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feelingquacky · 9 months

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Back To You

summary: y/n came to Japan for the vibes, cars, and freedom. she even thought that maybe she’ll get the peacefulness she’s been looking for all her life. spoiler, she didn’t. but would she trade that for anything else? not.

pairing: han lue x reader

author's note: this will probably be a multi-part series! feel free to request :) also, this is my first fic, please be nice!

warnings: none as of now. but please do tell me if there’s something that i missed!

You could break my heart in two But when it heals, it beats for you I know it's forward but it's true

October 2007, Tokyo, Japan.

Y/N pulled up into the parking building in her Acura NSX. This was what she missed, the adrenaline, the bustle, and the stares. She drove slowly, spotting the parking her friend saved for her. She parks and gets out of the car, attracting stares from multiple people around the area. She figured out that the community must be close, considering that they almost immediately figured out that she was a new face. She roamed her eyes around the place until she finally spotted Neela walking towards her.

“Welcome to Japan!” Neela laughs, pulling her into a hug. “How was the flight?”

“It was shit. I’m never flying anywhere that long ever again.” Y/N rolls her eyes, walking over to the hood of her car, and opening it.

“Well maybe, you could’ve afforded better tickets if you didn’t spend your whole fortune on this damn car!” Neela sneers, with her eyes on the setup her friend managed to snag while she was in the US.

“When Papa died, he said in his will that I should spend what he left me on something that I will be happy with. I should spend it on something that I’m passionate about. And I’m not passionate about business class plane tickets. Plus! Dom got me a good deal on this, who am I to pass on that?” Y/N reasons, leaning on the side of her car.

“Whatever makes you sleep at night, Y/N,” Neela says while rolling her eyes. Y/N laughs as she spots two guys walking over to them. One of the guys with a leather jacket wraps his arms around Neela while kissing her cheeks.

“Oh! Y/N, this is Takashi,” Neela says, pointing at the guy with his arms wrapped around her. “And this is Marimoto, Takashi’s assistant guy.” Neela points to the other guy with blonde hair. “And guys, this is Y/N. She’s new around here!”

“Nice to meet you!” Y/N smiles meekly. Takashi and Marimoto eye her car and setup, until they are interrupted by another guy.

“New face?” The guy raises his eyebrows. Y/N eyes him up and down until Takashi speaks up.

“This is Han Lue. I work with him. Han, this is Y/N. Neela’s friend.” Takashi points to him. Han Lue raises his right hand, offering a handshake. Y/N takes it, with a confusing look. Is it a habit in Japan to only shake hands without the thumb and index finger?

“Sorry, wouldn’t wanna get crumbs on your hands.” Han laughs. That’s when she acknowledges the fact that his thumb and index finger do have cheese dust on them, and she’s thankful he did that. Han eyes her car and set up with a knowing look until Takashi breaks the silence.

“Nice build, Y/N! I’m impressed.” Takashi smiles. Y/N smiles back feeling proud until Marimoto comments.

“I bet that you had someone else make it for you. Do you even drift?” Marimoto chuckles. Y/N raises her eyebrows at him. “I do know how to drift. How about you? Do you even know how to drive?” Y/N says, tilting her head to the side.

“Hey, watch your mouth. I’ve been here for years. I’m a good ass driver.” Marimoto says, walking towards her.

“Then walk your talk,” Y/N says, while taking out a roll of money, and putting it in front of his face.

“Oh, I will!” Morimoto says as he tosses his money to a guy with a coat on. Y/N does the same thing as she watches him walk away. She gets into her car and closes the door. Neela walks towards her door and Y/N rolls down her window.

“Just couldn’t keep your mouth shut even just for one night huh?” Neela rolls her eyes, looking at her worriedly. “He was talking shit, Neela. I can’t let him do that. I also get to try out my setup tonight! Isn’t that good?” Y/N smiles, starting her car.

“Just stay safe, yeah? He’s kind of an asshole driver.” Neela sighs, backing up. “I will, Mom!” Y/N smiles, rolling up her window and driving to the starting point of the race.

Ready, Get Set, Go!

Y/N arrives on the rooftop with prideful glee. A guy comes up to her window and hands her the money she won from the bet. She hears Morimoto’s whines, but that’s the least of her worries right now. She’s enjoying the celebration happening right outside her car, not until Han comes up to her window.

“Congrats,” Han says nonchalantly, currently chewing his snack of choice, Pepero. “Thanks,” Y/N says awkwardly. Han looks around the inside of her car before speaking. “Toretto built this for you?” He asks.

Panic. Panic builds up inside Y/N. How did he know? He wasn’t supposed to know. You’re fucked, Dom is fucked, and everyone you’ve hanged out within the past few months is fucked.

“Who’s that supposed to be?” Y/N shakily laughs, slowly preparing to pull away from the building. “I have to go,” Y/N says with a shaky voice. She rolls up her window and drives out of the building, not knowing where to go.

Once Y/N was convinced that no one was following her, she pulls up to a convenience store. She takes out her flip phone and quickly dials Dom’s number.

“Y/N. Why are you calling at this hour?” Dom answers, with a confused tone. “Look, I don’t know how he recognized the car, hell I didn’t even explain anything! I just raced and suddenly he just knew! I’m so fucking sorry Dom, I swear I didn’t mean for this to happen!” Y/N explains hurriedly.

“Woah woah, slow down kid. What happened?” Dom asks worriedly. “There was this guy, Neela’s boyfriend introduced me to him. He was quiet, he was just looking at my setup like any person would. I didn’t even get to talk to him that much. I won a race and he suddenly came up to my car again. He looked around and suddenly asked if it was you who built this car for me. I don’t even know how he knows!” Y/N explains, with a shaky voice.

“Okay, it’s okay Y/N. I want you to describe this guy.” Dom asks calmly. “He has long hair, he’s very nonchalant, and he eats a lot I guess? His name is Han, I think.” Y/N answers.

Dom chuckles at her. “You know kid, you do drink too much coffee,” Dom says with a teasing tone. “What’s so funny about this situation, Dom? We’re fucked!” Y/N says, frustrated.

“Calm down, kid. Do you remember the stories I told you before? Me and my past jobs? I told you about a guy who lost his girlfriend in one of our jobs, right?” Dom explains. “Yeah, the girlfriend’s name is Giselle, right?” Y/N asks.

“Mhm,” Dom answers. “So what the fuck does that have to do with our situation right now?” Y/N questions.

“He’s the guy in question. The Han Lue you just met, is the guy I worked with before.” Dom says. You can almost see the smile on his face.

Y/N’s fucked, again. As soon as Dom and Y/N’s conversation end, Y/N dials Neela’s number, hoping she can fix her mistake tonight.

“Y/N! Why’d you run off? I was worried about you!” Neela exclaims. “I’m sorry, something came up. But do you know where I can find the guy you introduced to me earlier? Han’s his name.” Y/N asks.

“Ooh! Is it a crush?” Neela teasingly asks. “Oh God no! I just need to talk to him about something. Can you send me his address or something? It’s urgent.” Y/N pleads. “Okay okay! I’ll text you the address. It’s a garage, so just pull over. You should find him there.” Neela says.

“Thanks a lot, Neela! I owe you one.” Y/N says.

As soon as Y/N receives the text containing the address, she starts her car and speeds to the garage. She pulls over and turns off the engine of her car. She gets out and walks into the garage. She looks around until she is greeted by a guy that looks like he’s in high school.

“Perfume? Nice smell! Nice American smell!” The guy says, bringing out a Victoria Secret cologne. That was very American.

Y/N chuckles. “No thanks. I’ve smelled enough of those.” Y/N declines.

“Oh, shit girl! You’re from the US? I’m Twinkie, nice to meet you!” He says, offering his hand. Y/N shakes his hand.

“Nice to meet you! Do you know where I can find Han Lue?” Y/N questions. Just before the guy in front of her was able to answer, he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Twinkie, what did I say about selling products here?” Han says, coming down. “That’s who you’re looking for,” Twinkie says, pointing at Han. He smiles meekly at Y/N and Han, then walks away.

“What brings you here, new girl?” Han smirks, walking towards her with another pack of Hello Panda. Y/N smiles meekly. “I know. I’m sorry, I panicked. I didn’t realise who you were.” Y/N says, looking down.

He looks up at her, chuckling. "All good. Wanna look around?"

#han lue imagine #fanfiction #fast and furious fanfiction #fast and furious #han lue fanfiction #han seoul oh #han lue x reader #han lue #han lue imagines #han x reader #han x you

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makingqueerhistory · 7 months

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Queer Woman-led Contemporary Fiction

There are some affiliate links below in case you want to support MQH.

The Subtweet

Vivek Shraya

Indie musician Neela Devaki has built a career writing the songs she wants to hear but nobody else is singing. When one of Neela's songs is covered by internet artist RUK-MINI and becomes a viral sensation, the two musicians meet and a transformative friendship begins. But before long, the systemic pressures that pit women against one another begin to bear down on Neela and RUK-MINI, stirring up self-doubt and jealousy. With a single tweet, their friendship implodes, a career is destroyed, and the two women find themselves at the centre of an internet firestorm.

Sadie

Courtney Summers

When popular radio personality West McCray receives a desperate phone call from a stranger imploring him to find nineteen-year-old runaway Sadie Hunter, he's not convinced there's a story there; girls go missing all the time. But when it's revealed that Sadie fled home after the brutal murder of her little sister, Mattie, West travels to the small town of Cold Creek, Colorado, to uncover what happened. Sadie has no idea that her journey to avenge her sister will soon become the subject of a blockbuster podcast. Armed with a switchblade, Sadie follows meager clues hoping they'll lead to the man who took Mattie's life, because she's determined to make him pay with his own. But as West traces her path to the darkest, most dangerous corners of big cities and small towns, a deeply unsettling mystery begins to unfold- one bigger than them both. Can he find Sadie before it's too late?

Ghost Wall

Sarah Moss

In the north of England, far from the intrusions of cities but not far from civilization, Silvie and her family are living as if they are ancient Britons, surviving by the tools and knowledge of the Iron Age. For two weeks, the length of her father's vacation, they join an anthropology course set to reenact life in simpler times. They are surrounded by forests of birch and rowan; they make stew from foraged roots and hunted rabbit. The students are fulfilling their coursework; Silvie's father is fulfilling his lifelong obsession. He has raised her on stories of early man, taken her to witness rare artifacts, recounted time and again their rituals and beliefs--particularly their sacrifices to the bog. Mixing with the students, Silvie begins to see, hear, and imagine another kind of life, one that might include going to university, traveling beyond England, choosing her own clothes and food, speaking her mind. The ancient Britons built ghost walls to ward off enemy invaders, rude barricades of stakes topped with ancestral skulls. When the group builds one of their own, they find a spiritual connection to the past. What comes next but human sacrifice?

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

Akwaeke Emezi

Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again. It's been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she's almost a new person now--an artist with her own studio and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it's time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn't ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career. She's even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the overwhelming desire Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits--his father. This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers.

#queer #lgbt #transgender #queer books #lgbt books #ghost wall #sadie #you made a fool of death with your beauty #the subtweet

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sustraiii · 3 months

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TEAM ZRCN ARC 4 CHAPTER 16

Cherry, Neela, and Xanthos get more than they bargained for when encountering Maia Astrella.

Xanthos

Wisteria had fallen from a balcony, pulling Miho with her. In all likelihood, Wisteria was very much dead too. Xanthos didn't say it out loud of course - even he knew that was a bit tasteless - but it was something he believed. Even if by some miracle she had survived there was no way she was walking away injury free. If there were any justice in the world for his teammate, maybe she'd have damaged one of her legs.

Still, despite what issues Xanthos had with her - issues likely shared by his teammates - he would have felt bad if she had truly died. She had been an annoying presence when they first encountered each other, but it was hard to ignore how different she had been in recent weeks, as though her spirit had been dampened. In those final moments, she had not cared what had happened to her, she had just wanted Miho. And she had gotten what she wanted in the end. Even if it had potentially come at the cost of her own life.

"What are we going to do if Wisteria is actually dead?" Neela asked. Xanthos was quietly relieved she had asked the question that had been on his mind.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Cherry responded, sighing as she did. “Regardless of what her fate is, I just know there’s going to be a lot of backlash from the higher-ups in the military about it.” And then, in a softer tone, she added, “As if there wasn’t already enough to begin with.”

With everything that had happened with their arrival in Olympia and then reaching the O.R.C.A.S, Xanthos had almost forgotten that Cherry, Elio, and Morgan had all disobeyed orders in coming here. Not only would they be in big trouble with Wren but the General too.

The three of them found a set of stairs and Cherry encouraged them to go down. They weren't sure how they had gotten three floors up with how backwards this place was, but they knew they needed to go down if they wanted to reach Wisteria and Miho. They had made it down two flights of stairs when the sound of a nearby voice gave them pause. Cherry held her hand up for them to stop and then raised a finger to her lips urging them to be silent.

It took a moment for Xanthos to pick up on what was being said, the speaker kept going from loud and clear to a lower mumble.

"Why won't you answer me!?" The speaker suddenly yelled. Whoever the voice belonged to was clearly a woman, and by the tone, she seemed frustrated at something or other.

Xanthos could hear the sound of footsteps but they didn't draw too close. By the repetitive nature of her walking, Xanthos got the impression that she was pacing back and forth.

"Bloody Bianca…couldn't even maintain the connection properly…probably Lunick's fault…useless, useless, USELESS!"

At the woman's growing frustration, Xanthos and Neela shared a worried glance. Xanthos looked at Cherry, trying to see if she had anything to say on the matter, but she only had a furrowed brow and looked deep in thought herself.

The woman stopped pacing and began speaking quietly again. Xanthos had to really focus to hear what she had to say.

"Where are you, Uriah?"

By the mention of the name, Xanthos wondered if the woman they were listening to was his sister, Maia. They knew little about her but Wisteria had at least confirmed that she and Uriah were siblings.

"Let's take her down," Cherry said, gesturing with a flick of her head. "Quietly."

Xanthos and Neela nodded slowly. Cherry led the way, putting her bhuj in its back holster before approaching. Xanthos and Neela followed suit, their own weapons holstered, cautiously looking ahead.

"Maia Astrella?" Cherry called out quietly, quickly drawing the other woman's attention. Maia was a young woman, in her early twenties from what Xanthos could remember, but with a youthful face that made her seem slightly younger. She had pale skin, wavy brown hair, and teal eyes. Although she seemed a bit startled at the call of her name, Xanthos noticed she seemed more curious than scared. One thin brow arched upwards as she studied the three of them. "It is advisable that you come quietly," Cherry continued, speaking with a calm and controlled voice. She took a step towards Maia but the woman took a step back. "This doesn't have to end in a fight."

The reaction from Maia was almost immediate. The curiosity disappeared in a flash, only to be replaced by red hot anger as she pulled out her weapon - a morningstar - and charged. Cherry hadn't pulled her weapon out yet, so narrowly dodged as Maia swung it at her head. Clearly Maia had put some force behind the swing, as whilst it missed Cherry, it got lodged in a nearby wall and she had to fight to try and pull it out.

"You don't have to do this," Cherry pressed. In response, Maia merely growled, putting both hands on the shaft of her weapon and finally tugging it free.

"Piss. Off," Maia spat, stalking towards Cherry again. As she did, Xanthos noticed a pink sheen washing over Cherry, an indication that her semblance was kicking in. Xanthos recalled from a sudden training session that Cherry had hosted for him and Neela that her semblance granted her increased strength when people were emotional in her vicinity. He didn't know if it was intentional but Maia was obviously the perfect battery for that semblance.

Cherry and Maia exchanged a few blows, their weapons clanging off each other, but doing no major damage at the moment. As Xanthos watched, waiting for an opening to step in and help, he noted something odd. Whilst Maia was currently grappling with Cherry, her gaze kept drifting elsewhere…to Neela. And by the look on his friend's face, she had noticed it too.

A heavy blow from Maia against Cherry's bhuj, opened up a window for Maia to strike. For one so small, Xanthos was surprised at how vicious she became. Maia did not relent for a moment, kicking, shoving, punching, and swinging her weapon with dangerous intent. Cherry caught a swift blow to her right hand with Maia's weapon, pulling back with a grimace. Her aura flared dramatically which surprised Xanthos as the strike hadn't seemed that bad.

"How?" Cherry questioned, flexing her injured hand.

Maia grinned and dashed forward, about to swing at her with a downward strike, only to be parried by Cherry quickly raising her bhuj to counter. Maia seemed to falter slightly and desperately tried to pull back. However, she was too slow, as Cherry raised a foot and kicked her sharply in the stomach and sending her sprawling on her back.

Maia quickly righted herself, rising to her feet before Cherry or anyone else could get to her. With three people surrounding her, she seemed a bit unsure of what to do herself. Her gaze lingered on Cherry before shaking her head angrily and looking at Neela and Xanthos. Her eyes narrowed and with a small swish of her hand, she shifted her weapon to an alternate form. Xanthos watched as the spiked head dropped on a chain, turning it from a simple morningstar to a ball and chain weapon.

Her gaze followed Xanthos's downwards and when they met, she gave him a smirk before lunging forward again, this time going straight for her real target - Neela.

Neela lifted her weapon ready to intervene, shifting it from its spear form to a trident. Although she was ready, it was Xanthos who got to Maia first, whipping the ground in front of her to try and halt her movements. It did stop her momentarily but she was quick to continue moving, focused and determined to get to Neela.

Behind Maia they could see Cherry working her way up to her again, giving a gesture to Neela to create some sort of distraction. Neela pulled back her weapon suddenly, which Maia saw as an opportunity to move forward, only for Neela to slam the tip of her weapon into the floor, creating an icy formation where it had struck. Maia pulled back sharply to avoid getting skewered, the sleeve of her jacket tearing on the ice as she tried to shield herself.

“Bitch!” Maia hissed, glaring at Neela.

She was so focused on yelling that she didn’t notice Cherry sneak up and grab her from behind.

Maia genuinely yelped as Cherry got her arm around her and pulled her back. She thrashed around in Cherry’s arms like some sort of wild animal, screaming, kicking, and generally making a lot of noise. Despite Cherry’s best efforts to restrain her, even she could not withstand the wild thrashing. Using her own momentum, Maia managed to plant both of her feet firmly on the ground, leaned forward and then slammed her back into Cherry’s chest. Cherry’s grip slackened as she gasped in surprise and Maia used the opportunity to break free out of her grasp.

Maia would take a few steps forward before turning on her heel and advancing on Cherry again. Although her weapon had fallen to the floor following Cherry’s surprise attack, it didn’t stop the young woman from throwing punch after punch at her. Alarmingly, with every hit Xanthos noted it seemed to be causing more damage, almost as if her attacks were growing in strength.

Cherry eventually got a window to retaliate, throwing up one arm to parry a punch, before using her other hand to land an uppercut against Maia. The other woman staggered back slightly and was then shoved further back by Cherry. Maia yelled something incomprehensible back at Cherry and then tried to punch her again. This time Xanthos noticed that Cherry appeared to almost shrug the hit off. And it seemed by the dawning look of realisation on her face, Cherry realised it too.

“Do not let her grab her weapon!” Cherry ordered, gesturing to Neela who was standing closer to the discarded weapon.

“Oh, you’re sharper than you look,” Maia said mockingly. “Figured it out did you?”

Cherry shrugged. Once again, the two women charged forward, Maia dashing her weapon and Cherry rushing to grab Maia. They got caught in a grapple, Maia fighting hard to break free, and Cherry fighting to keep hold of her. Xanthos could only watch as they grunted and tried to get in small hits against each other.

Cherry eventually managed to get her arms lowered down on Cherry’s body, trying to twist her slightly and pull her to the ground. As she did so, her foot slipped slightly and Maia sensed this weakness and kicked it out with one of her feet causing Cherry to lose her balance. With Cherry’s balance thrown, it was Maia who managed to get her arms around Cherry’s waist, pulling her forward and then throwing her against the stairs she had come down with Xanthos and Neela.

As she landed against the stairs, Cherry landed awkwardly on her back crying out in pain as she did so. Her aura flared up and then promptly broke. Satisfied her work was done, Maia walked away, once again heading for her weapon. Cherry heaved herself off the stairs gingerly, resting on her knees in a defeated lump.

“You have to…” Cherry’s voice trailed off as she fought to regain her breath. “You have to break her aura!”

Xanthos nodded understanding what he needed to do. His golden eyes travelled over to Neela, who nodded back at him, her grip on her weapons tightening. With Cherry down for the count, it was down to the two of them to deal with Maia. Sure, she might have been able to hit hard, but it didn’t seem like she had much in the way of any sort of tactic. That and her aura was likely very low. One or two strong hits would be enough to break potentially.

Having retrieved her weapon, Maia was back up on the offence, but again she seemed primarily focused on Neela. Ironically, that worked out better in Xanthos and Neela’s favour though. Neela could engage her first and keep her distracted, whilst Xanthos could work around them and try and catch her by surprise. He knew they would need a strong hit to break Maia’s aura, and whilst Xanthos did not doubt Neela’s fighting ability, he knew that they would have better luck with his semblance.

A knowing gaze was aimed towards Neela and she nodded, seemingly understanding he was leaving things to her for a moment.

Neela carried herself well as she defended herself from Maia’s violent strikes. Even when not using her weapon in its trident or spear form, and merely using it to block, Neela moved it with expert precision. Maia did manage to get a few small blows on Neela but was parried more often than she managed to break free and land a hit. Clearly, this was frustrating her quite a bit as she started swinging and hitting out wildly, losing what little technique she had.

Finally, it was Xanthos’s time to strike. A quick strike with his whip, managed to stop Maia in her tracks as she tried to go in for another swing. As she turned, Xanthos rushed suddenly, already having used his semblance to alter his weight, meaning that when his punch caught her in the jaw, it hit hard.

So hard, in fact, that Maia ended up going flying backwards again, landing hard on her back. As hoped, as she attempted to sit back up, her teal aura flickered into life and promptly broke.

“Stay down,” Xanthos said, uncharacteristically cold.

Turning away from her, he approached Neela and gave her a small smile, trying to gauge how she was feeling. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m alright,” Neela responded. “A bit sore but otherwise okay. We’re lucky Cherry tired her out.”

Xanthos nodded in agreement. She had a point, had Cherry not worn Maia down, he doubted they would have fared well against her had they tried to take her on individually. Speaking of Cherry, the woman was approaching them now, still walking a bit gingerly but looking a bit brighter than she had when instructing the two of them to break Maia’s aura.

“Nice punch, Ravi,” Cherry complimented. “Elio didn’t teach you that did he? I swear I’ve seen him throw a punch like that.”

“Nope all me,” Xanthos grinned.

Cherry chuckled a little but had to forcibly stop laughing as she was in some discomfort doing so. “I’m going to see if I can reach the others,” Cherry explained, gesturing to her earpiece with a finger. “Probably won’t get through but - oh hey, would you look at that it worked!”

Cherry promptly turned her head away, talking into her earpiece to what sounded like Morgan based on her words, explaining what had happened with Wisteria and Miho and that the three of them had then come across Maia. As she was speaking, Xanthos turned to look back at Maia having seen some movement out of the corner of his eye. The woman had managed to pull herself onto her knees and was now sitting there slightly hunched over mumbling away to herself. Xanthos tried to discern what she was saying, but it honestly just sounded like more of the incomprehensible muttering she had been doing earlier. With a small gesture, he made Neela aware of her talking, but like Xanthos she seemed unable to pick up on anything, merely giving him a shrug. Assuming she was just talking away to herself, Xanthos turned away again, instead focusing back on Cherry. Later he would curse himself for looking away.

“I will not lose another home to a fucking Oxford!”

It wasn’t so much the words that caught his attention, but rather the scraping of Maia’s weapon against the floor, as she recollected her weapon which had fallen when he knocked her down. He heard the sound of a weapon connecting with someone, the sound of pierced flesh, and then a startled gasp. Xanthos remembered Maia’s earlier determination to get to Neela and he turned fully expecting to see her with a morningstar lodged in her body.

To Xanthos’s relief, it was not Neela who was the injured party. It was Maia.

Maia was up on one knee, her weapon raised above her head, as though she were trying to stand up and hit Neela. Unfortunately for her, Neela had reacted quickly and had caught her before she could do any damage. The three prongs of Neela’s trident were wedged in her chest - one prong just below the clavicle, and two just below that. Xanthos tensed up as he took in the gory scene before him. Beside him, Cherry cursed, before hastily disconnecting from the call she had made.

Maia let out a horrible gurgling sound before she dropped her weapon and fell to the side, freeing herself from the trident as she did so.

Neela dropped her trident and quickly rushed to the woman’s side, her hands desperately trying to stem the flow of the heavy bleeding from Maia’s chest.

“No, no, no…” She mumbled as shaky hands tried to cover the wounds.

Xanthos’s heart ached to see her so distressed. He knew Neela would not have intended to kill Maia, though in the situation would have only had moments to react and defend herself.

"Neela," Cherry's voice called out softly. "I don't think-"

"NO!" Neela cried out. “I have to help her! I have to stop this! I didn’t mean - I don’t want her to die!”

Maia was continuing to make such horrible sounds. Not only was her blood steadily pooling around her but she was coughing it up too, leaving bloody spittle on her chin. Sudden gasping sounds could be heard coming from her and it didn’t take an expert to know that these were Maia’s final breaths.

As the light started to fade from her eyes, she had time to mutter one final thing to Neela. “Fucking…Oxfords.”

Her words were swiftly replaced by another gargle before her head lolled to the side and all was still.

“No…NO!” Neela yelled. Xanthos was quite taken aback when she suddenly began shaking the other woman quite violently, as though trying to will some life back into her.

Cherry moved to take a step forward but Xanthos held his hand out to stop her. When her pink eyes bore into him questioningly, he merely shook his head hoping that she would understand that he needed to be the one to comfort his friend.

Xanthos knelt beside his teammate, who looked at him wearily with tears in her eyes. “Nee-”

“Get away from me, Xanthos!”

“Neela, stop, look at me!” Xanthos said, forcefully gripping her shoulders so she would look at him. “She’s gone, Neela. You can’t bring her back.”

Neela shook her head a little. Xanthos wasn’t sure if it was denial or a slow acceptance of what she had done. “I didn’t mean to,” Neela choked out, bottom lip quivering.

His blue-haired teammate leaned forward a bit so her forehead was resting against his shoulder, mindful not to touch him with her bloodied hands. Xanthos carefully manoeuvered one arm around so that he could rest a hand on her back, patting comfortingly.

“I know you didn’t mean to,” Xanthos said. “Neela, it was self-defense. If you didn’t retaliate she could have hurt you or attacked me or Cherry.”

Neela sniffed. “I know, I know, I just wonder if it was the right decision?”

“You acted in the moment to defend yourself and the two of us,” Cherry said, quickly joining the conversation. “Maia’s death is unfortunate but do not fault yourself for defending yourself.”

Neela hiccuped awkwardly into Xanthos's shoulder and he felt her head shifting as if nodding again. There was little else said between the three of them after that. As much as Xanthos wished to continue comforting his teammate, he knew that in her present state, his words were likely to fall on deaf ears. No matter how much he and Cherry tried to assure her it was an accident, Xanthos knew the guilt would linger in his friend for a long time. He could only hope that in time she would forgive herself. For now though, he was content to support her and stand by her side. No matter where this went moving forward, he would be with her through all of it.

#team zrcn fic #team zrcn #neela oxford #xanthos ravindra #cherry linnet #maia astrella

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cassioppenny · 1 year

Text

so uh post apocalypse legends unova idea that takes place in the far future

after the events of bw1 hil went searching for n and one day gets sucked into a wormhole while riding reshiram or zekrom. probably decided through a question asking if the player thinks truth or ideals are more important when your creating your character or something.

anyway hil gets amnesia and forgets basically everything but their name and the only part of their previous life they still had was a light/dark stone in their bag.

they wake up to a little girl named m who seemed to be living in the forest hil crashlanded in by herself. hil decided to have her tag along with them because a) leaving a child alone in the post apocalypse is a horrible idea and b) something about her is weirdly familiar to hil

the two of them meet the laventon of the game basically ress. ress is a researcher who wishes the find the truths of the worlds secrets. she speaks very monotonely and robotically and is generally extremely blunt. after hil helps her capture the starters (squirtle, fennekin, treeko) she offers to hire them to help her with her pokedex project. because it's the post apocalypse it's extremely hard to get your hands on technology so you're back to paper pokedexes and handmade pokeballs.

she takes you to the underground city neobassa that was made from abandoned subway tunnels. it's the jubilife of the game and where hil and m live. in neobassa there's many people who can meet like chili's descendent who runs a restaurant, the city's mayor who's elesa's descendent, and also kid your age named gris who works part time at a store.

there's something oddly familiar about gris to hil but they can't put a figure on exactly why. hil tries to befriend gris but they're initially not very excited by your company. they eventually open up a bit to eachother eventually and become good friends. they are also the one who gives hil bounties to go on since their store has a request board. they're also m's baby sitter. their boss is hugh's descendent

south of neobassa is the scraper forest which is where castilia city was. all of the building have been overgrown now looking more like a forest than a city

the purple, red, and yellow areas i don't have a lot of ideas for but basically imagine those areas but fucking destroyed basically. i do have an idea for a scene where hil finds the remains of their old home. maybe they find a note from their mother or something that'd be pretty funny

in the north east in the kingdom of plasma where the people worship n as a god live. other than neobassa it's the only place they has people actually living in it. it's very medieval in design and the residents fully believe that the reincarnation of the hero king n will create a new world

most members of the church live in the kingdom of plasma but there are certain individuals who live in other parts of unova. these are the wardens of this game. im not sure what their title is but they basically serve the same purpose.

some of them that i can remember are:

viola descendant who's the warden of a unova gogoat. he mostly spends his free time painting the hauntingly empty streets and overgrown buildings of the scraper forest

clay descendant. i forgot what pokemon she's in charge of but she was a former bounty hunter who was forced into becoming a warden as punishment for attempting to assassinate the church's leader. she spends most of her time finding cool treasure from the ruins instead of actually doing her job

grimsley decedent who's in charge of an unovan sharpedo. forgot literally about everything else i made about them oops

a certain blue haired man named james who suddenly appeared with no memories of his past. he's in charge of an unovan pikachu evolution. aka the pikachu line i gave to neela i originally thought of the concept for this lol. his closest companion is a skitty

a man who seems to have some sort of history with ress. i forgot what pokemon he was in charge of but he's a reckless man who charges head first to whatever he decides to do and has an idealistic worldview. his name is col. james thinks he's annoying as hell

there's ten total but these are the ones i remember since i had this idea since like april and most of the lore is written in notebooks i lost and my brain. the leader of the church is a man commonly referred to as V. much about him is shrouded in mystery other than he was the one who fortold the prophecy of the reincarnation of n remaking the universe. he's seemingly interested in hil after learning they fell out of the sky one day however he keeps his identity a secret instead having his wardens try to convince hil to join them. also V has the opposite stone

so uh yeah!! uh autism be upon your something idk if anyone wants to ask any questions go ahead

#hilbert #hilda #ocs #idk what to call it im thinking legends kyurum but that might be done too often idk #pokemon legends genesect

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addictedtostorytelling · 5 days

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Hi, aj!

How are you?

This will be about ER. Who is your favorite character and why?

hi, anon!

i'm well! how are you doing?

honestly, i have a hard time deciding on one single favorite character on er, just because a) there are so many characters i absolutely adore (mark, susan, carter, benton, lucy, and neela among them), and b) my answer tends to change based on the era.

that said, forced to choose, i'd say my all-time favorite er character is abby lockhart.

while certainly there are some parts of abby's storyline i enjoy more than others—i've never really liked any of her canon romances, tbh—in terms of her personality and overall arc, i find her so endlessly compelling.

given what her background is, she reads exactly as she ought to.

she is so real and three-dimensional and dynamic!

watching the way she evolves over the course of her nine years on the show is one of the great delights of er's later seasons for me.

and, of course, maura tierney is such a consummate actress! i can only imagine that had she not been in direct competition with west wing-era allison janney for most of her er career, she probably would have much more major award show hardware on her mantel for this role.

just on a pure character design level, i love abby's wry, sardonic sense of humor; that she is a fellow minnesotan and has that "well, i guess this may as well happen—" kind of fatalistic midwestern outlook; how she occasionally is possessed of a streak of "bored housecat" naughtiness; how deeply she cares about her patients and will go out on limbs for them, oftentimes literally; her complicated relationships with her family members; how steel-trap clever she is; the way she struggles with her self-esteem; how she has to really work to initially find her confidence and speak up but then becomes such a firebrand (and sometimes rebel) in the department; her love for dead flowers; her deadpan comedic scenes; that she has some of the deepest, most fleshed-out female friendships on the show (particularly with kerry and neela); the way she so often self-sabotages and then has to deal with the consequences but always does deal with them, however roughshod the effort; how she gradually overcomes her hard start in life and eventually grows into this really graceful, wise, centered person, both professionally and personally; etc., etc., etc.

i also love that her story isn't a linear one: that she starts and stalls, not only along her path to becoming a doctor but also with her own recovery from alcoholism and her mental health issues; her interpersonal relationships and her struggles with her own self-doubt.

the way she is written is remarkable in a good way.

she is allowed to make mistakes to a degree that few female main characters on primetime television ever are—to fuck up royally and even at times be downright unlikeable—and yet she is also allowed to progress, however slowly and unevenly, and to grow.

to me, her long-in-coming triumphs are that much sweeter and more earned because of her numerous setbacks and failings along the way. you really do travel a wending road with her, and by the time you reach the end of it, the destination is so welcome.

there are multiple abby-centric episodes that are among my favorites of the whole series, including episodes 07x07 "rescue me," 10x12 "nicu," 11x10 "skin," and 14x08 "coming home."

i've said it before, but i have never seen such a well-done character sendoff episode on any series as episode 15x03 "the book of abby," which serves as a bittersweet, beautiful forty-five minute love letter to our much-beloved protagonist as she leaves county general for the last time.

her overall arc is one of the best examples of character development i've ever had the pleasure to watch.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

#answered #anon #asks: er #**#my meta #meta: er #meta: abby #let's talk shop #er

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kittymeyers · 1 month

Text

Where the Star Collide

A winged stranger suddenly appears in the dining hall of the House of Wind, speaking an unknown language. The Inner Circle takes her in and nurses her back to health. When she awakens, she challenges everything they think they know.

Chapter 1

The Fields of Glory’s wildflowers stretched across the horizon, and the scent of the cherry blossoms and iron filled the air. To Amirah, this place had been her paradise , a place of tranquility. The field lay in a valley between the mountains of Pal-Nor. The majestic mountain heads stretched above the clouds. On any usual day, the song of the Chorum bird would pierced the air, but today, today- she watched as her world burned. The battle had raged on for what seemed like an eternity to the Princess of the First born. Her people had been taken by surprise in the middle of the night. Theyd gotten the women and children to safety beyond the barrier and sealed it, the men stayed to buy their families some time. Amirah, Mora and Neela stayed behind to fight with their mates. Many of her kinsmen had already fallen before the King during the battle- including her sisters Mora and Neela, and her twin brother Kanik. Their body's still lay where they had fallen. She and her husband Colandr had been brought before the King. Her left wing throbbed and hung losely from its joint, her body ached from the beatings. In her weakened state, she was no match for the King or his soldiers. She looked to her husband, he was missing one of his honey colored eyes, his black wings had been ripped off his back leaving a mangled wound that was still bleeding profusely.

“You have refused to give me what I want” the man on the makeshift throne said.

Her husband raised his head, "I have no idea where Korchei's Gate is. Nor do I know how to open it to travel worlds." Lies.

The man turned to her, “Tell me Princess, or you and your mate will die.” Tears ran down her face as she shook her head, wincing at the pain the movement caused.

The red haired woman at the kings right hand bared her teeth at Amirah. The war had changed Amaratha into a cruel monster. She had once been her best friend, but they'd both chosen different sides. And it pained her.

He sighed and shook his head. He glanced at the soldier and nodded. They seized her and forced her to stand. The man wrapped a hand around her throat and held a knife to her stomach.

Colandr, I love you, my moon and stars. I'll see you in the Land beyond the stars.

“Tell us or your wife shall die” the King barked to her husband.

“Please spare her,” he begged, struggling against his chains. "She's your daughter."

The king shrugged "So were Neera and Mora, you all chose to betray me. Your KING."

I won't let you die Amirah. He told her. She felt his resolve and realized what he planned to do.

No, no Colandr, please. Don't make me live in a world you aren't in please. Don't sacrifice yourself. She begged him.

Black dots clouded her vision as blinding hot pain shot through her stomach and she cried out feeling the knife peirce her.

“Noo!” an inhuman roar ripped from her husband's Colandr’s mouth as he struggled against his chains.

From her side, she felt her blood flow down her body. The soldier removed the knife, then stabbed it into her again. She screamed in pain as she heard Colandr voice start chanting the spell. Tendrils of white light snaked their way around her body and she cried out.

Colandr please

I love you my sun, moon and stars he whispered

I love you too She thought as he sunk to his knees. An inhuman roar ripped again from his throat as he used all his magic to winnow her away.

The darkness surrounded her and a voice whispered Where do you want to go?

I want to be with my mate she replied.

She was barely conscious when the world changed around her. Looking through bloodied eyes, she saw a dining hall, with figures around a table. 2 winged males and 1 blond female in red. She felt her knees buckle underneath her, and she sank to the floor. She heard a shout and felt arms wrap around her. She met the honey colored eyes of the man that held her, "Col-," she whispered as the darkness overcame her.

#acotar #azriel #fanfic

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bloggingmyfavs · 1 month

Text

Twisted Fate

A winged stranger suddenly appears in the Woodlands of Velaris, speaking an unknown language. The inner Circle take her in and nurse her back to health. When she awakens, she challenges everything they thought they knew.

Chapter 1

She and her husban Colandr had been brought before the King. Her left wing throbbed and hung losely from its joint, her body ached from the beatings. In her weakened state, she was no match for the King or his soldiers. She looked to her husband, he was missing one of his honey colored eyes, his black wings had been ripped off his back leaving a mangled wound that was still bleeding profusely.

“You have refused to give me what I want” the man on the makeshift throne said.

Her husband raised his head, "I have no idea where Korcheis Gate is. Nor do I know how to open it to travel worlds." Lies.

The man turned to her, “Tell me Princess, or you and your mate will die.” Tears ran down her face as she shook her head, wincing at the pain the movement caused.

He sighed and shook his head. He glanced at the soldier and nodded. They seized her and forced her to stand. The man wrapped a hand around her throat and held a knife to her stomach

Colandr, I love you, my moon and stars. I'll see you in the Land beyond the stars.

“Tell us or your wife and child shall die” the King barked to her husband.

“Please spare her,” he begged, struggling against his chains. "She's your daughter."

The King shrugged "So were Neera and Mora."

I won't let you die Amirah. He responded.

No, no Colandr, please. Don't make me live in a world you aren't in Please. Don't sacrifice yourself.

Black dots clouded her vision as blinding hot pain shot through her stomach and she cried out feeling the knife peirce her stomach.

“Noo!” an inhuman roar ripped from her husband's Colandr’s mouth as he struggled against his chains.

I love you my sun, moon and stars he whispered

I love you too She thought as he sunk to his knees. An inhuman roar ripped again from his throat as he used all his magic to open the gate.

Then darkness and shadows surrounded her.

A voice whispered to her Where do you want to go?

I want to be with my mate she replied.

She was barely consious when the world changed around her. Looking through bloodied eyes, she saw a dining hall, with figures around a table. 2 winged males and 1 blond female in red. She felt her knees buckle under neath her and she sank to the floor.

She heard a shout and felt arms wrap around her. She met the honey colored eyes of the man that held her, "Col-" she whispered as the darkness overcame her.

#acotar #azriel #acotar fic

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vancilocs · 2 years

Note

1-20 for neela and carmina?

ladies

nickname?

Neela or Lady Azure

Those close to her call her Mina

relationship status?

Courting

Dating

comfort food?

Grainy bread and cereal bars

Pan de huevo

favourite place in the world?

The castle garden in the summer when everything blooms

Her own home with the kitties

biggest fear?

Fucking up on stage in front of everyone

A demon materializing and eating her

special skill?

Phenomenal singer with a big ol' tail she can flare up

Bug identifying

favourite outfit?

She has so many pretty dresses but she likes her breezy orange gown with large sleeves and draping fabrics the most

Long loose pants, big sweater

biggest insecurity?

Being pretty shy, she feels bad when people compliment her and she can just say thanks and nothing more, she's worried people think she's stuck up or rude

Having trouble setting boundaries and saying no

relationship to their siblings?

She can't see them often but they write back and forth as much as they can

Only speaks to her younger sister Elvira, the oldest sister and older brother she refuses to associate with

relationship to their parents?

Close, they support their daughter's endeavors

Nonexistent

most embarrassing memory?

She got chewed out by a singing instructor when she was younger

The whole fallout with her family

favourite animal?

Barn owl

Cat

bed time routine?

Take off makeup, do a whole skincare routine, brush hair, wrap hair so it won't get messy, brush teeth, read for a while, go to sleep

Make sure nothing's out for the cats to destroy, brush teeth, moisturize, maybe read for a bit, go to sleep

hobbies?

Bead crafts, reading

Painting, bugwatching

biggest weakness?

Showing her affection in public flusters her to death

Sensory overload

favourite swear word?

Shite

Calls the cats huevón at least three times a day

achievement they are the most proud of?

Singing to the royalty

Owning her own business

favourite type of sport?

She would insist chess is a sport

Football

mode of transportation?

Carriage

Walking

favourite thing to do to relax?

Do skincare, take a bath, read

Lay down, turn ears off and pet cats

#very bright gal and very dark gal #long oc thing #someone wishes neela a good luck on her performance and she's like aww you too :) and thinks abt it for 3 years #she's a sweetheart but also quite awkward #carmina isn't much of a cook and even less of a baker so she can't get fresh pan de huevo anywhere #not that anything comes even close to how good elvira makes it #every time elvira visits she begs her to make some and then elvira takes over the kitchen and makes her a loaf

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uss-vermont · 2 years

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Captain Saissano M'Zahl (Art thanks to https://instagram.com/sammyoliart?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)

Name: Saissano M'Zahl

Race: Caitain Female

Position: Commanding Officer, USS Vermont (NCC-64802)

Birthday: February 28, 2345 (37)

Sounds like: Carmen Sandiego from the Netflix series

Backstory: Saissano was raised on Earth by her god-parents (Marc Fuller, a chef and Steve Fuller, a history teacher) in the Boston area after her birth parents were killed in a shuttle accident. She was socially awkward as a child, and had trouble making many friends, although she remains very close to her two best friends. She displayed an aptitude for science as a child, enjoying exploring the beaches and parks around her home a lot.

She displayed an altitude for gardening early on, enjoying helping Papa-Marc in his garden. She read about plants a lot as well.

She applied to Starfleet Academy in the science track, and graduated with honors.

She continued her stories as well while serving, eventually achieving her PhD in Botany.

Description: Saissano is shorter than average, with dark brown fur with light tan on her nose and tip of her tail. She is somewhat pudgy, and has white hair she usually wears in a mohawk style eschewing the traditional mane look that most female caitains tend to prefer. She has a lock of hair dyed red along the front.

Personality: She is unconventional with her command, having a fairly casual approach and not standing on ceremony too often. She loves puns (if she can make her entire senior staff groan, it was a good day).

She likes keeping plants, and has several decorating her ready room, as well as pictures that Emily gives her.

She also loves cooking, renovating the captains suite to have a kitchen area so she can make dinner for the family.

Random Facts about Saissano M’Zahl

-Favorite color is green

-She has done some black ops work in the past. No one would suspect it looking at her, but she maintains the level of training she had for CQC even when captain, usually practicing in the holodeck.

- Her readyroom has in it, among other things

1) A bonsai tree near the window.

2) A model of the USS Vermont that Jason and Chee gifted to her

3) Several potted plants

4) Any piece of art Emily makes for her (is a very proud mom)

5) Her doctorate in Botany from Tufts University

6) A couple family pictures (her and Neela's wedding, her graduation with her dads, and one of all of them at a Christmas party)

- Even as captain, she makes time for twice weekly calls to her parents (both now retired).

- Her favorite comfort food is mac and cheese tossed with buffalo chicken pieces and jalapeno.

- While on the bridge, usually has a latte of some kind in a mug.

- Her passion for botany was ignites when her dads took her to visit a botanical garden while on a family vacation.

- She loves both of her dads equally, but feels slightly closer to Daddy-Marc, her father who is the chef.

- Papa-Steve, who is a history teacher, helped a lot with her schooling

- Interacting with other Caitains can be awkward for her, as she was mainly raised by humans on earth. Her overall body language is definitely human, and while she does speak caitain, it's with an obvious accent and stilted cadence.

- Loved playing outside with her friends.

- Was usually the pitcher when playing baseball after school (Has a wicked curve ball)

- Is very much a morning person. She loves being able to be alone with her thoughts before starting everything.

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sainte-cellier · 6 months

Text

Whispers of Pichola: A Fragrance Journey with Neela Vermeire

Neela Vermeire's Pichola perfume invites you on an olfactory voyage, capturing the essence of serenity and timeless elegance. A scent that softly speaks of distant landscapes and intimate moments.

#Neela Vermeire Pichola

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borntodeal · 8 months

Text

Had an interesting evening at the 48 Hour Film Project awards with the team from Skyra Entertainment. We were there for our film "Muse," and I have to say it was quite the experience.

We received three nominations. Annie Heller Wetherbee was nominated for Best Actress. Exceptionally talented. For Best Original Music, credits go to Neela Gerayli and Aidan Forte. Well-deserved.

The third nomination was a bit unconventional: Best Use of Prop. In our case, the prop was paint. They even showcased a large image of my chest adorned with a painted heart when announcing the nominees.

This was my first venture into a film festival and it was certainly eye-opening. Met some genuinely talented filmmakers and had meaningful conversations. Also had the opportunity to speak with Leanne and Michael Westphal, the producers of the city's 48 Hour Film Project.

All in all, an insightful evening. I am looking forward to what comes next.

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sustraiii · 3 months

Text

TEAM ZRCN ARC 4 CHAPTER 17

Team ZRCN and Helia, team up once more to finish Belleza Rossi once and for all.

Zelde

It was funny how certain circumstances put the unlikeliest of allies together. Looking around the room, Zelde marvelled at the strange group that had come together. She couldn't have imagined that she would find herself in the same room as one of the Rossi sisters, much less in the form of allies.

According to Morgan, Bianca had quickly defected when Calantha had been threatened, even going so far as to threaten Belleza herself when Calantha had been injured.

Poor Calantha was in the worst state of all, currently lying on one of the beds, being checked over by Theodora Crest with Bianca hovering in the background. The Rossi’s father was also nearby but didn’t really seem to have grasped what was going on, humming contentedly as he fiddled with a small device.

By the sound of it, Calantha was lucky to be alive, with the resuscitation efforts of Morgan and Bianca being the reason she was still breathing. Occasionally, Bianca would tear her eyes away from her sister and look at Uriah, who was sitting on the floor cuffed to one of the beds thrashing about trying to get free. He had been the one to strike Calantha and leave her in that state and Bianca looked like she would not forget anytime soon.

Zelde found herself sitting on another of the spare beds with Cordovan. Opposite them sat Callaway and Rosie who had been rescued from their captivity by the two of them with the help of Euphemia Crest. Neela's sister Mira and a man named Lunick had also been rescued from captivity. Lunick was sat on a bed speaking in hushed voices with Laurel and Biggs - whom Zelde had since been told were actually named Nerine and Jesper.

Mira was currently sitting not far from where Calantha was being treated. Compared to the other former captives, she seemed to be in a sorry state with a black eye, chipped tooth, and various bruises and small cuts lining her arms and shoulders. According to Mira herself, she had taken most of the abuse from their captors, ensuring that Callaway and Rosie were unharmed. Her actions might have been a little foolish on account of her having no aura, but Zelde could not thank her enough for shielding the two of them.

Zelde watched Callaway and Rosie quietly before she felt Cordovan bump her knee with his own. She looked at him briefly before he gestured with his head towards the approaching Euphemia.

The older woman carried a plastic cup of water with her, handing it to Zelde before continuing on. "For your brother."

Zelde held it in her hands for a moment before turning and extending it to Callaway. He smiled appreciatively but shook his head. "I'm fine," He assured her. Theodora had checked him over along with Rosie and Mira and already confirmed they were alright. Still, that didn't stop Zelde from fussing over him. He had been held longer than Rosie and Mira, and though he carried no bruises or healed injuries like the elder Oxford sibling, he seemed tired.

"Drink," Zelde said, which was less of a question and more of an instruction.

Callaway pulled a face but took the cup without arguing. He finished the water before crinkling it in his hand.

"I cannot tell you how glad we are that you're all alright," Cordovan said, smiling softly at Rosie in particular. Zelde had not forgotten the breakdown he had following the explosion at the university and the truth he had revealed about his and Rosie's relationship. Half-siblings. It was no wonder he had been so affected by her capture. As they sat there, Cordovan's hand found hers. Zelde did not know if it was intentional or not, but she looked down at their hands and then leaned into him.

Callaway and Rosie exchanged a glance. "Are you two a couple now?" Callaway asked.

"Eww, gross," Rosie said in a childlike manner.

At their words, Cordovan looked down and realised his hand was resting atop Zelde's. He stared at their hands for a long moment but did not move it away.

"We haven't really had time to discuss what we are given everything that has happened," Cordovan confessed. His eyes met hers for a moment and his hard features softened. "I like to think that we are though."

Zelde's cheeks warmed. As he said, they hadn't really discussed where their relationship now stood following their kiss at the dance and confession of feelings for each other. There hadn't been time and with everything that happened afterwards it hadn't seemed appropriate. Even now, in this secure room within the Rossi's base, Cordovan's words seemed a little out of place but Zelde was glad for them.

"I think the same too," Zelde responded, sharing his sentiment that she thought they were a couple. Cordovan smiled at her. A genuine warm and wide smile that she often did not see from her teammate.

"You two are so cute!!" Rosie gushed. Her enthusiasm broke the two of them apart and Cordovan looked at his sister with an amused face.

"I thought you said this was 'gross' before?" He pointed out.

"Well, it still would be if you started kissing," Rosie responded very matter-of-factly. "Are you two going to get married and have babies now?"

"Rosie!" Cordovan snapped, blushing fiercely.

Callaway laughed out loud and Zelde couldn't help but emit a small chuckle herself. Their conversation was promptly interrupted by Morgan catching their attention.

"Heads up, Cherry is on the way back with your teammates," Morgan told them.

Cordovan nodded to show they had understood. They were only kept waiting for a minute or two before they heard a knock on the door. Euphemia turned to look at the door, her expression dour, before slowly moving towards it. She opened the door and let three figures in.

Zelde was a bit slow to turn around but hastened her pace when she saw some of the shocked expressions in the room. Cherry stood to the left, sizing up Euphemia, and beside her, bloodied and shell-shocked were Xanthos and Neela.

"What happened?" Morgan asked, approaching swiftly but hanging back when he acknowledged the blood again. Zelde and Cordovan were on their feet now too, mirroring each other's concerned expressions as they came to listen to what had happened.

"It was my fault!" Neela suddenly blurted out. Whatever had happened, she sounded quite distressed. Xanthos touched her arm soothingly.

"We encountered Maia as you know," Cherry explained. "She fought the three of us and we managed to disarm her and break her aura. She was on her knees otherwise defeated when I got through to you, Morgan. Foolishly I let my guard down and looked away. I was distracted and didn't hear anything until it was too late. Maia had managed to grab her weapon and would have likely attacked us if not for Neela. She reacted swiftly to defend herself and us. Unfortunately, the wounds she inflicted on Maia were too severe and she passed." A few gasps echoed in the room, and Zelde looked back to see Elio and Bianca listening with particular interest. "It was an accident," Cherry said in a softer tone.

Zelde was about to say something in response when Uriah's voice pierced the air.

"What did you say about Maia?" He questioned sharply, looking around for answers. "My sister, is she…?"

"She's dead," Bianca confirmed for him, suddenly appearing near the handcuffed man and looming over him. She had seemed like one of the more reasonable members of the Rossi's group but as she stood over Uriah there was something malicious in her expression, and more chillingly something joyful too. Bianca leaned towards him. "I hope you feel as I felt when I thought you'd killed my sister."

Uriah looked alarmed by her words. Zelde thought he might have fought back and argued, as his earlier behaviour suggested he would, but the news of his sister's death had defeated him. Satisfied her words had cut deep, Bianca walked away to hover near Calantha again.

“Times like this I am reminded of exactly who Bianca is related to,” Euphemia mused, watching the white-haired woman leave. “Behind all her formalities lies a cold heart deep down.”

“Uriah did nearly kill her sister,” Morgan pointed out.

“True,” Euphemia conceded briefly, before continuing, “but she also survived. Maia did not. I’m not excusing his behaviour or that of his sister but as an older sibling myself, I’m not sure I’d have appreciated someone gloating of their possible deaths in my face.” Euphemia looked towards her sister and stiffened slightly, her expression soon shifting into a grimace. “I certainly never Miho get away with talking about Ulysses. Even if I got a broken horn for my troubles.”

With those words lingering in the air, Euphemia moved aside, leaned against a nearby wall and crossed her arms over her broad chest. She didn't linger too far from the door, likely ready to intervene should any of the remaining unaccounted Rossi allies try their luck with the door. They wouldn't have been able to break the lock by conventional methods but Zelde would not have put it past them to try other ways of breaking in.

Although Zelde still found Bianca one of the more tolerable members of the Rossi’s group, Euphemia’s words had certainly given her food for thought. After everything that had happened to Calantha, Zelde couldn’t truly begrudge the woman for being a little cold towards him, if the situations were reversed and it was Callaway instead of Calantha, Zelde knew she'd have had a few choice words for him, but the way Bianca had acted around him was exceedingly harsh. Perhaps it was just the heightened emotions of the situation, or perhaps Euphemia wasn’t too far off the mark when she said Bianca had a cold heart.

Zelde was pulled from her thoughts by the approach of Theodora Crest. The bespectacled woman stopped before the group and looked at Neela's bloodied hands unflinchingly.

"Come and wash your hands," Theodora said, gesturing for Neela to follow her. The blue-haired woman followed without arguing but Theodora stopped and urged Xanthos to come too, noting the small amount of blood he had on his hands.

As their teammates were led to a small en suite at the back of the room, Zelde found herself moving towards Elio and Helia with the rest of the assembled group, having been waved over by Elio. The only person who didn't come with them was Euphemia who was still leaning against the wall.

Elio had gotten pretty badly beaten when he and Helia had encountered Nerine and Jesper. The assailants had eventually relented and whilst Helia had walked away practically unscathed, Elio barely had any aura left. The blonde man was currently sitting up on another bed in the room, looking quite alert despite how worn down he had been from his previous battle.

“How are you holding up, Cher?” He would ask when the group stopped before him. He extended a hand out for her to hold and she reached out and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

“I’ve been better,” Cherry confessed, releasing his hand. “Took a few nasty hits between both fights and my aura broke so I’m really feeling it. Losing Wisteria and Miho and then Maia on top of that…yeah, I’m not going to lie Elio, it hasn’t been a great day for us.” Cherry shook her head and then looked to the en suite, the door of which was ajar allowing them to see Xanthos and Neela inside. “They’re taking things rough. Especially Neela.”

“Not much we can do now, unfortunately,” Elio said sympathetically. “When this is all over, we’ll ensure they get the support they need to talk things through won’t we?” He looked to his fellow Mob Ops members as he said that, to which they both nodded their heads. “Now, to why I called you all over here. Firstly, let’s start with this.”

The man proceeded to pull his scroll out and showed them what appeared to be a message from Wren. By what was written it seemed she and some “support” were inbound.

“When did that come through?” Cherry asked. “The connection is pretty spotty in here, I’m surprised a message from outside reached you.”

“It was about an hour ago,” Morgan responded. “Bianca has since confirmed that their aerial radar has picked up an incoming Atlesian ship. Based on the speed they were supposedly travelling, they should be here soon probably within the next hour if my estimations are correct.”

“Well that’s good,” Cherry said. “What else did you want to talk about, Elio? You made it seem like there were multiple things.”

Elio and Helia shared a glance. “We still have Belleza and Sparrow unaccounted for. Now, we could wait for Wren and her backup to arrive, but we know from prior experience that Belleza is a wily opponent and will probably try and make a run for it if she can, if she hasn't already.”

“What’s going on?” Xanthos asked, interrupting the flow of conversation as he and Neela returned. Cordovan took it upon himself to catch them up to speed.

“What about Sparrow?” Cherry asked.

“We already know from prior intel that Sparrow tends to more or less disappear into thin air. Given the circumstances, we shouldn’t waste time looking for them and focus on efforts on capturing Belleza,” Elio responded. “Bianca has already agreed to lend us her scroll to track where Belleza is in this place - apparently, they modified their scrolls to have a tracking app that can be activated when necessary - our main issue lies in which of us should apprehend her.”

Zelde realised he was referring to the Mob Ops with that statement, what with all three of them in varying states of health after fighting their way through this place.

“I’ve already agreed to help,” Helia announced. “I’m a trained huntress, not a civilian, I know how to handle myself. Besides, I’m one of the few of us here who has all her aura.”

“What about us?” Xanthos piped up, looking between his teammates. “Could we help?”

Morgan looked uncertain. “I don’t know, that’s a potentially big risk.”

“Morgan,” Elio cut him off. “It was a big risk in them even coming here. Besides, it’s not like some of them haven’t already fought their way through some of the Rossi’s people. And they won’t be alone they’ll have Helia with them too.”

Xanthos had volunteered their team, but ultimately it was Zelde who had the deciding opinion. She already knew Cordovan was keen to fight, and by his quick offer Xanthos was too, but she was uncertain about Neela who was currently looking down at her feet. “I’d certainly be amenable to the idea of helping,” Zelde confirmed with a nod. Her silver eyes looked at Neela. “Perhaps Neela could sit this one out though.”

“What?” Neela’s head shot up swiftly. “I can help!”

“You don’t have to, Neela,” Zelde told her reassuringly. “You’ve already been a great help so far and after everything you’ve been through I’m not forcing you to come.”

“I want to come,” Neela said, lifting her head.

“Only if you are certain,” Zelde said, peering into Neela’s eyes. Despite her posture and words, Neela’s eyes seemed to suggest she was a little more uncertain.

“I’m certain,” Neela responded. “Let’s go get her.”

“Well there you have it,” Elio said, glancing between the group. “Looks like we have a plan.”

Zelde noted that Cherry and Morgan seemed less enthusiastic about this plan, but given where the group stood currently, it was one of the better ones they had.

The five of them approached Bianca, who was still hovering near Calantha. Theodora was also nearby, monitoring one of the machines that were hooked up to Calantha.

"You're going after, Belle?" Bianca asked, lifting her head to look at the group.

They all nodded and Helia stepped forward. "You mentioned earlier to me and Elio that you'd lend us your scroll to track her."

Bianca looked at Helia's hand and then proceeded to retrieve her scroll. She tapped a few buttons on the screen before handing it over. "Here you go," Bianca said. As the scroll was passed between hands, Zelde noted Bianca frowning slightly as she did, her eyes staring at the screen. "Strange…she doesn't appear to be moving."

Helia held the scroll in her hands and ZRCN all gathered to look around at the screen. "Where is this?" Helia asked.

"The cafeteria on the ground floor," Bianca responded. "Save for the kitchen, it was cleared out years ago, so I'm not sure why she'd be there."

"How do we get to it?"

"Once you leave the medical wing, take two lefts and then follow the corridor until you come out onto the atrium. The cafeteria will be opposite you, beyond a dried-up fountain," Bianca explained.

"Oh." Zelde looked to the left and saw Xanthos pulling a face. "Yeah, me and Neela know the place. Or well, we saw it from above at least. Before Miho and Wisteria, you know…fell."

Zelde grimaced at the choice of words her teammate had used. It was an accurate statement at least but perhaps not wholly appropriate given the seriousness of the situation.

With information gathered on Belleza, the five of them set out to finally bring Belleza Rossi down, words of luck being offered to them as they left. They followed Bianca’s previous instructions upon leaving the medical wing, taking two lefts, and then following the corridor until they reached the atrium. It was a large open space that Zelde and Cordovan had only recently passed by on a different angle when Euphemia had taken them to retrieve the captives.

In the centre of the vast space, sat a now dried-up water fountain, and sprawled over that fountain with blood, glass, and various other bits of debris scattered on the ground, was the broken and twisted body of Miho Ryuzaki. Zelde had known the woman had died from when Cherry had briefly updated Morgan on the situation before reuniting with the group in the medical wing and then Morgan had in turn relayed it to those present. Regardless of knowing what was waiting for them here, it still didn’t stop Zelde’s stomach from churning, and she bit her lip to stop the bile from rising in her throat.

Zelde was too busy fighting the urge not to vomit that she didn’t notice what - or rather who - wasn’t there. And it was only when Xanthos spoke up that she looked over the scene again.

“Where’s Wisteria?”

Again, Zelde remembered that they had been told Wisteria had shoved Miho over the edge of an above balcony, finishing off the red-haired woman at the cost of her remaining health. From how it had been described, Wisteria’s injuries had been quite severe too. Perhaps not to the extent of what Miho had suffered but enough that she wouldn’t have been able to move. So, that begged the question, where exactly had she gone?

“She can’t have gotten far,” Neela said. “Maybe she’s nearby.”

“Possibly,” Xanthos mused in agreement. “Though I doubt she’d have gotten far with those injuries. Should we look for her?”

He was looking at Helia, Zelde, and Cordovan as he said that. The three of them shared a glance before Helia shook her head. “Belleza is the priority,” Helia told them. “If she’s taken down quickly we can spare some time to look. Or we could try and get through to the others and let them know.”

Xanthos nodded but didn’t say anything else which allowed the group to move onwards to the cafeteria where Belleza Rossi awaited them within. Double metal doors were pushed open and the five of them stepped inside. Bianca had mentioned that much of the room had been cleared out and she wasn’t lying. Only a few plastic chairs remained stacked in a corner and other than the kitchen opposite them, there was nothing to suggest this had once been a cafeteria. It made Zelde question where the group ate but she assumed with how much this building had been repurposed over the years they had probably found another space to serve as a dining room.

They didn’t have to look hard for Belleza at least. The older woman was sitting on the floor with her back leaning against a servery. She had her arms resting on her knees, fiddling with something in her hands that Zelde couldn’t quite see, and her spear sat by the side of her.

When she heard the group enter, she lifted her head, red eyes burning into them. “I knew you’d come eventually,” She said with a smirk. “Who was it who ratted me out?”

“Your sister,” Cordovan responded.

“Bianca? Hmm, figured as much the little traitor,” Belleza huffed. “Happy to play along until it suited her.” The white-haired woman let out a bitter laugh before glaring at the group. “You should have stayed in Highpoint. You should kept your noses out of where they did not belong.”

“You forget yourself, Belleza,” Helia snapped. “You made it personal when you attacked my teammates. When you killed Alcyone. When you sent your robots to attack ZRCN. When you dragged us into this mess.”

Belleza merely blinked at Helia, unfazed by the blame being put on her.“I shouldn’t blame you, really,” Belleza said. “We all know it was Wisteria’s fault. Stupid bitch couldn’t keep her mouth shut and just had to gloat to you and Farron that she never worked for him,” Belleza continued, rolling her eyes. “At least she’s dead now though. Got what she deserved in the end.”

Interesting, Zelde thought, she seems to still think Wisteria is outside.

“Sounds like a lot of bullshit to excuse your actions if you ask me,” Xanthos said, putting a hand on his hip. “Convenient to blame a ‘dead’ woman too.”

Belleza chuckled. “Bullshit? Bullshit!? No, I had a plan!” She leaned forward a bit, suddenly more agitated than before. “When Wisteria joined our group she complicated things to be sure but I adapted. But then in you all come and ruin everything! We were going to make Atlas pay! We were going to hold them accountable! Plans that my family had been building for over ten years and you ruined them all!”

“Well, they can’t have been good plans if we took you down in less than a day,” Xanthos said sarcastically.

Helia took a step forward. “It’s over now, Belleza,” She told her sternly. “Your allies are dead, gone, or saw sense and stood down. There’s nothing left to fight for anymore. You are going to jail and you will pay for what you’ve done.”

If Belleza acknowledged the latter part of Helia’s words, she didn’t let it show. Instead, she seemed fixated on the first half of the words, starting to rant incessantly.

“Cowards the lot of them. After everything I put them through, all the training they undertook, all it took was a little bit of pressure to have them all throwing their hands up and surrendering. I always knew it would be down to me in the end.”Slowly the white-haired woman rose to her feet and removed her jacket, dropping it to the floor where it covered her spear. “After all, if you want a job done right, it’s better to do it yourself.”

She then held out her left hand, showing the group what she had been fiddling with before. It was a dust crystal and a rather jagged piece too that looked as though it hadn’t even been refined yet.

“A gift from a departed friend,” She smiled, and as she spoke Zelde was sure there was something akin to genuine sadness at the back of her words. Zelde felt her semblance flare into life following her words, though the sensation did not last long thanks to her efforts to focus on it more as of late, but even as her body relaxed she knew danger was imminent.

Belleza pulled the crystal back towards her, hugging it close to her chest. “If I’m going to down, I’m going to make sure I leave a message and take out as many of you with me as I can.”

And what happened next, not even Zelde could have predicted. Belleza stabbed the dust crystal into a healing wound on her shoulder. Immediately, her arms started to swell, red-orange vein-like marks running down the lengths of both of them and up the left side of her neck. Belleza was screaming too and Zelde could not tell if it was from the pain or the anger. Injecting raw dust into one’s veins was said to be excruciatingly painful, even with aura, she could only imagine the pain the other woman was in. More alarmingly, the room began to fill with the smell of what Zelde could only assume was burning flesh, which seemed a strong likelihood based on how red Belleza’s arms were going.

When the initial effects of the dust infusion subsided, Belleza straightened, and she looked to be in quite a state. Her face was a paler red from the screaming she had been doing, cheeks streaked with tears, and her eyes were glowing a similar red-orange to the veins on her arms and neck. Zelde noticed that her right arm was awkwardly dangling down as if she could no longer control it fully.

Belleza paused for a moment, teetering on the spot as if she did not want to do, and then screamed at the group. Zelde was struck by how distorted it was to her earlier screams, sounding deeper and more unnatural.

With some effort - mostly on account of the right arm she was struggling to move - Belleza raised her arms and fired a giant fireball in their direction. It was Helia who moved quickly, her katana raised, as she rushed to intercept it and stop ZRCN from getting hit. As soon as the fireball connected, a cloud of smoke engulfed the spot where Helia had been standing, and she came flying back out of it seconds later, with such force that she wound up thrown against the wall and her aura shattered.

Zelde knew Belleza would have been more powerful now due to the dust infusion, but she had underestimated just how strong her hits had become if it had been enough to take out Helia’s aura with one hit. Even Belleza seemed surprised at the raw strength of her attack, but that surprise quickly faded into joy when she realised just how powerful she had become.

Suddenly, the fireballs were coming thick and fast, Belleza doing whatever she could to try and hit them. They were able to dodge the first few without trouble, but as Cordovan threw up a shield to block one, Belleza quickly retaliated by throwing another in quick succession. The shield took the brunt of the blast but it shattered under the strength of the second hit and Xanthos and Zelde tumbled backwards.

Cordovan and Neela remained close together, with Cordovan on one knee. Neela was trying to pull him up when suddenly she saw Belleza running for them.

“Cordo, look out!” She yelled.

Neela tried to pull him back but he instead shoved her out of the way, throwing up another shield with Belleza practically fell on top of.

“Move!” He yelled, glaring not only at her but Zelde and Xanthos too.

Zelde was loathe to move and leave Cordovan but he seemed to be holding Belleza off well enough. Xanthos and Neela ended up pulling her backwards, running to the now exposed kitchen area where they might have been able to duck into cover.

Belleza thumped on Cordovan’s shield. “I think I’ll enjoy sending you back to your mother,” She snickered, before raising a hand up.

From where they had briefly ducked into cover, Zelde watched as she raised a hand back, the palm of it starting to glow as she was about to create another fireball, only to get suddenly thrown backwards, as Cordovan used his shield to shove Belleza backwards. It was really a testament to his training that he could even manipulate his shields like that, as Zelde could remember a time when his semblance was static and he could not form it anywhere beyond his person, let alone throw it up away from himself.

As the woman went back, Corodvan quickly darted away to where the rest of his team was, coming to a stop in a hunched over position next to them.

“We need a plan,” He said, a little breathless from his efforts to halt Belleza. “We can’t outrun her fire forever.”

He was right of course but coming up with a plan was going to be difficult. Not just because of the little time they had but because Belleza was quite an unpredictable opponent too. Zelde gave it some thought for a moment before lowering her head.

“We have to kill her,” She said.

“Zelde…” Cordovan didn’t seem particularly alarmed by this, only troubled that the suggestion had come from Zelde’s mouth. Xanthos and Neela looked a little wary of the suggestion, and Zelde noted after their earlier bout with Maia, that they were perhaps not looking forward to the idea of killing someone else, even if that someone was Belleza.

“I know it sounds like an extreme idea, but I think that is the only option we’ve got,” Zelde said, pressing on with her suggestion. “As Cordovan said, we cannot outrun her forever. We won't stand a chance if she hits one of us with one of her fireballs. She will knock us out and kill us have no doubt about that.”

“To be honest, killing her might be a mercy,” Xathos said. “Did you see how she reacted when she injected the dust? The smell too? I think she’s quite literally burning herself alive.”

Zelde grimaced at the thought.

“I don’t know if I can,” Neela said. “I know it seems like our only choice but I’m not sure if I can kill another person. Even if it is her.”

“Just leave it to us, Neela,” Zelde said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Can you give us as much mist as you can though?”

Neela nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“FIREBALL!” Xanthos suddenly yelled, forcing them to duck down a little lower, as one flew over their heads and struck a metal cabinet. Clearly, Belleza had gotten back to her feet.

“Go, go, go!” Zelde urged, instructing Xanthos and Cordovan to follow her out of cover.

“You weren’t trying to hide were you?” Belleza asked, cocking her head to the side. “Where’s the other one?”

Belleza seemed to be preparing another fireball when thick mist suddenly started to roll out over the servery and spill out into the empty room. Zelde thanked her teammate silently. Whilst Belleza was temporarily distracted by the appearance of the mist, Zelde gestured for Xanthos and Cordovan to duck, knowing that the three of them would be a bit more obscured if they crouched and hid in the mist.

Even though the mist was thicker than usual for Neela’s semblance, the fiery outline of Belleza could still be seen in the middle of it, her head snapping from side to side rapidly as she tried to see them in the mist. With the heat she was no doubt generating the mist likely wouldn’t last, and Zelde knew they wouldn’t have long and needed to act fast.

Pulling her gun out of its holster, she aimed in the direction of Belleza, and squeezed the trigger, letting off a short burst of rounds. If one or two of them clipped Belleza then so be it, but it was mostly meant as a distraction tactic.

Sure enough, Belleza’s head whipped around to face her, eyes narrowing.

“You,” She hissed.

Come on, Zelde urged silently, as she held her ground. Charge at me.

Belleza looked at her momentarily, her left palm starting to glow as if preparing a fireball again. Zelde was about to curse when the other woman started moving towards her, possibly deciding that she’d much rather get up close and personal if she was going to hurl a fireball in her face. To Belleza’s surprise, Zelde rushed forward to greet her, raising her foot to kick her sharply in the abdomen. The first kick caught Belleza by surprise, but she was ready for the second, catching Zelde’s foot with a hand and then swinging her leg down violently causing Zelde’s leg to jolt.

“Pathetic,” Belleza sneered, closing the gap between them and slamming her head forward to headbutt Zelde.

Zelde fell backwards and wound up on the floor. Her aura had held, luckily, but she didn’t like being this close to the other woman, even if it was part of her plan.

As Belleza approached, Zelde shuffled backwards using her hands to move, suddenly yelling at Cordovan when Belleza looked ready to form another fireball.

“Cordovan, shield!”

Belleza did not have time to pull back before her fireball connected with the new shield. And being this close to the barrier, she got hit by the recoil from her own attack. Zelde meanwhile neatly rolled out of the way, feeling a bit of the heat from the blast, but avoiding any lasting damage.

As Belleza stumbled away, shielding her eyes, Zelde quickly jumped to her feet, making a signal to Xanthos nearby.

“Xanthos, restrain her!” Zelde instructed.

Xanthos lashed out with his whip, letting it curl around the body of Belleza. He quickly began to run around her, ensuring his whip was tightly coiled around the other woman, before activating his semblance to alter his weight to his heaviest state. He leaned back on his heels a little, making his whip go taut.

Although restrained, and unlikely to break out quickly, Belleza was trying to free herself. She was heating her palms and trying to burn away the whip with little effect.

“Cordovan,” Zelde called out again, looking towards her red-haired teammate. She shifted her weapon to its bladed form and looked expectantly at Cordovan, hoping he understood what she meant by the gesture. “Together?”

“Together,” He nodded.

“Xanthos, when Cordovan goes in for his strike, release the whip,” Zelde instructed swiftly.

He nodded and Zelde gave him a swift smile. She took a breath. It was time.

Gripping her weapon tightly, she looked towards Cordovan again, before running forward. Belleza saw her coming and yelled out an expletive at her but Zelde did not stop. She pulled back her weapon and made a strike at the back of Belleza’s knees. Her blade connected and she heard Belleza cry out before dropping to her knees, no longer able to stand. Zelde darted quickly away to let Cordovan land the finishing blow.

As promised, when Cordovan approached, Xanthos let his weapon slacken, allowing Cordovan to attack unimpeded. His weapon, Braveheart, was in its rarely used sword form. And with a grunt of effort, he pulled back, before stabbing it through Belleza’s chest and out her back.

In the end, Belleza did not go out in a blaze of glory, but rather, a small whimper.

Cordovan pulled out his blade and stood back allowing Belleza to fall back, her head near enough bouncing off the floor. Her chest gave one final heave and then grew still. Her body was spent.

Belleza Rossi was dead.

Nobody dared to move for a long time. The air felt heavy with some indescribable emotion. It was over and Belleza was defeated but it didn't feel like a victory truly worth celebrating.

Zelde stood by herself for a moment until Cordovan came near, hooking an arm around her waist and drawing her near to his body. Zelde let her weapon drop to the floor, wrapping her arms around Cordovan's neck in relief, just letting herself be held for the moment.

They pulled apart when Neela approached, having come out of hiding from behind the servery. Cordovan gave a small smile and put a hand on her back.

"We did it," She said, weakly smiling back. Her blue eyes strayed away from him and looked at the dead body on the floor. It was a grim sight to be sure and nobody wanted to linger on Belleza's corpse for too long.

Still lingering close together, they moved towards Xanthos who was trying to rouse an unconscious Helia. She seemed to be stirring back to life when they approached, still dazed but then snapping up, as if suddenly remembering she had been in a fight priorly.

"Where's…" Helia's voice trailed off when she spotted Belleza's body behind them. She gulped slightly. "She's dead then. What happened?"

"We killed her," Cordovan answered swiftly. "We couldn't take the risk. We saw what she did to you and we knew we couldn't outrun her forever. It seemed like our only option given the circumstances."

Helia processed the words carefully before nodding and trying to stand.

Cordovan and Xanthos helped her up and she took a moment to dust herself off, once again looking at Belleza before back at the group. "Let's go meet up with the others," She suggested. "I don't want to linger in here longer than we have to."

It was something all of them could agree on at least. The five of them walked out of the cafeteria, tired, and bruised, but alive. As they headed back to reunite with the rest of those who had come with them to this place, they could rest peacefully knowing that the Rossi threat had finally been dealt with.

#team zrcn fic #team zrcn #zelde sewick #cordovan radcliff #xanthos ravindra #neela oxford #helia vines #cherry linnet #elio goldfinch #morgan lark #calantha rossi #bianca rossi #belleza rossi #euphemia crest #theodora crest #alden rossi #uriah astrella

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