#transport whump

[promptsforyourwhumpfic]

Whump Prompt #1250

Submitted by Anon - thanks!

Tw: emetophobia

Sick and/or injured whumpee on the back of a motorcycle. Whumpee trying not to faint so they don't fall off. Whumpee trying not to puke all over the driver and potentially cause a crash. Is the driver hyperaware of what's going on with whumpee or totally oblivious? Do they successfully pull over before whumpee looses it? Maybe they can't pull over because they're being chased. Is the driver a caretaker in the middle of a rescue or whumper in the middle of a kidnapping?

#whump #writing #prompts #transport whump #emeto tw #injury #illness #rescue #kidnapping

[greatandquestionablecontent]

I'll take one final step, all you have to do is make me (whumptober 2023, day 19)

Context: Jade, Ari, and Delta are traveling through the mountains. It's not going well. Delta has left to find help. Jade is done waiting, and does not expect to make it out alive. Part of In the Mirror I Saw Who You Could Have Been but can probably be read independently Contents: environmental whump, delirium, ghosts and/or hallucinations, death ideation in a morbid acceptance kind of way, injury, uhhh dubiously consenting transportation, drug mentions (as metaphors) Preview snippet: Like the world’s shittiest sled, like a hunted deer being hauled back to a predator’s lair, Ari slid and bumped and jostled and her clothes ripped and she cried at first but then that stopped too. I can’t do this. I have to. I’m insane. This is insane.

Once again, Jade found herself with nothing to do but wait for Delta. Sit tight, stay safe, hope Delta came back at all, and hope her gut was right about when to finally bail.

Every other time, Delta had come back. Always fucked up, always different, always just as she was ready to take off. Part of her thought maybe that would be the same this time. All she had to do was decide to leave, and Delta would show up, like magic.

A bigger part of her doubted it.

Maybe this was the intuition that had kept her waiting before; maybe she’d always known when the time was right. That was what Ari said anyway. Ari believed in Jade trusting her heart and instinct, just like she believed in fate and luck and purpose and ghosts and evil spirits that stole bodies… but at least some of those were real, weren’t they?

Part of Jade was just tired of waiting, once again. Part of Jade didn’t want to see what Delta would come back as this time.

Her thoughts meandered, hazy. She knew her decision-making capabilities were severely hindered compared to the previous times she’d decided to wait it out. Starving, dehydrating, body crumbling from exhaustion… it was a lot like being high.

Here is what she came back to this time: she didn’t believe in fate. There was no string of destiny that bound her to Delta, or vice versa. Her decision to leave or stay meant nothing. There was no benevolent deity watching to make sure they reunited.

Here is what was true: she and Ari were alone in a lifeless landscape that wanted them dead.

Jade was alone with a delirious pregnant woman she’d met a few months ago, and she was done waiting to be saved. She wasn’t going to wait in this cave until she grew too weak to move, until she outlived Ari and only their bones were left waiting.

Agreeing to bring Ari along felt a little like getting a nearly comatose druggie to sign their life away during a particularly bad high. Ari was in no state to make wise decisions; she just didn’t want to be left alone. But what point was there in telling Ari to stay and wait alone, when Jade herself couldn’t stand to, even with Ari’s company? So Ari came along, and as they dragged their bodies out into the cold, Jade grappled with the idea that she would be responsible for Ari’s death.

It became less grappling, and more simply… fondling. She held the idea. She turned it in her hands each time she helped Ari back to her feet.

We’re going to die out here, and it won’t matter whether Delta comes back. If they do, they’ll find an empty cave.

She carried on with resigned acceptance. The farther they got from the cave, the more it felt like that hadn’t been a choice any more than she could choose not to let her body succumb to the elements. She had always been going to leave; she had always been going to take Ari with her. She had always been going to walk Ari to her death; she had always been going to get back up and walk away and keep walking until she collapsed not far off. It would happen, and she simply held the fact of it in her mouth, without speaking.

She thought, for the first time in a long time, of Maren, crouched by her brother’s body in the forest. Of Maren who died countless times before telling Jade she ought to slit her own throat and died with him.

Perhaps Jade was not destined to walk away from Ari’s body, when the time came. Perhaps she would stay.

~

Follow me.

A hallucination? A ghost? Jade accepted it. She stumbled in the direction of the little girl’s voice on the wind.

This way.

You’re almost there.

Come with me.

I’ll save you.

A little bit further.

Climb here.

The more Jade struggled, the more the voice spoke.

Up, up, up. Keep going Jade.

It knew her name. Of course it did. It was in her mind. A reassuring manifestation of her own last scrap of will power.

Keep going. A little farther. Bring Ari with you.

It grew impatient with her when she could barely manage to drag one foot to another.

Ari, clumsy, several feet behind and below Jade, slipped. The sound was so loud yet so distant. The rocks skidding echoed. Clatter clack clack clack clatter, bouncing off the icy walls.

Jade half descended, half fell, following her down with no thought except that she wouldn’t leave Ari behind.

Something was wrong. Ari did not get back up, she wheezed and shuddered, and Jade collapsed next to her and held her and wanted nothing more than to never have to move again. Certainly Ari wouldn’t.

Keep going, Jade, the voice urged.

“I can’t,” Jade said aloud, and it came out as a whispered wheeze. Ari can’t, she thought.

Leave her.

I can’t.

Drag her.

I can’t.

Drag her. The voice took on an intensity it hadn’t had before. No longer a wistful child on the wind, this was something stronger than Jade. 

Drag her, it commanded. Pull her.

I can’t carry her.

Drag her. A hiss in her ear, it was right behind her, its icy fingers on her neck.

So Jade did. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done.

It did not go well. She tried scooping Ari under the arm, gripping her waist, like she had done to help her walk. Ari was nothing but a heavy uneven shape, impossible to heave one way or another, impossible to balance.

So Jade dragged her.

This way. It’s longer, but you won’t need both hands to climb.

How considerate, came the last bit of sarcasm Jade had left in her.

She stumbled, both hands gripping Ari’s coat, all her muscles straining with the hill, her fingers screaming in protest. Like the world’s shittiest sled, like a hunted deer being hauled back to a predator’s lair, Ari slid and bumped and jostled and her clothes ripped and she cried at first but then that stopped too.

I can’t do this. I have to. I’m insane. This is insane.

The shock and horror was distant, the way any coherent thought was. Foggy, muted, but only because of that was it bearable. Only because of that was she able to ignore the scraping of sharp rock on exposed flesh, the growing certainty that any minute now she would just be exerting everything she had left into pointlessly dragging a mutilated corpse up to this peak.

Here.

Jade stopped. She didn’t think she could have gone farther if she’d had to. She propped Ari’s body against a rock and her legs crumbled beneath her. Darkness swam around her, wrapped her in thick blankets of immobility.

She struggled for a long time before she could open her eyes and find Ari’s ashen face, glittering snowflakes on her closed lashes.

“Ari, look,” she breathed. She was a little surprised when Ari’s eyes did open, and she did look.

“This is a good place,” Ari whispered.

A safe place? A beautiful place? A worthy place to die? A place which contained some intangible spiritual quality of goodness?

Jade didn’t have the energy to ask, and Ari said no more. They sat in the snow, propped against the rock, and Jade accepted that this was exactly where they’d always been meant to die. Together.

Jade was satisfied. It had all payed off.

It was beautiful. In fact, she couldn’t have picked a more awe-striking place to spend her last moments. A sunrise or sunset, she couldn’t remember which, stretched on and on, with a billion hues of peaches and pinks and oranges painted over an endless field of crystaline snow-encrusted peaks, the tallest place in the world. The air which had felt so tight and thin and burning in her throat was beautiful too, clear and crisp, uncluttered by any smells at all. It filled her empty lungs and cleared her mind, and it was just her and Ari and the sky and the view.

#jade #ari #in the mirror i saw who you could have been #whumptober 2023 #whumptober day 19 #lady whump #environmental whump #dubcon transportation #im so amused with the opportunity to use this as a tag #my writing #theyll be ok btw! #they get rescued

[dontxnumber]

There's not enough content of characters suffering in public transports 🤔

This may or may not be based on my own misadventures 😂

The classic motion sickness, made even worse by the fact that they're in public

Characters with a horrible headache, and ofc there's always someone making loud noises. Weather it's a baby crying, or a toddler watching an annoying video on their parent's phone/someone playing music without headphones, people talking unnecessary loud...

Sickies who didn't manage to get a window seat. Maybe it's a cold day, the thing is all the windows are closed and they feel like they're smothering

Or the other way around, all the windows are open and they can't stop shivering

Missing their stop cause they felt too dizzy to get up/felt too sick and just didn't notice till it was too late

Someone accidentally bumping into their stomach. Or just bumping into them in general, making them feel even more shaken up than than usual

Feeling sick on a long trip, knowing it's gonna be a while till they can get to the comfort of their home

Even better if they start to feel sick before they even get to the place they're supposed to go, meaning that they still have to travel back

#sickfic #stomach ache #whump #emeto #emeto prompt #vomiting #sickfic prompts #motion sickness #I've just got home and i feel like dying #i spent 6 hours of my day in public transports

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

I finished Songs for the Missing today. It’s really fucking bleak. I can’t quite call it cathartic; just dull and empty in a very, painfully Midwestern kind of way.

#songs for the missing #Stewart O’Nan #It’s a really good book; but it’s leaving a bad taste in my mouth because it’s too true to life for my tastes LOL #I need a janky old sci fi novel to fix me #I need an apartment with a tall bookshelf on which to store all the janky old sci fi novels to fix me #Maybe I’ll read John Brunner’s Time Jump or The Counterfeit Man #or The Island of Doctor Moreau by HG Wells #But yeah I read for two hours straight not really focusing because I was thinking #about when to schedule the apartment viewings and the order in which I should transport my stuff to the apartment #I’m extremely stressed btw (I don’t even need to say that because [gestures to this blog which is more venting than whump]) #(unfortunately) #Now Iz’s cover of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” will forever be associated with Kim Larsen the fictional character #who could be a real murder victim on Dateline

[mla-citation]

hey i get its great for angst purposes but PLEASE when you are writing a school age character in NY, stop making them drop out of school due to unstable housing. NY state actually has programs to deal with that exact situation, its also one of the few things that they are VERY strict about.

Any publicly funded school in New York State is required to make a reasonable effort to provide transportation and other logistics to students dealing with unstable housing and/or foster care.

The program is called Mckinney-Vento if you want to look into it for further research.

#jace.txt #as a NYS resident who has dealt with transport issues its one of the few things that really irks me when i read a fic #i love homeless peter parker as much as the next whump fan but if youre writing long fic...

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

19. What’re you excited about for next year?

Thank you for the ask! From this ask game.

I really am not. I was excited for 2022, and look where that got us.

#salad-ask #suspicious-whumping-egg #It's me I'm the OC #Was excited to go to a concert #but it sold out before we got to buy the cards #:D #So just... keeping the expectations low it's harder to disappoint them #Was also excited about the national wide public transport ticket that was supposed to come in Jan! #been postponed to at least April

[straight-to-the-pain]

'I wondered what their story was. He, the rebel, she the loyal lover? Or he the follower to her leader? Or perhaps they moved as one, fighting for the cause in the shadows, finding their love where they may, on the run, or hidden in dirty hotel rooms or basements, away from the All-Seeing Eye. I imagined his capture, his refusal to give her name away, even under torture. I pictured her reading his letters every night, over and over, especially this final one. Think of me always, as I think of you now, my dearest, in these last few days of my life. And later on she was also arrested, found guilty, killed most probably, and her image transported to this prison in the sky.' - Room 149, Jeff Noon

#this is from 2084 an anthology of sci fi stories about the future #there's not really a lot of context because they're all short stories #but it's about these two people who were killed and their ghosts basically transported to this prison and they then wander the halls #searching for each other #it's really sad but the ending is kinda cute actually #but this paragraph to me was really whumpy #so here it is #whump #implied/referenced torture #death #s talks

[whumpsday]

Conflict Whump Challenge

A whump challenge based on this comic by Grant Snider. The prompts are the conflicts listed in the comic!

Here are some ideas to get you started, but you can do anything the prompts from the comic inspire in you--these are only suggestions!

Man vs. Nature - Environmental whump, Animal attack, Sickfic

Man vs. Society - Dystopian society, Institutionalized whump, Fugitive

Man vs. Technology - Sci-fi whump, Robots, Shock collar

Man vs. man - Kidnapping, Defiant whumpee, Forced to hurt

Man vs. Self - Struggling with recovery, Slowed down by injuries, Evil clone

Man vs. Reality - Transported to another realm, Reality-altering powers, Facing reality

Man vs. God - Cults, Deity whumper, Deity whumpee

Man vs. No God - Crisis of faith, Demons, False god

Man vs. Author - Whumpee becomes self-aware about being a character in a whump story, You wake up inside your own story, Misery situation

In this context, "man" is gender-neutral (as in "mankind") and the whumpee can be any gender.

The challenge is bingo-style: create three pieces to fill any one row, column, or diagonal arrangement to complete the challenge! If you want to go the extra mile, you could even go for filling all nine prompts.

There is no time limit on this challenge, it can be completed at any time at your own pace.

Tag your work #conflictwhumpchallenge or #conflict whump challenge so others can find it!

#whump event #whump challenge #whump community #whump #whump prompt #whump prompts #conflict whump challenge #conflictwhumpchallenge

[loonybun]

hi whump community let me tell you about a drug called datura!! because boy is it a doozy.

datura is a deliriant, which means it is a hallucinogenic drug capable of causing serious and often terrifying delusions and hallucinations that are literally indistinguishable from reality in the user’s mind.

It is poisonous and part of the nightshade family, and the dosage used to get high off of it is actually very close to the lethal dose. it is also not only entirely legal in most places but also very accessible. it’s grown as a house plant, actually. most people who trip off of it only do it once because of how awful of an experience it is. also trips last like a long time (anywhere from 12 hours to 3 days if i remember correctly?)

the hallucinations that come with this drug are incredibly horrifying, making it literal nightmare fuel. also the more long term effects from it can include permanent psychosis and lingering delusions. fun stuff.

common hallucination experiences from this drug include the following:

- heavy gore

- seeing corpses

- feeling like you’ve been transported to an alternate dimension (hell)

- seeing people or entities you know (but a little fucked up)

- parasites and bugs

- feeling as though your organs are falling out of your body

- shadows in the back of your vision

- smoking phantom cigarettes or eating phantom food (phantom in the sense that they aren’t really there)

- torture scenarios

all in all, i think it’s a rlly interesting thing that can definitely be used in whump. like imagine a whumper lacing someone’s tea with that. the whumpee wouldn’t even be aware that something was done to them due to the fact that they physically cannot tell the difference between delusion and reality. real fun stuff. probably need an immortal whumpee though just cuz if someone takes this there’s a high chance of them getting hospitalized.

#whump community #whump #whumpblr #whump writing #whump prompt #sadistic whumper #lab whump #medical whump #drug whump #tw drugs #tw datura #datura #using this for vian in case u couldn’t tell #i love doing research on drugs despite being totally sober #they’re so fascinating man #tw hallucinations #tw noncon drugging

[whumpsoda]

Seeing Me in You - Unboxing

Masterlist

cw: pet whump, box boy universe/bbu adjacent, institutionalized slavery, conditioned/brainwashed whumpee

——————

Ever so anxiously fearful, he had safely arrived to his new home. After so long of training and treatment, he had been prepared to perfection for his purpose. He was going to finally be put to use.

His trip to delivery had proved painful, even if he was used to dealing with common afflictions. Such a tight cage was unfavorable for his hulking frame, and the constant, numerous shakes and bumps of the truck formed noticeable bruises over his skin, and a sour throbbing in his head.

Thankfully, 374629 wasn’t meant to look presentable. Especially not pretty. He knew he wasn’t, having been utterly made sure of it. Not average looking, even, but he was never meant to be. He certainly was not a romantic, nothing anyone would purchase depending on his level of attraction.

Once set to the ground below his master’s doorstep, he made a point not to listen into the muffled conversation mushing together like cotton clouds above him. Reducing it to a buzz in the back of his mind, he kept his brain nice and blank. His belly still whirled in a mixture of terror and excitement to be inches away from his owner, and minutes from finally being introduced to them.

He could clearly hear as the employees transporting him finally left, leaving him alone with his owner. Leaving him to begin his new life.

374629 froze rigid as light began cracking and seeping into his crate, flooding his face with warmth and blinding brightness. On instinct his eyes shut and wound tight, body curling into itself further.

He hoped his master would be a good master. Didn’t everyone? Every master would be good of course, he had to be grateful to have any master at all. He was lucky. Maybe they would be just like his handlers in the facility. He couldn’t help but wish they were. As much as he was in no place to have preferences, he would have liked the familiarity.

But as his master ever so carefully opened his box, revealing more and more of his face, 374629 couldn’t help but on instinct catch a tiny look. And his master was frowning.

It was obvious he was attempting to hide it, lips curling up ever so slightly, almost unnoticeably so. The fake, half smile failed to meet his solemn, moistening eyes that glittered in the light. Not only was he obviously unhappy with his delivery, but his master was crying.

As 374629 turned back away, he could only hope it was his pet’s unsavory predicament that he found so foul.

Covered in his own grime, tears and sweat, boxers shriveled and dirty, his burly figure was contorted every which way inside of his box. His collar wasn’t even a nice leather, rather cheap and itching raw, red marks over his neck.

Maybe his master had never ordered a boxie before. Maybe he didn’t realize his pet would arrive so disheveled.

“S- sorry,” the man sniveled, wiping his eyes with clammy knuckles, “This is just… a lot. More so for you, of course.” 374629 could sense the slightest of a soft smile in his voice, pulsing warmth through his pet’s butterfly-filled belly. 

374629 didn’t know if he was meant to respond. He knew his rules well, repeating one specifically like a mantra in his mind. Do not speak unless spoken to, he told himself, over and over again like the handlers had. But he’d never had someone, let alone a person, apologize to him. Apologize! How could he possibly know what to do?

“Ye- yes, sir.” He squeaked out, meek and shaky. He winced, expecting a quick and burning shock to the throat for his misbehavior - hesitating and stuttering - but, while no longer wearing his training collar, such a punishment never came. 

Eyes peeking open once again, 374629 fixated his vision on the wood paneling of his crate. Pets are never allowed to look their master in the face, he told himself, both reminding him of the rules and silently chastising himself for having the urge to do so a second time. He hoped his owner had noticed his previous mistake of doing so, so that he could receive needed discipline for such unacceptable behavior.

“Hmmm… how about we get you up and out of your box, okay?” His master commanded, although spoken strangely. As if it wasn’t a command, rather a question, but 374629 knew very well that it was. Commands were one thing he was good at knowing. “Unless you feel more comfortable in there, then-,”

Before his master could continue, 374629 swiftly and clumsily stumbled from the confines of his box, plopping to his knees beside it. Again he fixed his gaze somewhere beside his master, this time the concrete floor of the hallway, as much as he wished he could look to the man for approval.

“Oh.” 

The pet tensed. Did he do something wrong? He failed to discern an emotion from his master’s lack thereof, causing his stomach to quease with uneasiness. 

“That’s okay. That’s good, yeah.” The pet could have sighed in relief. “Now, can I ask you a question?”

374629 tensed once again. Another question. He was so terribly confused. Why was his master asking him? Permission, even? It had to be a trick. A test, to see how well he’d been trained, an easy on at that. 

“A master does anything they so desire.” He neatly recited, a smile nearly tugging at his lips. 

He was being such a good boy. Back at training he would have received a quick and concise good by his handler, and the thought of praise, no matter how little and insignificant, could have him practically drooling.

For a moment, his master paused.

“I guess I should’ve expected that.” He whispered, more so to himself than his pet. His tone almost shone disappointment to his words, a realization that could have brought rich bile flooding his pet’s mouth. “I just wanna know, um, what’s your designation?”

He didn’t even need to think to formulate a reply. “WRU, facility 034, Guard Dog 374629.” He recited on the instant, words rolling off his tongue with perfected memorization. His designation was beat to memory, coming completely and entirely natural to him. In the whole interaction, that was one thing he was sure of.

He heard his master swallow, thick with saliva that danced down his throat. “Guard dog?”

“Yes, sir.” He responded, without falter, and utilizing his deep, low chords.

“Me too.”

——————

Masterlist

Taglist- @softvampirewhump @3-2-whump @taterswhump

If anyone wants to be removed or added to the taglist, please let me know! :)

#My writing #Whump writing #whump story #whump #whumpblr #box boy whump #box boy universe #BBU #conditioned whumpee #institutionalized slavery #pet whump #brainwashed whumpee #Seeing me in you

[sweeneydino]

Welcome to my humble abode.

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 lgbtq+ safe space.

Surprise.

Ignore the soda cans and crumbled pieces of paper, never really got the chance to clean that up.

I am proud to announce a master post that I will likely never use!

Yes, I know, very useful.

It will collect dust just like all of my other projects and dreams.

Archive of Our Own (AO3) Fanfics

Lime meets emerald

Spikeangelo

Comics

Weapons of Hamato [1]

Alternate Universe Shenanigans

Spikeangelo AU!

Au idea | Titan

Spikeangelo Asks!

Transporters don't act like they do in Space Heroes Leo! (TSHL) [CW: BODY HORROR]

Au Idea

Mold

Weapons of Hamato

Au Idea

New Friend [Part 1]

The Good Father

Au Idea | Rat Dads in New York

Grown Up Don

Future Menace

Past Remembrance / PT.2

Paper Scales/ Little Dragons [CW: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH]

LITTLE DRAGONS

Au idea | Explored

Splintering | Father's Day | Forgive me

Little Dragons | Dragons | Twin Disasters | Eldest and Youngest |Oh Fuck THEY ARE GROWING UP | Awakened Dads | Mood Ring

Himbo | Uncle Mike

New Years | January 1st

DANGER | Forms of a Monster | Trouble

Strange occurrences | Prey drive | Clear Picture | Mimicking | Stronk | Friends | Moody | Omen | Mystic Bab | Holy Shit | Honey | Buddy | Travel

Tot adventures

Actual fucking dragons | Dai | Mura & Aoi | Akai | COLORS

Fanart: 🧡 🧡 💜

A FANFIC BY @/SHYADRI ON TUMBLR AGAIN THANK YOU SMH CHECK THEM OUT PLEASE 🙏 IDK IF I SHOULD @ THEM HERE SO PLEASE LOOK THEM UP THANK YOU

Collection of other Free-to-use AUS [CW:BLOOD/GORE]

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Honestly, a lot of my stuff is free to use. Just credit me is all I ask 😌

Animations

Shelldon's Daisy

Where is the pizza, Casey?

Give Splinter a break man

TAP

Sunrise Duo, but with a little red

Mystic Bab

Posers

Side Blogs

Mostly Sanic stuff with gay hedgehogs @lintandsteal

Stuff I scraped out of the bottom of my toilet @trashinyourpockets

A fair warning that although I draw A LOT fluff and baby turtles, I also draw(and sometimes write) whump, a lot of angst and gore/extremly violent art(those will be properly tagged in their own post).

My joy in drawing cute stuff must be counterbalanced.

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #art #crossover #tmnt crossover #tmnt 2012 #main post #master post #links

[jordanstrophe]

Abandoned whumpee is back

[Previous] - [Next] CW: Captive whumpee, injury, blood loss, medical whump, hurt/comfort, defiant whumpee, intimate whumper

Two guards on either side pulled whumpee through the wasteland. Whumper lead in the front, often craning their head back to make sure whumpee stayed in check.

"This is all pointless!" Whumpee shouted at them. "I'm not giving up my team, I'll be nothing but a h-.. hassle. I just-" Whumpee ran out of breath as their retorting faded. The bandage on their side was soaked in blood as some began running down their waist.

Whumper turned around, immediately motioning for the group to stop. "They're bleeding faster than I thought. Lay them down for a second." Whumper ordered, rushing to them while ripping open a new bandage.

The guards tried pulling whumpee to the ground; whumpee wouldn't bend their knees, so whumper grabbed their legs and pulled them out from underneith them.

"No no NO- I'm fine! Leave it alone!" Whumpee squirmed. Whumper pinned their legs together with their knees and peeled off the dripping bandage.

"I'm going to put some pressure and tighten it, okay?" Whumper explained, wrapping a bandage around their midsection.

"Just le-leave me here. I'm already holding you back." Whumpee rasped, sweat pouring down their face. The guards kept whumpee's arms over their head and wouldn't let them move an inch.

"Thanks for the kind thoughts. Now take a deep breath, this'll hurt." Whumper said. Whumpee glared and breathed rapidly; whumper just watched and waited. Finally out of sheer discomfort, whumpee took a deep enough breath as whumper pulled the two ends tightly against the wound.

Even though they wanted to, whumpee willed themselves not to scream. They groaned and cried behind gritted teeth, their cheeks flushed red and whumper could feel them tense underneath them.

"That's it, you're doing fine. Good job." Whumper patted their leg. Whumpee deeply exhaled with the tiniest whimper behind it. They seemed unable to speak.

"I'll get you taken care of when we get home. Some stitches and a night's rest will do you good. I'm sure you haven't eaten in a while." Whumper shook blood off their hands and stood up. They looked down and realized whumpee was trying to squirm to their feet. They kept collapsing and their legs were shaking.

"Want me to carry you-"

"No." Whumpee cut them off, still trying to struggle to their feet. They began using the guards to try and pull themselves up.

"Come on whumpee, this is pathetic." Whumper crossed their arms.

"I'm- I'm aware. I don't want your help, don't touch me anymore. Please..." Whumpee looked up at them with a furrowed brow. For the first time, whumper saw just how much pain they were in. Mentally and physically.

"Okay I'm picking you up." Whumper said, shoving their arm under whumpee's knees.

"No, no you are nooOOOTT-!" Whumpee shouted as whumper hoisted them up mid-sentence. Whumpee clung to their neck out of sheer adrenaline.

"There we go, not so bad right?" Whumper cooed, continuing onwards.

"Put. Me. Down." Whumpee hissed.

"Would you rather we drag you across the gravel? Just relax. I'm not going to drop you."

"If that gets me put down, they do it." Whumpee kicked their feet. They tried to pry off whumper's fingers from their back leg, but was unsuccessful.

Whumper sighed and rolled their eyes. For the rest of the way, whumpee complained and argued loudly. Carrying them was exhausting, but whumper liked that they could monitor the bandage and keep track of how much blood they were losing.

By the time they got to the transportation, whumpee had fallen asleep. Their head was resting against whumper's shoulder, one arm was folded over their stomach, their other arm hung limp.

Whumper claimed the back seat and laid whumpee across the length with their head on whumper's lap.

"What an unfortunate little lamb. Willing to follow your team to the grave." They whispered, stroking whumpee's hair from the side of their face.

"I truly feel terrible for you."

[Previous] -- [Masterlist] -- [Next]

@parasitebunny @starzabove @frog-hat-fa-ggot @morning-star-whump @memepsychowhowantsuperpower-blog @mommymarichatfurever

#whump #whumpee #whumper #abandoned whump #whump angst #whump writing #intimate whumper #gentle whumper #soft whumper #caring whumper #hurt/comfort #medical whump #injury whump #blood loss whump #captured whumpee #manhandle whump #whumplr #team whump #defiant whumpee

[hufflepuffwritingstuff2]

Whump prompt: Whumpee being transported somewhere via coffin. Let's hope Whumpee isn't claustrophobic or has some irrational fear of being buried alive...

You could make this more fun by having either Whumpee or Whumper be a vampire. If Whumpee is the vampire, they're trapped in their own resting place Or, if Whumper is the vampire, they're trapping their newest possession in their oldest possession.

#whump prompt #prompt #whump #vampires #vampire whump

[jayden-writes]

poisoned

pairing: none

main protagonists: Lucifer, Diavolo, gn!Reader

word count: ~3k

genre: hurt/comfort (more hurt than comfort), angst, whump

cw: near death experience (please do tell me if there's something else that needs a cw!)

summary: Not everyone approves of Lord Diavolo's exchange program.

other notes: no name, Y/N or MC used // AO3 // thanks again to @gravedwe11er for helping me so much with this fic!

There was a certain tension in the air during the banquet Lord Diavolo hosted to celebrate the beginning of the exchange program; while everyone smiled politely or at least held carefully neutral expressions on their faces, nothing could hide the blatant disdain in some of their eyes. You tried not to be affected by the stares burning into your back, but it was difficult. It had been a mere week since you’d been transported into the Devildom and you were still adjusting to the new environment. To say that you were struggling would have been an understatement - you were surrounded by immortal and potentially dangerous beings, constantly reminded of your fragility and insignificance in comparison to them. Living in the House of Lamentation with the Avatars of Sin wasn’t without stress either, you were always subjected to their eccentric behaviors and arguments.

An unexpected touch on your shoulder nearly made you yelp, and you bit your tongue to stifle the sound. Heart throbbing in your chest, you turned towards whoever had touched you and tentative relief washed over you when you recognized Asmodeus.

“You look ravishing, darling,” he cooed, linking his arm with yours, “well, not quite as ravishing as me, of course, but that’s to be expected.”

He gracefully led you to the tables, talking about how stunning your outfit was - he had picked it out himself - as he walked, while you stayed silent, too focused on not accidentally tripping over your own feet and embarrassing yourself in front of what was probably the majority of Devildom’s aristocracy. The guests were taking their assigned seats one by one and to your horror, you noticed Asmodeus was deliberately walking you to the seating places of Lucifer, Lord Diavolo, and the Purgatory Hall group - a single free spot was between the two demons.

“No, no no no, you can’t be serious,” you whispered to Asmo, hoping the people around you didn’t have such superior hearing that they would be able to make out your words. “They're all going to stare at me! They already are! Why don’t you sit there in my stead, you want to be in the spotlight, don’t you?”

The Avatar of Lust giggled and pulled the chair out, helping you get seated, then he leaned down to murmur into your ear, “As much as I would like that, you’re supposed to be the star of today’s evening, my dear.”

Giving you a wink, he withdrew and sauntered over to the opposite side of the long table, leaving you stuck amidst the prince and the eldest of the brothers. You could feel Lucifer’s critical gaze on you, however, you refused to look at him, opting to watch the attendees instead, being careful not to establish eye contact with anyone. After just a short moment, Lord Diavolo said your name cheerfully, redirecting your attention to him.

“Ah, I can’t wait to officially introduce you to everybody,” he beamed, and it took all of your willpower not to jump out of your seat and run out.

“Yeah… me neither…” you mumbled, shoulders sagging in defeat.

Lucifer cleared his throat, and you shifted your face towards him before he smoothly remarked, “I’m sure you will do perfectly fine and behave appropriately, won’t you?”

Swallowing hard, you promptly corrected your posture, sitting up straight again. His eyes were piercing through yours until you swiftly averted your gaze, this time letting it settle on the plate and cutlery in front of you. Someone from behind you poured an odd-looking liquid into your glass and you eyed it suspiciously. It didn’t look like any beverage you’ve ever had in your realm, so you assumed it was demonus. Nervously watching the others take their glasses, you decided to follow suit, grasping the fragile object with your shaking hands.

As you watched the cloudy white fluid sloshing around, a jarring, ominous feeling swept over you. Everything inside you screamed to put the drink aside, not to consume it, but you ignored your instinct, attributing it to you simply being hyper-vigilant and nervous. You bit the bullet and brought it to your lips, tilting it back and gulping it down in one go before placing it on the wooden surface. Embarrassment burned on your cheeks once you saw everybody was drinking theirs slowly. Even so, you were unable to dwell on that further once the flavor hit you and you barely managed to avoid grimacing; it was pleasantly sweet at first, though eventually there came a nauseating aftertaste burning in your throat. It made your eyes water and you rapidly blinked, trying to rid yourself of the tears. Out of nowhere, a terrifying thought popped into your head: what if your drink had been poisoned? As abruptly as this notion had crossed your mind, you quickly shook it off when, after a bit, the taste dissipated. Who would be so bold to try to poison you, the prized human exchange student, at an event hosted by Lord Diavolo himself while you were quite literally sitting next to him?

Exhaling a shaky breath, you focused on the prince beside you who started addressing the guests with a speech. You were unable to understand his words; a loud rushing in your ears drowned all the noises out and your pulse was thumping in your throat. Confused by the abrupt onset of physical symptoms of anxiety, you took slow, deep breaths, knowing it would be over sooner or later. You nodded slightly whenever it seemed appropriate based on Lord Diavolo's body language and whatever snippets of sentences you picked up on to look like you were listening. It took a while, but when he was finally done, he smiled at you and you reciprocated, even if you weren’t sure exactly how forced it looked. He stood up along with everyone else, the attendees gradually mingling with each other again. It was obvious what was going to happen now; he would begin introducing you to the various important people of this realm. Anxiously, you rose as well, a wave of heat coursing through your body as you did so, feeling your legs wobble under your weight and your heart rate spiking. Looking around yourself, you noticed that your vision was hazy, yet you could still feel demons staring at you and hear their snickering. Turning back towards Lord Diavolo who was standing in front of you, you attempted to make out what he was saying; your efforts, however, were fruitless.

“Fresh air”, you managed to choke out, “I’ll get some fresh air.”

With that you spun on your heel, leaving the hall and ignoring all the voices surrounding you that were increasing in volume, but remained abstruse and unintelligible to you. All of a sudden, a person blocked your path and you were able to hazily make out red eyes, narrowing dangerously at you. Disregarding their presence completely, you pushed past them, continuing your way out. By the time you were alone, in a quiet hallway, you were wondering how you had been able to walk at all, your knees threatening to buckle at any moment. Still, you moved on, steadying yourself against the walls with one arm. The contrasting silence made you more aware of how noisy the whirring in your ears was, and how ragged your breathing had become as the heat in your body intensified. Head spinning, you stumbled through the hallways, having no idea where you were; you could have been in the castle’s dungeons for all you knew.

Despite the fog in your mind, you began to realize this was not anxiety; it had to be something entirely different. You faintly remembered the drink you had been served earlier - had it been just a few minutes since then or hours? Did someone actually poison you?

Before you could ponder on that question any further, pain exploded in your torso, making you clutch your chest and sending you falling to the ground. Unable to get up or even call for help, you could only clench your teeth while your breaths came in bursts, tears pooling in your eyes. The floor underneath you was blissfully cold as you ended up lying motionless on your side, almost paralyzed by the pain.

After some time, black dress shoes appeared in your view; their wearer quickly knelt next to you, and a gloved hand reached out towards you. When you let out a startled yelp, it temporarily paused in the air, then resumed its movements. The muddled shushing sounds did nothing to ease your fear, and the two fingers pressing against your neck didn’t either. Your pulse was pounding beneath the warm leather of the gloves and you could hear indistinct words, loosely resembling curses. The hand disappeared for a moment before it gently nudged your shoulder, coaxing you into rolling on your back. Someone was hovering over you, but all you could make out was the blurry silhouette of what you assumed must have been a demon. Whether they were here to finish their job or not, you did not know, and you were too weak to defend yourself.

Suddenly, the fingers - now bare - brushed over your face, the touch cool on your heated cheeks. Not able to stop yourself you whined, pushing up into the hand, not caring about the potential intentions they had. Soon, a second hand joined, mirroring the actions of the other, providing you with relief. However, it was short-lived; murmured, unfamiliar words that resonated with power filled your ears, and a strange pulling sensation emanated from the fingers on you. It was as if, somehow, it was reaching into your body, your soul, searching for something. You felt like your insides were being set on fire and it was trying to eat its way out of you, breaching through each and every cell. All you could do was cry out and sob, hot tears scorching your skin. The person wiped away the incessant tears, but they didn’t cease what they were doing, and you were certain that they truly were there to kill you.

Slowly, your vision became less blurred and you were able to make out a vaguely familiar face gazing down at you, red eyes that had glared at you with discontent previously were now a mix of concern and anger.

“… L-Lu… cifer…?” you managed to slur, tongue heavy in your mouth and pain clawing relentlessly at you. The demon you presumed to be Lucifer responded, but you were unable to comprehend even a single word.

“S-stop, please, please m-make it stop,” you pleaded with him while you were gasping for air. He held your gaze as you begged for mercy and the intensity in his demeanor seemed to subside. The grip on your cheeks softened and the overwhelming sensations eased. Your sight and hearing cleared further and eventually, you identified Lucifer to be the one kneeling by your side. Before you could say anything, however, a hand moved from your cheek to your brow, covering your eyes as well.

“Sleep,” was the first thing you were able to hear - and also the last, then you were plunged into darkness.

As you came to, you found yourself lying on a soft surface, slightly propped up, and a light fabric was draped over your body. Gradually, you regained awareness of your surroundings; you could feel the way your clothes were clinging to you, and just how drained you were. Some distance away, there were hushed voices, seemingly arguing with one another, and you could make out a couple of fragmented sentences from one person.

“… all due respect, my lord… warned you… you were naive to… the human… everything at risk… lucky that nothing…”

You blinked your eyes open, taking in the room blearily before your gaze landed on two people - a guilty-looking Lord Diavolo and an angry Lucifer. And as if the latter had a sixth sense, his head immediately snapped towards you and the argument ceased. The men promptly strode over to you, Lucifer sitting on the chair right next to the bed you were resting on, while Lord Diavolo stood in the background, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Lucifer's hand grazed over your forehead, brushing strands of hair that were sticking to the skin aside, feeling the lingering heat radiating off you. His fingers then went to your neck, checking your pulse once more. It was eerily silent as he attentively assessed your condition, and you felt awfully tired. Your body was aching; all you wanted was to return to blissful unconsciousness. But as soon as you closed your eyes, fingertips tapped insistently on your cheek until you opened them again with a groan.

“You must stay awake for now,” Lucifer asserted firmly. “Tell me, how are you feeling?”

“I'm alive,” you muttered hoarsely. He let out a long-suffering sigh at that while Lord Diavolo tensed up even more.

“Evidently, you are well enough to joke around. I suppose that is a good sign. Nevertheless - and I can not overemphasize this - you did nearly die. Consider yourself lucky that I found you when I did. A few minutes later and you would have succumbed to the poison.”

Reclining in the chair, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and fixed you with an appraising gaze. You attempted to sit up, but the pain shooting through you and Lucifer’s scowl made you lie back down. Finally, Lord Diavolo stepped closer to you and you observed his strained expression; you had never seen him like that before, and you almost felt bad about getting poisoned at his banquet.

“I’m terribly sorry that this has happened. Please accept my sincerest apologies and the assurance that nothing of this sort will ever occur again,” his voice sounded subdued and quiet.

“It’s not your fault, Lord Diavolo, you couldn’t have known.”

“He did know. I warned him that this could happen and yet, he refused to listen to me”, Lucifer huffed.

“Maybe because you always assume that the worst will happen, and then it never does. Well, this time it did, but-”

“I beg your pardon?” he halted your thoughtless retort with an indignant glare, making you shut up instantly. “As you should have noticed by now, not assuming that the worst could happen at all times is what will get you killed in the Devildom. I am merely trying to keep you alive, although you seem all but keen on seeking your death here with the amount of trouble you have managed to find yourself in since your arrival.”

Lucifer shook his head and sighed heavily before standing up.

“I have matters to attend to. Namely, finding the culprit”, he stated calmly as he walked towards the door. “Lord Diavolo, we will continue our conversation at a later time.”

With the Avatar of Pride out of the room, Lord Diavolo took the seat. His eyes were everywhere but on you while he was wringing his hands.

“Lord Dia-” you began, only to be interrupted by him.

“No. Please, just call me Diavolo,” he uttered, now looking at you. “I’ve put you in grievous danger because I believed no one would dare harm you on the castle’s premises. It was foolish of me to think that, and I must apologize for the distress I inadvertently caused you.”

“But you didn’t mean to, Diavolo. I’m not mad at you,” you explained and you tried sitting up again to be more at eye level with him. He quickly steadied you and helped you lean against the headboard. Pained whimpers bubbled in your throat and you clenched your jaw to suppress them as you shifted your position - you didn't want to make him feel even worse. However, it didn’t escape his notice and he sat on the edge of the bed, keeping a hold of your upper arms. His touch was cautious, as if he was scared of hurting you further. The prince looked at you for a moment before he moved his hands to your shoulders, his thumbs lightly stroking over them in a comforting manner.

“Seeing you like that… unconscious, barely holding onto life while Lucifer brought you back from the brink…” Diavolo finally said, his voice cracking.“It made me realize how frail you truly are. And… that I wish to get to know you properly. I don’t want to waste any more precious time, not when a human’s life is so short and delicate. And I promise you, from now on I will do better in ensuring your safety.”

The serious look on Diavolo's face was dizzying, so you simply nodded slowly. Just as he was about to speak again, Barbatos entered, carrying a tray with a steaming cup of tea.

“Ah. I see you have regained consciousness. How are you feeling?” asked the butler.

“I'm doing alright,” you replied easily. Diavolo tightened his grip on you a little, almost imperceptibly so, no doubt having recognized your lie. Giving you a lenient smile, Barbatos set the tray on the nightstand next to you.

“You will be alright. Eventually,” he spoke, his words heavy with meaning, before bowing and exiting the room, leaving you alone with Diavolo. With his hands still resting comfortingly on your shoulders, he frowned as he watched his butler leave.

Not wanting to further aggravate the ache that was plaguing your body, you suppressed the urge to shake your head. 51 weeks left. You just had to make it through 51 more weeks.

#jayden-writes #obey me #obey me shall we date #omswd #obey me fanfic #obey me fanfiction #obey me lucifer #obey me diavolo #obey me lucifer fanfiction #obey me diavolo fanfiction #obey me angst #obey me hurt/comfort #obey me whump #reader #gender neutral reader #no y/n #no gendered pronouns #gender neutral mc

[staydandy]

The First Responders Season 2 (2023) - 소방서 옆 경찰서 그리고 국과수 - Whump List

List by StayDandy Synopsis : The season continues to follow the joint operations of the police force, fire department, and paramedics. The three stations jointly respond to fierce scenes between crime, disasters and emergencies, showcasing their bravery and teamwork in the face of danger. (MDL) AKA : The Police Station Next to the Fire Station and National Forensic Service | The First Responders 2

Whumpee : Jin Ho Gae [detective] played by Kim Rae Won • Bong Do Jin [firefighter] played by Son Ho Jun • Kang Do Ha [NFS] played by Oh Eui Shik • Gong Myung Pil [detective, Ho Gae’s partner] played by Kang Gi Doong

Country : 🇰🇷 South Korea Genres : Action, Thriller, Mystery, Drama, Crime, Bromance

Notes : This is a Full Whump List • Autopsy scenes are vivid. Be wary if you're squeamish. • Uh, yeah, I had a few rather emotional responses to some eps, you'll see a few of my thoughts in blue • TW : Animal Cruelty, Child Abuse

Related List : The First Responders Season 1 (2022) - Full List

Episodes on List : 11 Total Episodes : 12

*Spoilers below*

left to right : Ho Gae, Do Jin, Do Ha, Myung Pil

01 : Jin Ho Gae falls several feet, connected to Bong Do Jin by a security rope, who's supporting him, hanging, suspended, unconscious … Ho Gae & Do Jin ditch their helmets & oxygen tanks, Ho Gae coughing from smoke … hand burned, treated

02 : (near end) Do Jin falls through a collapsed floor to the floor below, knocked out briefly

03 : (This episode hurts so much 😭 - literally in tears here 😭) Dead … [flashback] Hurt from the fall, trapped, surrounded by fire

04 : (near end) tw: animal cruelty

05 : (A new face appears; Kang Do Ha .. i don't trust u yet (ᓀ_ᓀ)) Kang Do Ha trips over himself & pushed off balance (comedic)

06 : (near end) tw:child abuse

07 : Blown back by an explosion, hits his head, knocked out briefly … (near end) Ho Gae swallows a handcuff key, retching

08 : … continued from previous ep. ... Do Ha has nosebleed, also leaking cerebrospinal fluid (protective brain fluid) from concussion … head pain, blurry vision, collapses … Ho Gae punched

10 : (near end) Gong Myung Pil blown back & severely burned from explosion.. painful treatment

11 : … continued from previous ep. ... Ambulance transport, hyperventilating from pain … [flashback] Ho Gae stabbed with a needle, drugged, passes out … [present] kidnapped, unconscious & transported in a coffin-like box … wakes, bleeding from a stitched incision behind his ear.. dizzy, blurry vision, collapses.. [flashback] surgery of microchip imbedded.. [present] electric shock from imbedded chip, pain, collapses … Myung Pil hospitalized … Ho Gae shocked with electricity from chip, falls off moped … chip removed on the field with no pain meds … forced to vomit (not shown) … dead (?? FUKIN EXCUSE ME?! WTF?? HOW DO U KILL OFF HO GAE?!?!) … Myung Pil wakes in hospital, collapses off bed … collapses in grief

12 : (@ 36:30 NOT DEAD, thank fuckin god! - that's right! fuk him up Ho Gae!) Ho Gae in fight; stabbed in leg, wounds stepped on, crate broken over his head.. Myung Pil & Do Ha blown back by explosion & collapsing wall … treated by paramedics … Ho Gae, Myung Pil, & Do Ha hospitalized (aw, they get to share a room 😆) … [flashback] walking with a crutch … [present] walking with a crutch

#whump #whump list #full whump list #Asian whump #South Korea #The First Responders #The First Responders Season 2 #소방서 옆 경찰서 그리고 국과수 #The First Responders 2 #The Police Station Next to the Fire Station and National Forensic Service #Jin Ho Gae #Bong Do Jin #Kang Do Ha #Gong Myung Pil #Kim Rae Won #Son Ho Jun #Oh Eui Shik #Kang Gi Doong

[ollypopwrites]

From Depths Unknown ; Part 3

Part 1 ⚜ Part 2 ⚜ Ao3

Rolan x F!Tav (AFAB, she/her) *Tav is a Storm Sorcerer, but no actual reference to her appearance.

Rating: E

Tags & Warnings: [18+ MDNI] Language, Canon-typical violence (there is a lot discussion of blood and injuries in this chapter), Major Character Death, Sexual Content (mostly just horny thoughts), background Bloodweave.

Chapter Summary:

Not even Moonrise Tower nor the Shadowcursed land had been this hectic. They dodged rains of incredible fire from dragons, psionic blast from nautiloids and falling debris from buildings crashing around them. Fighting their way through an army of cultists, mindflayers and intellectual devourers, her team felt as united as ever. Everyone felt the finality of it.

Notes: I wanted some whump, okay? I promise they will fuck eventually.

“Rolan? Really? I thought he hated your guts.” 

“You haven’t seen him pining from afar?” Shadowheart asked dramatically. 

“Honestly, Tav, he’s a decent bloke,” Wyll said. “A bit rough around the edges —“

“A bit?!” Karlach protested. 

“Alright, quite rough around the edges,” Wyll amended.

“And pompous,” Shadowheart added. 

“Completely up his own ass,” Karlach agreed.

“Alright!” Tav said, “I’ve told you all, nothing happened.” 

Her and Rolan had been camp gossip from the moment they had walked into their suite; Tav had a hangover and a strong need for coffee, while Rolan was stiff with embarrassment at the questioning looks from her companions. He couldn’t stay long, but they had food and tea and coffee, which was the least she could offer him. She remembered most of the night: the crying, yelling and him having to arrange a makeshift bed for her. As it was embarrassing as it was, she felt a little better getting it all off of her chest. The details were fuzzy, but she knew she had come on to him. While nothing untoward had happened, the camp only saw their leader come through the doors looking bedraggled with an equally out of sorts tiefling wizard. Tongues had been sent wagging immediately. 

“But you do fancy him, don’t you?” Karlach asked. 

She took a deep breath. “Can we focus on the task at hand?” 

“Only after you admit you want to shag the grumpy wizard,” Shadowheart teased. 

“Fine, fine!” Tav felt like tearing out her hair. “Yes, yes I like him. Okay. Can we move on now?” 

“Sheesh,” Karlach breathed. “Take him to bed, mate. You need it.”

She didn’t need Karlach to tell her that. She pushed on, ignoring them. Wyll, however, caught up quickly to her. 

“I won’t lie to you, my friend, he hasn’t made the best impression,” he told her. “But he’s truly a good man.” 

“I know that.” 

“So, are you going to come clean about what happened on the roof then?” He was grinning, boyish and mischievous. 

“Not you too, Wyll, please you were my last hope.”

Her only saving grace was that they found their way to an unusual engineer named Redhammer and his submersible, which happened to be the same culprit that had killed one the the priestesses of Umberlee. While she had half agreed to kill or hand him over if she found him, he offered an opportunity to find the hostage Gondians in the Iron Throne. Tav decided to take some inspiration from Astarion, using him to get down to the Iron Throne before she ultimately left his fate up to Umberlee's order. She thought she should have felt guilty, but he had been so casual about killing the priestess and transporting hostages she found herself lacking any real remorse. After the tadpole was out of her head, she thought she may have to reassess her moral compass. 

After saving the Gondians, Duke Ravengaurd himself and their old friend Omeluum she was happy to be alive and not blown to bits at the bottom of the Chionthar. The priestesses of Umberlee had even rewarded them with a beautiful robe in exchange for finding Redhammer. Gale was the only other person it would have been suited for and he was too embarrassed to wear it despite the entire camp teasing him about it. It was a bit risqué, but when Tav slipped it on she felt it cling to her body and the strange fabric was so damn comfortable she felt as if it were a second skin. She quite liked it. 

They made their way to Sorcerer’s Sundries, knowing the next day would be their chance to finish up the infiltration of the Steelwatch Foundry. Tav was sure Gortash would not bring the Steelwatch down on them right away. The last thing he needed was his army of metal titans tearing apart the city to find them, civilians would inevitably get hurt and then they would get angry. Gortash needed a city scared but ready to cling to a tyrant that could keep them safe, not ready to revolt for stepping on their children. They had to move, but she wanted to let him sweat and take time to get ready for their final push. 

The foundry, the hammer, the last Netherstone. Then the brain. There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel. 

Rolan was rarely in the shop these days. His mirror image had taken his position at the counter, helped along by the other specialists and Cal or Lia. Tav made her way upstairs; despite her pride she owed Rolan thanks for the night before and an apology for the teasing her friends had thrown his way in the wake of it. And she wondered if he’d like her new robes. It was silly, and pointless in the face of everything else that was going on but the desire was there, hiding behind her ‘noble’ reasons for disturbing him in the middle of the day. She made her way through the portal which led to the study Rolan was now using as his own office throughout the day. The blood, ash and bodies had all been cleared away — the decadent room was still in process of being redone to Rolan’s standards but it had come a long way since Lorroakan’s death. 

“Rolan?” She called. 

“A minute, please,” he replied from the balcony. 

Tav rolled her eyes, muttering about wizards and their books. She strolled about the room. He seemed to be in the process of organizing tomes, one of the animated suits of armor was picking up a stack piled on the ground and taking it through another portal. She recalled him mentioning a library, and wanting to cultivate his own favorites for the study. It was his, now, after all. 

“Please tell me you didn’t wear that into battle?”

When he had heard Tav’s voice carry through the study, he noted a lack of distinct irritation at being interrupted. Another sign that Tav was becoming worryingly exempt from his usual ‘prick-ish particularities’ as Cal had so kindly put it. He had just seen her that morning and as awkward as breakfast had been amongst her companions, he had to force himself to finish putting books on the shelf before heading down the stairs. He needed to retain some of his dignity, after all, despite his desire to eagerly stop everything he was doing at the sound of her voice. Tav waited for him below, and as usual, he took a mental note of any new injuries she may have acquired.

Robes with pieces of protective gear was what she normally wore. Soft leathers and sturdy cotton robes, with something to protect her vulnerable points. Even out of armor she usually only wore a simple tunic and cloth pants. His surprise to find her at the center of his study in an outfit that was all flesh and skin tight fabric made him stop in his tracks. The light blue ensemble clung to every curve, dipped low between her breasts (that damned pearl dangling at the center of her chest matched well with this new outfit, he noted), and was slit at the legs so all he saw was skin bared up to a concerning height on her thighs. Her worn leather boots stuck out, not quite fitting in with the sleek outfit, but that did nothing to preserve him from staring dumbly. 

His momentary gawking was interrupted when he realized this scrap of fabric was meant to be armor. All the soft spots of her were exposed to cuts and bruises. 

“Please tell me you didn’t wear that into battle?”

“You don’t like it?”

“That’s hardly the point I’m trying to make,” he said quickly. 

“Then what is the point?”

“Don’t be stupid,” he said. “You can’t wear that in a fight. It’s…” 

Ravishing. So easy to slide aside so I could have any part of you I wanted, he thought. 

“Impractical.” He said aloud. 

“And you decide what I wear now?”

“No,” he replied through grit teeth. “Of course not.”

“Well, I like it.” Tav shrugged him off, turning away and walking around to look at his progress in the study. 

The dress was just as tight in the back, he noticed, his mind reeling and his pulse thrumming. “Where did you even get it?”

“It was a gift from the priestesses of Umberlee,” she said. 

“And what, pray tell, did you do to earn it?” 

“Freed some hostages in a prison at the bottom of the Chionthar and found the man who killed one of their order.” She listed casually. “Duke Ravenguard was down there, if you can believe it. And then Archduke Gortash, magnanimous man that he is, tried to blow us up,” her tone dripped with sarcasm, “it’s been quite a day.”

“Your usual heroics, then,” he grit out. 

“Of course,” she grinned, and everything about the smile was a challenge, a tease, and he was certain he never wanted her so badly. “I know you love to hear about my gallantry. Not bad for a girl who started the day with a terrible hangover, I think.”

“Is there a point to your visit?” He asked tersely. 

“Actually, yes,” she finally came up to him. 

Close enough to touch. The fabric looked soft, and shimmery, probably pleasant enough to run his hands over but the exposed space between her breasts seemed particularly ripe for licking. His jaw clenched as he made the Herculean effort to look her in the eyes. The teasing look she had before was gone, something a little more bashful and sweet. It only made it harder to keep his hands to himself. 

“I wanted to say thank you for last night.” She said, “I don’t remember all of it… but I know I was not at my best. Thanks for putting up with me, and sorry my friends are busybodies.” 

Rolan didn’t know what to say. A whirlwind was inside him. Pure want and affection. Irritation at said want and affection. Irritation at himself for not being able to just say what he wanted to. This was all getting entirely out of hand. 

“How is your arm?”

“My….arm?”

“You’re still scarred, from that ring you so foolishly put on when you had no idea what it did,” he snapped. 

“Oh, that,” she deflated. “Fine. Just these marks,” she pushed back the sleeves of the robe to look at them. “Gale thinks it was some kind of connection to the elemental plane.” At his responding silence she shifted awkwardly. “Okay,” she drew out the word, “I’m going to go.” 

“Goodbye.”

He stayed to watch her go, eyes glued to the way the robes clung to her bottom, the shift of the fabric and delicate metalwork over her exposed legs. 

“You can’t wear that,” he blurted out. “Not in battle. You’ll be ripped to shreds.”

And so would the robe itself, which would be a terrible shame in and of itself, the more he thought about it.

“You said that already.” 

“It bears repeating.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Goodbye, Rolan.” 

As she stepped through the portal and he was left alone he groaned, rubbing both hands over his face, as he muttered to himself, “you’re going to kill me you meddlesome, irritating, beautiful woman.” 

While there had been little notice before the Netherbrain broke free and started unleashing terror on the city, Tav had at least warned her allies ahead of time that it could happen any day at any time. With Rolan’s permission, Counselor Florrick had spread the word that the tower was going to be one point of haven in the city. It had protections and wards, and plenty of space. When all hells broke loose, Cal and Lia were holding down the fort while he made his way to High Hall. Thankfully most of the fighting was happening in the upper city, but mind flayers were running rampant, the sky was red with fire, full of errant blasts from nautiloids and dragons. 

He sent civilian healers as he found them to the tower, instructing them to take whoever they could with them. The high hall was crowded, Flaming Fists taking account of all the allies of Tav’s which had gathered. Many of them he recognized, some he had never seen before, but his heart swelled with pride at the gathering of people who were ready to support Tav and her friends. 

When she came through the door with all her camp in tow, smattered in blood, as she always was, he thought she may cry at the showing. There wasn’t much time, but she took a moment to appraise them of her plan. Her entire party would take the main push to the brain, along with the illithid she had with her. There was no time to explain, she only assured them that this person — Orpheus, was on their side. She needed anyone she did not call to her side to focus on protecting the few points of refuge they had managed to secure in the city, and above all to keep as many civilians safe as possible. She was given means to summon her allies as needed.

As Tav made the quick effort to offer thanks to everyone individually, he felt the terror of it being the last time he saw her. This was not the Tav which he’d had drinks with at the Elfsong every night leading up to this battle, laughing with her friends, carefree for just a few hours. This was the woman who had lead four people to victory against a small army of Goblins, who stormed Moonrise towers and lifted the curse over Reithwin. Focused, determined and if she was scared it never once showed on her face. Only the storm dancing behind her eyes, calm before she exploded into action. 

Rolan had to believe the next time he’d see her, she would be relaxed and teasing him about something over a glass of wine. As she approached him last, before heading out to save the city, he bolstered himself to be whatever she and the rest of the people of Baldur’s Gate needed. 

“The tower is ready, you need only call.” He told her swiftly. 

“Thank you.” She nodded. “Rolan, I — “ she bit her lip and clenched her eyes shut. “If I survive this —“

“You will,” he said certainly. 

“If I do,” she repeated, eyes boring into his with earnesty he hardly knew how to deal with, “would you like to join me for a bottle of Arabellan Dry?”

“Are you asking me on a date? Right now?” As if to punctuate his point the ground shook, horrible screeching sounds and the roar of a dragon sounded out. 

“Might be my last chance,” she breathed. 

“It won’t be,” he insisted. If she was going to be bold enough to ask him out for a drink before running off to certain death — he had to rise to the challenge. He grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips. “You’ll come back to me, gloriously and infuriatingly victorious.”

If he said it confidently enough it may just come true. It had worked for him before.

Tav nodded, squeezing his hand in hers. She hesitated, but there was little time for more to be said. She suddenly began to dig under the collar of her armored robes with her free hand. After fidgeting for a moment with something around her neck she held out the chain of the necklace which held her Pearl of Power. 

“Can you hold onto it for me? I don’t want to lose it again.” 

“You may need it,” he was unsure what else to say. 

“Already used it today,” she said, “it’s just sentimental right now. And just — hold onto it. Please.” 

Tav took his hand and placed the necklace into his palm, gently curling his fingers over it. It was such a small trinket, but the implications of her leaving it with him made it feel immeasurably valuable. He thought he would rather die than let it come to any harm. The dramatics of such a train of thought struck him so violently with the realization that he was undoubtedly in love. The terrible timing for such an epiphany was only emphasized by a loud boom on the roof and the shudder of dust and small bits of debris raining down on them.

Tav let go of his hand and with a determination in her eye he knew all too well, led her party out into the midst of terror with no other word. 

There was no time to stop. 

Not even Moonrise nor the Shadowcursed land had been this hectic. They dodged rains of incredible fire from dragons, psionic blast from nautiloids and falling debris from buildings crashing around them. Fighting their way through an army of cultists, mindflayers and intellectual devourers, her team felt as united as ever. Everyone felt the finality of it. She had seen Astarion and Gale share what they thought might possibly be their last kiss. Watching them felt like an intrusion, but the glance she had gotten of desperate softness in their eyes made her more determined than ever. Tav silently vowed that she would come out of this with everyone alive and ready to begin anew. 

When they finally found the  stalk of the Elderbrain it led higher and higher up over the city. She felt the adrenaline spurring her to start to climb, and she didn’t have to look behind her to know they followed. At the top it was an onslaught of psionic forces: the netherbrain, the illithids it commanded, and the tadpoles in their heads revolting at every move they made to fight against them. There were moments that blanked out, as she was stunned or her head hurt so badly she felt she couldn’t see. They were all moving on pure instinct to survive. 

Karlach’s rage was an unstoppable force, Lae’zel cut down anyone in her path with brutal efficiency, and the only thing more intense than the amount of healing magic Shadowheart was expending was the force with which she brought down her mace. Jaheira and Halsin were in charge of summoning reinforcements as needed, controlling the battlefield with Druidic magic while Gale sent off spell after spell with devastating effect. Astarion and Wyll danced around the battlefield; Wyll’s combined magic and skill with the blade making him virtually untouchable while Astarion flitted in and out of visibility, daggers digging into flesh with deadly accuracy. 

And she exploded with magic. 

Her arm hurt, the flowing lines of whatever had touched her when she put on that ring in the tower glowed and raged as she gave everything she had. When she felt she had nothing left, it fed her new power, keeping a steady stream of lightning ready to strike. There was not a lot of time to think on this new development, only time to acknowledge that whatever it did to her, her magic was thriving on it. Her magic felt centered for the first time in her life. Controllable, not just something she was barely wrangling and flinging around blindly. 

The last push to the crown was upon them. The way just needed to be cleared, she called to Halsin over the clamor of it all, tadpole transmitting to the others her plan. In truly rumbling cacophony explosions rained down, almost clearing their path. For a moment she took in the show of power from Ramazith’s Tower, but they had to bolt forward. 

Lae’zel took the lead, attacking an illithid arcanist guarding the portal they needed to get into. Gale was quick behind her, magic missiles firing off in every direction and counterspell quickly cast afterwards. Karlach was keeping the way clear, as more illithid were summoned, hacking at tentacled heads until they rolled off. Tav took off for the portal, only to come face to face with her father. 

No. It was her dream guardian. The Emperor’s trick. 

When she had first seen the man in her dreams she had thought the same thing: he was just similar looking enough to her dear old dad to get her guard down but not so identical it would ring off alarm bells in her mind. Tav’s father was dead, after all, the Emperor had toed the line of familiarity on purpose. The single moment of hesitation was enough for the guardian to blast her with psionic energy, knocking her off of her feet.  An intellect devourer took its chance and leapt onto her. Searing pain spread through her abdomen as claws dug in and tore. It was climbing up her body, ripping skin with every step. Her arm was pinned underneath one of its horrid legs, unable to cast, and she felt the thunderous pulse in her chest, the tingle of electricity in her veins — and then a dagger came down stopping the devourer in its tracks.

Astarion was above her, kicking the thing off of her. With a cry she felt the claws slip loose, blood pouring out of the wounds. The pain slipped away to the back of her mind as she flung forward, hands outstretched  when a chain of lightning erupted at another dream guardian which tried to stop Gale. Astarion helped her to her feet, shoving a meager healing potion at her. It was not enough to close the wounds, but it gave her a rush of new vitality and they ran for the portal

This was it. This was the final task. All they had to do was survive long enough to take out the Netherbrain. 

After setting off the blasts at Halsin’s command, Rolan had launched himself halfway down the stairs, nearly stumbling and stepping on his own tail. There were a handful of Flaming Fists, armed civilians, Cal, Lia and even Aradin guarding the perimeter of the tower; he had to go join them. The store was always chaotic with all the summons wandering around and magical effects but this was a different vein of mayhem. Anyone he could find with healing magic along the way was running around, people were screaming and crying on the floors and any clear surface available. 

It sounded like Elturel. 

Shaking his head of the thought, he pushed through the doors. People were still running, trying to get through the doors of the tower and whatever building still stood to get away from the carnage. The square was full of bodies and blood and rubble. He spotted Cal and Lia, both alive and fighting well. Cal’s swing was strong, Lia’s aim was impeccable — he was able to focus on casting. An illithid floated forward, chasing after a meal of one of the Flaming Fists' brains, Rolan quickly cast color spray, confusing the creature and shortly after one of Lia’s arrows sunk into its elongated head.

Cal got stunned, his head in his hands as he wobbled on his feet, two mindflayers floating towards him. Rolan nearly tripped over his robes to grab his brother by his shirt and pull him back, Cal fell and as soon as he was out of the line of attack Rolan felt the boom of thunder erupt from his hand. The illithids were sent backwards, landing on their back, prone. 

“Cal,” he turned to offer a hand to his brother, “stay steady.” 

“Yeah,” Cal grunted, shaking his head free of the psionic force which had stunned him. “I’m good, I’m alright.” 

“Rolan! Incoming!” 

Lia’s voice called out before she let an arrow loose. His eyes flicked to the sky, a nautiloid was overhead, a beam of some sort beginning to glow with energy. 

“To me! Now!”

Aradin and anyone nearby enough to hear him huddled close, Rolan swiftly casting an orb of invulnerability. He had never cast it before, not successfully, but it was all he could think of to try. A slight red shimmer created a bubble around them, the nautiloid made its attack. A few people were decimated by the blow immediately outside of the orb, even a ravenous illithid in the middle of extracting a brain from a skull had not made it out of the way in time. The spell worked. Rubble flew into the air with the blast, and stopped bluntly at the barrier. 

Thank the Gods. Rolan thought to himself, sweat beading down his temple. 

Lia ducked in and out of the orb to shoot off arrows, clearing the path for some to make their way to the tower or within the confines of Rolan’s temporary protection. He managed to keep the orb up long enough for the blasts to cede after the nautiloid was distracted from attacking the ground by a Githyanki force of dragon riders. 

“There’s more coming!” Aradin yelled. “We should fall back into the tower.”

“The wards can only take so much,” Rolan snapped back. “Get out there and kill something or get out of the way!”

He never understood Zevlor’s well-known ire for the mercenary more as he fled inside. As he had said, more illithids came out of the woodwork. The alien army had not found it necessary to send any armored mind flayers — relying on the freshly transformed tadpoled masses which had been lurking in the city. They had numbers, but most of them were stark naked, and sloppy in the unusual new bodies. Many of them fell quickly, which was his only comfort against the slowly dwindling numbers of his own allies. If they just kept it up, they could maintain the line of defense around the tower. 

“Come on, Tav,” he heard Lia scream as another Flaming Fist fell to an illithid. “Just kill it already!” 

There was no way for Tav to hear them, but he understood the panic. He felt each second that passed since he set off the blasts from the tower as if it were an hour. They could not keep this up forever, and part of him knew that as intense as it was on the ground, up there where the brain hovered in the air it was ten times worse. 

“Tav needs us to hold strong,” he called to his sister. “We owe her that, at least.” 

Lia was too far away for him to be sure but thought he saw her jaw set in the same way Cal’s did when he was concentrating. His brother felled an illithid in one blow, clean and easy at the neck. 

“Can’t believe I’m saying this,” Cal said, “but Rolan is right!”

It truly was the end of the world.

When Tav hit the water, she blacked out for a moment. Her eyes opened and the gasp that wracked her body filled her mouth and lungs with water as she realized too late in her waking that she was in the Chionthar. She floundered to the surface, hacking and coughing. Once she had her breath, she started screaming for her companions.

“Here!” Gale yelled.

He was not too far off from her, hanging onto some floating debris, with an unmoving lump with white hair. She swam over, grabbing onto the debris. 

“Is he alive?” She panicked. 

“Breathing,” Astarion’s voice was weak, “stop screaming.”

“Where’s everyone else?” Tav felt herself succumbing to the confusion. “Karlach! Have you seen anyone? Wyll!”

“I’ve got Shadowheart and Wyll!” She heard Karlach call, a red spot in the distance, tethering two limp bodies as she kept them on their backs. 

Lae’zel, Halsin, Minsc and Jaheira were still unaccounted for. Tav’s eyes scanned the water, dawn hadn’t broken yet, it was still dark and the depths below were impossible to see into. The only real light was provided by the city which was still very much on fire. Just as Tav was about to give into despair, a giant tentacle broke the water, then another, in its grips was an unconscious Lae’zel, and Minsc who was sputtering and cackling like a madman. Finally a third, and Halsin broke the surface. 

“Minsc! Where’s Jaheira?”

“You look upon her!” He called back. 

Wild shape was one hell of a thing. Tav called to the giant octopus whose eye peered into hers as it breached the surface, telling Jaheira to grab Karlach first as she was treading water and trying to keep two people afloat at the same time. Tav watched, only vaguely hearing Astarion and Gale speaking next to her. She needed to see them all safely put upon the dock, she needed to know she had done it. She hadn’t lost anyone. 

“Stop trying to talk to me,” Astarion muttered. “I’m furious with you.”

“My love, I would have made sure you were transported out of harm's way,” Gale attempted to sooth him. 

“And what about you?” Astarion snapped. “What was I supposed to do without you?” 

She was not quite sure what they were talking about. 

“We were losing, Astarion,” Gale pleaded. “The orb may have been—“

“The orb?” Tav heard her neck crack as she swung her head so fast to look at him. She felt dizzy. 

“He very nearly blew himself up, again,” Astarion seethed. “I saw him reach for the dagger.” 

“Gale!” Tav scolded. “I told you — not an option!”

“Tav, please, if all else failed —“

“But it didn’t!” She yelled. 

“No,” he sighed. “No, it did not. So please, can we make it to land and put this to rest.” 

Just as Tav was about to argue with him, she felt a tug at her midsection, and uncomfortable stinging of pain accompanying the grasp. Astarion and Gale were lifted out of the water by tentacles  at the same time she was and they were being slowly carried to the dock. It was supposed to be over once they all made it on dry land. She had given in to the hope that she had finally led her party to their final battle without losing a single member. The victory was supposed to be sweet, and cathartic. 

The moment they caught their breath on the dock, Karlach’s engine started to fail. 

The main floor of the store was cleared of most furniture to make room for cots full of injured people. Amateur and professional healers alike were running around madly, calling for aid from whoever was still standing. To his credit, he had begun to organize as best he could. It was still chaos, but he was managing to take requests, send off whatever volunteer was nearest to assist, and have Cal take on grabbing potions and herbs from the stores as needed. Rolan was no healer, but he could wrap a wound before too much blood was lost as some poor soul waited for someone to be available. He could also bark orders, arrange for Fists to section off high risk patients from those who could survive without immediate attention. 

There were two surgeons he had managed to recruit. Their space was at the very back near the necromancy supplies were, with a temporary shielding wall of stone. It didn’t drown the screams of agony as they operated but it prevented anyone from witnessing an amputation. 

When the heroes of the hour burst through the door of the tower, even amongst the chaos, Rolan knew something was wrong. They looked like hell. Jaheira was bleeding from a deep wound on her head, Shadowheart was limping, and even Minsc who was always quick to get back on his feet looked like he had been thrown from a twenty story building and felt it. A good chunk of the party was missing. Wyll and Karlach were nowhere to be seen. In fact way too many of them were just gone. Astarion, Gale and Lae’zel didn’t follow, and neither did Tav. Halsin was the very last of them in, carrying someone.

“A bed! Now!” The Archdruid’s voice boomed over the chaos

A humming sound rang in his ears, the entire world pinpointed to the form of the woman in Halsin’s arms as he was directed to place her on a free bed by a Fist. 

Rolan let his feet guide him to her side, a numb feeling keeping panic at bay. On the bed was a bloody mess of a woman, who in all appearances looked like Tav but… That surely wasn’t his Tav. That was an empty shell; the skin had no vibrancy, the only truly bright color was the blood leaking out of the deep wound in her stomach. Her eyes, open staring up at the ceiling, were empty. 

Shadowheart placed her hands over Tav and the glow of her healing magic flashed and ebbed away. She tried again, but the magic stuttered out. Shadowheart let out a strangled scream in frustration, pounding glowing hands into Tav's chest and each rush of power was weaker and weaker.

“What are you doing? Heal her,” Rolan demanded. “Fix her!”

“I can’t —“ Shadowheart’s voice cracked. 

“Shadowheart’s magic is spent,” Jaheira’s tone was sharp but even, the voice of a General. “And healing magic won’t work on her now. This is a magic shop — find a resurrection scroll.” 

Resurrection implied she was dead. Logically, yes, he could see that. Tav was dead, nothing more than spent flesh and blood. But this was not supposed to happen, this was beyond everything he knew of her.

She always survives. She always does the impossible. She can't be dead.

“How did this happen?”

“Rolan,” Shadowheart pleaded his name, disregarding the question, “do you have a resurrection scroll?” 

The buzzing in his ears stopped, the cacophony of the tower coming back to him. A solution that he could focus on. He took off in a sprint, jumping over the counter. His hands shook as he opened the safe where they kept the high value scrolls.  

“Rolan, that Florrick lady is here, she brought some — what’s wrong?”

He didn’t hear Lia come up, and didn’t take the time to acknowledge her as he started reading through the stock. “We must have one.”

“Talk to me,” Lia said again getting his attention, “what’s happened?”

An idea jolted him, there were stores and stores of supplies in the study. “Upstairs, in the study, the scroll collection —“ he quickly said, “we need a resurrection scroll.”

“But —“

“Check the vaults, check the study — find me a resurrection scroll!” 

Taking in his frantic tone, Lia ran off without further question. There was no possible way this was how Tav’s story ended. In a numb haze he remembered what little he knew about healing and divine magic; there was a time limit on a basic resurrection spell. At some point a soul was too far gone and True Resurrection would be the only other option. Plain resurrection scrolls were rare enough as it was, but a True Resurrection scroll was near impossible for most people to get ahold of. 

Chain of lightning, hold person, cloud kill — his hands fumbled to work as fast as he read the scrolls. He had no real idea how much time was passing, but each second was too long. There were dozens of scrolls, and he looked at each one. Finding nothing of use he ran around the counter to start up the stairs.

He should have told her at High Hall. He should have just said it. He should have thought to find a scroll ahead of time for this very purpose. What a cosmic joke, for her to have made it this far, only to die at the finish line. She deserved better. He would make sure she got a better ending than this. He nearly ran into Lia jumping the last few steps of the staircase. 

“I found one!” 

She held up the scroll and he snatched it out of her hand, narrowly dodging a healer as he ran to the bed where Shadowheart was praying desperately. 

“Found — the scroll —“ he stammered out, short of breath. 

“Use it, quickly,” Jaheira said. 

His fingers fumbled with the clasp that held it shut, as it unfurled he knew he needed to breathe through the panic in his chest. He could do an incantation, he could read the words off of a scroll as he had a hundred times before. There was not a God he prayed to usually, not one he thought to plead with specifically. Mystra, maybe. But given what he knew of her and her friends, Mystra might not be so inclined to help Tav. 

His willpower would have to be enough; this was not how her story ended, he repeated to himself. She was too good, too resilient, too kind, too forgiving, too infuriatingly wonderful — too loved.  Rolan was not going to let her disappear that easily, he vowed as he spoke the incantation.

The spell took hold, golden light shuddering Tav’s body, and then disappearing. For a terrifyingly long moment, he was unsure if it worked. But her eyes blinked, at first it looked like a twitch, but then they fluttered a few times and the light was back in them. Her limbs jolted like she had been electrocuted and then a truly shocking deep gasp for air had her sitting up on the cot. 

“There you are, Cub,” Jaheira said, a steady hand on her shoulder which emitted the familiar green light of her Druidic magic. “Didn’t think we’d let you get out of cleaning up, did you?”

“Hurts,” she sucked breaths in desperately. 

“Lay down,” Shadowheart said. “We’ll find a healer.”

“Where —?”

Rolan was frozen to the spot. She still looked so close to death. Her head swiveled over to him, eyes confusedly still searching for some sense of what was going on. 

“You.” Was all she said. 

“Yeah, me,” he breathed. “Lay down. You look awful.”

“Rude,” she wheezed but let herself ease onto her back. “I think you look… good…” exhaustion, pain or any combination of whatever her body was going through had her slipping out of consciousness. 

“Tav,” Rolan panicked, kneeling next to her. “Damn you, stay awake,” he grabbed her face in his hands and she gave him a heavy lidded stare. 

“Trying,” she said. 

She was still in rough shape. Halsin and Jahiera dumped the last dregs of their limited healing magic into her, doing just enough to keep her from bleeding out on the bed once more. Shadowheart tipped her head back for a basic healing potion, and it dribbled down the side of her face but it brought some of the vibrancy of her skin.

“She won’t succumb to the wounds, but she needs healing quickly,” Halsin seemed to be talking to himself more than them, as he took off to find someone to help. 

“You can rest now,” Shadowheart assured her softly. “Right, Rolan?” 

He wasn’t so sure. But Shadowheart was a healer, she knew better than him. He swallowed hard, and nodded. “That’s right.”

“Good,” Tav mumbled, “tired.” 

Shadowheart and Rolan watched as she slipped into unconsciousness. Her chest rose and fell, although shallowly. Shadowheart heaved a big breath, recomposing herself. She looked around the room, and then to Rolan.

“I need to rest, then I’ll be able to help,” she seemed to be telling herself rather than him. “I’ll stay here,” she said, “I’ll stay with her and rest.”

“What can I do?” Rolan asked desperately. 

“You are the Master of Ramazith’s tower,” Jahiera cut in. “This is your city, you have a duty to its people now — unless you wish to follow Lorroakan’s example, get to work.” Jaheira looked down at Tav, “we will look after her, as she has looked after us.”

Rolan never felt more like an outsider, and he felt he should watch whatever healer Halsin found. If only to see for himself that she was truly going to be alright. Shadowheart was watching the rise and fall of her chest with intense focus, and it felt wrong that she was the only one of their original group by her side. 

“Rolan, there’s a fire that they can’t put out over in Heapside,” Cal was there, Rolan hadn’t even heard him approach. 

“There’s summoning scrolls, water elementals,” he said distractedly. 

“Go,” Shadowheart looked at him. “We’ve got her.”

“And that is supposed to be a comfort?” He snapped. “She was dead just moments ago under your watch!”

“She didn’t tell us,” Shadowheart said back, a tone of shame in her raised voice. “Everything was happening so fast — she didn’t tell us she was hurt!”

“No one here is to blame,” Jaheira was annoyed, he could tell by the arch of her brow. “She would tell you the same.”

He felt another comment on the tip of his tongue, ready to rage and yell to do something with the gods awful feeling in his chest. He nearly lost her. 

“Rolan,” Cal said, “we have to —“

“Fine! Fine.” 

The city still needed saving, despite the threat being gone. Who knew how much help was needed across the city. Running to everyone's rescue was what she would tell him to do, but still he was afraid to leave her side. He touched her cheek: warm, alive, despite looking worse than she ever had after a fight. 

“She’ll be alright?” He asked, wincing slightly at the desperate crack in his voice. 

Shadowheart nodded, her hand coming to squeeze his, “I promise, I won’t let her slip away again.”

Rolan had no other choice but to trust her.

Thank you for reading!

Next Chapter

#rolan x reader #rolan x tav #bg3 fanfiction #rolan fanfic #olly writes