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bumbling-a-bee · 2 years

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Hello @tsaritza-mika ! I'm your secret Santa for the @arcanaeventhub gift exchange! I'm so sorry for taking so long with your gift, I procrastinated into my first week of school unfortunately.

This basically is a rewriting of the winter tale to be pretty much completely Julian focused. Hope you enjoy, and I'm so sorry again for the big delay.

You look outside the carriage window to Vesuvia’s majestic Winter Palace, each space on it decorated elegantly with blue, gold, and white colours. You pull away from the window, a small circle of fog left on it from your warm breath hitting the cold glass.

“I’m so glad you said yes to being my date to the Winter Solstice!” Julian gushed for the hundredth total time to you.

“I thought I was the one who asked you out?” You replied, a confused smile on your face.

“Well- well yes, you did. But- but I had been working up the confidence to ask you for a good while before that.” Julian corrected both you and himself simultaneously, that adorably nervous blush covering his pale cheeks.

You giggled at Julians technicality, taking pity on the poor man as you leaned in to kiss his cheek.”Well, I am glad I said yes then.”

“So, what are you looking forward to doing the most?” The doctor asked, but before you could respond the entire carriage lurched forward the sound of wood smacking into wood. Everyone inside fell to the floor in an ungraceful pile of arms, legs, and minor bruises.

“Julian? Are you okay?” You called, sitting up from the mess to look around for your long legged boyfriend.

“I’m here, I’m alright. Are you okay?” Julian replied, shoving a thumbs up through the mess, the rest of his upper body following it up shortly after.

“What was that?” Asra asked, rubbing at his white curls.

"The carriage behind us, if I had to assume." Nadia replied, an annoyed look on her face.

Portia pulled herself out of the pile first to look out the carriage window, an annoyed look crossing her face. "Yep, that's him." She answered in a bothered tone.

"Well, I think we've arrived otherwise." Muriel muttered, helping Nadia stand up from the floor.

"Where on earth is my fanfare? And my entourage?" You heard Lucio whine outside of the carriage, clearly already having extracted himself from his own bite sized one.

Once everyone was set back to their rights and standing up again, you opened the carriage door for the others, watching them file out one at a time and listening to Lucio try to help them down, mostly met with annoyed glares.

As you step out of the carriage, Julian offers his hand to you as he bows, smiling up at you happily. "Ready for a night of winter extravagance?" He asked as you take his head, leading you through up the stairs to the door behind the rest of the group.

You nod as you come to the doors, an excited grin on your own face.

“Allow me,” Julian said, opening the large doors into the palace, revealing the cozy interior.

A hearth burns cheerfully at the top of a grand staircase, and elegant green garland runs up both rails of staircase, and lines the higher parts of the white and gold walls. You and Julian take a moment to admire the place in awe as NAdia climbs to the top of the staircase to begin her announcement.

Just as Nadia begins, Julian takes your hand, silently signaling to follow as he leads you away from the main hall. You look around the palace, admiring the large tree that the staff and Portia were setting up, eyeing up a table loaded from side to side with drinks, and a table that was beginning to fill with wrapped presents to share.

You return to the main hall just as Nadia finishes her speech, and you and Julian both look to each other.

“What would you like to do?” You ask in unison, breaking into giggles as you realize what you just did.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind-” Julian began, but was cut off as he overheard a group of staff walking towards the exit talking about the activities outside. He looks over to you with a grin on his face, taking your hand and pulling you towards the door to explore what activities the outside had to offer.

Standing at the top of the outside staircase, you and Julian survey the snowscape and it activities, noticing Nadia off to one side working on building a snowman, a suspiciously large pile of snowballs with a tuft a blond hair sticking out from the top, and, to Julian's surprise and delight, a large ice surface where guests were lacing up skates to stake around on.

“Can we go skating? Oh please, oh please?” He begged, looking at you with an adorable look on his face.

You laugh, more than happy to oblige to the puppy-like man and see the joy in his eyes as he led you towards the ice. He immediately sits you down on a bench, grabbing two pairs of skates from the table where they were stored and sat in front of you, taking your shoes off delicately and tying your skates. You stand up, pushing Julian into where you had just been sitting to tie his skates for him. He grinned as he watches you work, quickly and expertly tying his skates up tightly.

Once done, Julian stands from where he was sitting, wobbling a small bit as he got used to the extra centimeters on his height, and the small blades that held it all up. You laugh, gently catching one of his flailing hands and help guide him to the ice, reassuring and encouraging him all the way there. Once you both are on the ice, he asks you to let go, insisting that he can skate on his own.

You let him free hesitantly, watching as he takes a moment to make sure he's completely steady before looking over to you with a large grin.

"See, I'm not so bad at-" Julian's gloating sentence was cut off by a loud yelp as he tried to move forward, his feet moving out from under him and landing him hard on the ice with a yelp.

You try to stifle a laugh into your gloved hand, Julian's grin wiped from your face and plastered onto yours. Before you can stop yourself, laughter spills from your mouth, and you throw your head back with it. As you laugh, you lean back just a little too much, and just like Julian, you fall backwards onto the ice with a yelp. Julian took his turn to laugh, and after a moment you joined in as well, smiling twice as wide.

After a minute of laughing you both calmed down, and you stood up, offering your hand to Julian to help pull him up.

"How about we just go around together?" You ask him, gently pulling him along the ice by his hand.

"That sounds like a grand plan." He replied, giving your hand a squeeze as he followed your lead.

The two of you stayed out like that, doing laps around the ice and chatting about idle little things until a bell chimed off in the distance.

"Time for the dance." You noted, lucky to be right by the bench you and Julian had left your shoes at. Once back in your shoes, you raced to the palace, ready to warm up with a lively dance.

You catch the end of Nadia's address as you enter inside, getting to the hall just as the band strikes up the first dance.

Julian grinned, bowing and offering his hand to you. "I've been waiting all day for this, my dear."

You giggle, taking his hand. Almost immediately, Julian pulls you closer to him and into a slow dance, his other hand resting on your back as your free hand holds his hip. You quickly take over the lead of the dance, gliding through the crowd, staring at each other happily. It's going to be a long, wonderful night.

#the arcana #the arcana nix hydra #the arcana game #julian devorak #julian #the arcana julian #writing #fanfic #rewrite #arcana gift exchange 2021 #gift exchange #long reads #long post

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tsaritza-mika · 2 months

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Sunshine

Pairings: Astarion x Named Fem!Tav (Mika, Elven Bard)

Description: Astarion almost fell while taking down Cazador, but instead, the Lover's RIngs saved him.

Warnings: None, but there is descriptions of violent fighting, and Cazador dies (but that’s a good thing) I tried to be descriptive without being gratuitous

Suggested soundtrack: Under Grey Skies - Kamelot

Guttural growls and high pitched screeches echoed loudly within the cavernous chamber below the Szarr palace, demonic magic crackling in the air as blades clashed against bone and claw alike. Everything that he’d been working toward since he awoke on the shores of Chionthar, amid the smoldering rubble of the nautiloid, had finally come to this. The day he’d not dared to dream of for two-hundred years, the day Cazador would fall, and finally he would know the sweet taste of freedom. Whether or not that meant such incredible power would be stolen from Cazador by stealing it or simply killing him still remained to be decided, but first his minions had to be dealt with. His emotions were running rampant as he cut himself a bloody path toward his tormentor, and though fear and rage were dominant, there was an underlying confidence as well.

He wasn’t alone anymore, and fate willing, after this he never would be again either. That was something that Cazador had gambled on and lost, and damned if Astarion wasn’t going to make sure it was a lesson that would kill him in the process. Dodging out from the angry swipe of another werewolf, he drove both daggers deep into the creature’s throat, kicking it away from him before its blood could pour from the new holes in its windpipe. Taking a quick stock of his position, he looked around for his companions, a somewhat evil smirk playing on his lips at the sight.

Karlach, in all her fiery glory, the large war hammer in her hands thundering down upon the head of the undead mage Cazador had set upon them, the force of her action knocking back a small horde of bats that had been trying to assist it via death by a thousand cuts. Poor creatures never stood a chance. Shadowheart could only be described as a blazing beacon in the darkness; literally glowing with the power of the divine, each cut of her glaive and spell lit a bright silver-gold over each creature it touched, blinding them with her brilliance and leaving them nothing more than scorched corpses. Then there was Mika, the sweetest and most beautiful creature in all the realms, the first one to ever look upon him and see more than the tool he’d been, to the man he never dared dream he could be. Watching her fight was always akin to watching her dance, and as far as he was concerned, it may as well have been the same thing either way.

Her blades flashed brilliantly in the sunlight she’d cast and the light emanating from Shadowheart across the platform, her every movement nearly poetic in its execution. Even the splashes of blood across her face and armor held an almost artistic design only she understood as yet another enemy fell before her. In that single moment, his smile softened as he watched her, swords cutting through dark fur and muscle, the sweeping arch of her swords trailing brilliant rubies as she sidestepped another werewolf. It was almost as if the battlefield played a symphony that only she could hear.

Brought out of his stupor by a clumsily flailing claw, Astarion smirked as it too went up in flames, Shadowheart sending him a haughty nod before she swung her glaive, the wide arc turning yet another cloud of bats to ashes. Catching a shadow at the side of his vision, Astarion turned, his expression darkening with a low growl in his throat as his eyes met matching crimson from across the platform. His grip tightened around his daggers, the rage of two-hundred years of pain and humiliation flaring back up within him. Rushing forward in an effort to finally put Cazador out of everyone’s misery, Astarion’s eyes widened at the sight of the electric arches building around the vampire’s hand, a sadistic smile on his face. “Let us end this quickly then, boy...”

Though he managed to skid to a halt, there was no time to get out of the way, arms and blades coming up in an effort to protect himself as long, jagged trails of lighting came toward him, the force of it making him stumble backward. Thankfully he remained on his feet, though he was shocked when it seemed there was no pain from the spell. Lowering his arms, Astarion’s brow furrowed in confusion. How was he undamaged at all from that? Sure, he was a little singed, but otherwise there was almost no trace he’d just gone through a literal river of electrical fury. Then he noticed the gentle golden glow surrounding him, the moment intensified by the faint clatter of metal scraping across the floor from behind him.

He knew this glow, and the knowledge that it was currently glowing around him left him feeling sick to his stomach. This glow shouldn’t be around him right now, no, further than that, it should never be around him! That wasn’t how those rings were supposed to work! Turning over his left hand, his horror grew as he finally noticed that the ring on his finger was not the one he’d been wearing since they’d left the Shadowlands. The ring on his finger was supposed to be protecting Mika, but then... Everything seemed to come to a crawl as he turned, his gaze falling on Mika’s body as it lay sprawled on the dark floor, a bit of smoke rising from her still form. The werewolf she’d been fighting kneeled and sniffed at her, deeming her no longer a threat and turning its bloodied maw toward Astarion. It was only when he heard Cazador’s laughter when Astarion came back to himself, fangs bared as his jaw clenched almost painfully tight. “Ah, well isn’t that a shame? I’d learned from your brothers and sisters that apparently her blood was divine... Pity I couldn’t taste it for myself, she may have made an excellent concubine after my ascension...”

As if the pure rage building in him wasn’t strong enough, the thought of her forced to bow to the same monster he had, beating and cutting her for his entertainment the same way he had... Astarion’s hands clenched tightly around the hilts of his daggers, fangs bared with a growl in his throat as he closed the distance between himself and Cazador. Blades flashed and clanged against the vampire’s staff, but no matter what he did, Astarion couldn’t close the distance by himself. Just when he was starting to lose ground, he heard Shadowheart from across the dias, “Astarion! Now!”

The moment he leapt back, Shadowheart took her shot, sending beam after beam of searing light toward Cazador, the vampire’s skin searing to a crisp with each wave. Karlach moved in to join the offensive, roaring furiously as she came down, her hammer crashing against Cazador’s side with a sharp crack, hard enough to knock him back almost to the chasm's edge. With most of his minions dealt with, the situation was becoming dire, and losing was not an option when eternity as the most powerful being to walk the realms was still within his grasp. Focusing himself into a dark, bloody mist, Cazador retreated to his coffin, hoping to recoup what strength he could before the rest of his minions were destroyed and his ritual could finally be completed.

Running toward where Mika had fallen, Astarion cut a bloody swath through anything in his way, blades and fangs tearing through whatever flesh and bone dared to try keeping him from his goal. One final werewolf was all that stood between himself and where Mika lay sprawled on the ground, rearing back with a vicious howl as he approached. Another cloud of bats began to crowd the area, the werewolf licking at its large teeth menacingly as it bent over Mika’s body. Sneering with disdain at the creature, Astarion haughtily cocked his head to the side, daggers coming up in challenge. As if this or any beast could keep him from her. She who believed in him, fought for him, cared for him. Gave her life for him. If it was for her, he’d gladly bring the entirety of Fae’run to its knees.

The rest of the world fell away, each waiting for the other to strike. The large werewolf brought up its hand, long claws extending from midnight dark fur in answer to Astarion’s blades. At the pounding crack of Karlach’s hammer somewhere behind them, both the werewolf and Astarion moved fast to close the distance. Blade, claw and fang clashed, slashing and piercing as two deadly predators fought ferociously to be the victor. Leading the werewolf toward a raised part of the dias, Astarion ducked and pushed off the low stairs, sliding across the marbled floor and under the charging monster. Clipping through the meat and tendons of the wolf's legs, a grim smile came to his face as it fell to the ground with an angry howl. Flipping back up onto his feet, he ran quickly up along the wolf’s spine, climbing up its back and plunging both daggers down to pierce through the back of the wolf’s skull.

With his relentless minion’s dealt with, Astarion’s gaze swept the area from Mika’s body to Cazador’s coffin. Coming quickly to where she’d fallen, he knelt down and carefully turned her to lay on her back, gently brushing soft, ash-blonde hair from her face. She felt so cold... No, no, that was wrong, she was never supposed to be cold! His Mika was warm, she blazed with life like the afternoon sun! Catching movement from the corner of his vision, Astarion held her close and bared his fangs, ready to strike if need be. It took him a moment to recognize Shadowheart and Karlach through the blood haze in his mind, still holding Mika’s still body protectively as they approached. “Astarion, please, you know I need to see her-”

“Don’t anybody fucking touch her!”

“Cool it down there, Fangs. You know Shadowheart can help, you need to let her while there’s still time.”

Reluctantly loosening his hold just enough to see her face for a moment, Astarion carefully set her back down on the floor, frowning deeply at how pale she looked. Gently tucking some hair behind the high point of her ear, his hand cupped her pale cheek, setting his forehead to hers and whispering through the raw emotion in his throat. “Make sure you come back to me, my sunshine...”

Rising to let Shadowheart assess the extent of the damage and get to healing her, he turned and began walking toward the elaborate coffin that held Cazador. Power still seemed to thrum heavily in the air, the knowledge that the ritual could still be completed if he only chose to take the vampire’s place was intoxicating to be sure. It would be foolish to deny his desire to continue his life in the sunlight, to taste and enjoy food again and know that all of it would be forever spitting in his former master’s face with each gratifying moment for the rest of eternity. But, what would she think of him, if he took that power? If he gave into the same allure that Cazador had and decided to sacrifice seven thousand souls, just so that he could have the sun back?

Pushing open the coffin and yanking Cazador from his attempted rest, Astarion felt both his jaw and the grip on his dagger tighten. Even now, when everything he’d planned for centuries had come crashing down around him, this creature was trying to hold himself higher than anyone else. Watching with disdain as Cazador tried to reason his way out from beneath the literal shit storm he’d brought down on his head, Astarion decided in that moment that no sunlight, no food or temptation could ever be worth trading a life by her side. All hesitation gone, Astarion moved with purpose, taking a painful grip of Cazador’s hair and stabbing him. The blade in his hand pierced deep into Cazador’s flesh, again, and again, and again, and again; not stopping until he was sure his tormentor was well and truly gone.

Leaving the carcass behind, Astarion came back to where Shadowheart and Karlach knelt next to Mika’s body, not even waiting before reaching to carefully gather her in his arms. Already he could feel her warmth slowly returning, hugging her as tight as he dared in relief that she wasn’t lost to him yet. He still had his sunshine. “Shadowheart, she’s-?”

“Yes, she’ll be fine; but that lightning spell put a lot of strain on her body, Astarion. She’ll likely be out for a few hours at least, though I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t wake until morning.” Slowly rising to his feet, Astarion held Mika’s still limp form against him, frowning as he only just then heard his brothers and sisters gathering.

“It, it’s over? What are we to do now?”

“And all of those other spawns! Gods above seven thousand of them! Astarion, did you not think of-”

“Should I have done it instead then, brother?! Would you have preferred to fuel my eternal existence, instead of Cazador’s!?” Watching the others, Astarion’s gaze drifted back down to the sleeping woman in his arms, her head carefully leaning against his shoulder. “Take the spawn to the tunnels and into the Underdark. Find yourselves someplace, well, not safe... Maybe, less perilous. I... I’d like to leave now.”

~~~~~***~~~~~

Everything hurt, even her head was pounding from behind her eyes. Frowning as she tried carefully moving, Mika groaned quietly at the full body ache. What happened? One moment she had been fighting off against a huge werewolf, then... Then there was pain, so much pain, and then everything just went black. It was hard to recall just what all happened after that, everything was so quiet and still, even the intense pain itself had seemed to suddenly disappear within that all consuming darkness. Then, just as suddenly as she had arrived, out of nowhere a rush of air filled her lungs, and her heart thundered in her chest. In an instant, the still silence she had been in was shattered. Roaring echoes from within her heart beating, blood rushing, and the pain from before reaching deep into every bone, joint, and muscle.

Had...had she died? Was that what had happened? All at once that thought had her both concerned and relieved at the same time. If she had, that meant that Astarion had been saved when he might have been lost to her. But now, the one thought that pushed its way to the front of her mind, was her love alright? Had taking the full brunt of whatever it was that had ultimately killed her, given him the opening he needed to finally kill Cazador and break his chains? Her brow furrowing in worry at the possibilities, she relaxed a bit when she felt the cool brush of familiar fingertips against her cheek, his voice soft like a midnight breeze. “Darling...?”

Trying to open her eyes, she blinked a few times, finding even the dim light hurt just then, and her vision blurry. Working her throat to try speaking, Mika relaxed a bit when she felt his hand move to gently hold the back of her head, lifting her slightly as the cold touch of metal touched her lips. “I’ve got you, love. Try some water first.”

Parting her lips, she drank greedily from the cup, the cold liquid feeling exquisite as it flowed into her. Whining slightly when he pulled it back and let her head back down, she licked her lips with a slight pout at hearing him gently chiding her, “Not too much right away, dearest. Don’t pout at me like that, Shadow’s orders. Halsin’s too, if that helps any.”

Trying to clear her throat again, she carefully blinked once more, glad when her vision finally cleared and allowed her to see him. Her throat still felt rough, but the water had helped greatly as she tilted her head to try speaking. “What happened...?”

“You were reckless; you stupidly switched our rings and took the full force of a lightning spell! Honestly Mika, what in hells were you thinking taking that shot for-!?”

“Taking a shot for you? Yes, how foolish of me. Why in all the realms would I ever think to put myself in harm's way just to keep the one I love most safe?”

“And what if Shadowheart had not been there!? Doing something that ridiculous...!”

“Astarion...” Ignoring the painful ache lingering in her body, Mika reached out to take his hand, gently rubbing her thumb across the back. “I’m sorry I worried you, but if doing what I did gave you the opening you needed to finally be free... Then no amount of pain is too much for me to handle.”

She frowned as he shook his head, hand turning under hers to hold it as tight as he dared. “No... no, Mika... You’re worth so much more than... I-I can’t be the reason that you...”

“That’s not for you to decide, Astarion. You can’t make those decisions for me, just as you wouldn’t want me to make yours for you. I did it because I love you and want you to be free, and it’s a decision I would make a million times over.” Watching as his frown deepened, she reached up and gently urged him down, slowly wrapping her arms around him and laying his head on her chest. “I’m sorry I worried you, my Starlight...”

“I’ve lost enough over the last two-hundred years, my love. I can’t have you added to that list...”

Smiling gently at him when she realized he’d settled his ear over her heart, she ran her fingers through his silken curls, her melodic voice still quiet and soft as she sang to him in the surrounding silence. “You may call me a dreamer, call me a fool. Just a blue-eyed believer in you. But I’d die for that someone, in the blink of an eye. So tell me, please tell me, just what kind of fool am I...”

“I’m severely hoping that what you're singing is rhetorical right now, darling...”

Smirking at the attitude in his voice, she shifted through the deep ache and stiff muscles to bring his head up enough to kiss him properly. “Believe what you wish, my Starlight. I only want to see you shine as bright as I know you can.”

“I can only shine if I can stay in your light, my sunshine.”

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