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thecreaturecodex · 3 years

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Crawling Head

Image by Thomas Baxa, © Wizards of the Coast. Accessed at the Fiend Folio Art Gallery here

[It may just be nostalgia goggles talking, but D&D 3rd Edition was a glory age for monsters. Not in terms of mechanics, which were often wildly unbalanced, but for sheer volume and conceptual chutzpah. Five Monster Manuals, one Fiend Folio, multiple books devoted to exploring a single category more in depth, and a few miscellaneous critters scattered around in pretty much every source book. Many of these monsters made it to 4e, and a few are now considered classics (shadar-kai are big winners here), but a lot of them never made it out of the edition. Some never made a second appearance out of their original book! So here is a tribute to Third Edition Exclusives, taken from both 3.0 and 3.5, from a wide variety of sources. I have done a lot of monsters that fit into this category already, so I’m hoping to also delve into some of the odder corners. Monsters from player books, campaign setting supplements, that sort of thing.

The crawling head, on the other hand, comes to us from the Fiend Folio. @bogleech called them out as one of their favorite undead in this article way back when, and suggested using them as a Jabba the Hutt styled crime boss. That’s certainly one way to do it, but my favored interpretation is to make them mad scientists. The original flavor text talks about them making traps, so I leaned into that with some of their spell-like abilities, and gave them item creation feats so they can make constructs and kit out their best minions with special items.]

Crawling Head CR 19 CE Undead This grotesque thing is a rotten, swollen head as big as a wagon. It has multiple layers of sharp teeth in its wide maw, and it drags itself along on a seething nest of giant blood vessels, nerves and organs. Its underside is swollen and glistening, the faint outlines of faces pressed against boil-like sacs.

The crawling heads are rare and awful undead, the remnant of an empire of giants inclined to necromancy. They attempted to imbue their leaders with eternal life to create an undying council, but the process caused the elder’s heads to swell to monstrous size. Each created their own council by devouring the heads of their underlings, then crawled off on their own, having no real interest in statecraft or society.

Each crawling head is a mastermind and dungeon keeper, and they dwell in labyrinths and ruins. These they fill with traps and guardians, many of which are undead or constructs. All crawling heads are masters of magic and most are craftsmen of great skill, and they spend centuries perfecting strange new magic items and constructs. These are released onto the world for the sheer joy of mayhem and killing. Many crawling heads make sure to slip clues as to their location along with these poison pills—the better to attract adventurers to devour and use their gear as raw material for the next batch of horrors.

In combat, a crawling head is slow but powerful. A crawling head is surrounded by an aura of wailing, screaming and mad laughter from the severed heads it has stored in its body in fluid-filled cysts. It can absorb these heads to fuel its powers, healing itself or releasing multiple spells in a round in a nova of destruction. Their teeth act as a vorpal weapon, scissoring off the heads of their enemies in a single strike. Perhaps their greatest weakness is simple water—a flask of it burns like acid. As such, crawling heads are usually found in salt flats, desert mountains and other arid environments.

A crawling head is roughly 10 feet in diameter and weighs about a ton.

Crawling Head CR 19 XP 204,800 CE Huge undead Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +25, true seeing Aura cacophony (60 ft., Will DC 31) Defense AC 34, touch 13, flat-footed 34 (-2 size, -2 Dex, +4 shield, +17 natural, +7 deflection) hp 322 (28d8+196) Fort +16, Ref +9, Will +20 DR 15/adamantine; Immune electricity, magic missile, sonic, undead traits; SR 30 Defensive Abilities terror shield; Weakness vulnerable to water Offense Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft. Melee bite +29 (2d8+15 plus vorpal bite), 4 tentacles +27 (1d8+5 plus grab) Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks constrict (tentacle, 1d8+15), powerful blows (bite) Spell-like Abilities CL 19th, concentration +26 Constant—shield, true seeing At will— animate dead, control undead (DC 24), dimension door, fear (DC 21), inflict critical wounds (DC 21), speak with dead 3/day—create undead, finger of death (DC 24), greater dispel magic, greater glyph of warding (DC 23), greater shout (DC 25) 1/day— create greater undead, symbol of pain (DC 22), symbol of stunning (DC 24), symbol of weakness (DC 24), wail of the banshee (DC 26) Statistics Str 30, Dex 7, Con -, Int 20, Wis 19, Cha 25 Base Atk +21; CMB +33 (+35 vs. disarm or trip, +37 grapple); CMD 48 (50 vs. disarm, 62 vs. trip) Feats Cleave, Combat Expertise, Craft Construct, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, Great Cleave, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Lightning Reflexes, Magical Aptitude, Multiattack, Power Attack, Step Up Skills Bluff +25, Climb +47, Craft (traps) +23, Intimidate +28, Knowledge (arcana, religion) +26, Knowledge (dungeoneering, history) +23, Linguistics +23, Perception +25, Sense Motive +25, Spellcraft +30, Stealth +11, Use Magic Device +29; Racial Modifiers +16 Climb Languages Common, Giant, Necril, 18 others SQ absorb head, expert climber Ecology Environment any deserts and underground Organization solitary Treasure double standard Special Abilities Absorb Head (Su) As a free action, a crawling head may swallow the severed head of a creature it has decapitated with its vorpal bite. It may also harvest a head from an intact corpse no less than 24 hours dead as a standard action. A crawling head can store a number of severed heads equal to its Hit Dice, and typically has 1d4+10 severed heads stored at the beginning of an encounter. As a swift action on its turn, the crawling head can digest one of these severed heads in order to gain one of the following abilities

Use any of its at-will or 3/day spell-like abilities as a swift action

Gain the benefits of a harm spell cast on itself (CL 19th)

Gain a +6 enhancement bonus to one of its ability scores for 1 hour. A crawling head cannot have more than one enhancement bonus gained in this fashion at a time

A crawling head with no heads stored cannot use its cacophony aura. Cacophony Aura (Su) All creatures within 60 feet of a crawling head that can hear it must succeed a DC 31 Will save or cower for 1d4+1 rounds. A creature that succeeds this save is immune to the cacophony aura of that crawling head for the next 24 hours. This is a sonic, fear effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. A crawling head can suppress or resume the cacophony aura as a move action. Expert Climber (Ex) A crawling head can climb on any surface. Treat this as a nonmagical spider climb effect, and the creature gains a +16 racial bonus on all Climb checks. Terror Shield (Su) A crawling head gains a deflection bonus to its AC and CMD equal to its Charisma modifier. Vorpal Bite (Su) The supernaturally sharp teeth of a crawling head sever an opponent’s head on a natural 20 and a confirmed critical hit. This kills most creatures that have a head, but not all (such as most undead or constructs), and has no effect on creatures with no heads. Vulnerability to Water (Ex) A flask of water deals 1d6 points of damage to a crawling head, and immersion in water deals 10d6 points of damage a round.

#crawling head #body horror #undead #D&D #pathfinder 1e

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beskarberry · 3 years

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Krayt’s Teeth

Bargaining with Beskar, Chapter 3 (The Mandalorian x f!reader)

The sound of crashing and shouting was hot on your tail, the other hunters had followed you and were gaining fast. You saw a light rapidly approaching ahead of you, and the two of you burst out into the brilliant daylight to the worst possible place: a dead fucking end.

Rating: Explicit

Word count: 6.7k

Content warnings: Canon typical violence, killing in self defense, headcanon angst, FLUFF, sensory deprivation, body worship, oral sex (f receiving).

A/N: These are my headcanons regarding Mandalorian culture in terms of sex, I didn’t find much lore on it so whether it’s accurate or not idk but I like them and that’s all that matters! Enjoy~

<-Previous Next->

You could have slept forever, even on that horrible little cot you were so comfortable that you could have been out for days, but the only one on it was you. You did’t know when Mando got up from the tiny space you both shared through the night, or how he managed to get out from your tangled bodies without waking you up. You opened your eyes to tiny green baby hands tugging at your fingers.

“Hey booger, is it time for breakfast? Where’s your papa?” You started to sit up, but the horrible sticky mess underneath you made you reluctant to move, a mix of passion and pain from the day before. “Yikes. I’m gonna run all his water out if I have to keep using the fresher. Come on, let’s get scrubbed up.” The baby gibbered excitedly at you, though you weren’t sure how much of what you said he actually understood. You scooped him into your arms without looking back at the sad little cot and all its stains. “You’re water proof, right?”

The ship’s engines were rumbling away, so you guessed tin man was up in the cockpit flying you towards your next bounty. Or Nevarro. You would have to find Mr. Mystery later, the grossness that was you had to be dealt with. Between you and the child your shower took forever, the two of you getting water and soap bubbles from top to bottom. You didn’t care. You had been on Tatooine for months without having a real shower, being consigned to the sonic freshers that vibrated the sand off of the moisture farmer’s bodies; and this was the second real shower you’d gotten to have in twice as many days. You spent a good deal of time trying to get your chatty friend to hold still long enough to be dried off, the little fart squealing with joy every time you went for him with the towel.

An ordeal later you were both fresh and presentable, but your host was still nowhere to be seen, though the ugly sheets had thankfully disappeared from view. The ship was quiet now, without the engine running you knew you had to be back on the ground, and you could hear a distinct hum of activity coming through the walls. Space port? He flew us into town? The thought was replaced immediately with a rich, savory smell coming through the air vents: FOOD! Your gut grumbled loud enough to resonate through the cabin and earn you a confused look from the baby. When was the last time you really ate? You’d been living on ration packs for the last couple of days. That was going to change right now.

“Ya hungry buddy? Me too! Maybe that’s where your dad is, hmm?” Grabbing your old backpack and hooking the baby under your arm you started punching buttons on the wall to get the door open, sending walls sliding and cabinets opening before you got one of the access ramps open. Bright double sunlight nearly blinded you, and on reflex you covered the baby’s giant googly eyes. It took a moment for your own to adjust to the radiant light of the Tatooine morning, and the smell of cooking food hit you like a ton of bricks, making your mouth water. As your eyes adjusted you were able to take in your surroundings: though it was bright outside you were parked low inside a maintenance bay, the walls of which soared high above you; littered with engine parts and humming with droid activity. Sound was the last input your hungry brain could process, but when it did you didn’t like what you heard. The sounds of an argument echoed around the hangar, high and shrill.

“I already told you, you can’t park here! You’re bad for business!”

“I just need to park here long enough to get supplies.”

“Well you’re gonna have to pay up, Mando! I’m not running a charity here! You got credits for supplies you got credits for parking! Up front this time!”

Oh no.

Of all the mechanics and docking hangars in Mos Eisley he had to pick this one. The fireball of a woman barely came up to your partner’s chest, but she made up for it with unbridled fury; and the giant cooked animal leg she was swinging around like a club between bites made her look even more formidable. She noticed you coming down the ramp and stopped grilling your comrade long enough to glare daggers through your skull.

“Oh NO! No nope nuh uh! You can turn right back around and get back on that ship, missy! I knew it! I knew you were bad for business, Mando! What’re you doing running around with her? I hope she’s your bounty because she’s your problem!”

“Peli.” Your words were cold as ice, but the squirming baby in your arms took all the malice out of your stance. He wiggled until you set him down, and he ran towards the mechanic with open arms.

“Baby! You can stay but your dad’s gotta take the mean lady somewhere else! She cheats at sabacc!”

“You lost fair and square, Peli! Try playing a better hand next time!”

“Ladies please!” Mando cut through your bickering, holding his arms up between the two of you like he was trying to corner a pair of wild blurgs. “If I let the child stay with you for the day, will you let me park the Razor Crest here? Just for a couple hours?”

Peli bounced the child on her hip, offering him a bite of her breakfast. The baby squealed happily while he sank his little teeth into the mighty snack, though the size of it comically dwarfed his itty bitty hands. “I’ll tell you what, you let me keep him and then maybe I’ll let you park here in a week.” Mando cocked his helmet at her with disdain and she huffed loudly, “Well if you put it that way, I guess you can park here, but you gotta put five hundred credits down, and not a cent less!”

Mando reeled, stabbing his hands to his hips with indignation. “Five hund- absolutely not! What am I going to buy our-” You interrupted his tirade with a hand on his shoulder, waving a slew of credits in front of his eyes. Peli snatched them out of your hand, fanning them out like cards to count them.

“Who’d you cheat these outta?”

“Don’t worry about it.” You leaned casually against your metal man, eyeing Peli with a smug look on your face. “Let’s go, Mando. Bye baby green bean, have fun with Auntie Cheats-at-Sabacc!” You spun him around by the hand and dragged him towards the exit, ignoring the insults being slung at your back. “We are getting breakfast and that’s final!”

The Mandalorian allowed you to pull him along a few feet before grinding his heels into the sand, shaking his head. “You have to stay here.”

Now it was your turn for sassy head tilts. “I just paid for your parking, buckethead, that makes me in charge and I’m hungry! I’ll buy you breakfast too if you want.” He didn’t budge, fixing you with that intense stare of his and grabbing you by the shoulders.

“You are still being hunted. Mos Eisley isn’t safe for you.”

Ah.

You knew you could look after yourself, and he himself had compared you to a ferocious rancor just yesterday. You groaned loudly, “Shit balls of hell. But dad, I’m huuunngry!” The man bristled at your paternal harassment, sighing heavily and letting his helmeted head fall to the side like the world was ending. He glanced around the hangar exit, his shiny beskar snapping to each object of interest until he located a protocol droid corpse that was missing everything from the waist down. He strode over to it and held it down with one boot, yanking it by the head until it popped off. He began prying the droid’s vocorder apart at the mouth, pulling it wide until the droids face plate broke off with a snap! Tossing the rest of the logic processing unit to the ground, he held the face plate up to the light, inspecting the clarity of its photo receptor casings. He bent back down to the junk pile and fished out a stray wire to thread through the ruined audio processors, then tossed the finished creation to you.

“Put that on.”

You turned the makeshift mask over in your hands to check for sharp edges before you pressed it to your face. The bug eyes on the front were dirty, but you could see well enough. Before you could clean them more thoroughly you felt the weight of fabric on your head, his cloak now worn as your own. The thought of how you must look made you giggle. “You make me take my clothes off, now you want me to put clothes on. It never ends with you, Mando. Next you’ll be forging me beskar. Now can we eat something, please?” Without a word the armored man turned on his heel and walked out the hangar exit. I’ll take that as a yes.

Mos Eisley buzzed with life, people and animals and things you couldn’t explain made their way up and down the bustling streets. The smell of food led you to a vendor selling something that could have been a root vegetable, covered in herbs and spices and grilled to perfection. You couldn't wait, all thoughts of self-preservation went out the window as you hauled ass to the stand, waving two fingers in the air. When you had both of your prizes in hand you stuffed the savory veggie under your mask, sighing contentedly at the taste of real honest-to-Maker food. “Hey tin man, I hope you like... whatever this-” You turned to offer your partner something to eat, but he had disappeared from the crowd. “Alright... more for me.”

Taking a newspaper from the vendor you wrapped the extra snack up tight and threw it in your pack for later, continuing to chow down on your own. You would find Mando eventually, and you had credits to spend. You had held onto your hush-money for months to avoid suspicion, but now it was burning a hole in your pocket. Wandering the streets of Mos Eisley from merchant to merchant you began accumulating a small hoard of supplies, ranging from bacta to hand tools, and food. Whatever you could get your hands on that would survive hyperspace when you inevitably left this fucking dirtball for good; though you still weren’t convinced that you wouldn’t be making that flight in carbonite. You picked out new clothes and underwear, a much-needed bedroll, and some soft bantha-wool blankets. Something further down the marketplace caught your eye, and you made your way to the fancier items that glittered in the double daylight. You didn’t wear jewelry yourself, a poor choice of attire for a hunter, but the way the trinkets caught the light still made you wistful. Your hidden eyes danced over the glittering treasures; jewels and geodes that had been found deep in the sands and polished to a radiant shine.

You spotted something opalescent at the end of one table and found a pair of krayt teeth, each about the size of your palm. They had been sanded to a smooth, flat finish and carved with intricate desert patterns. The backs of them had tiny fittings that could be sewn on as buttons, or pulled off to reveal magnets. Something about their shape seemed familiar, though you couldn’t imagine why in that moment. You purchased the unique pieces anyway, something to remind you that even the harshest of places could hold hidden beauty. After a while you had so much junk piled in your arms that you could barely see over it, and tin man was nowhere to be found. You spotted a courier droid and paid for it to deliver your treasures back to Hanger 3-5, though you kept the pricey teeth in your pockets. With your arms free you started looking for your missing comrade.

The streets were busy with people, you would have to get somewhere out of the way in order to scan the crowds. Your eyes went from shimmer to shimmer, looking for his reflective chrome dome. “Big jerk,” you mused to yourself “‘Mos Eisley’s not saaafe...’ If he’s so worried then where the hell is he? Bah!” The scratched-up photoreceptor casings of your mask made it a challenge to see through the crowd, and you took a moment to adjust the iris apertures so you wouldn’t have to keep squinting into the double sunshine when you felt a hand on your back. Finally. “Mando, where have you-”

“Mando? Whos’sis man-do? Nah sssweetheart, I think you got me confused wi’ sssomeone elssse.” The slithering voice in your ear made your blood run cold. Not Mando! You rocketed your elbow backwards, connecting with the gut of the stranger on your back with an -oof! The hand let go long enough for you to make a run for it, and you tore off down the streets of the busy spaceport, smashing into bystanders in your wake. You cast a quick look behind you to see a large reptilian body flying after you, brownish scales catching the reflection of the noonday suns. Though you had your blaster, the risk of hitting a civilian was too great, so running would have to do. You were thankful for the courier droid that had freed your hands just minutes before as you barreled down the busy streets.

Market stalls flew past you, your boots kicking up sand and dust. The mask on your face, as dirty as it was, kept the debris from your eyes as you raced through the sunburnt city. You had to lose this fucker and fast. You turned down an alley, left, right, another right, leaping over supply crates and low fences like a lothcat. You turned to see if you had lost your chaser, breath heaving and heart pounding. Behind you was clear, but you took your eyes off your path for just a second too long, and were taken by surprise when a heavy weight fell on you from above.

The Trandoshan had gone over the low sandstone roofs, chasing you easily through the alleyways of Mos Eisley while you were none the wiser. He pinned you under him quickly, ripping your blaster off your hip and pointing your own barrel in your face. “Tha’ss enough, princesss! Nice n’ quietlike now. You gonna make me a pretty penny you are.” The lizard’s words dripped with metaphorical venom, though you were sure by the look of those fangs that real venom was probably right behind. “Ahm gonna cart yer arse right back to th’ Guild’n I’ll become th’ most famous hunter in th’ galax -urk!” With a sickening gag the hunter above you grew a shiny new fang in the back of his throat before falling down dead on top of you, a vibroblade protruding from back of his skull.

“Took you long enough!” You hollered at your chrome companion, who was stepping forward to kick the carcass off of you. “Where the fuck have you been? Getting your rifle polished?” He pulled you to your feet, handing you your blaster while readjusting the mask on your face. You swatted at his fussing hands, but when you looked at him you were shocked to see not one but three blinking bounty fobs dangling from his belt. On the ground by the dead lizard was a fourth, flashing rapidly in the sand.

“I told you you weren’t safe! We need to leave right now.” You were barely able to grab the remaining bounty fob while you were being tugged away by your allied hunter. He had a death grip on your hand, pulling you along behind him towards what you hoped was the docking hangar. You would have to cross the main street to get there, and as the pair of you plowed across the dusty, busy road there came shouts from either side. More hunters, fucking Guild! You didn’t have a single second to assess them before you were lead through an alley on the other side of the street. These were darker than the ones you had run through on the west side of town, and shady bodies moved quickly out of the way of your living locomotive.

At the end of a narrow alley you both burst through a door leading into an abandoned building. The darkness was almost worse than the blinding sunlight, you would need time for your eyes to adjust but the Mandalorian had enough sensory detection equipment that he ghosted through the ruinous building with ease; never once letting go of your hand as you tripped and stumbled through the dark. The sound of crashing and shouting was hot on your tail, the other hunters had followed you and were gaining fast. You saw a light rapidly approaching ahead, and the two of you burst out into the brilliant daylight to the worst possible place: a dead fucking end.

“There! Get down!” Mando pointed at a pile of rubble, probably big enough to hide behind, but that’s not how you handled business.

“Fuck you! I’m not going down without a fight!” You pulled your blaster out and aimed at the incoming assailants. He growled at you and stepped closer, putting his body in between you and the door. The reptilian hunters burst from the darkness of the warehouse, firing rapid shots of blaster charges that bounced off of Mando’s beskar. You fired over his protective arm, taking out the first one and tripping up the second, who fell over his cohorts limp body. Mando took shot after shot to the chest, reeling with each impact. His other arm cocked back and shot out, sending a wall of fire into the last of the Guild’s hired guns.

Both of you were panting, shaking and sweating from flying through Mos Eisley, but the sound of blaster fire would draw attention and you knew there was no time to waste. You stepped over the incinerated corpse, making sure the fob it carried was melted, the second body still squirmed in the dirt, and you weren’t going to let it get a second chance, firing your blaster through it’s scaly skull. You picked the remaining two fobs and stuffed them in your pockets, making a run for it back through the building with Mando right behind, the blaze of his flamethrower lighting your way.

You took a different door out of the building and were relieved to see the words ‘HANGAR 3-5′ painted in bright blue Basic straight ahead. You skittered through the entrance, rounding the corner and dropping down behind the edges of the hangar doorway. Mando did the same on the other side, both of you pointing your blasters back towards Mos Eisley’s dark heart. Bootsteps behind you made you snap around, and you nearly shot your mechanically inclined host.

“You kids have fun out there?” Peli stood over where you were hunched, and you lowered your blaster to the ground. At her feet your little buddy was holding onto her pant leg, making big puppy dog eyes at you. You looked over to Mando to make sure there weren’t any more coming, but he still held his blaster out ahead. After a few tense seconds he lowered it down until it was back in its’ holster, then pulled himself to his feet.

“We can’t stay any longer, we’re putting you in danger. Time to go, kiddo.” His charred beskar still shimmered when he bent down to pick up his adopted son, who chirped with delight. “Thank you for watching him.”

“He can stay any time! Oh and thanks for all the snacks you made that droid bring me!” Peli called after the three of you as your party quickly boarded the Razor, making you turn around and stick your tongue out at her. She happily flipped you off and started closing the ground entrance to the bay, letting you board the ship uninterrupted. Fortunately, the courier droid’s delivery had made it to the ship, though you couldn't help but notice a few of your most carefully picked snacks had been taken as collateral. Fucking Peli. As much as she infuriated you, there wasn’t another person on all of Tatooine that you would rather play sabacc with.

The old rust bucket rumbled to life, taking off into the midafternoon sky and pointed towards the stars. Finally! Bye motherfucker. The hazy atmosphere of the outer rim planet fell away below you until the light of the bright yellow world illuminated the Crest’s stern. The pre-Imperial scrapheap started howling with noise, and you were almost thrown to the deck when it blasted into the safety of hyper space.

Your heart was still racing and you struggled to catch your breath. Once you had yourself in order you started busying yourself with putting the supplies away, filling the food larder to capacity. The child was contentedly telling you about his day with his auntie in his cute baby gibberish, and you picked him up off the ground to give him a much needed hug, pushing your stolen identity onto the top of your head to give him kisses. You almost wanted to ignore the sound of heavy armored boots hitting the floor panel under the ladder, their wearer opting to jump down from the cockpit rather than climb. You could feel the fury coming off of him as he stalked over to where you were sorting your treasures.

“You could have been hurt! I knew it was a bad idea to let you go wandering around, even with your face covered. What if they’d caught you? I picked three of them off before you even saw one!”

“I had it under control, Mando! I’m not some princess that needs you coming to her rescue at every sign of a struggle. And you don’t get to let me do anything, you don’t own me!” The man under your scrutiny paced the cabin on stiff legs with his hands on his hips, helmet snapping with rage.

“I know you can handle yourself, but I need to protect you.” He said with a huff, “And that lizard was... he had you pinned down, had his filthy, scaly claws on you... Nobody should touch you like that! What if.. what if he... I- I- didn’t like that he was...” Listening to the sound of the gears jamming in his head made you realize the ridiculous thing he was trying to say.

“Are you.. Mando are you jealous?”

“No! I- I’m.. Cyar’ika I... ”

Oh no, you don’t get to be cute right now. “I don’t know what that means, Mando! What is that, some kind of sexy little pet name you use on all the girls you take underneath of you?”

“NO! I didn’t- I would nev- I’ve never had... There’s never been- no!” Oh how you wished you could see his face, watching him flail trying to defend himself from your accusation, he was probably white as a sheet under all that armor.

“Never what, Mandalorian?”

“I’ve never had anyone in this ship before!” The Mandalorian’s confession lost steam halfway through as embarrassment and fear crept into his throat, threatening to choke him with his own secrets.

“Wait.. wait wait. Never? You’ve never had anyone in this ship or...” You started approaching him, analyzing his visor for hints of meaning. “Or you’ve never had anyone at all?” The Mandalorian stopped his pacing, but his shoulders looked like they were carrying the weight of the galaxy. His silence told you everything, and the last piece of his puzzle fell into place. “Mando...was I your first?”

“Y-yes.” His visor tilted up to you, hands fidgeting at his sides. His voice was faint and sheepish, a stark contrast to the thunderstorm you were arguing with a moment ago. Your eyes were full of questions, all racing through your mind so quickly none of them made it to your mouth. The metal man answered them all for you in one singular motion, raising his fist to knock a couple times against his beskar helmet. His creed.

“So, what, you guys aren’t allowed to have sex?”

He sighed his heavy, trademarked sigh and plopped down on the nearest supply crate with a defeated thud, cradling his head in his hands. “No it’s not that. Not... not exactly. In Mando’a the word we use is me'dinuir. It means ‘to give’, specifically to give yourself to another. And... when you give yourself away to someone-“ He turned the black gloss of his single eye up to you, “-you belong to them. That is The Way.”

The weight of his words made your blood cold. He was jealous, but not just because that other hunter had put his scaly hands on you. Everything about his attitude around you suddenly made sense, the way he had looked at you when you were presenting yourself to him that first day, why he never threw you in carbonite when he probably should have, and how he had stayed with you through the night after you nearly died hunting his bounty. His mysterious way of life decreed that giving his body to you meant that he had also given you his soul, and that made you just as important to protect as his foundling.

Mando reached out to pat the fuzzy green head of the baby you were still holding, who gibbered sleepily up at his armor plated papa. “I’m sorry to put that on you, and I’m sorry for how I acted. You’re not my bounty anymore, and I shouldn’t try to control you. I understand if you don’t want to continue with me to the next bounty. You can take whatever you want from the armory when we land next. I’m.. I’m so sorry.” The monolithic man looked so tiny now, sitting on the edge of the crate with his shoulders hunched. He reached his arms out to take his infant son from you, hugging him to his blast-burnt chest and smoothing his massive ears. "I didn’t get to thank you for washing him earlier, he smells really good.”

You desperately needed to know more, though the sight of him fawning over his sleepy son made your heart swell. “I kinda got the feeling that you were rusty when we met, but that was actually your first time? And what does that mean ‘you belong to them’? How can you belong to me? I don’t even know your name.”

"It means that I’m now sworn to protect the one that carries my soul. I’m not asking you to do the same, you’re not Mandalorian.”

His words made you feel sick, ashamed that you had taken something so sacred from him without a second thought, but how could you have known? He could have stopped at any time, you were the one in cuffs that day, not him. No, out of trillions and trillions of sentient beings in the galaxy he chose to give himself to you, knowing full well what his heritage decreed. Why you? Arms crossed, you dug deeper. “You’ve never seen another naked body than your own?”

He shook his head. “Just... holo-vids...”

You were going to have to ask him about those later. “Nothing? You’ve at least kissed someone before though, right?”

“Kissed?”

Maker fucking help you. “Yeah you know, kissing? The thing you do with your... oh, right." You reached up and tapped him twice on the beskar. “You need your face to do it.”

He cocked his helmet at you. “Can you show me?”

The innocence of his question made you melt. Fuck you, tin can, you’re not supposed to be cute when you’re in trouble. You reached your hand out, demanding he give you his, and shyly he obeyed. You pulled his hand to your lips, unsure of how much he could actually feel through his thick leather gloves. You pressed his hand to your lips and watched his whole body snap straight. “Kiss, like that.”

He was staring at his hand like he’d never seen it before, and after a moment he pulled your locked fingers to his head, tapping his forehead with the back of your hand. “Kov’nynir, But we do it with our helmets.” At this rate you’ll be speaking Mando’a in no time. He still held your hand gently, running his thumb over your fingers. “I think I like your way better. Could... Could you do that again?”

So polite, maybe having him stuck with you wouldn’t be so bad. You pulled his hand back to you, giving him another soft kiss on the side of his thumb, and you heard the sound of his breath catching in his modulator. Your lips pressed to each of his knuckles, and then you turned his wrist to kiss his palm. “How’s that?”

“That’s amazing.”

“You like that? Watch this.” Addressing the bantha in the room would have to wait. You tugged his glove off, revealing the warm bronze skin underneath and kissed him again. The hitched breaths coming out of his modulator were honey to your ears, and you turned his wrist over to kiss his bare palm again, hunting for more sweet sounds. His body was so stiff, so tightly wound you thought he might snap. “Are you ok? Do I need to stop?”

“I- I- want to... Can... Can I try?” You nodded, your heart jumping to your throat at the thought of him removing his helmet in front of you, but instead he gently reached up to the busted droid face you still wore on your head. With a twist of a knob the armatures inside of the eye casings coiled shut, and when he slid the mask down into place you were thrown into total darkness. “Can you see?” You shook your head. “Promise?”

You sighed, long and frustrated. “I promise, dark as a sarlacc’s backside.” You were met with only silence. Then, after what felt like an eternity you heard the sliding sound of metal as the child’s pram shield slid closed, then the shuffle of armor being removed, and lastly the dull thunk of something heavy being set down on the crates. His hand found yours again, and he pressed his lips against your skin. They were hotter than you were expecting, and soft, almost plush. You understood right away why he was so rigid when you were doing the same, it was amazing. Gentle kisses made their way over the back of your hand and made heat flood through your veins. He moved slowly over each joint, following the same pattern you had shown him, then turned your hand over and kissed at your fingertips. Something fuzzy brushed along with his lips, and you imagined that he might have a mustache. The shivers that crept their way up from your captured hand knocked all the strangeness of your conversation out of your mind, but when he reached your wrist he stopped.

“Where else do you kiss at?” You nearly fainted at the sound of his unfiltered voice, a rich baritone that dripped with dark intentions and stole all the words from your mouth. You could only point with your other hand at the forearm attached to the hand he held. Again you felt his lips on your wrist, then slowly, inch by agonizing inch he made his way up your arm, each kiss slower than the last until your toes were curling in their boots. When he reached the edge of the tunic’s sleeve that hung at your elbow he paused again. “Where else?”

“Everywhere.” Your tormentor hummed at your consenting words and let go of your hand to run his palms down your clothed thighs. When he reached your knees he pulled on their joints, bidding you to bring your legs up over his lap. When you were seated on him he resumed his trek up your arm, kissing at the crease of your elbow and then upwards over your tunic until he reached your shoulder. When he got to your neck you almost buckled over, but his hands were at your back in an instant, wrapping heavily around your waist. Your own hands made their way to the nape of his neck, and your fingers found the edge of his hairline that you had felt before. To your delight you felt that the tousled curls went all the way up, and you tangled your fingers in them, exploring their softness while he explored you.

His journey led him up your neck to the base of your jaw where he nipped gently at the sensitive skin like you had done to him last night, sending a fresh wave of goosebumps from your head to your toes. When his nose bumped the edge of your mask you were suddenly aware of how silly you might look with your big bug eyes. “Can I take this thing off?” you asked in a whisper. “I won’t look.”

“I have a better Idea. Hold on tight.” You dug your hands into his shoulders and felt his arms wrap under your legs as he stood up, lifting you with such ease that you wondered if he felt your weight at all. His boots echoed through the cabin until he stopped at the other end. You hung on for dear life while he climbed the ladder with you still wrapped around his front. When you both reached the top you let yourself unwind from him and scooted on your butt over the floor, listening to the sound of him pulling himself all the way up. You remained seated as your host fussed around the flight deck, the noise of buttons pressing and switches being thrown the only input to your deprived senses.

You were only unattended for a moment, then his hands found your waist, fishing for the edge of your shirt. The tunic was pulled up and over your head, taking your mask with it, and you squeezed your eyes shut to protect his modesty; unsure of what his unconventional oath to you included in the fine print. Your diligence was rewarded with a kiss on your forehead, then down to kiss both of your closed eyes, and then lastly to your lips. The searing heat of his mouth on yours threatened to throw your eyes open, but when they fluttered all you saw was darkness. The transperisteel’s blast shielding had been closed, and the only light in the cockpit came from a handful of illuminated buttons on the dash.

He was lying over top of you on the metal floor, one arm wrapped under your neck for support. The cold decking under you was uncomfortable, but you couldn’t be bothered to care, letting yourself be consumed by his kisses and becoming drunk on the scent of leather and adrenaline. The soft fuzz of his facial hair tickled slightly as he pressed into your lips, and you couldn’t help but smile. Your hands went to his face, running your thumbs over his cheeks and feeling what you weren’t allowed to see. His face was scruffy but not unkempt, and the bristles went all the way from his jaw up to the bottom of the defined nose that bumped against your own. You felt the creases on the corners of his eyes, wishing you could see his smile lines and all the stories they would tell.

You kissed him back, letting your tongue glide over his plush lips and making him inhale sharply. You licked into him again, and this time you were met with his tongue as well, just the faintest touch of its tip. He hummed in your mouth, and the sound of him so close made your belly pool with heat and your kisses bolder, sending your tongue deeper into his mouth until he was almost vibrating with the sensation of you exploring something as forbidden as his human body. He mirrored you as best he could, rolling the smooth muscle over your lips and the edges of your teeth until you were both lost in each other’s taste. He pushed his forehead against yours, pulling his mouth away with frantic breaths that spread fire over your skin. “Everywhere?”

You pushed your lips against his again, giving him an ambitions ‘Mmhmm’ as an answer. His growl made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, and you realized where his goal was. He kissed and nipped his way down your throat, letting his tongue glide over your skin. He made his way to your breast, taking its’ tender tip between his teeth and making you gasp. He sucked at it gently, rolling his tongue around it while it grew harder for his efforts. The hand not under you groped at your free breast so it wouldn’t be ignored.

"Beep!”

An urgent chime echoed in the tiny space, the hyperdrive indicator was flashing its countdown warning: 10 minutes remain.

The Mandalorian’s growl on your breast made your blood turn to ice and your core flush with heat at the same time. He wanted to devour you, taste every single inch of your exposed skin, but time was not on your side; and he became a man on a mission to prove himself worthy of you. Bristles dragged over your skin as he slid down your belly until he hit the edge of your pants. They were yanked off so fast you briefly worried about the krayt teeth that were still in their pockets, but you didn’t have long to think before Mando was poised over the apex of your thighs, kissing at each leg to make his intentions known. Those must be some good holo-vids you’re watching, tinman. You let him push your legs apart with his chin, receiving a soft kiss on each one once they were far enough apart for him to stuff his face in between.

Your back arched, hard, followed by the most ragged moan you‘d ever heard escape your throat. The grip on your thighs kept you in place as he lapped at your clit, sucking and teasing in an experimental way. His inexperience didn’t seem to matter, his hunger for you fueling his efforts and making you squirm in delight. Your hands sought desperately for something to grab onto to keep yourself grounded, finding his lovely curls to bury your fingers in deep. It was all you could do to hold on for dear life, tangling in his hair and struggling to breathe as he worked you into a frenzy.

The noises coming from below your waist were heavenly, wet and greedy in between his hums of contentment. It took you a while to realize they weren’t hums at all, but alien words of worship being prayed at your sinful altar; but the blood pounding in your ears and the gasps from your throat were too loud for you to hear his devotion.

“Beep beep!” Five minutes remain. Fuck.

The Mandalorian’s efforts doubled, running his tongue almost too quickly in his attempt to eat you alive. You let your hips grind into his mouth, begging him to bring you your release, and it wasn’t long before he succeeded. Stars flashed behind your eyes as you came into his hot open mouth, but he refused to leave until he had drank his fill of you. Eventually he pulled his face away from your spent heat with agonizing slowness, as if he would rather drown than address the impending drop from hyperspace. He kissed at your shaky thighs, your soft belly, and each breast before pressing his lips into your panting mouth, pushing the taste of you onto your own tongue. His breath was ragged, and you could feel the sweat of his brow where it was pushed against your face.

He lifted away from you, and the weight of the handmade mask was draped over your face, making you groan with the displeasure of your passion being cut short. However, once it was in place, it was almost immediately pushed under by strong fingers to lift its edge, and you were given one last kiss to swear his promise of return to you.

“Din. My name is Din.”

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TAG LIST @mrsparknuts @cookiejuicedesu @mandoinevarro @kaermorons

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian x reader #self insert #bargaining with beskar

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sunshinelulusplatoon · 3 years

Text

(This has been far overdue. So is the Calamity stories but that’s a different story.)

(Anyway, with Sora’s reveal, I finally got the kick to post this. So Enjoy!)

“You know,” Lulu started to speak.

“Hmm?” Lu remarked as she took another bite of her chocolate bar.

“You never did tell us how you were allowed to meet us,” Lulu remarked.

“Oh, I forgot?” Lu questioned.

“You did,” Lutarna commented.

Sitting on the side of the ramps of Blackberry Skate Park, the twins were hanging out with the Lulu from the Smash Brothers universe. Having grabbed some snacks, the girls were eating before getting back into some turf wars practice.

“It’s a bit of a long story,” Lu replied through her chewing.

“We have time,” Lutarna replied after finish a bite of her ice cream, “And don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Geeze, sounds and acts like my Tarts,” Lu chuckled after clearing her mouth.

Deciding to stretch, Lu started to pull off one of the finger-less gloves she was wearing with her teeth. Once off, Lu held her hand up as a triangle mark was imprinted on the back of her hand; three triangles in whole with the bottom left filled in with gold coloring.

“Well, for starters, this is part of the reason,” Lu stated.

Leaning in, the twins were shocked.

“IS THAT-” Lulu began.

“THE TRIFORCE OF WISDOM???” Lutarna finished.

“Yep. Got this back quite a while ago. Not sure how but it was helpful,” Lu chuckled.

“So what happen?” Lulu asked as she leaned back and propped herself with her arms.

“Well, it happened a while ago. When doing some training rounds,” Lu started to explain.

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

“Hiyah!”

“RAAAAAAAAAAWWWWR”

“MEEEEHHAA!”

“HEEEEEEEEYYA!”

Early morning training was taking place on final destination as two teams were battling. Lulu and Min Min against Link and Bowser. As Bowser spouted flames, Min Min grabbed Lulu from a distance and tossed her into the air before jumping out of the way. In the air, Lulu tossed an ink bomb out before squid jumping and landing behind Link. As the bomb went off, Link got covered in some ink, blocking his view of where Lulu went, before be smacked from behind by Lulu’s roller. As for Bowser, Min Min was keeping him busy with her stretching arms and distance attacks.

Just as things were heating up, the ground below started to shake. The vibrations so strong, the stage it self started to shake as Lulu lost footing and was about to go over the edge. In quick timing, Link grabbed onto and pulled Lulu back up as the group was wondering what was going on.

GUYS! THE SKY!” Bowser called out.

All looking up, clear blue sky started to become twilight as the sun started to shine brighter and brighter.

“What is this?” Min Min questioned, confused by the changing skies.

“Tsshhhh, I recognize this!!” Bowser growled.

“It can’t be,” Lulu questioned as fear grew on her face.

Just then, a ringing sound from Lulu’s jacket went off. Pulling her phone out hastily, it was a call from Meta Knight. Putting it on speaker, Meta Knight spoke.

“LULU! ARE YOU STILL WITH LINK AND CO?” Meta Knight questioned as his voice was harsh.

“Yes! What’s going on?” Lulu questioned as panic crept into her voice.

“A HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE! GALEEM HAS RETURNED! WE’RE NOT SURE WHY BUT IT’S BEEN SPOTTED AT THE WORLD’S EDGE!!!” Meta Knight replied, “WE’RE JUST OVER THE RIDGE TO PICK YOU ALL UP!! YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE US!!”

Looking over, the Halberd was indeed coming into view. Grabbing their things, the group waited till the right moment before jumping off of Final Destination and landing on the Halberd where Zelda and Peach were waiting.

“Mario and the others are already at the world’s edge,” Peach explained.

“We’re not sure what is going on but somehow Galeem has survived. Whether Darkon has or not, there is not time to waste,” Zelda stated.

“Let’s go then,” Link replied.

Others nodding, the group rushed inside as the Halberd picked up speed and headed towards their destination.

Upon arrival, the battle had already presumed as smash members were fighting off master hands as Galeem hovered in the distance.

“Tsssh, guess nemesis brains couldn’t take the hint the first time,” Lulu huffed.

“Well, there is more of us now, so let’s give that ball of light a good ass kicking, shall we?” Bowser laughed.

“Ready to help as best as I can,” Min Min agreed.

As the Halberd came close, the group jumped off as Lulu pulled out a bomb and tossed it towards a master hand. The ink explosion causing damage to the hand, Lulu squid jumped on top of it to do a down kick before jumping off of it as the hand dissipated. Blowing flames, Bowser was taking multiple hands out at once as Link was shooting them down with Min Min’s help.

Joining up with the rest of the group, the smash members were taking hands down one by one but soon it became inevitable that Galeem could easy make more. One by one, the smash members were getting tired. Joining up with the rest of the turf crew with Banjo and Kazooie’s help, Lulu and the other were barely keeping the hands at bay when more kept coming. Trying to do jumps, one laser hit Lulu and almost tossed her to the ground. Though speeding through the attacks, Sonic caught her in time before getting pelted by and smack down from a hand.

“Thanks Sonic,” Lulu replied once they got to a safer spot.

“This is getting nuts. They just keep coming,” Sonic remarked.

“We just got to keep trying,” Lulu reassured with a fist pump and a determined look.

Nodding, the two did a hand slap before rushing back into battle. Yet the odds were against the group. More and more, the smash members were getting hurt and tired but Galeem still stood strong.

Then things went quiet. As the hands pulled back, the smash members were confused. Then the familiar sound started up.

The sound of Galeem’s ultimate attack.

None of them were in proper shape to try and dodge the attack; if it was even possible in the first place.

“All over again!” Lulu thought as she recounted how she came to the smash universe the first time.

As light started to build up around Galeem, the members were fearing the worse.

Then suddenly it stopped.

Galeem froze still.

“The shell?” Lulu questioned.

“It...it just stopped,” Kazooie remarked in shocked.

All confused, the members watched as the very light from Galeem drained to black as it’s body started to come apart in two. As the wings and the Master Hands started to dissipate, a figure loomed behind the decomposing corpse of Galeem.

“Who is that?” Sonic questioned.

Confused, Lulu caught glimpse of Cloud moving past them and towards the figure before stopping; possibly trying to get better view of the person.

Squinting, Lulu could barely make focus of the figure but faintly caught glimpse of a very long sword in hand. That’s when Lulu realized who they were dealing with.

“It can’t be,” Lulu stated in fear.

“Sephiroth,” they heard Cloud say.

All stood in silence as the newcomer revealed himself.

“Sephiroth?!? From Cloud’s universe?!?” Daisy spoke in fear.

“How?” Isabella cried out.

“How doesn’t matter at the moment,” Lulu remarked as she heard Isabella from a distance, “Right now, we got a much worse fight on our hands.”

Watching above as Sephiroth descended some, a sinister smile turned into a smirk at the sight of Cloud and co.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Sephiroth spoke as he extended an arm upwards, “Now I shall give Smash despair.”

Once a twilight sky, now bleed into a sinister gray as clouds thickened. Taking aim towards Cloud, Sephiroth dived down towards him before taking a swing at him with Masamune. Reacting quick enough, Link rushed in and took the hit with his shield. Bouncing back, the fight began with swords clashing as Link and Cloud fought against Sephiroth. Taking this opportunity, many of the members took to others to heal wounds and rest as others jumped into to help take down this new foe.

Having recovered her ink and tending to some wounds of hers and others, Lulu was about to jump into the match when Alex stopped her. Placing a diamond sword in her hand, Alex looked up at Lulu.

“Steve’s badly hurt. I can’t leave his side right now but you know how to use this right?” Alex asked.

Nodding with an assured look, Lulu placed her gun in it’s holster as she took the diamond sword from Alex. Watching Alex waved as Lulu rushed into the battle.

As blades struck, Sephiroth bounced back both Link and Cloud as the rolling sound of an ink bomb was heard. As the bomb exploded, covering Sephiroth some, Lulu came from behind and did a long sweep with the diamond sword. Blocking the attack with Masamune, Sephiroth and Lulu stood clashing blades.

“So, the little light makes her appearance finally. It will feel good to finally strike you down before you get in my way again,” Sephiroth spoke as he pushed back on Lulu.

Jumping back, Lulu was confused by Sephiroth’s words as she dodged a forward thrust from him before taking a swing at him.

Thus the two began a dance of clashing blades as Peach and Mario got Link and Cloud out of there for the time being. Being a double welder, Lulu was easily passing the diamond sword from one hand to another to block and strike at Sephiroth. As easily as Lulu could toss them though, Sephiroth could dodge them. Back and forth the two went but slowly Lulu could see the diamond was cracking. Dodging a slice of the Masamune, Lulu back flipped and tossed a bomb at Sephiroth’s face. Using a reflect, Sephiroth went for Lulu. Using the last of the diamond sword’s strength, Lulu was sent back flying as the sword broke. Hitting the ground and rolling, Lulu landed hard on her back but was slowly able to get back up.

“Something...isn’t right here,” Lulu thought, “Almost as if a darker presence looms around us. It’s as if something is preventing him from falling.”

Breathing hard, Lulu was trying to hold things together as Sephiroth lunged forward towards her. Though before he could reach her, a blast form Samus’s gun hit the ground before him as Mario took a punch towards him. Dodging backwards, Mario and Samus stood in Sephiroth’s way from getting to Lulu.

“Lulu, we got this. Take heed,” Samus spoke.

Taking the hint, Lulu nodded as she rushed to take cover and find others.

Running, Lulu was trying to put pieces together of what was going on as she spotted Zelda and Palutania. Rushing to her, they got Lulu some distance away before tending to her wounds.

“It’s as if his body won’t tire,” Lulu spoke.

“Something tells me Darkon is behind this,” Zelda spoke, “As if another being is waiting in the shadows, it’s presence I sense.”

“I’ve been sensing it too,” Palutania replied, “Waiting for the right time to strike.”

“But why? How could they have survived?” Lulu questioned.

Before the girls could give reason, a voice spoke up.

“What does it matter. You will all die at my hands.”

Looking up, a new foe stood upon the rocks above them.

“WHO ARE YOU?” Palutania demanded.

Recognizing him immediately, Lulu took a fighting stance.

“That’s Kayuza Mishima,” Lulu growled.

“You know him?” Zelda questioned.

“Where I’m from, he’s from a game called Tekken. He was born with demon blood and a main antagonist of the series,” Lulu replied.

Jumping down from the rocks, Kayuza went straight for Lulu. Sliding in the way, Zelda used Din’s fire as Kayuza dodged.

“LULU! HE’S AFTER YOU!!! RUN!!!” Zelda shouted.

Taking hint, Lulu dashed and ran for her life as she tried to seek others. Though easily outdoing them, Kayuza took to the skies in his demon form as he chased after Lulu. Tripping on a rock, Lulu hit the ground hard as Kayuza landed near her.

“You can’t get away from me that easy little light,” Kayuza spoke.

Getting back on her feet, Lulu took a fighting stance.

“Going to fight now are we?” Kayuza spoke before thrusting forward at Lulu.

Dodging, Lulu threw a hard leg kick which knocked Kayuza to the ground.

“I may be tired, but I’m not out yet! I may be stuck in this inkling form, but I can still fight like an octoling!” Lulu huffed.

Getting back up and wiping some blood away, Kayuza smirked before going at Lulu again with punches. Dodging and weaving out the way from down thrust and attacks, Lulu was dishing her own attacks. Hand to hand combat, the two fought but slowly Lulu was getting tired. Stuck in the inkling form was her biggest disadvantage and with one hard trust to the stomach, Lulu was on the ground.

Trying to get up, Lulu was slammed back down onto the ground by a foot into her back.

“Hehehe, this is the end for you little light. Tell your maker she shouldn’t have disowned us like she did. Now she can see the effects of her mistakes,” Kayuza spoke.

Switching back to his demon form, Kayuza was about to attack Lulu as she tried to get back up when-

“HADOUKEN!!”

A ball of blue light, it smacked Kayuza away as Ryu, Ken, and Kirby on Dragoon came rushing up. Grabbing Lulu up, Ken placed Lulu on Dragoon with Kirby.

“Get her out of her!” Ken ordered.

Nodding, Kirby made sure Lulu was properly on Dragoon before flying upwards and away from the fight as fast as the little pop star fighter could. Far from the world’s edge and into the world of light, Kirby flew Dragoon as Lulu held on with what strength she had left.

Finally landing were the two first met, Kirby jumped off Dragoon as he rushed over to where some waddle dees and MetaKnight were waiting. With them were some bottles of ink and tomatoes for Lulu. Rushing over, the group went to work tending to Lulu.

“Thanks guys. Thanks Kirby. Always got my back, huh?” Lulu spoke softly as she ate a tomato before sinking down into the ink to rest; laying on her back.

“Poyo,” Kirby replied before patting her inkling head.

“Rest Lulu. What ever those two want with you, you need your strength. Right now we have you far enough away to give you time. The others should be able to hold them off,” Meta Knight spoke.

Nodding, Lulu closed her eyes as the sounds of the quite environment took over.

Resting there for a while, Lulu hadn’t realized she had fallen asleep till a voice spoke up.

“Seems Darkon won’t give up, huh? Has finally killed his brother and now has turned his aim at us. Because he wouldn’t do what I asked of him long ago. Even using new fighters for his work. I’m sorry you’ve gotten involved like this. He can’t reach me anymore so has turned his revenge towards you. I figured the first time bringing you here would be enough to deal with them but stubborn fools they were. I now have to ask you again to finish these things for me. But not alone. If things get tough though, you have the strength, will, and power to call for others. I believe in you princess. Use your light to guide others hearts towards you,” the voice spoke.

It took Lulu a moment to recognize the voice.

Her voice.

“LULU!”

Opening her eyes, Lulu sat up from the ink puddle to see Marge rushing towards the small group. Squatting down, Marge hugged Lulu; seeing her friend was alright. Wrapping her arms around her after the initial shock, Lulu hugged back.

“LULU THANK COD! EVERYBODY’S BEEN FIGHTING AND NOBODY CAN SEEM TO TAKE THOSE TWO DOWN AND I GOT WORRIED CAUSE I COULDN’T FIND YOU WITH THE OTHERS AND THEN I JUST,” Marge spoke in panic before starting to cry.

“Hey, I’m fine. But there is more going on then just two new fighters. I have… a feeling Darkon is controlling them. When asleep… this voice spoke…. My voice spoke,” Lulu explained.

Confused, Marge thought on it some.

“Perhaps the creator. Talking to you in a familiar tone,” Marge suggested.

“I think so,” Lulu questioned, “She talked about Darkon and Galeem. It seemed like they had a bigger role in our world at one time but they went against it. But were strong enough to survive the first attack we did to them. But now all that is left is Darkon.”

“What do we do?” Marge asked, fear in her voice.

Getting up, Lulu brushed off the leftover ink on her hero gear before looking towards where the fights were.

“We win this!” Lulu replied before holding a hand out to Marge.

Realizing her words and confidence, Marge took Lulu’s hand with a nod.

Packing up and getting back on Dragoon, Kirby led the way with Meta Knight following as the Waddle Dee’s waved goodbye.

Back at the world’s edge, things were looking grim. As the fighters pressed on, Sephiroth and Kayuza held firm. One by one, the fighters were falling to their knees with only a few still standing. Fighting Sephiroth, Cloud was holding his ground as Ryu was doing his best against Kayuza’s demon attacks. Flying over, the two turf crew members watched.

“They need help now,” Lulu remarked.

“Lulu,” Marge spoke as she held out a capsule, “It’s not much, but it might have something handy.”

Taking the capsule, Lulu nodded as she popped the cap. Popping out, a staff fell into Lulu hands, the girls nodded before watching as Kirby flew them closer. Once in range, Lulu and Marge jumped off as Lulu did a down stab at Sephiroth.

Not reacting quick enough, Lulu was able to slice his arm as the fight turned into a two verses one. Helping Cloud get back on his feet from the last attack, Marge threw a bomb to cover her and Ryu’s tracks as they got Cloud out of there.

Taking lunges at her, Lulu dodged, weaved, and maneuvered through Sephiroth and Kayuza’s attacks as she dished her own out. Remembering what her grandfather taught her, Lulu was twirling the staff around for styled attacks and protection as the two fighters came at her. Staying determined, Lulu was keeping up as Sephiroth was starting to look annoyed.

“Tssh, not going down without a fight, huh? Seems you are more determined this round. Fine. I’ll just use my resources to better use,” Sephiroth spoke.

Looking at Kayuza behind Lulu, Sephiroth lunged forward with Masamune as Lulu dodged; stabbing Kayuza through the chest.

“You are no use to me anymore. One body is all I need,” Sephiroth spoke before blasting Kayuza away with a fire ball attack.

Shocked and confused as Kayuza’s body rolled and laid lifeless yards away, dark energy started to glow around Sephiroth as he rose into the air. Above, the sky started to crack and turn red, pieces fell as Darkon showed himself before Lulu once more.

“Now, let’s finish this,” Sephiorth spoke as he flew down towards Lulu.

Dodging, Lulu swung the staff towards Sephiorth’s head but quickly grabbing it, Sephiorth was able to yank it out of Lulu’s hands before kicking her in her stomach. Falling backwards on the ground, Lulu rolled before Sephiorth could stab her with Masamune. Getting up, Lulu started to throw punches but Sephiroth with new found speed, dodged them before grabbing her by a tentacle, lifting her up and tossing her to the ground. Before even reacting, Sephiroth threw a fire ball with made Lulu roll. Casting a shadow flare, Sephiroth lunged forward at her. Dodging, Lulu did an aerial kick but Sephiroth was too fast for her; causing his shield as the flare went off. Taking heavy damage, Lulu was leaning forward, trying to calm her spinning head as blood dripped to the ground. Lulu barely noticed Sephiroth’s forward thrust. Dodging, a tentacle was cut off as Lulu lost balance and fell to the ground.

“Seems what strength you had is slowly fleeting now little light, isn’t it,” Sephiroth chuckled.

Slowly getting back on her feet, Sephiroth’s hits had taken too much out of her; as if they had drained her of all her strength. Thought that didn’t mean she was giving up. Lunging forward, Lulu took a swing at Sephiorth as he easily dodged before grabbing her other tentacle, tossed to her the ground, and stabbed Masamune through the tentacle. Crying out in pain, Lulu tried to pull the sword out, but Sephiorth slammed his foot on Lulu’s chest to know the air out of her. Couching up blood, Lulu tried to breath as Sephiorth started to walk around her.

In the sky, Darkon’s tendrils started to stretch out as Sephiorth stopped behind her.

“This was fun little light but I need you gone,” Sephiroth spoke.

In a loud roar, the tendrils came towards Lulu. Barely catching her breath as she struggled to even speak, her mind was screaming.

“SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!!!!”

As if a calling, the triforce on her hand started to glow, shocking Sephiorth. As light grew stronger, in a flash, time stopped; just before the tendrils touched Lulu. Then things faded to black.

Pitch black.

Not a sound.

Except Lulu’s breathing.

Finally realizing all the pain was gone, Lulu moved her arm to feel for things. Instead of just feel inkling tentacles, Lulu found that she felt her octoling ones as well. Deciding to sit up, things around her were impossible to see. Getting up on her feet, Lulu didn’t know where she was.

“Am I dead?” Lulu spoke to herself.

Feeling her chest, Lulu could feel a pulse but wasn’t truly sure. Looking outwards, Lulu was confused.

That was until her hand started to glow again. Looking at it, Lulu saw the triforce glow in golden light.

“Hello?” a voice rang out through the darkness.

“Hello?” another spoke.

Shocked, Lulu spoke up.

“Hello? Is someone there?” Lulu asked.

“Hi, who are you?” one voice asked.

“My name is Lulu. And you?” Lulu replied.

“My name is Pyra. I heard someone call out for help. Was that you?” Pyra replied.

“My name is Mythra. Are you okay?” Mythra replied.

“Yeah, that was me. Though I’m not sure if I need it now. I think I’m okay. But my friends. They may need help!”

“What troubles you?” Pyra asked.

“A monster name Darkon has come back to reek havoc on my friends and I. They may need help! Please, will you help them?” Lulu begged.

Out of the darkness, a green light and a burning flame appeared in front of Lulu.

“We heard your call Lulu. We will help you,” Pyra and Mythra replied.

Appearing before her, two woman, one red headed with a red dress and one blonde with a white one, held hands out to Lulu. Smiling Lulu held her hands and grab each of their hands. In a golden light, the two disappeared.

Back in darkness, Lulu was confused.

“Hey, can I help?” Another voice spoke; coming from behind Lulu.

Turning around, light from under Lulu’s feet shinned as a stain glass image appeared. In the glass was an image of Lulu holding the triforce of wisdom as smash members had pictures around her. In front of her, a young boy stood holding a key shaped sword. His brown hair was spiky as he wore a red and black outfit with poofy pants and big black yellow shoes. Surprised, the boy walked up to Lulu.

“I heard someone cry for help,” the boy remarked before looking at Lulu, “Wow, you look like someone from Atlantica. What’s your name?”

“Lulu. What’s yours?” Lulu asked.

“I’m Sora,” Sora replied with a smile.

“Sora? I like your name! Will you please help me? A great monster is attacking my friends. I wasn’t strong enough on my own to stop it,” Lulu explained.

“A monster? Is it some type of heartless?” Sora questioned.

“Heartless? I’m not sure what that is but it does lack heart and it wants to hurt my friends,” Lulu replied.

“Well, that’s good enough for me. I’ll gladly help,” Sora replied.

Holding a hand out, Sora smiled a big smile. Smiling back, Lulu grabbed his hand as he too disappeared into golden light.

Still left in the dark, Lulu was confused. But something told her things were going to be alright now.

“I have help. That’s a start. But how to deal with Darkon. He himself is so far away. And Sephiroth is just a vessel he is using. If I had a way to hit him at long distance,” Lulu spoke to herself.

“Will a charger do?” A voice spoke up.

Spinning around, Lulu called out, “You again!”

“You did good. You found help. But they can’t fight this alone! And you can’t deal with Darkon without some help. Here, hold your hands out,” the voice spoke.

Holding her hands up, Lulu saw a long light formed as a golden charger fell into her hands.

“It’s infused with the power of the light arrows. Should help. Good luck Princess,” the voice spoke again.

Nodding, Lulu held the charger close.

“Thank you. This time, I’ll do it. I’m not giving up!” Lulu replied.

As the triforce glowed again, Lulu clenched her fist, before holding it up and shouting, “LET’S GO HELP MY FRIENDS!!!”

Time starting again, the light shown bright as Sephiroth jump back as figure rushed at him. Blocking with his sword, a giant fire blade came down to clash with the Masamune.

“WHO ARE YOU?” Sephiroth shouted.

“Here to help out Lulu!” Pyra replied before switching to Mythra in a greenish light and taking fast swings at Sephiroth.

Coming to, a hand was held out for Lulu as Lulu realized it was Sora. Grabbing his hand, Sora helped Lulu up as Lulu held the charger; healed up and tentacle in tack again.

“You look different,” Sora commented as Lulu was back in her inkling form.

“So does your clothes,” Lulu remarked.

Looking himself over, Sora’s clothes had changed to a red outfit with a white jacket and big yellow shoes. Chuckling, Sora gave Lulu a smile.

Hearing Darkon roar, the two looked up at him.

“So that’s the monster?” Sora asked.

“That’s Darkon. His eye is his weak spot. We need to get close to it so I can shoot at it with this charger,” Lulu explained.

Noticing Mythra dealing with Sephiroth, Lulu realized the opportunity.

“While he’s distracted, we need to go,” Lulu pointed out.

Nodding, Sora grabbed Lulu’s hand as he pulled her forward into a run.

Running past Pyra and Sephiroth, the two were heading for the edge as tendrils were raring for an attack.

“Believe in fairies?” Sora asked.

“Met a few. Nice beings,” Lulu replied.

“Then believe you can fly!” Sora replied.

As the tendrils came down, Sora and Lulu jumped off the cliff’s edge as the tendrils crashed into the ground. In an upward swoop, the two flew off towards Darkon. Tendrils coming at them, Sora used magic to freeze them and burn them as Lulu took shots with the charger. Closer and closer the two got as Darkon tried to push them back. Dodging, weaving, and attacking, the pair were getting closer to Darkon’s eye. Though as a final attempt, Darkon shot multiple tendrils at them. In quick thinking, Sora pushed Lulu forward as Sora took the hit; knocking him out of the sky.

Now in range, Lulu held the charger out as she charged the ink. Not enough time to react, Darkon watched as light formed at the chargers end as Lulu pulled the trigger.

“EAT INK YOU FUCKING SIPHON!!” Lulu shouted.

With a large bang, light swirling around a long ink shot speed towards Darkon and hit him straight on. Split in half, the light shown bright as the Darkon and the tendrils started to dissipate.

Back on land, about to take a swing at Pyra, it was if the wind was knocked out of Sephiroth as he fell to the ground; shocking Pyra as she looked up to see Darkon falling apart.

“LULU DID IT!” Pyra cried out.

Hearing footsteps, Pyra turned around to see Cloud and Mario, bandaged up, as they were shock to see the sight.

Then a bright light flashed as the red sky turned back to clear blue.

Still floating in the sky as the golden charger faded out of her hands, Lulu took a moment to process things before realizing something. Hastily flying down, Lulu looked for Sora.

“LULU!” Sora called out, floating in the water below.

“SORA!” Lulu cried out.

Seems Sora was okay as she flew down and grabbed a hand to pull him back up and flying again. Pulling each other into a hug, the two flew around for a bit.

“WE DID IT!!” the pair shouted in excitement before heading back to the main land.

Waving, Pyra was waiting for them.

“HEY!!!” she called out.

“PYRA!” Lulu called out before landing.

Rushing up, Pyra hugged Lulu and Sora as the three laughed and giggled.

“LULU” Mario called out.

Looking around Pyra, Lulu called out, “MARIO!” before letting go and rushing to Mario.

Arms open, Mario hugged Lulu and patted her back.

“Wahoo! You did it!!” Mario spoke as he patted her back.

“Sora?” Cloud questioned as he spotted him.

“Woah! Cloud! Is that you?” Sora questioned in shock as he let go of Pyra and rushed over to Cloud.

“How did you get here?” Cloud questioned.

Rubbing the back of his head, Sora replied, “Uh...I guess through Lulu. I was on Destiny Islands when I heard a voice cry out for help and then the next thing I knew I met Lulu.”

Crossing his arms, Cloud gave a smirk and a huff.

Walking up, Pyra remarked, “I also heard Lulu’s cry for help. Are you all alright?”

“Now we are it seems. Darkon is gone and things have seem to gone back to normal. That is..” Cloud replied before tailing off.

Looking over, Sephiroth was still on the ground. All noticing, Cloud began to walk over when sounds of pain could be heard. Starting to rise up, Sephiroth rolled to a sitting position as he got his bearings.

“Where… am I?” he spoke.

“Smash world,” Cloud spoke.

Looking over, Sephiroth didn’t seem surprised to see Cloud.

“It seems we have been transported to this world,” Sephiroth spoke, “But I do not know how.”

“What do you last remember?” Cloud asked.

“Leaving the last world with you,” Sephiroth replied as he got up on his feet.

“So I was right. Darkon was controlling him and Kayuza,” Lulu remarked.

“Do you think he’ll cause trouble now?” Sora asked.

“He would be stupid if he tried,” Cloud remarked.

Looking around, Sephiroth noticed the others taking fighting stances; faces he had never seen before.

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Sephiroth stated to Cloud.

“Long story,” Cloud replied.

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

“So what happen to Kayuza?” Lulu asked.

“Same boat as Sephiroth. Taken control by Darkon and mind controlled to be a puppet. Once Darkon’s control was free, he woke up confused and lost to where he was,” Lu replied.

“So what happen then?” Lutarna asked.

“Well, given their presence, it seemed they too were new smashers and thus we welcomed them in. Knowing how many were around, like the other villian characters, they agreed to behave and join the smash fights. Explaining everything to them on how the worlds worked, we showed Pyra, Mythra, and Sora how to get home and to come back and visit,” Lu explained.

“Man, talk about a crazy adventure. You have all the fun!” Lulu huffed.

“How did Sidon take to everything?” Lutarna asked.

“He insisted Link rest in the domain and my butt to stay out of fights for a while,” Lu chuckled.

“Fair enough,” Lutarna chuckled.

“Still, did the creator every give you answers on things?” Lulu asked.

“No sadly. No letter this time. I wish I knew why but perhaps it’s just left up to the wind I guess,” Lu replied.

Jumping up and stretching, Lulu hopped down the ramp before looking at the other girls.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but that story has me worked up now. Let’s get some more practice shall we?” Lulu chuckled.

Nodding, the two cleaned up the food mess they made before jumping down the ramp before rushing off to start a match.

Watching in the distance up in a tree, a being smiled as she watched the three play.

“I probably should have wrote a proper thank you but making that charger took a bit out of me. Oh well, things are good now. Might as well let it be. Still, to think my lower gods would betray me like that when all I asked was to just balance the smash world with what fighters were allowed in. Instead they grew power hungry and thought they could over throw my rule. Oh well, Maybe next time I’ll get better help,” the being spoke.

Smiling again, the being faded into nothing as the trio played their game; peace brought back again to the worlds.

#SunshineLulu #AU #World of Light

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idontmeantosoundrudebut · 3 years

Text

To start this off this HTTYD WHUMP Collection, I'm taking inspiration from a whumptober list and the second on the list was Gutspill and I had a fucking brainstorm (do mind my french, I swear like a sailor and a trooper, I'm also British). I wrote this five days ago and finished it, but as I was highlighting it so I could copy it to move here, I accidentally deleted half of it so... after my five-day meltdown, I've finally finished it and I think I turned out even better than it did the first time. I hope you have a box of kleenex or whatever tissue brand you have in your country, this one is a corker.

(you can also find my works on my archive of our own, name in profile)

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There is blood everywhere. It's on his hands, on his face, on his sword, the world has become a thing of blood and ash, they clog up his lungs and he's choking on it. But his blood, it boils in his veins like water over fire and his heart pumps it hard throughout his body, hungry and starved for flesh, for death. Snotlout is a warrior, born and bred, and there is a mercifulness inside him that has long kept this beast at bay. But today, on this battlefield where mercy leaves you dead, he can let the starved beast writhing in his chest out and allow it to sate its hunger. Just for today, just for one day, he'll be an animal.

The shores of Berk are red with blood and will be for days afterwards. The bodies, broken and bloodied, add a layer onto the sand like a second crust, piling upon each other and almost looking like some gruesome, horrible beast that stretches on for miles. Those muddy, grasping hands, those black, gaping maws, those dead, dead eyes. The sky is terribly blue and dragons soar down with fire in the chests, spewing it across the enemy like they are wild monsters again, like they've forgotten kindness.

Today, everyone has forgotten the tenderness of mercy.

Snotlout slashes his sword across a man's chest and blood sprays across his face. The enemy falls onto one knee with a cry and lifts his mace to retaliate, but he's too slow to stop the blade from plunging into his stomach. Through the slits of the enemy's helmet, Snotlout notices that his eyes are green and, before he dies, that they are full of fear. Those eyes will haunt him tonight, but today there is no compassion in his heart for those who dare to threaten his home.

Pulling his sword from the corpse, he looks in awe at how it steams from fresh blood. Snotlout's face is hot with blood that is not his own and he can taste it on his teeth, a coppery wash on his tongue. Blood tastes like lightning. Two men try to rush him, but he cuts one down with a swipe to his legs and the other he grasps by the neck, headbutting him angrily. He drops the unconscious enemy and impales the floored man through the back. More blood, but it's not enough the please the hungry thing inside him.

He hears a mighty battle cry and turns to see Ruffnut, braids matted with blood and bleeding from both nostrils, she looks wild like a creature. She feels it too, she's also got a hungry beast inside her, she's also been starved of blood. She grabs a man, pulls his back to her chest and slices his throat with a smile some would say is mad. Today, we are all mad, mad things are best at killing.

Tuffnut is not far from her and he's swinging in circles, fatally hitting anyone brave (or stupid) enough to get close to him. Snotlout watches Ruffnut kill again, and he's falling in love with her all over again as she buries her dagger to the hilt into a man's eye. He screams. She laughs and slices his throat too. Her face and chest are washed with blood from his squirting neck.

They catch each other's' gaze and, just for a moment, the starved monsters crawl back into the darkest corners of their hearts to allow the tenderness to come back. Ruffnut's eyes soften, those thunderstorm eyes lose their madness and gaze deep into Snotlout, conveying all the words that they both struggle to say. He lets out a short, breathy exhale because, Gods, she is so beautiful, she must be from a dream.

Suddenly, Tuffnut is in the picture and he looks both disgusted and displeased.

"Uh, guys, big battle happening all around you," Tuffnut yells over the sound of war, gesturing around him with a blood-caked Macey II, "don't think this is an appropriate time to be making-love via eye-contact,"

An axe-wielding enemy charges towards Tuff and Ruff from behind. But before Snotlout can even open his mouth to warn them, Ruffnut throws her arm back and the man goes down hard and fast, a dagger lodged in his throat. Oh, by Freyja, he loves her so much. Ruffnut gives him a smirk, sharp and deadly, before charging away with a dragon-roar cry.

"See you on the other side, Princess!" Snotlout shouts and then the beast lunges out from the shadows of his aortas, he's back to being an animal again and races deeper into the battlefield.

His eyes catch sight of a monstrous opponent. The Commander. He's tall and wide, built like a mountain, decked out in black, hateful-looking armour and he's pulling his sword from the chest of a Berkian shield-maiden. Snotlout doesn't recognise her, almost mistakes her for Astrid from her blonde hair, but she's far too young, far too small, far too innocent to be here. Doesn't matter now, she's dead and being carried away on the backs of Valkyries to Valhalla. Still, she was too young.

Then, the all too familiar sonic-whistle fills the air and he watches the Commander look to the sky.

"NIGHT FURY!" A man distantly warns. Everyone ducks to the ground in fear. Snotlout remains standing. So does the Commander.

There's only a flash of Toothless, a black dart across the pale sky before a purple blast dives to the battlefield. The explosion is bright and blinding behind the dark silhouette of the Commander and a shockwave sends those already crouched down to the sand, but still he remains standing, unyielding. Snotlout also stands, unbowed.

His ears are ringing from the explosion but there's an anger in his chest, building and building and building, soon its going burst out of his chest. Warriors lay around them, disorientated and directionless, and the Commander turns to him, his only worthy opponent. Snotlout breaths violently through his nose, a deep rage coursing through his blood like a forest fire and there is nothing that will stop the inferno in him. His entire body is shaking, like a dragon ready to take flight. Gods, if he was a dragon; the world would be ashes at his feet.

For a moment, they size each other up. Dragon-fire reflects of the Commander's black armour and Snotlout's blade of steel becomes a spine of flames. Everything in his life has been leading up to this moment, this moment which will change the course of his life forever, this is what the Fates have planned for him. Prove your worth, Dragon-Rider, Fire-Swallower, prove your worth to the ones who believe you to be nothing.

Snotlout closes his eyes and wraps both of his trembling hands around the hilt of his sword. The sounds of battle are distant and his heartbeat pulses in his ear like a war drum. This is it. Let the beast free, let it out the cage, let it off the chain. Let it kill them all.

Snotlout opens his eyes and that unbridled rage comes forth in the form of a thunderous howl, tearing through his throat. He runs towards what could be his beginning or his end, either will be fine but he'll die proving he's something, something fierce, something brave, something worthy. The Commander too starts to run, charging towards him with his blood-shining sword and he's silent like death, his eyes shimmering like stolen sapphires beneath his helmet.

And as they get closer, Snotlout raises his sword into the blood-thick air and again roars his worth for all to here, a stream of fire bursting like dying stars behind him.

But the beast is a primal thing, while the Commander is a calculating thing, silent and cunning; Beasts are sometimes made to be fools in their wrath.

And as Snotlout brings his blade down for the kill, the Commander falls and skids across the sand, kicking it up to momentarily blind him. It takes him a moment too late to realise the grave, fatal mistake he has made.

As the Commander slides past Snotlout, he slashes his sword across his gut and the terrible feeling of his skin and flesh being carved open makes him halt on the spot. His ears are ringing again and there isn't even pain, there is just a hotness in his gut and the vague feeling of something slipping, he doesn't understand what's happening. Dropping his sword, he stares wide-eyed into the distant and gasps for breath, it feels like he's been hit in the chest with a war hammer.

Over the ringing in his ears, Snotlout hears the movement of feet disturbing stand and the whistling sound of a sword cutting through the air. In the distance, far away, he hears a woman screaming in despair. He thinks it might be Ruffnut.

That primal beast wakes up again and he isn't even thinking when he turns around, hands up ready to catch something. The blade of a sword falls into his grasp and it cuts through his leather gloves, digging deep into his palms as he pushes the sword from his face. He bares his bloodied teeth like a cornered animal and stares deep into the eyes behind the helmet, blue and angry and hateful; they gaze back.

He's going to die, oh that's okay, but by the Gods is he taking this bastard with him.

Snotlout releases one hand to immediately grasp at the Commander's armoured wrist. The blade digs further into his hand, hot blood tracks down his arm. It is only due to the rage and adrenaline burning through him that allows Snotlout to twist the Enemy's hand till it near breaks before dislodging the sword from the cursing man and, as quick as lighting, he wraps his fingers around the hilt and does a half turn.

The sword is plunged deep into the Commander's stomach. Snotlout lets go of the stolen sword and allows it to fall with its owner behind him. He smells blood and ash, tastes it too. Gods, he's choking on HIS blood and he doesn't know what to do. Looking down to his stomach, Snotlout is full of horror as he sees his guts partially hanging out of the slice in his belly. He touches them with his hands and they come away red, hot, steaming.

"The Commander is dead!" Someone cries, "Retreat! Back to the boats!" Others chime.

Snotlout falls to the bloody-encrusted shore on his back and stares up the terribly blue sky, disturbed only by dark rising smoke and the shadows of retreating men that leap over his body. His breath is loud in his ears and he can feel the blood pouring from him, soaking into his tunic and running down his sides to stain the sand beneath him. There should be fear in his heart, but he can only find the sweetness of victory, the relief that the battle is over and they came out the victors.

A body skids beside him and he looks up to see Ruffnut, eyes white and wide with fear as she stares at his stomach, at the blood that pours and oozes, a never-ending river draining from his body. The tide will come in soon and wash it all away. Maybe it'll take his body too, the sea stealing him away and dragging him to the ends of the Earth, it sounds like a peaceful end.

"Gods, you idiot, what have you done?" She whispers, voice raw from screaming, from terror, and he watches in a dull sort of morbid curiosity as she pushes the exposed intestines back inside him.

The pain is suddenly everywhere as his cut flesh is disturbed and his body goes into spasms, agony setting his nerves ablaze and making tears sprout in his eyes as he shakes his head side to side. Snotlout lets out a broken scream, by Gods, won't he just die already. When the torment simmers down, he opens his watery eyes to see Hiccup knelt opposite Ruffnut, his hands using the fabric of one of Toothless' spare tails to stem the bleeding as he shouts orders to people. ("We need Gothi here! Now please!")

"Did we win?" He croaks stupidly, because he knows that they have but he wants to here it, wants to make sure it wasn't some illusion from his deluded mind.

Hiccup snaps his head to him and those green eyes are vast with panic and dread, but still a smile cracks across his cousin's face as his trembling hands are stained with his blood, stark against his pale skin.

"Yes, we won," Hiccup breathes, then swallows, "Thanks to you, Lout, we won and they won't be coming back, you did great, you were amazing! And you have to keep being amazing now, okay? You have to stay awake, just for a bit longer,"

"I-I don't think-" Another bout of pain, another agonized yell.

Ruffnut pauses for a brief moment, her hands hovering over his gut as she looks at him with anxious eyes, but she's an experienced healer and knows that the more time she wastes, the more blood he loses. The higher the chance she has of losing him. She continues to cut open his tunic so she can start to bandage him up. Snotlout recovers and regains his breath, body sweating and shivering from the pain.

"I don't think you can fix this," He whispers honestly, because there is so much blood and he feels so tired, Gods, there's a hole in him and it won't stop bleeding.

The sun is starting to set and the stars are faintly beginning to shine in the darkening sky, it's making everything feel like a dream, nothing feels real. Hiccup stares at him with low brows and a firm face before he replies, determination shimmering in his eyes as he looks back down at the blood-sodden fabric in his hands.

"Of course, I can,"

Ruffnut and Hiccup briefly share a look over Snotlout's bleeding body, she can see the dread beneath his determination, she can see his doubt. So can Snotlout.

"Where is he? Where's Snotlout?!" Comes a harsh, familiar voice and Snotlout watches as his dad pushes through the crowd circled around him, Chief Stoick and Gobber close behind him.

His dad pauses at the sight of him, dulled eyes glazing over as his chest expands with his shocked inhale, his axe slipping from his loose-fingered hand as he crumbles to the sand, crawling over to him. Snotlout has never seen this look on his dad before, never seen him broken like this, and it's making him realise how bad of a state he is in, how a jaded warrior like Spitelout can be brought to his knees just by the sight of him.

"Dad," Snotlout says quietly, he has never felt so relieved to see his dad in his life.

"I'm here, boyo, I'm here," His dad answers as he sooths his scarred hand over Snotlout's head, pushing away stray strands of blood-slick hair with a tenderness he has never shown to possess. (Spitelout lost all his kindness when his wife died, she took his heart with her)

"I'm sorry, my boy," He whispers, voiced choked from the sobs lodged in his throat, his other hand coming down to rest against Snotlout's jaw, "I've been a cruel man to you and I know-"

"Dad-" Snotlout interrupts, not wanting to hear his father's regrets because he can see them in his pale eyes, writhing around like trapped birds begging to get out. His dad, unsurprisingly, doesn't listen.

"I know it's too late now, but- But I don't want you going believing that I wasn't proud of you," And Snotlout gasps shakily at those words because that is all he's ever wanted, isn't it? His dad's acceptance, the knowledge that he wasn't some burden, that he was loved, "because I am, Snotlout, I am SO proud of the man you've become, a man I could only dream of being,"

Tears drip from his dad's eyelashes and the wetness that's gathered in Snotlout's eyes finally break over, pouring down the side of his face as his throat tightens up. He can feel Ruffnut swathing bandages aground his abdomen, the terrible pain nothing compared to the relief in his heart that if he dies today, he dies with everything he's ever wanted. He'll die like how good men should; worthy, accepted, loved.

"I'm not scared, dad, I'm- I'm not scared," Snotlout reassures, voice tight as more tears spill over, he needs his dad, everyone, to know that he's no afraid of dying, "I'm not afraid anymore,"

His dad smiles with quivering lips and lowers down to press his forehead against Snotlout's, he closes his eyes and he feels like a child, protected in his father's embrace, calloused hands cradling his jaw and head. This is goodbye and Snotlout only feels like he's just got his dad. But it doesn't matter, at some point in his life, his dad was proud of him and this small moment is enough. His dad presses a kiss to his head.

"I'm proud to call you my son," He whispers against his blood-caked skin and suddenly Snotlout knows what it is to be a son, knows what it is to be whole.

With hands hesitant to let go, Spitelout stands and stumbles backwards from his son, not daring to take his eyes off him. Stoick wraps a comforting arm around his back and takes hold of his bicep, squeezing it sympathetically.

Snotlout can see the others standing there too, watching him die. Astrid has her shaking hands over her mouth and tears streak through the grime on her cheeks, he hates that he's caused that strong woman so much grief. Besides her, Fishlegs stands with his war hammer clutched in his grasp like it's the only thing keeping him from falling apart, his face taut with sorrow and sadness. Tuffnut has his arms thrown up over his head and his teeth are bared in anguish, staring between Ruffnut and his broken body as his tears fall, gathering along his jaw.

He wants to apologies, but he feels so weak. It's nearly time to go.

Hiccup is still, sat back on his ankles with a despondent and grief-stricken look on his face as he watches Ruffnut securing his bandages, adding more layers as more blood seeps through, her hands frantic in their movement. And Snotlout thought he was the stubborn one, surely, she can see he's times up.

"Ruff-" Hiccup starts with a sob-choked voice but Ruffnut is shaking her head feverishly, face full of denial.

"No, we just need to get him out of here to Gothi's, she'll stitch him up and he'll be fine-"

"Sis-" Tuffnut steps forward, trying to reason with her.

"HE'LL BE FINE!" Her scream echoes around them all and it's so ferocious, so heartbroken, so desperate, he swears the stars will fall upon them.

Taken aback by the savageness in her eyes, Tuffnut quickly steps back and Ruffnut goes back to fussing with bandages, drawing more out from a compartment in her side armour so she can stem the flow. It won't work, he's lost too much blood. Snotlout know it, she knows it. He's too tired to do much, but he has to make her understand that this is it for them and he doesn't want to die without telling her.

With what little strength he has, he raises his hand and cards his hands into her hair, the part he's latched onto is silky smooth and free of blood, pure. Tugging her braid, Ruffnut turns to look at him, her wet eyes are wild with grief and anger and her lips are curled into a snarl tight with both sadness and rage.

"Don't," She growls, voice wavering, grabbing his hand to pull it away as she looks back to the already soaked through bandages, but he hasn't long left and he wants her to know, needs her to know, he needs to say it one last time.

Snotlout takes her hand into his and rubs his thumb over her bleeding knuckles with a tenderness that aches deep inside him, Ruffnut pauses and turns her head to him, looking hopeless and afraid.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," He breathes repeatedly, his mind is going dizzy but he doesn't need to think, he just needs to feel and the words come out on their own, drenched in his love and adoration for her, "Ruffnut, I love you, I love you, I love you, only you,"

With her head tilting, the tears dribble down her blood-slick face and over her trembling lips as she finally understands that this is it, sobs racking her body as she crawls swiftly over to him. They kiss because it's the last time they will hold each other again and it feels like freedom, feels like coming home. He touches her face gently, branding her eyes, her lips, her hair to his memory in hopes that he keeps it when he goes. If he can't live without her in life, he can't live without in death.

"Snotlout," Ruffnut begs with a keen, her quaking hand weaving through his hair, and he smiles at her, his hand falling from her face.

"It's okay, Princess... you can let me go," He murmurs softly.

Gods, he's going to miss seeing her in the morning, going to miss her barking laugh, going to miss the feeling of her hair in his hands as he braids her hair. He's going to miss her so much; he'll die again in Valhalla from the pain her absence.

"I don't want to," She weeps, shaking her head, cradling his face in her hands, "I don't want to let you go, Mutton-head, don't you get that? I can't!"

"You ca-can," He cracks, tears mixing with blood on his face, and he squeezes her hand, "Let me go,"

And with that, she slips her hand from his. She's taken the first step, she has to do the rest on her own now.

Suddenly, the sky is trembling with a roar and the Earth shudders as Hookfang lands upon the battlefield.

The Dragon's hide ignites when he sees his Rider and he kicks up bloodied sand as he races over to Snotlout, warriors scrambling out of the beasts frenzied path less they be trampled. Hookfang comes to him with alarmed noises in the back of his throat as he dances lightly around his Rider, a dreadful look in his eyes as he tries to find out what's wrong with him. When he sees the blood, an awfully sad wail leaps from his maw and his flames die out. Gods, Hookfang already looks sodden with grief.

"Hooky," Snotlout murmurs tiredly and he turns his head to look at him, his fire-streaked eyes are slitted in horror and with a desperate whine, digs his snout under the Rider's arm before lifting it up, but it falls limply back to the sand.

Get up, Hookfang is begging him, get up, get up, let's go home now.

"I'm sorry, Hooky," Snotlout apologises brokenly, shaking his head, "I can't,"

The Nightmare tenderly nudges his muzzle against Snotlout's red cheek with a guttural purr, the familiar warmth of his scales helps to ease his hurting heart. He lifts his head and again stares at Snotlout with that look, asking him to come home. Snotlout softly shakes his head, blinking away tears so his vision isn't blurry. This is the last time he's going to see his best friend; he can't waste a single second. After a moment, the desperation in Hookfang's eyes morphs into acceptance.

Weakly, Snotlout lifts his hand and holds it out to Hookfang, too exhausted to stretch it out any further, but his friend understands and meets him halfway. Gods, it's like the first time they touched all over again and there is a deep grief in his heart, he's never going to touch Hookfang again, he's never going to fly again. He'll fly with the Valkyries, but he'd choose Hookfang over them any day. He'd chose dragons wings over honour any day.

"You're my best friend," He says softly and in Hookfang's eyes, he sees himself. He doesn't have to say more, doesn't have to pour his heart out his mouth for Hookfang to understand, he just has to look at him and it's enough.

Looking to the sky, he feels his heartbeat slowing, feels very tired.

"Thank you," He breathes weakly and closes his eyes.

Snotlout's palm slips from Hookfang's muzzle, fingertips dragging against the scales like they don't want to let go before they fall, and his hand hits the sand with a sense of finality.

#how to train your dragon #how to train your dragon fanfic #rufflout #WHUMP #snotlout whump #snotlout #ruffnut

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resonanteye · 3 years

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via https://resonanteye.net/horror-reviews-day-2-slither-no/

horror reviews day 2: slither? no.

only one movie tonight: growth

1: I’ve seen that before. Slither? It’s a nice effect, parasites in the skin.

2: diabetes

3: I love a good news-montage intro. There’s something about it that makes me start to believe the movie could be real, this is how things first get scary in real life most of the time (unless you’re right on the scene)

4: ok, you’re going to use leeches to make people into super-people. I’m sure nothing will go wrong. this part of the intro is not as good, but then again, if we’re getting into scientific hubris I suppose an info dump is how it’s done. it just feels like this is half of the movie I wanted to watch, crammed into 30 seconds. this isn’t a sequel, there’s no excuse.

5: slither. it’s slither, but with “man playing god” instead of “aliens”

6: no service on the phones. will they have cell service with no explanation later? maybe.

7: by all means go back to an island that had some wild outbreak, and where people still apparently live? who are these people living there? how can they sell a house there? IT WAS ON THE NEWS

8: second outbreak, who’d a thunk it. and yes leave her alone in there? the hell. why are there “townspeople” on a damn plague island? the idea that it can’t be sold makes more sense and I believe it.

9: we’ve already seen a corpse and a violent murder, you can say “shit”.

10: these creatures are flappy. I like it. if they start sexing, they’re dead.

11: told ya. dude’s doomed.

12: oh please equalize these movies. the sonic blast of sound after people whispering for fifteen minutes! I use subtitles but it still got through.

13: so all this outbreak was NOT on the news? also: “parasites feed on adrenaline” is a great quote. also also: get in the damn car to the doctor, don’t look for cell service.

14: these leeches are cool. accordions are cool but are not a substitute for backstory.

15: why are you kidding a man that was just vomiting all over himself.

16: I would murder that alarm clock.

17: they don’t put him in a car to go the doctor, and now this infected island is his getting… threads of leeches from his leg. and he’s not getting laid twice. it doesn’t work that way. or wait- in slither, dude got a lady on the side. guess he will get laid twice.

18: I love the intuition. all right, it’s better than it was a minute ago. matrix fight scene included.

19: yep, slither. will she end up full of parasites, hidden in a barn, the size of a whale? hongry? looks like it.

20: using practical effects in a movie like this looks AMAZING after too much CGI

21: what in the entire wicker man remake is this shit

22: WORM MAN IN A LITTLE COAT

23: he’s walking. she’s running. for fuck sake. that’s some early horror we-don’t-know-better shit. there’s no reason a recent movie should do this, ever.

24: that’s two penetrative acts of violence so far.

25: again: why is anyone living on this island.

26: n95 masks, and they’re going to… beat him up. solid plan?

27: WORM MAN

28: I’m not going to show you worm man, but here’s an arm being turn off to be used as a weapon.

29: town sheriff just looks tired as hell. just has to keep shooting everyone, it’s the only thing he’s done in this movie.

30: shades of reanimator going on here. that’s pretty good. mad doctors and leeches. we already know the antidote’s in that stupid doll. just saunter out while he gives a monologue for the ages, excellent.

31: suddenly it’s a zombie movie, somehow it’s still not on the news.

32: diabetes to the rescue.

33: the CGI is really bad. it’s been, the whole time. I wish horror would go back to relying more on practical effects, with CGI used for anything BUT the monster/gore. my little website badly reviewing this one movie probably doesn’t mean much, but it’s how I feel.

34: oh here come the monologues.

35: what the hell kinda creature WANTS you to eat it

36: WHY ISN’T THIS BABY FULL OF LEECHES

37: oh of course it’s about a baby. thing should be full of leeches, but it’s now the central motivation. how about getting your brother the antidote? how about that? no. just a random baby.

38: shades of children of men. usually that would be a compliment but not now.

39: never make a sequel. this hint at it is bad.

6/10. I’m being generous because I loved slither. bad CGI, used way too much. bad ending notes. poorly built characters. half the movie is missing or contained in info dumps. good idea though.

#true stories

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anangelicday-mrwolf · 3 years

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Wolfsbane : Noblesse Fanfic (post-ending)

(previous chapter)

Chapter 54 – The Night of Horror

“Tao, duck!”

Screamed M-21, to which Tao responded by promptly letting an imaginary hand wrench his entire torso towards his feet.

Not a second after, a human body thrust its way through the exact spot where his head used to be.

Wham!

“Krrrgh!”

“Kraah!”

The agent M-21 just wrestle-flung collided with a man in a lab coat, reaping from them grunts close to beastly snarls.

They shared one thing in common – nothing about their appearances suggested they are Homo sapiens, with discolored skin reminiscent of corpses, nails and teeth jutting out in a vicious manner, and eyes seemingly brimming with blood.

And these were not exclusive to the two pseudo-zombies giving Tao and M-21 a challenge like nothing before.

Of course, it would take less than a minute and feel like less than 10 seconds for Tao and M-21 to make sure their opponents will never again disrupt them.

Alas, they could not position themselves appropriately, let alone pull out a weapon or shift into battle forms, because they happened to be facing the staff of KSA.

“Looks like that gas was combined with the technology on... What was it again? Rapid body modification?”

“Yup. Damn, I didn’t think it would be so effective.”

The two men lamented upon witnessing how employees and agents wobbled back to their feet; they could swear they did more than a proper job of hitting their vital points to knock them out.

They even twisted the ankles, solemnly swearing to get upon their knees for forgiveness once the storm is gone; however, their plan was made null by the healing power that naturally comes with body modification.

“...I don’t think we’ll be getting out of this situation, unless we pry out their limbs or a rib or spine or two.”

“...How I hate the fact that I can’t help but agree with you there.”

The outcome was beyond Tao and M-21’s expectation, probably because of Yuhyung’s adjustment.

Nevertheless, they presumed the healing power that surfaced within the victims would be below average.

After all, the project on which their modification was based off was classified as failure and ultimately canceled.

So just like M-21 said, the victims would not be able to recover the loss of a limb or skeletal structure.

Nonetheless, Tao and M-21 could not dare harm them; the only thing they have done wrong, if they have done anything wrong, was staying overnight to fully dedicate themselves to their duties.

It was not the question of post-measurements, already guaranteed by KSA and Frankenstein; it was the question of morals.

M-21’s and Tao’s faces stiffened as the victims dragged their feet towards them, the two men cornered in the room.

Just then, one of the agents bumped shoulders with a researcher closest to him, from which the situation took a precipitous downfall.

Slash!

Chomp!

The agent made a violent lash at the researcher’s face, and the researcher countered by rooting his teeth into the agent’s shoulder with full power.

Which served as a cue for the rest of the victims to tackle and thwack and open their mouths wide at one another.

Tao and M-21 turned pale as they watched how a scene from fratricidal zombie movie was being played live, their minds becoming numb with shock as the floor being slowly freed from gas was now being plastered with victims’ blood.

They threw themselves in the middle to separate the victims from each other, and that was when their communicators finally vibrated with life.

<Tao! M-21! Do you copy?!>

“Takio? Where are you? What in the world is keeping you? And why did you have to wait to...”

Tao and M-21 met each other in the eyes for a moment at how alarmed Takio sounded.

Then their memories rang the bell for them – the corridors of KSA were not the only area under the effect of Yuhyung’s gas.

“Don’t tell me... Are there people whose body went through modification? Shoot, I was hoping it’d take time for the gas to spread!”

<It’s not far from KSA’s HQ, but what on earth is going on? And what do you mean, body modification? I’m sure these people are civilians!>

“We’ll talk about this later! First, get over here! We could really use a hand or two right now!”

Knowing Takio, they anticipated him to fly over on the double, although they ended up acting individually, a rare occasion to begin and to continue.

Notwithstanding, there was a reason why Murphy’s law was ever coined.

<Uh... I’m afraid as of now I’m... Ugh!>

Swoosh!

Pow!

Their ears whirring upon the sonic boom so very tangible despite the distance secured by the communicators, Tao and M-21 gaped each other with their eyes trembling.

“Takio? What’s going on?!”

“Are you also under the civilian attack?”

<No! It’s the Union! I ran into two of them on my way. One of them happens to be that big guy we saw in the footage we pieced back together from the security camera outside the safehouse that was destroyed. And the other one is a woman with...>

“...Orange hair and cerulean eyes?”

<H-how did you know?>

“Takio, that’s the one!”

“That’s the woman Miss Lunark mistook for Kespar! The one who plotted against Frankenstein in joint with the 3rd Elder!”

“Hang in there. We’re coming in...!”

M-21 and Tao stomped their legs in a halt, in the middle of their sprint carrying the violently struggling people, partitioned with their arms and shoulders.

As soon as they turned the last corner connected to the nearest lab, they saw how the tiles were barely visible due to countless people with abnormal builds.

“Impossible! There’s no way such number would be remaining at this hour!”

“Tao, look at them.”

M-21 directed Tao’s eyes towards the side, where three men and women were yanking each other with their mouths like hyenas that fasted for a month.

“Look what they’re wearing. They’re no agents. Or employees.”

“Are they civilians...? Did some of them trespass?!”

Tao bellowed in dismay, which unfastened the door that was keeping the avalanche of trouble from stampeding towards them.

“Grrr...”

“Krr...”

The blood-shot eyes of people who were busy taking a bite or grab out of anyone within their reach darted glances towards M-21 and Tao.

Not long after, the artificially modified humans lunged towards the two RK’s like a pack of rabid dogs that have spotted a target, a phenomenon propagating outside KSA.

“W-what the hell?!”

“Argh! Mommy!”

“H-help me! Somebody please he... Aaaah!!!”

People who have never consented to their monstrous changes spread out from the street housing KSA’s headquarter, to hunt down innocent citizens, paving the streets with blood and gore.

Which Yuhyung was watching through his device, via the cameras attached upon interior and exterior of the KSA building.

His hands gripping the device quaked, and he hurriedly pulled out a communicative device he would keep asleep unless he has to talk to Helga.

<Oh, hey. So how’s the plan go...>

“What the heck is going on?!?!”

Yuhyung shrieked, as if he were forcing his guts out through his throat, as soon as Helga’s pointed-as-always voice hit his eardrums.

And her response successfully blew up his half-powdered mind.

<What’s the yelling for? Is there a problem?>

She sounded so very placid, whereas her voice was toned up and down deliberately, as if she had seen this coming.

“Problem? Problem is an understatement!!! You know what is... I mean, you are seeing and hearing what is going on! You said you’ll make your way to KSA, so you should know very well what’s...”

<Oh, yes. I know. Of course I do. In fact, I’ve known it for quite long.>

“...What...?!”

Yuhyung’s quivering voice listlessly scattered into thin air, like a ball of dirt caught in the wind.

<I’ve never told you, have I? I mean the reason why this project the data I gave you came from was labeled as failure and canceled. Well, you were too excited to get your hands on the data and didn’t even bother to ask.>

Helga did mention that the project has a side effect, but he heeded not much, since the way she spoke of the side effect gave impression that it is no big deal.

Still, like she said, he was so thrilled back then to at last gain the Union data he had been thirsting for.

His thoroughness, a must-have value for anyone affiliated with investigation, was discarded temporarily, as he was too occupied with letting his elation jingle his entire universe, like popping champagne open.

And when he later examined the data, he could not find anything in particular in terms of side effect, so he had forgotten about it, until now.

<That’s right. What you’re seeing as we speak is the side effect of this project. The subjects that experience rapid body modification lose the ability to tell their friends from foes. Whenever they see something living and moving, they will first and foremost react by driving their teeth and nails into flesh. And if they are devoid of lifeform around them, they will slash and masticate and take apart their own bodies.>

Instantly, Yuhyung felt as if the entire world spun right into his chest; the entire world turned into a stone of immeasurable size and unimaginable weight, smashing his heart into pieces and plummeting towards his core.

Helga snickered, stage-choking herself.

<Anyways, congratulations. You made your wish come true – turning non-modified into modified. And now, you’d get to collect as much data as you’d want, like picking apples under the falling leaves!>

Helga sneered as she smiled in vile entertainment and sinister glee, and Yuhyung could only make out his mind escaping far away from him as he watched her.

And the horror spreading throughout Seoul, delivered to his device in divided screens, did not stop assaulting his calm.

No...

This isn’t what I wanted......

I’ve never asked for something like this......!

After peeking at something that was not accessible for sight from Yuhyung’s side, Helga cut off the signal, to restrain Kornel once more.

“I’d thought I told you to be prudent!”

“Oh, come on! Can’t you stop stopping me now?! We’re going to kill him anyways!”

“I would have let you, if it were someone else. But that’s Takio we’re facing – the one Sol told us. Takio of DA-5.”

“What? That’s him?”

“Precisely. We assumed it’d take a miracle for him to stand against Aris, let alone beat her. But he not only deleted her existence but also decided to put himself against us. Do I have to explain what we could achieve if we manage to apply the secret of his growth to us?”

“Okay, okay. I got it. Geez. But you don’t mind me beating him up just enough to leave him battered but breathing, do you?”

“Actually, that’d be more than welcome. There’s no telling what will unfold if we don’t go that far to capture him.”

This was certainly not a pleasant situation for Takio, about to battle two Union agents when immediately surrounding him was a scene from a common disaster movie.

His fingers poised upon the triggers, waiting for his order, were strained with pressure.

(next chapter)

So in summary, there are 3 battles taking place at the same time: (1) Takio (ft. Tao & M-21) vs Helga and Kornel, (2) Rael vs Deneb (with Yuhyung), and (3) Lunark vs Dark Spear. As I am posting this chapter, I finished composing part 1 of this battle. And once I’m done with the remaining parts, I’ll finally move on to the finale of this fic. I already know what I’m going to write, and I can’t wait to reach there lol. I’ll do my best as I take this fic to its ending!

#korean webcomic #korean webtoon #fanfic #noblesse #frankenstein #lunark #frankensteinxlunark #lunarkxfrankenstein #wolfsbane #Mr.Wolf #AnAngelicDay

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realityhelixcreates · 4 years

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Lasabrjotr Chapter 68: The Huldra Stone

Chapters: 68/?

Fandom: Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: Mature Warnings:

Relationships: Loki x Reader (There We Go)

Characters: Loki (Marvel), Thor (Marvel)

Additional Tags: Post-Endgame: Best Possible Ending (Canon-Divergent), Loki Has A Bad Time,

Summary: Dancing, anxiety, compassion, mercy, the Huldra Stone

It wasn't that you were trying to avoid Loki, it was just that circumstances kept pulling you apart. He'd been called upon early in the morning, just after you had woken up, and so breakfast and bathing had been separate. Saldis had come by to see if you needed help dressing; you hadn't for a while now, but with your arm still so tender, you had welcomed the help.

She had acted almost in awe, and you quickly found out that the story of you, standing up to a Frost Giant in defense of Asgardian children had flown from one end of the city to the other with the speed of a sonic boom.

People in the halls inclined their heads to you, moved out of your path. Loki was somewhere in the palace complex, dealing with royal duties, and you walked the halls alone now. All the way back to the library, cleaned up now, and with a makeshift door, until a new one could be obtained.

The broken table was gone, and the shelves righted, though there were far fewer people here than usual. You headed to one of the smaller side rooms, where Saga and Lofn were waiting.

“The heroine arrives.” Lofn said without looking up from the harp she was tuning.

“So she has.” Saga said. “And still on time too. How is your arm?”

“Sensitive.” You said. “But it's not getting any worse. The medicine worked really well.”

“Good, because we're going over traditional Buridag music and dances today.”

Lofn strummed her strings.

And you danced.

*****

Loki was moping again. He wasn't even trying to hide it, and though the human ambassadors of Iceland and the human encampments didn't seem to notice, Thor certainly did. He had seen this before, more often after the transplant of Asgard, but also all throughout their lives. The encounter with the Frost Giant was clearly taking an emotional toll on him. Like Thor, he probably thought that he would never cross paths with another Frost Giant again, but the Norns liked to tease sometimes.

With their Icelandic representatives, they had to discuss the disposal of a Frost Giant corpse. The humans were understandably upset at the discovery of unknown alien invaders, left over from a thousand year old war, hidden beneath their feet.

Thor did what he could to reassure them; that evidence gathered from the giants resting site indicated that there were no armies hidden away in the ice. In fact. Heimdall's keen gaze had detected only two more in the ice tunnels, in the entire world, actually.

This did not have the calming effect he had hoped.

“Two! Two hrimthurs still here?” One exclaimed. “One was enough to cause havoc in your city! What chance do we have, if they get out?”

“It was only because we were unprepared. Who would have expected such a thing to happen? However, the two still trapped in the ice are unlikely to cause us problems.” Thor explained. “They are both female, and one seems to be a child.”

He didn't mention the ferocious queen Skadi, who ruled Jotunheim before Laufey took the throne, nor the fact that Loki was child-sized, for a Frost Giant. Heimdall had only given sparse details: Women, no armor, a child. He'd seemed somewhat perturbed by it, and the way he'd looked at Loki had Thor curious. Loki hadn't seemed to notice.

Eventually they agreed to inter the unnamed Frost Giant in a stone barrow on Ok, the site of the destroyed Okjokull glacier. It would be another trip across the country, but Thor was insistent that the giant have a proper place. He hadn't known about the glacier, but the humans seemed to think it would be fitting, and to Thor's surprise, Loki pulled himself into the moment enough to agree.

Another plan to make for an already busy future. It was a good thing that Thor hated to be bored.

With the Trolerkaerhalla representatives he discussed the rules of the upcoming Buridag festivities; what was allowed, what was not, with emphatic warnings not to accept any Asgardian drinks whatsoever.

“Please. Burying so many people before the holiday is already an ill omen, do not fill our time of creation with more funerals.”

They agreed, but Thor decided to have all medics at the ready anyway. Human curiosity was notorious, and it was too likely someone might filch a drink, or that an Asgardian might think it funny to offer one.

After the meeting, he pulled Loki aside.

“You're not here.” He said. “We're going to need you in these next few weeks. You need to be here.”

“I know, I know.” Loki said, but his eyes held that wild and mournful quality Thor had grown to recognize.

“Do you need a few days?”

“It's just..._____ hasn't spoken to me all day, and Buridag is rushing up, and now there's funerals we have to see to. And Frost Giants. There's Frost Giants now, and we're going to dig them out, aren't we? There's a child. Thor, what are we going to do with a Frost giant child?”

“I...I don't know. Raise her?”

Loki grabbed him by the cross straps of his tunic, all mournfulness gone from his features, leaving only the wild.

Thor froze for a second, then grasped Loki's bracers and carefully pried him off.

“Ah.” He said. “Not like that. The woman that's with her must be her mother, or her caretaker. We aren't going to separate them, but we will have to accommodate them somehow. An extra tall apartment, perhaps? Mittens?”

“You cannot joke about this!” Loki exclaimed.

“I'm not. Obviously, we cannot just set them loose on this world. The humans are still coming to terms with us, and we look so similar to them. These Jotnar would seem so different, that there would be no safe place for them to go. Loki...”

His brother had stepped away and was pacing in short bursts.

“Loki. Loki.” Thor reached out to stop his pacing, and drew him into an embrace. “Find your center. You are beginning to spiral. I know. I understand, I do. But this is a good opportunity, isn't it? We can do something to help. I know you must be thinking about it.”

“But what if I mess it up?” Loki whimpered. Thor was glad they were alone here; Loki would have likely killed anyone who heard him like this. “What if I do it all wrong, and she ends up like me?”

“The child?” Thor asked. “Well...she's not an infant, so she probably has some idea of who she is. The circumstances are different here, Loki. And who said it had to be you, alone?”

“No one. But I know it would end up that way. Who of Asgard would want to care for Frost Giants?”

“Even among the giant's most implacable enemies were those who recognized the innocence of a child.”

Loki threw off Thor's arms. “Don't you try to defend him now-!”

“I was talking about Mother.”

“Oh.” Loki grew calm again. “There will never be another like her. I'm the only choice. I'm the only one who's...like them.”

“They're people, Loki, just like the humans. You've discovered a fondness for at least a few of them!”

“Humans aren't ten feet tall and deadly to the touch.” Loki griped. “The woman will try to kill us. She will be too frightened and desperate not to. I do not wish to be involved with that.”

“Then use that silver tongue, and prevent a tragedy.”

Loki breathed in deeply; a familiar sound of annoyance. “Thor...”

“Oh! That reminds me, there is something you should look at.” Thor said, before Loki could unleash his tirade. “Come with me. We probably shouldn't discuss this here.”

He led Loki back to his quarters, half-finished murals showing the barest hints of movement.

He retrieved the soldier's ancient diary, and handed it over. “I haven't read it all the way through. I realized it wasn't for me. Not before you.”

Loki took the book with cautious curiosity and opened it at Thor's huge desk.

*****

I have been scouting this world for some years now. Midgard is vast, that much is very true, but other notes from our records are either wrong, or outdated. The ice that was said to cover great stretches of the globe is simply not there. Perhaps it was once; there is evidence for it. But now, the snows are seasonal, the years short, compared to ours. Permanent ice is found in only a few places. The huge beasts written of in the records are gone. And worse; a small beast has spread far and wide, changing the landscape and hunting the few large animals that are left.

The have not proven hard to kill, but they are very tenacious, and can organize quickly in large numbers.

Perhaps our king would be amenable to a change in plans?

*****

Oh, plans were changed, certainly, but I cannot wholeheartedly agree with their new course. Great Laufey has chosen the route of total eradication. There are so many of these Midgardians that I think it impossible to totally wipe them out.

But Great Laufey has completely committed. He has brought every warrior. He has brought the Queen, even though she is with child. He has even brought the Casket! To bring the very spirit of our world to an entirely different realm seems very dangerous. Though, if it works it will change this world into one like our own, only with more space and resources. We are desperately low on both. Even though I am apprehensive of Great Laufey's decisions, I understand.

*****

The Princess-In-Waiting is here, along with her caretaker. They remain with the Queen, and attend to her needs. I too, am with the Queen. It seems Great Laufey has caught wind of my thoughts on this invasion, and is displeased with me. He has removed me from battle, and tied me to the women. Other civilians will be coming soon. But the Midgardians still remain.

*****

Asgard has come. We should have known. Odin abandoned this place long ago, but the Midgardians still pray, and they have finally decided to answer.

This bodes very ill.

*****

All omens point to failure. All tragedy has occurred. The Queen's child is wrong. He will not survive. The Queen is beside herself with grief; Great Laufey is mad with it. The Princess-In-Waiting mourns her lost husband, lost before his first breath. The armies are routed; Great Laufey cannot lead them. Not like this.

The Queen had withdrawn to Jotunheim, to perform the most tragic of duties. She will offer the infant back to the stars, that he might return someday, in a form that will be able to live and grow tall and strong. But child the size of a Midgardian spawn would never live through a Jotunheim winter, and the Queen is far too kind a soul to put him through the heinous suffering of trying.

*****

Stars receive our lost prince, and treat him kindly. Send him back to save us, for Great Laufey has doomed us all. The armies are gone. Laufey is gone. Asgard has chased everyone back home. The Casket is gone; I can no longer feel its song in the ice.

We received word that the Queen has passed to the stars. May she return to us in safer times. The Princess-In-Waiting and her caretaker are here with me. We are abandoned. We are trapped here, on this warming world.

May the stars receive us.

*****

Tears streamed down Loki's face, as he read on and on. Thor had both his meaty hands on his shoulders, a powerful support that was the only thing keeping Loki from crumpling into a little heap on the floor.

“They wanted me.” It came out as a strangled sob. “They planned for me. None of them ever knew what I was; they all died without knowing. Laufey lost that war because of me. They thought I would return to save them! I returned, all right, but...Norns, what have I done? Will I always leave people in mourning?”

Wherever you go, there is war, ruin, and death!

They wanted him. They had staked hopes on him, on what should have been the joyous occasion of his birth. They mourned him, he could see it in the raised lines of thick ink, how they wavered. A soldier who couldn't protect his people. A mother who hadn't named him. A little girl he was supposed to love.

He had betrayed them all.

“What if that's what the Norns have decreed for me? My very birth brought death. I was supposed to die.”

“No, no. Loki, a child is at fault for nothing. Laufey chose to wage his war like that, and he chose to fight Asgard when he didn't have to. If he hadn't started slaughtering humans, he might even have succeeded in colonizing this world. But he didn't chose peace. That is not your fault. Odin taking the Casket was not your fault. The lies they told us were not your fault. What can a baby do?”

Thor squeezed his shoulders.

“You should take some time. Go see if _____ is ready for lunch.”

Loki closed the book. “I'm not sure she wants to see me. She didn't talk to me at all this morning.”

“Well, you did yell at her.”

His shoulders sagged. “I know. I wanted to apologize.”

“Then go apologize!” Thor shoved him towards the door.

*****

You didn't know what you had really expected from traditional Asgardian court dances, but that amount of leaping hadn't been it. Big, graceful ballroom dancing, sure, and there was some of that: so close to a waltz, but not quite. Line dances that were like something you imagined your medieval ancestors might have done. And just so much leaping. Even at leisure, it seemed Asgardians had to show off their athleticism. You didn't know if you would have the energy to keep up.

Especially after all of the elaborate ceremonies you would have to perform in.

Normal Burigag celebrations did consist of a lot of dancing, and co-ordinated chants of ancient decrees all the way from Allfather Buri's time. They were in a form of the Asgardian language that was archaic even to them, and you didn't understand a word of it. Saga had finally just written the words out phonetically for you to pronounce, even though you didn't really know what they meant. You would just have to memorize the sounds they made.

As a royal Seidkona, you would have a special drum to play, and you were learning how to do that too. You would never be a professional drummer, but you could hold the beats they gave you. There were songs you had to sing, along with the other Seidkonas of Asgard, and a dance you would have to perform with them, and your drum.

And then there were the other things; the things that seemed very old, and very magical, and more than a little worrisome to you.

There was a Buridag sacrifice, of a live ox, and you were not excited about that. You wouldn't be allowed to leave while this was happening; it was Thor and Loki's responsibility to make this sacrifice, and you would have to attend Loki. People would be looking at you, watching your actions and reactions.

They would sacrifice that ox, and you would have to endure, and then it would be cooked for the gathered crowd, along with all the other dishes. There would be toasts, and you would have to drink them all, but you had been promised that special wine, instead of Asgardian drinks, so you would survive.

Then there was the thing you were most uncomfortable with. As part of your Seidkona initiation, you would have to 'mix blood' with the person you were sworn to, and in this case, due to the station you would be stepping into, that included both Thor and Loki. All three of you would be cut, bleed into a bowl, that bowl would be spilled onto the ground...and that would mean something. Something profound. It would make you something different than what you were now. It would make you somehow more real.

There was something frightening about it, deep down. It felt like something cavemen might have done, something primal. If there was magic in it, it was beyond ancient.

There was so much to keep track of, and you were just hurtling towards it. You had to count on Loki to keep you steady and help you navigate.

“Well, I think that's enough for now.” Saga said, and you sagged in exhaustion. “It looks like it must be lunchtime, and a greater force than I has come to collect you.”

You turned to see Loki peeking in the doorway. You couldn't help but notice that though he was dressed in official finery, and held a picnic basket on one arm, he looked distressed.

“Lunch?” He asked, raising the basket.

“Go get.” Lofn whispered.

You trotted out the door, proud of the things you had learned so far that day, but wondering what the troubles might be.

“You seem worried.” You said, out in the hall.

“Yes, I suppose I am.” He said. “These new developments have got me...”

“Stressed?” You suggested. He sighed.

“Courtyard?”

“Actually, I was thinking the Huldra Stone.”

“Sounds good.”

The huldra's stone was a landmark now, set in front of what was going to become the Asgardian House of Justice, the building that was going to be communally constructed during the Buridag festivities. It was meant as a reminder that justice required mercy, thoughtfulness, and compassion. It wasn't enough to merely punish transgressors; sometimes you needed to put in the effort of fixing what had been broken.

There was a little patch of green surrounding the stone, and Loki set out your lunch on it, as you placed your hand on the stone and asked permission. The flowers here had faded much earlier than they would have back home, and you knew Autumn was in full swing, but this bit of green persisted.

“So.” You said, sitting next to him. The air was a little brisk, so you pulled his cape around yourself, and he made no move to stop you. “Still shook up over the giant?”

“Naturally.” He said wearily. “This is a terrible thing to happen so close to such an important holiday. It's the symbolism of the whole thing. Our new beginning, stained with tragedy from a generation ago. It's as if the past reached out to stab in spite at our future. I do not want my past coming back here.”

That last part was said so quietly, you weren't sure you'd caught it, but he continued on.

“Seven funerals to conduct. One almost all the way across the island. I'm afraid I have to drag you out onto the road again.”

“I can handle that.” You said.

“It's almost winter.” He countered. “You weathered summer travel fairly well, but this will be a much longer trip, and over rougher terrain. We will not always be on a road. There will be camping.”

“Yeah, but didn't we want to do that anyway?”

“Not until spring! And certainly not with an entire entourage, and most certainly not for a Frost Giant's funeral!”

“Well, we've got to bury the poor guy. I mean, we can't just...leave him.”

“No. But I do worry for your safety in all this.”

You patted his knee. “I'll be okay. People live here year round, after all. We've figured out how to survive.”

He sighed again. “About the giant...”

“Yeah. I know. I mean, I understand. But you get that I couldn't really have done anything different, right?”

“Yes. As much as I might wish otherwise, you were put into a situation where you had no good options.” He grabbed a cookie and a pot of thick cream. Scooping some up, he handed it to you. “I should not have berated you so. I became too overbearing in my panic.”

You graciously accepted the creamed cookie for the peace offering that it was.

“And I get it. I know you weren't really mad at me, just freaked out by the whole situation. Don't make a habit of it though. I'm not really into getting chewed out like I was still a little kid.”

“No, of course not. However...” He took a bite of his own cookie. “There has been another development that has left me very stressed. We discovered this morning that there are two more.”

“Giants?” You asked. “Still in the ice?”

Loki nodded. “I'm afraid so.”

“Damn. Well. Are we just gonna leave them there?”

“You are not the first person to suggest that. But no. My brother has decided to dig them out.” Loki sighed again, a little dramatically, like Thor's decisions were mere antics that he had to clean up after. “Their bodies may be what's generating the ice down there, but Thor is convinced that this 'Climate Change' thing is putting their slumber at risk.”

“Oh.” You said. “Yeah, that's a thing. Geez, we never had to think about that before. Normally, the only things that thaw out of glaciers are like, woolly mammoths and stuff like that. Now we gotta wonder if we're gonna be thawing out ancient battalions of giant mega-soldiers.”

“Indeed. What's a 'woolly mammoth'? Nevermind, I shall look it up another time. It seems that these two are not likely to be soldiers, however. Both are female, and though that doesn't exactly count them out as warriors, the fact that one is a child makes it unlikely.”

“A child?” You asked in surprise. “Why would anyone bring a child to a war zone?”

“The war was merely the front of a colonizing effort. They intended to put down roots here. We know now how poorly that attempt went, but they were optimistic at the time. Or obstinate. There's evidence for both.”

This must be what had him so shaken up. Loki was very unambiguous in his dislike for Frost Giants, specifically. To have Asgard attacked by one, just when they were getting back on their feet must have been terrifying. To have two more waiting, two that he definitely could not attack out of hand without becoming a total monster, must be nerve wracking.

“What are we going to do?” You asked.

He leaned back against the Huldra Stone, perhaps contemplating justice or mercy.

“What else can we do? We are going to adopt them.”

#lasabrjotr #loki (marvel)#loki x reader #thor (marvel)

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keelywolfe · 4 years

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FIC: Severed Bonds (Chapter 16)

Summary: Edge, Jedi Knight, is lost in a Galaxy without the Jedi Order and the only one left to him is one who already betrayed them all.

Tags/Warnings: Spicyhoney, Star Wars AU, Darkfic, Angst, Minor Character Deaths, Friends to Enemies to ?, Hatesex…?, Trauma, Implied Possible Insanity, Rough Sex, Lemons, Mentions of Prostitution, Violence, Possessiveness, Attempted Rape

Notes: PLEASE READ: Just a reminder that this story is very dark and that you should read the tags.

Severed Bonds: a Spicyhoney SW AU

CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4: Interlude | CH5 | CH6: Interlude 2 | CH7 | CH8 | CH9 | CH10 | CH11 | CH12 | CH13 | CH14 | CH15

~~*~~

Read Chapter 16 on AO3

Read it here!

~~*~~

By the time Rus returned from his scrounging through the bounty hunter’s ship, Edge was drowsing where he sat leaning against the wall. He jerked awake at BD-7’s blat of warning, tensing as the door slid open only to reveal Rus striding back in, a couple large carrysacks slung over one shoulder.

“come on,” Rus said. The contents of the bags clunked as he leaned down to help Edge to his feet, steadying him as he shuffled cautiously towards the door.

“Pants?” Edge asked, blurrily. The exhaustion still coursing through his system was making thinking somewhat difficult yet, but he did know that he wasn’t interested in heading out into the wastelands in nothing more than Rus’s outer robe.

“yeah, don’t worry, i got you covered.” It took a moment for the pun of it to filter through and Edge stopped, staring at Rus in disbelief.

He only grinned in return, eye lights glittering with deep amusement. “what, it’s the truth! come on, we’ll get the clothes issues ironed out. not too much further now. this ship ain’t that big.”

Edge followed Rus’s guiding tug, but it wasn’t the puns giving Edge pause. It was that in this moment, Rus seemed more like himself than he had since the day he’d vanished. It made something rise in Edge’s soul that he didn’t dare name, tamping it down as they shuffled through the narrow corridor. It was a good thing that this ship wasn’t better than their own, considering the amount of corpses they passed as Rus finally led him out of the maze of the hold. Cleaning it out would be more trauma than it was worth.

The further they went, the more difficult it became for Edge to keep up. His legs were cursedly wobbly, probably an aftereffect of the stunners they’d use on him. The faint soreness lingering between his legs from Rus’s possessiveness morphing from gratifying to an annoyance.

To his confusion, Rus led him to a lavatory instead of the exit and when Edge looked at him in mute question, he only shrugged. “planet’s in occlusion, no one will be able to take off or land for at least six more hours. may as well use up their resources instead of ours. not like they’ll need them.”

True, but it hardly needed said like that. Rus stayed with him, his blatant staring forcing Edge to forgo any modesty as he shed the robe. By now there was little Rus hadn’t seen of him and any mystery Edge still possessed was only in the corners of his mind. His body he’d given Rus willingly, what right did he have to complain if Rus took his due?

BD-7’s presence was slightly more unnerving but then, droids didn’t have the foibles of living creatures when it came to nudity.

Sonics would never be as satisfying as water, but Edge couldn’t hold back a groan of appreciation as the filth was cleansed from his bones, dust from the planet, blood from the Gamorrean, and Rus’s come, all of it dissolved beneath the sonics.

He felt better when he was clean, but his knees still tried to buckle as Edge stepped out of the stall. Only Rus catching his arm kept him from falling heavily to the floor. He supposed that was one good reason for Rus to keep such a close watch.

Even if his old clothing wasn’t shredded, it was still filthy, both from crashing the speeder earlier and his captivity. Edge couldn’t help his relief as Rus yanked some items from one of the carrysacks, helping Edge to pull a pair of too-loose trousers over his legs, tying them tightly at the waist to keep them from falling right back down. A tunic followed, large and billowing over his slender bones. At least his boots were his own and he wouldn’t need to stuff the toes to keep them from falling off his feet.

Once Edge was dressed, he reached for the droid waiting impatiently nearby. BD-7 nestled in his arms with a weary-sounding chirp and Edge gave him a gentle pat. At least his hurts would heal, BD-7 would have to wait for repairs and he would need to depend on Rus for it. That at least they had in common, both of them depending on Rus.

Edge didn’t question what else might be in the bags that Rus scooped back up, slinging the straps over his shoulder even as he helped Edge towards the ramp that led to the dusty ground.

There were several speeders to choose from and Rus inspected each of them with a mechanic’s jaundiced gaze before deciding.

It was only when he tried to guide Edge onto the chosen one did he balk. “If I drive one, we’ll be able to take two with us.”

“if you drive one, you’re going to plow right into a rock,” Rus retorted. He was rummaging through the bags once more, pulling out a long scarf in muted crimson. He wrapped it around Edge’s skull deftly, tucking it here and there before plonking down a helmet on top of it. “i didn’t go through all this trouble to end it in death by stupidity. get on.” There wasn’t much possibility of countering that argument and Edge did as he was told, riding pillion with BD-7 nestled into the front of the jacket Rus liberated for him from somewhere. Or someone.

He kept his face buried into Rus’s back, partly protection from the blowing dust, and partly...he didn’t know. His inner equilibrium seemed as unsettled as his outward, tipped off-balance and ready to collapse at the first unkind touch. Part of him was braced for it to come from Rus. A cruel taunt, a rough hand laid upon him, any seemed enough right now to break him apart.

It didn’t come. The speeder slowed as they came up on their ship and Rus drove it right up the ramp into the hold. He helped Edge climb down from the seat with uncommon gentleness, steadying him while he pulled BD-7 free from his shirt. The little droid hooked on to his shoulder clumsily with its damaged feet, huddling in close to Edge’s vertebrae.

Rus didn’t seem to notice their combined wariness, securing the speeder while Edge leaned against the hold wall, watching him.

“there is one bright spot,” Rus said cheerily. He held up one of the bags and from within came a muffled jangle. “between them, they were carrying enough credits for us to get off this rock and have a nice nest egg besides.”

“So you’ve decided where we’re going?” Edge asked, cautiously.

“yeah.” He didn’t elaborate and Edge didn’t ask. The journey was of little matter to him, anyway. Wherever Rus went, he would follow. “we’re going to have to head over to Gonser to fuel up.”

Edge winced. Gonser was a port town on the opposite side of the planet, existing for little more than refueling and a hot meal for any travelers passing through. Going there was a risk; if those bounty hunters found them, others wouldn’t be far behind, but there was nothing for it. They needed fuel and the small mining community he’d been working at wouldn’t be able to provide nearly enough, no matter how much coin they had.

“if we time it right,” Rus went on, reaching for Edge to help him limp up to the main deck, “we can get fueled up and get the fuck out right around the time the planet clears the gas giant. might be able to keep anyone from getting too curious about us before we leave.”

Edge nodded. He drew a little away from Rus’s grasp, testing his balance. Not perfect but he should be able to walk on his own two feet. “I can get supplies while you’re refueling.”

Rus went still, the soft orange of his eye lights flaring, “you aren’t going fucking anywhere.”

“It will be faster,” Edge tried. He could manage at least that much for them.

“yeah? how about being reasonable?” Rus shoved him against the wall and Edge would have fallen except for Rus catching hold of the front of his too-loose shirt, hauling him upright. “you’re not steady on your feet, you don’t have a lightsaber, your connection to the force is sketchy as fuck, don’t think i haven’t noticed. we don’t need any supplies, we’ve got enough to keep us afloat for a while. get over it. plus, our faces are plastered all over every holoviewer within a million kliks and our disguise didn’t survive the attack from the hunters.”

Being reasonable. Edge almost laughed, something close to hysteria bubbling up. Reasonable was the last thing any of this had been.

“But you’ll go refuel with your face hanging out,” Edge snapped. His own guilt at losing the breathing apparatus they’d been using as a disguise hung heavy at the back of his mind. Useless, he couldn’t protect himself, couldn’t protect BD-7. Couldn’t protect Rus against the hunters that were coming and he didn’t need to be one with the Force to know that.

“your little droid is giving us a hand with that. while we were otherwise occupied, he was playing scrap hound and found this.” Rus held out his hand. In his bony palm was a small, flat disk, spirals of metal leading to a central opening.

“Is that a disguise matrix emitter?” Edge asked, disbelieving. Highly illegal in the days of the Federation and difficult to acquire. In all his days as a Jedi, he’d only ever seen a picture of one.

“yeah, and it’s a damn nice one, not even a dent in the case. good find,” Rus reached out to pat BD-7, jerking back when the little droid hissed warningly. His mouth twisted into a rueful grin. “wish they’d had a couple of ‘em. must’ve been from someone’s personal arsenal.” He tucked the emitter back into a pocket and jerked a thumb in the direction of their sleeping quarters. “i can handle the fuel. you. go meditate, get your head facing the right direction. heal, if you can.”

Edge didn’t move, kept his shoulders against the bulkhead. This...this was not what he’d come to expect from Rus, no underlying mocking with the cusp of cruelty dripping from each word when he spoke of Jedi techniques. “Now you want me to meditate. Shouldn’t you be busily trying to coax me to the dark side?”

“nah,” Rus said, carelessly, but Edge saw that little dig land, the not quite hidden flinch. “can’t say the title sith lord suits me much anymore, does it.”

It never did, Edge did not say.

“go on, it’ll take a couple hours or so for us to hit the port, anyway. bd-7, stay with me,” Rus lifted the bag and shook it, letting out another rattling jangle. “lets see if we can get you back into fighting shape.”

To Edge’s shock, the little droid crawled awkwardly down and went to him, even giving a hopeful, if grudging, chirp. Whatever happened between them while Edge was captured seemed to have dimmed at least some of its animosity.

Rus scooped up the little droid and strode off in the direction of the helm, leaving Edge to stare wordlessly after him.

He seemed...oddly together, brisk and efficient with dry humor coating his words. More like the Rus he’d always known. Edge wasn’t sure what to make of it. He wasn’t enough of a fool to believe it would last, but a stupid kernal of hope tried to light in his soul, anyway.

At last, he pushed off the wall and made his way unsteadily to their quarters. He didn’t bother pulling off his boots, nearly falling to his knees to try and stitch the ragged fabric of his composure together enough to meditate.

It was harder than it had ever been to allow the Force to soothe over him, the touch he’d known since birth finally cradled him, keeping him from ever being alone. It surged within him without judgement, filling him, but then, it always had, hadn’t it. Judgement came not from the Force, but from those who used it, from the Universe itself that chose to give it balance, lightness and dark.

Edge pushed those thoughts aside, focusing instead on the power inherent in the Force, guiding it to help him heal. Physically, it was still easy enough, bruises fading away, tiny cracks in bones vanishing beneath his coaxing influence. But he was unsteady with more than simply his injuries. Everything that happened kept throwing him off kilter. He’d find his space legs and then gravity would shift again and again, and it had been happening far longer than since Rus’s tantrum earlier or even the moment he joined the Jedi team designated to hunt Rus down. Edge wasn’t sure he’d had his balance since…

Since Rus left the Jedi.

Distantly, he felt the ship lift off, accelerating to an easy cruising speed in the direction of the port.

There was some measure of relief at leaving the mines behind, abandoning that exhausting, filthy work. What he and Rus earned here plus what they’d taken from the bounty hunters would hopefully last them a little while.

Edge returned his focus to healing, allowing the Force to fill him to the brim, settling him body and soul. There was nothing hovering on the edge of his perception, no unknown ghoul ready to swoop through his bond with the Force to drag him into darkness. His fears melted away beneath that familiar force-touch and soon he felt much better, energized. Only then did he reach out to brush lightly against the closest force signature to him.

Rus.

The brief flare of shock came from outside, then within, flowing through their nascent bond. Rus’s touch, usually so shattered, the jagged breaks cutting into Edge whenever he opened their bond, was softer, tentative, and if it didn’t echo the love that Edge cautiously offered, neither did it reject it.

What was going on, what, why was Rus being like this, what was happening

The unexpected voice that answered him came from nowhere, everywhere, from inside Rus but not from him, One Of Us Needs To Keep It Together, And If It Isn’t You, It Has To Be Him. Figure Things Out, Jedi, It hurts, He Can’t Do This For Long.

The gentle pulse of the bond between them did not change and Edge realized with distant shock that Rus hadn’t heard that voice.

He didn’t care about that, it was a mystery for later. For now, their connection was flowing, better than it ever had, and what Edge sent along the bond next was anything but gentle.

Rus’s shock at the pulse of pleasure reverberated back into Edge, followed by the impression of glee and a return pulse. It was like nothing Edge had ever attempted before, only heard of in whispers. To use the Force and their bond to send ghostly ecstasy trailing along nerves, through winding passages of the mind, echoing and growing between them, and their peak was a shared one only within the Force surrounding them.

Edge was panting when he eased out of their bond and his new quivering was only from aftershocks. He took a moment to change into clothes that actually fit him, shrugging into a fresh robe before he headed for the helm.

When he stepped inside, Rus was in the pilot seat and he threw Edge a look that was more amused than anything. “i was working on your droid when you pulled that little stunt, you know.”

“He doesn’t seem any worse for the distraction.” In fact, BD-7 looked as well as he could have possibly hoped. His paint would need redone, but that was something Edge could do. Considering he had no idea where they were heading after this, he might well be grateful for the distraction.

One of the rucksacks was still at Rus’s feet and he reached down to dig through it, one hand still on the steering column. After a little blind rummaging, what he pulled out was the handle of Edge’s lightsaber, handing it back to him wordlessly. Or more accurately, it was what remained of his lightsaber. The damage made him sigh inwardly. Repairable so long as the crystal wasn’t damaged, but it was far more important than a droid’s paint job and impossible to be done by the time Rus headed out to refuel.

Especially since they were landing now.

A check of the chronometer showed they had less than an hour before the planet cleared the gravity well of the gas giant that currently prevented orbiting ships from landing. Any of them could hold more bounty hunters, there wasn’t time for negotiating. They’d need to go with Rus’s plan.

At the gangplank, Rus paused crouched down to shaking a stern finger at BD-7, “you’re in charge while i’m gone, got it? it’s on you to keep him safe, think you can handle it?”

Whatever the little droid burbled made Rus wince, then he laughed, “yeah, okay, that’ll work. i’ll be back soon.”

He was still laughing as he turned on the disguise matrix, his appearance shifting convincingly to slender Quarren, the tentacles that made up its beard twisting and curling with amusement. The species was similar enough to their height that Rus wouldn’t seem absurdly tall and they were known for being relentless bargainers, so it was likely the fuel master wouldn’t try to drive up the price. They were also considered unattractive to most species and Edge couldn’t help wondering if there was a dark joke buried there, considering how Rus usually paid their way in the past.

“Good choice,” Edge said dryly.

“i thought so,” Rus said in a liquid, burbling voice. He turned on his heel, heading down the gangplank. Edge watched him go, then hit the button to close the plank.

There was nothing to do now but wait.

It was the better part of an hour when Edge heard the gangplank lowering again and the sound sent prickles of warning across his senses. It should have been locked down from the outside, Rus should have needed to use the intercom to ask to be let in.

His lightsaber was currently useless, spread out in pieces on the table, but Edge wasn’t above using a blaster when necessary. He hushed BD-7 when it blatted a protest, heading in the direction of the ship’s entrance.

Footsteps, only one set, booted feet that weren’t bothering to disguise themselves.

“Come on out, you bony bag of space wizard, I know you’re here!”

Cheery and loud, a voice he knew somehow, and when Edge peered cautiously around the corner, he could see white, needle-sharp teeth cutting through the dimness, shaped into a grin. That grin widened as its owner caught sight of him, tossing her head to send the long fronds of her slender fins cascading down her back.

“Well, hey there, Jedi,” she called, “you’re pretty hard to find.”

“Undyne?” he whispered, disbelieving.

“Even remember my name, good deal.” Her wide grin dimmed into something more serious. “I owe you one and I don’t forget my debts. So when I saw the bounty on you, I signed up, thought maybe I could find you before any of the bucketheads did.”

Edge met Undyne only once on a mission for the Jedi, years before. A smuggler by trade, for a hefty price she’d nonetheless agreed to help him and Rus evacuate a ragtag group of orphans from a planet before the Neimoidians purchasing it could ‘assign’ them parents and bind them into what was little more than legalized slavery. She’d been shot by a droid trooper while running towards the ship with one of the children and only survived due to Edge’s healing skills.

Back then, she’d sworn to Edge that she owed him a favor that she would someday repay, something he’d quickly forgotten; such promises were common to Jedi and rarely fulfilled. Since last they’d met, she’d lost an eye, a fresh scar showing around the edges of a patch, but that smile of hers was unchanged.

She cocked a hip, hands tucked easily into her pockets. “Okay, now that I’ve found you, laserbrain, what are we dealing with?”

“The empire wants me dead,” Edge admitted.

Her eye didn’t so much as twitch, but Undyne sucked on her teeth loudly, considering, “Knew that much. When you dive in the soup, you go headfirst, dontcha.”

“he did, but he didn’t hop into the main course alone.”

From behind Undyne came the sound of a lightsaber igniting but brighter yet through the shadows was the burn of sockets brimming with glaring orange, crackling offshoots of lightning surrounding that hellfire glow.

There was no time to think. Edge flung himself forward, stepping bodily between Rus and Undyne in a move borne of pure desperation because he knew if a fight began, it wouldn’t stop until one of them was dead.

“Don’t,” Edge said, sharply, meeting Rus’s glare with one of his own. With his hood up, he looked every particle the Sith he claimed no longer to be, his skull dull and gray against the black cloth.

Edge braced himself, ready to defend Undyne, a faint, dismal hope rising that perhaps Rus would remember her and at least allow her off the ship. What Edge did not expect was to see a sudden thread of crimson running from Rus’s nasal aperture. It widened quickly, a ribbon instead of a thread. Scarlet trailing over his teeth to drip from his chin, fat droplets welling and pattering to the ground.

His blazing eye lights sputtered, dimmed, then rolled upward, lightsaber extinguishing as it fell from his hand to the ground. Edge lurched unsteadily forward and caught him before he could crack his skull open on the decking, lowering him to the ground as Rus began to convulse.

“Fuck,” Undyne sounded uncommonly shaken, “Listen, I dunno what’s wrong with your boy, but we can’t hang around here waiting for a doc or your healing mojo, we need to move. Occlusions over, anyone with a tracking fob can find you on this planet.”

“Can you fly this ship?” Edge asked. The wellspring of his calm was currently little more than a muddy puddle, but Edge drew on it as much as he could. He stripped off his robe, tucking it under Rus’s head without sparing a thought to the staining crimson that began soaking it.

“Does an ewok shit on their boots? Come on, let’s hit space.” Undyne’s feet clunked on the planking as she ran in the direction of the helm. BD-7 hestated, its optics taking in Edge and Rus worriedly, but in the end, it scrambled after her, obviously intending to keep a sharp eye on this new companion.

That was probably for the best. The convulsions racking Rus stopped as suddenly as they began, leaving him bloodied and unconscious. Edge lifted him into his arms with a grunt, staggering as the ship lifted off and headed towards the outer atmosphere.

One of them needed to keep it together, that unknown voice had told him and it seemed as if now was Edge’s turn.

Carrying Rus towards their sleeping quarters, Edge couldn’t help hoping sourly that he could. Just lately it seemed all they ever did was break apart.

~~*~~

tbc

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #star wars au

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xenosgirlvents · 4 years

Text

There is an ancient Terran saying barely remembered even by humans in their forty-odd millennia since it was first said. “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” La’al had never heard this saying, but if she had it would be echoing relentlessly in her head. Said best laid plans had been to take back a young T’au world from a small force of Orks who had stolen it after the gue’la’s military had had their way with it. Her own squad, composed of a smattering of various auxiliaries and a handful of veteran Fire warriors, had been sent around to the east of the main Cadres in an attempt to corral the bhe’ghaal. But, rather clearly, those best laid plans had been shattered irreparably.

The young Shas’La’s tympanum were reverberating under the force of the never-ending fusillade of fire soaring over her head and pounding against the flickering Tidewalls and burning vehicular wrecks she was jogging past, willing herself not to outrun her la’rua. Moving as quickly as her squadmates could manage, they were slowed further under the weight of the injured they carried with them. La’al herself held Olatharal and Balantara – the two surviving Exodites who had joined the military alongside her – slung over her shoulders, cutting her ability to retaliate dramatically. She would have almost envied the two of them then, both unconscious and unable to hear the paradoxically raucous and operatic singing roaring out over the sound of gunfire as the army of Orks rolled inexorably closer, if not for the glinting of the small red gemstone Balantara clutched tightly in her fist.

The Exodite had risked death charging into the green tide to wrest it from her brother’s corpse, and La’al would sooner die herself than let that risk have been in vain. So, for now, she had to focus on surviving as blood – red, blue, green, and practically every color in between – splashed under the running hooves, boots, and talons of the retreating squad. Returning her focus to the task at hand, the young Shas crushed the still-living and profanity spewing severed head of one of the bhe’ghaal under-hoof.

There was only one warrior with them without a body in their grasp, and he wasn’t even a member of their squad. The breacher Shas’Ui ran alongside them, his heavier armor doing little to slow him down and his pulse blaster invaluable as the la’rua bolted between cover. Many of the Orks’ “squigs,” as La’al had heard her comrades yell, barreled toward and around them, squealing and snorting hungrily only to be all but disintegrated by the breacher’s plasma fire or else to be caught in vicious combat with the numerous Kroot hounds that had been loosed to cover the Cadres’ retreat

The distinctive whip-crack of rail-fire announced that they were nearing the end of their escape. The evacuation point was coming into view; surrounded by a veritable wall of Hammerheads and Broadsides – further bristling with Kroot rifles poking between the gaps and buzzing with the insectoid forms of Vespids – unloading their weaponry into the advancing horde, Mantas and Orcas were picking up as many survivors as they could, knowing that no stragglers were likely to survive once they were forced to fully extract. And standing atop her hover-drone just behind the wall of vehicles was Vre Da’ty, whirling her Honor Blade about and swatting away the projectiles flying at her as if they were barely more than flies.

The Ethereal was perfectly calm. The simple creatures advancing across the battlefield were far outside of their accurate range, and even if they weren’t, she knew that they would never see her as a priority target. Vre’Da’ty knew well that bhe’ghaal “philosophy” revolved around the concept of bigger being better, and she was far from the largest target they could train their primitive firearms upon. As such, she had elected to take the last craft to leave, knowing that the concept of leaving an Ethereal in such a hellish warzone for too long would motivate the Cadres’ survivors to move much faster. Coolly, she surveyed the surrounding area, pointing out approaching parties of survivors for the wall of guns to split for, when a red glinting caught her eye. Turning her head, she spotted Shas’La La’al and her surviving squadmates approaching as quickly as they could, defended by a breacher’s pulse blasts. A small smile creeping over her face at the young warrior’s apparent capacity to survive, she gestured to the small party and lowered her drone at the utterly incessant insistence of her honor guards.

The la’rua let out a collective sigh of relief as they saw a break form in the wall of metal to accommodate them, only a handful of craft left willing to make the risky lift. The party wasn’t a second too soon either, a number of the tanks and battlesuits already beginning to peel away and board the Mantas set aside for their evac. La’al almost cheered, herself, but it was cut off by a harsh scream from behind her. Turning sharply while maintaining her pace with her squad, she was shocked to see the Shas’Ui who had kept them covered being pulled back by a mass of pink flesh. The veteran warrior let out a barrage of curses and swears, firing his gun wildly as he tried to level it at the squig’s head to utterly no avail.

La’al knew he had no chance. The tanks were falling back, and those that were still holding were much too focused on the tide of green marching closer, the singing growing loud enough to all but silence the gunfire. Acting on instinct, she passed the unconscious Aeldari to the least burdened of her squad members and charged back, drawing her carbine as she went.

To the Shas’Ui, the young Fire warrior was a blur. A streak of his Sept’s color barged into the squig and rolled with it several meters in a tangle of vicious and bone shattering kicks, punches, and gun-bashes. Seizing the new chance at life with both fists, he began to drag himself back toward his dropped gun, grabbing the blaster and rolling over to aim it at the clash just in time to watch the Shas’La unload almost an entire magazine directly into the orkish animal’s eye. She roared her fury over the sounds of the battle as she shredded the creature that had dared harm the warrior who had guarded her squad’s escape.

Covered in the sizzling remains of the squig, La’al whipped back around to help the Shas’Ui up just as the rain of ballistic fire petered out. Dragging the veteran along on his crippled legs, La’al peered across the battlefield to see the Orks had stopped moving and almost none of them were firing a shot. But the ground still rumbled as if the entire horde was charging. Then, as the smoke from their vehicles’ engines cleared away, she saw why. The entire Ork horde joined in a single gruffly operatic chorus as an utter behemoth of metal rolled through the smoke, its treads alone towering over practically everything else on the battlefield.

“Bloodwind…” the two Shas uttered in unison as the Mega-Gargant opened its jaws to reveal what looked, to La’al’s cybernetic eyes, to be a stage on which stood a giant Ork in black armor with a white mask covering the right half of his face, and a gretchin in a frilly dress and long brown squig-wig perched atop his arm. The titanic machine’s guns began to spin up, sonic waves tearing across the battlefield as the Warboss began to sing in earnest from his stage, vast speakers on the Gargant’s chest blasting out the ballad almost loud enough to knock La’al from her feet.

The T’au forces still on the ground began raining fire at the colossal mobile fortress as they began pulling back with as much speed as they possibly could, Mantas and Orcas initiating their liftoff sequences even as tanks and suits mounted them. La’al herself bodily picked up the Shas’Ui and tore across the distance between them and the Manta that had taken aboard her la’rua. Even with all her speed though, by the time La’al arrived, the bay door was already almost closed, and no other ships were even near the ground.

“Oh no yOU FUCKING DON’T!” She screamed as, in a last act of desperation, the young Fire warrior gathered her strength, leapt dozens of feet into the air, and threw the older Shas through the door just before it could close.

The transports pulled away just before the Gargant’s guns could begin unleashing their stream of death. But as the Exodites aboard it roused themselves back into consciousness, their first sight was an injured breacher pounding his fists against the door, cursing as if his life depended on it. From the other end of the craft, Vre’Da’ty saw the same, and the three of them quickly came to the same realization.

Shas’La H’kek’an La’al had been left behind. The Little Hero was alone.

(Honestly, I barely even know what kind of commentary to leave here this time. So I’ll just go with the standard “Hope you enjoy it, and please share any questions and critiques you have”)

Okay! So wow, this was actually really good, honestly! I enjoyed in general the way you wrote about the inclusion of certain T’au specifics to the battle: not standing and engaging in a battle of attrition when they still have room to redeploy in, the use of the Tidewalls to provide cover for their withdrawing infantry, the use of the Breacher Shas’ui (Breachers are a favourite unit of mine conceptually, I wish we had a Fire Warrior 2 Game only so that Kais could cart around a Pulse Blaster-like shotgun to kill Marines with) and I enjoyed the Ethereal too, with the good addition that they actually undermine the normal Ork threat assessment pattern, that’s actually a really good point I haven’t thought about before but it’s true!

As always I also enjoyed heavily your use of T’au terminology throughout the piece. This is something I sometimes struggle with, as it can slow me down, but you make consistent use of T’au words throughout which helps it feel engaging and engrossing by making it clear who we’re reading this from.

I am very curious as to how this will go, but I already foresee La’al perhaps ending up surviving on her own for an extended period of time, ghosting Orks, before being rediscovered by other T’au? Whatever it is you have in mind I look forwards to it, this has really been the highlight for me of anything 40k related for a while now :)

#warhammer #Warhammer 40k #Warhammer 40000 #t'au #tau #t'au empire #tau empire #la'al #fanfiction #submission

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