#star crossed myth fanfic | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

acefaun · 3 months

Text

Yandere Huedhaut

Synopsis: Huedhaut is probably the least suspecting yandere—as should be from the smartest man in the Heavens. He plans and he plots, but no one would ever suspect him to be a puppet master, cleverly pulling all the strings.

🩸Yandere Masterlist🩸 Female Goldfish! Warnings: Gore, Minor Character Death, manipulation, etc.

A/n: I got suddenly interested in Yandere Huedhaut because of the fact that he'd be so unnoticeably manipulative. And then… I went overboard with a murder mystery and I really wanted to add a wild plot twist(one that I wrote, and then forgot about, and then surprised myself with like half a year later.) I definitely went overboard with Yan Hue. 🫣 Read at your own discretion. It’s one of my longest one-shots. So I’ll just add a link to the AO3 while I’m here.

–Word Count: 19,954–

It wasn't entirely fair. Was it? To fall hopelessly in love and then be torn apart by fate. It was insulting and even more infuriating to have reminders of that time. To have the love of your life before you but be unable to have her and be unable to do anything about it. To watch her fawn over every other man that wasn't you.

Life just wasn't fair and I only felt that pain from a distance. Huedhaut never explained to me just what we used to be back when I was a goddess. He always seemed pained in my presence yet he always wanted to be around me when I wasn't working and when he wasn't busy with work from Leon or Karno.

After I was officially safe from the dark king and I had thanked Zyglavis for protecting me, things went back to normal between me and the gods. I was happy with how close I was between the Punishments gods and the Wishes gods, particularly Huedhaut whose company I found soothing. Though, I admit I openly fawned over him and continuously hovered around him simply because I was denying my childish crush on the strong and silent Krioff. But if I had to give Huedhaut any sort of label, I'd definitely call him my best friend. He had been looking out for me since he first laid eyes on me that night those six gods showed up in my apartment.

I hummed happily, my quiet melody the only noise in the hall as I carried my pillow and blanket through the gods’ mansion. I could only imagine how at peace Huedhuat must have been without the racket of the other gods.

“Hey, goldie!” I turned, catching Teorus’ gaze as he caught up with me, matching my pace. “You don’t usually come by this late in the evening. Whatcha doing?”

Walking side by side with the god of Taurus, I guestimated that he was following me to get to his room. I grinned in excitement as I gushed, “I'm staying over with Hue tonight! We're going to be reading books and stuff. It's going to be really fun.”

Teorus tilted his head, but his smile didn't lessen at seeing how happy I was. “I didn't know you liked that kind of thing. I guess I shouldn’t let you keep Hue waiting then if I want to avoid his wrath…” He waved me off as he continued on down the hall to go into his room. “Have fun!”

“Will do! Thanks, Teo!” Mindlessly caught on my conversation with Teorus, I happily slipped into Huedhaut's room, eager for our evening together. It wasn’t like I had to bathe, change into night clothes, or anything since I was already wearing my comfortable pajamas. All I had to do was climb into bed and enjoy a relaxing night with my best friend. “Huuuuue!”

“One minute.”

I nearly dropped my pillow when I realized he was very naked and just getting out of the pool in his room. My face heated up uncomfortably and I quickly averted my gaze, covering my eyes with my hands. My voice came out shakily as I attempted to scold him, “Y- You could have told me you were... not wearing clothes! Gah! Seriously!”

Faintly, he whispered, “Your reactions are so adorable... I want to be the only one to see you blush like that…” A snap echoed and I cautiously brought my gaze up, finding Huedhaut in his normal Department of Wishes clothes. He greeted me with a smile as if nothing had happened since I carelessly walked into his room. “I’m glad you could come.”

“Y- Yeah!” I quickly shook myself out of my embarrassing thoughts, trying to actively wipe the memory of his shirtless torso out of my mind. “I was super excited to be able to come spend the night. Usually you’re so busy with work.”

“Of course, I’m always willing to make time for you.” Smiling tenderly, he gestured to his bed. “Get comfortable. I'll grab a book and join you.”

I kicked off my shoes before eagerly climbing onto the bed. Setting my fluffy pillow on top of those that were already there, I pulled back his blankets, plowing into the soft pile of pillows as I made myself comfortable. Cuddling up with my blanket around me to shield me from the cold room, I asked, “Got any interesting suggestions for me?”

Huedhaut smirked as he joined me in bed, pulling me up close beside him as he reclined against the pillows I’d fixed. “I was planning on reading to you tonight. Would you like that?” I nodded eagerly, planting myself on his lap, per his invitation, with his arms wrapped around me and his chin resting atop my head. Things seemed to grow quiet as his hands rested on my sides for just a moment too long and he commented quietly, “I could stay with you like this forever.”

“H- Hue?” What was he saying? Geesh. He didn't have to get all cute like that. What was his deal? Making me blush like that. He was almost as bad as the other gods that liked to tease me. Well, in private, Huedhaut was honestly worse than the other gods sometimes. Curse him and his desire to get reactions out of me for every little thing.

He nuzzled his nose into my hair as he grabbed the book from beside me. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to do with you sometimes.” His breathy chuckle blew my hair into my face, but he brushed it away so I could watch as he opened the book in front of us and began to read with me following along. Again, he acted like he did absolutely nothing as we enjoyed a calm night together.

***

I liked Huedhaut and I was sure he was my best friend for more reasons than simply because we were an ideal couple back when I was a Goddess. His company was different from the other gods. He was always so considerate, even when he was joking around. His sarcasm was on the perfect level to make me smile, even when he was clearly saying something offensive. But he was the smartest man in the Heavens for a reason. He always knew what to say and what to do.

But occasionally he was in the Heavens when I had free time on Earth. Such was the case as I was playing games in the living room with Ichthys, Teorus, and Dui. I jumped in alarm at the rate I was losing to Ichthys. “Hey! That isn’t fair! I’m a human! You gotta take it easy on me!”

Ichthys grinned, waving his cards around in glee. “You just made that rule up because you’re losing and don’t want to do a truth or dare.” Dui nodded in agreement with an amused smile. That wasn’t fair! I was sure Dui was on my side…

“Pfft.” I openly glared at Ichthys, “You act like me picking a dare from you is an option. You’d just make me do something to get Zyglavis angry and I don’t have a death wish.”

Ichthys slammed his winning card on top of mine with a joyous grin. “I win! Now, time to answer the truuuuuth!” Turning to Teorus he whispered in his ear. Teorus seemed to take a moment to think before whispering back. I glared at them with intense skepticism. Even Dui seemed the slightest bit curious over what they were planning on asking me. Their faces told me it was going to be extremely personal. Ichthys then finally turned back to me, both gods holding malicious grins as Ichthys requested, “Tell us who you have a crush on.”

My breath caught in my throat, my eyes briefly flickering to the white haired god that sat only a few feet away on the opposite sofa. Krioff was doing his work but he wasn’t deaf. Immediately, I was left glaring at Ichthys. “You can't be serious! What are you, five?” It might not have been that bad if the source of our conversation weren’t nearby. Sure, he seemed like he wasn't listening, but I knew he heard every single thing that was going on between us. “Absolutely not! Geez!”

“That isn't how you play the game!” Ichthys stuck his tongue out teasingly. He would get me to say it before this round was over.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed,” Teorus reassured with his princely smile. “You can tell us if it’s me. I don’t mind if you love me as much as I love you.”

“Why would she have a crush on you?” Ichthys turned to narrow his eyes on Teorus. “She likes me. She asked me to play this game first.” Turning his attention back to me, he asked, “Are you embarrassed that I'm your crush?”

“That- That isn't it…” I looked away from them, my cheeks feeling uncomfortably hot. I had no doubt Krioff was listening to this whole conversation from where he was sitting and the minute someone mentioned his name he would be onto us. He might’ve been a quiet god, but he was probably just as interested in my answer as any of the other gods. I shut my eyes, but I knew they wouldn’t let me get away with being quiet. The last thing I wanted was to refuse to play by the rules and face their ‘punishment’.

I muttered Krioff’s name quietly as I attempted to avoid getting utterly embarrassed. The three gods only leaned in closer to try and discern my answer. Dui tilted his head and pointed out, “You were so quiet we couldn’t hear you.” Almost groaning to myself, I tugged Dui closer and whispered the name in his ear. His eyes widened in realization. “Kri- mmph!”

I jumped forward and shoved my hands over his mouth in a panic, “Hey! Shut up! Do you want the whole mansion to know?!”

“That isn’t fair,” Teorus whined, crossing his arms. “We still don’t know who it is!”

But our racket was apparently quite distracting, for Krioff finally looked away from his work to address us, “Do you need help over there?”

I shook my head furiously, my cheeks still quite hot with embarrassment. “No! Nope! Not at all!” Taking a glance at the two gods who were passing through the room, I shot to my feet as I recognized Huedhaut and Karno. My saviour! “Anyway, I’ve gotta go! I’ll get you back some other time, Ikky!” Making a run for it, I caught up with the two wishes gods that were separating further down the hall. “HUUUUE!”

He turned with wide eyes only to have me practically tackle him. Luckily he was balanced enough to catch me in his arms without collapsing to the floor. “What on Earth happened?”

Still feeling embarrassed, I pressed my face into his jacket. The last thing I needed was for him to start teasing me too. “You have no idea how badly you just saved me from an embarrassing situation.” I looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Where are you going? Can I go with you? I need to... get away from Gods.”

Almost as though reading my mind, he smiled in amusement before ruffling my hair with a laugh. “You fell for their trap again and they were teasing you? If only you didn’t give us so many reasons to fluster you.”

“Et tu, Huedhaut?” I pouted indignantly. “That’s not fair. You can’t make fun of me too! I’ll have no one else to turn to. My very best friend betrayed me.” I whined into his shirt. “Ooooooh, the agony of betrayal. I’m hurt! Really. The pain is too much for me to take. I can’t go on like this. Tis the end!”

“You’re a very dramatic ex-goddess.”

Pausing from my over-dramatic show, I frowned up at him. “You’re a very mean God.” Still, he didn’t lose his smile as he lifted a questioning eyebrow. “Huuuuue, stop smiling like that, you traitor.”

“(Naaaaameeee)!”

I panicked at hearing Teorus calling my name and I paled. Dui probably fed their curiosity and now they wanted to find me. If I didn’t get out of sight soon then I was a goner! Huedhaut laughed at my tortured expression and teased, “A traitor would let you into his room, would he?”

My gaze shot back to Huedhaut and I begged, “Please, please, pleeeease, hide me! I take it back! You’re a really nice god! Pretty please? Bestie? Promise I’ll pay you back! Hue?”

“Fine.” He purposely messed up my hair and snapped his fingers, transporting us to his room. “You can pay me back now.” He leaned closer to me and I backed away with heated cheeks at how sudden the action was. “You really do make the cutest expressions. I want you to tell me what you’re so desperate to hide from.”

I sighed, avoiding his searching eyes as I looked around at his many books, desperate to avoid the question. With his persistent gaze, I groaned. Why did he have to demand answers out of me when I only just escaped one cruel fate? “Fiiiiine. Ichthys started it. We were playing a game and he asked me who I had a crush on and so I told Dui and then you showed up and... I’m really sure he told Ikky and Teo.” I crossed my arms and looked away from him with my blush that was quite obvious to Huedhaut. “Now I’m all embarrassed and don’t want to see them. They’d probably make me do something embarrassing in front of him. I couldn’t even imagine. Ichthys might even tell him!” I rubbed my face, completely stressing out over that last possibility. What would I do if Krioff came to me later? I’d feel really stupid! I mean, I already knew he wouldn’t like me back before I even told Dui his name!

“It’s only fair if you tell me who it is, isn’t it?” I glared at Huedhaut, but he didn't seem to mean any harm in asking. He was my best friend after all. Aside from teasing me, he only ever had good intentions. “I see that look on your face. You want to tell me, don’t you? You already told the three troublemakers. Do you have such little faith in me?” What really was the harm in telling him?

“Don’t laugh... This is super embarrassing.” Not that Krioff was embarrassing… It was simply embarrassing to have a crush on someone who had no chance of liking you back. Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes. It was just one name. How hard could it be to say one name? As much as he liked to tease me, I knew Huedhaut was a much better person than that. So, gathering up my strength, I admitted, “I like Krioff…”

Huedhaut’s eyes widened. “Krioff?�� This was the same reaction Dui had. Why were they so surprised? I hoped they didn't expect me to have a crush on Zyglavis or something! “You’re talking about the God of Aries?” I nodded my head woefully. “He hardly ever speaks to you. How could you like him more than me?”

His voice turned... cold for a moment. My eyes snapped open at his tone and I noticed he was glaring down at me. What was suddenly on his mind? “Hue?”

Saying his name seemed to have snapped him out of his thoughts. He instantly pulled away, realizing he was gripping my shoulders much too tightly for comfort. “Sorry. I was just surprised.” His cold glare was replaced with an affectionate smile as he led me to his bed and sat me down. Though, I had an uneasy feeling in my gut. “Krioff, huh? I never would have imagined you would have an eye for him. He’s such an entirely solitary god. Why don’t you tell me more?”

“M- More?” After that reaction of his, was he sure he wanted to hear more? But after a strict nod from him, I knew I wasn’t going to be leaving until I opened my heart to him. It wasn’t like he was going to go tell Krioff or anything. He never spilled my secrets before. I could trust Huedhaut. “He’s just attractive in his own way. He cares about people in such a unique way. Despite how hard his past was with his family, he’s so strong. He might not say much, but he’s very sweet and I love how adorable he gets when I bring him ice cream. I just couldn’t possibly put into words how amazing he is.” I sighed, leaning back on the bed.

Huedhaut watched me quietly for a moment before asking, “What do you think Krioff would feel about this?”

“Krioff?” I hesitated, thinking about it. “He's a god... so I could never see us together. But... he's always had such a tough time with people. I don't think he’d like me back. He’s probably just a thought that I entertain myself with because I admire his story.”

Passing his cool hand through my hair, Huedhaut asked quietly, “Have you ever told him any of this?”

I gnawed on my bottom lip, shrugging slightly as I admitted, “I accidentally told him he was cute once and he looked very surprised.” I covered my face with my hands trying to erase the mortifying memory. “I couldn’t face him straight for like a week after that.” I groaned, looking up at my best friend with a pathetic expression on my face. “What do you gods do? I mean, do you guys even have solid relationships like that? Some of the gods make it sound like committing to one person isn’t something a God could be interested in.”

Huedhaut furrowed his eyebrows before explaining to the best of his ability, “It’s true some gods think that way. However, some of us do prefer to commit to another. For instance, the only woman I’ve ever considered being attached to is the love of my life. I couldn’t tell you what kind of God Krioff is, but we do understand loyalty and values.”

I perked up at that and immediately turned to Huedhaut. “You love someone too?” He never spoke of anyone else. He always seemed so detached from everyone he didn’t need to bother himself with.

A rueful smile crossed his face as he looked up at the skylight. “I do.” It was quiet for a few minutes between us before he spoke again, “She’s beautiful, both body and soul.” As though hesitating to continue, it took a moment for him to finish, “Her name was Clotho.”

I hummed in curiosity. Did he mention her before? “Gee… She sounds familiar. Have you ever spoken about her before?”

Huedhaut shook his head, and before I could ask any further questions, he explained, “(Name)... you were Clotho.”

My eyes widened at the revelation and I quickly sat up to face him. Did that mean... he loved... me? “B- But, Hue, I-”

“I know.” He stopped me short, pulling my hands into his. “You don’t love me. I don’t mind. But, I still want you to know that no matter what happens to you, I’ll always be here for you. It doesn’t matter what any of the other gods say or do, I’ll be here to take care of you. Just as I always have been. It’s been a miracle to simply have you by my side again after all these years.”

With tears filling my eyes at his affectionate speech, I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Hue, you’re the best… I promise I won’t go anywhere again!” Holding him tight, I smiled as he wrapped his arms around me in return. “You’re my favorite god!”

But being my favorite would never truly be enough for him. No. The God of Aquarius wanted more. He needed more. He couldn’t stand these other gods getting all of my time and attention. I should be with Huedhaut every second I wasn’t working. But what was worse was that they had the nerve to tease me, to talk about who I loved with me. He couldn’t stand that they got to see my blushing face that should belong solely to him.

So, though he had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, he would set his plan into motion.

Of course, I had no chance with Krioff. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that Krioff simply wasn’t interested in having a relationship. So, Huedhaut would focus his time and energy on the other gods that were in the picture. Those children were keeping me from him. They were distracting me from realizing that Huedhaut was the man for me. Huedhaut was the one I needed to be seeking love from, not Krioff or any other god.

Namely, he needed to take care of the three trouble makers of the two departments: Ichthys, Dui, and Teorus. Yes, Teorus was in the same Department as Huedhaut, but that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered until they were out of the picture. Any threat to Huedhaut’s perfect plans just had to be dealt with.

It annoyed him that he couldn’t just find a way to kill them. That would be the easiest and the best way to go, resulting in me completely and entirely relying on Huedhaut. But the 12 Gods of the Zodiac were necessary for balance in the Heavens. He couldn’t just get rid of them like that. His plans had to be more delicately constructed.

There were better ways of going about this and ensuring I end up in his arms, after all. Reasonably, he was the smartest god in the Heavens.

***

“Duuuuiiii! I made a pie and it’s your favorite.” I grinned widely, knocking on Dui’s door. He was such a big help keeping Ichthys and Teorus from spilling my secret to Krioff. I had to pay him back with his favorite food. “Hey, Dui! It’s me, (Name)!”

“Oh, (Name), what are you doing here?” I turned and found Dui walking toward me, just returning from a Punishments job. But he paused and his eyes lit up as his gaze found the tray I was holding. “Is that what I think it is?”

I nodded and held it up to him so he could get the full glory of what I created. “Cherry pie! Just the thing to repay you for keeping Ikky and Teo silent. I was wondering if you wanted to have some on the roof with me? It’s a really nice day outside and I wanted to get some sun before the clouds took over. Apparently, it’s supposed to rain later.”

“Of course. We should go before the other two come looking for you.” Dui’s smile was really infectious. Sometimes it was nice to just hang out with him on a peaceful day.

Ichthys was a bit too playful and Teorus was a little too touchy-feely. But just me and Dui like that? We weren’t such a bad combo. I felt relaxed and happy while he was eagerly eating the pie he loved so much. “So, Dui, how’s work been for you since your mark of sin has been gone?”

“It’s been good, thanks to your help.” He stuffed his cheeks once again before he gave a more detailed reply, “I mean, there’s been a few bumps in the road. Some humans can be pretty stubborn and Shadow Dui’s been trying to interfere where he’s not supposed to. But things are great. I’m getting more done without having a restraint on my powers.”

“That’s good!” I shifted in my seat to take a better look at him. Just looking, I wouldn’t be able to tell Shadow was causing any trouble at all. “I knew I only saw a portion of what you guys could do when I was lending my powers so I thought I’d go ahead and ask. I mean, you guys can go freely between Earth and the Heavens now. It sounds like a lot’s happening. I hope Shadow hasn’t been that much trouble for you? He was alright the last time I saw him. You apologized like crazy after he scared my friend from school, but Shadow was okay.”

“It’s not that bad. We enjoy visiting you, (Name).” I was glad he thought so because I really enjoyed hanging out with all of them too. But then he spoke in a sad tone, in a topic that caught me completely off guard. “I’m sorry about our reactions to Krioff. It’s just... I was pretty surprised. Everyone in the Heavens is so afraid of Krioff and then you, a human, falling in love with him… It surprised me. But, I’m happy. Even if Krioff is too afraid to accept you, I’m at least glad he has someone that loves him.”

“Too afraid?” I mean, I expected him to be insecure due to his past but... afraid? He always seemed so calm and collected. I couldn’t help but wonder how much he still carried on his shoulders.

Dui nodded to my quiet question. “He’s been through a lot. I’m sure you’ve heard. I think he avoids getting close to people because he’s afraid he’ll hurt them. I know he wouldn’t want to hurt you. We all care about you a lot. None of us would want to see you hurt.”

It was so hard to keep my heart from beating so horribly fast when he held my hand and looked into my eyes like that. He was just reassuring me, but if it were coming from anyone other than the kind-hearted Dui I might’ve mistaken it for an intimate gesture.

I flinched at hearing someone clear their throat behind us and I awkwardly looked at the ground the minute we made eye contact. Though, I still tried to greet the newcomer to the roof, “Ah, Hue. Hey. You don't come up here often.”

“I figured it’s where you'd be. It’s about to rain and I’d hate for you to get sick.” Looking back at him, he was as composed as ever, that small smirk on his face telling everyone around him that he knew better. What was on his mind, I didn’t know, but he looked awfully happy about something.

I returned a shy smile before I grabbed the pie from the table and asked, “Do you want this in your room, Dui?” All it took was a nod and I was following him off of the balcony followed by Huedhaut who closed the doors behind us. “Thanks for coming get us. I’m glad we didn’t get caught up in the rain.”

He nodded and, before leaving, offered, “If you need anything, I’ll be granting wishes with Karno.”

I waved as he left the hall and I quickly bolted past Dui with a challenging smirk. “I’ll race you! No powers! Last one there has to deal with Ichthys’ next prank!”

“No fair! You didn’t warn me!”

I laughed as he tried to catch up without using his God abilities and I swung open his door and ran in before he could get the better of me. “I made it fir- WAH!” Tripping over a soft surface, I instantly crashed to the floor with a groan. At first, I was under the impression I was covered in cherry sauce from the cherry pie, but as I sat up on my knees my eyes widened in fright and I froze. I hadn't landed in cherry sauce at all… I landed in blood.

“(Name), are you okay?! I heard- Oh my god…” Dui stopped talking as his eyes turned wide as saucers.

I wasn't sure what to do or how to react with Dui standing behind me. Did Shadow Dui do this? My best human friend was dead, killed in the most graphic way possible. Their organs weren't even inside them anymore—were those their organs? There had to be a logical explanation but my mind wasn't working right. All I could ask myself was if I was going to be next. Shadow Dui killed his best friend before. Why would I be any different?

“What the hell…” I froze fearfully as I noted the gruff change from Dui to Shadow Dui. “Shit… goldfish-”

“Don’t,” I interrupted him, trying to keep him from approaching. My mind still hadn’t caught up with me yet. Was this really happening? Please, let it be a horrible prank from Ichthys.

“Hey, I didn’t-”

“Don’t touch me!” I screamed, pulling away from his touch. Anxiously, I scrambled to escape him, only able to go as far as the other side of the room. “Don’t come near me…” The last thing I needed was for him to finish what he started. “Why…?!” My manic state was enough to make him stop approaching, though I was trapped, the door being blocked by him. What did Shadow do? My voice was too caught up in my throat to scream, but I need help. I needed somebody, anybody to come and help me, to bring my best friend back from the cold world of death.

“What the hell?!” Shadow Dui hissed, resuming his pacing. His frantic state only served to make me more terrified. A frantic murderer was a horrifying murderer. “This is your shitty little Earth friend! I knew it!” He kicked his chair across his room, making me flinch back into the wall. “I knew a stupid little human would only bring Dui more trouble! If I’d have just killed you back then then Dui wouldn’t get blamed for murder again! I didn’t kill this damn human!”

I wish Shadow wasn't standing between me and the door. I wanted nothing more than to run out and find Huedhaut. Didn’t any of the other gods know what was going on here?

The minute Shadow approached me, a cry left my lips, “H- HELP!” It wasn’t long before tears were streaming down my cheeks and I was hiding my face behind my arms. Shadow Dui killed my human friend. “HUE!” I needed somebody, anybody to come and help me, to bring my best friend back from the cold world of death.

“What the hell are you-” The voice that was speaking from the hall suddenly paused. Scorpio was glaring at Shadow Dui from the doorway. The way Shadow was standing over me didn’t paint a pretty picture. “Damn it!”

With my eyes screwed shut, I could only hear the loud shuffling of a fight, but after that I didn’t hear anything as if I were alone in the room. But, alone or not, I was too frightened to move from where I sat. It was only several minutes later when Zyglavis asked, “Where is (Name) (Surname)?”

There was silence for a moment and I shuffled closer to the corner I had isolated myself to. I made sure I was far enough away from the body. I was thoroughly out of sight in the space between the bed and the wall and I wasn’t willing to move.

It was hard to control the shaking that came with my overflowing tears, but the sound of approaching footsteps only made it feel that much worse. “Woman,” Scorpio called, having found my hiding place. “(Name)!”

“(Name) (Surname)." I sniffled, looking up at the familiar voices. Zyglavis was kneeling in front of me, Scorpio was a short distance behind him, his attention split between me and the… Well, Scorpio had already taken care of the scene. "Are you hurt?" Zyglavis’ question brought my attention back to him. I shook my head slowly and he reached out to reassuringly pat my head. “You’ll be okay.”

“(Name)! (Name)!” My head shot up at the voice of Huedhaut. He pushed past Partheno to get into Dui's room. He didn't falter at seeing the blood. He only paused at seeing blood on me. “Are you hurt? You're covered in blood. Come here.” He fell to his knees beside Zyglavis and pulled me into his arms. “(Name)...”

“Hue…” I whimpered his name softly, burrowing myself into him. Why didn’t he come sooner to save me? Why didn’t he stop Shadow Dui from killing my best human friend? Didn’t any of them know that Shadow Dui did this? Did Dui even know before just a moment ago?

Zyglavis looked at Huedhaut with a serious expression, his brows furrowed. “Take her somewhere quiet. The Department of Punishments will deal with this.”

Huedhaut wasted no time snapping his fingers, transporting us to his room. Still, I didn’t want to release him as he tried to pull away. He smiled gently as he tried to reassure me, “That probably took a toll on you. I promise I won’t leave your side. I’ll never let anyone hurt you. Will you let me bathe you? I imagine you’ll feel better being clean.” I couldn’t find the energy in me to smile back at him, but I nodded in response. Anything was better than how filthy I felt standing there. “You’d be okay if we used the bath in the mansion, right?” I nodded again, not really thinking about his question.

He kept a close eye on me as he walked me down the halls and to the bath. Usually, it was a shared space, but he locked the door to give me as much privacy as I needed. That’s what it would look like, anyway. He just didn’t want anyone else to see my precious body. That sight was purely for him and him alone. But he wouldn’t invade my privacy just yet. He would wait until I loved him in return. It might take time, but he would have patience.

He was gentle and quiet as he helped me into the bath, rinsing my hair with the warm water as he made sure not an inch of me was unclean after my experience. But he paused as he heard a small whimper from me. Was I going to say something? Evidently, the answer was yes as my broken voice reached his ears, “Why... Why would he do that to me? Was he that upset?”

I turned my head to look up at Huedhaut with watery eyes. I couldn’t identify the emotion on his face but he almost looked guilty.

He did feel guilty, in fact. He did this to me, but it was for a greater purpose. I was in pain for the time being, but he knew it was only a matter of time before I fell into his arms. As soon as I was his, he would end my suffering. He wouldn’t have to hurt me if I would just surrender myself to him completely. But he wasn’t going to tell me that straight out. Eventually, I was going to figure out that Huedhaut held all the answers to my problems. If only I’d realize it sooner, he wouldn’t have to keep torturing me like this.

But, hiding his true nature, he caressed my cheek, answering me softly, “The other gods are going to get answers for you. Please, don’t worry. I’m here with you. Dui’s in the Heaven’s and he isn’t going to be allowed to return to Earth. I am truly sorry about your friend. That must have been horrible to see. I know it was hard for me to watch Clotho sacrifice her life for Earth. To have someone you care about die... it’s not a good feeling.”

A few remaining tears fell from my eyes as I apologized, “I’m sorry, Hue... I didn’t realize what you went through. It- It just hurts so much, but then I can't even imagine that you took your own stars after-” I was feeling the intense loss of someone close to me, but combined with sympathy for what Huedhaut must have felt, my feelings were just too fragile.

He was surprised as I began to cry again at his words. He was using his sad past to emotionally manipulate me into feeling empathy for him, but it was working better than he anticipated. I didn’t even seem to mind that he held me so much closer despite being naked in the bath. After making me feel guilty about my crumbling emotions, he spoke, “Please, don’t apologize. No one was there to comfort me after you left. But I’m here for you now. I’ll always be here. Now, are you sure you want to be holding me like that while you’re naked? I’m trying to keep you modest but you're making it difficult.”

I was in such distress that I hadn’t even realized what I was doing. It was like Huedhaut just lowered my defenses. Sinking back into the water, I looked away from him with a furious blush over my wet cheeks. “I’m sorry... I just... I don’t know how to handle what I’m feeling.”

Huedhaut nodded his head, trying to comfort me though I turned away from him. “I told you you don’t need to apologize. I know you’re not well right now. I’m just here to help you.” Of course I wasn’t well. Huedhaut was making sure of that. But he was going to do his best to make me smile while I was with him. I didn’t have to fear the bad things with him. “Why don’t we get you out of the bath? I can take you back to my room for the night and I can read you a pleasant book.” He was so thoughtful. Bringing tragedy into my life and then getting rid of it with his kind words and caring actions. I was so fortunate to have a god like him…

***

It was tough leaving the mansion without Huedhaut after that—which I hadn't left Huedhaut’s side since the incident. But, eventually, I had to go back to work, and I swear returning to work was the worst. There was no best friend there to make me smile while we joked and waited for our break. The gods had also fixed it to where everyone thought they had died of natural causes, so I had the sympathy of my coworkers. But it didn’t hurt any less to be so alone.

Over the days, Huedhaut tried to help the best he could and his efforts were appreciated. I smiled more with each book he read to me. He even sent me off to work with a packed lunch so I wouldn’t have to suffer that horribly my frist day back. The other gods also tried to cheer me up of course, especially Teorus and Ichthys. I mean... it was their friend Dui who killed my best friend. It was revealed that Shadow Dui killed them out of jealousy; I had a best friend to brag about but he didn't. Though, it was sort of strange that Shadow would target a petty human best friend over Huedhaut, my actual god best friend. Regardless, Dui was stuck doing time in the Heavens, forever banned from returning to Earth with Shadow Dui.

One day, as I was walking into my workplace, I paused to look at a package that was sitting outside. I knelt down and read that it was from Teorus and Ichthys, they hoped it would give me a smile. Attempting a small smile, I picked up the box and brought it in with me, leaving it in the break room for my hour lunch break that I would get. Surely I could use whatever laugh those two came up with by then. It was always my break hour that I would feel at my loneliest and lowest.

Time flew and I was set off doing different tasks. My mind was lost in everything that had happened the past few days. “I had no idea he was so jealous... But... to... do something like... that…” I squeezed my eyes shut, nearly tripping over the broom in my hands. "Ah- damn it..." But my eyes widened in fright as the fire alarms suddenly went off. Perfect. Just perfect. This was the last thing I needed.

I was in the storage room, but I knew the way to the exit from there. Dropping the broom, I made a dash for the exit, only to jump back at the flames that were licking the outside of the door. “AH!” I couldn’t close the door back, so I backed away from the tall flames with wide eyes. They were so huge. How could they get so big so fast? The alarm only just went off.

Part of me was reminded of Krioff’s flames. But his flames weren’t so out of control! Still, there was nowhere to run as I fled to the back of the room to give myself time to get help. One of the gods would hear me if I called them, I was sure. “Please, please, please,” I coughed, the smoke steadily filling the room. I sat on the floor, trying to breathe slowly. “I wish there was a way out.” I coughed harder. Shelves began to fall as flames ate at their legs. “HELP!” I choked on my wishes and I covered my face, trying to avoid the ash and soot that was quickly spreading the flames. “P- Please... get me out of here!”

The fire was moving so fast as it devoured everything it touched. I wondered if my other coworkers made it out. I wondered... if I was going to make it out. I was going to die. It was my turn.

I closed my eyes tightly, but I heard a voice calling me from within the fire. “(NAME)!” Who the hell was searching for me in a mad fire like that? The smoke was hurting my lungs to the point where I almost couldn’t breathe. Was that someone from the fire department looking for me? “(Name)! Answer me!” No. That voice sounded familiar. Did he come to save me?

I coughed the minute I tried to call out to him, but I managed to wheeze his name, “Hue!” I screamed as something collapsed beside me, kicking up ashes.

I quickly covered my eyes to prevent any ash from getting in my face, but I felt a large form wrap around me and instantly I knew I’d be safe from the feel of his arms. “(Name)...” A blinding light took my vision for a moment; the clean air was almost too sudden and I found myself choking on it. “It’s okay. Just take in deep breaths for me.” Was he kidding? I had inhaled too much smoke to take even little breaths without feeling overwhelmed. But he seemed to know that as he tried to calm me, “I know, I know, it’s hard. Just trust me. The air in the mansion will clear your lungs, I just need you to take deep breaths for me.” I tried my best to follow his directions without coughing my lungs out. But slowly and surely, his advice proved fruitful.

I was also surprised that he took me into the living room of the mansion. The Wishes gods were staring at me with wide eyes, obviously hoping for my quick recovery. Huedhaut was most concerned, however, as he was the one who found me suffering in the heat of the fire. But Leon wasn’t looking at me. He was the only god openly glaring at Teorus as he growled, “That prank that you and the Punishments’ problem child came up with almost got several goldfish killed.”

“I- I’m really sorry... It wasn’t supposed to-”

“Teorus,” Leon interrupted the innocent god, his tone fierce and not to be defied, “Go back to the Heavens. We’ll deal with you both later, but you and that fish are no longer permitted to work on Earth. Your actions put many goldfish lives in danger, you put (Name) in danger.”

Karno sighed, but he had to nod in agreement. “This is the last thing she needed after her best friend…” He paused, not wanting to elaborate in front of me. “I’ll go talk with Zyglavis. Teorus, come with me.”

Before he could get pulled away by Karno, Teorus tried to apologize to me with big, sad eyes. “I’m so sorry, (Name)... We really didn’t mean to do that to you…”

But it was too late to apologize. I almost died—or I could have gotten seriously hurt. Huedhuat was the only reason I was still alive and well. I didn’t look at Teorus as he was taken out of the room.

Tauxolouve noticed that I was keeping my gaze far from Teorus and he asked, “How are you feeling now?”

It took me a moment to understand his question, but I realized that I was breathing a lot easier thanks to Huedhaut coaching me to breathe deeper breaths and get all the smoke out of my lungs. I nodded my head in a gesture saying that I at least wasn’t going to die or pass out on them. Huedhaut snapped his fingers and all the soot that covered me and the floor I landed on was gone. “(Name),” he asked quietly, “Would you like me to take you home?”

As much as home sounded like a comfort... I wasn’t sure I wanted that. I certainly didn’t want to be alone after everything I was put through. Karno wasn’t wrong about that side comment. I just lost my best friend and I almost died soon after. Looking at Huedhaut, I asked shyly, “Hue... do you think you could stay with me for a while? Like you did last time?”

He smiled genuinely as ever. “Of course.” He took my hand and pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me as he snapped his fingers, taking us to my apartment.

It was quiet between us. Though he was kind enough to offer to give me another bath for the time being and I had to admit I loved the way his fingers combed through my hair as he washed it. It was a sense of peace I couldn’t find with anyone but Huedhaut.

Huedhaut smiled to himself as he lathered shampoo in my hair. He got rid of the three idiots quite simply and he had no doubt that the fire shook me to my core, thoroughly breaking my crush on Krioff. Everything worked out perfectly and here I was, relying on him. Still, there was something else he wasn’t satisfied with. Sure, I was relying on him. But he wanted more than that. He wanted me to love him. Why couldn’t I just say the words he wanted to hear? Was I still holding onto something? Did I just need time to adjust after everything that happened? No, he had been patiently waiting. He sent disaster after disaster toward me and I leaned on him, yes. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted me to do more than lean on him. He wanted to have me. How much longer would he have to wait?

Certain he would have to start planning the next tragedy of my life, he was surprised when I finally spoke up and asked him quietly, “Hue... What am I going to do? That place was my life. I don’t have parents to go back to and my best friend is gone... I’m not going to have enough money to pay rent and I’m going to be homeless.” With each word, it was like my world was shattering to bits and I had no control over any of it. That was why I couldn't stop the tears from falling. I thought I was done crying, but I just couldn’t help it as my world crashed down around me. Huedhuat was the only one holding me up. He was the only one keeping me from succumbing to my sorrows.

Drying his hands, he began to gently wipe away the tears that fell. This was exactly how he wanted me. He wanted me at his mercy. My life was in his hands and I would listen to his every word. “You won’t be alone, (Name). You can stay with me forever. I’ll love you. I’ll keep you safe. I’ll take care of you. Will you let me?” He knew I had to say yes. There were no other options for me to choose from, just as he had planned. I had no one but him. Sure, the other gods were willing to help, but no one was as desperate as he was. He would be the only one to love me truly. He didn’t care who he had to take out of the picture. He didn’t care how many times he had to make me cry, he’d always be the one to dry my tears in the end.

Despite being naked in the tub, I felt like none of that mattered in my moment alone with Huedhaut. This God was offering to take care of me. He was offering me a place with him. I took his hand that gently caressed my cheek and held it tight. “P- Please, take care of me, Huedhaut. I want to stay with you. I-” I paused, looked away from him shyly. It took a while, but he was the only one there for me. I couldn’t believe it took these tragic events to show me who I should have really fallen in love with. He was the only one to actually make me happy after the disasters I’d been through lately. I knew he loved me and I didn’t want to abuse that knowledge, but maybe that was why I kept denying my own feelings. Finally, I decided to tell him what he'd been waiting to hear all along, “I love you, Hue…”

Huedhaut’s eyes widened slightly, not expecting the declaration. Not that he was displeased. If I loved him then that would make things easier. He wouldn’t have to make me sad anymore. I loved him. “I love you too, (Name).” He beamed, tilting his head. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I’m never going to let you go again. I’m honestly so happy. I want to make you the happiest goddess.” He took a deep breath to calm himself; it would do no good to startle me if he got too excited. “Before I get carried away, I should let you get some rest. I know you had a very tiring day and I don’t want to rush you into this relationship with me. I’ll take things as slowly as you need.” Carrying me out of the tub to dry and dress me, he held me close the entire time, proving his love for me by making sure I was comfortable and not touching me any differently than before I declared my feelings. He was true to his word in taking things slow.

I trusted him wholeheartedly. This was perfect. His carefully made plans weren’t for nothing as he had me lovingly dozing in his arms without a clue to the horribly violent thoughts that swirled through his mind. Of course, he’d never lay a hand on his one true love, knowing full well I’d hate him and go to some other God for safety and comfort. He would never become the bad guy in my eyes. He was all I had left, after all. Huedhaut would do anything and everything to keep me with him. He wasn’t the smartest god in the Heaven’s for nothing. Even if I did find out what he had been doing, there was nothing I could do, was there? But Huedhaut was certain he wouldn’t have to worry about that. I was as ignorant as all the others, which was just how Huedhaut wanted it. I’d be his forever, and considering his perfect plans for the two of us, he would never have to worry about me leaving.

***

It was a few weeks later when I was found sitting in the garden, staring intently at a flower as if it had all the answers in the world for me. Huedhaut couldn’t help but smirk in amusement as he called my attention to him with a single sentence. “That flower must be something special to have you so enraptured.”

“Flower?” I hummed in confusion, glancing up at him. When did he join me outside? Finding the mansion was getting too stuffy, I decided to bring a blanket outside and enjoy the windy shifting of the seasons. But what was Huedhaut suddenly talking about a flower for? Had I been looking at one without realizing? Shaking my head, I unsmoothly changed the subject. “I was only thinking. I’ve been a little worried lately.”

“Worried?” His eyes were trained on me for any sign of distress as he moved closer, sitting beside me on the blanket. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I glanced up to see him reach toward me, his fingers gently passing through my hair. It was his usual way of trying to soothe my anxieties and I couldn’t say it didn’t work as I leaned into his touch. “I’ll fix anything that’s troubling you.”

“I didn’t want to make you worried too,” I excused, though, that wasn’t entirely the truth. I stared down at the blade of grass that I had been picking between my fingers. “I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to bring it up or… how I really wanted to ask. But you’ve been making trips to the Heavens, so I was wondering if you knew how Teorus and Ichthys were doing. I… also wondered how Dui was doing with, um… Shadow…”

His face grew deathly serious, his hand pausing as he started, “If any of them have been bothering you-”

“No, no. That’s not it.” I swiftly saved the three of them from Huedhaut’s wrath. Grabbing his still hand, I tried to reassure him. “They haven’t been trying to talk to me or anything.” It wasn’t that Huedhaut was a violent god—he was very kind—but I knew how scary he could be to others when he lost his patience. “I got over the accident from last month—just maybe not the Dui one… But I was just wondering if they were okay. I haven’t heard anything since they were all banned from visiting Earth.”

Studying Huedhaut’s expression didn’t tell me much—he was always so stoic when addressing topics about the other gods. Then again, Huedhaut wasn’t one for idle nonsense like most of the other gods liked to participate in. The way he caressed my fingers in return told me he still had quite a ways to go before he completely lost patience with them. I was glad I could be there to ease Huedhaut’s stress in the same way he was always there to comfort me.

I was releived when he finally decided to indulge my curiosity. “They’ve been monitoring Dui in the Department of Punishments. He’s on, what you would call, house arrest. They’re being maticulous with ensuring further incidents don’t occur. As for the other two, I’m not sure how Zyglavis has been handling Ichthys’ punishment, but Teorus is handling so much work that I’m not sure he’ll be finished until next winter.”

“I get that,” I muttered, a sigh escaping my lips as I stared aimlessly at the grass. “What they did was dangerous… among other things. But, Hue, that’s not what I’m asking. I want to know how they’re really doing. Are they happy, are they sad, are they lonely? Do they still get to see each other? It feels like my favorite boy band broke up or something.”

The concept of a boy band was lost on Huedhaut, but the thought of those three being my favorite anything made Huedhaut grimace. Still, he wouldn’t just ignore me; he’d never do that. He’d simply do something to try and get my attention off of those three. They were truly an annoyance even when they weren’t around. His best option was to reassure and redirect. “They’re fine. It’s not like being punished has ever stopped the punishments’ problem child from his mischievous nature. Teorus is ever obsessed with his milk and still attracting women left and right. Personally, I believe Dui only reverted to his behavior similar to when he first killed that god friend of his… All is proceeding normally in the Heavens.”

It sounded fairly normal for them—well, as normal as they were before their sins were erased.

“Then…” I hesitated. I wanted to see them for myself to check on how they were doing, but I wasn’t entirely sure it was the best decision. “What do you think I should do? I want to see them again. I want to see with my own two eyes how they’re doing. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just… want to see that they’re okay, you know?”

“I don’t think so,” he answered immediately, leaving me at a loss for words at how fast his answer came out. It was like he didn’t even give it any thought. But before I could ask him about it, he explained, “I don't do this with the intention of hurting you, I have your best interest at heart. I don't personally believe this will help you. Rather… If you saw Dui, I don't believe you would handle it well. It was fairly traumatic what he put you through.”

“That's true…” I hesitantly agreed. But the Heavens was a pretty big place, as far as I was aware. What were the chances of me actually running into Dui when Huedhaut just said he was on house arrest?

“Don't look so disappointed,” he encouraged, offering me a smile that was enough to settle any doubts in my heart. “Once I'm certain that you're feeling better, then I'll take you to the Heavens to see them.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Scooting over on the blanket, I leaned on Huedhaut’s shoulder, a small smile on my face as well. “Thanks, Hue.” At least I had a loving boyfriend to take care of me. If I were all on my own then I was sure I'd make a huge mistake by rushing to the Heavens just because I was feeling antsy.

***

My eyes darted frantically over the sheet of paper I held in my hands. I’d been staring at it for the past hour, trying to convince myself that it was some kind of trick, but that wasn't the case. If it were a trick then I wouldn't have heard Dui’s voice in my head just prior to the letter appearing in my hands.

I thought I was panicking, Dui must have been even more distraught. After all… The letter was nothing nice. I recognized Dui’s handwriting immediately as he described the events of the incident. Shadow Dui didn't kill my best friend. He wasn't even on Earth that day prior to meeting up with me. He claimed such, but I had to check with the other gods just to be sure this was accurate.

But my concern wasn't entirely on Shadow Dui. My concern… was that Dui claimed that the god framing him had to be one of the gods in the mansion, another Zodiac god. But why would any of them have a problem with a human? I wasn't even sure any of them had ever met my friend.

If Dui had an idea on who it might have been then I would have had an easier time handling this. But as it was, I couldn't imagine any of the gods that I trusted with my life capable or willing to murder a human. That made it twice as terrifying knowing I couldn't trust anyone.

I had thought it would be okay to trust Huedhaut, at least. But… with the way things were, he was on Earth that day too. Unfortunately, Huedhaut was also a suspect. Besides, Dui was trusting me with both clearing his name and seeking justice for my friend. If Huedhaut knew I was tracking down a killer then he'd put a stop to it. He was too protective to let me do something like targeting a god who wasn't afraid to kill humans.

Whoever it was was clever enough to pin it on Dui, who had a history as a god killer. But wasn't that too simple of an answer for anyone to believe? Sure, the evidence lined up, but it was too perfectly set up. Until the time came that the killer was found, I couldn't trust anyone in the mansion. The murderer was one of the 12 Zodiacs and he was hiding amongst us!

Aggravated, I crumpled the paper in my hands. I'd have to burn it to avoid anyone else getting their hands on it. I didn't need anyone knowing I spoke to Dui.

“(Name)?” I flinched, spinning around on my heel to catch the god who snuck up behind me. Huedhaut stood in the doorway, his eyes trailing over me. “Is there a reason you're standing in the middle of the room like that?” He tilted his head as his eyes flickered to my hands. “Is something bothering you? What's that?”

“Nothing,” I immediately responded, shoving the crumpled letter into my pocket. “Just some notes I scribbled down earlier. I… was bored. So, I was thinking about going find you. Are you busy?”

He hummed before nodding his head. “I came to let you know I'll be in the Heavens tonight. Leo’s given me extra work. I'm tempted to believe he's done this in retaliation for how much time I've been spending with you…”

I tilted my head. This… oddly worked out in my favor. If Huedhaut was busy working in the Heavens then it was unlikely he'd be able to catch onto my investigation and stop me. “But when are you coming back?”

A soft chuckle left his lips, a smirk crossing his face. “You’ll miss me that much? You're the reason Leo’s making me return to the Heavens. I'll try to be back tomorrow at the latest. Who knows, if you go to bed early, I may be by your side when you wake.”

I glanced away from him, grumbling quietly, “Stop teasing me and go to the Heavens already…”

Huedhaut tilted his head. “You're sending me off without a goodbye kiss? I'm hurt.”

“You sound like the needy one.” Huffing, I granted his small request. Though, when my lips connected with his, I couldn't help but lean closer to him, craving just a bit more comfort from my boyfriend. I wished he could help me with this… He’d have this solved within a day… But I couldn’t put this information in the hands of gods.

His laughter was nothing more than quiet hums against my lips. When we finally parted, he caressed my cheek. “So? Do you want to repeat that?”

I rolled my eyes, turning away from him as I abandoned his loving touch. “Go to the Heavens. The sooner you leave the sooner you can come back, you know.”

“Then I'll be back soon,” he reassured, pecking his lips against my head, wrapping his arms around me from behind before taking his leave.

It hurt me to think that I had to treat Huedhaut as a suspect when he'd been the only one willing to help me through all my hardships. It had to be someone else and I was going to find out who. I was going to clear Dui’s name and I was going to bring this killer to justice.

My first suspect was admittedly the most expected Zodiac god… The former demon and son of the Dark King himself, Partheno. No one else would make a greater killer and then pin it on Dui. The question… was why?

Luckily, the god in question was in the living room and my eyes immediately locked into him as he worked with Krioff. If it was just those two… I could ask them, and if either one of them admitted something then I’d have an extra god present for support. “Excuse me, can I ask you guys some questions?”

They turned their heads toward me and a smile blossomed across Partheno’s face. For a killer, he was awfully carefree. “You're a rare sight. We hardly ever see you out of Huedhaut’s room anymore.”

“I’ve been healing,” I vaguely answered. The less they knew, the better. “But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I’m here to ask about you two. Where were you the day Dui was banned from Earth? Tell me everything you can recall from that day and everyone you saw prior to that afternoon.”

As surprised as they were with my line of questioning, Krioff assumed it was a method of human coping—I didn’t bother to correct him since that excuse was useful to me. Both Partheno and Krioff had similar stories. They were in the Heavens that day doing work. A useful tip they gave me was that they had seen Dui in the Heavens that morning: once leaving Zyglavis’ room and another time walking through the palace.

Similar to me, they found this all quite puzzling. That day didn’t make much sense, but Dui’s guilt probably got in the way of him denying anything. He confessed to the murder because he was a murderer.

But along with an explanation from Tauxolouve who joined us, it was easy to put together that Dui had been in the Heavens up until the point of meeting me in front of his room with the cherry pie. In the few hours he was on Earth, he had spent his time solely with me. I was also familiar with the appearance of old blood; that scene was very fresh—I could recall it clearly enough, as much as I prefered not to. Shadow Dui never would have had the time to meticulously kill my best friend in such a manner.

Thankfully, the gods that I visited were all more than willing to cooperate, all completely under the guise that I was ‘coping’ with the events of that day. As far as I knew, Huedhaut, Aigonorus, Ichthys, and Leon were the only ones who didn’t have any witnesses to vouch for their whereabouts—not that I was able to really talk to Ichthys or Teorus personally.

This entire investigation might’ve been easier if I were able to question Dui himself, but such a feat wasn’t possible. Unless…

“Scorpio?” I apprehensively asked, “Do you think you could take me to the Heavens to see Dui?”

His eyes narrowed, scanning me carefully for an answer as to why. As much as he glared, an answer didn’t come to him and he was only left with his assumptions. “What the hell do you wanna do that for? If you think vengeance is going to-”

“That’s not it,” I quickly defended myself. Though, I knew he’d only continue to get the wrong idea. Holding out my hand to prove my pure intentions, I quietly admitted, “I want to help him. I… Well, you care for Dui too and you didn’t sound suspicious… So, I guess I can tell you. I don’t think he killed my best friend, and I think he’s being framed. But I need to know what he knows. I need to talk to him.”

His face scrunched up into a scowl, turning away from me. “Shadow Dui killed that goldfish. He’s awaiting his sentence from the King. You’ll get into trouble messing with things you shouldn’t.”

“Do you really think Shadow killed my friend?!” I tried again, desperately trying to change his beliefs. Seeing that he wasn’t going to budge, I pressed, “Did the Department of Punishments even investigate this?”

“Dui confessed.”

“But it wasn’t Dui!”

He turned around to face me and we stared evenly at each other. Sighing, Scorpio took this moment to warn me, “If it wasn’t Dui… you’re searching for a god who murdered a human without a clear motive. You sure you wanna risk your life for this?”

My eyes trailed down to the floor, my hand falling back to my side. He wasn’t wrong. Besides, it was hard to imagine any of the gods actually killing a human—even Dui who was known as a god killer. Biting my lip anxiously, I uttered, “There had to be a reason it was my friend that was killed. That coupled with my workplace burning down… the timing was ironic, don’t you think? Isn’t my life already at risk?”

The silence was thick between us as I let him absorb my words. I wasn’t sure what the Department of Punishments was doing, but I knew Huedhaut would catch on if I let this linger too long. But I couldn’t let him shield me like a child when I had a fight to win.

“Tell me what you want to ask Dui. I’ll help, but I can’t take you to the Heavens.” He paused. “I don’t think your killer would be too happy about you meeting with your framed god.”

My eyes shot up to meet his. At least he was starting to get on the same page as me, even if he made a very valid point. So, I made sure to tell him every detail about the investigation, even my thoughts on who were the most suspicious gods with no valid alibis that I could personally verify. In all, he seemed to take my concerns very seriously before he left to return to the Heavens. We would find the killer…

This back and forth went on for days, and unfortunately, Scorpio had yet to find anything incriminating from the three gods detained in the Heavens. While they had alibis for themselves, it didn’t clear any of the other three suspected gods, nor did it give me any clues as to who it could have been. For all I know, Aigonorus could have been sleeping, Leon could have been avoiding Karno, and Huedhaut could have been doing his work alone as usual. I wanted to deny that it was Aigonorus with how gentle he was as a god, but I also didn’t want Huedhaut to still be under suspicion.

I grumbled quietly, shoving my face into a pillow. Being a detective was hard with so little clues. What motive would those three have to kill a human, anyway? Well… Leon had a short temper, but he wasn’t as murderous as he always seemed. Still, blaming Leon seemed better than blaming Huedhaut. I needed to figure this out soon.

***

Huedhaut glanced over to me, his eyes trailing over my still body, picking up on the subtle rise and fall of my chest. It had been a while since he had seen me sleep. On the nights when he was able to be on Earth and ‘sleep’ with me, all I seemed to do was toss and turn and sigh every other minute.

He knew for a fact that this had been going on ever since he found me with that piece of paper that one afternoon. If he had been smarter, he should have taken it to see for himself. It only seemed to have made a rift between the two of us.

Huedhaut sighed, knowing he had to figure this out soon, lest I fall ill with whatever was bothering me. So, without addressing me on the matter, he left to find another god that might know more. After all, he wasn't blind. He knew I was speaking to the other gods behind his back.

His eyebrows furrowed. With that line of thought… Could the rift between us be because I was cheating on him?

No, impossible. That didn't make sense either. He knew me better than that. Still, it didn’t hurt to make sure… He'd only get answers by asking. Since I was fast asleep in his bed, I wouldn't notice him missing.

His decision made, he left his room, determined to question the next god he came across. One particular god that he came across, just so happened to be the very god I had been speaking most to. It was time to get answers from Scorpio.

***

This… This was golden. Huedhaut wasn’t a fan of nonsense that got in his way, but after questioning a few gods who had been interrogated by me… he was livid. Though, at the same exact time, he was extremely pleased and head over heels for me.

Based on all the information he received about my recent whereabouts, he realized what I was doing: I was investigating the murder. He was proud that I was actually succeeding in finding out clues. If he was being honest, it just made him love me even more. I was such a smart goldfish to be following his trail so closely. To have narrowed down the list of suspected gods to only him, Leon, and Aigonorus was quite the feat. He knew I was worthy of having the soul of his goddess.

As proud as he may have been, he was still entirely livid that it had even come to this. He didn’t want me to see him as the bad guy. However, at the same time, he wanted to see if I could actually put all of this information that I was gathering together. He was morbidly curious to test my intellect; and if I did happen to find out it was him behind it all along… Well, that would be troublesome—more so for me rather than him.

Besides, I had questioned almost all the other gods. Why hadn’t I asked him anything about it yet? Or… did I already have my suspicions? That could explain the wedge that made itself between us. Well, if I didn’t speak with him soon, he would have to do the honors and open the conversation himself.

***

It wasn’t fair… I’d been holding off asking Huedhaut anything about that day; praying that I could find the killer beforehand. Only… I cleared Aigonorus of suspicion. He was visiting his goats that day, so he wasn’t on Earth at all. The only verification was that his goats weren’t bad at communicating even if they didn’t speak English.

And while none of the other gods saw him during that time, Tauxolouve told me that Aigonorus mentioned going to see his goats that day, which proved to be more useful than he thought since that narrowed it down to two other gods—for the time being, anyway. If all else failed, Aigonorus was alone that day and I had every right to further inspect him and his goats.

Leon, on the other hand, was also found innocent, if his paperwork was anything to go by. He had been doing his work in his room that day, a rare sight, but believable with the actual paper evidence that littered his room. Karno was there to verify just when Leon was given this huge mess to work on. The time frames matched and so Leon was in the Heavens the whole time.

At this rate… Huehaut was the only god without an excuse… But he was also the only god I never questioned.

Huedhaut had been taking good care of me since all of this started; I didn't want to associate him with this at all. Besides, as far as motives went, what reason would he have to do this to me? I felt like Leon would have more reason to kill my best friend than Huedhaut who was always calm and composed and loved humans.

Still, there was no getting around this much-needed conversation. Maybe I could lighten the mood a bit before dumping everything on him. So, later that afternoon, I went to his room—our shared room now—to find him where he was reading on his bed as usual.

His eyes flickered to me as the door cracked open for me to confirm he was in there. And who was to say he wasn't sitting in his room reading that day? He was the one who came to get me and Dui from the balcony before the rain started and I hadn’t noticed anything unusual about him then. His hair was kempt, his clothes and hands were free of blood, and his voice held just as much love and compassion as usual.

“Something's bothering you,” he spoke, causing me to flinch out of my thoughts. I couldn't be getting distracted around a potential killer and arsonist—I winced, feeling horrible associating Huedhaut with those terms. “(Name), come here. You don't look well.”

“I'm fine,” I quickly excused, only to shake my head after. There was no point in lying when I'd later tell him the heavy news. “Actually… I have something to ask you, but… it's a little heavy. I was wondering if we could go outside and stargaze; maybe you could bring something to drink to lighten the mood?”

He was surprised by my line of requests, confused that I didn't just outright ask him, my trustworthy boyfriend, if he killed my best friend. Still, he jested, “If you wanted to propose to me, you could have just said it. There's no need to take the roundabout way of asking for my hand in marriage.”

“H- Hue!” I stuttered, and he smirked, having me exactly as he wanted me. I argued, “That's not- I didn't come here to-” I huffed, turning away from him. “I don't have time for you making fun of me. This is serious!”

“I was also being serious,” he lightly commented, determined to distract my mind from seeing him as a bad guy. “If there's ever a time you're ready to start a family with me, I'll ask you to marry me. I missed my chance with Clotho… But you're in my life, (Name) and I want to have all the best moments with you.”

This caused me to falter. How could someone out to ruin my life go and say all these sweet things? There's no way it was Huedhaut! I wasn't going to accept that as an answer! Still, I had to ask… “I'm sorry, what I'm doing is important right now… I'll meet you on the balcony, ‘kay?” Sending him a terse smile, I retreated from his room. There was one person I had to speak with first… I needed to get my facts straight.

Trailing back to Scorpio’s room, I gently knocked. As a Punishments member, I was sure he could help me solve this. Though, I was surprised when Zyglavis was the one to open the door for me. My eyes widened and Zyglavis asked in confusion, “(Name) (Surname)?”

“I…” I faltered, “I need to talk to Scorpio…”

Scorpio hummed, glancing over Zyglavis’ shoulder before nodding. “Yeah. Come in. Zyg, you might wanna hear this. This stupid woman has been trying to prove Dui’s innocence by finding the killer of that goldfish. So, let's hear what else you found.”

They were polite enough to offer me a seat as we sat around Scorpio’s desk, but that didn't lessen the tension as I announced, “In the past week, I narrowed the suspects down to three gods, and of those three, two don't have entirely valid alibis. Well… I haven't asked the final one for an alibi yet, but I figured discussing it might narrow my thoughts.”

Zyglavis crossed his legs, requesting, “Let's start with the god with an alibi. What did you find and is it a sound excuse?”

“It's Leon,” I nodded. “That day he was busy working in the Heavens. It wouldn't have checked out, but there was evidence. He wasn't granting wishes, he was taking care of backed up paperwork. As Karno and Vega were managing Leon’s work, they were able to vouch for him. He was in the palace that day.”

Scorpio scoffed, crossing his arms. “I'd say Karno would stick up for him if they were both in on it; we know that rabid lion doesn't like Shadow Dui. But Vega wouldn’t have kept it to herself. Altair would have told us if something wasn't right.”

“Agreed,” Zyglavis nodded. That got Leon off our radar of suspects, much to my disappointment now that we were nearing Huedhaut’s name. Starting again, Zyglavis tried, “Now, who is the god with an alibi that you're uncertain of?”

“The first one… is Aigonorus. Though, I can't wrap my mind around what the motive would be. Before meeting me, granting wishes of humans was just a job and I'm pretty sure he'd never have associated with us otherwise.” My reasoning was sound, and the two gods had to agree with me. Still, there was his alibi to consider. “No one had seen him that day, but he told me he wasn't around the palace or on Earth; he was visiting his goats. Which, his goats aren't horrible at communicating and verified that he was with them. But it's the same issue as with Leon and Karno. His goats would vouch for him regardless, don't you think?”

Zyglavis nodded to my suspicions. “It is true that Aigonorus has the power to communicate and manipulate animals. It's worthwhile to keep him as a suspect to go back to. At least until you can rule out your final god. So, who is left without an alibi?”

I stared at the floor, too anxious to bring up the name now. Saying it would only make it feel that much more real to me. I didn't want Huedhaut wrapped up in all of this, but it was useless to go around it when he was one of the last suspects.

Scorpio sighed, quietly admonishing, “Stupid… You can't be biased about it. It doesn't matter how you feel about him, you can't protect him like Karno would for Leon or like those goats would do for Aigonorus. Do you think it's Huedhaut?”

The question itself stung, making my chest ache in pain. I couldn’t cling to my biases forever, and they were both staring at me and waiting for an answer. “I thought about it… But Huedhaut loves humans. What would his motive be…? If he loved me so much, why kill my best friend? He only ever had the best intentions for me.”

Zyglavis’ eyebrows furrowed. “Your affections aside, you haven't addressed him about this, have you? Why is that?”

“Well…” I hesitated. “I knew if I brought it up with him that he'd want to stop me. He's really protective and I knew tracking down a killer would be dangerous. So… I never told him I was doing this. I asked to talk with him later tonight… That’s when I'll ask him about it.”

“You never told him…?” Scorpio’s eyes narrowed. The situation was awfully suspicious as he revealed, “Huedhaut already asked me about it. He knows.”

“He… knows?” I faltered. Clearly, he couldn’t have been that concerned if he was letting me carry on without mentioning it. But that didn’t make him look good. “He never said anything… He never tried to help either.” He’s the smartest god in the Heavens. I knew he would either stop me or help me if he was aware, but he hadn’t said anything at all regarding what I was doing. Did that mean he didn't care… or that he was hiding the truth?

Zyglavis sighed, offering a word of advice, “I think it’s time you set aside your feelings and focus on the reality you may be facing.”

But… I was too terrified to accept that this could be the truth. “He… I can’t.” I slouched in my chair, avoiding their pointed gazes. “I can’t. He… I’m too close. Besides, there’s no motive! He loves humans! He loves me!”

“You’re the motive, then,” Scorpio bluntly figured. “You’re the only one tying any of this together. It wasn’t random—your workplace, the human closest to you.”

Zyglavis nodded in agreement, following Scorpio’s line of thought as he explained, “You would think this string of misfortune would continue regardless of who was with you. However… since you’ve fallen into his arms, all has been well, hasn’t it?”

“He’s going to have an alibi,” I instantly replied. There’s no way he wouldn’t have an excuse, a reason for not being on Earth during the time.

Scorpio hissed, “Don’t be freaking biased about it. You need to do the right thing if he’s the one. You wanna stay with a killer who backed you into a corner with loving words?”

“N- No…” I stuttered, but I was extremely hesitant to do what had to be done. After all Huedhaut had done for me… did I have what it would take to point him out as the one behind all of this? Well… if that was the case, I wasn’t sure I had the heart to support him for everything he’d done to me. He simultaneously ruined and saved my life all at once. “You’re right. I’ll do my best. If he says anything, I’ll call you for help. I… have to take this seriously. For Dui, for Ichthys, for Teorus, and for all the other gods that were pulled into this mess. I will get to the bottom of this. He hurt a lot of people…”

Zyglavis laid a hand on my shoulder, directing my attention to his serious expression. “We’ll be here for you. You can handle this.”

***

I could handle this; I could handle this. I repeated that thought over and over again in my head as I walked through the doors of the balcony. Just as I suspected, Huedhaut was there waiting for me. There was a cute little table set up with a bottle and two wine glasses.

Ordinarily, my stomach would have been fluttering with butterflies, but now it was stirring with anxiety. Well, that’s what the alcohol was there for. “Sorry I’m a little late,” I apologized, stealing a seat beside the table. “You know how the other gods like to talk when they catch me.”

“That’s understandable,” he replied simply, fixing our drinks. “After all, they must be curious as to how your investigation is coming along.”

I froze, my eyes glued to him. He had never mentioned my activities before. His timing was ironically scary. He drank from his glass, only sparing me a glance as I took the filled glass from the table and drank from it. I was too nervous to get any words out, so I waited until I was half way through the glass before I finally commented, “I thought you’d be more concerned about me searching for a killer.”

“I am,” he confirmed. “Though, as I understood, you neglected to tell me about this because you didn’t want me interfering. However, if I thought for a moment that you were in harm's way, I would have stepped in. I’m not sure if you recall, but I can see your future.”

My eyes flickered back to him. How could I forget that little detail? He would have foreseen all of this. “Then tell me,” I requested, “Do you know if I’ll find him?”

His pause was way too long for comfort, but he finally nodded sharply. “You do.” The corners of his lips curled up as he unexpectedly praised me, “You’re so intelligent, I admire that about you. Even up against twelve gods, you don’t dare back down. I don’t think this excitement would have been stirred by yourself, however. So, can you tell me where this all started?”

It was strange how he was talking as if we were having a completely normal conversation when the topic was something that wasn’t exactly light. Still, I answered him, “It started a few weeks ago when Dui warned me that I was in danger. I didn’t think too hard about it… until I realized there was more to the story than what we saw.” I paused. “I checked everything and everyone. They all have alibis. Almost… all of them…” I emptied my glass, filling it with more wine for a second round—all until my cheeks were burning. “I didn’t come to you because I thought I’d find him before it came to this. But you’re the last god… I have to know… where were you that day?”

Finally, the question came out and Huedhaut had a well-rehearsed answer. “I was doing my work until the time came where I went to retrieve you. I knew you’d get sick from the rain if I left you out there. Then I proceeded to leave to meet with Karno.”

My eyes narrowed as I lightly sipped on my wine. Thankfully, it was already proving to have a calming effect as my anxiety wasn’t rearing its ugly head. His response only left for one question. “Can Karno or anyone else verify that you were doing your work that morning?”

“I was alone,” he revealed, though being alone wasn't unusual for him. “But you can ask the other gods, I changed the water from the reflection pool that day. The gods using it would have noticed.”

I nodded slowly. “I'll have to ask them.” Hesitantly, I added an apology, “I'm sorry I'm doing this to you. You’re just the only god I haven’t spoken to.”

“You don't have to apologize,” he replied, offering me a soft smile. “Please, don't feel guilty about this. I wouldn't feel so proud of you if you weren't working so hard to free your friend. I'm only worried about you and how you might feel with the answer you find.”

“I won't be happy,” I muttered onto the rim of my glass. “I haven't found him yet and I'm already heartbroken about it. To think one of the gods I love and trust would ruin my life… I don't want that person to be you.” Pulling the glass from my lips, I stared into the vibrant liquid, swishing it around. “Would you tell me if it was you?”

“No,” he honestly replied, making my heart break further. “I don't believe any god would admit to wrongdoing—especially to a human.”

“Even if that god loved me?”

“Especially if that god loved you.”

It was clear that we were both walking around the question. I didn't want to know if he was the bad guy in my life. But I had to find out—not for my sake, but for Dui. “Huedhaut,” I said, and he flinched upon hearing his full name fall from my lips. “I've gone through every single god to get here… And you've been the least forthcoming with what I want to know. Why can't you be honest with me?”

“I've always been honest with you. I've never lied to you,” he sighed, placing his half-empty glass on the table. “I'll give you your answers when you start asking the right questions.”

I pursed my lips together. “What was your motive?” Did he even have one if he was the killer…? This conversation was giving me chills.

“You.”

So… Scorpio was right on the money, wasn’t he? He did all of this until I was in his arms, just as he seemed to want. Now that I was where he wanted me, all of the bad things suddenly stopped.

For some reason, I didn’t feel as anxious as I should have been in the presence of a killer. If anything, it felt as if we were having an average conversation. Was this because of the alcohol? The gods had some pretty strong stuff and I was thankful for its ability to keep me calm as I pressed him, “Why? Couldn’t you just accept that I didn’t love you at the time? If you would have waited and done things the right way, you wouldn’t be in trouble with Zyglavis and Scorpio right now.”

“If I had waited, you would have ended up with Krioff,” he revealed, making me falter. Everything he did was to ensure I didn’t end up with the man I really loved. He drew me away from my home on Earth as well as the other gods. “Don’t look upset. Aren’t you happy with me? I’ve cared for you after every grievance and I’ve provided everything you’ve needed. Didn’t I bring you a delightful drink and agree to join you tonight? You’ve impressed me.” He smiled fondly. “My smart little goldfish followed a trail that not even the other gods could follow. I’ve rewarded you with all the answers you were looking for. So, what reason could there be for you to look so miserable?”

“Don’t act like this was all a game! You hurt people,” I hissed, glaring at him. “I don’t know what you expected to happen here, but I knew I might find something I wouldn’t like. And… I can’t say I’m sorry, Huedhaut… but I’m telling Zyglavis.”

“But he already knows, doesn’t he?” Huedhaut asked, tilting his head as if he were actually confused with me. “You told him already. Your frequent meetings with Scorpio means that Zyglavis already knows. So then… we have to wonder why they aren’t already here.” Shrugging his shoulders, he commented, “Maybe you’re the only one concerning yourself over things that gods are frankly indifferent to.”

“That…” I trailed off. He was right, wasn’t he? No, no, no. I shook my head furiously. “They want to prove Dui’s innocence as much as I do. They’re not indifferent to this.”

“Okay, then,” he calmly replied, placing his glass on the table. “You seem to know quite a bit about us gods for only being with us a handfull of years.”

“I don’t,” I quickly disagreed. Well, he was probably being sarcastic again, but my mind couldn’t keep up with him. Once again, my mind was stuck on the why. “Why’d you blame Dui? Why’d you kill my best friend like that…? Not even the Dark King was ever so cruel…”

His quiet hum hardly met my ears, but he looked entirely unbothered. Well, if he was slightly irritated, he did a good job at hiding it behind a mask of disinterest. “Tell me, could there have been a better choice of god? He’s a god-killer, isn’t he? Besides… I knew if he was framed with a minor crime—like what Ichthys and Teorus had done—you would easily forgive him over time. If seeing his face brought up a rather gruesome memory… I wouldn’t have anything to worry about, would I?”

“That don’t make’ny sense…” I slurred, my eyes narrowing on him.

The corners of his lips curled up. “Are you already so intoxicated that you can’t think?”

“No,” I hurriedly denied, only serving to make him more amused. “If Krioff was th’only one… why’d you gotta hurt my friends for?”

He tilted his head, his eyes scanning over me. “Do you mean to ask why I didn’t choose to frame Krioff instead?” Following a drunken nod, he pursed his lips, wondering if he should have let me drink so much for such an important conversation. “That would have been a waste. After all, with your attention on me, there was never any time for you to interact with him. He wouldn’t pursue you without you first pursuing him. I did all that was necessary.”

“But…” I paused, my eyebrows furrowing together. “Why… them? Why I’thys an’ Teo an’ D- Dui?”

“They were the ones keeping you from me, weren’t they?” He inclined his head with a knowing smirk. “It isn’t like they got into any real trouble. Being sent to the Heavens is less than a smack on the wrist. I was merciful enough for you, wasn’t I?”

I suppose the entire situation could have been worse, but aside from the state of those three, he still killed a human and he still manipulated me. “You…” I growled, trying to come up with the right words. “You jus’ a cruel god… horr…ible…” I blinked furiously, trying to keep a clear head.

For the first time since we’d been together, it was the first time I’d called him a cruel god and meant it. Now I’d done it. He wasn’t so amused when I was taking my intoxicated frustrations out on him. “I think you’re a little drunk. You should get some sleep and we can talk about your new arrangements in the morning.” Knowing I’d refuse his kind advice, he stood, electing to return me to our room himself.

However, as soon as he moved to lift me from my chair, he froze in place, shocked at the warm sting that crossed his cheek. He was too stunned to move before he heard me hiss, “Don’touch me!” His eyes finally flickered back to me, his heart aching at the hatred in my gaze—my gaze that was fighting desperately to stay trained on him. “‘m not goin’ with you! You ruined ‘vryth’ng!” My head drooped, leaning against his torso for a moment before I was able to pull away and hold myself up again. But somewhere in my drunken mind, I knew something was wrong with this situation… “Wha'd you put in it…?”

“You shouldn't worry so much over things that are only meant to help you,” he replied, his fingers passing through my hair, a soothing gesture. “I knew you'd be in distress, so I gave you something to help you relax. Have I ever done anything that wasn't in your best interest?”

“You killed ‘em…” I slurred, trying to keep my watery eyes open.

Seeing my disoriented state, he lifted me into his arms with ease, to carry me back to his room. I may have been scared of my situation, but at least I could no longer fight or hit him. Still, he didn't wish for me to hate him. “It should soothe your heart to know that I did not have hand in your friend’s death. I merely used them as a plot device and, what you might call, character development.” Sure, I was already half asleep and sniffling back tears, but he continued explaining nonetheless, “Your friend was murdered by humans. The result would have been the same. I simply… thought to use them in a more beneficial manner.”

In other words, regardless of anyone being accused of murder, my friend died for reasons outside of godly influence. Still, I stuttered a second accusation, “You b’rned m’ work…” He was an arsonist no matter how that went. It didn't matter if it was by godly powers, he still almost killed more than a handful of people.

“Did you forget?” He gazed down at my face that had a few trails of tears. “Ichthys and Teorus managed that. It was their gift that burst into flames, and not by my doing. The only part I played… was in simply putting the idea into Teorus’ head to make you smile again.” And it worked for a time; I seemed so very happy with Huedhaut up until Dui’s intervention. “These gods put useless concerns in your head.” He sighed. “Well, we'll have to fix that.”

“Huedhaut?” Karno called, making Huedhaut pause. Though, Karno’s concerned eyes were glued on me. Eyebrows furrowing, he asked, “Is (Name) alright?”

“She's been distraught,” Huedhaut answered honestly. “It’s understandable; Anyone would be distressed after a failed attempt of proving their friend innocent. You know (Name) was close with Dui. I can't blame her for taking her anger out on me when she's in so much pain.”

A soft sigh left Karno’s lips as he gazed at me with soft eyes. Slowly, his eyes trailed back to Huedhaut. “She's lucky to have you. I can't imagine how she might have taken everything if she'd been alone. But…” He hesitated… “Is she drunk?”

“Ah…” Huedhaut’s gaze flickered aside. “I granted a wish. Though, had I known the conversation would be so heavy, I'd have given her something lighter.” Studying my restless expression, he added, “I'm sure she'll be better in the morning.”

The corner of Karno’s lips curved up into a soft smile as he watched the two of us; he loved how caring Huedhaut was to his loved ones. “Keep taking care of her, Hue.”

Giving his friend a nod, Huedhaut happily took me to his room. Likely, he’d have to deal with me having a hangover, but he’d be ready to deal with that when it came. Gazing down at me peacefully sleeping on his bed, a blush coated his cheeks. He was happy that he’d never again have to stress about losing me. As soon as this ‘investigation’ matter was well behind us, we’d be much happier and Huedhaut couldn’t wait for that day to come.

***

My head pounded with the fury of a thousand horses stampeding against my skull… But the rays of light that shone through the windows above certainly didn’t help, despite the beauty with which they illuminated the room. With a quiet groan, I turned over in bed, shoving the pillow over my head to block out the piercing sunlight.

The sound of shuffling did not escape my notice and shortly after, I heard his voice. “It’s nearly noon. You had a little too much to drink last night, but I made something to help counter that, if you’re willing to come out from hiding.” After a silent moment with neither of us moving, he snapped his fingers and I tensed up. I waited for anything to physically happen to me: for the blanket and pillows to be removed, for me to be dragged out of the bed, or maybe even for the entire bed to just flip on its side and force me off. But… none of those things happened, and after another moment, Huedhaut finally added, “I’ve blocked the windows for the sun. Come out.”

My heart was still racing and my head was still pounding as I hesitantly crawled out from under my comforting place beneath the blankets. Gazing warily at Huedhaut, he presented me with a cup which I gazed at with just as much suspicion. Still sizing each other up, I probed, “Put something in that one too?”

He pursed his lips. “It’s to help your hangover. Unless you’d rather I leave you in pain…” He paused before adding, “I wouldn’t wish to do that.”

“Why?” Tense silence surrounded us as I glared at the floor, my eyebrows scrunched together in mild pain. “You’ve done it before…”

“I’d never hurt you,” he repeated, trying to convince me.

Unfortunately, I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle him until this headache was gone. Frustrated, I snatched the glass from his hands, gulping down the bitter liquid and praying for it to work quickly. Though he looked pleased with my acceptance, I no later knocked him down a peg, accusing, “You’ve always hurt me, I just didn’t know it. I wanted to be with Krioff, you ruined that. You banished my friends to a place I’m not allowed to go. And the only thing I get from the other gods are looks of pity!” With a wrathful scream, I threw the glass at him, missing by a hair and having it shatter across the floor behind him. “You’re always hurting me!”

“I’ve told you,” he mentioned quietly, not reacting to my rage with rage of his own. He was calm as always. “Everything I’ve done is for your own good. However, I’ve done nothing to harm you. I’ve given you all the answers you desired and still you refuse to understand. Who would you have turned to if you had found out your friend was brutally murdered and the murderer gone unpunished? I took care of everything for you.”

“Shut up,” I whimpered.

“Your workplace burned, yet no one was injured. How is that?” Huedhaut continued to press. “Had I not been there for each of these instances, you’d hate no one but yourself. I grant all your wishes, only with the hopes that you might acknowledge my efforts. I love you. I’ll do anything for you… but I will not hurt you.”

Staring at the shattered glass, I couldn’t help but ask, “Do you even feel guilty for manipulating me?” Did he hurt as much as I was hurting?

The corners of his lips pulled upward. “I can’t feel guilty when you’re well. I can’t feel guilty knowing I have everything I ever wanted and I now have the opportunity to give you the best life.”

“But you’ll never give me what I want…”

His smile turned rueful in a flash, but he didn’t look remorseful. “I can’t do something that would hurt you. You want the life you had before… but that’s an impossible wish that even a god couldn’t grant. All you can do now is accept what I’m giving you and move on. We were happy before, weren’t we?”

I hated how he was the smartest man in the Heavens. It didn’t matter that I knew everything he’d done, he wasn’t guilty of any kind of sin. He didn’t kill that human and he didn’t set my workplace on fire. He didn’t force me to leave my home to live with him. He simply manipulated all of these elements until everything stood in his favor… until I willingly ran into his arms.

Never once did he let me suffer alone. Even now, he wasn’t lashing out at me and he wasn’t trapping me in his room. …was he?

Warily gazing at him, I shoved the blankets off of me, crawling from the bed. However, before I could race for the door, his arms wrapped around me and I frantically clawed at his arms so he would release me. “Calm down,” he advised, not budging until I stopped fighting against him. Only once I stopped trying to pull away from him did he remove his hold. “Go the other way. You’ll walk straight into glass and hurt yourself if you go that way. Then you’d be bedridden, wouldn’t you?”

Even now… he was still caring for me and ensuring my safety. But… he wasn’t disabling me from leaving. Carefully trailing around the glass, I finally escaped the suffocation of being around Huedhaut. I blinked, standing alone in the hall. Did he really just let me walk away knowing what I know? He… He had to know something I didn’t know.

Too anxious to stay put, I wandered straight into the living room where I was desperate to tell Zyglavis everything I knew. Someone had to be able to do something. Only… I was disappointed when Zyglavis finally opened his mouth to comment on my findings: “We can’t do anything.”

“W- What…?” My eyebrows furrowed together. “What do you mean you ‘can’t do anything’? Of course, you can! He confessed!”

“He confessed to being involved; and yes, it may have been in… less than moral ways… However, he hasn’t committed a sin; there were no heavenly laws broken.” Zyglavis’ eyebrows were also knitted together in frustration. “What’s more is that we have no evidence of these activities, regardless of his admittance. You have also admitted that he isn’t keeping you here against your will, so he is not under any wrongdoing by housing you in the mansion.”

Tense silence followed his explanation until finally, I slowly said, “Then he’s going to get away with everything… and Dui’s still going to be held accountable for killing a human! Can you live with that?”

“No,” Zyglavis said as if it didn’t bother him. Pursing his lips, he explained, “We will address that matter with Huedhaut. Counting on his cooperation, we will find the human responsible for this murder and punish them accordingly. As there was no divine intervention of human life or death, Dui will be proven innocent, though there is nothing we can do about the… unfortunate placement of the human.” Seeing that I was dispirited with his answers, he offered, “Being that Huedhuat is a member of the Department of Wishes, such admonishments should be in the hands of his minister. And, being that this is a serious matter… I advise you to take this issue to that wild lion and hope the consequences are what you desire.”

Slowly, I asked, “Is that the best we can do?”

Pursing his lips, he nodded firmly. “I apologize. But should you find anything else that might prove him of having sinned, return to me and I’ll do what I can to ensure you get the justice you seek.”

I knew it… If anything, Huedhaut probably looked like nothing but a nice god who was only trying to care for his partner. There was nothing anyone would be able to do.

While I was lost in thought, Leon walked into the living room with a deep frown. Clearly he had overheard the conversation, but all he could do in response to my depression was comment, “I knew he wouldn’t be able to let go of her so easily. But just like her, you fell in love with how caring and clever he is. You’re completely ensnared, aren’t you? You can deny it so fervently, but you can’t even fool yourself.”

He stared at me, but seeing that I didn’t readily have a comeback, he took a seat in the living room, determined to ignore Zyglavis as he relaxed during his time away from Karno and the Heavens.

I would have immediately left the tension in the living room, but if I was being honest with myself, I no longer had a place to go. Dui, Ichthys, and Teorus were in the Heavens, no one else was there that would willingly take me in, and I would not return to Huedhaut—he didn’t deserve it… I didn’t deserve it.

Leaning back on the sofa, the living room was quiet and peaceful. It was something I thought I could appreciate, until my eyes widened upon finding Huedhaut entering the room. For a moment, I was certain he was there for me. However, he didn’t even glance at me—nor did he give me a wink of attention. My staring didn’t seem to affect him as he spoke calmly with Leon about work. I willingly broke up with him and he was being respectful of my space and wishes.

It was as if he didn’t care that all his efforts to have me went to waste. He wasn’t even remotely bothered by the way things turned out. If I could forget about everything he’d done, then things between the gods felt like they hadn’t changed at all.

Zyglavis met my gaze as if silently checking on me, but he just as quickly looked away, as if he had seen exactly what Leon was describing a few moments prior.

I wasn’t sure how to take the situation between me and the gods in the living room, so I quickly fled, wanting to leave the mansion if only for a moment. But as I sought out the door, I ran straight into Karno who was quick to catch my outstretched arms.

“(Name),” he called my name, offering me a concerned smile that made my heart ache. Though, his eyebrows soon furrowed in genuine worry at my lack of reaction. “What’s wrong?”

I stared at him for a moment, silently deciding that if there was any god to stay with, I wanted to stay with Karno… Luckily, he gladly accepted to take me in with the condition that I tell him what was going on between me and Huedhaut. Of course, I explained my situation and earned his ready sympathy.

His arms were always open to me… and he offered the same warmth and kindness as Huedhaut always did… Only… Karno wasn’t Huedhaut.

Still, I was grateful for his acceptance and eagerness to help me, even if he could only give a similar solution to Zyglavis and offer to do his best in discussing the issue with Leon.

Karno was the reason my week without Huedhaut went as smoothly as it did. It was peaceful, quiet… Yet… it was, above all else, painful. So many times, the truth was waved so obviously in my face: Karno wasn’t Huedhaut, and Huedhaut could not be replaced. My heart ached every time I walked past Huedhaut in a hall, or saw him working in the living room, or walked past his door. Even looking at a book made the longing grow more painful.

It made it worse with how he never so much as spared me a glance. It was as if… I didn't exist to him anymore. Rightfully, I should have been glad for all of this… but why did it hurt so much?

I hated how Huedhaut created an irreplacable spot for him in my heart. Or, thinking more deeply on it, maybe that spot had always been there. Maybe, to make myself feel better, I could place the blame on Clotho… After all, this could have been considered her fault. If it weren’t for her love for him, maybe I wouldn’t be so hopelessly attached to the most deviously clever god in the Heavens.

A couple of weeks later, I was on the verge of a breakdown when I finally gave into my initial urges to see Huedhaut, desperate for the love and affection I'd been neglected—and had been furiously avoiding. Only, Huedhaut wasn’t in the mansion as I had hoped, he was still in the Heavens.

Unfortunately, the minute Leon spotted me trailing through the mansion on a search for something—or rather, someone—he huffed in amusement. He didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was humored by my desperation to see Huedhaut after such a short time apart. He knew better than to think Huedhaut didn’t have me wrapped around his finger.

Upon returning, the sought-after god was surprised to find me trailing him to his room. He suspected it could have been a coincidence and that I just so happened to have been going in the same direction as him. But he was the only one in the hall when I spoke, “I’m sorry…” His eyebrows furrowed. What was I apologizing for? “You were right…” I paused. “I can’t go back to the way things were before. I- I thought I could go back and start again, but it’s not that easy. And- And Karno tried to help, but it only feels worse because it’s not you. And I’m stuck knowing things I wish I’d never found! I wouldn’t hate you so much if I didn’t know you’d done all this…” I paused for another tense moment, wondering if he was considering my words. He had at least paused to listen. “We were happy before… but I can’t stand you touching me anymore… and I hate hearing your taunting voice, because I can’t do anything.”

“What did you come here for?” He appears dispassionate, as if he didn’t care for my insulting explanation. “You broke my heart by leaving me for other gods. You’ve hurt me where I’ve never hurt you. Why should I do you a favor?”

“I’m not asking for a favor… I’m apologizing. You- You don’t deserve one. You…” I trailed off. “I don’t want to keep suffering like this. You have no idea how confused I feel!”

“I know,” he simply answered. Of course, he knew. He always knew. “Knowledge is a cursed thing that few can resist—especially curious humans.” That last bit was a jab at your desire for answers. “Fortunately, I can help you,” he offered. Snapping his fingers, a glass ball appeared in his hands and he looked down at it, inquiring, “You wish for me to take your memories? I can put them in here… a safe place to serve as a reminder…”

He didn’t elaborate on what he meant, but I could only gather that, should I wish to suspect him of any wrongdoings in the future, he’d have my horrible memories of these past few months stored away in a bubble. It was smart, as always. He had a clever solution for the problem he was responsible for.

“Yes… Please,” I begged, finally surrendering in this long game of mental chess.

A considerate smile crossed his features. “Well, you know what to say.”

Confusion filled my gaze before I finally apologized, “I’m so sorry for hurting you, Hue… But I’m hurting too. Cant’ you help me fix this…?” I trailed off at seeing the look in his eyes. It was a familiar look, a knowing look that said I was missing something.

After a brief moment, he assisted, “You know what you have to say…”

I faltered at how obvious it should have been. Finally, I prayed to him, “Hue… I wish I could forget everything we’ve done so things could go back to the way they used to be.”

I gazed at him with begging eyes, a sense of relief overcoming me at seeing his pleased smile. “Finally… Everything will finally return to as it should be.” Lifting his hand, he finally snapped his fingers and the world was overtaken by a bright light.

***

Huedhaut was reading a book some time after having laid me comfortably in his bed. Taking one’s memories isn’t an easy process, but Huedhaut had prepared himself for this very task, and it had gone off without a hitch.

He was only waiting patiently for me to wake up when he paused, hearing me call out his name softly. His gaze flickering to me, light seemed to fill his eyes once again. “Ah, my love. You’re awake already. I thought you’d sleep longer.”

This, unbeknown to me, was a test. Though, according to the blush that colored my cheeks, Huedhaut was happy. He knew he didn’t usually refer to me as ‘his love’ unprompted. So, he was greatly pleased when my shy response was, “Geez, H- Hue… I love you too. I…” I trailed off, curling further with the blanket around me. “I guess I am pretty tired,” I relented. “But can you come lay down with me? I… I feel like I miss you, for some reason. I had a weird dream that I can’t seem to remember.”

His soft laugh was music to my ears as he joined me in bed. “You needn’t worry, (Name)... I’ll always be by your side, even every single time you miss me. Just let me know if you do remember that dream you had. I’m so curious to know what it was about…” At the end, he added with a love-struck smile, “My love…”

#star crossed myth #star crossed myth fanfic #star crossed myth yandere #star crossed myth imagines #scm huedhaut #fanfic #voltage fanfic #zodiac signs #zodiac gods #department of wishes #yandere #yandere x reader #minor character death #tw: death #tw: violence

14 notes · View notes

fang-and-feather · 1 year

Text

Star-Crossed Myth Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Platonic

Friends like this (G, Ichthys & Dui)

Multiple Ships

Stay with Me

Aigo

Fleeting Moments (E, Aigo/OC)

Ichthys

Inappropriate Gifts (T, Ichthys/OC)

New Ways to Have Fun (E, Ichthys/OC)

Karno

Test Drive (E, Karno/OC)

Krioff

Effort (G, Krioff/OC)

Leon

Family Recipe (G, Leon/MC - Family fic)

Scorpio

Mornings (G, Scorpio/OC)

Zyglavis

Sweet Heat (E, Zyglavis/OC)

Teasing (E, Zyglavis/MC)

Heat (M, Zyglavis/OC)

Love's Blessing (G, Zyglavis/MC)

Love is all that Matters - (G, Zyglavis/OC)

Love Language (G, Zyglavis/OC)

Recovering my Star's Shine (G, Zyglavis/OC)

Karno/Leon

Polyamory

Shared Love (E, Karno/Leon/OC)

Love is never Lost (T, Mostly Karno/Leon with mentions of Karno/Leon/MC, TW: Mentions of character death)

Aligned Wishes (G, Leon/Karno/OC)

Leon/Zyglavis

Polyamory

Love Games (E, Leon/Zyglavis/OC)

Discrete Affection (T, Leon/Zyglavis/MC)

Scorpio/Zyglavis

Polyamory

Waiting for You (G, Scorpio/Zyglavis/MC)

How I love you (G, Scorpio/Zyglavis/MC)

#star crossed myth #star crossed myth fanfic

16 notes · View notes

mairablue · 1 year

Note

Hello! 😊 I saw you're accepting requests and I was wondering if you could write something with Scorpio and the mc watching a movie of murder mystery genre. I'm not pressuring you of course! 🌷

Also, I saw you wanted tips as well and all I have to say is.... Write whatever your heart tells you to. Writing is an expression. It's love, spirit and everything alike put down into words. Also, just because someone has a different writing style than yours, doesn't make it better than yours. All people have their own style in writing and all are beautiful and meaningful.🙃 And if you think you haven't found your own style yet, just keep writing about anything you want and soon enough you'll be where you want to be. (Also, sometimes we might not like something we're writing, because we're focusing at one piece at a time, but if we push through the doubts and finish it, once we reread it, we see how good it actually is, because we see the meaning of each word and we see it complete.)

SCM - Department of Punishment

Scorpio ♏ - Movie Night

Synopsis: A movie date ( sort of ) with Scorpio.

A/N : Thank you for requesting . I have tried my best, hopefully you like it. 🙂

You were sitting on your bed, writing a diary entry. You had a few assignments to complete, and here you were wasting your time.

You sighed and went to your study table, opened your notebook and started thinking. You definitely needed help and a bit of rest.

" Why am i so tired, all the time ? I need to complete it as soon as possible. But i want to sleep." you sighed, and closed your notebook. " I will write it tomorrow. " you thought.

There was a knock on the window. You opened it and saw Scorpio. He smiled at you. He was wearing casual clothes and had a small bag in his hand.

" How are you ? " he asked. " I am fine. " you said. " You look tired. " he replied . You smiled ruefully and said " Well i could say the same for you, Mr. Scorpio. " you both chuckled at that.

" What's in that bag ? " you asked. " I brought a DVD and you're favorite chocolates 🍫. I thought we could watch a movie tonight. " he said. " DVD ? Where did you get it?" " Karno gave it to me. Well he said the story is good, so I thought we could watch it. If you want to? " he replied bashfully.

You two sat on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and chocolate. The movie had subtitles. The story revolved around a man who was recently transferred to a remote village in the middle of a tropical rain forest. " What language are they speaking? It is beautiful. " Scorpio asked looking mesmerized at the tv screen. " I haven't heard this language before, but it indeed sounds beautiful. " you said.

The movie opened with some children reading story books and one of them goes on to read about a ghost, who is known to kidnap and kill children. The story goes on to show a kid being kidnapped by an eerie figure.

The story goes on the introduce the villagers and tells a bit more about its characters, finally introducing the main character, accompanied by his daughter, who has arrived to investigate further about the mysterious murders and kidnappings.

You were getting a bit scared but Scorpio was looking at the tv screen with undivided attention. Being mesmerized by the countryside landscape of this foreign land. It was indeed beautiful. Even though you have never been to a place like that, but you were nonetheless pleased to have been introduced to such beautiful place.

The story moved forward to some gruesome scenes, showing the muder of a villager. Few minutes later it introduced two new characters, a girl who has returned to her village for summer vacation and a boy who has just returned from London, after living there for the past ten years.

They both met the main character in the forest, when they thought someone was chasing them. They were in a relationship having met a year back in college. Everything seemed normal at first. The boy was from that village and surprisingly he had runaway from home as a 14 year old. Some believe he had been living in London. Here he was, back to his village; his mother couldn't stop crying when she heard he has returned.

Everyone was happy in the family. His father is the headman of the village and that girl, he is with is his father's friend's daughter. Everything seemed perfect. But the main character had his doubts about this boy.

" This is getting interesting. " smiled Scorpio. " I think the main character is judging too quickly " you said, and perhaps you were right. It was too early to link this new guy to the muders, after all, everyone seems to kinda recognize him as the runaway boy from their village, he and that boy had the same name and he even knew a lot of childhood incidents from his life ; some of which were only known by him, his mother and his cousin brother.

The main character was looking through criminal records when a villager approached him. The villager said he knew some important details of the runaway boy 's family and relatives. The villager was no ordinary man ; he was the principal of the village school and provided the main character with some information about this runaway boy.

" This seems too easy." you said, Scorpio nodded in agreement. " But i don't think the principal is a genuinely good person," " What? Why not ? ". " I think he wants to trick the main character into believing something, which is far from the truth. " Scorpio said.

The movie was slowly approaching its climax. With the main character being informed about a girl and her brother being kidnapped. When he reached there; a secluded part of the forest where the girl and her brother were being held captive, on a old almost destroyed castle like structure. There was a big water well beside the structure. The whole arrangement seemed like ritual setup.

There were two men wearing black clothes and mask. The main character got severely injured and woke up tied beside the girl. One of the man was holding her brother on the ground and the other one had a sword in his hand ; ready to behead the boy.

Somehow the girl managed to loosen the rope tied around the main character's hands, freeing him. In the end it was revealed that those two men were the school principal and the runaway boy, and they were cousins. The principal brought his distant cousin from another city to take revenge on the runaway boy's family .

The runaway boy was killed by both of them 10 years ago when he tried to inform the police about them. And were the ones who abducted and killed those missing children and villagers. Their victim's bodies ended up in that water well near the structure, and they spread the rumors of the eerie figures and ghosts by paying the wood cutters and frequent travelers.

The movie ended with the main character rescuing that girl and her brother by killing those men, and telling the respective families the incident. The runaway boy's mother still believed her son will come back one day; as the village headman asked the main character to not inform her( his wife) of their son's death.

" I liked the movie. Did you like it? " Scorpio asked. " Yeah. It wasn't too scary. I feel bad for the mother." you replied.

" Do you want to cuddle ?" You were taken aback. This was Scorpio, after all. He was asking for cuddles. " Scorpio, are you alright? You have been acting strange." you asked " You were stressed and i haven't seen you in days. So i thought we spend some time together and relax. Just the two of us." he said.

He was smiling at you; the most gentle smile he has ever shown anyone. He carried you to your bed and gently placed you on the bed. He sat beside you and stroked your hair until, you fell asleep.

A/N : My friend recently watched a movie and told me the story. This movie i wrote about is loosely based on that. I hope you like this story.

#scm scorpio #Scm #star crossed myth #star crossed myth fanfic #Scorpio #voltage inc #Love365 #sorry for my bad english #Scorpio x reader

8 notes · View notes

vyingeyes · 3 months

Text

Project Crown - 1 - Ground Zero

Geonosis was the kind of nightmare that nobody could ever really prepare you for. The Kaminoans had tried, but the divide between training and a real battlefield stretched unfathomably wide, and the only way to bridge that gap is to experience the latter firsthand.

Course was one of many clones deployed to Geonosis. He also seemed to be the only one with a functioning brain.

“48! Get back in formation!” Kyr snapped beside him.

Course didn’t bother turning to see what trouble their idiot brother was getting up to this time, far too preoccupied trying to patch up the unnamed clone that a Geonosian had flung down to their squad from one of the ledges a few meters above them in the canyon. The poor guy was thoroughly dazed from his short flight, but his wounds weren’t serious.

Kyr’s steady presence hovered by Course’s left side. “Status?”

“Stable. He’ll be able to keep fighting as soon as he’s able to think straight.”

The newcomer groaned out something vaguely interrogative, and Course turned to address Kyr head-on.

“Give me two minutes.”

Kyr’s visor tilted toward the ledges, and Course knew he was on the lookout for more bugs. “Hurry.”

There’s not really much I can do to speed the process up, Course thought dryly as their unit moved to block the wounded clone from any new avenue of attack. Nonetheless, he leaned over the clone.

“Break’s over,” he said bluntly. “As soon as you’re up we can get you back to your unit.”

“What… Where…?”

A flash of annoyance flickered through Course, and he tried his best to smother it. It was reasonable that a trooper would be confused after such an atypical experience. It wasn’t his fault he’d hit his head. Probably.

“A Geo dropped you down onto my squad. We’re gonna get you back up to yours.”

“Oh.” The other clone pushed himself into a sitting position, crest waving like a flag as he looked around to try and get his bearings back about him.

“Is he up?” Kyr called from where he spoke with 48.

“It hasn’t been two minutes,” Course reminded.

“I’m up,” the clone announced, pushing himself the rest of the way up.

Course sighed, but offered the clone a hand, pulling him to his feet.

“Myth contacted his unit,” Kyr told Course. “They’re sending down their gunner to help bring him back up. We just have to stick around to make sure no Geonosians interrupt their climb.”

The gunner in question just barely peeked over the edge of the east-side ledge, fiddling with something, presumably in preparation to drop down. The ledge wasn’t too tall, maybe six meters, but the wall was sheer, and the Crown-Green unit didn’t have the gear to scale it even if they wanted to. Fortunately, the unit above them seemed to be prepared for this exact situation, and in moments, the heavy gunner was descending.

Course knew that Green Squad alone could probably handle bug-watching, so he didn’t hesitate to use the lapse of downtime to head directly over to Myth and drag him under an overhang to check him over.

“Wh- Course!” Myth yelped, staggering as Course pulled him along. “I’m fine!”

Course ignored him, opting instead to remove Myth’s upper bicep armor with a quick click and pull of the release mechanism. Immediately, the magnets deactivated and the rerebrace fell away from his brother’s arm in two pieces. Course twisted Myth’s arm to better assess the area where a stray bolt had skimmed him earlier that morning during their first big firefight.

Course removed the hastily applied bacta patch from the sliver of blister-bright skin revealed by the incision in the body glove, and Myth’s hiss through clenched teeth told Course that he wasn’t enjoying it. But the bacta did its job, and as Course applied a new one (more careful now that he had the time to dedicate to it, carefully centered so that the bacta-infused center sat flush with the worst of the burn), he grew confident that it would be fully closed by the time all this mess was over.

“Seriously, it was fine,” Myth muttered, his words just barely making it through the vocoder.

“Don’t be a brat,” Course said. “Infection is one of the stupidest ways you could die. I’ve been wanting to fix that patch for hours.”

“We’re supposed to be watching for Geonosians!”

The sound of blasters firing followed immediately by a bright, “Got it!” from their unit made Course raise an unimpressed eyebrow under his helmet even knowing his brother wouldn’t be able to see it.

“I think they’ve got it handled.”

Myth’s visor dropped toward the ground, and for a moment Course considered poking fun at him for being so petulant, but then Kyr ducked into the cover with them.

“Dral’s back with Orbit-Nexu,” he informed. “We need to keep moving.”

Course latched Myth’s rerebrace back on. “Of course.”

“Of course,” Myth echoed absently, already moving back toward the unit the moment his armor was secured.

“Any problems?” Kyr asked, a hint of his Leader Voice peeking in past the otherwise innocuous question.

Course shook his head. “Just took a second to redress Myth’s graze,” he dismissed. “Didn’t have time to do it properly the first time.”

“Good. Let’s get going, then.”

Together, they headed back toward the unit, where 48 was giving Myth a dramatic retelling of what Course guessed would be the Geo kill that he had just performed.

“—hit it right in the wing, it went spiraling, and I—”

“Alright soldiers,” Kyr interrupted, “break’s over. We’ve still got a rendezvous to make.”

48 threw his head back, clearly personally targeted, but he moved with the rest of them to get back into formation. Kyr and Punch side-by-side in the lead, followed by Myth and Push, then Course and Pinch, Pull and Punt, and 48 on his own at the rear of the group. Comfortable. Familiar. Protocol.

Technically speaking, it was protocol to have infantry at the rear to prevent any specialists from getting attacked from behind. Course knew that 48 specifically got put in that slot to prevent him from getting sidetracked trying to talk to the person beside him, but it felt like a bigger risk that he would get a bright idea and leave the formation, and then none of them would notice until he was already gone. Kyr clearly had more faith in him than Course did.

“8ball is heading back our way,” Kyr announced over local comms as they continued the trek through the dusty canyon. “He says it should be a clear shot to the landing field.”

Kyr did his best to conceal his apprehension, but unfortunately, Course was also familiar with their brother. Just because 8ball thought the path was clear, that didn’t mean that it was by anyone else’s standards.

And, as the Crown-Green unit caught sight of their scout dashing back toward them, a small horde of B1s trailing behind him, Course’s skepticism was rewarded.

Their helmet comms crackled as 8ball connected to the local frequency. “Hey guys! Help!”

Blaster bolts filled the air between the two parties, and in a frankly impressively short moment 8ball found himself barreling into their formation at top speed. He did not slow down once he got past the leads, and Myth and Push jerked to either side to avoid getting run over. Beside Course, Pinch moved to the right. So did Course.

8ball scrambled to slow down in the two meters he had to realize Course was stepping into his path, sending up a spray of dust and grit as he tried to hit the brakes. Course braced. 8ball hit him with a loud CLACK, armor colliding with armor, and Course stumbled backwards to keep them both from falling to the ground.

Course gripped his brother by his shoulders and bodily turned him back toward the droids, pushing him a bit to give himself the room needed to raise his own rifle.

48 shoved his way up to be with the two of them, shooting all the while. “Y’know, 8ball, typically you want to shoot the droids that are shooting at you.”

8ball snarled something distinctly offensive as he fumbled to equip his rifle with its sniper extension.

“Focus,” Course snapped at the both of them. “This isn’t a sim.”

48 straightened up theatrically. “Yes sir, medic sir!”

Course scowled, but 8ball laughed and began lining up his shots.

“What happened to ‘clear’?” Kyr demanded over their comm.

8ball fired off a shot, and Course watched a clanker fall bodily into its neighbor. “I said ‘pretty clear’! And it is! Once we get past these guys.”

There was a laugh from someone in Green Squad at that, and in front of Course, Punch shook his head in the resigned sort of way that most sane individuals did after more than ten minutes alone with Crown Squad. Course would know it. He did it daily.

“Charge primed!” Punt announced behind them, and the unit scattered like clockwork while the ordnance specialist readied his shot. In an instant, the path cleared, and the explosive was flying through the air toward the unit of droids.

Even from the moderate distance between the groups, Course could hear the cartoonish, “uh oh” that came from at least three separate droids when the explosive rolled neatly into the center of the group. The explosion itself was quick and controlled, enough to fill the comm channel with brief feedback from the sheer number of open lines, but not enough to shake the walls of the cliffs on either side of them.

“Nice shot,” Kyr complimented, lowering his gun now that the threat was neutralized. “8ball?”

8ball flitted to the front of the unit. “Yes?”

“What the hell was that?”

“Well, I snuck by them really easily on the first trip,” the scout started, “but then on the way back they’d decided to get in the way and I couldn’t get back without getting their attention, and it’d take too long to deal with them alone, and I knew the SBDs would be too slow to follow all the way back to the group so I thought—”

“Supers?” Punch interrupted, head jolting back the way that 8ball had come and half-lifting his Z-6 like he expected a Super to appear dramatically out of the dust, summoned by the very mention.

“It’s just the Supers now,” 8ball said, a bit defensive now at the tone of the other squad leader. “That’s why I said it was ‘pretty’ clear. It was just two squads of B1s and the SBDs. That’s nothing.”

Kyr went quiet, head tilting, and Course knew he was trying to be patient.

“How many SBDs?” Course asked, shooting a glance towards Kyr that hopefully conveyed it happened, cope.

“Just two,” 8ball said, and the tension drained out of Kyr’s shoulders.

“Alright, that’s workable.” Kyr glanced toward Punch, then Punt. “Do you have enough ordnance to deal with both of them?”

Technically they all had some ordnance, but Kyr would be trying to keep them all as armed as possible for as long as possible, so taking care of these Supers would fall primarily on Punt.

“Easily,” Punt said, waving him off. “Leave the clankers to me.”

“8ball, I want you to be with him,” Kyr said. “You know the drill with B2s. See if you can’t get their plating to crumble before Punt takes his shot.”

Punch examined the group. “It might be useful to have 48 with them, too. I know he knows his way around a grenade, if it comes down to it.”

48 lit up even through the thick layers of armor, practically glowing under the plastoid. “Happily, sir.”

Kyr shot Punch a look, then 48. “It’s not a bad idea,” he permitted. “You three will head in. Course, I want you with them. The rest of us will be behind you to prevent a flank.”

Course wanted to argue against that. It made more sense to keep the medic with the bigger chunk of the group, especially when the men taking point would be ideally staying out of range of the B2s. But it wasn’t his job to question the order, and if Kyr was the one giving it, he’d follow it. Hopefully the rest of the unit would be staying close enough to them that it wouldn’t matter in the end anyway.

“Alright,” he said. At least if he went, he’d be able to stop 8ball and 48 from doing something inadvisable. He didn’t trust Punt to do as much.

Kyr grasped Course by the vambrace and tapped their helmets together for a few short seconds. “Good luck.”

Bastard. “You’re better off telling that to 8ball.”

An amused huff crackled through Kyr’s vocoder, and he gave Course one last pat to the back before moving to give 8ball and 48 the same treatment. The second Kyr stepped away from him, Myth fluttered up to Course.

“SBDs are slow but they hit hard,” Myth blurted. Then, all in the same breath, “Their plating is blast proof but there are weak points at the edges of each plate that if targeted can cause the internal components to be exposed and leave them more susceptible—”

Course shook his head. “Myth. We’ve got it. You focus on keeping the Geos away from us, we’ll worry about the Supers.”

Myth hovered a second longer, arms moving in little aborted jerks like he had more to say, before his head snapped into a nod and he hurried back toward Push and Pull.

An arm slung itself around Course’s shoulders and he tensed, turning his helmet and nearly clacking his helmet against 48’s.

“So… Babysitting duty,” 48 dragged out.

Course blinked slowly. “Yes. Babysitting you.”

“Kyr’s mad at 8ball right now, not me,” 48 dismissed. “You’re babysitting him.”

“You broke formation. He’s mad at both of you.”

“Yeah, but I only broke formation. 8ball’s doing 8ball-level stupid shit. He takes the lead.”

“Alright Crowns,” Punt sighed, pushing himself into their little bubble and grabbing 48 by the strap of his armor. “Let’s go blow up some B2s.”

They steered toward 8ball and, having collected their last stray teammate, set out into the valley that 8ball had scouted.

8ball darted to take point. “They should still be pretty far in, the big ones don’t do well with uphill slopes, if they even bothered chasing.”

“What are we looking for, exactly?” Punt asked, glancing around the steepening cliffs with a wariness that you couldn’t help but gain after having one too many Geonosians appear out of nowhere.

“There’s a gap between the cliffs that we need to go through to get to the landing zone,” 8ball said. “But a little bit before that there’s this place where a bunch of these mountain passes meet at a sort of crossroads. The droids were down the left one when I passed the first time. It’s only a few minutes out. I was thinking we could scale one of the ledges that overlook it and take pot shots from there.”

Course breathed an impatient sigh. “Coordinates, 8ball.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sending them now.”

A ping on the corner of his HUD appeared, and Course accepted it to update his local map with a location marker.

“We should probably start climbing now,” 8ball considered. “It’ll just get steeper the further in we go.”

Nobody was going to argue with a scout about local topography, so they began to painstakingly increase the distance between themselves and the ground, following 8ball as he made occasionally precarious hops between the cliffside’s sporadic footholds. Course’s only regret was that he wouldn’t get to watch the rest of their unit attempt the journey.

Course trailed behind the three of them, focusing his attention on the cliffs around them more than the conversation going on over their comms. Any sudden shadow made by the clouds drifting above them could be a Geonosian gunning for them, if not for the undisturbed quiet of the canyon. Geos typically didn’t run at them, though. All of the ones that Course had encountered thus far flew, and their wings made a distinct droning buzz that had reminded him of the insects they studied in their flash training modules—they hadn’t included audio, but the description couldn’t be like anything else. The Geos were presumably louder than a traditionally sized insect, but so far, he hadn’t run across one to compare them with.

“What do you think, Course?” 48 prompted suddenly over their comm. They were on relatively flat ground, now, and his brother peered over his shoulder back at him.

Course did not know what the topic was, but given the clones present, he didn’t think it mattered very much. He fixed his visor on 48 and stared wordlessly.

“See? I told you Course would agree with me,” 8ball bragged. “Your idea is stupid anyway. There’s no way that you’d be able to—”

Course rolled his eyes. “Stay on task.”

8ball sighed, but if he kept talking, it happened on a comm frequency that didn’t include Course, which was really all he could ask for.

They made it to the overlook in good time. Kyr would be glad, given that their rendezvous was supposed to be in twenty-two minutes and they were already pushing it. 8ball made quick work of dropping to his stomach and propping his sniper while 48 stooped to help Punt arm the grenades.

“Told you. I think they might be stuck,” 8ball crackled through the comm.

Course glanced over the ledge to get an idea of the scene and saw that, as 8ball had suggested earlier, the so-called “super” battle droids did indeed seem to be stuck at the bottom of a fifty-degree slope. Course struggled to think of too many other reasons the droids wouldn’t have gone to reinforce the B1s’ attack.

“Either that or they’re guarding the pass,” 8ball continued idly. “That’s the way we need to go. You need to make sure that you don’t blow up the entrance or I’m gonna have to find a new route and then we’re really gonna be late.”

Course looked past the SBDs and saw what 8ball must be referring to. Half blocked by the hulking frames of the supers was a crack in the cliff face. A clone could probably fit, if they took their time and entered sideways, but an SBD had no hope. Course just hoped that the rest of the pass widened out, if that’s the way they’d be having to go soon.

“Alright,” Course said. “Get to work.”

“Yeah? And what’re you gonna do, watch us?” 48 demanded.

Course knew intrinsically that 48 just wanted to get a rise out of him, but he couldn’t help the slight air of annoyance as he said, “I’m going to watch your six so you don’t get ambushed. Hurry up.”

48 laughed as Course turned and stepped away to watch their flank. Course never did understand the carelessness of his brothers, but he wouldn’t be wasting the time trying to figure it out now of all times.

He was aware, vaguely, of Punt and 8ball coordinating their attack a solid few meters away, but Course examined the rocky ledges above and below them. This planet had an eerie atmosphere— eerie in the way that it seemed to house enemies that could appear or disappear in a moment. On the gunship down, Myth had rattled off a hundred different facts about the planet’s geography, but the one that Course remembered most clearly was that the Geonosians lived primarily under the surface, in dingy caves and tunnels. It made sense, if you wanted to avoid the glaring heat of the Geonosian sun, but it also meant that Course could never be sure that a shadow was just a shadow. The natural texture of the cliffs meant that there could be a tunnel mouth hiding just out of view at any point, and none of them would know any better.

“Ready?” 8ball asked.

Punt’s comm crackled as he spoke. “Go.”

A deafening crack shattered the quiet as 8ball took his first shot, followed quickly by a second. Course looked over just long enough to see Punt lobbing his first explosive down at the droids, a muffled blast following just seconds after.

“One damaged, one staggered,” 48 reported through their local helmet comm. “Eighty, target the one by the wall. Punt, the other one should be easy to finish off, its hull’s warping—”

Another crack as 8ball fired his sniper rifle, but Course didn’t look to see if it hit. Punt said something about the SBDs below, loud in Course’s ears as he fumbled to mute the incoming audio. A high pitched droning echoed in the walls of the canyon, quickly growing louder as its source approached. Where was it coming from?

“Course!”

That wasn’t over the comms, and Course didn’t have time to identify which brother had called out to him before unyielding hands grabbed him and hoisted him into the air.

Course had been trained for a lot of things. Impromptu, uncontrolled flight was one of them, actually, but it had always been in the context of jetkits, not flying enemies. He couldn’t cut the fuel line or unlatch this carrier from his armor. He couldn’t even complete a fraction of a twist, due to the hold the bug had him in, so wriggling his way out didn’t look likely. The droning from before now rattled his skull as the ground shrank underneath him, and he couldn’t hope to hear his brothers even if they somehow knew what to do in this situation—Myth would, but he wasn’t here either way. Course was alone.

Plasma bolts flew into the orange rock around him as the others tried to shoot at the bug, occasionally accompanied by the resounding crack of 8ball’s sniper, but either Course had been picked up by a master of evasion, or they were too afraid of shooting him instead of it. He’d love to tell them to just commit, because he’d much rather die getting shot than by whatever this thing had planned for him. The sound of rushing air muffled the shouts coming from below him, and as Course craned his neck to peer down, he realized that his window for surviving getting away from this bug was closing rapidly. Damned if you do…

Course would take death by falling over a secondary location any day. With that thought in mind, he ducked his chin as close to his chest as he could manage and slammed his head back into his captor with all his strength. He doubted he’d hit it anywhere important—the bugs that were big enough to carry a clone trooper had eerily long torsos—but between the barrage of blaster bolts and the headbutt, the bug loosened its grip enough for Course to jerk halfway out of its hold. The two of them dipped in the air for a moment as the Geonosian fought to maintain its grip on him, but with one arm free, Course was free to wretch the medical scissors out of his belt and stab at the bug until it gave up and dropped him completely.

Hurtling toward the ground was louder than heading up; the rushing air was familiar, and the absence of insectoid wings was more than made up for by the blood that roared in his ears. Somehow, both of those constants disappeared to highlight the sound his armor made as he skimmed the rock wall of the canyon. Course wasn’t sure if it would have been enough to slow his speed, but he had no time to run calculations. If he’d been thinking, he would have counted how long it took him to fall. It would give him an idea of how he should go about treating himself, should he survive the landing.

Unlike the first collision, Course did not hear himself hitting the ground. He could tell you how he landed—feet first, and then crumpling forward onto frantically-outstretched arms—but nothing else. He must have blacked out for a moment, perhaps upon impact? One minute he was falling, the next, he was flat on the ground. He knew how it happened but would be hard-pressed to describe it in any detail.

Sound filtered slowly back in through his helmet. Fuzzy voices of panicked brothers, indistinguishable without focus that he did not have. No more blaster-fire, no explosions, nothing to suggest they were still in danger. He found himself still on his front. The others must have caught up, because Myth or Pull would be the only ones with enough sense through the chaos to tell the others not to turn Course over in case of injury to the spine.

Course ignored the voices for a moment to focus deeply on the feel of his legs. They were in sharp, searing agony, which was nice. It meant that at the very least, he probably wasn’t paralyzed. His arms, too, ached, though not nearly as badly. But he survived, somehow, and although the realization slowly dawned that he hurt all over—no doubt from the events of the entire day, not just his impromptu flight—there was little more he could ask for.

Someone’s arm jostling his shoulder drew him out of himself, and a small sound of discomfort left him at the disruption.

“Course?” Kyr’s Leader Voice, unmistakably, which could only mean that he’d terrified his brother. “Can you hear me, vod?”

Course closed his eyes for a second. Can’t even fall out of the sky without having to do everything on his terms, he thought bitterly. He knew that was uncharitable. He also figured he was more than entitled to a little bit of a bad attitude, at that moment. He took a moment to brace himself. “… Yes.”

A chorus of identical voices broke out, quickly hushed, before Kyr spoke again. “What’s your status?”

Status? Course thought, astonished. That was… an unbelievable ask. He knew, logically, that Kyr falling back on protocol helped him to hold onto some sense of normalcy. His brother was definitely, certainly, very deeply concerned about Course. It still pissed him off. “… Blunt force trauma to the legs. Extensive. Probable minor damage to arms and skull,” he droned. “Recommended course of action is to administer one stim cannister to each leg and continue to the rendezvous.”

The chatter picked up again, and nobody shushed it this time.

“What?” Kyr demanded, pitch increasing in fractions. “You just broke both of your legs. You are not getting a stim and a pat on the back.”

“Protocol says I do.”

“This is an exception,” the Leader-Voice intoned, back in full-force and leaving no room for debate. “We’ve got seventeen minutes to get to the rendezvous. We can’t have you hobbling along behind us slowing us down. I’ll carry you.”

Course’s eyes shot open. “No, you won’t,” he argued, his normally flat tone lilting up with frustration and incredulity. “If you’d just administer the stim, I will be up faster than it will take you to figure out how to get me through that opening.”

“We’ll give you the stim and you can get through the narrowest part of the path,” Kyr agreed, “but once we can, I’m carrying you.”

“That is not protocol,” Course snarled, anger simmering up from his stomach.

“It’ll be faster.” Kyr’s voice held no concern for any potential breach in protocol. “The most important thing is that we make it to our rendezvous. How we get there isn’t so important.”

Course took a moment to process. If Kyr truly refused to relent on this… “Then I’ll be noting your disregard for protocol in my report.”

The quiet murmur of their other brothers cut out suddenly. Nobody said anything for a few long moments. A hesitant voice—who had to be either Myth or Pinch—was the next to speak.

“It’s really not worth it, Kyr. As long as we move now, we can still make it—”

“Write me up, then,” Kyr interrupted, ignoring the input entirely. His words grew sharper, edged in frustration. “I don’t care. I’m not having you walk on broken legs the entire way.”

He did not wait for a response, immediately injecting stim into the gaps between Course’s leg plates. Course supposed Kyr had spent the duration of the argument rummaging through Course’s med kit. A third, unexpected jab at the top of the neck startled Course, and he flinched away from it.

“I don’t trust that you didn’t hurt your back.” Kyr’s voice wasn’t so sharp now, perhaps in apology for the unwarranted extra shot.

Course did not grace him with any further reaction, instead rolling to his side and pushing himself upright. He ignored the influx of brothers at his every side, jerking to his feet with gritted teeth. Every pound of weight he put onto his legs sent screaming agony directly through his lower half, but he would not be encouraging Kyr’s disregard for regulation by doing anything other than breathe through it.

Kyr finally seemed to understand that he wouldn’t be getting acceptance out of Course today. “48, take point with 8ball.” Kyr continued to instruct the unit how they would proceed, fully ignoring the Green Squad Lead two meters away from him.

To Punch’s merit, he said nothing. He looked Course over and gave him a small nod as Kyr did his job for him. Course wondered how he just decided to let it go. Course wasn’t a squad lead. Wasn’t even kind of an officer, in any sense, other than being a medic, and even that being dismissed for what Kyr wanted to do was rage inducing. He couldn’t imagine spending his entire life being trained to lead others and then having some hard-headed ass swoop in and take that away from him.

They progressed to the ground level in a very nontraditional huddle of plastoid, half of them pointing their guns at every shadow on the rocks and the other half hovering around Course like he could turn to dust at any moment. If Course could focus on anything other than the amount of pain he was in, he was sure he’d tell them off so badly they wouldn’t ever look at him twice again.

The charred heaps of scrap that were once Super Battle Droids lay just in front of the narrow crevice that their unit would have to squeeze through. If Course was lucky, it would stay that narrow long enough for Kyr to drop the subject of carrying him.

Course glanced to 8ball. The scout inspected his sniper, uncharacteristically quiet, while 48 spoke lowly by the audio receptor of his helmet. What they were talking about, Course couldn’t say, but after a moment, 8ball nodded and pushed toward the front of the group to take point as previously instructed. He turned to the side and squeezed into the gap between the cliffs. A few steps in, he turned to face the unit again, waving cheerily.

48 went next, followed by half of Green Squad. There was a brief moment of concern where Punch nearly got his Z-6 stuck going through, but with a little pulling by 48, both clone and gun were in.

Kyr gestured Course to go first. Course assumed it was so that he could breathe down his neck the entire time, but bitterly followed the given instruction. Kyr followed close after. Blessedly, he did not attempt to hoist Course over his shoulder the moment they could walk straight.

Once the entire unit was confirmed to be in the passage, they began to make their trek. According to Course’s comm, they had approximately ten minutes before they were late for the rendezvous. Despite himself, anxiety began to bloom in the pit of Course’s stomach. The hard part of this deployment had already concluded—a brief firefight with Geonosian ground forces while the command class troopers and commandos knocked out the big stuff—and the only thing left was to show up on time. What would happen to them if they failed to do something as simple as that?

He knew the others had to be feeling the same stress. Some of his brothers knew how to hide it better than others—he was pretty sure if Myth looked over his shoulder one more time, his neck would break—but every one of their lives hinged on a good combat report. Failure to do the one part of the mission that required them to think on their own feet wouldn’t look good. If they were lucky, they might end up somewhere nice and boring. If they weren’t—well, you don’t send your best troopers to fight on the front lines of losing battles. Maybe the Kaminoans would find the bleakest battle possible and deploy them there as cannon fodder.

About a minute later, the passage widened further, allowing them to pull up into a traditional two-lined formation lead by 8ball and 48 side-by-side. It was then that Kyr walked around Course and blocked his path.

Course fixed his T-visor on his brother. Kyr’s emotionless helmet peered back. He was sure both of them had their jaws set, could almost see the annoyed scowl Kyr must be wearing. He knew all of their faces well, but he knew Kyr’s micro expressions better than anyone else.

Kyr didn’t seem eager to prolong their standoff any more than Course was. “You can let me carry you, or I will wrangle you into a hold.”

Unspoken: we don’t have time for this. Course knew that. At least Kyr didn’t feel the need to spell that one out for him.

Course said nothing for a moment. Reflected on the situation as a whole. Remembered the unspoken message he gave Kyr not an hour before—it happened, cope. He took a breath.

“It will be going in the medical report.”

“Fine by me.”

The air cleared suddenly. Course hadn’t realized it had ever thickened, but he felt it then.

Everyone else had expected him to cause a scene about it. They were waiting for him to dig his heels in and start an argument. Maybe because that’s what most of his batchmates would’ve done. Hell, if Kyr and Course were to trade positions, it was likely what Kyr himself would do. Maybe if they had any more time, Course wouldn’t let it fly so soon, but he knew that they didn’t have time to argue about it any more than they already had. So he let Kyr heft him over one shoulder.

Every step Kyr took, Course seethed. Not only was this a humiliating position to be in, but it was entirely unnecessary. Course had personally told Kyr of how every metric said they should proceed, and Kyr ignored him at every turn. The fact that he had gotten into this situation at all in the first place was ridiculous. There was no reason to send him on the team against the SBDs, except for that Kyr wanted supervision for the squadmates that he felt unable to trust with such a task. Which was stupid, given that all three had stayed on task just fine. Apparently, they even managed to take out the SBDs while trying to recover Course from the grips of the Geonosian. Punch should have been the one to go with 8ball, 48, and Punt. A heavy gunner would not only be helpful against the SBDs, but he would have stood a much better chance at deterring an oversized bug from trying to make off with a clone.

Anger rolled steadily through Course’s chest by the time they got to the rendezvous—with three minutes to spare, maybe Course had had some room to argue. Kyr set Course down just before they were swamped by other troopers. How kind of him. A company’s worth of clones milled about, a sea of shiny white plastoid ever-shifting as everyone tried to keep organized and stay with their squad while boarding the dropships meant to take them back to transport.

Kyr continued instructing their unit like he was the only one who knew what to do. Course listened as a formality, then turned to head toward the transport with their assigned number. They’d all read the brief—not just Kyr.

The troopers managing the transports gave him a nod as he limped up to the open door. Course couldn’t identify them, assuming he’d ever met them, but he did pity them a bit. Administrative tasks like they were doing weren’t the most impressive on a combat report. Might land them a title, but it’d be a title on some low-level base, given they weren’t command-class. It wasn’t the worst thing Course could imagine happening to a clone, but to many, it was world-ending.

Maybe clones were dramatic by nature, and it skipped a generation with him?

The rest of the unit piled into the transport, Greens brushing elbows with Crowns, and in minutes the ship was humming to life. Back to Kamino.

Course looked forward to his report.

-- -- -- --

Tumblr formatting is agonizing but I will learn it. Anything for my boys.

Chapter 2 can be found here

52 notes · View notes

imhereforscm · 2 months

Text

"Beautiful hair"

Genre: fluff

Pairing: Zyglavis × reader

Warnings: none

For the fluffbruary event (@fluffbruary )

A/N: ZYGLAVIS WITH HIS HAIR DOOOWWWWNNNN😩😩😩😩😩😩😩

Prompts: suave | cologne | gradual (Day 18/2024)

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

Your hand rose, your knuckles coming in contact with the wood of Zyglavis' bedroom door. "Zyglavis?" You called out. "It's me."

"Come in." He responded, his deep voice emanating from within the room.

You gripped and turned the doorknob, gradually opening the door. You stepped in quietly, your eyes finding Zyglavis' strong back immediately.

The moonlight framed his tall figure with a silver outline, blending with the inky color of his suit and crawling across the floor, halting just before your feet.

"I arrived a little early."

"That's alright, you may sit on the bed and wait for me." He said and you could depict the smile in his voice by its tone, that slipped into your core like music, suave and made of silk.

You did as per suggestion and took a comfortable seat upon the bed, eyeing him as he abandoned Selene's pure and divine breath behind and moved to his desk.

A bottle was sitting there, small and delicate and Zyglavis brought it to his neck, spraying twice two little portions.

"Is that the cologne I gifted you?" You noticed, your lips curling into a smile.

"Of course, my goddess." He answered, setting the vial back down. Zyglavis sat on his chair and slid open one of the drawers, taking out his most treasured comb, which shone with a golden glint in his fingers.

You watched as he untied the ribbon from his hair and let them spread and sway around his broad shoulders. "Can I do it for you?" You spoke up, rising from your seat on the bed, when you witnessed him about to bring the comb to his hair.

"Sure. If you so desire."

You walked up to him and he handed you the golden hairbrush, your breath hitching a little as your boyfriend's silky hair slipped and coiled around your fingers. "Your hair..." You breathed, the words lost in your haze of endearment, leaving you trail off.

"I'm certain your hair are far more beautiful than mine though." He said, the smile in his voice evident once more.

"That... Couldn't possibly be true." You replied, in awe at the softness and beauty of his purplish blue locks, as you combed them gently.

"Oh, but it could." He declined the factuality of your words. "I've never felt attraction towards my own self because of my own hair before, but with you..." He sighed, with a calm smile which you couldn't see across his velvet lips. "Your hair are captivating to me."

At his words, you felt a tickle in your stomach and your face felt warmer. "May I ask something of you?"

"Anything my goddess wants."

You smiled, leaning in beside his ear and his lovely scent enchanted your senses. "For our date tonight... Will you let your hair down?"

He turned his head to the side, his deep and dark eyes diving within yours. "As you wish."

#scm #star crossed myth #fanfic scm #scm fanfic #scm zyglavis

26 notes · View notes

feathers-nest · 5 months

Text

Zyglavis x Reader - Post-Canon

This is a new version of an old fic. I will be reposting, rewriting or editing most of my old fics, from my early days on Tumblr, to make an actual Tumblr fic post (the old posts only have the AO3 links), some of them (like this one) will be reposted as xReader versions, and so they are on the right blog too.

Summary: As you and Zyglavis prepare for your promised wedding on Earth, you realize you never told your parents much about him

Masterlist // Old Version

Zyglavis wasn’t surprised when you told him you wanted to invite your parents to the wedding ceremony the two of you were planning to have on Earth. What surprised him was how fidgety you were about it.

“You’ve told your parents about us, haven’t you?”

“Kind of. I have been deciding what and how to tell them. It’s not like I can just come out and tell the truth, can I?”

Of course, you couldn’t just come out and tell your parents he was a god, but with how much you talked with your mother, he didn’t expect for your not to have come up with something already.

“That is certainly not an option. But I thought you had told them something.”

“I told them your name and told them we were dating. It wasn’t important to fill them into anything else before.” You looked up from the book you were reading. Despite the serious situation, you were smiling. “How would I know we would be here, preparing to get married on Earth, and that I would have the opportunity to invite them to the wedding?” You snuggled into his chest, and Zyglavis hugged you.

Everything about your relationship was a miracle. You were two beings that shouldn’t have even met, and your relationship had been tested many times. Despite that, you were now married by heavenly custom, and he wanted to give you the earthly wedding you dreamed of as well.

Neither of you had dared to dream this was possible, so it was understandable you hadn’t prepared for it before. But between his proposal and all the preparations, you should have realized he would need to meet your parents before the wedding.

“We are very lucky, indeed.” He caressed your hair, feeling you relax more under his touch. “That doesn’t change the fact that your parents know nothing about me when you are trying to tell them we are getting married. What do you plan to tell them?”

“Don’t worry.” You looked up at him with an even bigger smile. “I’ll just tell them the closest to the truth as possible. I have some ideas. I’m just dreading a couple of questions.”

“One is where I’m from. Just telling them I am from somewhere else, like you do with your co-workers won’t be enough.” You nodded. “The other is about work.”

You shook your head and snuggled into him again, chuckling.

“I’m prepared for that last one. I’m afraid Dad might ask how old you are. But I guess just saying I love you too much to even bother asking isn’t a lie.”

“In other words, distract them until they stop asking.” He shook his head and sighed, hugging you tighter. It wasn’t the most honest idea, but it was so much like you to avoid lying as much as possible, and given the circumstances, that was an impressive feat.

“Better than lying to them, right? Or we could just convince my sisters to bring Hue and Karno along. It’s always easier to escape uncomfortable things in a group. Besides, these things are so minimal, I doubt they’ll get hung up on it when they see how much I’m happy, even if they don’t understand. The fact that I love you and you love me is all that matters, isn’t it?”

“Of course.” Zyglavis smiled as you looked up into his eyes again. The only reason he was doing these things, and the only reason that doing them right mattered to him, was because he knew they would make you happy. If you said it was fine and that you didn’t mind, then why would he?

Zyglavis kissed you, knowing that, no matter what happened, you would have a bright future, because your love was stronger than anything.

#star crossed myth #scm zyglavis #zyglavis x reader #scm #fanfiction #scm fanfic #repost

3 notes · View notes

alice-bloom · 1 year

Text

Join discord sever

✼ Join our verified group This is a sever for fun and friendly Otome games plus Genshin and Genius game and Shining Nikki/Love games where you play and with your friends or meet new members!

ᴡᴇ ᴏꜰꜰᴇʀ ᴍᴀɴʏ ᴛʜɪɴɢꜱ ɪɴ ᴏᴜʀ ꜱᴇʀᴠᴇʀ! ༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺ ☆friendly atmosphere and Funtime with friends ✨✨ ♪ Lots of channels for otomes games! ✨✨ ♪ Roles for each of games your playing !✨✨ ☆Nsfw18+ Area✨💜 ☆ Bots such as Mudae and Katheryn ,dank memer!✨✨ ♪ genshin impact channel plus memes ! ✨✨ ☆ Chat channels plus music channels !✨✨ ☆ a quiet place for you to relax !✨✨

☆ Otome stream party channel 🎉

Your glad accepted to join server long Journey ahead of you ! So come in and join us ,we are waiting for you there!🍃🪸✨✨

#star crossed myth #eisuke ichinomiya #english otome #otome game #r18 otome #otome romance #cybird ikemen #ikemen #cybird #voltage fanfic #voltage romance games #love 365 #love 365 find your story #tears of themis

2 notes · View notes

roni8189 · 1 year

Text

List of fandoms that I will be happy to write for:

Devil May Cry

Star-crossed Myth

Marvel

Things I feel comfortable writing about:

General Humor

Crack humor

Sex

Romance

Alcohol and Weed

Over all ups and downs of human life

Things I will absolutely NOT write about:

Pedophilia

Animal abuse

Anything with racist, homophobic ,or transphobic views

#devil may cry #star crossed myth #marvel mcu #fanfic blog

4 notes · View notes

darklinaforever · 4 months

Text

Reylo's indetroner equivalent to date.

I mean, Dongfang Qingcang = Kylo Ben to death. They both killed their father for essentially the same reason ! And Rey and Orchid are both in the same situation of not knowing who they are and no one knows who they are either. Girls without a home and family, and who would really want have that, who don't know who they are and think that basically they are nothing, and who are alone. There's also the color coding of the guy and the girl, the girl's powers generally linked to healing, not to mention the mystical connection of the two characters which essentially allows them to resurrect each other at the end. Then obviously, they are in enemy clans. He is from the tribe of the moon, and she, from that of the celestial. Then we discover that she is in fact the reincarnation of the former leader of another clan, which the Moon Tribe once decimated, so she is the equivalent of the goddess of nature. So in short, the heroine was nobody, but then discovers her true identity which further reinforces the supposed enemy aspect between the two characters. Like Rey when she discovers (unfortunately) that she is Palpatine's granddaughter. Without forgetting that the heroine's primordial form at the beginning is an orchid, that's her name, and you are well aware that an orchid is a plant that needs sunlight. Something said in the series itself, and where we see Dongfang Qingcang taking care of Orchid by making her be in contact with sunlight as much as possible. Not to mention that fairies are often symbolically associated with light in our culture. And even if Orchid is ultimately not a fairy, she thinks she is for the majority of the series and is designated as such by the title. Yes. No doubt. It's Reylo pure and simple.

We'll see how The Hurricane Wars trilogy evolves in the future...

Talasyn and Alaric's relationship is reminiscent of many other well-known fictional romantic relationships for me. (Just like Reylo, and of course, also like Dongfang Qingcang & Orchid, and they are all generally - so not all - the same)

There is Romeo & Juliet by the obvious appearance of the star-crossed lovers, from an enemy clan in the middle of war.

The obvious myth of Hades & Persephone. Because sometimes Persephone is called the Light of the Underworld and she is also sometimes depicted with a torch. So always associated with light. Hades is on the other hand associated with death and darkness. It is also often pointed out that they are a power couple.

Of course ; Beauty and the Beast. But in the sense that the trope is used today in the idea of a man cathegorized as monstrous finally finding redemption / or evolved, through the romantic relationship he forms with a woman. (Let's be real, this is the direction we are heading)

The classics Jane Eyre & Mr Rochester ! The orphan heroine meeting a Byronic hero dressed in black. The emphasis of the relationship being on their spiritual / magical connection. (And probably later in the trilogy the emphasis for Talasyn & Alaric will be on their equality, like Jane & Rochester, I'd be hard-pressed, seeing as after all, it's taken from a Reylo fanfic and is about a trope of light / darkness, equality will inevitably come to the table at some point)

Erik & Christine from The Phantom of the Opera. The young orphaned woman associated to the light who finds herself in a complicated and tragic romantic relationship with a man having a traumatic past, and wearing a mask over his face. But who also offers to train the heroine and ends up doing so.

The other aspect of Reylo would be Darcy & Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice, but hey... as long as we don't get in the sequel the guy telling to the girl that she may be nothing according to her or for the others, but not for him like with Kylo (And Dongfang Qingcang from LBFAD) as equivalent to Darcy's failed declaration... well I can't really say. Hoping we will have it too !

I also hope that the connection between Talasyn & Alaric on a spiritual and magical level will strengthen even more, and also above all that the concept of equality will come to the table as their relationship evolves positively. (Which should normally be the case)

18 notes · View notes

fateinthestars · 2 months

Text

Star-Crossed Myth Fluffbruary Fanfic (29th Feb): Starlight (Scorpio/MC)

Title: Starlight

Fandom: Star-Crossed Myth

Genre: Fluff

Rating: T

Pairing: Scorpio/MC (MC’s name left blank so you can fill it in with whatever you wish in your head)

Word Count: 805

Written for Prompt: February 29 : breakfast | valley | sign for @fluffbruary

February 29th: Starlight (Scorpio/MC)

___ sighed softly to herself as she headed over to the breakfast buffet at the inn in the valley where she was staying with her work colleagues and a handful of planetarium patrons. She had not been surprised when her boyfriend had made it clear that he wouldn’t be able to accompany her on this work outing, too much work of his own to do, but still silly little things were reminding her of him and how she probably wouldn’t be seeing him for a few days.

Take now for instance: It was still extremely early as they were hoping to catch a meteor shower, but unlikely to have time to head back here in time for the inn’s usual breakfast time they had agreed to set a buffet up in the early hours of the morning instead. Really she should either be looking forward to watching the spectacle in the skies or wanting to go to bed as she hadn’t had much sleep, but what she was actually thinking was:

They have apples as a breakfast option on this buffet table. I’m sure if he was here he’d demand I turn one into ‘those things’.

A loving smile unconsciously crept across her face and she picked up an apple to go along with the cereal she had already picked out.

After eating her breakfast, she turned her attention back to the apple once more. Now she had it in her hand, what had come over her before felt silly. She didn’t really want to eat it but…

“___?” Hiyori asked with concern. “Something wrong with your apple?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry, no. It’s just…” she hesitated, unsure how she would even explain any of this to her or the others. “I don’t suppose anyone has a knife?”

“Don’t fancy biting into it whole? Can’t say I blame you,” came a chuckle from one of the older patrons of the planetarium. Reaching into his pockets he handed ___ a pocket knife. “Hopefully this’ll be good enough.”

“Thank you!”

***

A while later, ___ looked up at the sky as they settled down on the grass to look at the meteor shower that was due any minute. Her eyes widened: Instead of being greeted by vague outlines of stars she could clearly make out the scorpio constellation. She smiled brightly to herself, feeling very touched. ___ hadn’t been sure Scorpio had even taken in the details she had told him about this trip but he had clearly been listening intently. There was no doubt in her mind that he had deliberately enhanced his own constellation to let her know that he was thinking about her, even if he could not be here right now. So entranced by looking at the sky, she was scarcely aware of someone putting their hand on her shoulder.

“Tch, like I would ever do anything as ludicrous as that,” came a familiar voice from behind her. “Here must be just a good view point.”

___ turned her head sharply to look over her shoulder as she heard Scorpio’s voice, trying not to smirk as she saw the way he was blushing despite his very vocal denial. “Sure, sure, and I guess you were just passing for a Punishments job? I thought you couldn’t make it this weekend?” she retorted, keeping her voice low so the others didn’t overhear their conversation.

Scorpio smirked at her. “I said I couldn’t make the whole weekend. Doesn’t stop me from coming down here briefly.”

“So you were thinking of me too!”

“Don’t be stupid, woman! I just…” Scorpio trailed off, his eyes widening: partly as he realised she’d used the word ‘too’ meaning she had clearly been thinking of him, but also because he had just noticed something sticking out of the top of her bag. “Is that…”

___ initially frowned at his unasked question, then blushed as she recalled what she had randomly done that morning and what it was he could see. Opening her bag properly, she took out the rabbit apple and handed it to him.

“Why did you make one of these?” Scorpio asked as he took it, grinning at her. “Don’t tell me you were missing me that much?”

“... What if I said yes?”

Scorpio’s face went bright red. He glanced away from her. “Tch… I told Zig I’d only be a few minutes… I guess from his parting words about being able to manage for a while he knew I’d never be able to keep to that… what have you done to me?”

___ laughed lightly and tugged at his hand, getting him to sit down beside her on the grass.

Leaning her head onto his shoulder, ___ glanced back up at the sky as the meteor shower started, smiling softly to herself as Scorpio wrapped an arm around her waist.

#scm fanfic #star crossed myth fanfic #scm #star crossed myth #scm scorpio #scorpio x mc #fluffbruary 2024

17 notes · View notes

acefaun · 3 months

Note

Hi!!!

Please write a part 2, where Lou faces the consequences of HIS ACTIONS.

Where-

His mother slaps him, in front of everyone, while his father says he is disappointed in him, because they never thought their son would do something like that. They have started considering the mc as their own daughter so they could never imagine that, a boy who would never hurt anyone would hurt the girl he claimed to love the most. His mother says she never wants to see him ever again, with tears streaming down her eyes.

The gods, looked disappointed and somewhat angry. Krioff hands were in fire, ready to get at Tauxolouve, if given the chance. Krioff had started considering mc as his sister, after all they had similarities. He was angry on himself for not being able to save mc sooner.

The King thought of the time when Tauxolouve's birth parents came to him and asked him to let Tauxolouve be adopted by their friends ( Tauxolouve's parents).

Mc was standing there see all this unfold. Was she happy maybe not, but she was certainly relieved.😌

Please write a second part these key points.

Yandere Tauxolouve II~ The Outcome

Synopsis: Facing his fate, Tauxolouve is disowned and left a broken man, stripped of all powers, dignity, and title. Looking back… he only wanted to love you… and he hated himself for it.

🩸Yandere Masterlist🩸 Female goldfish! (Primarily Lou’s POV)

A/n: I LOVE that y’all were able to feel my feelings through this! 💖💖 This is my favorite part as a writer. Sure, I love making stories out of the wazoo, But I love forcing emotions onto people!! Not to be weird, but the way Lou was enjoying MC’s tears, I'M ENJOYING YOUR TEARS BECAUSE I’M CRYING TOO. Oh my lord, it hurt so much to write some of these lines. 🥺 (Other note: I 100% wrote all of Zyglavis’ lines in Neuvillette’s voice. It’s engrained in my head now.)

–Word Count: 2,945–

His dull eyes stared across the barren cell, only observing the wall before him. It was blank… Much like the walls of his room before you walked into his life. It was an unavoidable fate, wasn't it? Ever since he first saw the vision of him killing you… he thought it was some form of cruel irony. He did everything in his power to stop it from becoming a reality. But… in the end… it was all inevitable.

You were the only bright spark in his life; you made him see that it was all worth living while there was still time left. Still, all the times he saw his death, it made him want to hold you all the tighter.

Tighter. And tighter. And tighter.

Until he had no choice but to watch you walk away in the arms of another god. His heart clenched again. You should have been his. Up until the very end of his existence, you should have been his. Even now, locked away in a cell, stripped of his powers, reflecting on how wrong it was for him to love you like this, he still wanted you.

The other gods were right, he certainly was a pathetic god; but he was only so pathetic for you. You were the cruel one for rejecting his love. He would have done anything for you, and you turned your back on his love. Was it wrong, too, for him to think that this was all your fault? You should have picked another god to protect you from those dark gods… if this was what you were going to do to Tauxolouve.

Tauxolouve resented how things got to this point. If you had just behaved like you were supposed to—no. If you hadn’t hung all over the other gods the way you always did… Maybe then his sanity would have been salvageable. But… it was his fault too for giving into your sinful human temptations. He couldn’t help but ponder if this was why loving a human was considered a sin…

Perhaps this was why his father was cast out of the Heavens as well. It seemed that Tauxolouve was just destined to follow in his father's footsteps.

Footsteps echoed through the barren prison, before stopping outside the bars of Tauxolouve’s cell. Taking a glance up, Leon had come to retrieve him from his cell already. Had such time passed that they were ready to judge him?

Leon and Tauxolouve stared at each other for a solemn moment before Leon bluntly announced, “It’s time.”

Tauxolouve didn’t respond, simply nodding his head and following Leon obediently as his cell was opened. He was being treated like a prisoner, as expected, but it wasn’t like he didn’t deserve any of this. He could admit to his faults at this point. He hated himself for everything he had and everything he lost.

However, if there was one thing he could avoid, it would have to be facing you. He didn’t want to see you again, however strange that might have seemed for someone so obsessed with you. Despite how possessed and obsessive Tauxolouve was, he knew the carnal urge to have you was all too fresh in his soul. He loved you, and so he was a danger to you.

It was best to get this over with, he decided as he followed Leon’s footsteps to the Department of Punishments.

Whispers followed him. Rumors of his deeds met his ears, having spread like wildfire across the Heavens. He loathed these gossiping gods as much as he loathed himself. He loathed- No… He loved you.

He wanted to resist looking at you, but the minute he caught sight of you across the courtroom, he flinched. Seeing you in his mother’s arms, he couldn’t help but long for it to be him comforting you.

Leon stepped forward, blocking Tauxolouve’s view, giving a pointed look at the younger demigod. He had no sympathy as he ushered Tauxolouve in the opposite direction from you, being directed into the defendant’s stand; though, he knew there was nothing to defend against. This entire trial was just for appearances and formalities sake; Tauxolouve was unquestionably guilty.

Zyglavis’ eyes lingered on Tauxolouve for a brief moment. There weren’t any obvious emotions on his face, as expected of an impartial judge. Still, his thoughts were none too pleasant; such was the vibe in the room. Inclining his head, he addressed the court, “Now that all parties are present and accounted for, the trial shall begin.” Assessing the room, Zyglavis noted that Tauxolouve’s gaze was focused on you. Zyglavis’ sharp eyes narrowed. “Tauxolouve, I ask that you remain focused, please.”

Regardless of Zyglavis’ sharp command, Tauxolouve hardly paid any attention as Zyglavis listed his crimes and recounted what had to have been your description of events. His eyes were locked on you the entire time, though you refused to even glance at him. He hated how you were staring at Zyglavis. The thought of you having eyes for anyone else drove him mad…

His mind was so preoccupied with thoughts of stealing you away once again, he didn’t register that he was being addressed until Zyglavis loudly interrupted his train of thought. “Tauxolouve, I will ask you again. If you have nothing truthful to add in your defense…” He paused, the tension growing in the room. “Do you plead guilty?”

The court waited with bated breath.

After a minute of thick, suffocating silence, Tauxolouve replied, “I do.”

“Then our verdict is such…” Zyglavis announced to the court, “Tauxolouve, ex-god of Sagittarius, is guilty of all confirmed charges. As decreed by the King of the Heavens himself, Tauxolouve shall be stripped of his godhood and exiled from the Heavens. In accordance with the severity of his crimes regarding human life and death, a curse of eternity shall be placed upon him.” Inclining his head, he briskly concluded, “Court is adjourned.”

With Zyglavis as the judge, things went exceptionally smooth. Any quarrels or arguments were swiftly silenced, and the entire trial started and ended in a timely manner. Finally, after it was all said and done, it was time for the punishment to be fulfilled. The Zodiac gods and select other gods were gathered before the King’s throne. Tauxolouve was going to be dealt with at last.

While waiting on the King’s appearance, you unexpectedly approached Zyglavis and he regarded you curiously. Aside from the quiet chatter around the room, everything else was quiet. Your voice was no exception as you timidly inquired, “I’m not familiar with divine sentences… but you said he’d be exiled and cursed. What does that mean?”

Zyglavis’ eyebrows were furrowed, as if he were conflicted over something. Still, he answered, “These types of punishments were decided long ago for such sins involving humans, as well as the natural cycle of living things. The curse will allow his soul to be placed on the wheel of rebirth, forever as a human; however, he will retain his memories as a god. He will be forced to suffer with his sin for an eternity.”

“He’ll be reincarnated on Earth…” You slowly repeated, “with his memories of me?”

“We considered that this could be a danger to you,” Zyglavis quietly agreed with your unspoken concerns. “But this is the King’s final decision, and we’re reassured that Earth is much too big a place for him to find you. But as for our negligence to your situation…” He trailed off, his hand gently landing on your head. His goal was to comfort you with this minimal affection in front of the other gods. “You will have our blessings as Zodiac Gods. Once this punishment is finally complete, there will be no further threat to your freedom or your life.”

***

Seeing you share hushed words with Zyglavis infuriated Tauxolouve more than he cared to imagine it would. But all he could do was watch the scene take place, his heart clenching with pain. Was watching all he could do? After all, the minute Zyglavis’ hand came into contact with your head, he lost his composure.

Seeing that something was off, Karno called out quietly, “Lou-”

“Don’t touch her~” Tauxolouve interrupted Karno’s concerned call. In an instant, his arms were wrapped around you, pulling you away from Zyglavis before the god had a chance to move. It was almost as if Tauxolouve were trying to shield you away from the other gods, when it should have been the opposite way around.

The gods panicked at the situation that came up so suddenly. They never should have left any open space between you and Tauxolouve. However, they were fortunate to have the right people with them to defuse the situation—or at least help out in ways the zodiac gods couldn’t.

Tears had already started to well up in your eyes, but to keep you from panicking and feeling trapped, Tauxolouve’s mother, Sofia, was holding your arms firmly. For the moment, they were all trying their best to remain calm and collected. “Louie…” She struggled to say, “Let go of her.” Tauxolouve and Sofia stared into each other’s eyes, but it was as if Tauxolouve was searching for something he’d never find. “It’s too late…”

Tauxolouve was clutching desperately onto you. In his mind, he would rather die with you than die alone and suffer fate the way they had planned it for him. Tears welled in his eyes in sheer desperation as his nose nuzzled into your hair. “I can’t…” He admitted, his voice cracking. “I just wanted to love her… I didn’t want things to end like this. But I couldn’t stop it…”

Tauxolouve’s father, Nasir, placed a hand on his shoulder, quietly ushering, “Just let go; that’s the only way you can fix this.” They had to make Tauxolouve release you calmly, lest they put you in a worse situation.

Your eyes were wide as you felt tears dripping above your head. Tauxolouve was already suffering for what he’d done, and he wasn’t even exiled yet…

You hoarsely whispered, “Lou…”

Tauxolouve’s eyes widened as he loosened his grip on you. Between his parent’s gentle coaxing and your quiet plea, he was able to see the pain that surrounded him. He whispered into your ear, “I’m sorry… for everything…”

His grip had loosened enough to where you were pulled away from him by Sofia, and Tauxolouve was again forced away from you, restrained by the other gods.

Sofia held you against her chest like a child, caressing your head as you numbly cried without registering the tears that fell. You never expected Tauxolouve to apologize like that. For that one, brief moment, he sounded like he meant it. What was more than that, he sounded burdened by tremendous guilt—as if his actions were finally registering in his head. You couldn’t help but wonder… Was he finally hurting as much as he had hurt you?

“What were you thinking?” Sofia suddenly snapped. Finally, after having seen his seeming obsession for herself, she seemed to lose her composure.

Seeing her reaction, Huedhaut instinctively reached out to comfort you in her place as she approached her son. After all, this was going to be their last time to speak.

However, no one was expecting her to slap Tauxolouve…

The loud smack made everything fall silent, your sniffled the only quiet sound being made in the large throne room.

Nasir held onto Sofia for comfort, though the two of them were both clearly torn, expressing it in different ways. “We never thought our son would do something like this,” he solemnly said. “We didn’t want to believe it, even after watching the trial. If only we didn’t have to see the evidence right in front of our eyes…” His eyebrows furrowed in frustration, yet remaining calm as he expressed himself. “We’re unfathomably disappointed in you.”

Sofia, heartbroken by Tauxolouve’s actions, shockingly announced, “No son of ours would have ever done the things you’ve done to this poor young lady. Our Louie would have never hurt anyone… especially the girl he claimed to love most.” Her eyes flickered to the ground, and it was clear that their words implied that Tauxolouve was being disowned. Tears were streaming down her delicate face as she uttered, “I never want to see you… ever again… Tauxolouve…”

These words were breaking Tauxolouve bit by bit. Hearing Sofia say his full name was so foreign to him… it didn’t sound right. None of this was right.

He wasn’t right.

His guilt melded into hate… hate for himself and his actions. But… he still sought your love and forgiveness, because that was all that mattered in his mind. “I’m sorry!” Despite his sudden struggling, he failed to pull out from the arms of Leon and Krioff. “(NAME)!” He wanted you to look at him. Time was running out. Why weren’t you looking at him?! “(NAME), I’m sorry!” Why? Why wouldn’t you even glance his way? He wanted to scream.

Watching the scene empathetically, the gods were just as disappointed in Tauxolouve as Nasir and Sofia. It was clear that everyone had higher expectations for him. He shattered their reality. Seeing what he’d done to you pissed all of them off, and there was no apologizing for that. All the Zodiac gods cared for you; that was no secret. So it was fairly obvious the harsh reaction one would receive if anyone were to hurt you. Tauxolouve had irreparably hurt the one person they all agreed to protect…

Krioff, who had much in common with you, had even started considering you as his sister. The guilt in his chest festered into a hot anger at the thought of not having been able to save you sooner. They all should have known better when you suddenly stopped making appearances in the mansion with all of them. They really failed you…

Hell, even the King of the Heavens was displeased with this turn of events—however much he knew it was inevitable to happen. He knew the dangers of allowing a demigod to join the pantheon. Tauxolouve never had the constitution of a god to avoid his sinful nature.

Still… he had pitied Tauxolouve’s parents when they brought this demigod infant before him, pleading for his protection…

He could no longer uphold that promise.

Revealing himself amongst the gods, his presence settled the chaos by forcing silence to fall upon everyone.

Apathetically, he looked down upon the gods gathered there, before his unforgiving gaze landed on Tauxolouve. “It is time. There is no need for you to say your farewells to the gods here, nor this human. You will live with your sins for eternity and have no solace in redemption, nor forgiveness. Therefore… I hereby cast you out.”

A bright light suddenly overtook everything in the room, and for a moment, your tears stopped overflowing. This bright light was so warm and comforting all around you. For the first time in months, you felt like it was all over. Your soul felt at peace. Maybe it was the blessings of the King and the 11 Zodiac gods present, or maybe it was just the sudden relief hitting you.

You recalled Zyglavis’ words from earlier… You were finally free.

#star crossed myth #star crossed myth fanfic #star crossed myth yandere #scm tauxolouve #department of wishes #fanfic #voltage fanfic #zodiac gods #yandere #yandere x reader

11 notes · View notes

fang-and-feather · 1 year

Text

Fang's Masterlist and Main Post

Hi! I'm Fang, a fanfiction writer currently mostly into otome games, with the ones in the masterlist bellow being the main ones

Tag List:

If you want to be tagged to future writings of any fandom bellow, reply to this post or message me with at least the fandom you would want to be tagged for, and any other specification ou want to add.

OC Info:

Amy's Profile

Linet's Instagram Page

Carina's Instagram Page Main, Photos Page

Yara's Instagram Page

Masterlists

Star-Crossed Myth Masterlist

Ayakashi Romance Reborn Masterlist

Ikemen Vampire Masterlist

Yu-Gi-Oh Masterlist

Ikemen Prince Masterlist

#star crossed myth #ayakashi romance reborn #ikemen vampire #ayakashi koi meguri #ikevamp #star crossed myth fanfic #arr fanfic #ikevamp fanfic #ikemen prince #ikepri #yugioh dm #yu gi oh

17 notes · View notes

mairablue · 3 months

Text

SCM - Department Of Punishment

Scorpio ♏- Dance With Me, Tonight

A/N: This is a continuation of the story Home Where The Heart Belongs. This didn't turn out as fluffy as i had hoped. Sorry about that.

For fluffbruary event ( @fluffbruary )

Prompts: graceful | volcano | blanket

12th February, 2024

~~~

Soft golden light of the morning Sun crept into the room, from the slight gap between the curtains. Opening his eyes, Scorpio was surprised to see the unfamiliar ceiling. The wall on the right side was light yellow in colour unlike the old wallpaper ridden walls of the small rented room that he had been residing in for the past three months.

Putting the pillows on the chair, and folding the blanket. He dusted the bedsheet before putting it back on the mattress. Putting the pillows and the blanket on one side of the bed he opened the curtains, before opening the window.

He took a deep breath; feeling the morning breeze brush against his face. His heart felt at peace.

Taking a warm shower and brushing his teeth; he walked downstairs to the kitchen.

You were pouring some tea in a cup. "Good morning." He said standing beside you.

"Good morning", you replied smiling,"I hope you don't mind eating oats for breakfast."

"I would love to have oats", he said returning your smile," i just need some Apples."

He washed three Apples; cutting them into small pieces. He took two bowls and filled them with the oats from the pot. Putting the bowls on the tray, beside the cups and the plate full of Apple pieces, he walked out of the kitchen. Setting the tray on the dining table he sat on the chair next to you.

Taking a sip of the warm tea, he asked, " You wrote about someone's wedding reception in the letter..."

"You remember Alice, my cousin", you took a sip from the cup, "she got married last week. Tonight she and her husband have organized a party for both of their families and some close friends. She has invited us...well me, but i would like to go with you." you said. The tone in your voice hopeful.

"It's ok if you don't want to." you added quickly. Scorpio shook his head and smiled,"I would like to go there with you." He was tired, but he wanted to spend sometime with you at a social gathering. After all who knew, this could be the very last one he ever attends.

After finishing your breakfast you washed the dishes and started chopping some vegetables. Scorpio prepared lunch which you two ate in silence around 12 PM.

The rest of the afternoon was spend, sitting on the sofa in the living. He told you how the lives of the ordinary people had been affected, in great details. Details which had not made into the newspaper paper. People were suffering.

The party was being held in a ball room of an enormous hotel. The hotel once had many clientele, but now most of it's rooms were empty. The few staff members who still worked there greeted the guests.

Once all the guests had arrived and were introduced to each other. The staff members brought a few musical instruments and started playing. One played the Harp, another the Cello, another the Violin, and another played the Piano.

"Grandma let's dance." a little girl said. Her grandmother was smiled, as the girl lead her, to the middle of the room and started dancing.

Seeing them some of the couples starting dancing as well. Soon Alice held your hand and started dancing. Her light pink dress and your blue dress swinging as you two moved gracefully across the dance floor. Scorpio sat on a chair watching you dance. He was never much of a dance after all.

Alice wishpered something in your ear and you both started laughing. It's been months since you have laughed like that. Scorpio smiled, recalling the memories of the first-time he had ever danced with you. Soon those memories started to fade as a dreadful thought came to his mind.

The song was coming to an end.

Scorpio walked up to you. Offering you his hand,"Will you dance with me, my lady?" He even tried to put on a princely accent, but miserably failed at it, making you and Alice giggle. He smiled, hiding his embarrassment. But his cheeks turned red as soon as you said," That would be my pleasure, sir." Alice laughed; her laughter only made his ears turn redded.

You two danced slowly; in perfect harmony. As the song came to its conclusion, you softly kissed his temple. " I love you." he wishpered. His voice filled with emotions which he found too difficult to express. " I love you too, Scorpio. " you said as a drop of tear slipped from the corner of your eyes, which you quickly brushed away.

Music flowed through the room like breeze; warm and comforting. You took the lead and he followed. The soothing sound brought a sense of peace in your hearts. No matter what tomorrow held, tonight, in this moment both of you were together.

#star crossed myth #scm #scm scorpio #scm scorpio x reader #scm dui #scm krioff #scm tauxolouve #scm karno #scm aigonorus #scm huedhaut #scm zyglavis #scm leon #scm ichthys #scm partheno #scm teorus #scm fanfic #fluffbruary 2024

13 notes · View notes

vyingeyes · 12 days

Text

Project Crown - 2 - Recovery

Myth’s favorite place in Tipoca City had to be their barracks. The stark white tiles might freeze bare feet and blind unsuspecting eyes from time to time, but they were consistent. Quiet peace compensated for the lack of privacy that came from being bunked with other squads, and a sleep pod was about the closest thing any of them had to a personal space.

Myth’s least favorite place had to be the hangar. The only experience he had with it was during storms, so he had only ever seen the metal floor slick and hazardous. Freezing sheets of rain blew in from the open bay doors, and the chaos of everyone running around trying to get sorted sent him into a tizzy of his own. It probably didn’t help that every time ended up in the hangar, it was due to a situation that did nothing except cause him stress. It didn’t matter that there were other, less-severe places in Tipoca that he was subjected to more frequently—the hangar was just worse.

“When we touch down, I want 48 and 8ball to help Course to medical. Myth, with me.”

The transport ship rocked ominously in the gale of the storm as Kyr gave them their instructions. Myth found himself relaxing despite it. If he was with Kyr, that meant he’d probably be doing something administrative. Helping with the combat report, maybe, or recounting inventory and expended supplies. No matter what, it would almost certainly be better than a trip to the medical bay.

8ball seemed to think the same. “I’m sure 48 could take Course alone,” the scout implored. “Or, hell, Course could probably get to the medbay on his own?” He inched a bit closer to Myth.

Kyr fixed a tired glare on 8ball. “No. You were both there when Course got hurt, you’re responsible for making sure he gets helped.”

8ball bristled immediately. “He was supposed to be the one watching for bugs! I was shooting an SBD—and so was 48! You can’t just put us on babysitting duty because you’re mad you didn’t do anything to stop Course from—”

“He can.” Course’s voice cut in flatly, immediately shutting 8ball up. “He is squad lead, and he tells you what you do, where, and when.”

Blood buzzed in Myth’s ears at the undercurrent of anger in Course’s voice. Course was… not frightening. None of his brothers were frightening. But Myth hated conflict on a good day, and today… hadn’t been a good day. And Course was never the one to start a conflict. He was the closest thing they had to a mediator—the only one that could ever hope to redirect Kyr—and hearing him with that barely concealed hint of something boiling under the surface did frighten Myth.

“—miserable existence! Ooh, wow, he’s got a fancy title! He’s still got the same brain as any of us!”

Uh oh. Myth missed the first half of that, but it didn’t take an information analyst to see that 8ball wasn’t responding well to Course’s attempt at grace. His mouth opened uncertainly, but he quickly shut it as 48 began to speak.

“Shut up, man.” Myth could hear the rolling eyes, even if his brother still wore his helmet—48 was not impressed. “It’s been a long day already. Do you have to do this right now?”

It was as close to defending Kyr as 48 would get right now. Probably more for Course than anyone else, but Myth doubted any of them were enjoying this argument. Green Squad, silent backdrops in the dim transport, made no attempt to intrude on this display. Pull and Push shared a look, and Myth’s stomach dropped.

“It won’t take too long,” Myth blurted. “If you just get out of the ship as quickly as you can and go directly to the medical bay—you probably wouldn’t even have to stay to explain the situation to the medical droids, Course is awake, and it isn’t like there’ll be any trainers looking to cause problems right now with everything going on—”

“You’re stressing Myth out,” 48 interjected, annoyance growing. “Just suck it up.”

8ball elbowed 48 in retort, but he turned to glance at Myth, eyes searching for a moment. “… Fine. I’ll do the thing that nobody involved thinks is necessary to satisfy Kyr’s ego—but I’m not doing it because you told me to,” he directed at Kyr, an accusing finger tapping the squad leader on the chest.

Kyr did not respond. Probably for the best. He was probably seething—he had a temper just as bad as 8ball, but he was usually a little better at handling it. Plus, it was typically reserved for just 8ball and 48. Myth and Course got a little more lenience from him—except for when one of them had two broken limbs and tried to argue against being helped, apparently? That was a new development, and he’d have to take it into account. Myth couldn’t remember Kyr ever blatantly disregarding protocol like that before, and it concerned him, but Myth hoped that they could convince Course to at least be a little kinder to Kyr in the medical report than he’d been in the canyon.

The transport shuddered as it landed in the hangar, jolting Myth out of his thoughts. Kyr put a hand on his back while Punch and Punt slid the transport door open. All ten troopers immediately poured out of the cramped space, more than eager to get away from the stifling air they’d been stuck in.

Kyr set a steady hand on Myth’s shoulder to both ground him and guide him through the cacophonous hangar. Myth glued himself to Kyr’s side, not eager to get nudged or shoved by any clone that didn’t put much stock in the idea of personal space. One of the best parts about being placed with Kyr was that he had a certain way of walking that made other people move out of his path. Even when he had full kit, just the set of his shoulders and the weight with which he stepped had even the brothers that didn’t know him scrambling to make space. In another life, he would have been a CC. Maybe even an RC. Myth didn’t like to think in “could-have-been”s, but that was one thought he couldn’t help but sit with sometimes.

People steered clear of Kyr because he was intimidating, in-control, and good at what he did. People avoided Myth because he talked too much and never gave a straight answer.

… It wasn’t quite the same.

“I want you to help me with this report,” Kyr said in the quiet of the sterile white halls, voice as steady and confident as always. Only the barely perceptible swivel of his head (searching for eavesdroppers?) told Myth why he wanted help.

“Do you think Course will really put your protocol breach in his report?” Myth couldn’t help but ask. He wanted to backtrack immediately, nervous about speaking it into being. “I mean, he wouldn’t, right? That would hurt all our chances at a decent placement. He was bluffing to get you to back off.”

Kyr didn’t answer immediately, steering Myth into the cafeteria. Not many troopers had found it in them to eat yet, so the usual chatter was a pleasant murmur. They got in line, Kyr ahead of Myth. Myth didn’t comment on Kyr filling his tray for him.

Kyr took him toward the far wall, leaving a couple tables of buffer for any incoming troopers who preferred to hug the wall outright, and they sat together at a round table. It was only once Myth took the first bite of his meal that Kyr answered his question.

“He said he would, so he will. He might let 48 talk him into being a little forgiving about it, but he won’t go back on the threat.”

Anxiety burst through Myth’s chest, freezing tendrils wrapping around his heart. He tapped his foot on the metal leg of the table. If one of the biggest outliers of their performance in their reports was that Kyr had ignored protocol, they would be lucky to get a placement at all. The idea of the Kaminoans reading that, deciding they wouldn’t get deployed after all, and putting them back in training popped into his head and refused to leave. They could hold them back. Use them as an example to any of the ninth-cycle cadets getting too big for their helmets. Or they could recondition Kyr and send them all to a moon where he'd never get the opportunity to break protocol ever again, even if he wanted to.

“Myth. Myth! Hey.” The warmth of Kyr’s hand between his arm plates snapped Myth out of his thoughts and reminded him painfully that he had been shot earlier. “We can make it work. That’s why I want your help. There’s a reason they use us instead of droids.” His voice dropped a bit, careful not to be overheard in the relative quiet of the mess. “If I can give a really good reason why I didn’t listen to Course, we’ll be fine.”

He wanted to wave it away. If they could justify the decision effectively enough, Kyr’s hardheaded decision could prove the benefit of using clones, not the drawbacks. It could work. It could at least keep them away from the attention of the wrong people.

“Okay. Okay. You—have you started the report? I can help.”

Kyr exhaled, and Myth watched the crease between his eyebrows relax as he removed his hand from Myth’s arm to take another bite of his food. “I did inventory and expended resources on the transport. Finished everything up to the… attack, on the way into atmo. Once you’ve eaten, we can head to the barracks and finish it. I need to submit this—soon. I got an alert when we landed that they’re reviewing and assigning us ASAP.”

Another quick bolt of anxiety raced through Myth. “Already?” He set his spoon down. “I don’t—we don’t have to eat. We can work on it now.”

“No. Eat your food.” Kyr nodded at Myth’s tray. “You’ve had a long day, and you barely ate before we left.”

Myth stared at his nutrient mush, mouth suddenly dry. “… It’s really fine. I’d rather get the report out of the way.”

Kyr sighed, and Myth shrank back a bit. “How about this. You eat, and I’ll start working on it. I’ll ask you for your help as I need it.”

“… Okay.”

The mush did not grow any more appetizing as Kyr put on his helmet and started tapping at his bracer. Myth knew he was looking at the report draft, but between the emotionless visor and the rapid typing, he exuded an aura of annoyance that did nothing to ease Myth’s discomfort.

He began poking at the mush. Really, it wasn’t appetizing on a good day—not since they’d changed its consistency. Where before you could at least pretend to chew it, the new mush was almost slimy. It made the exact same taste seem vastly less appealing.

When they’d originally made the change, Myth hadn’t been able to stomach it. He’d tried—really, really tried, but he couldn’t manage to eat more than a bite at each meal before his rolling stomach stopped him. He’d given his portions to 8ball for a week before his body started to get too weak for their squad training. Despite the physical issues, the real catalyst that had forced him to start eating again had been his specialty track scores. The brain fog that came over him had resulted in him getting the worst scores he’s pretty sure any information analyst had ever gotten. He never scored great—he could never settle on a single strategy, and the trainers never let him forget it—but the threat of detracking looming over him was more than enough to make him push through the nausea.

He'd gotten used to it. Eventually. Staring at the goop now brought him memories of the way he threw up the entire meal the first time he’d managed to make himself eat all of it. Not fun memories. He’d gotten odd stares from all the other squads in the mess, and more than a couple cadets had laughed at him. He’d been dragged off to the medbay by a droid and poked and prodded for an hour before it declared that he must have eaten too quickly and sent him back on his way with a ration bar, since he didn’t have time to go back for a new meal before his squad training.

Myth took a deep breath, studying the glint of the overhead lights on the mush. “You sent Course with 48, 8ball, and Punt because Course has the highest scores in close-range fighting and the position of the SBDs at the intersection of the passes meant he’d be best positioned on the frontlines.”

Kyr didn’t have the audacity to pretend he’d originally had a good reason to send Course with the smaller group, so he nodded and tapped away accordingly.

Slowly, Myth lifted a small glob of nutrient mush to his mouth, swallowing it quickly. “… Course was ambushed by a Geonosian warrior. He was disarmed and lifted while the others were in the middle of eliminating the SBDs, leaving them unable to help quickly enough to prevent him from being taken. They split their focus between the remaining SBDs and the Geonosian—Punt and Eighty finished off the supers while 48, who was sent as backup, began to shoot at the Geonosian. When the last super went down, they focused all fire on the Geonosian. The increased fire provided enough distraction for Course to extract himself from the hold, and he fell.” Myth paused for a moment.

Kyr didn’t push him, continuing to tap away with increased speed following Myth’s massive information outburst.

Myth breathed in slowly, then out, then took another small bite of his food. In, out, bite. After a third repetition, he spoke again, slowly, but as firmly as he knew how. “Course hit his head against the rocks on the way down. Although he was verbal and cognizant, you did not think him fully aware at the time of his landing.” He paused again, air stalling in his chest until he remembered to breathe. “You expressed concern of Course’s ability to walk quickly enough to the rendezvous point. He only repeated the protocol for broken limbs. Believing him to be concussed and not fully understanding of the extent of the damage to his legs, you followed protocol to deliver stim shots to the affected limbs, as well as to his spinal cord in case of spinal injury and to hopefully alleviate the suspected concussion.”

Kyr nodded slowly, tapping with deliberate intent.

“Following the injections, you carried him through the majority of the mountain pass until you were certain we would make the rendezvous on time with his impeded pace.”

“So, we’re playing up the urgency aspect of it?” Kyr took off his helmet to take a bite of his own food.

“Course likely won’t include the exact timeline in his own report,” Myth reasoned, slowly growing more confident in his words. “His reports are very short. It’ll be something like ‘advised squad lead of protocol but was dismissed’.”

“I almost feel bad for implying he isn’t a reliable source of medical advice,” Kyr muttered dryly.

“For good reason,” Myth said mindlessly. “He’s never given us any reason not to listen to him before.”

Kyr went quiet, picking at his food for another minute before putting his helmet back on and continuing to fill out his report.

Myth made slow work of his mush. With his job fully completed, he wasn’t as anxious, but his hunger had already been spoiled. Not much any of them could do to fix that.

The rest of their squad would have long since made it to the medical wing by then. Myth wondered if he and Kyr would pass 8ball and 48 on the way to their barracks. He was pretty sure both of them had eaten all of their food pre-deployment, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be hungry. But if neither Kyr nor Course hounded them to go get food, would they…?

“Are you not going to finish your food?”

Kyr’s unmodulated voice snapped Myth out of his mind abruptly, and Myth stared as the goop dripped from his spoon back down to his tray. “… I’m really not hungry,” he mumbled.

Kyr sighed, and Myth shrank back a bit. Kyr shook his head. “It’s fine. You ate something, at least…”

Myth pushed the tray away from himself at the—not quite permission, but acceptance. He watched Kyr finish his own food in a couple bites, then stand.

“Well, we may as well go to our barracks,” Kyr said with another sigh. “Our training is cancelled for at least the next day cycle. I’m sure the trainers are trying to figure out what happens now.”

Myth stood with him, wringing his hands a bit as Kyr took both of their trays to disposal. “You submitted your report?” he verified.

“Yeah. It’s getting processed now.”

Shoulders relaxing, Myth found it easier to breathe. If their report was turned in, that meant it would be reviewed shortly. He wondered if Course would even have time to submit his medical report. He hadn’t been looking during the flight; had Course submitted it while they were still on the shuttle? Surely, they wouldn’t make judgements on placement before both reports were in.

Despite himself, Myth’s anxiety began to blossom into anticipation. If their generous take on the events of the day were taken at face value… Well, it wouldn’t look half bad. Only one major injury, 100% survival rate, and they followed instructions to a T.

“Myth.”

Myth startled guiltily, quickly turning to Kyr, who stood waiting for him. To his credit, he didn’t seem like he was actually annoyed with Myth’s spaciness, but the tired look in his eye and the tenseness in his back made Myth still feel like he was only adding on to his squad lead’s stress.

Kyr’s expression softened after a moment, and his next sigh was not nearly as severe as the last several had been. “Let’s go back to our barracks,” he said, voice gentler. “We’ve done our jobs. Now we get to shower and rest.”

Myth faltered for just a moment, then nodded. That nervous anticipation remained, but if Kyr deemed there to be nothing more they could do, then that was that. He stepped in beside Kyr and let himself be herded toward the promising chill of their sleep pods.

The walk itself held no surprises for them, but upon reaching the door to their wing, a small droid sat stationary. As they approached, its eyes lit up—eerie, opaque white windows—and its head swiveled toward them.

“CT-0105-203-0918-01.”

Myth’s eyes widened, and his attention snapped directly to Kyr, who looked as stricken as Myth felt to hear his full identification code spoken at him.

It took Kyr only a moment to recover from the surprise. “That would be me.”

The rest of the droid’s mechanics began to start up. Its boosters activated with a high whir, and it lifted itself a few feet to bring itself level with the clones’ eyes. “CT-0918, you are summoned to briefing room 27-8 to await orders. The rest of your squad may continue their designated recovery period.”

Myth couldn’t help but stare. Kyr’s expression schooled itself in a matter of seconds to something more confident, like he wouldn’t have expected anything less.

“Alright. Are you here to escort me?”

“Affirmative. Follow me.”

Kyr put a warm hand on Myth’s shoulder as the droid began to drift down the hall. “I’ll be back,” he said, promptly following his escort.

Myth stood in the hall for a few seconds after he lost sight of Kyr. Even though Kyr had told him that they would be placed as soon as possible, pulling squad leads to wait for results sounded like a sudden decision. How long before they were given their placement? How closely would the details of their reports be examined, really?

He wandered into the barracks in a daze, oblivious to the bemused glances he received from the other squads as he made his way to the Crown Squad bunks.

48 was the one to jar him out of his muddled state. “Did you hear? We’re going to be placed! Pull heard a nattie saying that the CCs were all reviewing the reports ASAP.”

Myth started to regret eating the caf food, given how much his stomach began to roll. The thought of a CC—a future officer—reviewing their messily spun report made him want to throw up again. What if they realized it was intentionally skewed? What if they pulled the security footage of the caf and realized Kyr asked Myth for help? Myth’s earlier paranoia of reconditioning sprung back to the forefront of his mind. Falsifying official reports wasn’t a light crime. Did this count?

“… hope we go somewhere busy,” he heard 8ball telling 48 from his place in his extended pod.

“Like Coruscant?” 48 asked, dubious. “You wouldn’t find me dead there. If I’m gonna get deployed, I’m gonna be somewhere I can show the clankers who’s the superior soldier. Can’t do that so close to the core.”

“I was thinking more like big warzones. Somewhere I can run around, y’know? Lots of fun angles to catch ‘em off guard.”

48 rolled his eyes. “So you wanna give Course a heart attack? Poor guy spent the whole time on Geonosis hovering over Myth’s graze. He wouldn’t survive somewhere busier.”

Myth realized then that Course wasn’t present. His pod was closed, and the panel suggested it wasn’t occupied. He glanced between 8ball and 48. “Is Course still in medical?” he asked.

48 turned back to him. “Oh. Yeah, apparently his legs are super fucked up. The droid said it wasn’t that big of a deal, but they held him to make sure the injections didn’t get screwed by him walking around.”

Frowning, Myth nodded. That made sense.

“Did you get your graze checked out?” 8ball asked. It wasn’t said accusingly, but it didn’t need to be for Myth’s expression to turn guilty.

“I forgot,” he said. He really had. He hadn’t thought about it at all since Kyr put pressure on it earlier—he’d been quickly distracted by the borderline insubordination they committed.

48 shook his head. “It’s just a graze, and Course treated it anyway. Probably better to wait until the medbay isn’t so busy with the guys who really got injured.”

“Hope you’re ready for Kyr and Course to accept that answer,” 8ball warned. “They’ll be fussing the minute they figure you out.”

Myth moved to their storage bins and started methodically removing his armor. “I’ll go when it isn’t so busy,” he echoed 48. “They’re probably oversaturated with injured by now.”

A passing clone laughed, and Myth froze mid doffing.

“Don’t suppose they could fix your head while you’re there?” Myth did not turn his head, but the unknown brother kept teasing anyway. “Or is your condition terminal?”

“Fuck off, Hud,” 48 ground out. “You’re not any funnier today than you were yesterday. Or the day before that.”

“Just a joke, bud. I know you clowns are delicate, but you gotta lighten up.”

Myth saw 8ball jumping down from his pod from the corner of his eye.

“Yeah? We aren’t the ones that threw up in the dropships. Unless Bingo was misremembering when they told me about that?”

The passing brother—Hud—went quiet for a few seconds before hotly going, “It was motion sickness. We’ve never been in actual ships before, I couldn’t exactly help it.”

48 spoke again, evidently gleeful to learn this piece of gossip. “Delicate stomach, Hud? I didn’t expect that out of you.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Hud’s voice grew fainter, and Myth relaxed as he realized the other clone was walking away. “You guys’re gonna regret that in a year when I’m an officer.”

A hysterical laugh broke out of 48, and he collapsed onto his bunk in sporadic giggles as they were left alone again. “That dumbass? An officer? Over my dead body.”

8ball scoffed in response, walking over and beginning to help Myth remove his armor. “If he can’t even handle a little turbulence, you won’t have to worry about it.”

Myth bit the inside of his cheek, slowly continuing to doff his armor with 8ball’s help.

“I mean,” continued 48, “seriously, good on him for having plans, but really? He’s gotta find some more attainable life goals. Like surviving.”

8ball floated into Myth’s peripheral in the process of unlatching his rerebrace, and Myth watched him raise an eyebrow. “What, like you? Sir ‘I Can Become A Commando, No Really, It’s Entirely Feasible’—”

“It is!” 48 insisted. “Just because it hasn’t happened before doesn’t mean it won’t.”

Their voices faded out while Myth focused on removing his armor. He couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t upset by the teasing. He never could—he just didn’t know how. 48 always did it without problem. Course and Kyr hardly seemed to blink whenever cruel words ended up being thrown in their direction. 8ball could give it back better than he got it. Why was Myth the only one that always shut down?

The teasing wasn’t even that big of a deal. It wasn’t malicious. Like Hud said, it was a joke.

8ball put a hand around Myth’s wrist, drawing his eyes up.

His brother wasn’t making a deal about it, but Myth could see the concern creased in his brow. “What about you?” 8ball asked, those creases easing a little while he spoke. “What’s your plan? Where would you want us to get sent?”

Myth took a moment to find his words, and when he did any energy from earlier was gone. “… Somewhere with an interesting ecosystem,” he mumbled.

8ball nodded, pulling him toward the ladder to the bunks. “That sounds good. I’d probably have good cover, too.”

“… I want to see different plants and animals.” Myth remembered his modules; he’d always gotten more modules and more in-depth modules than the rest of his squad, as an information analyst, and he remembered how many times he’d come back fawning over the flora and fauna of different planets. He understood more about the different lifeforms of Felucia than he understood about natborns as a whole.

“So definitely not Coruscant,” 48 laughed. “Unless stray tookas and criminal lowlifes count?”

Myth climbed up to his own bunk while 8ball responded.

“I think Course’s the only one who’d actually like us to end up there. Although, Kyr…” 8ball got a thoughtful look on his face. “Maybe.”

“It would be them,” 48 complained.

8ball did not climb back up to his bunk, instead sitting cross-legged on the cold metal flooring. “Well, wherever we end up it’s gonna be with Green Squad. I’m pretty sure they’re legally not allowed to separate us, what with Punch being Kyr’s handler.”

48 sighed. “Truly, a masterclass of a soldier. Able to lead without leading… What would we do without him?”

“Get chewed out. Constantly. And maybe killed,” 8ball deadpanned.

Myth weighed the merit of closing his pod. It wasn’t that he disliked his brothers bantering, but his nerves had been fried throughout the course of the past twenty-four hours, and the thought of them talking poorly about their squad lead in the middle of the crowded barracks made him want to smother them with his thin pillow. Best to just not hear it at all.

Despite his misgivings, Myth did not close the pod. Hearing his brothers joke like their world wasn’t changing irrevocably put Myth a little bit more at ease than he would be with his own thoughts, even if the jokes added to his overall stress. The lesser of two evils.

His compromise for this was to zone out. He didn’t have a datapad, which had been left behind in the rush of the first call to Geonosis, so he couldn’t study his modules—which, he hadn’t considered before then, likely would not be continued. If they were deployed, they would have no more time for educational modules. Would they just have to get by with briefings? Would the information analysts have time before engagements to study the terrain and wildlife modules for the planets they were being sent to? They wouldn’t always have time for that.

There were too many unknown variables. Myth couldn’t finish drafting a single plan without it being countered with a potential roadblock he hadn’t ever dreamed of two moments prior.

Myth wasn’t sure how much time had passed between climbing into his bunk and the door to the barracks opening again. The Crown bunks weren’t terribly close, but it didn’t take proximity to figure out that the flood of clones entering were the squad leads. Within moments Kyr approached, fully absorbed in a datapad. A quick glance to Green Squad across the room confirmed that Punch had a matching one. Our orders.

All three present Crowns dropped down to the floor without hesitation.

“Well?” 8ball pressed. “Where are we going? What’s the verdict?”

48 clasped his hands together pleadingly. “Don’t say Coruscant.” he muttered. “Don’t say Coruscant, don’t say Coruscant, don’t say—”

“It isn’t Coruscant!” Kyr snapped, physically swatting at 48 without looking up from the datapad. Then, reading directly from the screen, he said, “Following the Green-Crown Unit’s performance at Geonosis, CTs—well, all of us, I’m not reading that—have been selected for deployment with the 212th Attack Battalion—”

“Led by who?” 8ball pressed.

“Do we get a Jedi?” 48 cut in.

Kyr finally broke eye contact with the datapad to glare at them both. “If you two would shut up for twenty seconds, I would answer those exact questions!”

Both of their mouths snapped shut, too excited at hearing about where they’d ended up to bother being nuisances.

“As I was saying,” Kyr muttered. “Let’s see… deployment with the 212th Attack Battalion of the 7th Sky Corps, lead by High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Commander Anakin Skywalker, alongside Marshal Commander CC-2224—”

48 interrupted again immediately. “2224?”

“Wrong focus,” 8ball shook a hand in 48’s face. “Hello? Who are the Jedi? We get two?”

“Jedi Commanders are Jedi apprentices,” Myth found himself saying. “The High General would be his mentor.”

“Second priority focus,” 8ball said pleasantly, physically covering 48’s mouth when it opened again. “High General? That’s for the corps, obviously. What about the battalion?”

“That is for the battalion.” Myth did a double take, but Kyr’s face stayed deathly serious. “The 212th Battalion’s only listed commanders and general are the same as that for the corps.”

“Surely that must be an error,” Myth muttered.

48 did not seem nearly as bothered as Myth was to learn this. “Oh, Hud is about to hate me.”

Kyr raised an eyebrow, but rather than question it, he said, “Only if he got deployed to the same battalion as us. We ship out first thing in the morning.”

Every new piece of information made Myth’s heart palpitate more sporadically. “First—? But—Course…?”

“The wounded will be transferred to the medical bay of the Star Destroyers,” Kyr said emotionlessly. “From my understanding, we’re being transferred to Coruscant, where our home ships will be designated, and the Jedi briefed.”

48 sighed bodily, but 8ball’s eyes lit up. “This really is just starting, huh?”

“Very suddenly.” Myth’s mouth felt dry.

They’d had ten years and yet no time at all to prepare. Course’s legs were broken. 48 had just barely reached the final stage growth requirements last cycle, and Myth wasn’t any of them had ever passed their exams with anything more than a “Permissible” score. How had they ended up in a High General’s battalion? A Marshal Commander’s battalion?

Something had gone wrong. He couldn’t be more certain, but none of his brothers seemed to be nearly as concerned. The Kaminoans are using us as fodder, his mind whispered traitorously. We’ll all be dead in a month.

An attack battalion of this calibre had to have sandbags to throw at the front lines. That would be the Crowns—and Green Squad, unwitting but unavoidable casualties in the crashing dropship that was the Crown track record.

Myth felt ill.

But looking at his brothers, 48 and 8ball excitedly scheming and dreaming up all of the crazy battles they’d surely see and even Kyr cracking a smile in their beaming presence, Myth couldn’t find it in himself to say any of his thoughts aloud. Instead, silently, he returned to his bunk. He would skip his shower for now.

His brothers noticed his movement, quieting down a bit as he moved, but Myth didn’t bother sitting in his extended pod. Instead, he climbed directly in and closed it, flimsy pillow over his head as though he could still make out any of the words in the barracks beyond. He didn’t think about their odds—or the disaster that had followed them from decanting to deployment. Instead, he recalled the way Course had twisted out of the grasp of that Geonosian. He remembered the excited sound 48 had made when he got his first confirmed kill, and the way 8ball had clapped him and 48 both on the shoulder when the mission was complete, when it was time to move to the rendezvous.

He and his brothers weren’t fodder. They weren’t meat droids, and they weren’t going to die easy. Not after they’d made it as far as they had. In a way, the hard part was over. They’d never had a simple day in their lives, on Kamino. Geonosis… hadn’t ended well. But up until Course got picked up, it was the closest Myth had ever come to feeling like they were doing something really right.

Remembering Green Squad truly put Myth’s racing heart to rest. As long as they had the Greens, they would be fine. Maybe he didn’t have quite enough faith in his own batchmates, but their brothers from Green Squad were needed to temper some of the worse habits of the Crowns. The thought of being deployed without Punch to temper Kyr or Pull to make sense of Myth’s own nonsensical plans was just a bit nauseating.

He remembered Course pulling him aside to repatch his arm, and the way Kyr had insisted on carrying Course out of that canyon. He remembered 8ball’s adrenaline-filled hurtling back to their unit, pursued by a squad of B1s who weren’t prepared for what Green Squad and Crown Squad had in store for them.

They would stick together, and they would survive. They always looked out for one another.

They would be fine.

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

I still hate web tumblr. Why can't I just insert a line? Why have the gods forsaken us?

Chapter 3 is in an interesting purgatory atm but the accompanying ficlet has been written for literally like 6 months, so there's that.

Chapter 1 (Tumblr)

Chapter 2 Spotify Playlist Here (Spoiler Free, I believe)

AO3 Chapter 2

10 notes · View notes