Bellamy takes a few sips, unbothered by the years of algae he had on the ring, and you watch him with amusement, nose scrunched up in disgust. He feels your gaze on him and he turns to you, trying to hide a smirk. “What?”

You peer into your bowl, staring at the bright green liquid, before looking back to him. “You’re eating that stuff?”

“It’s what we ate for six years on the ring, it’s not that bad. Besides, you should eat, you’ll need your strength.”

You think of the variety of foods you ate in Shallow Valley and sigh, knowing this isn't and will never be as good as the food from the valley, but you know Bellamy is right and you need your strength. You slide the bowl towards you and lift it, musing, “It’s no harvest of fresh berries, but-”

You never get to finish your sentence, because the table around you erupts in a series of laughs and groans. Murphy tosses his napkin at you and you laugh, looking around at all of them in confusion. “What?”

“We don’t want to hear about everything we missed out on in the valley.”

You cringe a little, not realizing how your comments must have seemed to them. “I’m sorry, I didn't mean it like that.”

Bellamy puts his bowl down and reaches out to put his hand on your arm. You meet his gaze and see that his eyes are still bright with amusement. “They’re just messing with you, don’t listen to them.”

Murphy adds, “And I thought you were the twin that knew how to joke. Guess six years without someone as witty as me around will make anyone lose their sense of humor.”

You roll your eyes and laugh, tossing his napkin back to him. “Shut up, Murphy.”

He cocks his head to the side, looking at you closely. “Or is your humor missing because of the whole ‘Bellamy’s ex girlfriend is sitting beside you’ thing?”

You and Bellamy both cut your eyes at him, deadpanning at the same time, “Shut up, Murphy.”

The moment is broken when you hear someone else walk in, and your eyes move to the door and land on your mother. She looks more stressed than the last time you saw her a few minutes ago, and you realize she must have gone to see Kane. She takes the bowl that Jordan offers her and goes to sit at the table behind you, alone. You turn to look at her, and Bellamy follows your gaze as he whispers, “You should talk to her.”

“I wouldn't know what to say.”

“I don't think that matters. Just being there for her would help.”

“Maybe. But my mother and I have never had a relationship like that before. That’s more of Clarke’s territory.”

He doesn't answer, unsure what to say, so he reaches out for your hand, threading your fingers together. Clarke walks into the room next, gladly accepting her bowl of algae from Jordan, and her eyes find yours as she starts to cross the room. You smile at her as she stops near your table, asking, “How’s our little sun?”

“Good. Still sleeping.”

“Good.”

Clarke nods and starts to walk away, heading towards your mom, but Bellamy calls out to her, stopping her again. “Hey, did you see Raven or Shaw on your way back?”

Emori quips, “You know, the people you handed over to our enemy to be tortured.”

“Now, for Clarke, we call that a Tuesday.”

You cut your eyes at the couple sitting across from you and snap, “Enough.”

To your surprise, Echo does the same, giving them a scolding look as she lectures, “Easy, she did the right thing in the end.”

You look at her in confusion, not expecting her to speak up in Clarke’s defense, and she meets your gaze, the air between you growing awkward again. Still, you nod your thanks, as Clarke answers Bellamy’s question and ignores the others. “No, I haven't seen them.”

She continues past your table and joins your mother, and you can hear the two of them quietly talking as soon as she sits down. You feel a soft pang of jealousy, your relationship with your mom never as good as her relationship with Clarke, only made worse by the six years you spent apart from her. At times, it was easy to forget that you, Madi, and Clarke weren't actually the last three people alive. It was easy to forget there were hundreds of people locked up in a bunker nearly a hundred miles away. You spent so long with so few people, that moments of socialization like this feel foreign to you. You’re sitting at a table of people you know and like, yet they feel like strangers to you. In a lot of ways, they are. The reunions you’ve had since they landed have been tense and stressful, carried out in the middle of a war. There’s been no time to catch up like this, to sit at a table together and just eat and talk. And now that you’re doing it, it feels weird.

Luckily, Jordan ends the weirdness by coming back into the room with a jar of algae, handing it to your mother on a tray. “First culture algae, like Bellamy used on Octavia. The first generation induces coma, and my dad was hoping you could use it to save Kane.”

Your mom takes it, a smile spreading across her face for the first time in a long time. “Thank you.”

She stands from the table, already ready to get back to Kane, turning to tell Clarke, “Take Jackson to the ground, I'll wake up Niylah to assist me.”

Clarke barely has enough time to nod before your mom rushes out of the room, just in time for Raven and Shaw to come walking in. “What did we miss?”

“Nothing.” Bellamy looks down at their conjoined hands, and the equally large smiles on their faces and muses, “It's about time.”

You nudge him with your elbow and he turns to smirk at you before standing, motioning for everyone to gather at one table. You and Bellamy stand side by side, facing them, and Clarke comes to stand on your other side, the three of you presenting a united front. You turn to Bellamy, nodding at him to begin. “Okay, everyone, listen up. Here's what we know: Eligius III was a colonizing mission. According to the file, the mothership went to 5 planets that met necessary conditions for life, dropping mission teams on each one. Monty picked planet Alpha for us because it's the closest, and probably the most like Earth.”

“Probably?”

Shaw turns to glance back at Murphy, answering his question before anyone else. “We have to assume they couldn't know for sure until they got here. We can scan the atmosphere from the bridge.”

“Actually, we can't.” You all turn to look at Jordan, waiting for him to clarify. “None of the equipment we used to monitor Earth is working. I'm guessing it's interference from the ionosphere.”

You look them all over and clarify, “Bottom line is, we won't know if it's survivable until we get down there.”

“Sounds familiar.”

You turn and smile at Clarke, thinking of your first trip to the ground, now so long ago. Raven pulls you from your thoughts when she asks, “What about radio signals? Anything from the ground that says the mission team survived?”

Bellamy shakes his head, “No radio signals.”

“Likely also the ionosphere. There is an ultra high frequency ping on radar, faint but-”

Shaw cuts him off, “A rescue beacon. We used them on Eligius IV to-”

And then Emori cuts him off, sounding excited. “Great. If there's a beacon, that means someone's down there, right?”

“Not necessarily. They're solar, so-” Raven finishes the sentence for Shaw, giving a resolute nod. “So they can last forever. How long ago did Eligius III get here?”

All of you look to Jordan again, knowing he’s the most well versed on the files from his father. “Hard to tell since they never radioed back, but the best estimate is 200 years, give or take.”

“That's a long time to wait for a rescue.”

Your gaze moves from Murphy to Echo, the only member of the group who has stayed silent the entire time. She just shrugs beneath your gaze, clearly up for anything. “I trust Monty.”

Bellamy looks at you and you nod, so he turns back to the group. “Great, then it's settled. We land at a distance, give us time to acclimate. We'll wait for them to come to us.”

Clarke breaks her silence for the first time in a few minutes, looking over at you and Bellamy. “Let's talk about guns. If we have them, we'll use them.”

Bellamy tenses beside you, and you’re sure he’s thinking of Monty’s ‘do better’ mantra. You’re also sure he’s running through a million memories of nearly being killed by Grounders as soon as you landed on Earth, because he counters, “We're taking guns.”

At your sister’s disapproving look, he adds, “We're also taking non lethals. Eligius IV had gas grenades and shock batons to control the criminals. We won't shoot first this time.”

“In that case, Clarke should stay here.”

You turn your glare on Raven, angry to hear the quip directed at your twin. You know that Clarke’s betrayal nearly got Raven and Shaw killed, and that they both had to endure torture at the hands of McCreary because of her. And though you feel sympathetic to them both, aware of how sadistic McCreary was, you think all the little quips and comments from Spacekru are becoming a little much. Yes, Clarke messed up and made terrible decisions, ones that hurt everyone, you included, but so have the rest of you at some point or another. Besides, you made a promise to the Universe that you’d do better and stop holding grudges if you got to the ship alive, so that’s what you’re going to do. It seems your version of ‘do better’ is the only one that includes forgiveness for mistakes.

Still though, you find a small amount of satisfaction watching Raven’s face fall at Bellamy’s response to her quip. “Raven, you're the one that's staying here.”

“What? Like hell I am.”

“We can't take both our pilots, and since we'll be flying blind until we're below the ionosphere, it has to be Shaw.” Raven seems to understand his reasoning, but she still looks pissed to be the one left behind. Bellamy adds, “That's not all. Jordan, you're staying, too.”

“Me? Why?”

This time you answer, turning your sympathetic gaze towards him. “I know it's hard, but your parents asked us to keep you safe. We have no idea what's waiting for us down there.”

Echo muses, “Which is why we should take our best fighters.”

Bellamy immediately turns to look at his former lover, catching onto the real meaning of her statement. “My sister is the last person I trust not to shoot first, so she stays on ice with everyone else until we know what we're dealing with.”

“And if it's too late by then?”

Bellamy grows tense, and you watch him take a deep breath before relenting. “Fine. I'll wake up Miller.”

Echo nods, satisfied with his answer, and you just look between the two of them, still uncomfortable with their interactions. Though, it’s something you’ll have to get used to, because everyone that lived on the ring together seems to stick close to each other, meaning Echo isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Bellamy looks over everyone, waiting for any more questions or comments, but when none come, he nods his head. “Good. Say your goodbyes, head to the transport ship.”

Everyone disperses from the room, prepping for the trip down to the ground. You and Bellamy go to the cubby to get your belongings, including the Iliad, which you stuff into your pack. You also wake Miller up while you’re there, and catch him and Jackson up on everything. Your mom gives you a few medkits, along with pain meds for your leg if you need it, though you’re getting around pretty well despite the gash down the back of your calf. Then you and Bellamy go to the armory and grab weapons. You holster your Grounder knife to your thigh, and you manage to find another holster small enough to fit the skull knife you swiped from the Eligius prisoner after he nearly killed you. You attach the small knife and holster around your left calf, tugging your pants down over it, now secured as a hidden weapon. Bellamy gives you a few gas canisters for your pack, along with a pistol, which you also pack into your bag. Everyone else comes to the armory at some point to arm up, and you and Bellamy pass out weapons until everyone is ready to go.

With everyone packed up, you head towards the transport ship, preparing to say your last goodbyes before you take another ship down to another planet that might not be survivable. You, Bellamy, and Clarke are the last three to arrive, walking into the hallway just as Jackson and your mom are hugging goodbye. You all wait your turn nearby, and Miller wanders over, eyes locked on Bellamy. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Thanks for taking me, that must have been hard for you.”

Bellamy shakes his head. “Not really. We go back, Miller. I trust you.”

“Even after I threw you both into the pit?”

Bellamy glances over at you, and you give him a small smile, encouraging his forgiveness. He turns back to Miller and nods. “My sister did that, not you. We're good, okay?”

Miller nods, a small smile on his face, and he waits for Jackson to step away from your mother before he follows him into the transport ship. Once your mom is free, she turns to you and Clarke, both of you stepping forward to say your goodbyes, and Bellamy hangs back and waits for you to finish. As soon as you step up to your mom, you whisper, “I’m sorry we couldn't be there for you in the bunker. Maybe if we were-”

She seems to sense where your words are heading, because a sad smile crosses her features as she lifts her hand to caress your cheek. “It’s not your fault, la lune.”

She lifts her other hand to Clarke’s cheek and adds, “I wish both of my girls could have been with me, but I’m glad neither of you had to go through what we did in the bunker.”

She glances to the door of the transport, tears welling up in her eyes. “God, I hate sending you both to the ground.”

Clarke answers, “Look, mom, if anything happens to me-”

“It won't.”

“If it does-”

Your mom nods, instantly understanding. “I'll take care of Madi.”

She pulls you both towards her, hugging you tight as you prepare to be separated from each other once again. When you pull away, you smile at her. “Go save Kane.”

She looks between you and Clarke, smiling at you both. “Go save us all.”

You nod and start to walk away together, towards the ship where Bellamy stands, still waiting. Your mom watches you both as you get closer to him, and you see his eyes land on her as she calls out to him, “Take care of my girls.”

“Yes ma’am, always.”

You smile at him and he motions for you and Clarke to step inside before him, leaving him to be the last one onto the ship. He closes the door behind him and all of you make your way to your seats, strapping yourself in between Clarke and Bellamy, nerves coiling through your body and making you jittery. Once Shaw is sure everyone is secured, he takes off, guiding the ship closer and closer to the planet as Raven calls out to him on the radio. “How are those instruments, Shaw?”

“Instruments are for amateurs.”

She starts to answer but her voice comes through staticky, impossible to hear. You look at Bellamy, growing anxious, and he smiles at you, trying to reassure you. Shaw moves the ship through the atmosphere, the clouds making it impossible for you to see anything out of the windows, the whole ship shaking from the resistance. You reach out for Bellamy, getting more nervous with each passing second, and he grabs your hand, squeezing once to let you know everything’s okay. You close your eyes and work to control your breathing as Shaw calls out, “We're below the ionosphere and I still don't have any instruments. There must be something else, hang on.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Yeah, pray.” Shaw’s response to Emori does nothing to quell your nerves, and you squeeze Bellamy’s hand hard, keeping your eyes shut tight, not sure you want to see your possible impending death. Your other hand grips the straps that secure you to your seat, and you try to keep your focus on your breathing and not the horrifying shaking that is moving the ship around. But just as you’re sure that you’re all about to die, you hear Shaw call out, “Boys and girls, meet planet Alpha.”

You pull your eyes open, gaze falling onto a set of mountain ranges, covered with lush green foliage. The sun is shining bright, lighting up the landscape, reminding you of the valley. You turn to glance at Clarke, her face a look of awe and sadness, and when she meets your gaze, you know she’s thinking of your destroyed home too. Both of you turn back to the front as Shaw finds a place to land, and once he gets the ship on the ground, all of you unbuckle your seatbelts and stand quickly, eager to get outside and explore the new planet.

Before you know it, all of you stand at the door to leave, waiting for it to lower and become the ramp that will take all of you outside. You grab both Clarke and Bellamy’s hands, prepared to die with them if the door opens to an unsurvivable planet. As it lowers, Jackson stands behind you, repeating a phrase like a mantra, “Please be breathable. Please be breathable.”

The door hits the ground, and everyone takes a few tentative breaths, looking around at each other in excitement. Jackson announces, “Breathable air, check.”

Emori checks the radiation scanner in her hand, nodding with satisfaction. “Radiation levels are good, too. Eligius III didn't need to send Nightbloods after all.”

“How about that beacon, Shaw?”

“Eight clicks due East, I think it's on high ground. There's a water source about halfway.”

You turn to look at Bellamy, remembering that he sent Octavia out first, allowing her to be the first person on Earth in over 100 years. You smile at him, urging him to do the same thing here. “You should go first this time.”

“No. We go together, all of us.”

You nod, looking over at Clarke, and she nods too. And then all of you step down the ramp tentatively, walking towards the lush green foliage that surrounds your parked transport ship. It looks like you’ve landed in a field of flowers, and trees line the field on either side, reminding you so much of when you landed in the dropship. You feel a pang in your heart, thinking about your first home away from the Ark, missing those first few days of freedom before the fight for survival began. As you near the end of the ramp, Miller asks, “Anyone got anything better than 'We're back, bitches'?”

You, Bellamy, Clarke, Miller, and Murphy all laugh, all of you the last few remaining members of the 100 (101 including Bellamy), with the exception of Octavia, who is still back on the ship. As your laughter dies down, Murphy turns serious, looking around at the beautiful landscape that surrounds you. “Monty would know what to say, he should be here.”

“He is.”

Clarke smiles, remembering his words from his final video. “He already said it: 'Do better there'. So let's do better.”

All of you nod in agreement, but you see a sour look pass over Shaw’s face as he turns to your twin. “That's easy to say, but talk is cheap.”

And before any of you can say anything to defend Clarke, he turns and walks off, gaze locked on the device in his hand that is tracking the emergency beacon. Clarke looks after him, her expression one of hurt, and you squeeze her hand, still held within your own. “He'll come around, they all will.”

She nods, her expression still sad, but you can see her push that away as she fixes a smile to her face and nods after the group. “Come on, we don't want to fall behind.”

You nod and the three of you drop hands, disconnecting, making it easier to hike after the others. Shaw leads the way and Bellamy brings up the rear, staying behind you to make sure you’re moving okay with your injured leg. Clarke keeps close to you as well, also worried about your injuries, and you know both of them are wondering if they should have left you behind to make sure you don't make things worse. Which is exactly why you try to keep your limping to a minimum, and you hide any indication that there is a growing throb of pain in your calf, courtesy of all the movement you’ve done. You don’t want to be responsible for slowing the group down, and you don't want anyone to regret bringing you, because this is a mission you wouldn't miss for the world.

After a few hours of walking, the path that you’ve been following through the woods opens up onto a beach, a large lake spread out in front of you, framed by mountains on nearly every side. As you get clear of the trees, the sky opens up too, giving you a better view of the suns in the sky, moving closer and closer to each other. Clarke sees them too, because she comments, “It looks like the suns are eclipsing.”

You look to your left, to the rest of the open sky, gaze falling on a large looking object looming nearby in space, surrounded by a ring of asteroids orbiting it. You think of everything your father has ever told you about planets and space and moons, and you let out a short laugh of disbelief. “Alpha is a moon.”

Bellamy turns to you in confusion as all of you walk closer to the water. “What?”

“We’re on a moon, not a planet.” You point to the large planet in the sky. “That’s a planet, and we’re orbiting it.”

Bellamy’s face splits into a grin, in just as much disbelief as you that you’re walking on a moon, something you never could have imagined in a million years. As you all come to a stop on the shoreline, he calls out, “Looks like we found the water source. We camp here.”

Everyone starts to drop their packs, and you sigh with relief, unsure of how much more hiking you could have handled today. You briefly wonder how Murphy is doing considering the two bullet wounds he’s battling, and he seems to answer your unspoken question by dropping his pack and taking off running towards the water, whooping with excitement. You laugh as he runs into the water, despite Jackson’s protests. “Murphy. Murphy, wait! We haven't tested it! Your wounds haven't healed yet!”

Murphy ignores him and dives under the water, and all of you watch him disappear from view, waiting patiently for him to resurface. But a few seconds pass and his head doesn't pop up again, making everyone start to worry. And then a few seconds becomes a minute, and you can feel the panic level rise as Emori stares out towards the water, scanning it for any sign of Murphy. “John?”

Clarke eyes the unmoving lake with fear. “Something's wrong.”

Bellamy drops his pack, already moving to yank off his jacket and dive in after Murphy, when Murphy suddenly pops up, laughing as he looks at all of your worried expressions. “Come on in, the water's fine!”

Emori laughs, “Oh, who knew cockroaches could swim?”

“What, you want me to teach you?”

Murphy comes out of the water, walking towards his girlfriend as she starts to back away, “No, John, no.”

But before she can protest further, he scoops her up and throws her over his shoulder, taking her back towards the water and dunking them both. You turn to Bellamy with a smile as their laughter punctuates the air, a rare moment of happiness blanketing all of you as you watch on. For the first time in years, there is no death, no war, no killing to worry about. There’s just a group of you at the edge of a lake, watching your friends have fun as you explore a moon.

All of you set up camp and spend the next few hours relaxing until nightfall. Jackson checks both you and Murphy over, making sure your stitches have survived the long hike. You wince as he inspects your leg, and he doesn't miss it, though he pretends that he does. You’re thankful for that.

Once he has given you his stamp of approval, everyone lounges around the fire, relaxing for the first time in a long time. With no war looming over your heads, you're able to enjoy each other’s presence. Jackson and Miller are on the outer edge of the group, followed by Murphy and Emori, who are lounging side by side against a log. You and Bellamy are beside them, Bellamy leaned back into your arms, watching as you etch a new notch into your Grounder knife with your skull knife, recording the death of the Eligius prisoner that nearly killed you. Clarke sits on your other side, perched on a log, watching you and Bellamy, and Echo and Shaw are across from you, sharing a different log. You can feel Echo’s gaze on you every few minutes, but you avoid looking her way, not wanting to catch her eyes. Shaw ignores all of you, repeatedly calling Raven on the radio every few minutes, reminding you of the countless calls you made to Bellamy after Praimfaya.

You finish with your knives and slide them both back into their holsters, leaning back against your log and getting more comfortable. Bellamy sinks into your embrace, resting his arm over your knee, tracing invisible patterns there. One of your hands lifts to his hair, absentmindedly playing with his curls, while the other rests on his arm, keeping him as close to you as you possibly can. You hear Bellamy sigh a little, and you look down at him, following his gaze to Miller and Jackson, who sit comforting each other, clearly discussing the sins of their past. You watch them for a second too, before looking down at your boyfriend and whispering, “Miller helped keep Octavia alive, someday you'll thank him for that.”

Bellamy’s gaze lifts from the couple and up to you, clearly unconvinced. “Will I?”

You glance over at your twin, who smiles when you meet her gaze. You smile back, thinking of all the times the two of you have hurt and betrayed each other, and all the times you’ve forgiven each other and grown even closer. And you know that not every set of siblings is the same, but the Blakes operate in a way similar to you and Clarke, all of you more alike than you really realize. And there was once a time when Octavia said she’d never forgive Bellamy for the role she thinks he played in Lincoln’s death, and yet, she forgave him eventually. Octavia’s transformation into Blodreina was shocking to all of you, unable to understand how she got the way she was. But knowing the truth behind the Dark Year helps you to understand Octavia a little more. Though you can't relate to her, and you think she has done a lot of awful things, she’s not a bad person. Just like the rest of you, terrible things have been done to her, and she’s been forced to choose between the lesser of two evils, but none of that makes her bad. Choosing between death or cannibalism is enough to make anyone lose their minds a little bit. Unfortunately, you don't think Bellamy sees it quite the same way you do, but you’re sure that eventually he’ll come around. Which is why you glance down at him with a small smile on your face and whisper back, “There's no starting over without forgiveness, Bellamy.”

“I can't.”

You nod, dropping the conversation for now, aware that pushing him too hard too fast is never helpful. So you plant the seeds of forgiveness in his mind, and you leave them to grow on their own. Bellamy turns his gaze from you, sinking into your arms again, glancing over at Shaw, who mutters, “One more time, Eligius IV, this is Expedition One. Raven, do you read?”

“Raven'll get the radio fixed.” Shaw lowers the radio, face setting into a glare, which he turns on your sister, clearly not interested in any of her comfort. She sees the change, and instantly looks remorseful. “I'm sorry I turned you in, Shaw.”

“You really wanna do this now?”

Murphy calls out from your other side, sounding annoyed that his peaceful evening is about to end. “Maybe you two should speak in private.”

“No, I want you all to hear this.”

“Great.”

Clarke looks at you, and you nod, encouraging her to say her piece. “If I could, I'd go back and do things differently, but I can't. None of us can. For some reason, Monty thought we deserved a second chance.”

“Not for nothing, but this is, like, your fifth chance.”

The insult lands the way Murphy intends it to, and Clarke snaps back, “Yours too, Murphy.”

Murphy smirks, standing up and wiping sand from his pants. “Very good, I got watch.”

As Murphy walks away, Shaw turns to look at Clarke. “You're right. Your friend Monty gave you a second chance, but now what? Salvation comes from faith and good works, what you do, not what you say. You haven't done anything yet.”

Clarke says nothing in return. She just nods, accepting his anger, and you’re about to offer her words of comfort when Bellamy’s hand grows still, no longer tracing patterns on your knee. You look down at him in confusion and he mutters, “Hey, listen. You hear that?”

And as you listen, you have the horrifying realization that you hear nothing. Ten minutes ago the trees were alive with the sound of insects, and it reminds you of the silence in the air before Praimfaya, when Jaha was on the hunt for the Second Dawn bunker. You ask, “What happened to all the bugs?”

Answering your question, Jackson calls out, “You guys gotta see this!”

All of you jump to your feet and jog over to him, meeting him halfway across the beach as he holds out a jar with a bug inside. The bug is scratching and clawing at the glass, trying to reach all of you, clearly pissed that he’s locked up. “Five minutes ago, this thing ate a leaf out of my hand. Now, it wants to eat me. Not only that, its entire physiology has changed from-”

Murphy cuts him off when he slaps a bug on his neck, killing it. The bug inside the jar grows more wild, more intense, and Murphy jokes, “Oh, look at that. Your pet's pissed that I killed its brother.”

You all watch the bug closely, a chill rolling down your spine as you see it tap against the glass trying to escape. But Emori pulls all you of from your thoughts when she looks up at the sky and asks, “What the hell is that?”

You all pause, looking around as the gradual whine and buzz of bugs grows louder, and when you look towards the trees along the beach, you can see hundreds of bugs flying out over the water. Clarke whispers in horror, “Swarm.”

Echo looks at the bugs in a panic, turning to glance at the rest of you as she says, “It's coming from the direction of the ship, we'll never make it back.”

Bellamy’s demeanor changes quickly, catching onto your impending danger before anyone else does. “Everyone cover up, we're heading to the beacon now!”

All of you run back to your belongings, digging through your bags to pull out scarves and jackets, pulling them tight over your body and around your face. Just as you cover up and get your bag pulled on, the swarm bursts through the trees, heading straight for all of you. Bellamy yells, “Move, move now! Cover your faces!”

You all take off running down the beach, Shaw in the lead, the tracking device in his hand. The bugs zip and bite at your skin, all of you yelping out in pain and panic as they make contact with you. As you’re tearing through the woods, you hear Emori call out for help, and Murphy stops in front of you, turning and looking in a panic. “Emori!”

“Help!”

You stop beside Murphy, looking around, trying to find the direction of Emori’s voice over the sound of the swarming bugs, swatting them away from you as they bite and sting your still bodies. Somebody runs up to you and turns, yelling, “Take the flare out of my bag!”

Once you hear his voice, you realize it’s Miller, and you reach into his bag and grab a flare, instantly lighting it and holding it up. The bugs fly away from you, Murphy, and Miller, the three of you standing together, and you hear the others turn and run back your way. Bellamy stops at your side, his brows the only thing you can see through his face cover. They’re pulled together with worry, clearly freaked out that the two of you were temporarily separated, but as he sees the flare keep the bugs at bay, he calls out to the others, “They hate the fire! The flares, light them all!”

Two more flares are pulled from packs and lit, and you hear Emori call out for Murphy once again. He takes off running toward the sound of her voice, and you follow him, keeping the flare held high so neither of you will get attacked. You hear the other two flares burning nearby, following you as you reach Emori, who is laying on the ground and shielding her face. Jackson and Murphy pull her to her feet, and you turn to look at the other flare holders, calling out to them. “Stay together, flares at 3 corners!”

They nod, Shaw taking the lead with his flare, as you and Echo take the back corners, gathering the others inside of your safe zone. All of you run through the woods in a tight knit group, following Shaw as he calls out, “Here, it's here!”

He breaks free from the trees and into an open space, and before any of you realize what’s happening, Shaw lets out a sudden scream of pain. Your eyes land on him, surrounded by smoke, light, and electricity, all circling his body. He falls to the ground, yelling in pain, clearly stuck in something. Searching for a source, your eyes follow one of the bolts of electricity up to a tower. Beside that tower is another, then another, towers spaced out every few feet, forming some sort of invisible barrier, which Shaw is now caught in. Jackson yells to the man, who is still screaming in pain, “Shaw, get out of there!”

“It's killing him! Get him out!”

You look to the towers again, eyes falling on a large danger sign, bright yellow with a large message printed on it. WARNING: RADIATION. You turn to look at the others, yanking your face covering down as your eyes find Bellamy’s. “It’s radiation, it won’t affect me!”

You see his expression morph into one of panic, but you take off running before he can stop you, ignoring his scared voice following you to Shaw, “No! Get back, natshana!”

You cross right through the barrier, your body feeling nothing as you hook your arms beneath Shaw’s, yelling to be heard over his screams of pain, “Hang on, Shaw! I got you!”

You drag him into the field on the other side of the barrier, his cries of pain stopping as soon as the electricity stops connecting to his body. You drop down at his side, getting a look at him from the light from one of the flares, his skin covered in lesions, red and angry, reminding you of Clarke after Praimfaya. You hear the shield crackle briefly as Clarke runs through, following your path, dropping down on Shaw’s other side and looking at him in alarm. The two of you share a worried look, knowing that much radiation was barely survivable with Clarke’s Nightblood, but your thoughts are interrupted by Bellamy calling out, “We're running out of time here!”

Shaw looks at you, reaching out to grab your hand, “The tower.”

You look down at him, nodding. “I see it.”

“Eligius tech, the failsafe code. 47815.”

You look to Clarke, and she nods, immediately taking off running towards the tower. You tug off your pack, yanking it open and digging around until you find your medkit, hand closing around it as Clarke yells to the others, “It's down! Run now!”

The others run inside the barrier, and you hear it go back up a second later as Clarke retypes the code, killing all the bugs as they hit the shield. You search through your medkit until you find morphine, enough to take away Shaw’s pain as he dies from the radiation. You fight the wave of emotion that threatens you, trying to stay calm for both Shaw and the others as you pull the painkiller out of your bag, reaching out for his hand so you can inject it into one of his veins. But his hand closes over yours, and you look to Shaw in shock as he gasps out, “No, don't waste it.”

You open your mouth to protest, but he looks away from you and over to Clarke, who has just dropped down to his other side. “Earn this.”

She nods, and you meet her eyes, both of you aware that these are likely his final words. Shaw turns back to you, squeezing your hand to get your attention, and you move your gaze back down to his, meeting his eyes. “Tell Raven she deserves happiness. She doesn't think she does, but...she does.”

You nod, fighting back your tears as you remember Shaw’s kindness to you when the prisoners took you hostage. The only person who advocated for you, tried to keep you safe, stitched you up after you were shot. You whisper, “I will, I’ll tell her.”

And as soon as he has your confirmation that you’ll pass on his dying wish, he takes one last shaky breath, and then he goes completely still. You drop your head, trying to hide your tears, thankful when the last of the flares dies out, plunging all of you into darkness. You feel someone kneel down beside you, wrapping strong arms around you, and you know it’s Bellamy before he tugs you closer to him, tucking your crying face into his chest. You allow yourself to shed a few tears for the man you barely knew, before you dry your eyes, and look to Bellamy. “We should bury him.”

He nods, pulling a shovel from his bag, and Miller grabs one from his own, the two men digging a grave for the Eligius pilot. It takes a while to dig a hole big enough, the shovels small, only digging up small patches of dirt at a time, and dawn starts to settle in before you get him buried. As the boys work, you and Clarke make a cross out of a thick branch, remembering his story about being an altar boy in his life before Eligius, meaning he was probably still religious. You use your knife to carve his name into the wood, and once he’s buried beneath the dirt, Bellamy helps you drive the cross into the ground, marking his grave.

Bellamy says the Traveler’s Blessing, honoring Shaw one last time before you all continue your own final journey on the ground. “In peace, may you leave this shore. In love, may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until our final journey to the ground. May we meet again.”

You all whisper, “May we meet again.”

You sit around the grave in silence for a few seconds longer before you start to walk away, following Bellamy and the tracker to the path that is etched out in the field around you. You all follow it in silence, you, Bellamy, and Clarke in the lead, and eventually the field gives way to an incline, the path now winding up a mountainside. As you near the top, Emori finally breaks the group’s silence. “What kind of people have a radiation fence?”

Clarke counters, “The kind of people that want to keep something out.”

Bellamy ignores them both and announces to the others, “Beacon should be right up ahead.”

Clarke shifts closer to you, voice dropping slightly. “What are we gonna tell Raven?”

“That he died a hero.” Clarke nods, accepting your answer. Murphy, however, does not. “Look, I do hate to make this about us, but-”

Clarke cuts him off, “Then don't. Shaw just saved your life, Murphy.”

“I'm aware. I'm also aware that we just lost our pilot. Madi's still up there, you're not worried you're never gonna see her again?”

Clarke spins, turning to shove Murphy, and you and Miller reach out for her, grabbing her to hold her back. Miller glares at Murphy and mutters, “Ignore him.”

Everyone stops to watch the scene unfolding around you, and Murphy turns to Miller, a smirk on his face. You sigh, knowing shit is about to hit the fan. “Your Red Queen is still up there too, Miller. Who you gonna follow now?”

Miller grabs the front of Murphy's jacket, and you’re about to step in and break up their fight when Bellamy calls out, “Hey! Miller! As therapeutic it is to beat up on Murphy, Emori can fly.”

“Sure. Yeah. I've had one successful landing in a ship I trained in for 6 years.” Emori smiles sarcastically, clearly not confident in taking over the pilot duties. “No problem.”

Echo, who has stayed silent the entire time, calls out to the rest of you, “Guys, stairs.”

You spin around, following her pointed finger, and all of you start moving again, excited at what you’ll find at the top. “Easy. We approach slow, no hostile movements.”

Everyone keeps their guns held low, trying to appear as docile as possible, and as you climb up the stairs it brings you to the edge of a large village. There are houses everywhere, a small pond in the center, and in the back, behind it all, is a large palace, looming high in the sky. You all look at it in shock, taking in the bright colors of the village, and Murphy whispers in awe, “They have a castle.”

You walk slowly into the village, looking for any sign of civilization, surprised to see it still and unmoving. You all spread out, knocking on the doors of the homes in search of people, and you aren’t apart for long before Emori turns towards you, Clarke, and Bellamy, calling out to you, “Hey!”

You all walk over to her, looking up at the small flag she’s pointing to. It’s purple in color, with two suns shining at the bottom of the flag. Within the bottom sun is the infinity logo, and Emori eyes it warily. “Alie?”

You feel a rush of fear until you remember the infinity symbol was part of Becca’s corporate logo. The very same Becca who created the Eligius tech. You shake your head at Emori, reassuring her, “Becca did the tech for Eligius.”

Bellamy deadpans, “Right. Destroy the world, and 200 years later they put you on a flag.”

You look over at him, not used to hearing the cynical tone from him. He gives you and Clarke half a smirk. “See? Hope for us yet.”

You roll your eyes, watching as he turns away and walks over to Murphy, who stands pounding on a door. “Hello? Invaders from Earth. Can we come in?”

“John, keep it down.”

“I don't know why we're knocking. We’ve gone door to door, and no one's here.”

“We don't know that yet.”

Bellamy glares towards Murphy, watching him walk from one door to the next one. “These are people's homes, we're not breaking in like thieves.”

“Bellamy's right. If we want to do better here, we can't just-”

Murphy cuts you off by swiftly kicking the next door open, the double doors flying wide and bouncing against the wall on the inside. You all turn to look at him, incredulous, and he smirks back at you, unbothered. “Well, look at that. This one's unlocked.”

You and Bellamy share a look before you follow Murphy into the open room. Clarke steps in behind you, all of you walking over to a small, miniature altar. Hanging above it is the same flag from before, along with a picture of a smiling family. Below that is a collection of bowls, filled with various objects. You muse, “It's some kind of shrine.”

Clarke kneels down and lifts one of the bowls, turning it towards you and Bellamy. “Blood.”

A shiver rolls down your spine, not liking the idea of blood sacrifices. Bellamy peers at the photo, getting a closer look, before he looks over at you and your twin. “Eligius III, all named Lightbourne.”

Your brows pull together, turning to look at Clarke. “They sent families?”

She nods, assuming that’s the case, and you wonder what it would have been like to leave your home planet and journey to a new one. You guess, in a way, that’s what all of you are doing now. Though, Eligius III probably chose their space exploration. All of you were forced into it. Bellamy gazes at the picture again. “Nice to be remembered.”

Clarke counters, “Or worshipped.”

You step back from the shrine, not wanting to spend anymore time in the room, an eerie feeling washing over you. “Come on, we shouldn't be here.”

Bellamy and Clarke nod, both of them following you towards the door. As you near the exit, Murphy holds up a small device. “Hey, you want a music player?”

Bellamy cuts his eyes to the troublesome cockroach, taking the music player from his hands and returning it to the table near the door. “Behave, Murphy.”

All of you walk out of the shrine, closing the doors behind you, before Bellamy calls out to the whole group, “Split up, look for any signs someone was here.”

Everyone does as they’re told, breaking off into small groups, and you, Clarke, and Bellamy all travel together to the other side of the pond, investigating some of the buildings on the outer edge of the village. When you find nothing, Bellamy wanders over to a swing set, motioning for you to sit in the swing that hangs in front of him, and you pull off your pack and smile at him before settling into the seat. He pushes you, soft at first, your body moving back and forth slowly, until he starts to push harder, your body now swinging through the air. You close your eyes and let out a laugh, amazed at the rush of wind over your skin, making you feel like you’re flying. When you open your eyes again, Bellamy now stands in front of you where you can see him, his gaze locked on you, his smile wide and full of adoration. You smile back at him, both of you watching each other as you slowly lose speed, finally coming to a stop again. Bellamy plops into the swing beside you, and you reach out for him, both of you holding hands as you sit side by side. Your moment of serenity, however, is ruined by the sound of someone loudly singing. You and Bellamy both turn your gazes towards the source of the sound, finding Murphy standing at the top of the castle stairs, singing loudly to all of you. You look over at your boyfriend, both of you laughing as soon as you lock eyes, turning to look back at the personal concert Murphy is giving all of you.

You watch him for a few minutes, and Bellamy eventually reaches into his pocket and pulls out the radio that Shaw was carrying, deciding to test the reception from your new location. “Raven, come in. You read me?”

As expected, the radio is silent, and Bellamy sighs before putting it back into his pocket. You look around at the village, an eerie realization washing over you. “This place is too well maintained to be abandoned. Any guesses where all the people went?”

“If they’re gone, then there's enough room here for everybody on the ship.”

You nod, turning to look around for Clarke, wanting to ask her opinion. But when you look around, your twin is gone, no longer lingering nearby. The building behind you, however, has a door swung wide open, and you turn to Bellamy. “Let’s go find Clarke.”

He nods, and you drop his hand as the two of you stand from the swings, wandering over to the open door of the building, relieved to find Clarke standing inside, a children’s book in her hand. You call out to her, “Hey.”

She looks up in surprise, not hearing either of you walk in, a smile spreading across her face. “Hey.”

You and Bellamy walk closer to her, and you realize now that the building is a small school. There are toys and books everywhere, along with easels, abandoned with art still hanging from them. Clarke closes the book in her hand and looks around at the room. “I wish Madi could have gone to school.”

Bellamy whispers, “I wish Octavia could have.”

You add, “I wish I could have.”

They both look at you, realizing that despite the fact you learned nearly everything Clarke did, you never actually got the experience of going to school like they did. You got close to going on a field trip once, until you opened your mouth and ruined the trick you and Clarke played on your mom.

Clarke hands you the book in her hand, her eyes gazing at the radio sticking out of Bellamy’s pocket as she does. She turns her gaze to him as you peer down at the book. “Still no luck on the radio?”

“No.”

“Trust me, I know the feeling.” You don’t even realize the words have left your mouth until they do. You freeze up, then try to relax, aware that Bellamy won’t understand what that means, and that your secret is still safe. Bellamy surprises you by whispering, “I'm sorry I couldn't respond all those years.”

You freeze again, your eyes going wide in alarm as you turn to look at him, worried about his reaction. He sees the panic on your face, along with the confusion of how he knows when you never told him, and he clarifies, “Madi told me.”

You sigh, “Of course she did.”

You see Clarke shift awkwardly beside you, and she reaches out to squeeze your hand as she mutters, “I’ll be outside if you need me.”

You nod, barely looking her way, your eyes still locked on Bellamy. When you hear the door of the school close behind Clarke, you look up at his soft expression, no sign of weirdness in his gaze. “I know it sounds crazy, but talking to you every day, even though you didn't answer, it kept me sane. It made me feel like you were still with me.”

“It's not crazy.” He reaches out and grabs your free hand, the one not holding the book, and he threads your fingers together. “I’m so sorry I left you behind. I regretted it everyday for six years, and I still regret it now. I wish I could have been with you, or at the very least, I wish I could have answered your radio calls while we were separated. I hate that I left you on earth alone.”

“I don't want you to regret leaving me behind, Bellamy. You did exactly what I wanted you to do and made a decision that was right for everyone. It was hard to be separated from you for so long, but I had Madi and Clarke, so I wasn't completely alone.” You smile at him, trying to make a joke out of the situation. “Besides, most of the radio calls weren’t that interesting, just little updates about what we did that day, how I was feeling, stuff like that. Largely uneventful.”

He smiles back at you. “Still, I wish I could have heard them.”

He pulls you in for a kiss, long and slow, and you melt into his arms. The two of you have six years worth of lost kisses to make up for, and you’re more than happy to start now. Bellamy must be too, because he backs you up a little, until your butt hits the table behind you. He surprises you by pulling back and swiping the art supplies away, knocking them onto the floor, and you look up at him in shock. He meets your gaze, looking sheepish, before whispering, “Oops.”

You laugh and he pulls you in for a kiss again, tasting your laughter, smiling against your lips. His hands reach beneath your thighs, lifting you and sliding you back onto the table. Your hands go up, around his neck, and you lose your grip on the book that’s been in your hand the entire time. It hits the floor, the spine loudly smacking on the ground, and you pull away and repeat Bellamy’s earlier words. “Oops.”

He bends down to pick it up, his eyes falling on the title, and you watch the amusement on his face turn into one of curiosity. He holds the book up and reads the title out to you, “Red sun rising?”

He flips the book open to the first page, and the two of you read the words together, something about it seeming a little more familiar than you'd like it to. You exchange a look and without a word you hop off the table, both of you heading outside. Your eyes fall on Clarke, who is standing nearby, listening to Murphy sing. “Clarke!”

She turns and looks at you and Bellamy as you approach, and when you stop by her side, Bellamy holds out the book. “Clarke, did you read this?”

“No.”

She looks between the two of you in confusion, and Bellamy flips open the book to the first page, beginning to read. “Trees and plants give us shade. We eat them every day.”

He turns the page, passing it to her as he reads, “When the stars align, and the forest wakes, it's time to run away.”

Clarke stares at the picture of the large red sun, her eyes lifting to the eclipsing suns in the sky, looking almost identical to the picture on the page. She flips through the next few pages, reading the words quickly before she looks over at you and Bellamy, horrified. “It's not a nursery rhyme, it's a warning.”

Before either of you can answer, Murphy stops his singing to yell out, “No! No!”

You all turn towards the palace, looking at him in confusion, finding that his gaze is firmly locked on the sky. When you follow it, you realize why. Your transport ship is lifting from the ground, before it turns and flies off quickly, leaving all of you abandoned here, without another way back up to the sky. But then the chaos isn't finished there, because you hear a bloodthirsty cry break through all of your thoughts, and when you look back to Murphy, you see Emori leaping at him, a knife in her hand. Before you’ve even processed the image, she stabs him in the shoulder, and he falls to the ground with a cry of pain.

You, Bellamy, and Clarke take off running towards them, though you’re the farthest from the couple, and the wound on your calf aches from the strain you’re putting on it now. Miller and Jackson are lounging nearby on the stairs, along with Echo, and Clarke yells, “Miller, stop her!”

Miller and Echo reach Emori first and avoid the knife she’s swinging, both of them managing to grab her and pull her off of her boyfriend. The three of you finally reach them, dropping down to Murphy’s side, next to Jackson as he looks him over. Emori fights against Echo and Miller, screaming out, “He'll do it to you too! He'll do it to you too!”

All of you look at her in confusion, not understanding what she means, as Bellamy helps Jackson put pressure on the knife wound on Murphy’s shoulder. You look over at your twin, scared, unsure what to do, and her gaze is on the book in her hands. She seems to read the words again, taking them in, before she looks up to the sky, staring at the eclipsing sun. You watch her face morph into one of horror before she looks to you, looking just as scared and unsure. And then she says the words none of you are ready to hear: “It's in the air.”

next chapter

#the 100 #the 100 rewrite #bellamy blake #bellamy blake x reader #bellamy blake fanfiction

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luvlyrv · 3 years

Text

Our Songs | pt. 5 | Wendy x f!Reader sm!au

Summary: You and Wendy are rising musicians who are garnering attention. As the both of you decide to begin working on writing songs together, will you catch each other's attention too?

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: This was the ONLY thing I have saved from when I lost all of my writing because I already transferred into my tumblr drafts! I just had to do some editing today, but yeah it was basically finished a month ago now... I’m so sorry it’s taken so long to update this series.

Date: 1/12/21 (written)

Series Masterlist

You're at Wendy's place like you promised and ring the doorbell. Quickly, you hear footsteps and watch as the door swings open to see an excited Wendy. She opens up her arms and you give each other a warm hug.

You enter her house, and it's a cozy sight. It was a modest house with warm colors on the wall and matching colored furniture. Then, you notice a sweet and chocolatey smell coming from what you assumed was the kitchen. You can't help but to begin cracking open a smile as you look at Wendy.

"Did you make something just for me?"

Wendy smiles back at you and gently pushes your shoulder.

"Of course I did, silly. I told you I'd pay you back properly."

Wendy takes your hand and you shyly follower her into her kitchen. There she had dinner laid out as well as some brownies and cookies that she had freshly baked. You could feel your mouth watering at the sight.

"Well I be damned, you might be a better chef than me."

Wendy laughs at your comment before trying to be modest.

"Hey, you probably do a lot more cooking than I do. I prefer baking over cooking proper meals."

"But seriously… this all looks so good. Let's take a picture together and post it! I want people to know!"

"Know what?" Wendy asks you while laughing a little bit at your bubbling excitement.

"That the great Wendy went through all of this effort just for me." You gush.

You pull Wendy close to you and grab your phone. The close proximity making Wendy panic just a bit. She calms herself down though as you position the both of you in front of the food, taking a picture and uploading it on Twitter. The both of you are smiling happily and you decided to just tweet a ":D" with the photo. Wendy retweets it before the both of you sit down and eat dinner together.

Occasionally though, the both of you check Twitter to see everyone's responses. Reading the replies aloud to each other, the both of you feel happy to see fans happy about your blossoming friendship.

"I'm really happy that Seulgi pushed me to do this collaboration with you." You confess to Wendy with a smile. She nods her head in agreement.

"I think I'm really lucky to meet a person as cool and genuine as you."

It was a heartfelt moment to be acknowledging the enjoyment the both of you received from each other's presence. The both of you continued reading replies, most of them spurring the two of you to continue complimenting each other. Although… there were some replies that warranted a different response. After laughing at a previous comment, Wendy began reading a different one.

"Oh look, this person says that you and I would… make a good couple." Wendy says, all of a sudden rubbing her neck and looking bashful. You watch her as she says this and feel equally as embarrassed. You tried to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"I mean, how would they know right? It's just been some banter and one picture of us together." Wow. Real smooth there.

The two of you decide to go about dinner without anymore Twitter, and time once again slips by as you're both engrossed in conversing with each other.

After you both finished dinner, Wendy began microwaving some popcorn and had you sit on the couch. She pulls up Netflix on the TV as sits with a large, warm bowl of popcorn in her lap and you reaching for popcorn to put in your mouth.

"What do you wanna watch?" She asks you.

"Anything you wanna watch, it's up to you." You shrug in response.

"You know, I really hate indecisive people." She teases you.

In the end though, Wendy chose a random and a bit unknown romcom to watch with you. To be honest though, it was kind of a bad movie, leading you to slowly drift away into sleep. Although you found the movie boring, Wendy was a sucker for romance, a sucker for comedy, and especially a sucker for what were seen as cheap and bad movies. She was totally engrossed.

When you first started watching the movie with Wendy, you guys were already sitting next to each other. By the time you fell asleep though, the already small gap between the two of you was completely closed. When Wendy stopped paying attention to the moving and turned her head over to gage your reaction. She was shocked to see that instead of sitting there, watching the movie with her, your head had found its way onto her shoulder.

She bit back a smile while looking down on you. Thoughts about how cute you looked began to creep into her mind, but she pushed them away. She sets the bowl of popcorn down and carefully moved out of your way. Quietly, she makes her way to her bedroom and picks out a blanket for you to use. She returns to your sleeping form and lays it across your body to keep you warm.

"Goodnight, Y/N." She whispers. She begins to walk out of the living room and back into her room.

As Wendy does this though, your eyes flutter open just a little bit. You watch as Wendy slowly leaves the room. You don't bother calling out to her or getting up. Your face heats up in embarrassment at the thought of you dozing off in front of Wendy so easily like that. You feel a strange fuzziness in your stomach as you bask in the smell of the blanket though. It smelled of Wendy, and something about it seemed so intoxicating to you. Quickly, you drift back to sleep again.

The sun has risen and so has your body. When your eyes opened you took in the sight of the living room, a sight much different from the bedroom you'd usually be greeted with. Conveniently, Wendy had begun waking up herself around the same time. You hear a soft click from her bedroom door as she opens it, walking into the living room. Rubbing her eyes she catches you awake and smiles. Before she can say anything though, you wanted to thank her.

"Thanks for the blanket, and sorry for falling asleep so suddenly… I'm sure the movie was great." You laugh towards the end, knowing the it most definitely wasn't if the beginning of the movie had anything to say.

"No problem. You know, hanging out with you is really fun." Wendy admits.

"I'm glad you think that." You said quietly.

The both of you decide to just have cereal for breakfast, and once again you find yourselves talking.

"Mmm," you begin saying while in a middle of a bite. You swallow first and then continue talking. "Hey, I just realized we haven't exchanged numbers at all!"

Wendy takes a second to think.

"I guess we really haven't."

"How about you give me your number?"

"Is this your way of hitting on me?"

"No no no, really I just want your number." You shake your head at her. Wendy giggles a bit and you exchange numbers.

"Besides giving me your number, you know what else we should do? We should make a video together to keep building up the hype for our EP." You tell Wendy, and her face seems to beam with intrigue at the idea.

"That sounds really cool, your place or my place?"

"How about we do one at both of our places and post it on our different YouTube channels?"

"Yeah, what would we do though?" Wendy asks for clarification.

"How about…" You think for a second. "How about we can do one where we sing a duet and then another were we just ask some prompt questions?"

Wendy agrees with your proposal. Soon enough though, you feel like it's time to go. Before you get to open Wendy's door to leave though, she hugs you from the back.

"Thanks for coming over, Y/N." Wendy speaks into your back.

She doesn't see it, but you feel your face heat up again.

"Anytime, like you said, hanging out with you is fun."

You say your goodbyes and head back home.

#wendy x reader #red velvet x reader #kpop x reader #gg imagines #gg scenarios #gg reactions #son seungwan x reader #son wendy x reader #kpop writing #kpop scenarios #kpop fics #red velvet kpop

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whitestaghere · 3 years

Text

I'm here - Edmund Pevensie x reader (Chapter 3)

And here's chapter 3. Okay I'm updating this really fast, cuz I am so excited to make this.. I hope you guys will enjoy this.

Edmund's pov

I shut the door behind me and slowly slid down. I was blushing furiously. Brushing my hands through my hair I looked around smiling.

"Jeez, why am I like this?" I sighed out loud.

I've never really felt like this for someone before. Not at once of course. As cheesy as it seems, she makes me blush everytime I look at her.

Though, come to think of it.. if I wasn't seeing things wrong, I swear I think I saw her blushing.

Does she by any chanc-

I was cut off by a knock on the door and jumped up in shock. Holding my chest, with widened eyes I got up.

Adjusting my clothes, I opened the door to be greeted by y/n.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey, you tired?" Really Ed? Is that what you had to ask? I face palmed mentally.

"Oh no no... did I disturb?"

"No, of course not!"

I shuffled to the side, motioning for her to come in.

"I'm sorry if I'm being nosey.. but where are your siblings?" I looked back at him.

"Oh they went out to run some errands.. they'll be back by night fall."

He looked outside the window behind me, "actually they'd be here soon." I looked behind me clearly seeing that it was dark outside.

Suddenly a thought rushed past my head.

What would his siblings think? Now that I'm here? Would they be comfortable?

Mustering up as much courage as possible I finally asked him, "would your siblings be okay with... with me being here?"

He looked at me and nodded, "I'll talk to them.. I'm sure they'll understand."

She slid past me, "well I was thinking..

"Thinking about what?"

"How I'm going to get home.." she turned around, facing me.

I sighed. Well I was too busy thinking of other silly things that I completely forgot about that. She doesn't remember her way home. Maybe we could call her family?

"Do you know any numbers? I mean to call your family?"

She stiffened visibly.

Y/n's pov

Oh my god.

How can I not remember any numbers? Damn. What's wrong with me? Ugh he might think I'm a baby now.. not being able to remember my own parents phone numbers! Really y/n?!

Maybe he read the panic on my face because he instantly put his hands on my shoulders.

"Hey, don't force yourself. You can't remember can you?"

I looked at him. He was looking into my eyes. My face instantly began to heat up.

I shook my head in embarrassment and hung my head low. "I'm sorry.. I really don't know why.. why I can't remember anything."

He sighed.

I knew it. He must be sick of me.

Sick of me staying here. Planted in his house. Not contributing absolutely anything. Clueless.

I couldn't bare to look into his eyes. Pushing past him I dashed through his house and opened the front door.

Closing it behind me I ran out to the road.

"Y/N! Y/N! Please wait!!! Come back!!"

I heard him. Why was he following me?! Hadn't I given him enough work already?

I need to get away.

But before I could set on a run, I felt someone grab me by my arm. I turned around only to see Edmund panting.

"Edmund please I-"

He cut me off, "y/n please don't run.. you're really fast.."

He stood up straight and took a huge breath. Letting go of my arm, he took my hands into his. He scanned my face, "why did you run away like that?"

I felt the tears prick at the corner of my eyes. Looking everywhere but him I shook my head. I tried thinking of some excuse but I clearly couldn't. Only my true feelings were wanting to come out.

"Hey, hey," he held my chin. "Why did you run away? Was it something I said?"

The way he looked at me reminded me of how my mom would stare deep into my eyes, trying to figure out what's wrong. It felt like he was looking into my soul.

Why am I so vulnerable around him?

"I-I-I felt bad..."

"Felt bad for?"

I sniffled.

He tightened his grip around my hands making me look at him again, "felt bad for??"

I couldn't hold it in anymore, "for not remembering! Okay?! For bothering you so much! You had to make me food, treat my bruise, practically looked after me! I feel so bad! It feels like I'm using you unintentionally Edmund!! I-I just don't know what to do!!"

I took a breath, "I'm scared you don't even believe me.. that I actually don't remember. But I'm telling you the truth. No matter how hard I try... I just can't remember!"

The tears just kept streaming. I couldn't control it at all. I genuinely felt so bad. The thought of using him like that, it made me feel so guilty. Even though it wasn't on purpose..

Edmund put his hands on my cheeks, wiping away my tears.

"No, no, don't say that... I believe you okay? I know you're not using me.. We're going to find a way to get you home, one way or another."

I took his hands that were cupping my cheeks, in mine and letting go of one I wiped the rest of my tears off.

He leveled his face with mine, "do you trust me?"

I managed to smile softly at him, "I do.."

He smiled back at me.

"Then come on let's go inside.. its late. My siblings will be home soon."

I nodded at him slowly.

Still holding my hand he got ready to walk back but turned around abruptly, "oh and.. call me Ed."

I smiled at him muttering, "Ed..."

He chuckled.

"Ed! We're home!"

So that's it for chapter 3 everyone! Stay tuned for chapter 4.

I'll be uploading it by tomorrow possibly. I hope you guys enjoyed it! <3

#chronicles of narnia #edmund pevensie x reader #edmund pevensie imagine #edmund pevensie #narnia #edmund x reader #peter pevensie #susan pevensie #lucy pevensie #king edmund

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sincerelymarinette · 3 years

Text

A Recorded Life Sequel (2/10) - Miraculous Ladybug

Words 1479 Chapter Summary: School is back into the schedule and everyone is busy. Marinette uses a school project as an easy way to get a video done and Alya pops by. Author's Note: I'm back! I'm so sorry for going MIA the past few weeks but school has been kicking my butt with projects. School comes first, tho! Hoping to get back into regular updates but my semester is about halfway over and teachers are picking things up. Keep an eye on tumblr/wattpad if things get postponed! Also the ending sounds ominous but trust me it isn't, I just wanted a good way to wrap things up.

Prev / Next / Masterlist

Life Updates

---

A few months into the school year

Adrien was still living with Marinette and her family. Though now he would have the mansion all to himself, he didn't want to be there. It was filled with harsh memories, and he couldn't even think about looking at the pictures of his father. Instead, he let Gorilla live there, rent-free and happy. He still accompanied Adrien when he went to Agreste Fashion, but he also knew Adrien could take care of himself.

But he couldn't leave Adrien alone after losing his mother, father, and closest thing to another parental figure. Gorilla was still there for him, picking Adrien up in the morning to get him to school, picking him up from school, and taking him wherever he needs, whether it be the offices or back to the bakery.

Marinette and her parents love having Adrien around. Tom and Sabine knew how hard it is for him, and letting him stay with them brought some normalcy into his life. Plus, he really enjoyed learning how to cook with them and even helping out in the bakery when it gets busy. They loved walking out into the living room to see the kids watching movies or playing video games, and waking up in the morning to find they fell asleep in the middle of their TV binge-watching time, all cuddled together.

Though it was more of an adjustment, Tom and Sabine also loved the Kwamis. Tikki is very sweet, and they love having Plagg taste test new ideas. Since Ladybug and Chat Noir aren't needed as much anymore, they're more like pets, but that doesn't change the love everyone has for them. Now with Marinette as the guardian of Paris' Miraculous, every so often, she lets them all come out to get a breath of fresh air. Being stuck in a box has got to be boring, and it's a lot of fun to see all the Kwami's interact.

Adrien loved the freedom of university and getting to study business. It was a lot to take on, but he was really excited to take Agreste Fashion in a better direction once he learned more and more. He may not be officially running it right now, and the COO is acting as CEO; he does get a lot of say in the way things go. When he first started, he immediately stripped Agreste Fashion of his father's name, and Gabriel is nowhere to be found; he will not let his father's bad choices run this business any longer.

While Adrien was having a great time with school, Marinette was stressing. Of course, she loved everything she was doing in her classes. She was finally able to take her designs to the next level and learn more than she could teach herself. Adrien already promised her a job at Agreste Fashion, but she's determined to earn her place and work her way up by herself.

Marinette had a busy week with a big project due. Since she's been distancing herself from videos (still posting at least weekly!), she figured to take advantage of the situation. Marinette had her camera set up to shoot the mannequin she was working on, and another camera pointed at her desk to get different shots for what part she was focusing on. She wouldn't post the video until after she got her grade back, but it never hurts to shoot something in advance.

As Marinette was carefully pinning a piece of fabric, she jumped at the sound of the trap door opening. "Ah!" She shouted when she poked herself. "Oh, Alya," She calmed down. "You scared me."

"I can see," She giggled. "I came to check up on you and bring you a smoothie," She offered her gift with a big smile. "And I wanted to see your work!"

Marinette gladly took the drink and nodded. "Thanks, nowhere near done yet. I'm recording the process for a video."

Alya gasped, acting offended. "And you're doing that without me, your camera operator?"

"You've been busy, too; I didn't want to stop you!" Marinette reasoned.

"Good point, but I'm going to sit here and help," She sat and sat on the chaise against the wall. Pulling out her laptop, Alya smiled. "I brought work with me. We can both work loving the company of each other," She said.

Marinette smirked as she got back to work. "Missing Nino?"

"Like you'd never imagine," Alya groaned back. "We talk all the time, but it's not the same. How's Adrien?"

"Honestly, better than I expected. He spends a decent amount of time at Agreste Fashion, but is always back in time for dinner. Speaking of, you want to stay?" Marinette offered, and Alya nodded in response. She yelled down to her mom to ask if it was okay, which Sabine said absolutely.

Alya started typing away at her computer to work on a paper while still making conversation with Marinette. "How are you all adjusting? I know Nino, Chloé, and I have gotten over most of it, but I'm sure it's different for you guys."

"Oh, you know, we're still working through it. Adrien sees a therapist, as expected, and it helps. I think it just takes time, and school is definitely helping as a distraction. I can't imagine what will happen if Nathalie tries to contact him, but last we heard, she moved to the States when she was released. They made a compromise that she'd finish out community service there, especially since Gorilla said it would be more damaging to Adrien to have her still in Paris," Marinette rambled. "But other than that, good!" Marinette sighed, glad that she would be narrating the video in the editing phase.

Alya nodded. "I'm still shocked that he was a witness in court," She said. "But I'm glad he was. Though I don't believe her 'I was forced to!' defense, at least she won't be near us," Alya said. "It's a shame; she seemed nice. Well, before we found out."

Marinette shook her head with a slight laugh. "She scared me from the beginning. But so did Gabriel," Marinette reflected. They went back to work, having a few remarks here and there, and soon enough, they were called down for dinner. "Oh, Adrien, hey!" Marinette smiled when she got downstairs to see that Adrien was home, and had been, as he helped with dinner.

"Sorry I snuck in," He chuckled and kissed her cheek. "Hey, Alya, how are things?"

---

ahhhh i love Marinette's designs so much thEYRE BEAUTIFUL

when is this going to be in stores?? i need it like yesterday

I wonder when Adrien will give her a job at agreste fashion. we all know he wants to. but w h e n. I need my fashion power couple to take over the world

I loved Alya just chilling in the back, that's friendship. working independently but together (also is anyone else trying to figure out what they were talking about??) >Marinette Design's Reply Oh trust me it's nothing interesting. Just getting caught back up about school and life!

I'm so happy when you upload! Thanks Mari, hope you all are doing well.

I HEAR A NINO TRACK IN THE BACKGROUND IM SEEING HIM WITH JAGGED IN A FEW WEEKS AHHHHHH

one day we'll get a vlog from Marinette preparing for her first big time fashion show. With Adrien as a model. Manifesting it.

Marinette snickered as she read through the comments from her most recent video, and even replied to a few. She was waiting for Adrien to finish getting ready so they could head out for their date, and she was highly entertained by the comments. Only a few more minutes passed before Adrien came from the bathroom in a green sweater with a big smile on his face. "Ready to go, Milady?" He asked and held his arm out for her to take.

Marinette nodded and linked their arms. She was wearing a casual dress with leggings, looking nice but not being overdressed. They were excited to have a nice dinner together and act like a normal couple, which they never really had. They left the Kwamis at home and were ready to enjoy the evening, ready for a night for just them. Gorilla picked them up and drove them to the restaurant, and they only had two rules for tonight: No discussing past superhero adventures, and stay off the phones so they can enjoy each other's company.

The rules were easy to follow, as all they wanted to do was sit, talk, and eat. Maybe their lives would go back to normal faster than they thought. They were happy and excited for the future, and both were happy to talk about anything else than the trauma they have suffered.

Marinette, however, did miss running around on rooftops with her cat.

---

@lady-of-the-roses-and-lilies @bookishserendipity03 @avatheexceed @gkz10 @coccinellegirl @kat-thatoneweirdo @strawberryblondish @snow-swordswoman @lilgaga98 @evufries @toodaloo-kangaroo

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bittysvalentines · 4 years

Text

la dolce far niente

To: @insertatitlehere

From: @wrathofthestag

For @insertatitlehere who wanted some family drama, pets, some introspective Jack, or social media. How about all of them? :) I hope you like it. From @wrathofthestag

Fic Summary: With Bitty out of town for a few days, can Jack learn to unwind and enjoy the sweetness of doing nothing?

Rating: General Audience.

It had come as a surprise. Just as Jack and Bitty had settled in for an evening of Netflix and Chinese takeout to enjoy the last sleepy summer days before Jack’s preseason the call came in.

“He did what?” Bitty sat upright on the couch, practically knocking over the bowl of pepper steak on his lap. “Oh no!”

Jack looked at Bitty, who in turn, stroked Jack’s arm and shook his head, as their husky, Netty, nervously paced around the room.

“Coach broke his leg, he’s okay,” Bitty quickly whispered then returned to the call at hand. “What did the doctor say?”

Bitty spoke to Suzanne, throwing out an occasional, “uh-huh,” and finally hung up with a big whooshing exhale.

“What happened, Bits? Is Coach okay?”

“That darn man! He insisted on cleaning the gutters himself—even after mama warned him not to—and he slipped as he was coming down the ladder. Bam! Broken fibula!”

And just like that, Bitty was off to Madison the next day to help Suzanne out and act as referee between her and his Aunt Marlene.

The night of Bitty’s departure, Jack sat in bed catching up on long-ignored emails. He waited for Bitty to text him, letting him know he arrived safely.

He saw an email from Ruben, the Falcs head of social media, and groaned. The subject was read Social Media Update. He’d been on Jack for a while to get his Instagram going and much to Jack’s chagrin, George agreed.

Ruben had called Jack into his office, a while back, and Jack already knew what was coming.

"George said photography’s your hobby,” Ruben said matter-of-factly. “So let's set you up with an Instagram."

"Bitty already did, I just haven't done anything with it," Jack said as he fidgeted with the Falcs paperweight on Ruben’s desk.

"Jack, the only thing worse than no social media is bad social media," Ruben sighed.

"You sound just like Bitty, " Jack said as he shrugged helplessly.

"Yeah, well, there’s a reason I like that boy." Ruben smiled. "Now let's get some content in there.”

Since that meeting, Jack uploaded exactly zero images. That was three weeks ago. He now took to ducking into empty rooms whenever he’d see Ruben walking his direction.

+++

Jack's alarm had gone off twenty minutes ago but he remembered the conversation he had with Bitty before he left...

“Why don’t you finally do all those little things you’ve been wanting to do, but never have time?”

“Little things?”

“Yeah, you know. Treat yourself."

Bitty leaned in and kissed Jack. A big lush kiss.

"You know how you’re always saying you want to sleep in more, try some new recipes, read a book on the balcony—those things. Do it. Do a little nothing."

Jack smiled thinking of the possibilities, and so he opted to stay in bed. He stretched lazily and watched the sunlight waft in. The light made curious shapes on the bedroom ceiling.

He turned to look at Bitty's side of the bed. Even though Jack had the entire bed to himself, he stayed on his side the entire night. He reached over and took Bitty's pillow and pressed it to his face. It no longer smelled of him, but Jack hugged it to his chest.

Just then Netty walked in, the look on her face clearly demanded breakfast. She gingerly strolled over and placed her chin on the empty side and looked up at Jack through lowered lashes.

"I know, girl. I miss him too."

Netty’s tail wagged.

Bitty was never really a pet person, and it had taken a whole month for him to really warm up to Netty, but when Jack went a long roadie, Netty stuck to Bitty’s side. By the time Jack returned, Bitty now called her Punkin, Cookie, Biscuit, and about a million other baking-related nicknames.

“Jack, she’s just so sweet—and has your eyes. Don’t you, my little praline?” Bitty had said as he scratched Netty’s chin.

Jack put the pillow down and sat up. Netty perked up.

"All right, let's get you some food and we'll go out for a run. Let me just see if I got any messages from Bits."

Jack reached for his phone and checked it. He already had a message waiting for him.

Bitty: Morning, handsome! Text me when you're up. Say hi to my little cupcake.

Jack: Netty said your pillow is VERY soft. We might have to make room for her every night.

Bitty: Jack Laurent, please tell me you did not let her sleep in our bed.

Jack: Maybe?

Bitty: Jack!

Jack: Haha. Just kidding. I might, though. The bed's too big without you.

Bitty: <3333

Jack smiled. He got out of bed and turned back to look at it. He was struck with the urge to take a photo of it, and then on a whim opened up Instagram. Scrolling through the filters, Jack felt overwhelmed by all the choices so he skipped that part and typed his caption.

The bed feels too big this morning.

He smiled and pressed "share."

"Shit. Was I supposed to do hash things?"

Netty looked up at him and Jack frowned. He edited the post and tagged Bitty.

"There."

Jack walked into the bathroom and saw his toothbrush sitting solitary. He felt an instant pang of longing as he missed having Bitty's toothbrush next to his. A toothbrush. Jack felt so silly. The chirping would have been endless if the guys—Samwell and Falcs alike—could see him now.

He looked at his reflection in the mirror and blushed. Jack decided in that instance that rather than feeling sorry for himself (Bitty had only been gone one day and Jack needed to pull himself together, tabarnak) he would document his day to show Bitty what he was doing. Also, he could finally get his Instagram going and get Ruben off his back, but mainly it was for Bitty… and a little teeny bit for Jack.

The caption read: Good oral hygiene is the cornerstone to any healthy smile. Which comes in handy when you have someone who makes you smile. @omgcheckplease

After he brushed his teeth, Jack walked to the kitchen and poured some kibble into Netty's bowl and she eagerly dug. Jack took out the coffee grounds from the cupboard and was about to get the pot going when he stopped and remembered the Chemex Nursey had gotten him for his birthday.

He had used it a few times, but mainly he’d stick to the coffee machine because Bitty would be so antsy for his morning cup. This time, however, Jack knew he could be a bit slower. He'd drink that “hipster bullshit”—Shitty's words, not Jack's—and really savor his morning cup.

He ground the beans and set the kettle to boil. He folded a coffee filter into a conical shape and wet it. After he had placed it on top of the Chemex, he put the grounds into the filter. Once the water was ready, Jack slowly poured it over the grounds and watched it drip, drip, drip away.

Jack's thoughts suddenly took him to his childhood. Every morning when maman was home, he'd make her coffee. He hadn't thought about it in years, but he would get up early (anxious insomnia kept slept at bay often for young Jack) and make her some coffee in the old silver Italian percolator that always sat on the stove.

"Jacky, you made me coffee!" Alicia would say every single time, sounding just as surprised and genuine as the time before.

He remembered how he watched her carefully a few times and then memorized all the steps so that one day, he would be able to do it on his own. And he did! Jack felt less alone somehow, brewing coffee for his mother as the rest of the world slept.

A great cup of coffee this morning, thanks to @derekmaliknurse’s birthday gift. @omgcheckplease should I pour you a cup? #chemex

Netty pressed her nose to Jack's calf.

"Hey, girl. As soon as I'm done with my coffee, I promise we’ll go."

Just then, his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Do my eyes fucking deceive me?"

"Hey, Shits."

"Don't 'Hey, Shits,' me."

"What do you mean?"

Jack could already hear the teasing mirth in Shitty's voice.

"Well, I'm sitting here in Haus 2.0, chowing on some cereal, having my morning caw-fee, scrolling through my ‘Gram when lo and behold, not one but two—two motherfucking super soft JLZ posts appear on my feed."

Jack grinned. "Oh?"

"I just about spat out my Oops Berries, brah."

"The front office asked me to step up my online presence, that's all."

"That's all? Lemme talk to Bitty."

"He's in Madison."

"Madison? Why?"

"Coach broke his leg and he's out there helping Suzanne."

Shitty was quiet, almost too quiet.

"Shits?" Jack asked, eyebrow quirked.

Shitty guffawed. "Jack, I love you but let's call a spade a spade."

"What do you mean?" He asked feeling transparent.

"Brah, you're not doing that for the front office. You're sending Bitty a visual love letter through Instagram. You’re wooing him with images, and I gotta tell you, I fucking dig it."

Jack grinned. "I don't know what you mean."

Shitty snorted. "Right. Yeah. Okay. Listen, who am I to stand in the way of your courtly lovin' ways? Personally, I dig it. You go with your sweet displays of man-on-man affection--"

"I'm hanging up now, " Jack laughed.

"All I'm saying is prepare to be either chirped within an inch of your life or fawned all over online."

"Bye, Shitty."

"Bye, you Ansel Adams mofo. You better dedicate a post to meeeee!"

Jack laughed. He shook his head as he picked up his mug and walked out to the balcony.

Taking a small sip, Jack relished the robust aroma of the coffee which had hints of chocolate and pepper. He hummed happily. The silky lush coffee slipped down this throat deliciously while he sat and watched the morning sky finish making her appearance.

+++

During Netty's walk (Jack chose to opt out of a run that morning), they stopped at the corner bakery he and Bitty like so much. The morning rush hour crowd had long died down. He got in line and watched as an employee brought out a tray of chocolate croissants, fragrant and fresh.

"Hey, Jack," Kamal, the owner, said as Jack reached the register.

"Hey."

"No Eric today?"

"No. He's visiting his parents for a few days. It’s just me and Netty."

They both turned toward the window and saw her patiently sitting by the lamppost.

"Cool. So, one low-fat bran muffin?" Kamal asked as he began to ring up the order.

Jack looked at the croissants.

"No, I'll have two chocolate croissants and a peanut butter dog biscuit."

"All right, all right.” Kamal smiled. “Treat yourself, man."

Jack smiled. "Yeah, something like that."

Jack untied Netty and they made their way to the dog park down the street. He sat on a bench as he watched her run to and fro, while he ate his pain au chocolat.

+++

“It is little wonder that for Jack the Ripper, the ‘Liston Knife’ was the weapon of choice during his killing spree in 1888.”

Jack closed his copy of The Butchering Art, as he finished reading the chapter to Netty, who seemed quite enthralled while she rested at the foot of the couch where he lounged. She then gave out a loud yawn.

“I was going to order some food, but how about I make us something instead?” Jack said to Netty.

Jack put down his book and polished off the last dregs of his tea as Netty lazily wagged her tail a few times. Jack quickly took Netty’s picture and posted it. The caption read: She’s practically a baked good now and has no clue. Right, @omgcheckplease? #husky

He sat up and stretched as he made his way to the kitchen. Jack scratched at his belly and opened the fridge. There was some deli meat, a couple tamales Bitty got from the local carniceria, half a cheesecake, packages of fresh meat, and various odds and ends. Jack knew there were some chicken tenders in the freezer, but he wanted something else… something different.

Jack: Debating what I should have for dinner.

Bitty: I’m surprised you’re not ordering from Star of Siam.

Jack: I was going to but changed my mind.

Bitty: What are you in the mood for?

Jack: Not sure. Something good.

Bitty: Aw! I wish I was there so I could feed you.

Jack: What would you do?

Bitty: Hmm… after giving you a bunch of kisses, maybe some spaghetti and meatballs? Put some meat on your bones. You’re wasting away, Mr. Zimmermann.

Jack: Haha. That does sound good, actually.

Bitty: You know MooMaw’s recipe box? The one on top of the fridge?

Jack: The yellow box?

Bitty: Yep! Pull her spaghetti and meatball recipe and make that.

Jack walked over to the fridge and opened the small metal box. He found recipe after recipe handwritten on index cards, some yellowed with age, some written in Bitty’s neat script.

Spaghetti and Meatballs - Made with Love by Irene

Jack read the recipe: ground beef, onion, eggs, milk, garlic, crushed tomatoes, parmesan cheese. Reading it alone made his stomach growl. He opened the fridge again and saw he had most of the ingredients on hand. He opened the cupboard and found the rest.

Jack: I’m making MooMaw’s spaghetti and meatballs. And I love you for having all the ingredients in the house.

Bitty: Be sure to send me a picture of how it turned out.

Jack: Have you been online at all today?

Bitty: No, I haven’t. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I’ve been running errands for Mama all over town. I’m getting ready to make a chicken casserole and then finally sit for a bit. Why?

Jack: No reason.

Bitty: Skype tonight?

Jack: 9?

Bitty: See you then, handsome. xoxo

Jack smiled as he gathered all the ingredients on the counter.

“Alexio, play Wilco by Wilco on Spotify.”

The smart speaker began to play as the music floated through the kitchen. Jack rarely listened to music in the house. He preferred to let Bitty play whatever he wanted and instead saved his tunes for the car.

“You and your old man music,” Bitty would sweetly chirp whenever they were in Jack’s car.

Bitty would lean over and raise the volume for Jack and begin singing to whatever song was playing—even if he didn’t know the words. Bitty would make them up as he went along. Each one smiling as the wind would blow through their hair. Bitty’s smile like sunshine while Jack would gently stroke his leg as they drove down the Providence streets.

“Alexio, call Papa.”

Jack began cutting onions for the sauce, referring back to MooMaw’s recipe, as his phone rang through the speaker.

“Allô?”

“Hey, Papa.”

“Jack, what a surprise. I wasn’t expecting your call until Sunday.”

“I know, but I wanted to call you now.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing, I’m just making some dinner. Bitty is visiting his parents for a few days, and I just wanted to see how you and Maman were.”

«Missing your boy, are you?»

Jack smiled, even as his eyes stung from the onion. «Yeah, but I’m also missing you and Maman.»

«What are you making?»

«Spaghetti and meatballs. I’m using Bitty’s grandmother’s recipe.»

«Do you remember that summer, you must have been about four or so, and the only thing you wanted to eat was spaghetti.»

Jack paused. He placed the tip of the knife down onto the butcher block. «I don’t remember that.»

Bob laughed. «Really? I’m surprised. You were very adamant about it. Your poor mother was so upset that you wouldn’t eat anything else.»

Jack laughed. «Crisse, I think I do remember! Did she make it for breakfast?»

Jack recalled sitting at their kitchen table in Pittsburgh (He always liked that house because the backyard was enormous, they got a dog. Wayne, the golden retriever) and swinging his legs back and forth as Maman placed a bowl of pasta in front of him. The tang of the sauce, the gooey cheese being pulled from his lips. It all came back to him.

«How is Maman?» Jack asked warmly.

«She’s out with Louisa and Marie—they’re at a wine tasting or something. Who can keep track?» Bob said. Jack could hear the mirth in his voice.

«Well, I just wanted to say a quick hi, and I better get back to this otherwise I’ll never finish.»

«Sounds good, son. Send me a photo.»

«Will do. Talk to you on Sunday.»

«Love you, Jack.»

«Love you, too, Papa.»

Jack began to sing along to Wilco once again and he tossed the onion into the ground beef...

Jack sprinkled some parsley on the top of his dish and smiled.

“Not bad, eh, Netty?”

She looked up at him expectantly, hoping for a bite. He scratched the back of Netty’s ears, then scooped a little pasta and a couple of meatballs into her dog bowl.

He took out his phone and opened up Instagram again.

Homemade spaghetti and meatballs based on @omgcheckplease’s grandmother’s recipe. I hope I made y’all proud.

Jack shared the photo and instantly closed the app.

“Come on girl, let’s eat.”

Netty followed Jack to the dining room where he put both dishes on the table. Netty jumped up onto one of the chairs. Jack smiled contently as Netty began to dig in, and he soon followed.

+++

It was almost nine and Jack began to get ready for Bitty’s phone call. He had cleared the dishes and placed them all in the dishwasher. The leftovers were in the fridge and he remembered there was half a key lime cheesecake in the fridge. Jack took it out, cut a big slice and poured himself a glass of milk.

Jack took a photo of cheesecake and shared it on Instagram. The caption read: A day of doing sweet nothing ends with a sweet something. Wishing @omgcheckplease was here.

He stood at the kitchen counter and dug in; each bite delicious and sweet, reminding him of Bitty in every possible way.

He took another forkful of cheesecake and finally looked at his Instagram notifications. Jack did a triple take—he had so many likes and comments, he didn’t even know where to begin. So many were from strangers, too. It was a little overwhelming, so he decided to just look at comments from people he knew.

rubenalmanzoSM: Well done @jlzimmermann1

bsknightESQ: Brah! When you cooking for me? Did you ever know that you’re my hero??

derekmailknurse: I’ll get you some Stumptown beans. #chemexforlife

AliciaZimmermannProd: Look at you! On Instagram.

thelarissaduan: I told Shits I would not chirp. (Even though I really want to. Esp. with that bed pic, dude.) #softbro

omgcheckplease: I love this... and you.

Jack closed Instagram and yawned as he made his way to the bedroom. He pulled his laptop into bed and at nine opened up Skype and called Bitty.

Bitty’s face appeared, looking sleepy and tired, but smiling brightly the instant he saw Jack.

“Hey, there, handsome.”

Bitty was in his bedroom, in bed, with his back against the headboard.

“Bits,” Jack said.

He turned onto his side and rested his head on the crook of his arm. The laptop sat on the mattress next to him.

“You are the sweetest, most beautiful boy in the entire world.”

“Am I?”

“You are! I saw all of your Insta posts.”

Jack could feel himself blush.

“They weren’t too… boring?”

“No! I love them! They were lovely.”

“They were all for you,” Jack said softly.

“I know.”

Bitty reached out to touch the screen and Jack immediately did the same.

“How was your day?” he asked.

“I swear Jack, I thought I was going to have to break up some fisticuffs between Mama and Aunt Marlene.”

Jack chuckled. “That bad, eh?”

“The worst. I’m so glad I’m coming home the day after tomorrow. Poor Coach was basically like, ‘Save yourself, son!’”

“I miss your face,” Jack said simply and unguarded.

“Lord, I miss yours too. So much…”

The two looked at each other as if they had nowhere else in the world they’d rather be.

“So, how was your day? It looked pretty nice from what I saw,” Bitty said as he finally spoke.

“It was. I did a little nothing, all day.”

“And my little strudel?”

“She helped. Turns out she’s a pro at it.”

Bitty chuckled. “I love it. And how was it?”

Several years ago, Jack was in his therapist’s waiting room and was idly leafing through a copy of Psychology Today when he came across an article that made him pause. He began to read it, and at the time found it to be completely absurd. The article was about la dolce far niente, or the sweetness of doing nothing.

“Maybe you sit and read a book. Maybe you stare out the window or balcony and listen to your favorite musician,” the article read. “What can you do today to begin doing nothing?”

Jack frowned as he read, not understanding what was so great about remaining idle. It wasn’t until he began a relationship with Bitty that he truly understood what doing nothing could mean. They could do nothing while they snuggled in bed, they could do nothing while they sat on the couch as the rain poured outside as Bitty slowly ran his fingers through Jack’s hair.

Nothing with Bitty came to mean everything to Jack, and soon Jack began to appreciate doing nothing by himself. He understood that he didn’t have to be “on,” all the time. 95% was okay. La dolce far niente.

“Well?” Bitty asked again.

“It was sweet, Bits,” Jack replied with a smile. “Very sweet.”

#bittyjack #bv2020 #bitty's valentines #omgcp fandom #omg check please!

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morizukorn · 3 years

Text

Aspiring Heroes Chapter 3 is out!

Hey everyone! I just want to apologize for not posting any updates about my fic here in Tumblr for a long time, I’ve been on a messy schedule this month that’s why, making time for simple things is getting difficult, but I really wanna make up for it and by doing that, I already uploaded Chapter 4 in just two weeks compare before, every 2 weeks is probably will be my schedule for this Fic, I can’t assure though, it depends on how school will treat me lol. Anyways Chapter 3 is out! Hope you guys will read :)

Rating - T

Title - Aspiring Heroes

Genre - Action, Fantasy

Summary - A girl born with a powerful quirk sets foot in the most prestigious school for hero training to be a hero.

Preview: Chapter 3: Quirk Apprehension Test

Ikoaru Akamine's POV

After sensei's pumping words, everyone had a massive buildup on their faces. The Quirk Apprehension Test is about to start, we moved on from the softball throw test for now as ordered by Nezu-sensei.

First Test: 50-Meter Dash

A 50-meter line is vertically drawn on the ground, both sides are to be used by two students each, separating them from each other, not necessarily to race but to add intensity for both players as they will run the whole 50-meter line with the use of their quirks. Spectating in the side is a robot proctor and next to it is Nezu-sensei, while all of us line up for our turns.

And so it begins...

First of all, Eizo positioned himself on the starting line along with another classmate as his competitor.

"On your marks, get set..." the robot proctor said in a high robotic voice.

Before the robot proctor even said the final word to commence the start, Eizo's right eye glowed in full red. "Boost..." he whispered, looking straight still.

"Bang!" The robot proctor emitted and the two students started running.

Eizo's right back leg immediately turned into a rocket thruster, without even a second to waste the engines quickly fired up and Eizo accelerated up through the finish line. "3.27 seconds! Holy! That was so fast!" the robot proctor shouted.

Wow! Eizo really is a robot...

"I'm sure that gave Sensei some impressions," Eizo said as he calms himself down, his formed thrusters on the back of his leg reassembled, shifting back to his normal leg.

Niikura Eizo

Quirk: Half-Cybernetic

His left side is a normal human body while his right side is a cybernetic body that gives him the abilities of a robot. He's a cyborg!

Note: Eizo is still considered as a human being for his intelligence is human, not artificial.

"Impressive Eizo-kun, just don't scare us with your eye, It's like your trying to kill us," Sensei jokingly commented.

"M-my eye... I didn't mean to! Sensei this is just me being serious, forgive me for scaring you all!" he apologized, bowing many times while covering that glowing red eye.

Eizo's seriousness made everyone laugh especially Mei. "You're taking this too much, Eizo," Mei commented, tapping his metal back.

"At least I got 3 seconds, I'm the highest," Eizo competingly replied.

"Congrats! But I'm not here for the competition. I'm here, for other things..." she smirked before walking on the starting line along with another classmate as the competitor.

"Okay! This test needs some flavor!" Mei shouted.

She then unzipped the back part of her PE uniform, which for some reason hers has one, revealing her back which has a colored scaled pattern attached to it like she has a tattoo, delicately attached on her soft skin, looking very smooth. Everyone wasn't ready for what she's about to do.

Nezu-sensei was about to call her out but the scales then pulled themselves off from Mei's skin, unfolding as it reaches out to her uniform, forming her butterfly wings. All of us were stunned. Her wings are aesthetically beautiful.

"Wow... So that's what I missed when she helped me at the cafeteria, it's so pleasing in my eyes..." I whispered, it's like I'm hypnotized.

Meanwhile, Eizo just stares at it apathetically.

The test starts. "On your marks, get set..." the robot proctor said.

Mei flutters herself from the ground, her antennas immediately gave her the wind signal, preparing her wings for a takeoff...

"Bang!"

As the robot proctor projected the starting sound, Mei vigorously swung her wings, giving her a boost in the air, continuously gliding with her wing spreading fully, it's like she wasn't even consuming energy, her wings do all the work until she reached the finish line.

"5.36 seconds!"

Mei gracefully dropped herself down and gave us all a wink to our surprised faces.

"Kumei Chou"

"Quirk: Butterfly"

"She has butterfly wings, antennae, her hands are sticky and her tongue also acts as a proboscis which can stretch up to 2 meters, basically she's a human butterfly!"

Everyone was so pleased with what Mei has shown that everyone was fangirling over her. Suddenly it's my turn because almost everyone who was on the line went to Mei, I put myself on the starting line, and unexpectedly out of all people, the other competitor is Shizue and he still has that cold face as he prepares himself.

Are you serious!? Damn it, Mei, why do you have to steal everyone's attention and leave me with this one; nonetheless, this is an opportunity to strike back. But wait! What will I do on this race...? Do I even know how to use my quirk!? How did I even use my quirk yesterday?

"On your marks, get set... BANG!"

W-wait!

With no other choice, I started running. I tried my best to release something from my hands as I moved but there's nothing, meanwhile, Shizue's running with his hands spread behind his back, releasing a blast of his flame quirk, gaining a big boost from the impact while I just run as fast as I could.

"5.13 seconds!" the robot proctor announced as Shizue reached the finish line.

And he finished first...

"6.56 seconds!" the robot proctor announced as I stepped on the finish line.

6.56 seconds... Did I do well...?

"I did well... Right?" I heavily sighed, looking around, everyone seems to be minding their businesses, good thing only a few heard my results...

Second Test: Grip Strength

Each student is tasked to grasp a hand-held device that will measure the force of their grip in kilograms.

"OK... Huuuurghhhh!" I gripped the device with much force that my hands can release, receiving small pain as I clutch intensely, after a few seconds, I looked at the hand-held device and my force is just 52.0kg.

I really should work out more...

"Woahhh, 450kg!" a classmate suddenly cheered.

"Wow! You're like a gorilla!" Mei praised.

450kg! Is that even possible?

I looked to where the noise is coming from and saw the student who just grasped the device which made everyone from the class seem impressed and to my surprise, he really is a gorilla wearing glasses and his huge hands are literally near on crushing the device.

"But... I am a gorilla..." the gorilla student replied to Mei awkwardly.

Third Test: Standing Long Jump

Students are tasked to clear a long sandbox with the use of their quirks.

Once again, Mei took the spotlight. Using her wings, Mei floated in the air as she jumped with much control, not even worrying about any mistake as she levitates freely, securing a pass on the assigned sandbox for the test.

Mei has wings which is an instant win for her, so lucky...

Another classmate followed up, a girl with an intimidating aura placed herself on the starting line, bending her knees in preparation before she vigorously let all the stored power out, jumping so high from where she was standing, no doubt she cleared more than the required distance of the sandbox, she stayed in the air for some time before landing like a badass superhero.

There's no way she just flew like that...

Finally, it's my turn and the pressure is on, I bent my knees then jumped from the starting line with my hands spread on my back, hoping my quirk will react again so that it can boost me towards but...

"1, 2, 3, go! Heeeeeeeeeeya!" but nothing happened, I just landed within the sandbox, hitting my butt hard on the ground.

"Owww..." I whimpered.

This is so embarrassing...

Fourth Test: Repeated Side Steps

The students must move between three lines by one to the other fast.

A student whose face is covered by the hood of his uniform took first, he prepares himself for the test without even removing his hoodie, and from the darkness inside of it, his eyes glowed in red, and in a blink of an eye, he quickly sidestepped all the three lines, his hood didn't even fall off.

That's possible!?

Everyone was speechless and amazed at him but he didn't give any response and just walked out. And same as before there's nothing special that happened on my turn.

The test continued with Distance Run, Seated Toe-Touch, and Sit Ups with each of my classmates getting their chance to make their quirks shine. Nothing happened for me, I'm getting very stressed about all of this.

What should I do...? Why is it not working!?

I looked at the palm of my hands then tried doing any hand technique I know, getting more desperate as I try to make it work.

"You do know that's not how it will work..." Nezu-sensei said, appearing out of nowhere.

"Sensei you're here! I'm sorry..." I said, never expecting him to express his concern.

"During the entrance exam, your performance was different, please don't fall behind, Akamine-chan," he said before he left.

Sensei saw me during my entrance exam...

"Ikoa-chan!" Mei suddenly called, along with her is Eizo.

What's with everyone appearing out of nowhere!?

"Sensei was talking to you, Ikoaru," Eizo mentioned.

"Yeah, it's about my quirk, you guys shouldn't worry about it," I replied.

"Oh, actually we noticed that too."

"I think everyone did. The truth is, I don't know how to activate this quirk of mine, I don't even know what it is called or any stuff about it..."

"Didn't you just used it on Shizue yesterday?" Eizo curiously asked.

"No, It just trigger by itself, I was begging at that time... Maybe it's because I'm being pressured at that time that's why I triggered it like an emergency or something..."

"I find that weird and questionable, most kids will get to discover their quirk by the age of 4 and then they will just get used to it as they grow. If I may ask, how did you passed the exam, Ikoaru?" Mei asked.

"I don't know honestly, I don't remember... Shizue told me yesterday that I didn't even do anything at the entrance exam and yet I'm here..." I answered.

Both of them gave me a puzzled look.

"Okay look, today is just our second day, there's more time, don't beat yourself up," Mei said.

"Mei's right, don't overthink too much about it and just be yourself," Eizo added.

They're very concerned, I'm glad they care.

"Thank you... Don't worry, I will do my best!" my mood has lifted as I deliver a smile, they both nodded happily as they saw my sudden change of expression.

Finally, everyone had finished the current test, moving on to the final one. "We will now be having the final test, I'll give you a short break then we'll start!" Sensei announced. Everyone then replenished themselves. It's the final hurdle, I can feel everyone's solemnity.

I need to keep up!

Final Test: Soft-ball Throw

Students are required to throw a softball as far as they could with the use of their quirks.

Firstly, Shizue blasted the ball through a form of an explosion from his flame quirk, relying more on the impact of it, the ball reached a farther distance as expected.

"205.3 meters!" Sensei announced, looking at the device he's holding.

Next, Eizo's elbow is the part that turned into a thruster this time, the engines of his thruster boosted with much control, Eizo did 360-spins as he moved before throwing the ball from his grasps, giving it a much bigger momentum that resulted in him scoring a longer distance.

"401.6 meters!"

Other students also showed their best way of throwing the ball with their quirks, until finally, it's my turn. I walked through the circle, feeling calm as I can be, I felt Sensei's observing stare and my friend's internal cheer for me as I reached the center.

Everyone brought out the best of themselves, I want to show them what I can do as well...

"Good luck, Akamine-chan," Nezu-sensei said, giving me the ball.

I grasped it and closed my eyes, giving all my focus onto the ball, hoping that my quirk will work this time just like yesterday. A second passed and I've regained my confidence, I'm ready to show what I can do...!

Full Chapter Links:

FFN- Aspiring Heroes Chapter 3

AO3- Aspiring Heroes Chapter 3

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krycss · 4 years

Text

Actions Speak Louder Than Words | Jacob Seed x F!Deputy

Chapter 15

[Read on AO3]

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Haaaaa…It’s been what, almost a year?! I would like to apologize but also just give you guys a life update. So the reason uploads were so slow in the past was due to work. Well, with the whole pandemic happening, I suddenly found myself with a lot more free time. Unfortunately it had been so long since I wrote anything that I just didn’t know what to do. I could still see all the new kudos I was getting and they both inspired me to want to try again, but also made me terrified. What if it wasn’t as good as it was before? What if all the people who were following the story don’t care anymore? Well, I decided to just go for it and see what happens. This is shorter than my previous chapters but again, it’s been a damn long time since I wrote anything. I hope you guys enjoy and I’ll be trying to get back into the swing of things!

Cat’s right leg bounced rapidly as she sat in the rickety chair on the balcony outside of their room. Her hands were absent-mindedly rubbing across her stomach. It had been about a week since she took her first pregnancy test. Since then she’d taken four more, and all but one gave her the same result - positive. She still hadn’t told Jacob. She just never knew how to start that conversation or even what to say. She knew that Jacob knew something was up with her. He was far too good at reading people. Especially his wife. Still, patient man that he was, he was waiting for her to do it herself rather than force her to talk about it.

Today was going to be the day though, she had told herself as she watched him leave earlier that morning. Hence her nervous jitters as she waited for Jacob to return. He and Isaac, who had thankfully been keeping Cat’s secret this whole time, were out dealing with the new recruits for most of the day. She’d woken up at the same time as Jacob - the asscrack of dawn - and had been pacing around the compound for most of the day until about two hours ago when she finally returned to their room. Jacob was due back any moment now.

Or any second, it would seem, as Cat looked down from the balcony and saw Jacob heading towards the building. As if he could feel her gaze on him, Jacob looked up at her and gave a quick nod. Cat forced a smile back at him as she sat back down. Then stood back up. Maybe she could wait inside? It’s too stuffy in there though, she thought. She paced across the balcony instead.

“Gonna wear a hole in the damn floor at this rate, doll.”

Cat let out a pitiful squeak when she heard Jacob’s voice right behind her. She turned around, hand over her heart, and gave her best glare to the man. He was currently leaning against the doorframe, a smirk pulling at his lips.

“How are you so quiet?” Cat lightly pushed his shoulder as she walked past him into the room.

Jacob chuckled. “How are you still surprised at that?”

Cat hummed. She was still pacing, but it was certainly slower. Jacob’s presence, despite the situation, calmed her immensely. Jacob quietly moved to stand behind her, letting her watch as he put his hands on her shoulders so as not to startle her again. Cat smiled at his gesture, placing a hand of her own over one of his.

Now or never, she thought.

“I know that you know something is up.” She said lowly.

Jacob hummed.

“And I appreciate you letting me get to it on my own time.” She squeezed his hand. “I just…didn’t know how to talk about it.”

“You know you can tell me anything. Partners, right?” Jacob kissed her shoulder. His beard tickling her neck.

“Partners.” Cat took a deep breath and, keeping her hand latched onto his, turned around to look up at him. “I, um - we -. Well, the thing is - I’m pregnant.” She mumbled the last word.

Silence.

“What?” Jacob’s voice was low, genuine confusion behind the timber.

Cat’s shaking hands were grasping Jacob’s still ones with everything she had, just to ground herself.

“I’m pregnant.” She said louder.

She watched the gears turn in the red-head’s brain as his eyes flicked between her own and her stomach, looking for any sign that he misheard. His eyes eventually settled on her stomach, staring as if trying to figure out a puzzle. At two months her bump was barely there, but Jacob knew her body inside and out. If Cat wasn’t currently panicking, she might have laughed at how big his eyes got when it all finally clicked in his head.

“You…” He trailed off.

Cat found herself chewing her bottom lip. Jacob was her rock. To see him clearly unnerved was certainly not helping her any. She forced herself, as much as she could, not to let it get to her. She had her time to deal with the information, he needed time too. His hands, which were once still as a statue, were slowly beginning to shake.

“You’re pregnant.” It was said more towards himself than it was at her.

“Yes.” Cat whispered.

Jacob nodded slowly. Cat rubbed her thumbs across his scarred knuckles.

“You’re having a baby.” Jacob breathed out a large lungful of air. “My baby?”

Cat laughed lightly as she felt the pinpricks of tears behind her eyes.

“Yes, your baby, Jacob. You’re going to be a daddy.”

It was as if those were the magic words that snapped Jacob to reality. His knees almost buckled out from under him but Cat was quick enough to pull him close to the edge of the bed before he collapsed back onto it. Elbows on his knees, he held his head in his hands. Cat could see Jacob’s shoulders shake slightly. She lowered herself to her knees, placing herself between Jacob’s. She reached up to gently pry his hands away from his face.

She never once thought she would ever see her husband cry. Tears and Jacob Seed just didn’t go hand-in-hand. Yet here she was, looking up at her husband’s glistening eyes as they refused to look back at her. His eyes stayed focused on the ground. She could only imagine how he must be feeling right now. Trying his hardest not to seem weak in front of his wife but also processing this life-changing news.

“Happy or sad tears?” Cat asked gently, running her hands up and down his thighs.

Jacob shook his head.

“It’s just me here. You don’t have to hide your feelings in front of me, Jacob. It’s okay.”

“‘m sorry.” He mumbled.

“For what?”

Jacob slowly dragged himself down to the floor, pulling Cat into his lap. He buried his face in her neck.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” He whispered. “I - we hadn’t planned for this.”

“No, we didn’t.” Cat pressed her face into his chest. “But it did happen.”

“Yeah.”

The two sat there for what felt like an eternity. Both taking the time to process this new situation they found themselves in. Each taking comfort in the other’s presence. Neither moved from the floor, even as the sun went down and darkness engulfed the outside world. Eventually Jacob broke the silence.

“How far along are you?” He asked quietly, his hand had been lightly rubbing Cat’s belly.

“I think two months? Don’t know exactly when it took, had to do some janky mental math.”

Jacob let out a sad chuckle. “We weren’t exactly careful, despite all our talk of this not being the right time for kids.”

“Hey, it was our honeymoon, alright? Who knew God had a sick sense of humor.”

Jacob snorted. “That’s all He seems to have.”

There was a beat of silence before Cat whispered into her husband’s chest.

“I’m scared.”

Jacob hugged her tighter. “Me too. But we got each other, yeah? We’ll get through this. And we got the rest of the family to help.”

Jacob sucked in a sharp breath, causing Cat to lean back to check on him.

“Joseph is going to lose it when he finds out.” Jacob already looked exhausted at the thought of telling his siblings.

Cat giggled. “Oh definitely. But I think John will have the best reaction.”

And Cat was right. If John gaping like a fish for about five minutes straight while she and Jacob explained the situation to their family the following weekend was anything to go by. They had decided to share the news during family dinner after Joseph’s service that Sunday.

“This is wonderful news!” Faith wrapped her arms around Cat’s shoulders, spinning her in circles across the living room in John’s cabin.

Joseph was off speaking to Jacob in the kitchen but Cat could see that the conversation was at least going in a positive direction based on Jacob’s small smile.

Cat and Faith turned to look at poor John. John had fallen onto his couch in a rather dramatic fashion. His waist-coat had been unbuttoned and he was currently staring very hard at his coffee table. Cat approached John, sitting next to him on the couch and waving her hand in front of his face.

“John? Y-you okay?”

John hummed. “Ohhh I’m fine. Fine. Yes. Just fine.”

“Uh-huh.” Cat chuckled to herself.

John suddenly jumped up, startling Cat into releasing a small yelp.

“We’re going to have to baby-proof all of the bunkers.” John’s eyes widened as he envisioned the task, pacing about his living room.

“You let me worry about that, little brother.” Jacob came up behind them, placing his hands onto Cat’s shoulders.

“This will certainly require some planning though, Jacob.” Joseph’s voice lilted from his place in the kitchen. “While there are children already in our flock, there’s never been one amongst our own. Our child will require the utmost care and protection to ensure it joins us in the Collapse.”

Cat felt Jacob’s fingers tighten their hold on her shoulders at Joseph’s use of “our child.”. It would appear Jacob’s fatherly instincts were already kicking in. Cat placed a hand over top one of his, calming him. She leaned her head back, staring up at him.

“Easy, papa wolf.” She whispered.

Jacob just grunted, easing his grip.

“I th-think it might be best to keep it a secret for now. Until it’s h-harder to hide.” Cat said, looking around the cabin at her family.

She and Jacob had discussed it briefly. She didn’t need a bigger target painted on her back, and the Resistance didn’t need something they could blackmail Jacob with.

After a while, it was time for the group to depart. The family offered their congratulations once more before Cat and Jacob started their drive back to the Whitetails.

“Well, that certainly went well.” Jacob sighed.

“Oh definitely. What were you and Joseph talking about?”

“He congratulated me, of course. And then went about how God was finally repaying me for all of my work for Eden’s Gate.” Jacob scoffed a little.

“Well, whatever the reason, you’re going to make a great father.” Cat placed a hand on Jacob’s arm.

“I hope so.” Jacob smiled sadly to himself as they continued the drive back home.

It had only been about one month when a radio call came in that would rock Eden’s Gate.

At three months, Cat’s stomach was just starting to show, but was still easy enough to hide. She’d started wearing jackets tied around her waist or oversized shirts just to keep suspicion off of her just in case. Jacob, if it was even possible, had become even more protective. He officially took her off of her job of helping with the Wolf Beacons - citing the dangers involved from both wolves and the Resistance. Cat agreed, but not without getting Jacob to give her something else to do. She wasn’t about to just sit around the Center as an invalid. Cat was now given the job of helping Jacob with his conditioning of new recruits. Watching others undergo the music box treatment from an outside perspective was certainly interesting. As she stood where Staci once did she couldn’t help but wonder how he felt when he was a part of these sessions. Still, it was easy work - as long as she shut off her brain. It was easy to ignore everything now that she wasn’t going out around the County fighting and exploring. It was easy to ignore the cult around her. But standing here, lit by the flashes of slides and Jacob’s speeches, it was harder to ignore. She was a part of this now. Whether or not she believed in any of the ideas or beliefs of Eden’s Gate didn’t matter. She was now an active participant.

It was during one of these sessions that Isaac came rushing into the room, interrupting Jacob to whisper something into his ear. Cat was on the other side of the room but from what she could gather from Jacob’s facial expression, it was bad news.

Isaac left the room after a word from Jacob. Cat walked over to Jacob as he clenched his jaw.

“What is it?” Cat whispered.

Jacob stared across the three recruits in front of them. They were currently going through their trials, twitching and straining against their restraints.

“Later.” Jacob growled.

Cat nodded, briefly touching Jacob’s chest as he went about finishing his job.

As soon as they were finished, Jacob stormed out of the room. Cat followed quickly behind, stopping a soldier in the hall and ordering them to release the new recruits and take them to their cages. Cat had to run to catch up with Jacob who was heading to the planning room.

“Jacob! Slow down!” Cat huffed. Her energy wasn’t as great as it used to be.

As if snapped out of his mind, Jacob quickly turned and looked back at his wife. He walked back to her, helping her catch her breath.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

“It’s fine, just tell me what’s going on before we get there.”

“Your friend Hudson. She’s taken over your job, you know?” Cat nodded. After their wedding, they had found out Hudson basically took over Cat’s role of trying to reclaim the county for Fall’s End. “Well, today she decided to take a rather large fucking step. She got into an air battle with John apparently. Shot his plane down.”

Cat gasp, grabbing Jacob’s hand. She hadn’t realized until then that Jacob was shaking. “Is he okay?”

“Some of his men managed to find him before Hudson could but he’s in bad shape. They took him to Faith’s bunker.”

“And what are you thinking right now?” Cat stopped him before the planning room doors.

“I’m thinking of going into her base and killing everyone inside.” Jacob slammed his hand onto the wall, startling Cat.

“Jacob!” Cat grabbed his free arm.

Jacob seemed to catch what had happened and brought his hand down from the wall and to her side, apologizing.

“What you need to do right now is go to your brother. Don’t you think? You’ll have time to react later. Right now, your family needs you.”

“You’re right.” Jacob took in a deep breath, pulling Cat into his arms. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

Cat nodded up at the man as they headed off to the vehicles. Jacob had called up Isaac to let him know their plans and to keep the men on stand-by.

The drive to Faith’s compound was quiet. Mostly as Jacob was stuck in head worrying about his baby brother, but also on the look-out for resistance members or any of the Fall’s End people. He didn’t want to bring Cat out here in her state, but she wasn’t about to be left behind. Jacob needed her, even if he wouldn’t admit it. And after all the things John had done for her, she wasn’t about to just not go see him.

Thankfully they made it safely. Only having to avoid some wildlife that was blissed out and crossing the road at random intervals. Jacob was already opened the door to the truck before he even turned the thing off. Cat was busy trying to get out of the truck herself when to her surprise Jacob was already there with a hand to help her down.

“Thank you.” She smiled up at him.

“I might be a bit worried at the moment, but I didn’t forget about you two.” He glanced down at her stomach.

Cat laughed lightly as they walked into the bunker. They could see Joseph’s vehicle was already here as well.

John had been taken to one of the medical rooms, away from the angels and other blissed soldiers of Faith’s army. When they arrived, they found Joseph and Faith standing in the hallway in prayer.

“Joseph.” Jacob called out.

Joseph’s head popped up, relief painting his face. “Jacob, I’m so glad you made it. You too, Catherine.”

Cat smiled at him and went over to Faith, holding the girl. She was currently picking at her arms and Cat wanted nothing more than to calm her down.

“How is he?” Jacob asked.

“At the moment he’s stable. He has some broken ribs and one of his ankles is broken as well. But overall, despite the situation he’s in good shape. According to his men he managed to parachute his way down rather than crash in the plane itself. Still, the landing was a bit harsh. The doctors are currently working on his ankle and getting him comfortable.”

Jacob deflated, leaning against the wall. “Thank God.” He whispered.

“Indeed. God was definitely watching over our family today it seems.” Joseph placed a hand on his shoulder.

The four of them sat in the empty hallway, waiting for the doctors to tell them they could go inside. Still, Cat could see that Jacob was itching to get out there and get revenge. She only hoped it wouldn’t make their situation worse.

#fic: Actions Speak Louder Than Words #my ocs: catherine rook #far cry 5 #jacob seed #jacob seed x female deputy #fc5 #fc5 fic

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literallyprentissstwin · 4 years

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𝘩𝘪 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦. ✰

as you all might have noticed, i´ve been absent for a pretty long time. i´ve been reblogging and reading stuff, but i haven´t written a single piece in like a decade. i´m really sorry for making promises and not keeping them, i feel bad.

i got all your requests for criminal minds and i will write them, i will! i don´t want to let you down. please give me some more time to figure my sh** out. life has been crazy these past few months, work makes me go insane (tho i love doing my job). i still haven´t quite figured out how to put working and my passion for writing together in my day, but i´ll get to it, eventually.

i just wanted to let you know, that i see u guys and i see ur requests and i all wrote them down. my series will be on hiatus, because i really don´t know what to write or anything. i´m very very sorry.

so here comes a little life update: i´m okay right now, not good but okay. i´m struggling a lot these past few weeks although i won´t admit to it, but hey, that´s just me. a lot of sh** went down the past few weeks and months, familiy-wise, and it will still continue to go on for the end of this year and at least the beginning of 2020, so please bear with me. work is going great, although i just recently started to overthink my life and i´m currently thinking of going back to university and study law because that´s what i´m really into. but we´ll see what life brings along.

as for tv shows, my love for criminal minds is still there, i just haven´t really watched an episode in months. i´m trying to come to terms with the fact that the show, that saved me, is coming to an end. and part of me dealing with it is probably not watching it that much lol (weird logic, i know). my current obsession is law and order:svu. i´m dying for this show (maybe bc it helps me deal with my own experience i made once regarding those topics the show deals with?). no, basically i´m in love with the show bc of its writing and the characters and just everything. i can´t stop talking about svu to my best friend and by now, i think she´s pretty annoyed about me rambling abour how perfect rollins and carisi are but oh well.

this brings me to a new change to my account:

as for now on, i also want to go and try write for law and order: svu. headcanons, one shots, what ever you/i want. i also wanna keep writing for criminal minds, no question. but i really wanna try something new. i also really wanna come up with a pattern as when i´m gonna upload a new piece. i´ll figure that out.

so please send me some requests for the following svu characters:

- carisi

- rollins

- barba

- nick

- olivia

- fin

as usual, i prefer to write angst and stuff. i´m only at season 17 right now, so keep that in mind while requesting. as for criminal minds, my requests are closed. i still got plenty in my inbox.

did i forget anything? maybe. but this was it for now. also thank you for 988 followers and being here for me even if i´m such a bad writer and person lol. i love you all to the moon and back. i´m already planning a 1k followers party, so stay tuned haha.

i hope you´re doing great. stay awesome.

aileen

just tagging a few people

@illegalcerebral @dontshootmespence @bucky-smiles @tenaciousarcadeexpert @butsomeofusarelookingatthestars @spencerreidreads @veroinnumera @marvelfanlife @notsosmartbutcute @cherrybombs-and-rabbitholes

#aileen talks #law and order: svu #criminal minds #writer

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hannahmcne · 5 years

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Lost on the Case - Chapter 7

At five o'clock Alya couldn't sleep, so she slipped out of the room as silently as possible without waking Nino. She went to the living room and spread out an arsenal of lined paper, black and blue pens, and sticky notes. She was going to crack this case once and for all.

Armed with at least four hours of sleep and a renewed vision of what had occurred almost ten years ago, she opened up her video of Chat Noir's email. Using frequent pausing, she was able to read the entire contents.

The Marinette emails were seven in quantity. They were short, out-of-context, and showed a side of her friend that Alya had never seen. They'd been sent over a period of two days and changed a lot of what Alya thought about the case.

CN: This is Chat Noir, reporting for duty. Do I read my princess?

MDC: Hey kitty. Glad it worked.

CN: Me too. Could have been catastrophic if someone else had gotten this

MDC: Created a new email address. La_coccinelle.

CN: Sweet. Just sent an email. Did it work?

MDC: Yup.

CN: Sweet. Make sure to delete these emails on your end on the off-chance someone reads your emails after we're gone.

Alya felt like she was fourteen again, famous for running after akumas and uploading stories about the symbolic history of ladybugs. One large half of her was overjoyed at what she'd discovered. Namely 'my best friend is on a nickname basis with one of Paris's superheroes' and 'Chat Noir puns in his emails'. But a very small portion of her spirit was shivering. Marinette had created the Ladybug address. She scribbled on a paper to keep her mind going, even though she was afraid of what she'd find.

Problem: Marinette created the Ladybug email.

Solutions/Options: It's the real account, or it's not.

And, of course, on that note, Chat Noir had definitely planned to leave to somewhere with Marinette.

With shaking hands, she started the portion of the video with the Ladybug emails. There were more of these, twenty-three in all. They spanned the time up until the night Marinette was kidnapped, even going past Adrien's death.

1. CN: Do I read my Princess?

2. LB: This account is actually under Ladybug, but you can call me whatever. Either way, it's me.

3. CN: Kay. I found a house. 420€ yearly rental. It's large, out of way. Two-story.

4. LB: Bed/Bath?

5. CN: Four baths and seven-bed.

6. LB: Wow, large. Sounds good. Rented car yet?

7. CN: No but I found a place. I'll actually step in and rent it after I've died.

8. LB: Kay. I'll suit up and hit up Alya and Chloe today. When does Nino get back?

9. CN: Late tomorrow. I can drop off to him.

10. LB: Great.

11. CN: I'm just about to push my fake body out the window, then I'll head over.

12. LB: Make it to the house okay?

13. CN: Yup. Put your things in a spare room. I'm going to order in for a few essential furniture items. Pls help?

14. LB: Use francecanape.

15. CN: Kay. Have things blown up yet?

16. LB: Sorry to have taken so long. Yes, things were dreary at school today. A gardener discovered your body before lunch, so when we came back from break Ms. Bustier was crying. I think I did well pretending I didn't know what was coming. Chloe left school. Nino was taken out of class and sent home. The lesson was canceled. Great day. Everyone misses you.

17. CN: I miss everyone. Do you think you played the sad crush part well enough?

18. LB: Knowing you were actually alive made it hard, so there weren't any tears. I just went unresponsive until Ms. Bustier sent me to the nurse. Then I went home with a nurse ticket and watched sad videos on YouTube until my face was red. Alya didn't pry, so I think I did good. I just got off of a facetime with her.

19. CN: Clever bug. Did my dad say anything?

20. LB: Not yet. I'll keep you updated. LMK when you come back to get me.

21. CN: On my way. Ready to be kidnapped?

22. LB: I'm wearing a black jacket with white buttons and red leggings. I'll leave in thirty-two minutes.

23. CN: I'd know you anywhere, my lady. Lying in wait and in position. See you soon. (I love you)

Alya began to cry. She'd forgotten so many details. She'd missed how Marinette hadn't cried. She remembered that stupid FaceTime.

The door to the bedroom down the hall opened and Nino emerged, rubbing his eyes. "Alya?" He mumbled. "Why are you up?" He came over and squinted at the screen. Alya wasn't sure he could read anything through the layers of eye boogers around his lids, but he still leaned down to hug her.

"Figure it out?" He asked.

Alya nodded into his shirt.

"Tell me." He murmured. He adjusted her in his arms and rubbed her back soothingly. Alya wiped her eyes.

"Adrien was the kidnapper. He pushed a fake body out of his window – I'm not sure how it passed as real, but I almost don't want to know. He and Marinette planned the entire kidnapping and were emailing each other thirty minutes before they staged it. The car was a rental. I- I need to find it." Alya reached toward her computer. Her fingertips felt numb. Since all the rental companies were still closed, she took a chance and went back to her public-domain file finder again. Nino watched over her shoulder as within minutes, she found a record that matched perfectly.

"White, four-door, tinted Chevrolet hatchback taken out on the same day Marinette was kidnapped. The name was Bryce Papenbrook. In Paris for a quick vacation. According to this court record, he came in the next day and explained that the car had been totaled in an off-road accident. He agreed to pay for the car in full and produced the entire cost – €16,919 - in cash, upfront. The company didn't press charges and only filed a record to explain why one car had been blacked out from the records. They also asked him to please refrain from renting in the future." Alya summarized as she read.

Nino grunted. "So, if Adrien took out €40,000 and the car was €16,919-"

"Plus initial renting charge of about thirty-five euros." Alya interrupted.

"Right." Nino agreed. "That's like, twenty-four thousand left."

"And they're renting a house." Alya flipped back to the emails. "See? And it's a large house too. They've got a great rate on it too. A house like that…" Alya thought. "Well, it depends on where they are. In a smaller town, maybe four-hundred euros is a reasonable amount, but in Paris... She trailed off. "I wonder if Adrien kept using that name?"

She cleared her public records finder and took thirty extra seconds to also clear her cookies so that the website wouldn't give her biased reports. Then she entered the name Bryce Papenbrook. A slew of records came up. Bryce shared the same birthday as Adrien but was three years older. He was married to a woman named Christina whose maiden name was Vee. Coincidentally, Christina shared the same birthday as Marinette, but was also three years older. They had a house together at 830 Whitebreak Road in Winebrook(Pronounced Vine-brook.).

Alya looked at the housing record a little closer. It was a large house with two stories plus a basement, open-concept kitchen, four baths and seven-bed. It matched what Chat had described to Ladybug with extra details. And to top it all off, they'd had it for ten years as of six days ago.

Nino opened his phone while Alya stared numbly at her screen. He opened Facebook and searched for Bryce Papenbrook. Third down on the list of related people was a picture of Marinette and Adrien sitting on the ground together, dressed in shades of black and dark red. Adrien had a smile that was more Chat than Adrien, and Marinette smiled sweetly like she had a secret no one could guess as she leaned into Adrien's touch. They were older, meaning it was more recent than their kidnappings. Nino nudged Alya to show her.

The cover photo was another one of Marinette and Adrien, and the rest of the account was private. But it was under the name Bryce Papenbrook, which confirmed everything they needed to know.

Alya went back to the settings of Chat Noir's email. She hadn't noticed it before, but the primary recovery email was set to . A teacher's email. Alya examined the phone number attached to the account and grabbed her phone.

"You're not really going to call him, are you?" Nino asked.

Alya cleared her throat two or three times in answer. She pursed her lips and then stretched them as wide as she could. Nino had to resist the urge to laugh. Then, Alya glanced at the clock. It was almost six. With any luck, Brye would be asleep. She dialed the number and put it on speaker at least three feet from her. No one picked up, so she dialed again. This happened twice more before the receiving end clicked.

"Mhello?" Someone groaned on the other end through a yawn.

"Hello this is Frances DoGood and I'd like to schedule a flight for thirteen-o'clock?" Alya said in a high-pitched voice. She kept her lips poised like she was whistling, not speaking. She sounded like an old lady.

"Mmph. What?" The voice on the other end was distorted through fabric noises and the general sounds of someone very sleepy.

"I need a flight from Versailles to Brussels at thirteen-o'clock." Alya repeated in her funny voice.

"Lady, this isn't the airport."

"This isn't Orlay?" Alya acted innocent.

"I think you mean Orly. No, I'm… Bryce Papenbrook. Not the airport. I can… find you the right number if you want?" It was clear that he really, really wanted to go back to sleep. Nino felt bad for the poor guy.

"Oh, no thank you. I think my phone can tell me. Sorry to bug you." Alya smiled wickedly. Nino almost laughed.

"No problem." If the action of rolling your eyes could be expressed in a sound, that was what came through the speaker. Nino bit his lip. A colossal yawn followed. "Goodbye."

"Bye!" Alya hung up. Nino burst into laughter, which filled their whole apartment and almost made up for the sadness of Alya's breakdown. Alya tapped her fingers on her laptop to let out some loose energy.

"That was Adrien." She said after Nino calmed down. "Could you hear him?"

Nino nodded. "It sure sounded like him."

"That means now I have his phone number, his email, and his address." Alya schemed as she closed all the tabs open on her screen and opened a blank google.

"And to think he was dead four days ago," Nino mumbled. "I just heard my best bud's voice for the first time in ten years."

"I know. Crazy, right?" Alya mumbled.

Nino looked at the screen she was on as she typed. He sat up straight. "What are you doing?" He demanded.

The screen showed the Paris Metro out of the city. Alya was booking a ride to Winebrook. She shrugged at Nino's expression.

"Adrien and Marinette ditched us without a word, so they'll have to deal with me dropping in unannounced to ask a few questions," Alya said.

"Us." Nino corrected.

Alya smiled and upped the passenger count to two. "Us." She confirmed. Once booked, she shut the laptop.

"Should we mention this to anyone?" Nino asked as she stood up and walked to the bedroom. "Marinette's parents, Chloe, Mr. Agreste?" He trailed off.

Alya pulled off her pajama top and began rifling through her wardrobe for a shirt. "I'll send Queen Bee a message through André Bourgeois's hotel management that she'll have to manage Paris for two or so days, and I'll tip off Marinette's parents and extend an invitation for them to tag along. As for Gabriel Agreste…" Alya made a disgusted face. "If you want to be the one to call him and say his son is alive, be my guest."

Nino held up his hands in surrender. "No thanks, hun. I'm not opening that can of worms. Guess Gabriel Agreste ain't getting told."

Alya smirked. "I guess not."

______________________________________________________________

After a three-hour subway ride, Alya, Nino, Tom, and Sabine stepped off with luggage in tow onto the smallest station Alya had ever seen. Winebrook had a population of barely five-hundred. There was one elementary, and one dual high school/junior high building. One hometown market store, one police station, no visitor center and two playground/park areas. There were no asphalt roads. On the bright side, it was one of the cleanest, prettiest towns Alya had ever seen. She had brought along her personal DSLR to take photos, and got shots many of the pretty, dated homes along the streets. Children ran in the road and many people stopped to ask who they were. Alya got the sense they were a close-knit community where everyone knew everyone.

They wandered up and down the roads for about ten minutes, but the town didn't seem to have an in-order numbering system. Finally, Nino stopped at a house where children's shoes were strewn across the porch to ask for directions to the Papenbrook's home. A preteen with unwashed hair and cowgirl boots led the way at her mother's request. Two kids, aged seven and four, followed her as she took them to the very last road in town. It was about a ten-minute walk from the subway station. The girl asked them all their names, where they were from, and what they did as small talk. When Alya mentioned she was a reporter, the girl scrunched her eyes up.

"Are you reporting on Christina's dresses?" She asked.

Alya shook her head, a little confused. The girl shrugged. "Christina designs dresses. Apparently, she's in with Gabriel Agreste and he does the advertising for some of her designs. She does prom dresses for some of the girls in town."

Nino choked a little. The girl studied him. He straightened up under her gaze. Finally, she looked back at Tom and Sabine. "You say you're bakers?" She asked. "Christina can bake really well. She always donates cakes and cupcakes to the school bake sell. Mom commissioned her to make my birthday cake last year."

Alya kept her mouth shut. Designing and baking… sounded like Marinette had included herself into the community.

Their new friend took them to the very last house on the very last road in town. The houses here were newer or remodeled.

The house she left them at had tan stucco with dark brown shingles and white trim. The windows were rectangular, and the door was made of stained wood. There was a sidewalk path leading up to the porch and a gravel driveway. The house had a large, grassy yard with rose bushes under the windows and a large tree growing about ten feet from the house. A rope swing and a treehouse were supported by the tree's large branches. A group of kids was playing in the yard with Nerf Guns, Barbies, and Lincoln Logs. The oldest kids were around ten, and the youngest around two. At least fifteen kids were hanging out at the Papenbrook house.

The kids looked up when Nino opened the white gate but overall ignored them. They continued with their game, giving a few curious looks but asking no questions. The four adults wheeled their suitcases up to the door. Alya pressed the buzzer and then fidgeted as they waited for the door to open.

There were footsteps behind the door, and a woman nearing middle-age with a head full of black, wavy hair opened the door. Marinette was looking over her shoulder as a complaining toddler followed her toward the door. Alya inhaled sharply.

Marinette looked at her guests and her welcoming smile dropped off her face. "Alya?" She asked. The years melted away, and suddenly Alya felt like the nineteen-year-old girl who'd gotten off a FaceTime call with her best friend after the boy in their class committed suicide. She hiccupped and reached out for a hug without a single word.

#miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #miraculous fanfic #miraculous ladybug #chat noir #rena rouge #carapace #missing #mystery-thriller #fanfic #alya cesaire #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #nino lahiffe #lost #found

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ikesenlemonadestandstories · 6 years

Text

Like Butter

Come one, come all to Admin T’s Birthday Extravaganza! (which, subsequently, is the tag you can use to search for all of the stories)

Welcome to day six. Almost there! This week long party continues has been graced by Masamune! As stated in the update post earlier, linked here, I will have a short uploaded every day leading up to my birthday. So feel free to check out who’s next.

*Casual side note about this one. You have no idea how I agonized over the creation of vanilla extract...and how to substitute baking powder/soda, yikes folks, finally figured out a way around it though!*

Thanks for stopping in, I hope you enjoy the read! All of my other Ikésen works can be found on my Master List, feel free to drop by anytime. My door’s always open.

A super big shout out and thank you to @naiyabladesinger for all the beta work done on these! Fixing my run on sentences is a monster task!

Also tagging @little-mini-me-world.

Not to keep you waiting!

Like Butter - Masamune

You spent two hours explaining the ingredients for a cake you were familiar with to Masamune. Taking extra care to be describe their texture and taste to help him find the Sengoku alternative. You sent Masamune off with a list, trusting him on his own, but you were starting to get worried. He had been gone for almost half the day and you were starting to wish you had gone with him. Instead you stood in the kitchen near this time period’s equivalent of an oven, stoking the fire, making sure it didn’t go out. You weren’t sure what 350 degrees Fahrenheit looked like but, you were confident you could eyeball it.

Masamune all but crashed into the kitchen moments later.

“Alright lass, I hope this is everything, because I don’t think they’ll let me back there for a while.”

“Why? What happened? Are you okay?” I rushed over to help him with the baskets of ingredients

“Of course I’m fine, I just cleared out all of the European stock...you said this stuff is commonplace in your time?”

“Yup~” you answered musically as you got several different sized ceramic bowls out.

“Alright then Kitten, let’s do this.” He said as he clapped his hands together.

Masamune cracked six large eggs into a bowl and started mixing them together with the yuzu juice. You eyeballed about three cups of sugar and flour, two tablespoons of salt, and zest from two yuzu into another. Butter sat in a third, larger bowl, softening, as milk boiled in a ceramic container on the fire.

You moved the dry ingredients into the larger bowl with the butter and began to mix them together with a paddle, gently stirring them together until it was well blended. Masamune busied himself with a whisk while you gradually added the wet ingredients into the bowl. Once everything was mixed together you gradually added the warm milk, slowly though, so you didn’t accidentally cook the eggs in the batter.

Taking the rectangular metal bread pan from the basket of goods Masamune had bought at the market, you greased it with some butter and poured the mixed batter into it.

“Hey Masa, wanna taste?” he looked at you, lifting an eyebrow in confusion.

“I didn’t think we could eat it as a liquid?” both a comment and a questions all at once.

“Technically you’re not supposed to. Raw eggs can be bad for you. When I was younger, the best part of making a birthday cake with my dad was when I got to lick the batter off the spoon or whisk. It was like a preview of what was to come!” you held the spoon out to him. He had been unnaturally quiet throughout the entire process. Taking notes here and there, watching the process intently so he could recreate it on his own later.

He took the wooden spoon from you and cleaned the batter off the front side before handing it back to you.

“The cake’s for your birthday, it would be bad form if I took away the best part.” he smiled one of his brightest smiles as you made quick work of the rest of the batter.

“That was pretty good, just the right amount of sourness.”

“I agree.” You smiled at him as you made your way toward the oven. “I was a bit nervous about using yuzu instead of lemons.”

“Care if I take another taste?” His single blue eye twinkled with mischief as he slowly walked closer to you.

---

The hardest thing to find had been the butter, and even then it had been a ‘made to order’ sort of situation. There was only one trader that Nobunaga knew of that specialized in dairy products. Since they weren’t that popular here, I had used up every drop of the poor guy's cream supply. Then, I had to sit with this cream in a seal-able jar and shake the thing for what felt like a lifetime, switching with Nobunaga every so often, until the contents felt more solid than liquid. As if the shaking wasn’t enough, we still had to pour out all of the contents through a ‘colander’ (is what you had called it)...to make sure we only got the butter.

Despite all of that, every bit of today’s shopping trip had been worth it when I saw you smile. Happily mixing the ingredients together while you hummed a simple unfamiliar tune. It was captivating and I found myself wishing you would come cook with me more often.

My daydream was interrupted when the wooden spoon coated in cake batter was held out under my nose. “Hey Masa, wanna taste?” Interesting, I was certain this dessert had to be cooked before we could eat it.

“I didn’t think we could eat it as a liquid?” I questioned, growing more curious about it with every passing minute.

Taking time to describe the dangers of eating raw eggs before they divulged a childhood memory of baking cakes with their father as I took the spoon. I could imagine them, much younger than they are now, impatiently bouncing around the kitchen waiting for a taste of the batter. I sat and listened intently as I licked clean one side of the wooden spoon I was given. I can’t very well sit here and listen to them tell me this was ‘their favorite part’ and not leave some for them on their birthday.

The sharp acidic flavor of the yuzu stuck out but wasn’t overwhelming, it settled into the sweetness of the sugar and was cut rather well in all of the butter. I complimented the recipe before they walked over and placed the pan in the oven.

As they turned to look at me I noticed the tiniest bit of batter had made a home for itself on their cheek. “Care if I take another taste?” The looked over their shoulder at me confused. Trying to figure out where I could be going with this. Stepping forward I took them into my arms and licked the drop of their face. Their eyes went wide before they smiled leaning up on the balls of their feet to give me a kiss.

“Sorry, I couldn’t let you take the last of it for yourself. Hope you didn’t mind sharing”

“Not if that’s how we’re gonna share Lass.”

---

It was the hardest lemon pound cake you had ever worked for, and it technically wasn’t even a true lemon cake. Though it’s not like they had lemons in the Sengoku, Yuzu was close enough, so you know...when in Rome I guess. Between constantly stroking the fire to keep the heat even and vigorously mixing the leftover cream with the cooked down sugar to get an even whipped icing you were just beat.

You couldn’t remember the last time you had baked this hard, and you would forever be grateful to every single cook and confectioner of this time period, along with all of the cushy modern assistance you had been granted up until today.

The entire kitchen was perfumed with the scent of the Yuzu cake about twenty minutes into the baking process but had clearly wafted throughout Masamune’s manor as the day went on. Every so often a different retainer of Masa’s would swing by, drawn in by the scent of the cake. Being around it all afternoon, you had grown accustomed to the pleasant aroma but the moment it came off the fire and was sitting right in front of you, your stomach made a fool of you, growling audibly through the kitchen.

Masamune howled next to you before his own stomach talked back, leaving the two of you clinging to one another as you doubled over in laughter.

---

It had taken a great deal of patience but somehow you had made a birthday cake. You sat at one large table in the main hall with everyone passing out slices, happy to share with your friends. Everyone’s faces lit up as they dug in, enjoying the new texture of the foreign dessert.

“This is great lass, you gonna make one every year?” you favorite one-eyed stud asked. Before you could respond Nobunaga jumped in to answer for you.

“Of course they will...I’d also like to see it at each of our birthdays as well. Provided we can get the ingredients?” he looked over at you, daring you to argue. You let out a breath and smiled up at everyone.

“Sounds good to me. But Masamune has to help” you wiggled your eyebrows at him and he pounced, collecting you in his arms, leaning in to plant a kiss on your cheek.

“Of course I’ll help Kitten, you can’t be the only one to have all the fun!”

“Oh take it somewhere else before I choke on my cake.” Ieyasu grumbled as Mitsunari cooed beside him.

“Fine by me.” and he whisked you off your feet, cradling you in his arms, as he raced back to his manor. “Let’s go see if you’re as sweet as that cake.”

#ikesen #ikémen sengoku #ikemen sengoku #ikésen #ikesen masamune #ikesen masamune x reader #ikesen one shot #fan fic #Admin T's Birthday Extravaganza #vanilla really evaded me in this one #it was hard #cybirds characters

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3laxx · 6 years

Text

Wind update 7

A bit of DJWifi fluffy goodness.

Again, a little later, but again, I couldn't really upload while sitting in the train. Anywayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Enjoy~

Ao3 / FF.net

Alya and Nino arrived at her home and were greeted by an empty apartment.

“Who do we have to get first, Alya? Jazz?”

“Yeah, exactly. Apparently, we’ll be getting Amber, too. So, set your bag aside and we’ll get going so that we’ll be there on time.”

He nodded eagerly, bringing his bag to her room and setting it aside the bed, following her to the door again. He practically beamed at her when they exited the building, a bounce to every step he took.

“You’re excited to see Jazz, huh?”

“Well yeah, of course! She’s the sweetest girl I know. After you, of course.”, at that, Alya snorted amusedly.

“She can be a little dragon though, especially in the morning.”, the brunette next to him grumbled and he laughed, putting an arm around her shoulders.

“Aww, but I know another person who can be pretty grumpy in the mornings.”

“Yeah, talk about Marinette. She’s the worst in the mornings, right?”, Alya laughed along with him but he just shook his head and prodded the nose of the smaller girl before stealing a small kiss from her.

“Ah, I meant you. C’mon we’ve had enough sleepovers lately, now that Miss Sancoeur realized Adrien’s trying to be a rebellious teenager with a girlfriend and lets him roam around a bit more freely when Mr. Agreste is not around, so I know what I’m talking about.”

She huffed but he couldn’t miss the smile that stretched over her beautifully shaped lips.

“I guess you do have a point.”, she giggled when he put on a grumpy face and imitated what seemed to her like a bear but probably should be her after waking up, “But I don’t sound like that, Nino!”

“Oh, you do! Pretty much the most seductive raspy voice directly after opening your eyes.”, he smirked, nudging her nose with his as she laughed lightly.

“Oh really? Seductive, huh? Well, how about this?”, she tried to go deeper with her voice and imitate hoarseness but failed because she had to laugh even more at the expression he was doing.

“Nothing like that. It’s better right after waking up.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but I probably won’t get any sleep until one in the morning or something.”, she waved dismissingly as he shook his head.

“Because your mom is staying out that long again?”

She sighed, nestling deeper into his side to seek some of the warmth that was still left from her apartment.

“Yeah, she has to work late again. Third week in a row. And she’s working overtime already! Really, if it wasn’t for these meetings Mayor Bourgeois is always setting in the evening mom would be able to return home earlier.”, he rubbed her shoulder as they waited for a street light to turn green, “Anyways, maybe next week she’ll be able to work the early shift. She said she’ll try to speak to her boss.”

“That’s good.”, Nino smiled, taking a step on the street, “But about today, should I stay up late with you? You know I don’t mind and maybe you can get a bit of sleep before your mom gets home.”

“No, I can’t ask something like that from you, Nino! You can’t stay at my place until in the middle of the night and then walk home alone! We’re in a big city, what if you’re being robbed?”

“Or worse, what if I am the robber?”, he laughed when she playfully slapped the back of his head.

“That’s no joke, man! No, you’re going home at a decent time before sunset and I will make sure of that.”

“But what if I don’t wanna leave?”

“You will as soon as it’ll get dark outside.”

He chuckled as he took his arm off her shoulders to allow her to go into the building in which the kindergarten was located, opening the doors for him. He thanked her and smirked when she turned to greet a kinder gardener who already nodded because she recognized the teen. She quickly walked into another room to get Jazz, leaving Alya and Nino alone in the lobby.

“I won’t leave ‘til your mom is home.”, he whispered into her ear, earning a huff.

“You wish. I’ll kick you out.”

“You aren’t strong enough to do this. Or willing.”

“I sure am. Wanna test that?”

“Certainly!”, when she turned to him, fists clenched, he knew she was boiling on the inside but he knew Alya for a few years now and knew how to get things from her. So, he put on his sweetest smile, shrugging.

“You little-…”

“Ninooooo!”, suddenly a little voice exclaimed and something with puffy brown hair like Alya’s was clinging to his leg, nuzzling his knee.

“Jazz! Hey girl, how are you?”, he excitedly picked up the little girl from the ground and held her high up, nuzzling her nose with his.

“I’m good! I had a welly cool day at the kindergawten, I even made a new fwiend and I had so much fwun and I can’t wait to tell you ewwything!”, she babbled on and on until Nino had managed to put on her shoes and jacket with Alya’s help and started walking out the door with her, arching his back to grasp onto her tiny hand in his.

The child smirked and shot Alya a look who was currently packing Jazz’s backpack.

“I would keep him if I were you.”

The girl was Beet red by the time she followed her friend and her sister out of the door.

Their next stop was the elementary school where Amber, Ella and Etta went. On the entire way there, Nino had talked to Jazz, holding her hand firmly while bending down but he didn’t mind. Even though he neared the 1,90m of height, he enjoyed listening to the little girl and so, it didn’t matter to him that his back began to hurt.

Much to his relief she then stated she was tired of walking and he was finally able to scoop her up in his arms and carry her, his back straightened again.

“So high!”, she exclaimed laughing and threw her hands into the air, grinning, “Nino is so tall, Alya!”

Her cousin who walked behind them, carrying the tiny backpack, gave two thumbs up and laughed.

“I know, he is really tall!”

“He’s taller than you!”, Jazz turned to the front again just when Nino came to a halt to wait for a street light to turn green and Alya stood next to them. The boy listened to another story of her little cousin and she smiled to herself, enjoying the sight of the two.

He has always been good with kids, especially the younger ones, Alya remembered. Ever since she had introduced him to her younger twins and cousins, he had been especially fond of Jazz. They both had just clicked and had spent the entire afternoon together, Nino lying next to her on the little baby mat and playing with tiny Jazz by moving the stuffed animals and puppets that had spread across the floor. Jazz had been a few months old back then and Nino had been fifteen, she still had a picture of their first meeting. Marinette had giggled along with her while playing with the five-year-old Amber, and the twins playing with the nine-year-old Geena, taking in the adorable sight of the young DJ and Alya’s baby cousin. She had had to watch them a lot ever since her aunt had gotten a new job.

Nino placed a hand on her arm and looked at her questioningly, tearing her out of her thoughts. She smiled up at him and shook her head, signaling everything was okay. He huffed while he still listened to Jazz in his arms but wrapped one arm he detached from the little girl around her shoulders, not pulling her towards him but showing he still worried. Ever since she had watched them more often Alya hadn’t had as much time to herself or to spend with her friends as formerly.

She knew Nino had immediately caught on and realized what she had been thinking about again simply because he knew her so well. Or, at least, had gotten to know her better over the past years.

Suddenly, they heard the bell ringing that signaled the end of the classes for Amber’s and the twins’ elementary school and Nino let go of her.

She pouted internally, wanting him to still hold her, maybe press a kiss to her brown locks-… He seemed to read her mind once again as he leant in, nudging her nose up to press a kiss to her lips. For a moment, Alya couldn’t help but lose herself in his kiss but soon, they parted again, not to gross out the twins. They had begun making it a game to yell and push the couple apart whenever they kissed.

She shook her head and smiled again as she saw her little sisters along with her cousin emerging the school building, grinning when they spotted their family and Nino.

Normally the girls walked home by themselves but since Alya and Nino had one afternoon class instead of two and thus could be here for them, she figured they would maybe be happy to see the girls and Nino waiting for them already. Obviously, Amber was boiling of joy, firstly pulling Nino’s legs in a tight hug and then let herself be lifted up by her big cousin. The twins then claimed his legs after their cousin and didn’t seem willing to let go, pinning Nino on the spot with Jaz still in his arms.

“Hey guys, had a good day at school?”, his girlfriend asked, smiling as Amber giggled when she set her down again.

“Yeah, it was pretty great! I got back a test and it’s an A again!”, Ella excitedly told them, jumping up and down.

“Uh, well done, Ella! Can’t wait to tell mom, huh?”, she smirked when her cousin grinned and nodded, pulling out her phone, “What do you say, I’ll call her right away and you get to tell her your results?”

Her little cousin beamed when they continued their way home and Alya typed in her mom’s number, knowing Geena wouldn’t join them today. She had remembered the oldest of her younger cousins had went to see a friend after school and would be going home on her own in the evening. Finally, her mother accepted the call.

“Hey mom!”

“Alya, nice to hear of you. School’s out?”

“Yeah, I already got Jazz, Amber and the twins. Geena’s with a friend, she won’t be coming. How are you?”

“Now better. Thanks, you’re really helping me and your aunt out with this. How are you and the others?”

“Jazz, Amber and the twins are pretty hyped that Nino’s with me. He’ll help me babysit today.”

“Oh, that’s just wonderful. How is he? And is it okay with him?”

“Yeah, he said he didn’t want to leave ‘til you arrived. You still have to talk him out of that.”

“I will talk to him. In fact, you can give the phone to him right now, I’ve got a little time.”

Alya laughed but denied.

“No, first Ella needs to talk to you, mom. She’s got great news!”

When she handed her phone down to Ella she met Nino’s white face, he probably heard what she proposed to her mother.

“Oh relax, big guy.”, she giggled, bopping his nose while Ella excitedly spoke into her phone, “She’ll turn a joke out of this because she likes you and is probably glad you wanna stay with me so we won’t be home alone.”

He chuckled nervously, nodding.

“Haha, well then, I’m relieved.”

He felt alive as long as Ella said her mom wanted to speak to him. It was then when he died inside, wanting to hide of fear. Of course, he overreacted but wouldn’t anybody else when talking to their girlfriend’s mom and fearing she would kick them out of their house forever because she suspected bad behavior? Yeah, he was pretty nervous.

“H-Hello, Mrs. Césaire?”

“Hi Nino, nice to speak to you. So, I heard you’re gonna stay with my daughters and nieces until I get back from work?”

He gulped when he heard her stern voice.

“Y-Yeah, I w-was planning to. B-Because I wouldn’t want Alya to b-be alone th-that long and her sisters a-and I-… Uh-…”

Alya’s mother chuckled and he was gulping, still nervous whenever he spoke to some of the older members of Alya’s family. He just really didn’t want to do anything wrong.

“It’s alright Nino, I’m actually glad. It’s good to have another person in the apartment along with the girls who I trust. But is that alright with your parents? And are you alright with it? I wouldn’t ask you to do that because you’d have to go home alone at 1 in the morning because I don’t have the car at the moment…”

“Oh no, Mrs. Césaire, I’d love to! I-It’s alright and my parents w-won’t mind if I stay with your d-daughters to make you and them feel safer.”, he laughed awkwardly, knowing very well that his father would simply give him a condom and grin, along with his mother. Boy, was he glad he didn’t have to crash at home before staying with Alya. That could have been-… Embarrassing, to say the least.

“Thank you so very much, Nino. You’re an angel sent from heaven today! Oh, I’m so relieved.”

He smiled and looked down to Jazz who was playing with the straps of his jacket.

“It’s alright, you’re welcome. I don’t mind, I’m actually looking forward to it!”

“That’s good to hear. Oh, and Nino?”

“Yeah?”

“I heard teenagers can do many things that don’t include playing video games or talking.”, he practically heard the smirk in her voice and that’s when he turned beet red, “I just wanted to tell you to keep an eye out for the kids. After all they can be a bit nosy, hm?”

“W-W-We d-didn’t p-p-plan a-any-thing g-g-going in th-that d-d-direction, M-Mrs. C-Césaire.”, he stuttered.

When they hung up and the blushing boy handed back the phone to his friend, she couldn’t help but grin at his expression.

“She said something suggesting I take it?”

“Y-You say could that-… Uh-… Could say that-…”, he avoided her glance and failed to notice her little smile and blush, turning back down to the twins who told them what happened in school that day.

#miraculous ladybug #breeze #wind #fanfic #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #ocs #jazz cesaire #amber cesaire #gina cesaire #ella cesaire #etta cesaire #djwifi #fluff #freckles writes

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hope-for-olicity · 6 years

Text

Hidden Thoughts and Feelings

Set during 2x14 when the team encounters The Clock King. Felicity questions whether she is still needed on Team Arrow. An alternate version to what happened on the show.

This is my entry for week three of Olicity Hiatus Fic-a-thon 2018 organized by @thebookjumper - the prompt is Hidden. Also available on AO3.

Felicity sat on the cold floor in the dark bunker with a flashlight in her mouth trying to sort out the mess that had been her computer mainframe. Had being the keyword. Thanks to William Tockman aka The Clock King all she was left were a bunch of melted parts. Some of it was salvageable of course, she was putting the pieces into piles to figure out what parts she absolutely needed to replace.

Felicity took the flashlight out of her mouth. This was easier when Digg was holding the flashlight but he had gone to get food. Oliver and Sara were gone to Sara’s welcome home party, so Felicity was left by herself to wallow in her own mess. She couldn’t do anything right nowadays.

Until recently, well until Sara arrived, Felicity felt like she had an important role to play on team arrow. She brought her skills to the table. Felicity thought she really was helping the mission. Now, Sara could do everything she could do, plus she could fight. Felicity really wasn’t need anymore, perhaps she was causing more trouble than she was helping to stop.

Best she leave the team on their own. She would clean up the mess with Tockman, then move on. She enjoyed being part of the team but she no longer felt she was necessary. Felicity knew Oliver would be fine, he had Sara for literally everything.

*****

“I’m back and I’ve got Big Belly Burger!” Diggle announced as he walked down the stairs. He looked around the empty bunker. “Felicity?”

Diggle went to look around near the servers, it was still pretty dark but Felicity was tiny. Nope, no Felicity. Digg shook his head before seeing a piece of white paper near the now fried computer terminal.

Digg,

Thanks so much to you and Oliver for letting me be part of your team for so long. I truly enjoyed my time with you hunting bad guys but it is now time for me to move on. I will submit my notice at Queen Consolidated as well. It’s time for a fresh start for me. Don’t worry you will fine without me, Sara is very talented. Please don’t come looking for me, everything is fine. I’m just not good at goodbyes.

Felicity

PS. Consider The Clock King handled

Digg hit dial on his cell phone before he even finished the brief note. “Oliver, man, you have to come back to the bunker, it’s Felicity, it’s urgent.”

*****

Oliver felt his heart stop when he heard Digg say it was Felicity and urgent. Digg said he didn’t think she was hurt but not thinking and knowing were two different things.

Oliver rushed down the steps of the bunker. “Digg, any luck locating her?”

Digg stood in the darkened bunker, he held up a tablet. “Not yet but I’m a little limited here. No wifi here.”

Oliver began to pace. “Where would she go? What was she thinking? Why would she leave? Digg, we have to get her back.”

Digg walked up to Oliver, put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from pacing. “Hey, hey, man slow down. Where is Sara?”

Oliver looked down at his shoes. “She’s still at Laurel’s. She offered to come but I told her no. I just can’t deal with her right now. Digg, Felicity is missing! Where is her note? Can I see the note?”

Diggle quickly grabbed the paper, walked back, handed it to Oliver.

Oliver tried to read the note but it was so dark. “I can’t read this! There is no light here. There are no computers here. Let’s go to Queen Consolidated, we are going to need wifi to find her.”

Oliver turned to head for the stairs, Digg stopped him. “We will find her, Oliver. We said we would protect her and we will.”

*****

Felicity knew how to stay hidden. She really hoped Oliver and Digg would heed her note, let her deal with Tockman and move on.

Felicity was crouched in the lower level of the bank this was the trap Oliver set by making a large money transfer, hopefully, Tockman would take the bait and be here shortly. She hacked into the bank’s security system, security was unaware of her, it seemed Tockman had yet to arrive.

Felicity knew she was making the right decision. She wasn’t the type of woman to pine for a man who clearly met his match. She’d stayed on far too long as it was believing some silly fantasy. She was smarter than that.

Had she not been watching the cameras as closely she may have missed the hiccup. So Tockman hacked the camera near the vault. Well, she better get going to meet him there. She wanted to end this once and for all.

*****

Oliver and Diggle were in Oliver’s office at Queen Consolidated. Oliver was waiting for his computer to boot up, who turned it off? Probably Felicity, she insisted it needed to be rebooted at least once a week for updates. She knew how he hated updates. He caught himself starting to smile.

“Where could she be Digg? Why would she leave? Did I do something?”

Diggle gave him a look with a raised eyebrow.

“Something more than usual, I mean.” Oliver looked out at Felicity’s empty desk.

“Well, you did start dating Sara,” Digg said quietly.

“I’ve dated women before. In fact, Felicity encouraged me to date McKenna. It’s not that.” Oliver knew he was being defensive, he knew Felicity didn’t see him that way. Sure she liked his abs but that was more of a respect for the effort he put in thing. Felicity didn’t see him like that, especially after Russia. She had been so disappointed in him when she saw Isobel leaving his room. He honestly felt like he failed her. He would always keep his true feelings about Felicity hidden, she deserved far more than he could offer.

“Okay, how about we go with it’s not just that? Sara also seems to have taken over some of Felicity’s duties, checking Tockman’s blood, doing web searches…” Digg trailed off.

“Felicity can’t possibly think that Sara could replace her in ANY way? She’s Felicity Smoak! She’s the best!” Oliver through his hands in the air.

“Maybe you should tell her that when we find her. She might be thinking just that. I tried to reassure her earlier tonight, clearly, that didn’t work.” Diggle took a seat on Oliver’s couch.

The computer beeped. “Thank goodness, it’s finally on. Now, where to search?” Oliver sat at his desk, logged in.

Digg walked over, looked down at Oliver’s computer. “Well, she said she was going after Tockman. So she must have some idea how to find him.”

“You don’t think she’d go to the bank on her own? It’s too obvious. It would be like hiding in plain sight. Felicity is smarter than that.” Oliver typed “Felicity Smoak” into the Google search engine.

“Really? You think that will work? Do you think she posted where she was going on the internet so you can type her name in and find her?!” Diggle’s voice rose. He took a breath. “Sorry, I don’t know how to find her either. Felicity is the one who knows where to look.”

“It’s okay, Digg. I’m worried too. We said we would protect her, now she’s run off to take on the bad guy alone. What was she thinking?!” Again in looked at Felicity’s empty desk. “Okay, we can’t just sit here. On the off chance, she is at the bank she needs us. Let’s go.”

*****

Felicity managed to reach Tockman before he was able to break into the bank safe. She hid behind one of the pillars, keeping her out of sight of the security camera. She began hacking Tockman’s phone. She uploaded the same virus he had put in her system at the Bunker on his phone. She was almost finished typing when an arm yanked her from her hiding place.

“Well, what do we have here.” Tockman sneered.

“Stop right there! Your time is up Tockman! Get it? The Clock King has run out of the time”

“I suppose you think you are funny but I’m not going to be stopped by a small woman in knock-off high heels. Now, if you just let me be on my way, no one needs to get hurt.” Tockman pointed a gun at Felicity.

“I’ll have you know, I am funny and these are designer! I just got them on discount. Also, you have underestimated the wrong woman.” Felicity was typing on her cell phone behind her back as she spoke. Felicity hit send on her cell phone causing Tockman’s cell phone located in his breast pocket to self-destruct. The shock caused Tockman to fire his gun before collapsing to the ground.

Oh no! I killed a man. I didn’t mean to kill him just to stop him. She suddenly realized she was on the ground. How did that happen? Then she felt the pain. Tockman shot her. She looked back over at Tockman, noticed he was breathing.

She had been shot. Oh no! This was not part of the plan. Felicity struggled but managed to get out of the bank without being seen. Turns out looking at security cameras for hours is a good way to know where not to go. She carried her heels in her hand as she made her escape as quickly as possible. She knew the security guards would call the police. Tockman would be arrested.

Being shot hurt! She knew she there was no choice, she had to call Digg. So much for doing things on her own. It’s not like she could go to the hospital. She quickly hit dial “Digg, I’m shot. Behind bank. Don’t tell Oliver.” Then everything went dark.

*****

Felicity woke up to see the Arrow standing above her. “I told Digg, no Oliver.”

“Too bad. You got him.” Oliver leaned down, scooped her up off the ground. Diggle pulled up with the van, Oliver got them inside.

“Is she okay?” Diggle looked back from the front seat.

“She will be. She has to be. We need to hurry, Digg. She’s lost a lot of blood.” Oliver could not keep the fear out of his voice.

Digg accelerated as they headed to the bunker. As soon as they arrived, Oliver rushed to put Felicity on the exam table. Diggle placed some large emergency lights around the area as the lights were still blown from the earlier attack. Diggle quickly turned to Oliver. “I need you to stand back now. I need to work. You are too emotionally involved in this. I will tell you if I need you.”

“There must be something I can do!” Oliver looked down at Felicity covered in blood. He wasn’t even sure where the blood came from.

Diggle sighed. “You can help me get her shirt off, then turn her on her side. We need to find out where the bullet went in, fast.”

Oliver helped Diggle remove Felicity’s shirt, he then rolled her on her side facing him so Digg could inspect her back. He heard a low “Oliver,”

Oliver looked down to see Felicity drifting in and out of consciousness. “Felicity, baby, I’m here. I’m not leaving you.” He grabbed her hand, squeezing it in reassurance.

“Got it! You are going to have to hold her still while I get the bullet out. It’s just beneath her shoulder. Can you handle that, Oliver?” Digg looked at him seriously. Oliver nodded.

*****

Felicity was laying on her stomach on the table covered with a blanket her hand still in Oliver’s as she slept. Oliver sat on a stool, he ran his fingers through her hair. He came so close to losing her tonight. It scared him more than anything ever.

“You have to tell her now.” Diggle’s voice seemed louder in the silent room.

Oliver looked up startled from his thoughts. He looked over at Digg.

“Oliver, you have to tell her you love her. We both know how close we came to losing her tonight. You can’t keep your love hidden any longer. Life is too short.” Diggle got up. “She seems stable. I’m going to head home. I know you will stay with her.”

Oliver nodded. He watched Diggle leave.

The room was quiet again, minus the machines monitoring Felicity. Oliver looked down at her. Digg was right. He did love Felicity but she deserved so much more. It would be selfish to put that on her. Besides it would make her uncomfortable, it’s not as though she shared these feelings.

“Oliver.” Felicity stirred. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled. “You’re still here.”

“I told you I’m not going anywhere and I hope neither are you. Digg took care of the bullet but you are going to have a scar.”

“Cool, my very own scar. Oliver, are you mad at me?” Felicity suddenly felt worried.

“Mad?! No. I’m so glad you are okay. You really scared me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Felicity smiled again. “I feel floaty.”

“That’s the pain meds, Digg gave you. Why don’t you try to sleep?”

“I can try.” Felicity smiled again.

“One more thing, we need to talk about your note when you wake up. I don’t want you to leave, Felicity. I’ll do whatever you want so you will stay. Felicity, you are my girl.”

“Love you, Oliver.” Felicity closed her eyes.

“Love you too, Felicity” He knew she had not heard him but it was so freeing to tell her. Maybe Digg was right.

Oliver looked down again at sleeping Felicity, he knew that once she recovered they were going to have to have a serious talk. No more secrets, no more hidden thoughts - just them.

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