#whatever I’m so glad I no longer blindly follow her cause this is some of the worst shit I’ve ever heard

[honeyedlashton]

It’s a big night for girlbosses

#listening to this album…and I actually despise it?? #I have a rant and I’m not being nice sorry y’all scroll past if you don’t wanna read #girl I used to be on your side… #I’ve been here since day ONE bestie since 2006 and this is what you’ve given me?? #I was a stan before I even knew what stanning was and this is how I’m repaid?? her 10th album has some of the most heignous lyrics EVER?? #I have no more respect for this woman anymore #she lost me tonight lmfaoo #fr fr #fuck that #(I’ve been so negative but I really expected more from her) #how did the lyrics get so bad #didn’t think anything could get worse than cocaine colored wedding dress but yk what? somehow? it got worse #damn no wonder there was no lead single #I wouldn’t wanna let people know ahead of time either #whatever I’m so glad I no longer blindly follow her cause this is some of the worst shit I’ve ever heard #and I listened to that 30 second clip of I feel funny by Justin Bieber… #this album is like if I did something bad and me! had a baby. just process that… #how are we as a society supposed to recover when TAYLOR SWIFT puts out a flop #and I keep harping on the lyrics are so bad like she really is just a capitalist bitch huh? #it’s like a carbon copy of my Pinterest feed in 2014 🤮 #some things were made to be left in the vault #I will probably not listen again willingly #2.5/10 #nothing more to say goodnight #midnights spoilers #not even really a #hot take

[vvideonasties]

clear-cut

"Good morning," Jon says.

"Um," Martin replies.

Jon then realises that him holding a pair of scissors so close to his eyes not long after ranting about gouging them out would be rather concerning at first glance. 

word count: 2k

pairing: jonmartin

warnings: discussion of canon related trauma, thoughts about body autonomy

While rifling through the kitchen drawers, Jon is unsurprised by the plethora of blades Daisy owns. There’s every kind of knife you could fathom and, thankfully, a few pairs of scissors. Grabbing what appears to be the sharpest pair (though they all look pretty damn sharp), he heads to the bathroom. He clutches the white of the porcelain sink and stares into the mirror impassively. 

He used to actually quite like his long hair. He’d play with it while he was working, twirling the thick locks around his fingers and untangling knots absentmindedly. When he’d get frustrated he’d pull it out of its tie and tug at it. It was a strange way to ground himself. 

Now, though. It’s been used too much for other people’s gain, has been in too many people’s hands for it to truly belong to him. The gravity it provided began to dissipate when Daisy attacked him - she’d grabbed a chunk of it and used it to yank back his head to expose the vulnerable expanse of his neck. As he’d stood there under the mercy of her blade, shaking and pleading, the stinging in his scalp lingered the entire time. It only got worse from there - the awful attempt at tenderness displayed by the Stranger as Nikola brushed aside a few strands to gain access to more flesh, to paste moisturiser onto it with her stiff fingers. The dirt he couldn’t quite scrub out of it after he left the Buried, even when he sat in the tub for hours on end. Even when the water began to run clear, he could still feel the clumps weighing him down, making his head loll to the side with it.

After all that, it wasn’t much to him. He’d wash it, dry it, tie it up. Try not to think of it. 

Jon stares down at the gleaming scissors in the sink determinedly. Cutting it off won’t solve much, if anything at all, but it would make him feel a little more comfortable. It’s one of the only things he can control about himself at the moment. If he doesn’t like the way it looks, then fine. It’ll grow back. 

His hand flexes and clenches into a fist. Tighten, relax, tighten, relax. 

He reaches for the scissors and holds a piece of hair in front of his face, the blades open, hungry, ready to receive. 

Then there comes a short, polite cough. He turns to see Martin standing just outside the bathroom, eyes a little wider than normal. 

"Good morning," Jon says.

"Um," Martin replies.

Jon then realises that him holding a pair of scissors so close to his eyes not long after ranting about gouging them out would be rather concerning at first glance. 

“I’m cutting my hair,” he clarifies, and Martin seems to relax at that. 

“Okay.” A pause. “Why?”

He puts down the scissors and shrugs, suddenly feeling self-conscious. 

“Just felt like it,” he says, which is kind of true. “Not particularly attached to it anymore.”

Martin hums, taking him at his word. He walks over on socked feet, close enough that Jon can feel the heat radiating from him. There’s a brief moment where his hands pass over the scissors.

“I could help?”

Jon turns to face him completely, brow furrowed. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, it’s just that I have experience? Kind of? I cut my own, and I used to cut my mum’s as well...” Martin’s mouth twists downwards at that, and Jon just frowns harder. “I won’t give you my mum’s style, I promise!” He jokes weakly. It falls flat, and the whole atmosphere feels stilted. 

“Okay. Why not.”

“...Are you sure? I don’t want to interrupt your whole-”

“It’s fine. I could use some help reaching the back anyway.” As much as he just wants to lop all of it off, he doesn’t want it to look messy. 

Martin seems to brighten, probably at the relief of having something to focus on, and he walks off to grab a chair from the small dining table as Jon hovers awkwardly. He positions it in the living room, close to the small TV they’ve been using sporadically. They’ve been steadily working their way through the small cabinet full of DVDs underneath it. However, Jon isn’t exactly sure how long they’re going to be staying, so they might have to...ration them. The week they’ve been here hasn’t exactly been the most vibrant when it comes to entertainment. Maybe one day they’ll relent and open up the dusty box of Monopoly. That could very well be a major test of their relationship, though. 

At least, Jon thinks this is a relationship. They haven’t talked about it all that much. All that mattered in the beginning was escaping the Lonely, leaving London, then getting settled here. They’re fumbling around blindly in the dark, and all Jon knows is he wants to hold onto Martin as tightly as possible. 

That little train of thought is interrupted by the small clink of Martin taking the scissors off of the sink and grabbing a towel from the rack. He gestures to the chair, inviting Jon to sit, and when he does so he feels the towel being gently wrapped around his shoulders. 

There’s the brief sensation of Jon’s hair being pulled at, only slightly, and he sucks in a sharp breath.

“Okay?” Martin whispers. He understands without knowing, somehow, and Jon is glad that he can’t see the way his face is taut with apprehension, tinged with pain. 

“Okay,” he whispers back, trying to emulate Martin’s tone. 

“Can I use your tie?” His voice is still soft, and Jon should feel patronised, but he mostly feels soothed. “Just so it’s easier to cut through.”

Jon wordlessly removes the tie from his wrist and hands it over. He tries to hide the little shiver that passes over him when their fingers brush. Martin begins to hum a tune as he gathers the hair up into one handful (not like they did, he would never, it’s Martin, always so good to him), then creates a loose ponytail that falls to his shoulders. 

“Fine so far?” Jon nods tentatively. “Alright then.” 

There’s the distinct sound of the blades opening, and in one fluid motion Jon feels the weight he’d been carrying leave him. 

“There.” Martin comes into view, holding the thick, dark ponytail aloft, smiling crookedly. 

“Oh,” he croaks. “That’s...a lot.” His hand comes up to brush his the side of his head, then travels down and grasps at thin air where hair was a second ago. The cut seems to stop at his jaw, the small strands remaining ghosting over his skin. 

“It is. Can I keep going?”

Jon, hand still close to his head, makes a noise of assent. Martin takes a second to throw away what’s been cut then returns. He sinks his hands into Jon's scalp, massaging the tension out of it, and Jon makes an unbidden noise of satisfaction that causes his motions to still.

"God, sorry, did I hurt-"

"No! No, it's okay. It felt nice." It felt really nice. 

Martin clicks his tongue and continues for a while longer, fingers digging into Jon’s scalp over and over in a wonderful, rhythmic motion until Jon is practically boneless and falling asleep in the chair. He wonders if there’s a not-weird way to ask for this again outside of a hair cutting context. 

“So how short are we going here? You kind of have a bob right now,” Martin laughs. 

Jon hadn’t really thought about that. He just wanted it off, away, binned and out of his face. He shrugs. “I don’t know, short? Whatever you think will suit me.”

“Any hairstyle would suit you,” Martin points out, like it’s nothing. Jon smiles. “But I’ll do my best.” 

A few moments of Martin muttering to himself and circling around the chair is followed by the coolness of the dual blades against the curve of Jon’s ear, the shhk of them pressing together giving him goosebumps. He clearly has done this many times before, given the confident way he navigates the scissors. Jon certainly couldn’t have done this alone, at least not without making a fool out of himself. Martin brushes some hair away from the nape of his neck. His hands are very warm. 

“Y’know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with short hair.”

Jon turns to him, puzzled. “Really?”

The thing with Jon is, when he cares about someone a lot, he tends to insert them in all of his memories, assuming that they’ve always been around (he also has the memory of a goldfish, but he’s sure that’s a whole other thing). Martin has become such an integral part of his life, standing neatly by his side like it’s nothing. Like he was meant to be there and always has. 

“It has been quite a few years now, I suppose. Last I remember it was this short I was still in research.” When he goes to touch his head again he notes that he can feel for his ears without having to move a mountain of hair aside.

“Better late than never, I guess! I’m gonna move to the front now.”

Martin has to position himself at an awkward angle to use the scissors properly, his back practically curved into a C shape. His gaze is focused and intense, his lower lip caught between his teeth. Hair falls on Jon’s face as he snips, making him wrinkle his nose and grimace.

“Sorry. You can wash it off soon.”

Jon nods minutely. Then he sneezes. Martin just smiles, his eyes crinkling at the corners, then continues. 

He remembers why he rarely went to get a professional haircut now. That strange intimacy that comes with someone being so close to you - a stranger - it always disturbed him. The idle chatter that made him grit his teeth, how they’d act like they knew him. Then he didn’t have the time or energy to cut it himself after...everything. 

Now he’s looking at Martin, though. It’s odd, yes. Intimate? Definitely. He doesn’t know whether to close his eyes or keep them open. But he’s always found it very hard to turn his gaze away from Martin regardless.

His eyes are a lovely shade of deep blue, and he has far too many scars alongside the smattering of freckles on his face. He looks tired. Very much so. There’s crows feet at the corners of his eyes and lines on his forehead. He notes absently that he actually has a thick beard, too. Of course he noticed it beforehand - he’s felt it scratching the back of his neck when he wakes in the morning with Martin’s arms around him - but it’s worth pointing out. It makes him look much older, especially since the grey in it seems to be overtaking the red. 

Martin stands up straight and runs his hands through Jon’s hair a few times before standing back, head tilted to the side. 

“I think we’re done. It’s not amazing, but.”

Jon is already shrugging off the towel and heading to the bathroom mirror, feeling weirdly nervous. 

He certainly looks different. Unfortunately, though he searched high and low for them, Daisy doesn’t own any clippers. Martin did the best he could with what he had - he’s kept it a bit longer towards the front, some strands grazing his forehead, but the rest is cropped closely to his scalp. Jon tentatively touches it and leans forward. He tries to grasp a chunk of it, see if it’s long enough to pull. He fails. 

“It’s perfect.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes,” Jon says firmly. “It’s just what I needed.” He walks back over to Martin and wraps his arms around him instinctively, sighing with contentment when he responds in kind. 

“Thank you,” he mumbles into Martin’s t-shirt. 

“Of course.” Martin is stroking the back of his neck gently. “You look very handsome.”

Jon’s face burns at the compliment, and he chooses to hide it further rather than reply. They stand there for a while, hair scattered around the floor like autumn leaves, and it feels like a new beginning. 

#lil writes #jonmartin #ive been thinking a lot about hair and people's relationship to their hair recently. like. why it means so much to some of us #and it morphed into this #hair is one of the few things we can control since its physical and mostly our own #idk i just feel like its a good way for jon to reclaim some part of himself. it certainly feels that way for me so maybe i am Projecting #anyways! take it! #i was actually gonna write a sequel about martin and his hair but focusing on the hc i have that he grows a beard in s4 so he doesnt have- #to see his own face as much. but lets see how this one is received first! #tumblr is such a bad place to post fic because feedback is so sparse. god. #ILL SHUT UP NOW BYE #oh wait i need to tag #the magnus archives

[akumaalert]

Snippet of “Awake” - First Chapter of “Divergence”

Hey, all! Wanted to share a snippet of the first chapter (”Awake”) of “Divergence” - a fic that will offshoot from “Heavy Metal Lover.” Note that this is basically a whole spoiler for chapter 20 of “Heavy Metal Lover.” If you’re like me and see random stuff saying “Don’t click if you haven’t read...” and click anyway: Hi! Welcome, chaos lover. If you like this and want to know the context, please feel free to check out the full work on AO3.

“Divergence” should be posted within two weeks and will be open to requests for the reader (”Lucky”) to have different experiences than what she has in the original. This can mean the following:

- AUs

- Re-tellings of certain scenes of the original

- Reader-specific details included in old or new/original scenes (i.e., reader is plus sized, skinny, tall, short, etc.)

- Genderbending of any of the characters

Originally made this Tumblr to share snippets of the stories on...so happy that I could finally do that! If you want to skip writing that was in the story, you can start at “Though sleep pulled at your eyelids...”

Story contains mature elements, swearing, and explicit mention of sex. Please be forewarned.

Looking back, it would only be a wonder that it did not occur sooner.

As soon as you were alone in the bedroom, you took off your shoes and eyed the clothes Heisenberg had provided you from the factory...

...before turning to the tub.

Couldn't hurt to bathe. Love to be clean. 

That man is coming back up to this bedroom.

This is the point, self.

The logical side of your brain, for once, remained quiet. 

Though you had clearly lost all sense of sensibility, you at least moved the divider to completely block the tub from any but the most determined of views. 

The water had been scalding when you got in.

By the time you had bathed and decided that your foolishness had reached its limit, it was stark cold.

"This was stupid," you said. "Fucking stupid. What did I want? Him to join me? This is the universe saying 'Wake the fuck up.'"

Though your fingers were pruned, you dried yourself off and pulled a nightgown from the small cupboard beneath the sink.

Sheer as ever. Fuck's sake. The universe had truly saved you.

Until it hadn't.

Heisenberg rushed into the room like a rocket and you jumped as the door slammed close.

"...you here, Luck?"

"Yeah," you called out. "Um...don't come over here...gotta get dressed real quick."

"...k" called Heisenberg.

Wasting no time, you slid the gown over your body and made sure to fan out the edges as far as they would go. 

You needed no mirror to see your nipples proudly displayed through the fabric.

Mouthing a 'fuck' for good measure, you frowned.

"Heisenberg?"

"Yes?"

"Do you...do you mind looking away for a second?"

"From you?"

"Yes."

"...are...are you coming out naked?"

"No," you snapped.

An awkward silence greeted you.

"Heisenberg?"

"Huh?"

"You looking away?"

"Oh. Yeah. You're good now."

Peeking from behind the divider, you only saw Heisenberg's back. 

With more speed than you were familiar with, you bolted to the bed and ducked under the covers.

Once secure beneath the pillowy softness, you breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay. It’s safe."

You did not miss how Heisenberg whirled around.

"Oh...fuck...that was fast."

"Yeah," you said absently.

"Trying to set a fucking record?"

"Something like that."

"Mmn. I...gotta get changed."

"Okay."

The two of you stared at the other.

"You trying to get a free show or you gonna cover those peepers?"

"...I figured you would go behind the divider."

"The divider is on your side of the bed."

"Oh," you said dumbly. "Oh. Yeah...wait."

Yanking the pillow from underneath your head, you smashed it onto your face above your mouth and pressed down.

Heisenberg chuckled. "Dramatic as hell."

"Doing what you asked of me."

"...didn't formally ask you to...did I?"

Swallowing found your throat on fire.

"Mmn."

"What was that?"

"Mmn," you repeated.

"Heh...don't go into public speaking, kid."

You frowned at the ceiling and the darkness of your eyes. 

Instead of speaking, Heisenberg decided to tell you he was done by climbing in the bed beside you. It struck you suddenly that lamps had been placed in the room instead of the candles that the castle was so beset with. But when you removed your pillow, you found yourself met by more muted darkness.

"Sure you okay with this?" asked Heisenberg. "I can fuck off and go into another room. I like to bitch like a drama king, but I don't need anything crazy set up for me."

"Bed is pretty big," you said carelessly. "S'okay. We've been closer."

The chuckle Heisenberg gave was absolutely filthy.

"We have...haven't we?"

The fucking lilt would be the death of you. What a relief it was to blink blindly and stupidly at the man in peace without judgment. 

"Hey - last time I'm reminding you...what's your one job?"

"Get you out in the morning," you replied.

"Because?"

"Ah...generators...production line...something about a reset..."

"That's my girl. Nighty night, Luck."

"Night, Heis."

A turn. A breath. A feeling that you would never be able to sleep with the man so close that you could feel his body heat radiating from him like a welcome sign. 

But you awoke.

You awoke often.

You awoke in the middle of the night from a dream you could barely recall and all the images of Alcina at the forefront of your mind. 

You awoke in Heisenberg's arms and sobbed into his chest as he clung you to him just as sweetly as any of your snowy imaginings. 

"Fuck you doing awake? No...shh...it's okay...shh...you're alright. I'm here. I've got you."

Though sleep pulled at your eyelids, you nudged your head up to feel the spikes of Heisenberg's scruff. You had to stay awake. Could not return to sleep and Alcina awaiting you with her long talons and even longer legs.

"Nightmare?"

You nodded into his neck. 

"Mmn. Have those myself...think you can go back to sleep? Don't think it's quite time for me to leave yet if you just wanna yak about it or something."

Swallowing, you exhaled. "Don't wanna go back to sleep."

With a grunt, Heisenberg sat up to leave you curled on the sheets.

"Just checking the time..."

When Heisenberg turned to pull something from the floor, you noticed that your eyes had somewhat adjusted to the dark. Enough so that you saw the loose movements of his arms and realized that he had gone to bed without a shirt. 

"Fuck...two in the morning..."

"I'm sorry," you said, tensing. But Heisenberg was mumbling and coming back to you with open arms. "Sorry I woke you..."

"S'alright," he said, yawning afterward. "Gotten less sleep and done more stupid things after than make sure the reset doesn't fuck up the factory..."

As he spoke, you could feel one of his hands rubbing up and down your arm a bit too roughly. An awkward and well intended move to comfort you.

"Still...I'm sorry...you need all the sleep you can manage to get. I don't know how much work the whole factory thing will be..."

"Honestly not much as long as I get back in time," he said, hand squeezing your arm for good measure before returning to that same rough rubbing motion. "Could probably even come back here afterwards...heh...that would spook that sixty-foot snake."

You laughed a sleepy laugh and settled further into his grasp.

"Mmn...like a fucking little bunny...cuddling into me and shit..."

"I can stop...pull away..."

Heisenberg's hand stopped rubbing you in favor of clutching you to him.

"Shh...you're talking nonsense. Need some sleep."

"Heis..."

"Shhh..."

"Heis, you can just tell me that you like it when we cuddle."

When he tsked and laid his chin on your head, you smiled. It felt so much like that day at the stronghold.

"Why would I say that? Not in the business of lying to people."

Lying...yes...because what we are doing now is causing you so much distress...

"Well," you said, smiling. "I'll say it then. I like it when we cuddle. Especially in bed. Feels more comfy than cuddling in front of the lycans."

A shiver - as though Heisenberg had been beset by the cold - ran through his body.

"Oof...y'okay?"

"Yeah, yeah..." he said absently. "Uh...actually...we might wanna go to sleep after all..."

"Mmn?"

"Yeah...early morning..."

"You mind if I hold onto you for a while? This...this actually helps from the nightmare."

The only way you knew how to describe Heisenberg in that moment was jittery. His movements were fine on their own but were conducted with such awkward quickness as to be alarming.

When he did not answer you, you looked up at him through the dark.

"What's wrong?" you asked.

A beat of silence and then another.

"Nothing's wrong." Quick words to match his quick movement.

"Heisenberg..."

"It's Heis."

"...you...Heis...something isn't right. Just talk to me. In English, preferably."

What you could only assume was a curse in German fell from his lips.

"I...fuck's sake, buttercup...I don't know how to...if you...this was such a bad idea...so fucking STUPID."

"What?" You paused, gathering enough evidence from his huff. "Sleeping together?"

"Yes."

"It was your idea."

"I FUCKING KNOW THAT, OKAY?" he hissed. "Just...I thought...earlier...it made more sense...this made more sense..."

"Glad something did because I am completely and utterly confused," you admitted. 

"You're confused? You started flirting with me." Heisenberg grumbled something low and rough. "Fucking gave me ideas...false hope...so I thought...guh I'm such a fucking idiot..."

Hope began to fuel you too. Fuel you and feed into the most terrible of terrific ideas.

"Are you...whatever you're trying to say...I was flirting with you. That wasn't false. Honestly...I was in the bathtub just moments before you came in hoping you would join me."

"...you what now?"

You could not help but laugh. The fact that you could not see Heisenberg's expressive face only added to the hilarity as you imagined a hundred different emotions running through that scarred skin.

"I took a bath...a long one...hoping that you would come up here in the middle of it and offer to join me...figured one thing could lead into another and the bed was here anyway..."

The pauses in between Heisenberg's voice could only endear you to him. He seemed every bit lost for words. 

"You...are you talking about...what are you talking about?"

"Sleeping with you," you supplied with a shrug. "What are you talking about?"

"Sleeping...you...ah...I wasn't...I wasn't mistaken? Shit...I...I may or may not have a fucking stiffy over here...because the cuddling is...something you enjoy so much."

"Oh?" you purred. The chance of escaping in the delights of Heisenberg’s body made your body positively teem with anticipation. But you could not forget your own actions...the last time you had seen him in such a vulnerable state. Losing some confidence, you glanced at the darkness of the bed instead of his body. "Umm...I want to touch you...want to...would it be okay if I touched you?"

"Yeah...course. You've touched me before."

"No...I mean...is it...fuck...can I jack you off?"

For a long while, Heisenberg said nothing.

The next thing you heard was a rattling spit.

"OUCH GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKER!" he whispered.

"What's wrong?"

"Pinched myself."

"You...why are you pinching yourself?"

"Because I'm clearly fucking awake but clearly dreaming at the same time because yes, I would enjoy that very much. Please. And thank you."

"Are...are you sure?"

Heisenberg's hand came down heavy but without malice on your neck.

"OW!"

"Shit...I was trying to grab your hand."

Providing your hand to his, you hitched a breath when he splayed it against his chest. His heartbeat thudded against your palm. Wrenching your knees upward, you brushed against that heated length between his legs.

"I...um...we should probably talk about boundaries before I do this."

"Huh?"

"Is this...are you okay with me just jacking you off?"

"Just? This is a goddamn holiday. Marking it on the calendar. Nothing little about it."

"Dumbass. That's not what I'm saying," you said, scratching his chest somewhat affectionately to show him that you meant no harm. "Do you...are you wanting anything more? Because I'm on my period...I'm up for it...but it might get messy and I know that's the last mess I want a certain someone finding."

"We...we can do more? More like..." You heard him take in a shaky inhale. "Can we...is like full blown intercourse on the table?"

"Sure...long as you don't call it that again," you said, shaking your head.

Grumbling and tensing his shoulders, Heisenberg whined when you dropped your touch to round one of his nipples.

"What the fuck else am I supposed to call it?"

"Sex. Fucking. Making love," you added jokingly. "Um...ah...you know...I hadn't thought about it, but maybe you genuinely didn't know. German to English...or...ah...Romanian to English. Might not have those words."

"I like making love," he said with certainty in his voice. "Let's do that. Make love."

You had expected him to laugh at that suggestion if he acknowledged it at all. But there he was giddy and practically giggling over the most flowery option he was given. 

"Okay...are there any places that you don't like being touched?"

"Not that I know of," he admitted. "Are there...is there somewhere I shouldn't touch you?"

"Not necessarily...just...no going down on me this time. Sex is one thing-"

"Making love."

"-us um...us making love is fine, but I don't want to get eaten out while my period is going on. And don't show me your dick after or comment on the blood...just...get rid of it. Please. And...and nothing too crazy to start out with. I'm not a prude, but don't want to be choked or anything harsh like that. Just...vanilla for our first go. Then we can see where things take us."

"Roger that! Heard loud and clear," he said, leaning his face to kiss your forehead. For all the lack of a relationship, Heisenberg was making you feel far much more mushy and cared for than your ex ever had. You let your hand round his stomach slow and soft in response.

"Thank you. We...if you want to, I'll jack you off for a bit before you grab the condom."

"The...I don't have one of those."

That made you freeze. 

"Not even in this room? Your chambers? If you don't feel like getting up, I can grab them from wherever they are."

Heisenberg went uncharacteristically quiet.

"Heis?"

"None in this room," he said plainly.

"I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable by asking...but...is that typical? You having sex without a condom?"

It worried you. Here you were all too willing to have him fuck you into the mattress while he could be having all sorts of unprotected sex with who knows who in the village. He was attractive - a lord. Anyone with a pair of eyes could easily fall in lust if not love with him. 

Anyone with ears too...fucking sexy ringmaster voice...

"Not typical, no."

"No? Has it just...been a while?"

"Never."

"Huh?"

"Never made love before."

That sent you sitting up in bed.

"WHAT?"

"What?"

"HEISEN..." you lowered your voice, realizing he was growing tense. "You've never...I don't believe you. Quit joking. Not the time."

"Not joking," he grumbled. "Why would I joke about that?"

"You're just..."

"I'm what?"

"You're you," you said as if it clarified anything at all. "You're a lord in a small town. You have a face of a model. Not...not trying to open old wounds, but you're absolutely gorgeous underneath all those layers..."

"Yeah," he snorted. "Fatass McGee will be strutting the runways any day now."

"Oh my god...you're serious." Lying back down, you brought your hand to the clothed length between his legs. He had grown noticeably more soft since the brush of your knee, but you could feel his cock twitch when you cupped him. "So...no one? Not even foreplay or...what about kissing?"

"...ahhh...nah...none of that either...you're probably the first person to see me naked since I was a little kid...well...maybe a few folks in Constantinople. Got sloshed one time and woke up naked tied to a lamppost. But...other than that...all you."

There seemed to be no end to the surprises that would fall from Heisenberg's mouth. You stared at him - or the inky shadow that was him - and ran teasing fingers up his shaft.

"I uhh...fuck...I'm pretty sure anyone who saw me then is dead by now though," he supplied.

"Heis...you're so fucking ridiculous." 

#heavy metal lover #divergence #karl heisenberg x reader #karl heisenberg x you

[kippykasey]

Grace - Chapter 5: Hydra

Pairing: Howard Stark x F!Reader , Bucky x Reader [Eventually]

Word Count: 3522

Series Summary: A young nurse is recruited by Dr. Abraham Erskine to join the SSR to assist on Project Rebirth. Following her work with the SSR she is drafted into the US Army Nurse Corps in the war against the Nazis...and HYDRA.

Chapter Warnings: violence, torture, bad things because Hydra

Author's Note: Surprise?! I wasn't even expecting to get this done but I literally just finished and thought, eh why not. So here it is! Also I hate hurting my characters so this was a bit eh to write but I hope all is well!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the gifs they are either found on google or under the gif tag provided by tumblr. Any language other than English was translated using Google Translator, and translations will be posted in bolden italics after. I am not a nurse or in the medical field although I may do some research medical treatment written may not be correct.

Grace Masterlist | Snowdrop Masterlist | Masterlist

Pain. A throbbing, harsh pain echoed through my head from the temple. The throbbing beat opposite that of my heart. The second thing I noticed was how cold and damp it was. After battling with my body to force open my eyes I squint through the dimly lit room. A deep voice spoke in another language… German it was German but my head hurt too much for me to understand it. Seconds passed before I realized that I was sitting on the ground in a cell. The door opened and two men walked in flanked by four additional soldiers than the one that had been watching me.

“Ah Fräulein (L/n) glad you have finally woken up.” Miss.

“Who are you?” I cursed how weak my voice sounded at that moment. Though the man didn’t seem to find me a threat of escape as he spoke. “Johann Schmidt. You see we have a common acquaintance… or, well, had.” The grin he wore made my stomach drop and he didn’t need to verbally admit it for me to realize this is the man behind Abraham’s death.

I raised my head in defiance and although it made the pounding in my head worsen I pushed myself from the ground and stood within the cell. “You’re after the serum.”

“Ah, clever girl. You were Abraham’s assistant when he made the serum.” The second, much shorter man spoke. “Fault in your plans. I don’t know how to make the serum.” Schmidt smiled at me and it took all my self control not to shiver from his intense look. “I was hoping you would say that,” His eyes turned off me to the soldiers. “Bring sie zum Stuhl. Probiere es an ihr aus. Vielleicht wird ein kleiner Elektroschock Ihr Gedächtnis auffrischen.” Take her to the chair. Try it out on her. Perhaps a bit of electroshock will refresh your memory. As Schmidt talked his head also turned towards the shorter man.

I could feel the blood drain from my face as I moved back against the wall. Three soldiers stepped towards the cell. One man opened the cell door before the other two stepped inside to detain me. I managed to elbow one in the face in my struggle but it was useless. The two soldiers dragged me from the cell, out of the room into a brighter lit hall. We were in some kind of warehouse. My eyes zeroed in on a chair that looked right out of a nightmare. Stronger hands forced me into the hard chair and held me down while I was struggling against someone’s attempts to strap me in. My struggling did nothing but get me a slap to the face. The strength of the slap disoriented me long enough for them to strap me in.

The shorter man who followed us now stood next to my head. I could see the reflection of myself in his glasses. “This is only going to hurt a lot, try to hold still.” He instructs lowering two plates down around my face. It was only a few short moments before the electricity forced its way into my head. I had no control over my body as it thrashed in the confines of the chair. An agonizing scream of pain carrying throughout the building went ignored.

That wasn’t my first time in the chair but it was the only time I had passed out in the chair. Spent 30 minutes in the chair 3 times a day, sometimes longer. After a week I had to start muttering things to myself in my cell so I didn’t forget who I was. The Nazi soldiers gave me the bare minimum to survive as far as water and nutrients goes. I cracked halfway through October. I gave the short scientist, Armin Zola, the list of what I would need before I was taken back to my cell after yet another time in the cell. I was given parchment and a pencil to write things down with but it kept coming in flashes.

Nights were the worst. Mouth dry from lack of water, eyes trained on an iron grate in the ceiling. I realized two weeks into my daily chair visits that I had forgotten my brother’s name. When I noticed it caused me to cry to sleep that night. So whenever I could I would mutter to myself facts I could remember starting with my name, rank, and where I was from. The list of facts got shorter every day. Somedays I remembered more than others. There were times all I could bring myself to do was hum Amazing Grace to myself to deal with the pain.

The first time I was in the lab I tried to escape. I was left with just one guard and I thought I could take him. I smashed a beaker using a shard like a knife. I ended up knocked unconscious, my hand bleeding from the self inflicted cuts caused by the makeshift weapon. From then on I was chained to the lab table and three soldiers kept watch. I wasn’t given anything to test the serum on. So I never tested unless I thought it would work because I used myself as a test subject.

I was unconscious for two days once from a failed serum. Others cause excruciating pain. Days came and went and I lost count of days but I knew it was still October. Yet a month was close to passing as November began to be discussed amongst soldiers around me. Pressure was placed on me to recreate the serum. Each day if I didn’t recreate the serum I was sent to the chair for the torturous electroshock. That is how I figured out I had been successful in a recreation. The serum, when tested, did nothing but make me drop to the lab floor in pain. I wasn’t even given time to recollect myself before being dragged off to the chair. I lasted longer in the chair than usual. I heard the instruction to increase the power. I don’t remember what happened after that.

It took me nearly half a day to recover, then as soon as I had I was back working in the lab. Suddenly I was pulled away from my work and escorted quickly back to my cell. “Neue Soldaten wurden gefangen genommen.” New soldiers have been captured. I pressed myself up against the bars for a chance, a glimpse at the soldiers being brought in.

It was silent as the Nazi Hydra soldiers dealt with the new poisoners. Suddenly two soldiers appeared with smiles on their faces. “Komm Mädchen. Zola und Schmidt wollen dich sehen.” Come girl. Zola and Schmidt want to see you. The soldiers yanked me up and practically dragged me to the room where the chair was. My body trembled involuntarily at the sight of the chair. It wasn’t me going in the chair, given someone was strapped in but given the uniform he was American. “Ah, here iz our lovely nurse. You’ve been asking for a test subject. Here you go.” Schmidt waved at the man strapped into the chair. The man lifted his head just barely and my heart went out to him. As soon as the hands left my arms I moved to the soldier in the chair. “What’s your name, soldier?”

“S’rg’nt Jam’s Barn’s,” His voice wasn’t clear but it was clear enough for me to understand what he said. The nurse turned to Zola and Schmidt. “I wasn’t done recreating the serum when you had me pulled from the lab. I will need time to work and he needs time to rest or the serum will kill him.” I tried to give him whatever comfort I could in those brief moments before we were pulled apart. His head rose just slightly and I caught a glimpse of stormy blue eyes as he was dragged out of the room.

I never got to return to my cell that night. As my eyes zoned in on the blue chemical mixture in front of me I felt a haze cloud my mind, it wasn’t abnormal to experience but I also felt like I was losing myself when it happened. Following my own written instructions I was able to continue my work. The only other thing I forced my mind to remember were two things.

I am First Lieutenant (Y/n) (L/n) of the US Army Nurse Corps. Soldier boy is Sergeant James Barnes.

The words became a mantra in the blank canvas my mind was currently in as I blindly worked by instructions of my very own that I don’t even remember writing. My body moved on auto pilot as I was taken to a crude looking examination room. In the center was soldier boy Sergeant James Barnes strapped to the table. As my mind raced to catch up with me, flashes of memories clouded my mind from when Steve Rogers got the serum, the explosion that followed, Dr. Erskine being shot. My body tensed at a passing memory of being in the chair passed through being replaced by the pain I felt giving myself the serum.

A hand pressed firmly in between my shoulder blades pushing me forward. I stumbled to the table catching myself with a hand on his arm. Wasn’t he wearing an army jacket before? My eyes landed on the serum filled syringe in my hands reminding me of what I was about to do. “First lieutenant (Y/n) (F/n) of the US Army Nurse Corps.. You are Sergeant James Barnes.. I’m sorry for what I am about to do. You’ll be okay. I’ve used it on myself. It will hurt.” My voice sounded so… robotic and monotone as I spoke to him. My hands pushing up his sleeve.

My hands worked from memory and out of second nature my mouth moved and the hymn fell from my lips. The melody of the song was the only comfort I could offer as I injected the poor man with the serum that would change his life forever. His eyes looked up at mine until the pain of the serum changing his body caused them to shut tightly. The leather restraints holding him in began to rip as he pulled against them. Discarding the empty syringe I tried to soothe him more but the second my hand touched his head I was shot with a sedative.

【☆】★【☆】★【☆】★【☆】★【☆】

Steve Rogers has dressed up performing on stage like a dancing monkey to sell war bonds since he was given the serum. His first time on foreign grounds and he was performing for soldiers he should have been fighting alongside of. All to be booed off the stage by disgruntled men who just wanted to see a pretty dame.

Steve finally looked away from the rain but not quite at Peggy, “At least he’s got me doing this. Phillips would have had me stuck in a lab.” Blue eyes finally met the face of Agent Carter. “And these are your only two options? A lab rat or a dancing monkey? You were meant for more than this, you know.” Her wording might have been a bit rude but the point got across. There was a moment of silence between the two but Steve had this look to him. “What?” Peggy inquired.

The man was drawing in the rain when a familiar face popped up. “Hello, Steve.” Peggy Carter approached him from behind, making him turn from his drawing to greet her, “Hi.” She mimed his ‘hi’ back before laying her jacket down to sit on while Steve asked, “What are you doing here?” Peggy looked at Rogers and let out a small sigh, “Officially, I’m not here at all. That was quite a performance.”

Rogers looked away disappointed that she had caught the horrible show that happened earlier. “Yeah. I uh, I had to improvise a little bit. The crowds I’m used to are usually more, uh, twelve.” Steve explained looking out at the drenched ground and falling rain. “I understand you’re ‘America’s New Hope’.” Peggy states watching him. “Bond sales take a 10% bump in every state I visit.” Steve comments like a robot. “Is that Senator Brandt I hear?”

“You know for the longest time, I dreamed about coming overseas and being on the front lines, serving my country. I finally got everything I wanted and I’m wearing tights.” Steve kept looking down at his journal then squinting out through the rain. A horn alarmed behind them as a medical vehicle slid to a stop in the mud. Medics ran from the infirmary tent to help unloaded soldiers on gurneys. “They look like they’ve been through hell.” Peggy turned back towards Rogers. “These men more than most.” Steve looked up at Peggy knowing she had more details. “Schmidt sent out a force to Azzano. Two hundred men were there to back up an already injured fleet, they went up against him and less than 75 returned. Your audience contained what was left of the 107th and 34th.” Steve slowly turned his head feeling bad for the men who were lost but his attention snapped to Peggy at the mention of the divisions involved as she finished, “The rest were killed or captured.”

“The 107th?” The confirmation had him darting out into the rain, Peggy following holding her jacket over her head for coverage from the rain. The two ran all the way to the tent Colonel Phillips was sitting in signing condolence letters. “Colonel Phillips.” Steve called for the man’s attention as he approached. “Well, if it isn’t the Star-Spangled Man With A Plan. What is your plan today?” The colonel responded looking up at the pair now standing in front of him. “I need the casualty list from Azzano.” The tone he used was definitely fitting for the role he plays on stage. Phillips however did not appreciate it. “You don’t get to give me orders, son.”

“I just need one name, Sergeant James Barnes from the 107th.” Rogers responded un phased. Phillips pointed his pen at Peggy, “You and I are gonna have a conversation later that you won’t enjoy.” Steve was insistent though and again requested the information he wanted, “Please tell me if he’s alive, sir. B-A-R..” “I can spell.” Phillips cut him off before muttering, “First Stark and now this.” He stood from the table and paged through the letters he just finished signing. “I have signed more of these condolence letters today that I would care to count. But the name does sound familiar. I’m sorry. To the both of you.” Phillips looks from Rogers to Peggy and the woman knew he was referring to her friend from the 34th.”

“What about the others? Are you planning a rescue mission?” Rogers was something else, optimistic maybe. “Yeah, it’s called winning the war.” The look of disbelief that Steve sent the colonel as he spoke might have been the first red flag for Peggy Carter. “But if you know where they are, why not at least..” Phillips once again cut the man off, “They’re 30 miles behind the lines through some of the most heavily fortified territory in Europe.” Phillips was eyeing the spot on the map as he talked about it, even pointing the place out directly. “We’d lose more men than we’d save. But I don’t expect you to understand that because you’re a chorus girl.”

The colonels' dig at Roger’s lack of status didn’t seem to phase the man but it did fuel the plan he was formulating in his head while staring at the map, memorizing it. “I think I understand just fine.”

“Well, then understand it somewhere else. If I read the posters correctly, you got someplace to be in 30 minutes.” The colonel walked past him giving Rogers a very clear view of the map marking out exactly where he needed to go, and where he was. “Yes, sir. I do.” Perhaps the time staring at the map was the second red flag that Peggy noticed. As her eyes flickered between him and the map as he left the tent it all clicked into place and she hurried after the taller man.

“What do you plan to do, walk to Austria?” Peg asked as she entered the tent used as the changing room. “If that’s what it takes.” Steve answered not looking up from where he was struggling with boots. “You heard the Colonel. Your friend, and mine, are most likely dead.”

“You don’t know that.” Steve disagreed as he continued to get ready. “Even so, he’s devising a strategy. If he detects..” Steve cut her off as he put on a brown leather jacket, “By the time he’s done that, it could be too late.” He snatched up his bag and shield and headed for the exit. “Steve!” Peggy called following him to the vehicle he tossed his things into. The rain had stopped leaving the sun to rapidly evaporate the water leaving puffs of smoke in the air. Steve looked at the brunette in front of him. “You told me you thought I was meant for more than this. Did you mean that?”

“Every word.”

“Then you got to let me go.” Steve turned to get into the jeep and started the engine before Peggy was at the side. “I can do more than that.” She told him.

【☆】★【☆】★【☆】★【☆】★【☆】

Peggy hadn’t lied. She got them a method of transport much faster than the jeep. Howard Stark sat in the pilot seat flying a plane with the slight chance his fiancée may still be alive. Stark was devastated when he first found out that the 34th was attacked and that only doubled when the attack at Azzano took out the 107th as well.

“The Hydra camp is in Krausberg, tucked between these two mountain ranges.” Peggy infomed Rogers as she pointed to the map she was holding. “It’s a factory of some kind.” She gave him as much information as she could. “We should be able to drop you right on the doorstep.” Howard called over his shoulder.

“Just get me as close as you can.” Steve called back up to the pilot. He looked back over at the woman in front of him. “You know.. You two are gonna be in a lot of trouble when you land.” He was worried about her getting into trouble for him but she looked at him just as worried. “And you won’t?” Steve dismissed her worries, turning his head. “Where I’m going, if anyone yells at me, I can just shoot them.” There was a small click of a loaded gun.

“They will undoubtedly shoot back.” Peggy surmised. Steve turned to the shield he had been using on stage giving it a knock, “Well let's hope it’s good for something.” Steve turned back to her just as Howard called back, “Agent Carter? If we’re not in too much of a hurry, I thought we could stop off in Lucerne for a late-night fondue.” Howard was teasing the agent, the smile on his face hidden from those being him. Peggy shifted in her seat choosing to ignore him and keep conversation going with Rogers. “Stark is the best civilian pilot I’ve ever seen. He’s mad enough to brave this airspace. We’re lucky to have him.”

Steve however was still not fully over the comment Stark made. “So, are you two… do you…” There was an awkward pause as Steve thought of the proper way to ask if they were seeing each other by reusing Stark’s words, “..Fondue?” Stark tried not to laugh from the pilot’s seat as Peggy simply shook her head and handed him a device. “This is your transponder. Activate it when you’re ready and the signal will lead us straight to you.” Steve took a moment to look at the device now in his hand before calling up to Howard, “Are you sure this thing works?”

“It’s been tested more than you, pal.” Howard defended seconds before gunfire hit the side of the plane. The plane shook as bullets pelted the sides, shaking the aircraft from the force. Steve stood grabbing his shield and heading towards the door. That he opened. “Get back here! We’re taking you all the way in!” Peggy ordered yelling over the wind rushing into the plane. “As soon as I’m clear, you turn this thing around and get the hell out of here!” Steve ordered back over the noise of the wind, gunfire, and the pinging of bullets on the plane.

“You can’t give me orders!” Peggy disagreed.

“The hell I can’t! I’m a Captain!” Steve looked over at her, giving her a smile that made her weak in the knees. He grabbed the goggles from his helmet, lowered them over his eyes and launched himself out of the plane. Peggy watched him fall towards the ground before the red fabric of his parachute was visible in the night sky from the flying bullets. Howard turned back as instructed by the Captain. Now all they could do was wait.

#grace #howard x reader #bucky x reader #catfa #bucky barnes #steve rogers #peggy carter #howard stark #female reader

[awkwardgtace]

Mira's Visit Home pt.1

This got long, eventually there's mention of some shitty treatment for Mira. Mostly being slapped and verbally belittled. It's not in this part though.

Part 2, Part 3 (Final)

Mira's Visit Home

The storm had been going for a few days and Mira hadn’t left the walls once. Corus tried to help as much as he could, leaving things near the entrances he knew about, but she couldn't bring herself to leave. As much as she’d come to trust him, she couldn’t tell him she was a safe place for anyone from her home in emergencies. Corus would be helpful, she knew that, but no one else would like dealing with a human. It wasn’t as if she was open to it at first either. She sighed as another crash of thunder roared. It was long enough that she felt she should check the door to the yard again. She nearly screamed when she saw a squirrel coming towards her, the cloth wrapped around their neck a sign used by her home.

Mira ran forward, terrified of who she’d find. There must be something awful for anyone to be out in a storm like this. The squirrel seemed to pick up speed once seeing her, and she gasped upon seeing the rider. Black hair, tan skin, and a face she was sure she’d never see again. A squeak escaped her throat as she tried to say their name. It woke the person who’s brown eyes flooded with relief as soon as they met Mira’s. She carefully led the squirrel in through the door, only pulling the rider off once safely out of the storm. She was quick to get them on their feet to get to her home.

“M..Mira,” they wheezed out and she froze.

“Kaya, Kaya what happened?” she asked. Kaya started to shake, Mira hoped it was from the cold rain water. She’d hadn’t seen them scared like this since they were kids. Kaya used all their strength to pull Mira into a tight hug, fully sobbing as they stood there. Mira was careful in guiding them into a sitting position, the hug never letting up.

“Mira, Mira it’s awful,” they said. “Lightning, it hit a branch while I was out on watch. It fell and blocked the entrance. The wood is too thick for any of our tools. There isn’t a good way to make another exit either.”

Kaya stopped explaining, their sobs taking control again. Mira had gone rigid, she knew what this meant. No one could get out, they couldn’t get any supplies. There wasn’t any hope if the branch wasn’t moved. There’s no way any of them would be strong enough to do it without someone getting hurt, but Mira knew someone who could help. She had to take care of Kaya for tonight though.

“Kaya, can you tell me how long it’s been?” she asked. If their rules hadn’t changed they kept enough food stockpiled for about three days in case of danger. The leaders would properly ration it to last even longer if necessary. Kaya sobbed harder before answering and Mira felt hope shattering. She started rubbing Kaya’s back in an attempt to calm them.

Kaya took in a shaky breath, “About two days. They had me wait one day before leaving, to see if they could cut through. Nothing worked and...and with how bad the storm has been it took a day to reach you. Mira what do we do?”

Mira had made up her mind hearing Kaya’s weak voice. Kaya tried her best to appear strong ever since they announced Mira would leave. They shouldn’t sound like this. Mira had been on her own for almost ten years now, the pain and fear now must be worse believing they’d truly be gone forever. Mira tightened her arms around Kaya, they might never forgive her, but Mira wouldn’t abandon their people. Earlier Corus had called out the storm would end sometime in the night, they’d sleep and tomorrow she would act.

“Kaya let’s go to my home, all right? I have an idea to help everyone, but you need to rest first,” Kaya nodded, their trust almost breaking Mira’s heart. Mira tried to stay lighthearted as they walked, just telling Kaya everything will be fine. Kaya. She pulled her blanket from home out of where she stored it and helped Kaya wrap themself up. Mira had a sad smile once their exhaustion won out and they fell asleep.

At home, Mira would always come up with plans for problems, Kaya would follow without a second thought. This was probably the best for them, trusting her blindly for one last night. Tomorrow she’d bring them to a human, they’d be terrified and think she betrayed everyone. Mira didn’t care though, she had to save everyone. They hadn’t abandoned her when she first left and she knew that’s what some people at home wanted. They picked a home that was safe, gave her supplies, and helped her at first so she wasn’t in danger of starving. She’d save them and then she’d never see anyone from home again. Mira let herself relax, slowly falling asleep next to Kaya.

Mira opened her eyes feeling like she’d only just closed them. It wasn’t raining though, just as Corus had promised. She carefully extracted herself from the hug the two wound up in during the night, preparing for the day. She smiled while gathering breakfast and her supplies, they would always wake up like that when they had sleepovers too. She looked at them gathering her courage before waking them up and handing them breakfast. They looked better than the night before and she wished this was just a casual visit.

“Once you’ve eaten we need to go all right?” Mira asked, Kaya nodded. “We need to get some things from the human. Once we’ve gotten it we can move out. I know his schedule better than the guards when we wanted to sneak out to see the stars.”

Mira winked and they laughed. She was glad to see Kaya smiling before she made them hate her. The two ate in silence, a somber mood falling over them as reality set in. Mira stood once they finished, leading them to an entrance she’d made more recently. Corus didn’t know about it so there wouldn’t be anything there. She appreciated how much he tried to help her, although it would cause issues now.

She looked carefully for him, he was usually up early after storms. Mira quickly ran to the table, tossing her hook up easily catching it on the table. Kaya didn’t even hesitate to follow, trusting Mira blindly like always. She pulled the rope a few times to test it, smiling as she remembered when Corus sanded the table down. She shook the memory from her head, she couldn’t be distracted. She handed the rope to Kaya and watched as they climbed up. It felt so natural, the two taking a risk for whatever reason together. Mira was always the look out when they would sneak out as kids. Shaking away those memories as well, Mira climbed up once Kaya was halfway.

Once at the top of the table Kaya moved towards the fruit dish. Corus put it out so Mira could get fruit more easily, and it was a good place to hide if anyone else came in. It was the only thing up here, of course Kaya would assume that’s the goal. Once Mira felt sure Kaya was far enough, she freed the hook and watched it hit the ground. The sound echoed in the quiet room and Kaya’s face filled with fear. They ran to Mira grabbing her with a look of fear, trying to pull her towards the dish. She knew Kaya thought the two were in danger, but this was the best way to make sure they wouldn’t run. Mira was confident, Kaya always had a fear of heights they kept hidden, they wouldn’t run away. Kaya looked at Mira with tear filled eyes. Mira waited a little, before realizing that wasn’t enough sound.

“Corus, come quick I need your help!” she called out as loud as possible. After storms, Corus was always waiting for her to call out. He kept the house quiet so he’d hear her and she knew it. In only a few seconds the thumps of human footsteps started to come closer.

“Kaya I need you to trust me. I know how this looks, but I promise you this will save everyone,” Mira said. The look of betrayal on Kaya’s face made her want to back out.

“I always fucking trusted you and now you’re bringing a human straight to us!” they seethed, but Mira heard the hurt they tried to hide. “What happened to you, you’ve always tried to be there for everyone, why would you do this now when we’re all that’s left?”

“I’m doing this so we aren’t all that’s left, please trust me.”

“Mira!” Corus tried to stay quiet, but the shout slipped out. Mira never asked for his help, this had to be bad. “What’s wrong?”

He froze when he entered the room. When Mira called out he’d had a number of things race through his mind, a lot involved her having fallen while climbing. He never expected another person Mira’s size to be on the table holding Mira like their life depended on it. He moved closer, this person could be a risk to Mira and he would scare them away if needed. She was so careful when talking about her, or others like her, this had to be as serious as he feared.

“Corus something horrible happened, I need you to help us,” she said. He looked toward the other person, confused when Mira stepped forward as if blocking them from view.

“What do you need?” he asked. He’d do anything he could to help her.

“A branch fell at my home. It’s trapped everyone else. I need you to move it. They might be running low on food too. This is the third day they’ve been trapped. Kaya came to me, they were away at the time. We’re all that’s left, please save them.” Mira’s voice cracked and Kaya just stared. Their grip had loosened as Mira talked. Mira had just revealed everything to a human. Kaya glared at the human, their Mira wouldn’t do this. This human had tricked her, he must have.

“All right let me go get my shoes on and a bag so we can bring some food and supplies with us. Kaya, I’m Corus. I'm sure you don’t trust me, but I’ll help and then leave no strings attached.”

He quickly moved away, Kaya flinched as he did. He looked down as he stepped away, noticing the fish hook on the ground. He hadn’t imagined the small sound before she called out to him. Mira had really forced this, well he’d prove he could be trusted to both of them. He moved slowly to pick up the hook on the floor and placed it on the table close to Mira. It might help this other person to feel better when they have an escape again. He left the kitchen after to quickly gather what he needed. Mira grabbed her hook, freeing herself from Kaya’s grip. She walked away, setting the hook at the edge so they could climb down.

“I decided to do this after you got here last night. You had to be here, to see how it went and know what I was doing. I know how this looks, I understand if you leave, but we’ll still be going,” she said.

“Mira, do you really trust this human?” they asked, she nodded. “I guess I’ll have to take the risk. I mean you were the most careful before, you wouldn’t trust one lightly.”

Mira couldn’t hide the smile Kaya’s words brought on. Together they could save their home, but Mira’s plan wasn’t quite as obvious as it seemed. Kaya wouldn’t suffer from Mira’s choices. Mira had realized one time Corus was outside planting, their home was in the woods nearby. She could lead him with or without Kaya. Kaya wasn’t used to being an outcast like Mira, they weren’t going to get caught up in bringing a human home. Corus walked back in with a small bag and the jacket Mira expected. It had a pocket on the inside by the chest, perfect for hiding Kaya if they wouldn’t listen, and Mira on the way back. She wouldn’t want to see his face after this is done she was sure.

Mira quickly listed the food Corus had that would be best to bring. Kaya hesitantly chimed in admitting they’d had some poorer harvests and extra couldn’t hurt. A lot of the things Mira picked out were the things he’d bought just for her. Trail mixes, dried fruits, jerky, some vegetables that lasted better. At the end of it all he’d packed up a lot of food, more than Kaya expected. They thought the human would be less… generous, maybe Mira’s human could be trusted.

“So how are we heading out?” Corus asked. Kaya’s fear returned, they did not want to be in those hands. They didn’t trust he wouldn’t just grab them either.

“Go to the back of the house and we'll meet you there,” Mira told him. He nodded and walked away. Kaya was shocked that he didn’t argue, Mira had really had a human listen to her. The two quickly returned to the walls taking the same path through Mira’s home to grab Kaya’s things. They were walking to the door their squirrel had stayed by when Kaya gave up staying quiet.

“I can’t believe you actually managed to control a human like this.” Kaya said.

“Excuse me?” Mira had stopped. They turned to look at her, a little shocked how she was reacting.

“You’re doing something to get him to do all this right? Did you convince him you were a fairy from those old stories? Oh or did you mistake you for something else and-”

“SHUT UP!” Mira yelled, they stepped back.

“Wha-”

“Look I know that I had a reputation at home because of Elder Collin, but I didn’t do anything. Just like back then, I don’t have any special powers or skills to control people. Corus is just a kind person and he just likes to be helpful..”

Mira started to walk again. She thought back to the guilt he’d had about almost hurting her before they met. A habit of the day, she shook the thoughts away. She wasn’t going to entertain this, they had more important matters for her to focus on. Kaya trailed behind, Mira had never gotten mad at them like that before. They couldn’t even remember a time they’d heard her yell because she was angry. Corus must be amazing for her to get so upset at the idea of controlling him, she didn’t even get this mad during the years they prepped for her leaving. They were outside before Kaya could even try to say anything else, Mira leading the squirrel out carefully. Corus was standing near their entrance, making Kaya a little nervous.

Corus saw them and faster than either could react scooped up them and Kaya’s squirrel. Kaya couldn’t help but start panicking trying desperately to get out, Mira seeming shocked, but calm. That’s when they heard splashes coming towards them. The two shared a scared look, another human might have seen them.

“Corus dear, what are you doing out here?” a high pitched voice rang out. Mira couldn’t help flinching, this was the nosy neighbor. Mira couldn’t stand them, they’d told him to get mouse traps when he first moved in and nearly broke her leg with a flower pot.

“Oh Mrs. Adam just about to take a squirrel that had been hiding inside during the storm back to the woods,” he answered. Mira knew Corus was just hiding them. Kaya was stunned, he wasn’t just being cruel.

“Oh dear, I warned you to get mouse traps. Your grandparents had complained about hearing something in the walls a few times. I knew there were things getting inside. You could also get ferrets like I did, they work wonders to keep things out.”

Corus gave a fake laugh, “I told you in the beginning I would much rather let whatever it is go than risk it getting hurt.”

“You’re a braver soul than I am. I would have just called animal control when I found that thing. Plus going to the woods, you know all the superstitions about that place. It’s always better to leave it be as I say.”

“This squirrel isn’t a thing, ma’am and I should really be going. Stay dry,” Corus immediately stalked off. He kept his focus on his hands to avoid holding them too tightly. The new habit he’d picked up since meeting Mira would only hurt them right now. This neighbor always made him angry, didn’t actually care about any ‘issues’ he may have, she just didn’t want them at her home. He wouldn’t lie that he harbored a little hate since she had trapped Mira in the flower pot, she could have been hurt pretty badly. He knew this was terrifying to Kaya, but he wouldn’t risk his neighbor seeing them.

#gt writing #gt #OC:Mira #OC:Corus #giant/tiny #gianttiny #g/t #g/t writing

[fanfic-collection]

Loki x Reader: Apocalypse ch 3

As promised, please comment/like/reblog, anything

rebel4fandom

-

You begrudgingly left the warmth of your apartment. Thinking of Tony, and his friends that you had known, you knew you were able to do more than just huddle in the warmth of your living space.

The next several hours passed with you stomping through the halls, pounding on doors and seeing if anyone was still inside your building. To your relief, it was empty.

So, bracing against the bitter winds, you stepped outside and into the street, making your way to the next building over. Thus, you continued the process. Eventually, you found a small family, hunkered down in their family room. You pleaded for them to go to one of the shelters and with much persuasion and assurance that Tony Stark thought it was the right thing to do. The Avengers all supported it, after all, you convinced them to bundle up and follow you to brace the cold.

The trek to the shelter was long and arduous. You helped keep the weaker members of the family upright, blocking them from the buffeting wind that whipped through the city streets among the skyscrapers. Abandoned cars lined the streets, some with doors left open and snow piling up inside.

It seemed the snow had stopped today, but the wind still whipped up the snow into flurries, creating near white out conditions. You had your face bundled and had managed to scavenge ski goggles but the people you led were not nearly as lucky, you knew some of them were following you blindly. Some of them were stumbling over garbage, fire hydrants, city decorations, and objects you prayed were not dead bodies.

When at last you finally reached the shelter, the people running the shelter thanked you with a warm drink. They were grateful for more living people, but you knew it was filled to capacity and more mouths to feed meant less supplies for everyone else.

The number of living residents you found each day was quickly dwindling, it was only a week in.

Today as you sat inside the shelter, warming up from your trek, you saw another rescuer leading victims in. The Black Widow herself.

“I’m used to Russian winters but damn.” She said stamping her feet in the entrance to the area, her teeth rattling. “Alright it’s been years, but still.” She was shouting over the howl of the wind.

They ushered her inside, closer to where you were sitting with your mug of hot water.

“Hey, aren’t you Stark’s, uh?”

“Cousin or something, yea.” You nodded, telling her your name and holding your hand out to introduce yourself.

“I remember seeing you around the tower and the compound occasionally.” Natasha nodded, “Nice to see a familiar face.” She smiled at you, lowering her scarf and raising her goggles. “Feel like I’m going to have to crawl into a dead tauntaun out there or something.”

“Star Wars?” You laughed.

She shrugged with a grin. “Hey, anything to stay warm. I don’t really see much of anyone these days, we’re spread out so much trying to see how many people we can save around the world while we have the big guns figuring out what’s causing this.”

“Dr. Strange?”

“Yea, without his infinity stone, he’s a lot weaker.”

You nodded, “Shame about that.”

“I’m not complaining too much.” Nat chuckled weakly.

“Fair point.”

Natasha stretched her arms, “Even this bitter cold reminds me I’m alive.”

“We’re all glad you are.”

“There’s quite a few people that are alive again after that blip that we thought would stay dead.” Natasha said thoughtfully.

You nodded, “Yea, it’s weird how some of our biggest enemies became our friends too. Like what’s his name, Peter Quill? He was enemies with that Nebula girl, and then she became their closest ally, and Gamora vanished but, actually I’m not sure how that worked.”

Natasha shook her head, “Yea, you’d have to ask them.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully, “Although, when Thor said his brother sacrificed himself to stop the initial invasion of Thanos?”

You smiled, “I remember him being here for a bit, right?”

Natasha paused then slowly drew out the word, “Yes… He was, wasn’t he?”

“He came here to recover, Asgard didn’t want him, but they gave the Avengers the means to heal him.”

“Just the initial healing, once he could stand, he went back to Asgard. Right?”

“Yea, I talked with him a bit. He really wasn’t what people made him out to be.”

Natasha raised her eyebrow. “Tell that to Clint.”

“I’m not saying Clint shouldn’t hate him, I’m just saying, Loki well, he doesn’t have a silver spoon up his ass like I thought he did.”

Nat quirked her head.

“Some master spy, you think you’d interrogate him and get more out of him. Honestly you seemed to only get what you wanted out of him when you interrogated him.”

“Oh he definitely got in your head, what did he do to you?”

“Nothing!” You held up your hands, “I’m all me. I just, it seems kinda convenient that he talked only about the Hulk and the one thing he gets you to think about is the Hulk. Hardly seems like a stretch that you would draw a conclusion that his plan was about the Hulk.”

Natasha frowned and furrowed her brow, “Are you saying we shouldn’t have trusted Loki and not let them take him back to Asgard and should have kept him weak and in chains?”

You scrambled upright from your relaxed position. “No, no, no! I just, I kept thinking about the interrogation tapes and it seemed really bad spy work.”

Natasha huffed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

“I’m going to go look for others, maybe my shoddy work will help elsewhere.” Natasha set down her warm drink and she stalked off.

One of the nearby workers looked at you and shook their head. “Smooth.”

You scowled at them. Downing the last of your drink that it almost scalded your throat, you slammed it on the table and walked out after Natasha, sure to walk in another direction.

-

When the sun started to get lower in the sky, you hurried back to your apartment. There was no chance of risking being out at night. Any exposure in the dark would be instant hypothermia. Being alone at night was instant death. Thankfully it was still July so the days were longer, and you had more time to get back to your home, but you did not risk any amount of time in the dark.

Getting back to your home you settled back into bed, trying to thaw out and shiver yourself back to life. The heat croaked to life and you looked at the supplies you had collected to sustain yourself. It wasn’t much, but it would keep you going.

Swallowing hard, you turned on the TV and waited to see what news might bring.

A man was being interviewed, some sort of wild animal attack. No. Something else. You recognized Falcon on TV, the new Captain America. He was trying to talk to a survivor in a med unit. The survivor was near catatonic, covered in frost bite and mumbling in horror.

“Get the camera away from him, he’s not gonna talk if you keep shoving that thing in his face.” Sam grumbled.

The camera pulled away but the mic stayed close to Sam.

“Listen, just tell me what happened. Please, this isn’t the first attack, but you’re our first survivor. We need to know what’s happening. You’re ok, I’m Captain America, Falcon, call me Sam, whatever you want, I’m here and I’ll protect you.” Sam bent down and took their bandaged hand in his.

The man stared at Sam blankly, eyes staring into the distance, “They-they,” He stammered, “it… them… those things… they killed my whole family.”

Sam nodded, “I’m so sorry for your loss. Please, anything you remember, what they look like, sound like, anything.”

The man whispered, “Monsters.”

A roar of protests exploded as the press filling the room rushed forward trying to press microphones at Sam and the victim.

You could see the look of exasperation in Sam’s eyes at the press as the victim succumbed to exhaustion, or pain, though you were thankful the heart monitor showed him alive.

Abruptly a gold sparkling circle appeared in the room and the media jumped back in fright. A man you recognized as Dr. Strange stepped out.

“I’m a doctor.” Strange announced. “I’ll be taking over this case.”

Sam rolled his eyes.

“Everyone out.” Strange dragged out the ‘e’ in everyone.

And then the camera was in a hospital lobby. And you realized you were on your knees in bed, leaning towards the TV trying to know what had just happened, completely bewildered and about a hundred times more frightened.

More than just the cold was killing people?

#Loki x reader #ficbit #reader insert #2nd person pov #fanfiction #avengers fanfiction #Loki #Loki laufeyson #Loki fanfiction #Loki fanfic #Loki x you #no y/n #avengers x reader #multi chapter

[sneakydraws]

Well, here it is - a lengthy explanation of each card in my mdzs major arcana deck and what I meant to convey/what i would have changed in retrospect/what alternatives i considered! It’s a bit messy and my typing style is lazy but hopefully it will be an interesting read to some of you :)

And so you don’t say I didn’t warn you - jiang cheng’s section (11 justice) is absurdly long lmao

0 the fool  I elaborated on this in the post itself but yeah basically jin ling is kind of representative of all the damage and trauma caused by the past, and there’s a kind of danger there of him falling victim to the same vices as the older characters and repeating the same mistakes and perpetuating the cycle of war and misery (the cycle that we already see with how the jin sect became the new wen sect, and later with how jgy became the new wwx) and he has a lot of room to grow! He grows so much over the course of the novel, comes to realise the complexities of the past and gets a harsh life lesson in how nothing is as black and white as it seems. But ill save talking about his progress for the end, for now whats important is that he has room to grow and also a dog. I don’t really have a justification for the sun, i mostly just thought it looked sick? It made its way to the next card as well, where it makes a bit more sense, but then i realised it was a dumb motif to include 1 the magician I still very much like wwx for the role, and that illustration would have probably had him raising a corpse on his left and pointing threateningly to the sun on his right. I considered including the table as well, with some mdzs relevant items replacing the card suits. Anyway, like i said wwx got a few cards to himself already so i went with the alternative wq design, since i think she fits the card as well. Both she and wwx are highly skilled people, extremely driven once they set their mind to something. The card to me symbolises the creative mind as well as a general drive for action, which fits them both - wwx was famously a prolific inventor, and wq came up with a previously unheard of surgery, after all. This card strays pretty far from the rider-waite deck design, largely because i was still figuring out how i wanted to approach this series, but you can still see the influence. 2 the high priestess I was actually going to skip this card at first because I couldn’t think of a fitting character, but once i considered a qings character post death, it all fit pretty well. She was already a highly intuitive person in life, and in sharing her memories with wwx she is, in a way, relaying a kind of secret knowledge. Anyway she’s one of my fav characters so im glad i got a chance to include her. The coffins could be interpreted to be xxc and sl or xxc and xy 3 the empress Theres other mother figures in mdzs who got to be mothers for a longer time, but jyl definitely embodies the positive aspects of this card the best. She’s nurturing, kind, emotionally supportive, she already mothered wwx and jc quite a bit when she was young. Plus i liked that the rw card had both water and flowers, making an easy lotus connection. In retrospect the stars look kind of out of place and i should have replaced them with something more relevant... Also, i should have had her hold a lotus seed pod instead of a flower, haha 4 the emperor Like i said I considered jc for the role but hoching bullied me into admitting that nmj was better… they’re both more of an inverted emperor than an upright one but then again theres hardly any character in mdzs who would fit upright emperor so. Jgs was also considered but he’s even uglier than nmj so i couldn’t bear to draw him 5 the hierophant It was pointed out to me that lqr would have fit this card better and the truth if that statement haunts me to this day. Unfortunately I have no space in my brain for lqr so lxc got the role instead. My main reason was his role during the wen destruction of gusu lan, when he ran away with the contents of the library - this is why there’s bookshelves behind him. The keys, take, from the rider-waite deck, are meant to represent the gusu pendants that allow you to enter 6 the lovers Im sure many people would have chosen wangxian here but I uhh don’t really care abt wangxian personally? And also their love story is so convoluted that jyl and jzx seem idyllic by comparison lol. Also i didnt really have an idea for who to put in the angel’s place for wangxian… mme jin certainly did not get these two together in the end but undeniably she and mme yu did initially give them a chance to fall for each other so. Thats something i guess. Anyway the trees became their sects’ flowers and the mountain became the burial grounds - an omen of their tragic fate, basically 7 the chariot There might have been other characters who fit this card better but i couldn’t really think of another card for lwj and i thought it would be weird to not include him… anyway i don’t really care for current timeline lwj BUT i do like that he was clearly influenced by wwx to walk his own path in life based on his moral convictions rather than follow his sect’s rules blindly. The chariot is to me a card of self control, self determination and focused action, so it seemed fitting. The composition felt kind of empty without the actual chariot so i padded it out with the guqin, the cloud recess in the bg (it doesn’t look great but i tried to replicate the drama design….) and the bunnies which conveniently fit the colour scheme of the sphinxes in the rider-waite design 8 strength Like i said before, my interpretation of this card is more… morally ambiguous than the quote unquote official meaning, so i thought about manipulative or duplicitous characters more than kind characters whose strength is expressed through gentleness (though i did consider jyl briefly for the latter interpretation). As such, i considered both jgy and nhs, but ended up going with jgy largely because i couldn’t pass up the opportunity to put the nie sect’s beast as the lion. 9 the hermit My thoughts immediately went to bssr lol. It may be an overly literal interpretation but whatever, i like it just fine. And i like that i managed to echo the rider-waite silhouette in the mountain and the tree (and even in bssr herself) 10 wheel of fortune God i love the parallels between these 2… this card to me is about how you cant trust your current situation, good or bad, to last forever, and these 2 embody that perfectly imo. Wwx went from son of a well off servant and a powerful cultivator, to street rat orphan, to adopted son of sect leader jiang, to double orphan, to MIA, to terrifying but admired warrior, to terrifying and despised traitor, to dead, to, at the very end, suddenly respected and trusted again. The dishonesty and cheapness of whatever the public’s current opinion of him is is portrayed beautifully as far as im concerned. And jgy of course claws his way up to power only to instantaneously become public enemy number one, to the point that he’s probably blamed for stuff there’s no reason to believe he had a hand in. Wei wuxian’s silent astonishment at how quickly the cultivation world turns against jgy and towards him again is a delicious moment of thematic resonance.  11 justice I settled on this card for jc after he got booted from the emperor seat but i do think it fits, in a somewhat convoluted way. I turned both the sword and the scales into visual representations of the golden core transfer (can you tell im obsessed with it). According to biddy tarot, the justice card is partly about searching for the truth, and the scene where jc finds out about the transfer is of course a big deal. I was also very influenced by the reversed meaning again - which is about being reluctant or unwilling to face or accept the consequences of your actions. I feel on an intuitive level that this fits jc but I’m not sure how well i can explain it - it’s something about how he’s a little too comfortable scapegoating wwx for things that were also, if much less so, influenced by his actions, and also something about the way he keeps wwx at an arm’s length emotionally but still leans on him and accepts his support when he really needs it, and somewhat hypocritically expects wwx to put the needs of him and the jiang sect before the needs of others. And also something about the core exchange is the consequence and proof of wwx’s deep - terrifyingly deep, even - love and care for him, which is something jc doesn’t seem to let himself acknowledge. Maybe even something about how you could argue that the way all of the jiangs acted around wwx - jfm’s favouritism that left him with the feeling of a debt he needs to repay, mme yus insistence that he be a servant more than a brother to jc, prepared to give his life for jc, and jc’s own unwillingness - or inability, he was a child after all - to clearly acknowledge wwx as an equal to himself, enabling wwx’s self sacrificial and protective tendencies - that all of this was what caused wwx’s complete and unquestioning willingness to do whatever it took to protect jc, and therefore paved the way to the golden core transfer. And i don’t mean this to be scapegoating jc - especially considering how young he was when this all went down, it wouldn’t be fair to expect this level of emotional perceptiveness, awareness and maturity of him - but i think adult jc has to grapple with the fact that the chain of cause and effect was not as simple as wwx fucking everyone’s lives up to be a martyr, and that both jc and his parents had a role in that story as well. I don’t even necessarily think this is something that jc only realised in the current timeline - i think it’s something he felt on some level this whole time, and it probably led to a lot of feelings of guilt - but the suibian reveal definitely puts it in sharp focus, and i think he’s now better equipped to handle this introspection than he was as a recently orphaned, traumatised teenager, lol. ANYWAY the window with the fabric is both a nod to the rider-waite design and a reference to the destruction of lanling - i actually did some basic ass research for this, and it seems that in ancient china fabric would indeed be hanged in a window if the normally used paper was damaged. The design of the window, as well as the very idea to use it to imply the reconstruction of lanling, was taken from this great piece of jc angst by my pal moroll1! Oh yeah also the covered window kind of works as a denial of forgiveness for jc because it’s like a halo but covered up... Also I completely forgot to put a blindfold over his eyes which would be perfectttt because blind justice and the core exchange......... ok moving on 12 the hanged man I always have issues with this card because i cant find a satisfactory summary of what it’s really about. Best i can tell it symbolises a need to hit pause, surrender or let go of something… ive also seen it tied to sacrifice? So mo xuanyu doesn’t fit perfectly, but sacrifice is definitely there in a surface level reading kind of way, and the idea that you have to surrender or let go in order to achieve your goal does fit the whole deal of getting revenge but giving up your life in exchange and not being there to see it 13 death This is probably one of my favourite cards, definitely not because I have huge issues with change or anything…. I see this card as signalling the necessity of change or putting an end to something / leaving something in the past in order to start anew? At first i considered putting past wwx, mxy and current wwx here as a kind of transformation and one cycle flowing into the next... But firstly, I’d already used mxy in the very previous card, so putting him in again would feel like overkill, and secondly, the longer I thought about it the less convinced I was that this would even fit with the card’s meaning? Because coming back from the dead doesn’t like... trigger an internal transformation within wwx or anything? Anyway, fun fact: the design I ended up going with was actually originally intended for judgement! I thought I was being very clever with the whole “figure plays an instrument and the dead rise” parallel, but apparently I’d just completely forgotten that the judgement card had a completely different composition... Truly I was boo boo the fool... But yeah anyway at the end of the day I figured the design would kind of work for death as well, with Wen Ning and the theme of transformation, (since in his case coming back as a fierce corpse does actually mark a certain transformation in behaviour) and Wei Wuxian’s protection of the Wen people essentially signifying an attempt to break the cycle of oppression if that makes any sense? Like, wwx is trying to revolutionise the way the world works a bit, if you catch my drift 14 temperance  The centrist card! Again this is probably going off track from the “official” interpretation, but to me this card has a certain “don’t commit fully; do everything in moderation; don’t take either side” flavour to it that i personally find infuriating irl and that i very much assign to lxc. It’s entirely possible that I’m misinterpreting his character because i didn’t really pay him (and the 3zun in general) much mind while reading, but hell, I’m allowed to pick favourites and choose who i want to interpret deeply vs shallowly. Again, i wish id chosen lqr for hierophant because its so annoying for a character i don’t care about to get two cards…. But oh well 15 the devil My alternative idea for this was jgy as the devil and lxc plus nmj as the figures, but since all three had been featured already (multiple times, even!) i figured I’d go with xy instead, especially since he’s among my faves lol. I think the devil signifies something along the lines of unhealthy attachment, obsession or addiction, which isn’t 100% accurate in the case of xxc and a-qing, but if i stretch it a bit to cover toxic relationships in general, and especially manipulation or negative influence, i don’t think it’s half bad. My main struggle here was to choose who amongst the xxc/sl/aq trio to choose for the human figures. 16 the tower Arguably jin zixuans death and the following massacre of nightless city were the final and most direct reason for the siege of burial mounds, and the tiger seal is good shorthand for wwx’s loss of control over his powers, which led to the deaths of jzx and jyl. When reimagining major arcana i like to feature some kind of building in this card (spoilers for a possible future project but in my rose of versailles major arcana set the tower is bastille) and even if it’s not a tower, the image of wwx looming over the gathered crowd from atop a rooftop is so good i couldn’t resist 17 the star Struggled with this one - considered both jin ling and lsz for it, as symbolising a hope for the future, but that was kind of covered by the world so it wouldn’t make sense to include here as well... As usual when I struggle with interpreting a card (as opposed to understanding it but struggling with matching a character to it, like with death or moon) I went to biddy tarot and read all the details about its meaning. What i got was that this card signifies an incoming period of introspection and inner peace following a time of turmoil, as well as a general moving on into a new, better phase of one’s life or finding new meaning and purpose. The figure also suggests someone vulnerable, but possessing a keen sense of intuition as well as a good degree of practicality and common sense. Given all those, I settled for mianmian because IM LOVE HER..... I also kind of see her as a prelude to the “just one person is enough” theme present in tgcf!! And i think her decision to abandon her sect because she saw the toxicity and corruption in it is a very inspiring action - even if it didn’t make a large visible impact, i think the appearance of her and her idyllic family at the very end of the novel - paralleling and mirroring wangxian - implies that at the end of the day, it was a meaningful one 18 the moon Another card i ALWAYS fuxking struggle with - this time less because i can’t grasp its meaning and more because I can never find a character that fits it well. I usually get fixated on the “dreams and subconscious” part, but if i lean more on the “disguise, deceit, anxiety and fear” part, i eventually figured the whole yi city arc wouldn’t be a bad fit. I say the entire arc because it really does encompass all those themes if you include both the past and the present - xue yang’s disguise, his tricks with the villagers, a-qing’s lies and even xxc’s reluctance to talk about his past as well as xue yang pretending to be xxc all fit the disguise and deceit angle, and the general mystery and creepiness of the current timeline yi city work well with the anxiety and fear - the mist, the slow uncovering of the past, even a-qing being revealed to be an ally after scaring the shit out of the protags. I definitely struggled with including all the elements and characters, and even moreso with making them vaguely fit the rider-waite composition, but i think it ended up okay ish. OH and i completely forgot to draw mist swirling around them :( 19 the sun I was considering mianmian’s family for this one, but since I used her for star, I ended up with wwx and his parents instead. Once again I’m reinterpreting the card a bit - normally I think it symbolises incoming times of pure happiness and abundance, as well as a connection with the inner child, but I gave it more of a nostalgic or sentimental twist - wwx looking back at the brief glimpse of his happy childhood. 20 judgement another card that i struggle to interpret a bit... Here i actually used the tgcf tarot zine as a reference! In it judgement is summarised as “rebirth, following duty, absolution” SO i figured that nhs, mxy and wwx all together would fit pretty neatly... wwx achieving (public) absolution through clearing his own name after being reborn, and nhs sort of calling on wwx to expose jgy’s crimes... It’s a bit messy but not bad I think! 21 the world This ties very closely to my read on mdzs as a story - which is that it’s, at the end of the day, largely about cycles, and about how hard it is to break them, but how we gotta keep trying and have hope anyway. Or maybe more precisely, that the people directly involved with and influenced by the trauma of the past might not be able to get over said trauma and that the hope for healing from it will be shouldered by the new generation. Or something like that… Basically what i mean is that jc and wwx and lwj and lxc and nhs and jgy and all these people who were in the thick of the sunshot campaign and the siege are so profoundly affected by it that it genuinely feels by the end of the story like there is little hope for them to ever truly overcome that trauma and build a better future without repeating the same old mistakes - but there is a glimmer of hope in the new generation, specifically in jl and lsz. And it’s a bit paradoxical, because they have also been directly impacted by the past tragedies - lsz having his entire clan wiped out after wwx failed to protect them, jl losing both his parents to wwx’s mistakes - but despite that loss, and despite coming from arguably the two opposing sides of the past conflicts, they are both, in the end, capable of moving past that tragedy, of recognising the complicated nature of those conflicts (jl’s moment of clarity at the end is both heartbreaking and hopeful) and forging friendships between clans in the process. I honestly think that the extra where jl is struggling to assert his authority as sect leader, to treat his subjects well and to cooperate with other sects in a truly amicable way is the single hopeful ending note for the larger themes of the novel - it allows us to imagine that maybe these kids can learn from the mistakes of their elders rather than getting sucked in by resentment at those mistakes, and actually build a brighter future for the cultivation world. And sidenote, this is also why i have a soft spot for jin ling and lan sizhui as a ship... speaking of which their poses were directly referenced from the lovers card ehehe

Looking back, I’d like to add some symbol of jin ling’s trauma so that it mirrors baby wen yuan in the tree stump... maybe his father’s sword? 

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #tarot

[mc-lukanette]

Grade for Each Other (Part 3)

[Part 1] [Part 2]

Luka wasn't sure how much information he'd actually retained from the school day, and honestly, he couldn't say that he cared. He probably just ended up smiling to himself the whole time, likely leading people to think that he was just really happy with whatever was being said.

If said things came from Marinette's mouth, there'd at least be some truth in that.

Luka looked over to Marinette as they left school together, watching her dig into her backpack for something seemingly important. Just as he was about to ask her if she wanted help, she finally pulled out a single piece of paper and held it straight out, her face determined and the gesture singing, 'victory!'

She clearly didn't know that he was staring and was just acting on her own energy. She was so adorable and he couldn't help grinning.

Swinging her backpack over her shoulder, she—

"Marinette?" he called.

She looked over at him, halfway to unfolding the paper. "M-mm?"

He pointed at her backpack, which she hadn't closed yet.

She glanced over her shoulder. "Oh!" Blushing in embarrassment, she asked, "Can you...?"

He smiled. "Gladly."

Stepping behind her, he grabbed the zipper tab and pulled it around to neatly close her backpack. He could hear her fiddling with the paper and respected her privacy enough not to peek at it over her shoulder.

Suddenly, Mito called out behind him, "Luka~!"

He looked over, seeing Claudine, Roche, and Mito almost huddled in a vague circle, which could only mean bad things according to him. Claudine was grinning, Mito was waving and Roche was giving him a two-fingered salute.

Without turning his head, Luka glanced at Marinette's backpack, then pulled his hands away, raising them to show his innocence.

The three promptly went back to discussing things amongst themselves. He was suspicious, but wasn't going to eavesdrop. It was entirely possible that they were talking about where the four of them were going to hang out that day, but he imagined that wasn't it, or they would've involved him.

To his side, Marinette made a sound of discomfort, vaguely mumbling what sounded like his name. Taking that at his cue, he finally glanced at the paper in her hands.

It was a map, seemingly of the walk from school to her home. He knew full well that her old school was just a brisk walk from there to her house, so it made sense for her to be prepared for something longer.

Her brows were furrowed. Her nose was scrunched up. Her lips were pouting just slightly.

Finally, she sighed, mumbling, "Ah, nevermind..."

Luka straightened, realizing what she'd been about to ask. He could imagine the difficulty of her eying the map and also having to keep looking up to ensure that she wasn't blindly walking into danger.

Immediately, he asked, "Marinette, would you like to walk home together?"

She turned her head to him so quickly that he recoiled. Her expression had shifted instantly to surprise and hope. "Really? It's not—I mean, I've never had to before and thought that maybe it was a little childish and—"

"It's not," he insisted with a reassuring smile. "Your house is closer than mine anyway. I don't mind."

He really didn't mind.

Marinette's shoulders relaxed. "Thank you. I thought maybe you'd have plans with your—" She leaned to peek around him. "—oh."

He tossed a quick glance over his shoulder, seeing that his friends weren't there anymore.

Ah, so that was their plan.

He looked back at her, watching her take a quick look around, then at her map. She turned, then headed off in one direction, to which he happily followed after her.

"How's Lycee playing for you?" he asked idly as they walked, hoping that she was still comfortable with her situation.

She smiled. "Good so far. A lot more relaxing."

He'd already guessed it from how she behaved throughout the day, but it was nice to hear nevertheless. Part of him had presumed that her suddenly being in a higher grade would've been jarring.

"I'm getting used to it pretty quickly." She briefly made eye contact with him, her grin almost sly. "Plus, my deskmate is a lot calmer, which is nice."

His smile was far too wide to be normal. Reminding himself to pay attention to where they were going rather than her, he looked ahead. "I'm glad I could help. You deserve it, Marinette."

She sighed, almost blissfully. "Thank you."

Seeing the street they were about to cross, he reached out and gently grabbed her shoulder, stopping her. She looked up from her map to stare at him confusedly, then noticed a car passed by.

"Oh." She gave him an appreciative smile, then walked across when it was safe to pass. "Sorry. It might take a bit before I memorize how to get here and how to go back."

"There's no need to apologize." He followed after her and shrugged, wholly unbothered. "I'd walk you home every day if I could, Marinette."

It took him a second to realize what he'd said; that he'd clearly lowered his guard too much around her. He went to take it back, but paused when he saw the amused but happy look on her face.

Voice laced with a bit more confidence, she tilted her head back and stated, "I might have to take you up on that."

Please do, his heart sang. He knew he'd be teased forever but it'd be totally worth it.

They kept walking, Marinette slowly getting better at watching where she was going while also following her map. The click of her flats against the sidewalk was a pleasant accompaniment to his own footsteps, so even when they didn't talk, he still felt like they were communicating.

"...Luka?" Marinette suddenly piped up.

He met her gaze, hearing the unspoken question and feeling the shift in atmosphere. "What is it?"

"You—I mean, I guess you should know. I guess Juleka didn't say anything, and that's why you didn't know about me skipping grades."

"You don't have to—"

"I do though," she insisted. "It's just... I had to get away."

There was a pause, after which she straightened and corrected, "N-not from Juleka, of course! Your sister is fine—she—it's wasn't her that—" She cut herself off with a whimper.

"Even if it was Jule, I wouldn't judge you, Marinette," he assured. "Some instruments just don't go well together."

She slumped. "What about when an instrument makes all the other ones sound terrible?"

His brows rose. "Someone else?"

She nodded. As they reached a street crossing that forced them to stop, she turned to him. "There was... this girl in my class. She's—and you don't have to believe me—but she's terrible."

"I believe you," Luka told her without hesitance.

Marinette blinked. "What?"

"I believe you," he repeated. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because—" She sighed. "Juleka likes her, and she likes Adrien."

He was surprised, not in what she said, but how her voice sounded when she'd said it. There was a distinct lack of the usual 'ching' when she said Adrien's name.

He tried not to think about it, knowing it wasn't important to their current topic. "I trust you, Marinette. Jule..." He hesitated, then settled for, "There's a reason she is the way she is."

"Ah," Marinette uttered softly in acknowledgment. They were free to cross the street at that point, so she did alongside him, simultaneously getting back on track. "Well, she—not Juleka, the other girl—she's a liar. I tried to tell everyone but..." A bit of life left her voice. "They wouldn't believe me."

His fingers twitched. "She's new?"

"Yeah." She tried to focus on the map despite being clearly distracted. "She talks about all the famous people she knows and how talented she is, and she gets away with it whenever she can't prove something because it's just lies on top of lies. I was so sick of seeing her lead everyone on, but... there was nothing I could do. Adrien knew and he—he told me not to do anything."

Luka couldn't help the quiet "what?" that escaped his lips. This was all new to him and he couldn't comprehend that he hadn't heard a word of it before.

Marinette continued, "I mean—I know he didn't know that she threatened me, but she said that I'd lose everyone if I wasn't 'with her.' I didn't even really try anything after Adrien told me not to, and she—she got me expelled anyway."

The brief silence made it all the more clear to Luka how tired Marinette was all of a sudden, which was a stark contrast to the storm brewing in his chest. "That's—" He stopped to breathe. "That's why you left?"

"I got back in," Marinette assured, "but I just... I couldn't do it anymore. I thought about it, and the whole class was just exhausting. I was already the class representative, and then I had her to worry about, and then no one was believing me, and I—I had to go." She rubbed the back of her head nervously. "T-there were other reasons too, but that was the big one. I did tell everyone I was leaving, so they knew some of it and even then it was a lot, but it felt like I didn't have any other choice."

He nodded in understanding, trying to remain as calm as possible. Going off wouldn't help him - it would only get him akumatized - and that would've just caused her more stress.

Spontaneously, Marinette stopped in place, staring down at the ground with a distant expression. Luka stopped as well, facing her with a concerned expression.

"Marinette?"

"You must think I'm selfish," she murmured. "I...I abandoned everyone just because it was hard for me."

"What? No, I—" He instinctively reached for his guitar strap, glaring at nothing when he realized it wasn't there.

He looked around, getting a rough estimate of where exactly they were at the moment. An idea struck him, and he hastily asked, "Do you mind going off the map for a bit?"

She met his gaze, obviously confused as to what this had to do with what she'd just been saying. Still, she nodded.

He turned and went down the street, walking a bit faster than he normally would. The sound of Marinette's footsteps trailed behind him, assuring him that she was following him without hassle.

At the sight of the music store he'd managed to navigate to, he pushed the door open and held it until Marinette was inside. Afterward, he headed for the nearest guitar that he could handle, sitting down so it could rest in his lap. Looking up at her, he brought his left hand up to the guitar's neck. "See these strings?" He slid his fingertips onto them for emphasis.

She tilted her head, but nodded. With cautious curiosity, she approached and sat down in front of him, placing the map on her lap.

"Guitar strings are strong. They have to be to deal with all the strumming they go through," he explained. "They're tight, but they have the give they need to be played properly."

He eyed her, ensuring that she was still watching him. She seemed to recognize by then that he wasn't going to criticize her, so the tenseness in her shoulders had mellowed.

Making it so his fingers were across every string, he gripped them and pulled down; not enough to where he knew it'd cause actual stress, but enough to where it'd make someone inexperienced with guitars - like Marinette - very nervous.

"They can only take so much stress. They either wear out over time, or—"

He let go, Marinette initially flinching as if she'd expected the strings to actually snap. He waited a moment for her to process that, then held up two fingers to imitate string cutters.

"It's better to cut them than to let someone snap them. If something snaps them, it could cause some damage, but at least you're ready if you cut them yourself." He ran a hand from the top of the strings all the way to the bottom. "You can't replace the feeling of all the songs you played on them, but you can replace the strings."

He stared at her, observing the subtle shift in her expression. She looked thoughtful, her posture easing forward as she eyed the strings he was touching. Even when his own friends didn't understand his music dialect, she always seemed to take him seriously and understood the emotions he was conveying. He couldn't begin to explain how it made him feel, and he only hoped that she might feel the same when he comforted her, like now.

"You're not selfish, Marinette. Not at all." She met his gaze, and he continued, "You're taking care of yourself, and that's great. You have enough going on as it is."

She held eye contact with him for a moment longer. He didn't waver, not moving a muscle until she did so first.

Finally, she closed her eyes. She inhaled, exhaled, then gave him a small smile without looking directly at him.

"Thank you," she said. "Do you mind if we head back now?"

He smiled, satisfied. "Of course not."

Returning the guitar to its original position, he stood up and turned, Marinette already holding the door open for him. Together, they walked out of the music store, retracing their steps until Marinette could start following the map again.

They didn't talk for the rest of the walk to her house. Luka never pressed for conversation either, as the slightest look at her confirmed that she wasn't sad anymore; just soaking in what they'd talked about.

Eventually, the 'Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie' came into view. Luka waited until Marinette stopped in front of it, then he stepped around to face her, giving her a comfortable distance between them.

He expected a simple 'good-bye' or maybe just a wave if she wasn't feeling up to it, but instead, she gushed, "I'm so happy that you like having me around, Luka."

He gaped. He must've looked funny doing it too because she giggled.

"I—I was a little worried at first. You were quieter than usual while we were in school—" Oh, so she noticed. "—and I thought that maybe I did something, or you were thinking something bad about me."

He shook his head, even though she'd already confirmed that she didn't think that anymore. He dared to step forward, placing his hands on her shoulders and lowering himself so they were eye level.

He looked into her eyes with conviction. No matter what she thought now, he wanted her to know what he thought then.

"The only thing I was thinking about you is how this is all new to me, having my favorite melody around for the whole school day."

He felt her stiffen underneath his hands, her eyes wide and practically sparkling. "R-really?"

He swallowed at her powerful gaze, but managed to maintain eye contact with her. "Really. Yes, I was quiet because of you, but it was only in the best way."

She blinked at him, still looking to be in a state of surprise. Admitting to himself that he probably came on a little (okay, a lot) strong, he dropped his hands back to his sides and stood straight.

Not wanting her to feel pressured to respond to such a bold statement, he gave her a small wave and turned to leave. Just as he was facing completely away from her though, a pressure collided with his back, making him stumble.

A pair of arms wrapped around his waist, the light color of the skin unmistakable. He blushed as he realized that Marinette was hugging him from behind.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much, Luka, for everything. I'm so glad you're here and that I'm in your class."

He shuddered at how genuine she sounded. There was a distinct fondness in her voice, reminiscent of a harp that she'd so casually strummed every string of without effort.

The reverberation rung in his ears, and he could even swear that she was even nuzzling his back. He had to remind himself to breathe.

It was too much. She was too much. Still, somehow, he managed to pull himself together enough to rest one of his hands on hers.

"Me too, Marinette."

They stayed like that for a few seconds longer, with him all too aware of the sound of her breathing. Then, just as quickly as she'd hugged him, she pulled away, clearing her throat audibly.

"A-anyway, b-bye," she squeaked out. He could practically hear the blush in her voice, followed immediately by the sound of the bakery's door open and closing.

Marinette apparently stumbled a bit while inside, but he hadn't seen it for certain; only heard it. It wasn't because he hadn't wanted to turn to look at her, but rather because his body wasn't listening to him.

All at once, he sunk down to sit on his ankles, burying his face into his hands and exhaling against his palms, in a complete state of bliss.

He loved that girl.

[Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10]

#multi chapter: Grade for Each Other #((In which Luka continues to die.)) #((Rated F for Feels.))

[jamiedc-they-them]

Sibling Duty Part V (Platonic)

Requested Imagine: “I absolutely LOVED reading Sibling Duty part 4! I also love the route your taking with Y/N and her relationship with Daisy. Would you mind writing part 5 (still set in season 5) where Daisy is trying to repair her relationship with Y/N and she tells her about what Deke said with her destroying the world, making Y/N hate Deke even more? You are the best writer ever! 💖💖💖💖💖”

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You had landed in a bumpy manner. But, to you, it didn’t matter, you were here. You were on the earth that was broken by god knows what. Seemed flying wasn’t either of the two’s (Coulson and Daisy) forte.

However, you were here, so that was all that mattered. You got yourself back up off of the floor, Simmons coming over and helping you up. However, she grabbed your arm, and felt you flinch just a little at the contact. She immediately moved to a different part of your body to lift up instead.

Once you were up, she gave you a look filled with apology’s and concern. She hadn’t exactly forgotten about your reaction to her in Kasius’ home. You knew she wouldn’t let it go; it just wasn’t in her caring nature. You were friend; one of her best friends, and you were hurting from something.

She knew that you and Daisy were on unsteady ground, but she saw that you were shaky with everyone. Hell, even Fitz to a degree, despite having followed him to the future and what not.

Still, she knew that this wasn’t the place nor the time.

 Entering the Zephier, you took in the familiar space. You brightened as you saw a familiar face too.

“May.” You sighed in relief as you went over to the woman and hugged her, she returned it gently. When you pulled back, she finally realised that you weren’t with them since the start.

“Y/N? What are you doing here?” She asked, slightly worried as to why you were here and not back in the present day.

She saw your smile wobble a little, but you held it, “We came here to save you, obviously. Can’t leave anyone behind.” You said, but she could tell those words still felt a little foreign to your tongue. She saw how your voice wobbled a little like your smile.

She looked back over your shoulder to Coulson, who shrugged, telling his friend to leave it for now. She did but sighed as she did so.

“Hey, Y/nn?” You turned to the voice of your sister, seeing her play with her fingers a little in a nervous fashion as she slowly walked up to you. You only kept quiet and watched her, letting her take her own time to gather herself and say what she wanted to say.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” You knew you didn’t have a lot of time to get back home, but you didn’t talk as you debated it.

“I have something I need to tell you….I need your help with something.” She confessed. However, she then stopped herself when she saw you finch at a BANG! That occurred outside the ship, “Wait…are you ok?” She asked, putting a hand on your arm; one that you immediately grabbed with your hand tightly.

“Ow! Hey!” She said, grounding you once again. You looked at your hand and gulped, releasing it, and watching as she shook it and then massaged it.

“Can we – can we talk about this later?” You asked, gulping as you took a long breath.

“Y/N, I don’t think we can wait any longer for any of this. I need your help, you need mine. That’s the promise we made one another.” She said, trying to get you to open up.

“Yeah, well, that was before all this bullshit. That was before you went into the future and I was –” You stopped yourself before you let it slip.

“Before you did what, Y/nn?” She prodded, concern growing and growing by the minute.

“Nothing, nothing. We don’t have time to play therapy right now, Daisy. We have more important things to do.” She was hurt by your words, her eyes showing just that. Your eyes showed pain at both causing her hurt and whatever was going on with yourself.

As Daisy went to answer, Coulson approached you both, “Girls, let’s not lose each other, alright? We’re a team, we stick together on this. Y/N, take a walk for a minute.” He ordered you. You saw that he understood what you were doing but was going to allow you to do it for the time being.

As said previously, he kept an eye out on you. Before you met the team, you’d do this. He knew it was a coping mechanism and reaction to things.

You nodded, grateful for the order and walked away.

“What are you doing?” Daisy hissed at Coulson. The father figure turned to the youngest daughter.

“She just needs a minute.” He said.

“She needs therapy, Coulson.” She snapped in response.

“You’re right, we all do. But we can’t get that right now. Once we get out of here, we will once all this is said and done.” He promised her. But she only kept her sight on where you just were.

 You didn’t really know where you were going. To be honest, you were just walking blindly with no real goal or area to go to. That was, until you came across the path of Deke. The man sat on his own, back resting against a fencing for a small room; he looked lonely, he looked sad.

“What’s got you so down?” You asked, stopping, and leaning against the wall.

“You ever feel any distain towards your sister, despite being so tight?” He asked, looking distant as he said the words.

You gave them some thought, actually having a moment to think despite everything going on.

“Not really hate or distain, just more discomfort.” You admitted.

“How come?” He asked, still with a distant gaze.

“We just grew apart after something drastic. Then I get fucking kidnapped and end up in a….different world.” You said, trying to scurt past the issue.

“The Framework?” He guessed. You looked at him in shock.

“Exactly that, how did you know?” You asked in one breath.

“Played around in that myself, place to have some me time and be all woe is me. My own dad was never the best, I damned him for a long time. Now, really all I want is for him to walk through that door,” He finally looked at you, “But, I’m glad you have your sister. Even if she was the one that got us in this whole thing.”

“What do you mean?” Becoming defensive.

“She broke the world apart with her power.” He said, bluntly. Before he finally realised, “You didn’t know.” He said with some pity.

He expected to be thrown against the wall, but instead got a conflicted look on your face. You even had tears in your eyes, “How long ago was that?” You asked, voice cracking as you did so.

“A while.” He said, not exactly knowing how long it was.

“And you knew the whole time?” You asked in a tone that held a sense of anger to it.

“I did….But, I thought she told you.” He said as a justification for him coming right out with it.

“Ok.” Was all you said as you walked away, leaving a more dejected Deke as he slumped back against the fence.

“Nice going, Deke.” He scolded himself.

 Daisy was sat on a crate, swinging her legs to try and pass the time. However, she stopped when she saw you holding a box in your hands. She gave you a small smile, one you returned.

You approached her holding the box, placing it next to her before sitting on her other side. She looked from you to the box, slowly moving her hand to the first aid box and opening it.

“So, Daisy, Deke told me something interesting,” Your sister slowly looked to you in slight fear as you continued, “You broke the world apart.” You decided to just rip the bandage off.

“…He’s right.” She said, confirming his words.

You nodded, “We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen.” You promised her.

She looked at you in disbelief, “Y/N, we can’t –”

“We’re going to,” You said, firmer, “You told me that I’m not a monster, you aren’t either.” You assured her. You took her hand in your own and gave it a squeeze. She smiled with a tear smile as she returned it.

She was happy your shaky bond was starting to heal itself.

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As Daisy started to tend to her wounds, Coulson and May both approached you with news about Robin. Turns out, it wasn’t the best news in the world as to what the person that you and Fitz knew as a young girl who had now turned old had to say.

“So, the lady who sees the future says that there isn’t one? Super.” Daisy said as she put the bandage on her arm.

“Unfortunately, Robin’s not much for specifics. Anyone who has the answers is either unreliable, dead, or wants us dead.” Coulson bluntly stated.

“So, status quo.” You chuckled at May’s response.

“Yeah. The homicidal blue bastards are the most pressing issue. We made a pretty big splash when we broke out of the Lighthouse.” Daisy said as she handed you the box as she stood up. You closed it and joined her.

“Hope Mack and Yoyo are holding their own. We’re gonna come to blows with Kasius soon. Only question is, who strikes first?” Coulson asked.

“Empire?” He looked at you with a smile at the question, but he shook his head. He recognised that defence as well.

He looked to Daisy as he spoke, “We have Y/N, but it’d be nice to have Quake back with us when that happens.” He said in honesty.

“Won’ be quaking anything with this thing on.” Daisy said, gesturing to the inhibitor in her neck. You took a step back as the parents looked at their youngest child’s issue. However, he still gave you a look over his shoulder. It was one you were used to, message and all: We’re going to have a talk about you.

Did you appreciate it? To a point. But you had a handle on it your trauma, or at least as best as you could. After all, you didn’t see Fitz breaking down over it and crying to Jemma. You had to stay strong for the team and fight your demons on your own; you had made it this far doing it, so.

“Have Fitz and Simmons take a look. We’ll keep working with Robin, see what else shakes loose.” He told her.

“Copy.” The youngest of you all said as she grabbed the box and walked away, giving you a small smile before she went.

As soon as she left, your smile dropped as you turned to Coulson, knowing the discussion he’d try and have with you. Well, what made it worse was that May was there too, the woman that had seemed to of adapted to your many ways to try and escape these chats.

“You wanna tell us what’s going on?” It was the us that made you looked at him with confusion, shifting your eyes between the two people that were the only real somewhat stable parental figures you had ever really had in your life.

“I flinched a little Coulson, it happens. My old homes weren’t exactly a walk in the park.” He nodded at your words, but knew you were avoiding something.

“I know, kiddo,” He softened his voice and continued, “But, this wasn’t that. This was something else.”

“Trauma’s trauma, Coulson. I was due another….attack anytime soon.” It was May that spoke up to that.

“You’re not on a timer, Y/N. Don’t ever think that way about what you’ve been through.” She said in her caring, but stern voice.

“Too late.” You said meekly. You then turned away, unable to continue it and have a pity party when so much more was going on right now.

Still, you felt the stare of the two as you walked away, feeling their gazes on your back, feeling the concern and care for your wellbeing.

You were fine, Daisy was not.

 “The inhibitor’s embedded itself in the greater auricular nerve.” Jemma said as she found where the inhibitor was. However, her tone suggested that it was anything but good.

“Ok….” Daisy trailed off, looking at her scientist best friend for a deeper explanation.

“Removing it requires sophisticated tools and a trained neurosurgeon, either of which we have. Even if we did, the slightest error could paralyze you from the neck down.” Jemma said, going that level deeper and sighing as she finished giving said explanation.

“Ok, so we leave it alone, then.” Daisy said with her own sigh. She looked to you with an annoyed look, but it wasn’t aimed at you; she was frustrated with all this, you knew that.

“Can’t do what he said you did that way, huh?” You said, trying to find some light in this, “Better keep your power in than out. Besides, you can hold your own anyway.” Daisy rubbed her eyes as you spoke.

“Thanks, Y/nn’s.” She said, meaning them as she gave you a grateful look and smile.

   Fitzsimmons had seemingly found you a way home; with a piece of the Monolith that Coulson and May had found seemingly fitting into a device that was made for it to fit it seemed.

 “So, you’re the sister, huh?” Vigil asked as he saw you waiting outside for your sister as she spoke to Robin. She always seemed to have a way with kids, maybe it was the fact that she never had a parental figure until she was in her mid to late twenties that drove her to make sure that other kids had something like that; had that love and care.

You knew you were with that with the younger people on the team, even those that had loving parents (or just one, in Fitz’s’ case). Still, she went in, and you waited for her. Besides, she knew Robin better. And that was fine.

“That’s me.” You said, watching him with distrust. There was just something about him. He seemed to have this desperate survivor feeling about him. You had been that too, you had done stuff to get by too.

“Hm.” He said, “I do wonder though why I don’t see you here.” He said, getting your attention.

“On what?” You asked, it seemed to be the question he wanted, as the next moment a video appeared on the laptop: the video started with footage of a Quinjet before a familiar figure walked out of it.

“There she is.” He said, pointing to Daisy on screen as if you’d miss her. You leaned in, watching the screen with an intense gaze.

“That was the last time anyone ever saw Daisy Johnson alive. At least, until right now obviously.” He said as he pointed to the curtain that cut you both off from your sister.

“Then what?” You asked, in a soft voice.

“Well, by all accounts, the city had been evacuated. No one there. After Quake walked in, 12.8 on the Richter scale, then the world cracked like an egg.” He told you.

“How could I --.” Daisy said, standing by your side now instead of behind the curtain, she watched it with pained eyes.

“That’s the question. But when you looked at this moment and all the suffering that took place after, you can’t help by wonder…if it could’ve been prevented.” You looked at him with a suspicious look, slightly pulling Daisy towards you just in case this would go the way you both seemed to be prepared for it to go.

It did, with more of his friends showing up behind you to block you off. The fight then started; with Daisy going for the two while you went for Vigil. As you swung, he blocked and slammed his own fist into your face. It sent you back to the wall. He then put his hands around your throat, cutting you off from air, “Maybe this is why you aren’t there.” He said as you continued to lose air.

He was pushed away from you the next moment as Daisy sent him back with a punch, before restraining him. She gave you a quick look to make sure you were ok, but Coulson was checking on you as May ran to a then shot Robin.

“Breath.” He said to try and coach you.

“Don’t……….you………….think………….I’m………….trying?” You said with breaks in between, trying to do just that. He just pat held your shoulder as you slowly caught your breath and regained your senses.

“Y/N, are you ok?” Daisy asked immediately once you got everything under control. She had just returned from putting Vigil wherever she put him. She had made a b-line right for you after that. She had replaced Coulson, you realised once you opened your eyes again.

You gave a nod as you sniffled, “Yeah, just winded.” You said, but she detected the slight tremble; she had heard the words Vigil had said to you and made sure to hit him once as revenge for it.

“You?” You asked. To an outsider, it would be your own concern (to your credit, part of it was, she gave you that) but, to her, it was you deflecting it and not wanting to dive into his connotations. Sure, she had the question herself about where you were in the video, but she didn’t know Vigil would try and kill you as well. She knew that it had to have an affect on your somehow.

Despite being agents that seemed to dance with death every day, she knew that everyone had their breaking point.

She was just scared that you were approaching yours and wanted to talk you off of a metaphorical ledge before it reached that place.

“Daisy,” You said, grabbing her arms securely as you saw the conflict in her eyes about how to proceed. She put her own arms upon yours as a way to show that she was listening, “I’m still here, ok? And I’m ok, really. But, right now, we need to get the hell out of this place and get back home, ok?”

She nodded, knowing that you were right. Still, she appreciated the squeeze you gave to her shoulders before walking to help with fixing the ship.

 It took a little bit, but it was up and running for the most part. As you took off, Daisy had to release the anchor. However, as you went to help her, she shook her head; Coulson even forced you back down int your seat, “Stay down, Y/nn! I got this.” She yelled to you as she slowly made her way to do just that job.

“Trust her, Y/N. She can do this.” He told you as she ship started to shake and sparks started to burst, making you all cover your heads.

“I do! I just don’t want her to be alone in case something happens!” You yelled back as more sparks started to go off.

Simmons yelled an apology, but you were all busy trying to cover your heads and keep yourself safe. You were so close to using your ability to do just that, but you knew that doing so would probably leave you unconscious. You couldn’t do that, not in this type of situation.

However, you didn’t need to worry about that, as the ship then took off, giving you all the chance to save your friends back in the Lighthouse.

 You had entered the lighthouse once more to find said friends. As you travelled further in, Deke offered to secure the machine that would get you home. However, he seemed to know the self-sacrificial ways you and your sister had, “When the other side of you is a frigging hero that can’t help themselves but do good, then be great. The world needs those people to make it home.” He told you both. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Coulson looking at the three of you with a smile.

You looked at Deke, “Maybe you weren’t as bad as I thought you were.” You admitted.

He looked at you with a small smile, “Yeah, well, guess we all have surprises that we don’t tell everyone.” With that, he left you all to go do what he promised he would do; protect the machine.

 Then you got to an elevator, one that would take you to the others. However, as you entered it, you saw that Daisy hadn’t entered it with you.

“Daisy, can’t waste time.” Coulson said, seemingly oblivious to what she was doing.

She met your eyes, knowing that you knew, “I’m not coming.” She said, despite the crestfallen look on your face.

Coulson walked forward a little, “I know you’re scared about going home.” Daisy corrected him.

“No, I’m terrified. Look around. Billions of people, gone. If there’s a chance that I’m the cause, I can’t go.” She explained to you all.

“We can get through this, together. You don’t even have your powers anymore.” May argued.

“It’s only a matter of time, and you know it….Y/N does.” She said, softening her voice at your name as she met your now teary eyes.

“If there’s an emergency or if one of you are in danger, I will need them, we will find another way.” She assured you all, “If I go through that portal, you know it’s the beginning of the end.”

“I don’t. We don’t even know you did this.” Coulson was now getting desperate.

“I was right in the epicentre.” She said, bluntly.

“I won’t let you sacrifice yourself because your scared of what’s to come.”

“What’s to come is the end of everything.” Daisy exclaimed, desperate for you all to let her go.

“If you can change the future here, you can change it from back home.” May said.

“But we know his solution works! We can stop this today.” Was Daisy’s response.

“No, it’s not about today. It’s about tomorrow. Even if we solve this problem, the world is never safe. The job goes on, we go on….Please.” Coulson begged her.

“Maybe I don’t go with you. You know it’s the right move.” Your footsteps broke her eye contact with Coulson. You took a place next to her.

“You don’t go, I don’t go.” You said. The other two watched you both have a silent conversation, an argument, even. They watched as you silently did that, eyes widening and nudging of heads. Finally, however, she nodded and sighed.

“Coulson, as agents of SHIELD, you have trained us to fight. Now, we are making our stand….here.” She said, accepting your help.

“May and Y/N trained you to fight. I taught you to leave.” Coulson said as he was raising his ICER. You, however, beat him to it, shooting your sister instead with your own. You grabbed her and held her in your arms.

“Y/N –” Coulson said, most likely to try and comfort; you, however, were having none of it.

“I got her, let’s go.” You said, in full agent mode.

 So, with Flint rebuilding the Monolith, you could go back home. But now you had a terrified Daisy in your arms who was willing to do anything to stop the world from breaking apart; you were terrified of what that would include.

“Let me take her.” Coulson offered, holding out his arms for Daisy.

“I got her –”

“Y/N, just let me help. Please.” You sighed, but gave into his want, placing your sister’s body in his arms.

You were going home, but now all of you now more frightened than ever.

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You had landed, you were home. You were back on solid ground that you actually recognised. You could almost kiss the thing in pure joy, but you then remembered why you were here. Coulson laid Daisy on a table as he started to give out orders to find where they were and try and find a way to set up shop.

As they all left, it was just you and Coulson remaining, “You didn’t have to be the one to do that, you know?” He said to break the silence.

“Someone had to, she saw you raising yours. So, I stepped in.” You waved off his thanks, only keeping your eyes on your sister.

“Thank you….for doing that. To be honest, as strong as my voice was, I wasn’t sure if I could actually go through with it.” Your leader and friend admitted to you. You just nodded as you kicked the floor with your shoe.

“You’re welcome.” You decided on saying, giving him a timid smile.

As Coulson went to say something more, Daisy awoke.

“Which one of you ICE’d me?” She asked as she closed her eyes again to try and help the headache.

“That’d be me, sorry.” You said with honesty.

“Yeah, not gonna lie, was kind of hoping you’d forget that part.” Coulson’s words held a slight amused tone to them, but an apology was still in those words.

“Sorry to disappoint.” She said as she finally sat up, with your help. She looked around, finally realising where you were, “It looks the same, but we’re….we’re home, aren’t we?” She asked.

“Surprise?” You weren’t even sure if that would work, but you tried; even putting your arms out and shaking them like a showman.

“Did you really think after everything we’ve been through, us three, that there would be any universe in which we’d leave you behind?” Coulson asked, usual soft smile on his face.

“Even with all the risks –” You cut her off.

“Shut up about them, we don’t care, Dais.” Coulson continued for you.

“We need you here.” Daisy looked at you both with a soft look and nodded.

 She had stayed behind while you went out to investigate the first “omen” of the oncoming destruction. So, you and the rest went out, while she stayed behind. You turned to her when she said that she would be staying, “Daisy –”

“Y/nn, I need you to trust me. The others need you out there, alright?” She said, putting a hand on your arm. You sighed, but nodded and gave in, walking off with the others.

So, you went with them while Daisy stayed behind on the computers. She ate some of the snacks that Noah, a Chronicom in the Lighthouse, had stored. So, she took them and ate them as she tried to find out what she could for you.

“May I ask you something?” Daisy hummed a yes, “In all my years of observing the human race, I’ve never seen two family members try and push each other way like the two of you do.” His words gave her pause for a moment.

“We have some things to work through, I’ll give you that. I wanna help her with whatever’s going in in her head, but I can’t right now. I’m a danger to everyone, and she’s hurting. So, I thought to send her with the others for some company.” Noah only nodded at her explanation.

 You had found a van and were driving in it. As you did, you and the rest of the team talked about how much worse the situation could be. For a moment, it was a nice cathartic moment, to talk about everything you had been through as group, as well as individual ups and downs.

“At least it’s not the watchdogs.” You said, adding your own thing onto the ever-growing list.

“Was that who you went after when you left?” May asked, softening her voice a little.

You nodded, “Bobbi was there too, you know?” The rest were quiet as they listened to you, “She helped me with that last job I did. Well, call it job, more like attack really.” They gave it a moment to fully digest the reasoning now of why they found you where they did, in a barn with a bunch of dead an unconscious Watchdog members around you.

 You had made it to the place where the light was coming from, and it was Piper. It was nice to see your friend again. However, as you went to secure the item, guards entered the room and held you all at gunpoint, you had been betrayed by her.

A fight broke out, with you all taking on the guards and being able to do a bit of damage, but most of the time got thrown around. You were holding your own with your ability, but they seemed to just either not go down, or those that did just got replaced with more of the bastards.

Finally, though, it all stopped when you heard Elena gasp. You all turned to her and your eyes widened at what you saw: Elena with no arms and only rivers of blood where those once stood.

The masked individual that had done it had only walked away from you all as you grabbed Elena and ran out as fast as you could. Well, they had, you were frozen in your tracks.

“Y/N….” You heard a voice say your name and other things, but you couldn’t focus on that; you could only focus on the blood of your friend.

“ – Need to move.” The voice said again, before a hand took you arm, and you were moving. You heard your footsteps, but the main thing you heard was your breathing.

You heard voices of friends whiz past you as whoever was holding you got you through to the front, “Is she ok?” or, “What’s wrong with Y/N”? were the main ones you heard. However, whoever was pulling along didn’t answer, the just continued to pull.

They sat you in a seat, before going to fly. The sound around you was still high pitched, like an annoying air horn by your ear constantly going off. You closed your eyes and tried to breath in way that didn’t shake and make tears appear in your eyes.

Opening your eyes once again after that long breath, you saw Jemma Simmons crouching in front of you, holding your hands and running a thumb over them to try and ground you. You saw her mouth move, but her words were still not fully coherent to you.

You then felt a hand on your back, gently rubbing it; it was Fitz. You focused on the two best friends you and Daisy had known for what you wished your whole life; two people that wouldn’t give up on either of you no matter what it seemed.

You let yourself have this moment with your friends; let them comfort you and help you through this, despite their own worry for your mutual friend that was currently bleeding and could maybe be dead.

 Daisy was awaiting you at home, she gasped as she saw Elena armless as she the woman was rushed past her with the others following. However, Jemma stopped and looked at Daisy with worry, “Y/N is still up there. She hasn’t said a word since we got back….Maybe you can talk to her.” She suggested, before leaving to help her other friend.

Daisy took a breath, one of bracing. She then made her way up the ramp, seeing you sat in a chair. You were crying, but not sobbing, just crying. It crushed her to see you like this, to see you spiralling so much and still withholding things from her and the others.

From what you said when you met Deke, she knew that you and Fitz had been through something awful, she knew that it didn’t just go away at a click of fingers. All she wanted, though, was to be there and help you get through it. To help you reach the other side.

She went to were you sat, taking a seat next to you. She thought back to when you were both at the pool, both struggling to process that HYDRA had blindsided you all and pretty much brought SHIELD to its knees.

She tried to reach out to do what she did then, hug you and comfort you. However, this time it went differently.

As she reached out, you recoiled, standing up and moving away from her. She looked at you with bit of shock, but then she saw the anger in your eyes. Despite herself, she looked down a little sheepish; you had never really played the pissed older sibling card before. Now, it seemed you would.

“What the fuck?” You sneered; yeah, you were playing the card alright, “I mean, you say the world will end if you leave, then stay and this shit happens? I mean, come on!” She just watched as you threw your arms up in the air in exasperation.

“I was doing this to protect you, I had to stay.” She said in an uncharacteristic quiet voice.

“I don’t need protection, Daisy, we needed you out there. I needed my sister to have my back. I – if you were there, maybe this shit wouldn’t have happened –” She defended herself at that accusation.

“No, I would’ve hurt you or someone else –”

“I have been hurt already Daisy! Plenty of fucking times; I can take it!”

“But it doesn’t mean you should!” She argued. She knew all about being hurt before, god knew she did. But she didn’t also have another separate life full of it’s own pain to contend with either.

“Hey!” Coulson yelled, making you both stop and look at him, despite heavy breathing as you were both getting worked up. You were both slowly getting angry. Coulson knew you both had a bad temper at the best of times; and, especially in these times, he hated to see what your worst would look like.

“We don’t get through this by turning on each other.” You scoffed at his words.

“This isn’t turning on each other, this is spy-sibling arguments.” You said, gesturing between you both.

“I get it, alright? Tensions are high right now; we all need a break. We will get one after this, I promise you.” He assured you; you both took a moment to stop and try and calm down.

“I’m sorry.” You both said in sync. If he was being honest, it kind of freaked him out. But he had gotten the result he wanted out of interrupting you both; that being getting two people he cared about a lot to stop fighting and work together again. His two daughters falling apart was always something he feared.

 As much as he had gotten you both to stop tearing each other and yourselves apart, the same couldn’t be said for himself. Not with what was going on with himself. Not with the deal he made with the Ghost Rider to get rid of AIDA and bring that chapter to a close.

That was when the fear dimension opened; that was when his secret came out and pushed Daisy further away and pushed her further towards snapping. You fought back tears at Coulson’s news. However, it was the fear dimension that brought something to you that you didn’t expect.

 May and Coulson had just had their heart to heart about what was going in with him, when they saw you hit the floor after having stumbled around the corner, what they saw was the fear that was on your face.

“Y/N, what is it?” May asked, having reached you first and put a hand on your shoulder as she helped you up from the floor. Your eyes were wide and breathing all over the place. You tried to answer, but you could barely get a word out as the person you were running from came from behind the corner.

It was Daisy, just….not. This was a Daisy that carried a pistol with intent to her you; they knew that their Daisy wouldn’t do that.

When they looked at you; the fear stricken you that was now hiding behind them, they knew who this Daisy was. The Framework Daisy that sold you out.

“Y/N, stay behind us.” You already were, but Coulson sill reminded you. You didn’t think twice, you only did as he asked.

“Just give me Y/N, and I can leave.” Framework Daisy told the two that were protecting you.

“Yeah, I’m afraid that’s not going to happen.” Coulson said, giving a faux pout at the end of it.

It only enraged her, with Framework Daisy raising the pistol. However, it was then grabbed by the real Daisy, it was struggle between the two. The shots went off, with May and Coulson pulling you down to the floor for cover from the bullets that had rang out.

As Daisy struggled, she slammed her head into her faux self, “Not using your powers, I see?” Faux Daisy taunted her.

However, the real Daisy only pulled the trigger on her Framework self. As soon as she did, she then turned to you and dropped the pistol. She ran over to you, falling to her knees in front of you.

“Are you ok?” She asked in panic, cupping your face in her hands, “Y/N, I need you to look at me,” She begged of you, “Y/N, hey! I’m right here, I’m right here.” She said in a (attempt at) soothing voice as she pulled you in for a hug.

 You didn’t open up for to her, you only sobbed and slowly got your breathing back under control. You had then all piled into the main room of the Lighthouse, you all watched as Coulson made his way down the level that held the tear that brought all those fears in. You watched him walk through it, at least for a moment anyway.

The feed then died. It left you all in the dark and left you all spiralling further. You just stood back and watched as your friends all yelled; Daisy was arguing that you couldn’t just do nothing, while everyone else wanted nothing but to go down there but knew the risks.

Finally, she looked to you, “Y/N, please.” She said in a begging voice, even walking towards you and putting a hand on your arm, “Please, we need to go get him.” She was tearing up, but she was also angry.

You watched with pity as you uttered your response, “I’m sorry, Daisy. It’s too dangerous.” You said it in a soft voice.

 You then had a moment of peace, a wedding between your two best friends. Jemma had asked for Daisy to be her maid of honour, while Fitz had gone for Mack as his best man. You didn’t mind that at all, you had been gone longer than Daisy had after all.

But it was a nice moment, a rare moment of peace with nothing bad happening.

Except, that was soon shattered the next day.

 Fitz hadn’t been sleeping, barely if at all. It was taking a toll on him, he was snapping more often, he was yelling and slamming his hand against the table more and more in growing frustration.

However, he also knew what it was like to have a demon inside of you. For you both, it had been in there for ages; just personified in different ways. Yours was through your power, his was through his alter persona.

That persona then showed itself to him; one that then had two targets, one to torture, and one to torment.

He had found Daisy, tied her down to an able to take out the implant in her neck. It was needed, but he was the one that seemed to be wiling to do what was needed.

“Where’s Fitz? Where’s the real Fitz?” She begged, terrified and only wanting her brother to come back to her.

It was then that you were led into the room at gunpoint,  “No….No, no, no, no. Fitz, Fitz! Please don’t do this, please let her go!” Daisy begged as a few tears fell down her face. You both looked at each other with broken expressions.

“Take a step, and you get shot. Not a kill shot. Well, It won’t be if Daisy lets me do what I need to do.” He threatened. Daisy was still terrified, out of her mind terrified. Her eyes widened as she looked at you; you were scheming. She knew you were trying to find some way to get out of this. To stop him.

You looked at your younger sister, nodding in an assuring manner. You gave her a smile, a timid one, but a smile. You then moved three words that in any other situation would make her feel warm and fuzzy at your sisterly affection and tell her that your dynamic was back on track.

This did the opposite.

“NO!” She screamed as you went forward, a shot was fired, and she was forced to watch you hit the ground with a wound on your chest. Blood hit her face, your blood. Fitz even looked horrified at the events that had just transpired.

“Y/N….Oh my – What did you do?!” He said to the doctor side of himself. You were focusing on not passing out, on trying to still find a way out of this on your own.

You could only let out chocked gasps as Daisy cried out for you as you heard more footsteps and then a gasp.

“Please, Fitz…. She’s dying.” You heard the broken voice of Jemma Simmons beg her now husband.

“I –” You heard Fitz say, before he seemed to realise that it was just him in the room and not the doctor. It was all internal and not external.

“No, no, no!” You heard your sister cry as Fitz started the procedure. You, however, finally felt the void take you and have darkness consume you.

 When you came to, you were in your room and in your bed. You looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. As soon as you tried to sit up, your chest flared with pain.

Your door opened, and Melinda May entered; for once, emotion was on her face. It was a worried look that then sparked some joy when she saw you alive and well.

She took a seat next to you silently, “Daisy’s been worried sick about you. We had to stop her from coming in here herself and quaking you awake.” She said in the hopes of lightening the mood. Your face, however, went to concern.

“Where is she? Is she ok? Is she –”

“She’s not doing the best with everything. She’s gone into leader mode and shut herself out from feeling a lot of the time. When she does, it’s full on. Like when she saw Fitz right after she heard about your condition.” She told you, deciding not to hold anything back.

Your head hit the pillow as you let out a sigh that then turned into a kind of sob, “Fuck.” You cursed as you put your hands to your eyes as if that would stop them. May watched you with a look of pity and sadness.

“I just wanted to protect her from this shit.” You admitted as you then put your face in your hands and slowly slid them upwards, then through your hair, “Some kind of shitty sister I was, huh? All she wanted to do was help and I –” You stopped as you gulped back more tears and looked around to try and keep them at bay.

“You’re right,” You looked at May, “You’re right, she did want to help you. We all did. But we knew it would take time. She’s willing to wait for as long as you need, she and the rest of us just don’t won’t you to forget that we’re here.” She told you.

“What happened while we were gone?” She asked, wanting to know more than ever. You looked at her with pained, but for once didn’t stop yourself.

“We were locked up, May. Fitz, he stressed himself with finding you guys; I was just locked in a cell that they never opened again. They were more interest ed in Fitz. So, my power clawed at me over and over again. I did a Daisy and made it all internal; now I don’t know when it’s gonna explode, I just know it will.”

“We can help with that, you aren’t alone in this, Y/N. Granted, Daisy will know more. But, that’s not the point; we’re a team, we help each other. It’s not just a one-sided thing.”

She gave you a moment to register her words, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to tell this to the other Johnson.” She said with a slightly teasing smile. You returned it.

“Hey, May?” You called out as she started to leave, she turned to you, “Could you grab Daisy’s laptop on your way out, please? I might not be in the field for a few days, but I still wanna help as Jemma does her whole doctor thing.” May gave you a smile and nodded.

You smiled too, finally ready to be helped and helped at the same time.

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Where you as good as your sister? No, but you were still decent on computers. She had taught you a thing or two, just a lack of experience was holding you back really. That was now going to, maybe, be remedied. You ran recon as the others went out.

“Y/N, thank god. Are you alright?” Daisy asked over the comms as you entered via your laptop to aid them on their mission. They were going to collect Polly and Robin; you were providing recon for them.  

“You know how Doc Simmons is Dais, she’s keeping me alive.” Daisy, despite everything going on and her own declining mood, let out a chuckle at your words. It helped her a moment.

“Yeah, I now how she can be.” She said with a smile, remembering back to when she was shot.

You watched as she met the younger version of Robin, the one that didn’t bleed out in May’s arms. The one that May had apparently helped raise.

You watched as they took Robin back and tried to coax something out of here, the only time she reacted was to May. You softened a little as you watched the young girl hand May a sheet in a calm manner. You watched as she gave you all a clue as to where Coulson was. The man was with the woman who had taken you, a woman called general Hale.

 Jemma had stopped by one more time, smiling at you as she entered, “How are you Y/N?” She asked, both as a doctor and friend as she changed your bandaging once more.

“Better, you?” You asked, trying to get her to meet your eyes. When she wouldn’t, you grabbed her hand in your own, “Hey,” You said as you squeezed it, “I’m not pissed at him. It was a part of him he had locked away and that showed itself more when were locked up. God knows I know that.” You confided in your best friend.

She squeezed your hand back as thanks, “What’s your thing?” She asked in a slightly worried tone.

“My power. But, once this is all settled, I know Daisy and I need to have a talk to sought all this shit out. Or at least to start to.” Jemma smiled, happy two people that were pretty much sisters to her were moving past their angst with each other and how it could all go back to somewhat normal.

 However, that all, literally, came crashing down when everything stared to spiral. You were forced to watch a young girl, the one who had chopped off Elena’s arms, die in a brutal fashion by revenge from the woman. The girl’s name was Ruby, and you saw your sister keep holding out hope that the girl could be turned into a good agent. To be honest, you agreed.

Still, you were forced to watch her bleed out on the floor.

Then General Talbot (a prisoner of Hale’s) turned out to be conditioned by HYDRA and was a kind of mole to steal Polly. He broke out of your base using his new powers.

Then the real bombshell came, you only had enough of the Centipede serum (a serum you had came across before) to either save Coulson or end Talbot. Now you were pretty much stuck in a place of two extremes; either you let one of your closest friends die and save the world or save him and doom the world.

Your sister went to argue her point, when you came to the door, having made your own way there, “Y/N, you should be resting.” She told you in a tone that reminisced your tone when ever you got annoyed at her (one she had barely heard but seem to perfect anyway).

“You think I’d let you guys make this type of decision without me?” You asked, throwing or own two cents in on saving Coulson. You knew it was selfish, but it was honest.

 However, May had broken that chance, literally by breaking the type that held the mixture that they needed to kill Talbot with.

Daisy, after calming down, went to you and hugged you, “I’m so glad you’re ok.” She said with a muffled voice into your shoulder, she put one of her hand’s to your hair, you hugged her back.

“I’m here, Dais, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere as long as I can help it, alright?” You pulled back and looked her in the eyes, “Now, I need to help out here, alright? But I’ll be with the others, you kick is ass for me, yeah?” She nodded and giggled.

 You did as you promised, going with Mack and Fitz into the building to find Robin and Polly. You liked not having to do this alone anymore, being with your friends on equal levels instead of putting one on the other.

As you entered the room, you found Robin, just not Polly. Mack, however, jumped right in despite your callings out for him not to do so.

Fitz and May then entered. However, as they did, May turned to you with that motherly look in her eyes as she looked from you to Robin, “Take care of her.” Was all she asked of you. You knew what it meant: get her out of here.

You nodded doing just that.

 It had come at a cost, however. Fitz, or, this version of Fitz, had died, buried in the rubble, and impaled in the side.

However, as much as Daisy had been scared by Fitz, you knew she wasn’t mad at the version was alive; she wasn’t hurt by the version that was alive.

Although, as you laid on the crate below her feet, eyes closed as you got some rest, she had a thought as she drank from her glass as she watched you.

You had a younger version of yourself still out there.

May then descended down to you both, smiling at the sight, “You had the talk yet?” She asked, taking the glass that Daisy offered to her.

“A little, she told me about how lonely she was. It hurts, knowing that while we were fighting for our lives, she was losing the will for her own.”

“Well, we’ll all be back together one day. Until we are a….you know, again, I know you’ll make up for the lost time.” Daisy nodded.

“You’re damn right we all will.”

She finished her glass as she looked down at you again. She knew you’d both take a while to fully talk it all out. But she knew you’d get there.

You were family, a healthy one. You would work through it. But you also knew that the others had your backs when it came to this as well.

Because that was what family did. They help each other.

#agents of shield imagine #agents of s.h.i.e.l.d imagine #agents of shield x reader #daisy johnson x reader #daisy johnson imagine #sibling duty

[malcalcott]

thexiomarareyes​:

☾

The brunette pressed her lips into a flat line with the sudden ramblings that she assumed were encouraged by medication to curb the expected pain. She wouldn’t wish the medicated state on any individual, especially one that prided himself on being routinely sharp. An inaudible sigh came with the motion to the covered injury while her eyes avoided the area for longer than she deemed necessary. “Weirdly enough?” Mara paused briefly to give her friend a hinted look of disbelief yet the expression began to faded when the understanding of a near fatal action was an expected risk that they had to be willing to take. 

Mara let herself return to a silenced state when the violent story of the directed gunfire could be roughly constructed within her head with his simplified details. The mention of his own spillage caused her finger to twirl into the fabric of her sweatshirt to bury the surfacing memory of Bari’s blood staining her dress. “Were you the only one hit?” Her communication with the others after her departure from the event was limited due to her undivided attention focusing on the task of eliminating any incriminating evidence. A slow nod came with the further explanation of how he came to occupy the room despite the details from his own memory feeling like an unreliable source due to impatient blood loss. “I’m just glad you’re in one piece,” She confirmed with the corner of her mouth twitching upwards before following his instruction of taking a gentled seat at his side. Her legs lifted to bend into a crossed figure before raising her eyebrows once more to the words that drifted off into an unattainable place that only occurred when the male was contemplating a decision worth making. “—And then..” 

She originally wrote off the uncertainty within his glance as a mere after shock of traumatic events that could affect his normal behavior. A trail of eased confusion laced her features as the rushed admission of breaking the silent code often placed as a boundary to avoid overstepping any feelings that could be hurt. “How would you have broken bro code?” It was the only part of his rambling that stuck out to her as notable seeing no face could touch her memory that they would have had a mutual interest in despite their fluid tendencies. Her head shook slightly as her ability to decode the uncommon slew of emotion from the male was hindered useless after the series of unpredictable events drew her into a jaded box. “Yes, I’m tired, not stupid,” Mara let her head tilt forward in slight question with his stare continuing to read over her features before a hand pushed gently against his leg as physical assurance and encouragement for the words that had yet to come out. “I’m not going to get mad,” 

//

Mara’s inquiry about the rest of the Royals had Malcolm blindly gesturing with his good arm towards where Gabriel laid asleep. “Me and that fucker.” He informed her. “Gabey apparently got some shots off too, I’m like a proud dad over here,” he said with a chuckle that only lasted a moment before tapering off into a soft groan. “Me too. I’m not ready to bite the bullet just yet, got far more shit to do than what I’ve done, I’ve realized.”  He said with a short nod.

As their conversation drifted further into territory that Malcolm knew had to be breached, but was wary to do so, the young man had to take a breath. Malcolm nodded at her reassurance that she wouldn’t be mad before actually answering her question as to how exactly he had broken the aforementioned code. “Payton and I are... a thing. As in, a thing beyond whatever the fuck bromance we’ve maintained for the past however many years.” He told her, not beating around the bush any longer. “We’re dating, I guess. I mean, at least he asked me earlier and I said that I was game so we’re... boyfriends?” Trying the word on his tongue, Malcolm wasn’t sure that he would ever get used to it, especially pertaining to his best friend, but when it fell from his lips it also sounded so fucking right that he felt his lips twitch up into a smile before he could fight it. “I know you said that you both ended things amicably but... I just needed to be the one to let you know.”

#c:xiomara #[ hissed through bloody teeth || interactions ]

[kazbrkker]

Chapter 5: The Way It Was

Chapter summary: Fluff and angst. Price finally makes an appearance! First fight between Alexis and Alex and an interesting revelation...;) & glimpse of Alexis’ childhood. [2404 words]

Warnings: Shitty childhood (mention of alcohol & rough childhood.)

26 OCTOBER 2019, 2200 "Alexis" and "Alex", Codename Aces CIA agents with Urzik militia Al-Raab, Urzikstan.

"What was that?"

Alexis stormed forward, harshly jabbing her partner's back. They were taking the scenic walk back to the militia's base. While Farah and Hadir walked ahead of them, Alexis and Alex lagged behind to breath in the scenes of their victory.

"What was what?" Alex perplexed, cheekily plucking a few yellow chrysanthemums off the road and waving it in her face.

Alexis took the tiny flowers, a warm smile on display as she admired the adversity these flowers had to bloom in a place like this. Then it faltered upon realising it was an attempt to distract her. "You radioed Viper for me. That's against the rules."

Alex quickly brushed her off and walked into the militia's armory, Alexis hot on his trail. Standing in silence as they waited for the room to clear. "Since when are you one for following the rules? What, you wanted to personally say bye to him?"

What the hell, that took her by surprise. Where did that come from? "I only follow the rules to keep you out of trouble. Sorry for caring."

The hardened look in Alex's eye softened, "I was doing you a favour, come on! Viper was outrightly hitting on you over the comms. If Laswell wanted to bitch about it, you could get dragged into his mess." He shrugged and busied himself with removing his gear.

"Because minor flirting is worse than trashy comms etiquette?"

Alex stretched obnoxiously loud.

"No, fraternization is." That stung more than it should.

"That's a bit hypocritical, isn't it?" Spurts of anger gnawing at her rationale incited her to spit those words without hesitation —instantly regretting it. From the nostalgic look on Alex's face, he must have realised they were in a loop again. The last time they had this conversation, it didn't end well.

To put this delicately, Alexis and Alex were no strangers at fraternization. It happened one time after she returned from St. Petersburg, a drunken mistake that Alex agreed. Overtaken by choking wave of emotions —vulnerability, lust, the need to feel safe. It was the first time Alexis was desperate enough to ask for something, and Alex gave it to her. Like moths drawn to a flame, lonely agents like themselves, cut off from the rest of the world, take whatever comfort they can get.

They left that night without ever mentioning it again. Only the next drunken time (clearly not a good drinker) when she accidentally mentioned it —her mistake for assuming it meant... more.

Alex assured her it wasn't. It did some serious damage to their friendship for a while. After a few weeks, everything snapped back into the exact same, best friends and partners for life.

Now, leaning against a counter, she searched for any answers in his eyes. One thought crossed her mind —maybe he was jealous...? Impossible, she deserted the thought, Alex had never been the jealous type.

Plus, what happened was a one-time thing. It wouldn't, or rather, couldn't happen again. Alexis couldn't lose him too.

"Maybe." Alex murmured, refusing to meet her eyes, his jaw clenched tight while cleaning his rifle, the chiselled jawline highlighted from his profile. Wide-eyed, the female agent slowly cleared her throat, scattering to form a reply.

Alex's satellite phone rang, breaking the tense silence. Saved by the bell.

Speak of her and she shall appear —it was Laswell.

Alex hesitated, did Laswell really wanted to bitch about it? He was blindly shooting from the hip. The palpable tension dissolved, replaced by a flustered Alexis. His lips pursed in amusement, "Laswell wouldn't. I'm pretty sure she has a soft spot for you."

Alexis was smart, confident, witty, resourceful, strong —the strongest person he knew. Resilience built steadily like a rock, he could write lists after lists. Alex wasn't blind, who wouldn't have a soft spot for this woman.

"This is Bravo 6, Echo 3-1 and Saint, do you copy?" It was Price.

A nudge shook Alex out of his trance. Excited at the appearance of her mentor, Alexis snatched the phone from his grasps. It was a relief to know Price was on the mission too. Looks like this assignment was really bringing her old friends back together.  "Price? Send traffic, Cap."

"Good job, hitting the airbase. Now that you have limited Barkov's air capability, we'll do our part."

"Glad we could help. What's the plan?" Alex replied to his field commander.

"We traced the masterminds of the Piccadilly attack to a townhouse in North London, we'll take care of it. You can put your feet up and rest."

"That is a command I can follow. Have fun, cap." Alexis spoke, ready to end the call.

"Not so fast, young lady. I was at the debrief, I managed to keep you out of trouble. If it was up to Norris, you'd be running laps like Viper. Don't get stupid, Alexis."

Alexis exhaled frustratedly. "Thanks, Cap." She replied in between scowls in response to the burning triumph look from Alex. His hands covering his mouth to muffle his wide smile. By taking his side, Price had inflated his ego unnecessarily bigger.

"But, you still have to run 5 miles for your insolence towards Laswell." Price delivered the ultimatum.

Her jaw slacked. "You're joking. Says Norris?"

"Colonel Norris." Price corrected with a sigh. "Says me. I told you one day that mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble. 5 miles. Alex?"

Alex exploded into laughters, no longer trying to suppress it. "Hah, roger that! I'll make sure of it. Out."

The call ended. Alexis had respect for authorities, to a certain extent. It wasn't impertinence, but rather her conditioned nature to bypass it. Coming from Task Force Black —a tier-one task force in the JSOC that didn't even answer to the President, falling into the chain of commands was never needed. Also might have to do with the fact that she started to detest the political bureaucracy over the years in the CIA.

John Price, Daniel Maddox —Alexis' commander in Task Force Black, and Samuel Forbes —her CIA handler were the only ones she would willingly abide. Kate Laswell was also close.

"Is this a bro code thing?" Alexis motioned in between them and the satellite phone, inspecting Alex as he raised his eyebrows in feigned innocence. "Price doing the dirty work on your behalf?"

"You heard the man, he said it was for your insolence."

"Wipe that smirk off your face." She mumbled, trying to use a dirty cloth to wipe his chin but he stopped her. If looks could kill... you know the rest.

"Let's go, babe. I'll time you."

"Aw. How kind." She retorted, thinking how badly she wanted to dig those blue eyes out from that arrogant face of his.

40 minutes later, a very sweaty and out-of-breath Alexis returned to the starting point. "5 miles... 5 god damn miles." She breathed, catching a towel and water bottle tossed her way. The entire 40 minutes was filled with killer glances towards Alex. They both knew the punishment wasn't for her insolence. Price wasn't the type to demand respect for other officers, the man could care less and so could Laswell.

This was an indirect way to lecture her, the brotherhood they had caused Price to take Alex's side. Judging from the glowing delight, this ought to satisfy him. Her punishment attracted a few audiences, including Hadir and Farah, who watched happily with her enemy on the roof.

"40 minutes on the dot. Impressive." Farah shouted from above. Hadir excitedly nodded, showing thumbs-ups.

Past the fourth mile, even her vision started to swirl. Blame the ever humid Urzikstan, it was insane she completed it without hurling. "I don't want to impress... I need a seat!" So she willingly fell on her butt and sat in the middle of the carpark.

They joined her shortly, grinning at her flushed cheeks and breathless words. Farah extended a hand and pulled the CIA agent up, "Steady now. Alex, why did you make her run so much!" She chided, elbowing him.

"Not me. It was Price."

"Keep lying, I'll harvest your toes." Farah gave a weird look at her insult. "All I have to do is look Price in the eye and he's a goner." Alex remained suspiciously silent, but yelped when Farah jabbed him in the gut. As revenge, Alexis smacked her sweaty towel against his tattooed arm, disgusted as he failed to swat it away.

Farah, who supported her to walk, didn't seem to care about her sweaty state. "Farah."

The commander hummed, bringing her inside the kitchen to sit. Hadir refilled her bottle.

"Would you like it if Alex and I trained your people? We can teach them some proper fighting tactics and medic courses. With your permission, of course."

Farah took a seat opposite her, mouth opening slightly before closing, as if she was unsure what to say. Hadir, witnessing this, said with a smile, "That would be extremely kind, Alexis."

A bright glint that could be interrupted as a tear reflected in the commander's eyes. Farah's hand squeezed hers tightly. Eyes crinkling upwards, Alexis knew that was her way of saying thanks.

"Great. We start tomorrow."

The two siblings soon left Alexis and Alex in the kitchen to unload some trucks that just entered the compound. He replaced Farah on the seat, "That is a great idea, Lexi."

Finally, some wind started blowing into the kitchen. She closed her eyes at the relieving night breeze. After today's mission, seeing how Farah's people fearlessly ran into the battlefield was reason enough to help them. Although a good trait, fearlessness can also be dangerous. "I want to help them. We were trained by the best in the world, it would be cruel not to share some of that knowledge."

They sat in silence, feeling the cool air while quenching their thirst. Putting their feet up, as Price ordered. Outside the kitchen, playful insults were thrown around by the pair of siblings. It was heartwarming, seeing genuine smiles and watching them be... normal. It was nice.

Growing up, Alexis wouldn't complain she had a bad childhood. Her dad was an honest man, a construction worker. For a man with such a harsh job, it translated into his personality. Her father wasn't affectionate, but he played a good father by putting a roof over their heads and food on the table.

Her life was normal, up till the very day her mother got into a fatal car accident, then everything changed. It was never said but Alexis knew her father blamed her for it. She only grew up to realise it was ridiculous. How could it have been her fault? But grief knew no sense.

Life waited for no one, years later, her father remarried. Lily was a great stepmother, not conforming to the stereotypical evil stepmom Alexis was so afraid of. Lily loved her, but not as much as her blood-borns.

Loved her, but not enough to stop the drunk shoutings, that much Alexis understood.

Alexis didn't remember much of her mother, only recognizing her face through photos. They looked nothing alike —her mother was blonde and had bright blue eyes, while Alexis inherited dark brown eyes and hair. For a man who held an imperative amount of self-loathing, imagine raising his reflection.

She envied the pair of siblings, even after everything, they still had each other. Seeing them together somehow felt lonelier. Emptier.

"I can hear the gears turning." Alex placed his chin on her shoulder, the action bringing her back down on Earth. She sniffled inconspicuously, pretending to use the damp towel to wipe her sweat. "What's wrong?"

"Why must something be wrong?"

"You're making that face."

Friends for five years, it would be foolish to assume something could escape his eyes. Goosebumps raised over her arms, feeling the stubble on his chin tickling her skin. She turned to examine the man who had been through everything with her. Hell and back, literally.

Alexis didn't know how she could ever live without him.

"Just reminiscing." She replied, a distant look in her eyes while she continued smiling at the siblings' bickering. Alex followed her gaze, knowing.

"The past is the past, Alexa–" Alex almost uttered her birth name but stopped in the nick of time. "Sorry, it slipped." His voice was muffled by Alexis' hand.

"You get my point. What matters is the now, and now you have me."

"I'll always have you." She recited, hands intertwined.

The usual smirk on Alex's face was replaced with a heartfelt smile, their gaze connected meaningfully. "And I, you." He laid a gentle kiss on the top of her hand.

Alexis and Alex stayed like that for a few more minutes, her head resting on his shoulder. Suddenly, a sound pierced through the peace —it came from Alex's stomach. Alexis laughed before tossing him her rations pack.

"Uh-huh. No. You two are not eating that." Farah walked in to snatch the rations away. Their mouths fell open, watching their favourite ration pack out of their reach.

"Hey! That was shrimp fried rice, proper good stuff!"

"Closest to gourmet." Alex backed her up. It was the tastiest ration pack. Alexis even secretly raided the base's stockpile to neat pick the most decent ones —there goes her efforts.

Farah tossed the unopened pack to Hadir, who caught it with ease and wiggled it higher when Alexis tried to reach for it. "You cannot win this war with... that." Hadir inspected it, face twisted with distasteful when he opened it, revealing an unappealing mash of rice compressed into a box.

Farah tugged on her wrist, already pulling her down the stairs. "If you don't throw it away, I will tell Captain Price about your horrible English accent.

Alexis groaned, "If this war wouldn't kill me, Price would."

"Better yet, he'll make you run the miles for real."

Her lips parted with a gasp, pointing accusingly as Farah continued to drag her down the stairs. "So you admit it was you!"

"Come." Hadir pulled away the agent who tried to jump Alex with a punch.

"We will show you the real gourmet."

taglist: @flyboidameron​

a/n: it was my birthday yesterday so i decided we need this fluff.... it's so 🥰. masterlist here. want to be tagged? let me know!

#call of duty x oc #call of duty x reader #echo 3-1 #alex cod #alex modern warfare #john price #kyle garrick #kate laswell #farah karim #hadir karim #simon ghost riley #future simon riley x oc #oc: alexandra prince #ysr writes: kl #killer instinct #modern warfare #tw: read warnings carefully #fanfiction #call of duty modern warfare

[lord-woolsley]

Stumbling Steps

Fandom: Dragon Age Inquisition (Dorian Pavus/Cullen Rutherford) Chapters: 1/1 (3105 words) Rating: Teen And Up Summary: Surrounded by at least 12 nobles Cullen had felt quite uncomfortable since they had arrived at the Winter Palace but with the evening progressing and the alcohol flowing his “suitors“ had become bolder. Cullen is in distress, Dorian saves the day. Rant: If you like it, please leave some love on ao3. ♡ Ao3: Link

Stumbling Steps

“Smile, Commander, you’re so handsome when you smile.“ “He’s just as handsome when he doesn’t.“

Cullen asked himself if the Maker intended to punish him for something. Maybe for leaving the Order, standing against the Chantry‘s will by supporting the Inquisition or more likely for the disaster that had happened in Kirkwall. That must have been it. The Maker probably blamed him for not seeing through Meredith’s grand scheme earlier or maybe he had done something wrong during his time at the Circle Tower in Ferelden and couldn’t remember anymore. Most of it was a blur anyway.

He had been the Templar recruit who had fled from the Hero of Ferelden after all because she – he still blushed thinking about it - had flirted with him. This here is what happens to guys that run away instead of facing their problems, he thought to himself.

He sometimes should have shown more initiative, he was aware of that. Blindly following orders had been his weakness in the past, one he was happy he had overcome.

Cullen didn’t know for which of these shortcomings he was punished here exactly but he had obviously done something very very wrong to deserve this.

Surrounded by at least 12 nobles he had felt quite uncomfortable since they had arrived at the Winter Palace but with the evening progressing and the alcohol flowing his “suitors“ had become bolder. Cullen was pretty sure someone had squeezed his butt just now.

“Did you grab...my bottom?“, he asked, his face flushed red but his voice angry. “I couldn’t help myself.“, the lady exclaimed, she sounded like she thought she was entitled to do to him whatever she desired. Nobles. He wanted to retch.

The woman didn’t seem to notice it or she just didn’t care. Cullen frowned and feared it was the latter because she was already holding out a hand again, trying to touch the scar on his lip. Cullen used his Templar training and dodged. He was being attacked here after all, not with weapons but with something far worse.

“Are you married, Commander?“ “Not yet... but I‘m already taken.“ It was a blatant lie but he had hoped some of them would show at least some respect considering the prospect of him being in a relationship. "Still single, then.“ Or not.

Why would he even think these people cared about someone being taken, had they harassed him the whole evening without any consent from his side, the opposite even. He doubted even a ring on his finger could have stopped or avoided this.

Cullen wanted to escape the Ballroom, run away and leave Halamshiral for good, doing exactly what he had done to the Hero of Ferelden all those years ago. He wanted to be a coward again. Corypheus, the Breach and the assassination attempt on Celene’s life be damned.

“You must dance with me, Commander, you cannot stand about all evening.“ “I‘m afraid not, thank you.“

This was definitely the woman who had grabbed his butt a few second ago. He would rather dance with an archdemon in Haven’s ruins with Solas watching and commenting on his bad posture instead of staying here for one minute longer. But he had to be polite and couldn’t risk to snap, Josephine‘s disappointment would be unbearable if he endangered their plan just because some nobles couldn’t keep it in their pants. Their cause was greater than this and he was the Commander of the Inquisition after all, he wouldn’t bow to some royals behaving abysmal.

The worst disappointment of the evening so far had been that the Inquisitor had witnessed some of the harassing and didn’t do or say anything about it. She had seen mostly the flirting, Cullen supposed. He was pretty sure Herah would have stepped in if she had witnessed someone touching him without his consent. But she hadn’t seen the extent of their actions and probably thought he was the victim of some annoying courting and bickering. No harm in that.

She had given him an apologetic look - pitiful even - and suggested he should talk to Josephine about it or Leliana if he wanted one of them assassinated. Leliana‘s methods were unconventional at least but the thought of an arrow through that horrible woman’s face was lightening his mood. Or maybe Josie could spread a handful of filthy rumors and destroy some reputations.

If he only knew where Lady Montilyet or Leliana were lingering tonight or if these suitors would let him go to search for one of them.

They had zeroed in on him and he couldn’t find the smallest gap to slip through, he was literally glued to the spot. He was being held captive by - it was embarrassing - a flock of noble ladies and their petticoats and even some gentlemen who were at least a bit more discreet, probably because they didn’t want to ruin their reputations.

He was their prey, a piece of meat, and they were hungry wolves that hadn‘t been fed for months, so it seemed.

Cullen was gazing at Herah who would soon leave him here to die - he wished for the sweet release of death at this point - Sera now seemingly glued to her side, chuckling and grinning like an idiot. Nothing unusual about that.

Inquisitor Adaar was red-faced and he was pretty sure Sera had just said something really dirty to her. About an empty broom closet and peaches and breeches. It even rhymed awfully. That must have been Seras attempt at seduction if he wasn’t mistaken completely. Not that he, by any means, was better at creating romantic phrases or paying compliments if they weren’t about the weather. She was definitely more forward than he would ever be.

His thoughts must have jinxed it because in that exact moment Sera started to make loud smooching noises. Cullen wasn’t sure if she intended to mock him or if she wanted to encourage Inquisitor Adaar for whatever awaited her in that broom closet.

Both women left his side eventually, fleeing from strangers approaching them, mostly nobles that thought it would be advantageous to be seen with the Herald of Andraste. He could understand it to an extent. Herah had it hard enough already, most nobles at Halamshiral didn’t treat a Qunari kindly. She deserved to get away from all this for a while.

Cullen could only guess what Sera and Herah were up to after Sera’s remark. The thought made him blush. At least the Inquisitor was having fun while he was suffering. He would rather have all the side effects of his Lyrium withdrawal all at once instead of being touched by strangers without manners.

He longingly stared after them, seeing Sera’s blonde hair disappear in the crowd. He was on his own now.

Cullen wished he could pay an empty broom closet a visit as well until the event was over. Sweet solitude.

"Commander, that woman you‘re in a relationship with, does she really exist?“, another lady asked and he knew he would start to blush and stutter any second in search for an excuse or an inscrutable lie.

But for the first time this evening he was lucky. When he saw Dorian stumbling to the buffet, alone, unoccupied and an empty wine glass in hand he saw his chance.

“Dorian, sweetheart, I‘m here.“ He waved at the mage and really hoped Dorian was either drunk enough not to notice his weird behavior or quick enough to catch up on the situation Cullen was currently trapped in.

The Tevinter shot him a confused look but came closer nevertheless.

“Here he is, my date, the person I told you about, the man I’m in a relationship with.“, Cullen stuttered, pointing at Dorian who was clearly trying to make sense of the situation.

“Ah, my Commander, I thought I had lost you.“ Thank the Maker Dorian was playing along. He was undoubtedly a smart man.

“Cullen, you can’t be serious?“, one of the ladies screeched in his ear, a painful noise leaving it ringing for multiple seconds. Leliana‘s ravens could learn a lot from this woman‘s high-pitched exclamation.

“Isn’t this the evil Tevinter Magister everyone was gossiping about the whole night? I know he’s with the Inquisition but we were warned about him, everyone said he should be avoided at all costs. He‘s no suitable company for someone as handsome and heroic as you.“

Hearing the word Magister Dorian rolled his eyes but he didn’t comment on it. Cullen could feel him correcting the term to „Altus“ in his head, followed by "Southerners, can’t recognize the difference between a dog and a cat.“

“That is for me to decide.“, Cullen said. "I‘m glad, Commander, otherwise this relationship would be rather one-sided, wouldn’t it be?“ Dorian was offering Cullen his arm to desperately cling to which to his own shame Cullen did.

“Amatus, you promised me a dance. I couldn’t find you until now but I‘m here to take you up on it.“ “Of course, love.“ Cullen was clearing his throat and was trying to shoot Dorian what he thought was an affectionate gaze.

One of the ladies actually had the indecency to grasp after Dorian‘s arm and was trying to shove him away from Cullen.

“I really wouldn’t do this if I were you.“, the mage said, voice sharp. "There‘s a clear lack of blood magic tonight for my taste. You wouldn’t want to witness some, would you? A real taste of a Tevinter party. I could arrange that.“

Cullen was always surprised how eloquent Dorian was and how he always found a way out of the most horrible situations. Using his status as the evil Tevinter mage everyone was making him out to be was risky but it definitely seemed to work in this case.

The woman - and many others of his suitors - looked shocked and were hiding their disapproval with throwing their hands to their faces to cover their eyes. Like this childish gesture could make Dorian vanish and disappear from the spot if they pressed their eyes shut hard enough.

“Scandalous.“, two were whispering to each other. “What a waste. A man like the Commander..., I didn’t know he shared certain quirks with the empress.“ “I wouldn’t let her hear you.“, Dorian said. "Or should I tell her myself?“ "She wouldn’t believe you, you‘re from Tevinter." "You really wanna try me? I can be pretty persuasive.", Dorian asked, his words a warning.

The lady was silent for a moment before she bowed her head, slowly shaking it.

“Of course not, I apologize.“, the woman said, clearly not meaning it. She was faking a smile which distorted her face into an ugly grimace behind her mask.

“As if these quirks are the only problem here, the evil Magister has clearly enchanted him.“, one of the gentleman said.

“With my charms and wits maybe. Or my handsome face.“, Dorian said smugly. “All assets you people are visibly lacking. And now if you would be so kind to excuse us, the Commander owes me a dance.“ “That I do.“ Cullen would grant Dorian all the dances in the world for saving him.

With their arms locked they left the Ballroom in search of a quiet spot for Cullen to recover. They were in luck, one of the balconies was empty and even had some free benches to rest on.

“What just happened?“, Dorian asked. „Apart from the obvious, of course.“ “I apologize for using you as my escape plan, Dorian, I am deeply sorry.“ “No, no, it‘s fine. Their behavior, horrible that. Reminds me of home. I wouldn’t even wish this on my father or the Venatori. Maybe on Corypheus though. He wouldn’t be able to destroy the world. Those ladies would never let him go. They would tear him to pieces with their prying gazes. Oh, Corypheus, you owe me a dance." Dorian was spinning his empty wine glass in his hand while speaking.

"Oh, I didn’t even let you get a new drink.“, Cullen said, trying to apologize. Again. ”That was obviously why you came inside, wasn’t it? And now you left empty-handed." "I wouldn’t exactly call this empty-handed. I‘ve got quite a handful." Dorian gestured to their linked arms, an amused grin spreading on his lips.

"Well, I had enough to drink for the evening anyway. I’m feeling a bit tipsy already.“, Dorian started "But let’s not change the subject over something so unimportant as an empty glass of wine - as good as the Orlesian stuff might be. I‘m just gonna get the whole bottle later." Dorian placed his empty glass on one of the benches.

"So, Commander, do tell. Why me? Wasn’t there someone else the Commander of the Inquisition could have faked an romantic involvement with? I‘m pretty sure the Lady Seeker was around somewhere." "... Nevermind, when I think about it now, she would have probably chopped your head off for the idea alone. I was the safer bet, no head chopping here. Even though: you’re aware this is enough for a scandal? You won’t be able to save yourself from the rumors. The evil Tevinter Magister", Dorian mentioned the wrong title with his typical annoyance "... and a man on top of that. We will be the talk of the evening, not even an assassination attempt can change that. In my experience Orlesians are that close-minded."

Cullen hadn’t thought of that, clearly. He had just wanted to get away from these people as far and as quick as possible, not taking the consequences into consideration. He needed to make this right at some point but this wasn’t the time for it neither could he do something about it while being trapped in the Winter Palace. This was Josephine’s strength, not his.

Cullen felt guilty for making Dorian an even bigger victim of Orlesian gossip even though he himself didn’t care too much about their insults if they only kept their physical distance. But maybe Dorian felt different about this.

“I‘m not ashamed of being seen with you, Dorian.“ Cullen said after a long moment of silence. He actually meant it.

“Oh, Commander, you do surprise me.“, Dorian said, faint smile spreading on his face. “It‘s nice having some company after all. You could think I smell of cabbages with everyone trying to stay as far away from me as possible. I was already at my seventh glass of wine when you saw me heading inside. I needed to keep myself entertained somehow. I was feeling rather lonely and a bit drunk now as well to be fair.“ “I‘m still glad you‘re here, Dorian. Can I make it up to you somehow? As a little thank you for saving me. Maybe even with the dance I promised to you earlier. I have to warn you though I‘m a terrible dancer. But one who keeps his word.“ “Are you sure? Dancing with the evil Magister, in full view of every noble in Orlais. How shocking.“ “They‘ll live.“, Cullen said.

He was surprised by his own confidence regarding the gossip. But that was the point, wasn’t it? It was nothing like idle hearsay after all and it wouldn’t bear any real problem for any of them. Especially not if they would manage to save the empress at the end of night. Orlais would be in debt to the Inquisition and only positive word of their members would spread.

“You say that now. If you can find me ten silk scarves, I‘ve got a dance that will really shock them.“ “I-", Cullen started “don’t know what to say to that. I just hope you‘re a better dancer than I am. In dances that don’t involve silk scarves that is.“

A red color was spreading from his cheeks to his throat while he was trying to get that picture of Dorian doing some erotic Tevinter dance out of his head. Without much success, he had to admit. Who would even say a thing like that? Dorian Pavus obviously.

"Oh, I am indeed.“, Dorian said, he didn’t seem to notice how flustered the Commander was at his words. Which was great, Cullen thought. It left him with the last pieces of his dignity still intact.

"Picture me a boy of 15, being forced by his mother to dance with every suitable lady in the room. You learn some things even if you don’t want to. But you see, it‘s of use now. Mother certainly wouldn’t approve of it now, as you can imagine. But enough talk. Let‘s dance.“

Dorian was bowing and offering his hand to Cullen. Every lady would have been envious of the perfection and grace with which Dorian executed that gesture. If it wouldn’t have been the evil Tevinter asking for a dance of course and some noble gentleman instead.

Cullen was certainly blushing because of Dorian’s performance but he took the mages hand in his own anyway and was instantly pulled into Dorian‘s grip whose fingers were placed on Cullen’s waist immediately.

“Is this okay for you, Commander? If this is too much physical contact after what you‘ve just been through, I understand. We can postpone our little dance or leave it be if that‘s more to your liking.“ “I’m good. You decide, Dorian.“

The mage shook his head and made some “Tsk, tsk.“ noises but started with slow and practiced steps even Cullen could follow.

“Thank Godness one of us has a little initiative.“, Dorian chuckled.

Cullen didn’t know if the nobility was actually watching them from inside the Ballroom but he didn’t lie, he couldn’t care less about it. He owed Dorian that dance and it was most definitely more pleasant than being trapped by harassing strangers, noble or not. He actually quite enjoyed himself after the horror of the last hours. A moment of peace with someone he liked.

“After our beautiful dance I’m actually quite sad you‘re not interested in men at all. A shame, that.“ “Yes, a shame.“, Cullen agreed without even thinking about it.

•

Suddenly one of the bushes next to the railing of the balcony Dorian and Cullen were dancing on started to chuckle and when both men followed the noise with their gazes to uncover its origin, they looked straight into the amused faces of Sera and the Inquisitor. Both women were trying to hide behind its leafs while failing miserably. Sera‘s laughter wasn’t exactly subtle either.

“So much for an empty broom closet.“, Cullen stated. Sera was grinning at him. “No, this is so much better." The Inquisitor nodded. “And here I was thinking our dear Commander would be the knight in shining armor tonight. How wrong I was."

#Cullrian #fanfiction #Dorian Pavus x Cullen Rutherford #Dorian Pavus #Cullen Rutherford #dragon age inquisition #dai #dragon age #da #dragon age fanfiction #writing #my writing #my stuff #ao3 #oneshot

[maxbradley]

Don’t Even

I can't stay here. I can't take any more of this imprisonment. I need to get out. Blindly I splash a glob of red ink onto the stretched canvas. Hot air escapes my quivering lips. I can barely breathe. I find myself searching for that box again… There's got to be something better tasting than this crap. I open a gilded window to let the thin trails slither out from my lit torch. Only when I can think clearly again I look back into the depths of my private studio. Well, actually, it's my bedroom. My dad's refused to set aside one of the countless rooms in the house for my only source of pleasure in this strange world. I take a deep token before coughing again; I keep on smoking to ease the mental tension, "I want to get out." This is only wishful thinking. I've always thought about running away, but then… I look at the stretched canvas again, running fingers across my mother's hair, deep red. I prop my hand's tips to the background and prod continuously and haphazardly to create blossoms on the leave's green. Wiping the ink away, cigarette still in my mouth, I take up a brush and dip it into oil paint, watching it create wild blue streaks around her, above her for the sky… A dove in her palm takes on a definitive look. I fight myself from changing her into an angel, wings and halo and everything. She needs to be alive.

With the color still drying I place the half finished work next to a raven, the yellow of its eyes staring me down. I try not to trip over a small stack of blank paper and pens on the floor, backing away to observe the rest. A myriad of senseless patterns and shapes and many hues overwhelms me. Yet, here in the isolation of my own little world, I'm home, away from Home. I can't just leave my art here! … I need more paint. "Master Bradley?" "Don't call me that, Yoli!" putting out the light against the window sill and striding across the hardwood floor to reach the door. I open it and poke my shagged hair out, "Something wrong?" It's a shame that my father would take this wonderful, exotic woman and reduce her to nothing more than a servant out of many in this estate. The afternoon sun glistened on dark mahogany braids and shone on her deep tan complexion. I barely paid attention to the direction of the corners of her bright red lips, "Bradley! You been smoking again??" She smelled the tobacco on me and within my room. No use trying to hide anything from her. Yolanda knows about life far more than I ever will. "Yes m'am." I about scoffed at my sad attempt at formality, "He doesn't care what I do." Her face nearly fell, "Don't say that, mi'jito." She places her sweaty palms to my face. I just realized I'm about her height now. "I'm sure he loves you very much. He just can't show it well." … You've got to be kidding me... I feign a smile. "Can you bring your dirty clothes to the laundry room for me?" She never buys it. Sometimes I wish she could. I need to work on my acting skills. ----- I force a part of my head through the iron gate and play "jail time" with my hands gripping the bars. You think I'm playing? Getting out is not as easy as asking, "Hey Dad—can you let me out? I wanna go somewhere." It's harder when you've developed the inability to make close friends that can bail you out. Whatever they spin about my dad, whatever wealth he might have—how famous he is among those big company names—I don't care. Not about what he has. Not what he is, either. I let go of the bars and whisk my way back to the mansion. My personal Alcatraz. What I wouldn't give to visit that place; we're all the way on the East Coast. New England. The place itself, where I live (unfortunately), is rather secluded. Walled in, whitewashed concrete slabs covered with ivy like an infestation. Nothing but trees with fallen leaves—a meadow practically—for a good 5 miles all around. It would be easy to follow the paved road to civilization… My dad would freak. He always wants me home, besides time away at school. His excuse? "I won't lose you like I lost your mother." I'm smiling now, peering up at the cotton clouds, shot with the brightest pink imaginable. It was almost nauseating, had it not been for the warm orange ribbons leaving their marks as well. Yeah; good plan, Dad. I don't want anything to do with you. A small breeze brushes my hair; it's in my eyes, "pfft!" … It's gotten chilly. I can't be back in there. Not now. I finally spot a foreign car parked next to our own on the opposite side of the gate… Not back there. ----- "Why are you here again?" That wasn't actually said; it was just thought out loud. A buxom woman settled in a seat a far ways next to me, I shuffling farther away. She let out a tiny pout before trying to get on my good side again, "Please, Bradley—let me get to know you this time;" I pull my hand away from hers, burning holes into her being with a leer— "You know me very well. I don't want you here!" This faceless lady flushed like the rest of them before distancing away, just in time for the host's entrance. "Is my son giving you any trouble??" I turn away from his stern face. "Not at all" she giggled. Makes me want to— Calloused, rough hands run through my hair. I can't tell whether he wants to harm me or comfort me, "Bradley. Pay your respects— One of the servants rolled in with the dinner cart and gave me a knowing look. I can't look my father in those soiled, mossy eyes. I bite my lip. "She's our guest." ". . . Yes, Sir." My appetite was long gone. My energies were spent on this lady. It was obvious she wanted to gain his intimate trust. "Business meeting" or not, she was a flirt. "Elaine" needs to get out of this house now, before she gets any ideas. Any attempts to reach me were answered by my cold shoulder. I'd only talk to her openly if he happened to be there at the table with us. I could see Elaine getting annoyed with me now. Finally; she should be going home … It was now a quarter past ten—long after our mundane meal. I've been spying on them ever since they left the dining room, after helping out wash some of the dishes (there was little else to do). What could my dad see in her? What chance could she have to be a replacement for— True to his word, they were talking about the adult world of business and nothing else, sharing their third glass of wine together. While wondering how he could ever control his drinking in front of his guests, it was time for this Elaine to leave. But not without a goodbye kiss. He returned it on the cheek before leading her out the door and into the yard; I stayed behind. To see what they might be doing now would be devastating. "Bradley?" Yoli startled me, "Why aren't you in bed?" "I don't have curfew." My baggy eyes weren't helping my cause. "Tomorrow's a school day, young man." ----- The light's still on in my room; I can't sleep. I felt a need to continue the painting of my mother. My angel. The reason why I exist! … There was no right to take her away so soon. If she had been there longer, "things could have gone differently." I had forgotten to check the time on my red digit analog clock. "Kid." My skin crawled when he opened the door. It was far too late to hide away my work, which my dad caught sight of. Clearing his throat, "She told me how rude you were being, Son." This was typical of most women. With their sweet deceitful wiles. It made me sick.

Alphonse Uppercrust is only a foot away from my perch on the stool. He strode past by me and felt around my open window, "What's this??" I continue dabbing the color back into Lillian's face. The gilded pane is shut just in time, "What are you doing?" "Painting." He grabs my collar to force eye contact—"No, kid." holding the discarded torch in front of my face, "Where'd the hell did you get this? At school?? On the street." My face is stone; I dare not say a word just yet... "Was it from one of them?" "You got a lot of nerve, Dad—bunching up your servants with criminals." He nearly threw me off the seat; I made it much easier on him and landed on my feet. He was right; a servant did sneak it to me, but only with a hefty bribe attached. We are filthy rich, after all. "You," he breathed, "have a lot of nerve to be talking back to me, Bradley Uppercrust. Don't forget where you came from, and don't forget who you're destined to become—I had to laugh at this new scrap of a monologue— "I came from Hell, and I'm destined to become another You? Not a chance—What now?? You're going to hit me again after 3 accident-free years?!" Dad was livid, hand raised and my back against the wall. The sight of my art to my left assured me that everything was going to be all right. I'm just glad he was still relatively sober for those moments. "… Son, I'm trying." No pity from me this time. "I really am." The hand goes down on my shoulder where he keeps a strong grip, "I'm not doing that anymore, the affairs. Don't worry. I've learned to control my fleeting emotions— Except when you're drunk—"Are you ever going to forgive me?" My neck still craned to see past his façade; I'm trying to see past the reddened eyes and the watering of his sockets—"No, Dad. Never." I wrench myself away from the wall and, out of personal rebellion, I fish out that box of independence, imagined freedom… 3 years of not hitting me when he's sober. That's a good record. I'm sure he felt bad after… I could see the dejectedness in his whole frame as I continued breathing in toxins, "What? You drink. I smoke. It's only fair." Immediately he resumed composure; weakness is not an option in this household if you want to survive for 16 years. "Know what, kid? I understand what you want now. You want to follow what the outside world has to offer. The common folk? I'll tell them to unlock the gate. You can get out of this house whenever you'd like. No restrictions. No curfew—I'll let you live your own life!" I've kicked off my shoes and sat in my bed, close to the backboard. My eyes and ears are open wide to this titillating information— "You've proven that you're so mature now. Let's all hope you make the best of it!!" The slamming of the door shocks the hallway. I'm puffing out rings and singing a little tune to celebrate a premature victory.

#bradley uppercrust #an extremely goofy movie #disney #fanfiction #headcanon #family #background info #prelude #family drama #teenager #bradley uppercrust iii

[lilacmoon83]

Lightning in a Bottle

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 17: Friction

Upon leaving the subway, Emma decided to run by the station out of sheer curiosity. She knew Killian didn't want her there and refused to tell who was really responsible for blowing the ATF operation.

She winced, as she listened to Killian be chewed out by ATF and saw Graham look up, meeting her eyes. The ATF agent stormed out and she exchanged a look with Killian, as he came out of the office too, heading for his desk.

"You can't fire Killian," she blurted out. Graham blew out a breath.

"They originally wanted his badge, but I'm trying to talk them down to just suspension," Graham said.

"Then there's something I need to tell you," Emma said, but Killian interrupted.

"Emma...can I see you? Now?" he asked. She scoffed and followed him out to his desk.

"I'm not letting you take the fall for my screw up," she hissed.

"Look Emma...I don't know what's going on with you, but Vance is watching," he warned. She had suspected that, but it was still a sobering fact.

"That's why you need to tell me what's going on. I know when you're hiding something and I think it has to do with the plane," he said.

"It does...but I can't. I'm sorry," she replied, as she fled the station, leaving him frustrated.

~*~

David knocked on his daughter's door and it wasn't closed, so he peered in.

"Hey...you mind if we talk?" he asked. She looked up from her phone and shrugged. He took that as an affirmative and sat down on the foot of her bed.

"So Mom told you?" Olive asked. He smiled.

"Well, your Mom and I don't really have secrets. You know us, we do everything together, especially when one of our kids is hurting and needs us," he replied, as he saw a tear slip down her cheek.

"I'm sorry Dad…" she said, as he gently wiped her tears away with his thumb.

"I'm such a screw up...and I didn't want you to see that," she confessed, as he hugged her and cradled her head against his chest.

"Lance...he knows what a train wreck I am and you still see me as a little girl," she said.

"And I'm not...I'm not that little girl anymore," she rambled.

"Hey…" he said gently, as he pulled back so he could look into her eyes.

"I'm never going to think less of you, no matter what you do," David assured her. She nodded.

"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have called Lance, because I'm really glad you're back," she confessed. He smiled and hugged her again.

"Me too...and I'm not going anywhere this time," he promised, as they heard Regina call from downstairs.

"Hello?" she called, as they emerged from her room.

"I hope I'm not intruding, but I thought a little ice cream was in order," she said, as they came down the stairs.

"Ice cream!" Henry called, as he came bounding out of his room with Margaret on his heels.

"How goes the Death Star?" David asked, as he joined up with her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh, it definitely takes a backseat to ice cream," she said, as they went into the kitchen together.

"Emma should be along soon. I got her some rocky road," Regina said, as Margaret put it in the freezer.

"Thanks," she said.

"So...I assume everything is working out for our stowaway?" David asked.

"For now," Emma said, as she arrived home.

"He's safe for the time being, but I told Bethany that we're going to have to find a way to get him out of the city, because I think Vance is onto the whole thing," she added, as they all started eating their ice cream.

"So how are things at the station?" Margaret asked. The blonde looked at her.

"How do you know I went to the station?" Emma asked. Margaret tilted her head to the side and Emma rolled her eyes.

"You're practically my oldest, same age child. Trust me...I know you," she said, making David chuckle and earn a glower from his sister.

"Shut up," Emma grumbled.

"Fine…I went there and it's not good," she replied.

"I want to take responsibility...but he won't let me. He says Vance is watching," she said.

"Yeah, he definitely is, along with that Mr. Gold. He's even more mysterious," Regina mentioned.

"He asked me what was going on...but I told him that I can't tell him," Emma said.

"That's probably for the best, Em. It's hard for some people to swallow," David replied.

"That's easy for you to say...you have someone to talk to when you get Callings," she retorted. She sighed.

"I'm sorry...this is just frustrating. I mean, I really blew it and if Killian doesn't lose his badge, he's getting suspended for sure," she lamented, as Margaret put an arm around her shoulders and then looked at her husband.

"Maybe letting Killian in on this wouldn't be so bad. I mean, he was almost family," she said.

"No…David is right. We don't even know what these Callings are. We don't even know if they're good," Emma said.

"But...they've helped both of you do good things," Margaret said.

"For now," Regina chimed in.

"But she has a point. Can we just blindly follow these voices without question?" she asked.

"We need to be cautious...but we're getting these Callings for a reason," he reminded them.

"Something happened on that plane and listening to the Callings might be the only way to figure out what," David said. And none of them could disagree with that.

"I'm gonna get some air," Emma said, as she put her ice cream away and left on a walk.

"I hope so...I think I'm going to go back to the hospital for a while and study the MRI's a bit more," Regina said, as she bid them goodnight and left.

"Okay you two...finish up and then upstairs for bed," Margaret said, as she put their dishes in the sink. David put his arms around her and kissed her cheek.

"She's right, you know…" he mentioned.

"Mmm…" she hummed in agreement.

"I have you...and even though you weren't on the plane, you're completely understanding. You always help me and support me, no matter what. I know most of the other people on the plane can't say that about their spouses that weren't with them," he said.

"And I always will help and support you, my love. You're my life...you and our babies," she replied, as he kissed her tenderly.

"And I am the luckiest man on this Earth because of you," he said, as they shared a smile.

"Emma will be fine. She may not have a lover there for her right now, but she has us and she always will," she reminded him.

"As usual...you're right," he agreed.

"Mmm...a woman never tires of hearing that," she teased, as he pulled her into his arms.

"Come on...let's go to bed," she said in a sultry tone, as she took his hand and led him to the bedroom.

~*~

Emma walked briskly through the streets and was unsurprised when she found herself back in front of the Angel of the Waters fountain.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, as she stood there for quite some time in silent contemplation.

~*~

Vance stormed into the conference room, where Mr. Gold sat with a photo of the known stowaway, Thomas Struck, on the screen.

"I take it that you have no developments in this case," Gold commented.

"My request to bring in Regina Mills for questioning on this matter was denied," Vance said.

"Well, that makes sense. It isn't unusual for Regina Mills to be at her place of employment. I am sure it's a mere coincidence that Thomas Struck was being treated at this same hospital," Gold stated. Vance gave him a skeptical glare.

"Do you really believe that?" he asked. Gold smirked.

"There is no such thing as a coincidence," Gold responded.

"On that, we agree…" Vance said, as he looked at the photo.

"What about the flight attendant?" Gold asked.

"In the wind, for now. But we'll get her and I'm sure she knows exactly where Mr. Struck is," Vance replied.

"As for the Nolans...they're somewhere deep in this too," he added.

"Oh, that is for sure and that's exactly why we should let them be for now. They're the key to all of this...I'm convinced of it," Gold responded.

"You think they know what happened or caused it?" Vance questioned.

"Oh no...they have no idea where they were during that time nor did they cause any of it to happen. But they have been chosen by whatever is responsible to carry out its will," Gold replied.

"Its will? Whose will? God? Extraterrestrials? A flying spaghetti monster? Satan?" Vance rattled off derisively.

"I don't know...but the Nolans are not the enemy. Regardless of what it is...it will serve you well to accept that something larger than all of us is responsible. I think good or bad is a little black and white. I prefer to make my deals in an area of gray," Gold said.

"Do you always speak in code or riddles?" Vance questioned in annoyance.

"It keeps things interesting," Gold quipped.

"Be that as it may, Mr. Gold...your deal with the United States government hinges upon results and so far, you have none," Vance replied.

"Are you saying that you no longer require my services?" Gold asked, but Vance was silent. They had nothing, but without Gold, he felt they would continue to have nothing.

"That's what I thought. Sit back and relax, Director. The show is just beginning," Gold replied, as they looked at the photos of the Nolans on the screen.

~*~

Margaret giggled, as she and David came out of the bathroom that morning, wrapped in towels, fresh from the shower.

"Oooh...that was a fun shower," she said playfully, as he put his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.

"Really fun," he agreed in a husky voice and she turned in his arms so she could kiss him.

"So...more job hunting today? I can drop Henry off with your dad if you need me to," she said, as they started getting dressed.

"Actually, I've put my resume out there and it's mostly a waiting game right now. I can take him and spend the day. We'll do guy stuff," he replied.

"He will love that," she said fondly, as they finished getting ready and headed out to the kitchen, hand in hand. They weren't surprised to see that the kids were up, but they were surprised by what was on the news, though they probably shouldn't have been.

"Looks like they went to the press, after all," Olive said.

"And if you're just joining us, we're talking with Wall Street mogul, Leopold Blanchard. Mr. Blanchard is the father-in-law and grandfather to two flight eight-two-eight passengers, David Nolan and his son Henry," the reporter said.

"I'm going to kill him," Margaret said, as her husband and son's photos flashed on the screen.

"Mr. Blanchard is the father of Mr. Nolan's wife, Margaret, who was not on the plane with them. Margaret has been estranged from her father for many years and last night, made quite the spectacle at her father's residence," the reporter said.

"What is this? Gossip 101?" Olive said.

"Mr. Blanchard...can you tell us what occurred?" the reporter asked, as Leopold was there for an in person interview in his best two thousand dollar Armani suit.

"Yes...well, I invited Margaret and her family to my home for a dinner party. When she agreed, I was hoping that this would be a new beginning for our family," he said.

"It sounds as though things didn't go as planned," the reporter said.

"I'm afraid not. Margaret accused me of trying to use her family for some kind of publicity stunt," he explained.

"Because that's exactly what you're doing!" Margaret cried at the television, as David put his arms around her waist.

"Margaret has always been headstrong and I should have expected her overreaction," he continued.

"Okay...now I want to kill him," David said in annoyance.

"Yes...we've read the stories. Margaret was living with her now husband at a very young age, wasn't she?" the reporter asked.

"Yes...naturally, I was very worried about that kind of activity at her young age, but she defied me at every turn. She took the steps though at sixteen and emancipated herself. However, I really wanted to put all that ugliness behind us, but she didn't give me the chance," Leopold said and Margaret scoffed at that.

"Do you think she or her husband are hiding something? Concerning the plane?" the reporter asked.

"Here we go," David muttered.

"I don't know...it's possible as the whole thing is very mysterious. Margaret also never moved on when David went missing. She refused to do so. However, I wanted to overlook it all and make a gesture of goodwill," he said.

"Yes...you have an announcement of sorts, right?" the reporter asked.

"Yes…I wanted to tell her that I was going to make a donation to the pediatric wing of the hospital that is treating my grandson, in his name, of course," Leopold said, as a large check was produced for show.

"That is very generous of you," the reporter said.

"No it's not...this will get him free publicity for a year and drive up his stocks," Margaret said. She knew her father could care less about charity. It was simply a means to make himself look like a good person.

"It's the least I can do. I've only met my grandson once now, but he is a fine young man and with this new treatment, he will have a new lease on life. I only hope that I get to meet him again," Leopold said.

"And just like that...I win the worst daughter of the year award," Margaret said, as she flipped off the television and stormed to her bedroom. David sighed and got the cereal boxes out.

"I got it, Dad…" Olive said, as she proceeded to get a quick breakfast for her and Henry.

"Thanks Ollie," he said, as he kissed her head and then went to comfort his wife.

"Hey…" he said, as he sat down on the bed beside her.

"Why can't he just stay out of our lives," she sniffed.

"People in power don't like it when they don't get their way," he reasoned, as she turned to him and let him pull her into his arms.

"Hey...why don't you take the day off?" he suggested, but she shook her head.

"It's too late to get a sub," she said, as she kissed him.

"I'll be fine...I just wasn't expecting him to do that, but I should have been. He loves good press and if he can turn the plane into a good thing for him, then he will," she added.

"Maybe you should talk too. Tell the reporters what he did to us or tried to do," he suggested.

"You know that we'll still come off looking like the unruly teenagers and he will come off looking like the strict, but caring father," she said, shaking her head.

"I tell them he was neglectful and all they'll see is a poor little rich girl living in a mansion with caretakers and servants," she said.

"I tell them that I was in love, despite our young age and all they'll see is two teenagers sleeping together and living together in high school. There is no way we come out of that looking good," she lamented, as she rested her head on his shoulder and slipped her arms around his neck.

"Yeah, they didn't understand our love then so I doubt they will now," he agreed.

"And now he's throwing money at the hospital and I'm just the ungrateful daughter that cut him out of my life and kept his grandchildren from him," she said.

"Screw 'em," he said, as he looked into her eyes.

"We know the truth. We know the kind of man he really is and exactly why he's doing this. It has nothing to do with Henry's well being and everything to do with his business," he replied. She smiled.

"You, me and Em against the world again," she mused.

"Plus two now," he said, adding the kids.

"Three if you include my new step-sister. That's wild...my mother never mentioned knowing Cora," she replied.

"Well, from what I remember about your mother, I doubt she and Cora would have been friends," he said and she hummed in agreement.

"Well…I guess we should get going. I can drop Olive at school. You're okay with Henry today?" she asked.

"Yeah sure...maybe we'll go to Coney Island. He'll love that," he replied.

"That sounds way more fun than work," she said, as they joined hands and saw their kids putting their cereal bowls in the sink.

"Are you ready?" Margaret asked their daughter, as she got her bag.

"Yeah...and I'm sure Dad already told you, but screw the haters, Mom, especially Leopold. We have one grandfather and that's grandpa Robert," Olive said, as they shared a hug.

"Thanks baby," she said, as David hugged her too.

"Have a good day at school, peanut," he replied, as the boys saw them off.

"So...what are we doing today?" Henry asked excitedly.

"Well, we could go bowling...or Coney Island," David replied.

"Coney Island!" Henry called, as they high fived.

"Okay...get your bag. It's guys day out," he replied, as he watched his son run up to get his stuff and then watched his wife and daughter drive off. He hoped they had a good day and really hoped this was truly the end with Leopold. He knew that was probably wishful thinking, but he at least hoped that Margaret's estranged father wouldn't cause them anymore trouble.

#Snowing #SnowxCharming #Snowing AU #Charming family #Emma #Regina #Henry #Manifest #with a Once twist #romance #adventure #family #drama #angst #Lightning in a Bottle

[blueroseblaze]

Question (Nero x Reader)

Request: No

Word count: 2289

Warnings: Reference to sex

Nero had pumped the breaks on the van, causing it to roll to a steady stop. He put the van in park but didn’t turn off the ignition right away, letting the engine purr and the headlights illuminate ahead for just a bit longer. He leaned back in his seat and looked out the windshield.

Nero had driven you both out of the city, not too far, but far enough that the concrete jungle had disappeared behind you. It wasn’t uncommon for calls to come from outside the city, for you to climb in and go for a road trip to the mountains to take care of a particularly nasty demon. And you liked it out there. It was quiet, tranquil, freeing. You wished you could stay out of the city longer.

He had taken you to a certain spot, a lovers lane like road that allowed you to look at the beautiful ocean of lights radiating from the cityscape. You had forgotten about rampages of hell beasts that plagued the city from time to time. From this spot you couldn’t hear the screams or the violence.

He had switched off the van’s engine but left the battery on, so the radio lights still lit up the dashboard. You let the stillness and darkness inside the vehicle embrace you both. While you had no idea what you were doing here, you had to admit it was comfortable, being with Nero sitting in silence. It reminded you of the quiet evenings where you would both just lie in bed together and listen to whatever music you felt like listening to, maybe swapping some stories or jokes too.

But eventually you had to cave.

“Okay, I give up,” you said, “What are we doing here?”

Nero smirked and turned his eyes away from the windshield to look at you.

“Can’t I spend some alone time with the person I love?” He asked.

“Yes, you can. But we normally just hang out in your room. It feels like your planning something and you’re not one to do grand romantic gestures.”

Nero placed his devil breaker on his chest, clutching at his shirt and feigning shock and horror. He wore an overly dramatic look on his face and sucked in a theatrical gasp.

“Why my lady, you wound me!” he cried in an over the top posh accent.

You laughed and reached over to slug him in the arm playfully, he dropped his act and laughed along with you. Your laughter died down and before the silence could turn awkward, Nero reached out and tuned the radio to a slow rock station, he turned the volume down until it the acoustic guitar chords were just background noise. You listened to the lyrics as the artist sang about someone so beautiful, they couldn’t even describe it coherently. You looked at Nero, who swayed his head to the slow rhythm, a soft smile gracing his perfect face. You couldn’t help but smile too.

“I like this song,” he said, his voice hoarse and low, as if he spoke the words before his brain could even produce them.

“Yeah?” you asked. Nero’s tastes normally didn’t run towards sappy love ballads.

“Yeah,” he replied, “It makes me think of you.”

You felt you cheeks heat up and you turned away from him to hide your surprised expression. You reached up and nervously played with your hair, the same way Nero would scratch at his nose when he was nervous or acting shy.

“I think you’re beautiful, (Y/N),” he said. His voice held a matter of fact tone to it, like there was no debate or hint of irony in what he said, yet when you heard it you could feel all the love he felt in his words. You rubbed the back of your neck as you forced yourself to look at him. He was smiling at you, clearly amused by your shyness, but also enamored by you. It was amazing to you how much you could mutually love someone yet still act like a shy lovestruck teenager.

A few more moments of quiet went by, the only sound filling the van was the radio. You felt the cool metal of Nero’s devil breaker caressing the back of your hand to gain your full attention.

“(Y/N), look at me,” he said a tiny bit more stern, just to let you know he really wanted your full attention.

You were finally able to look him in the eyes and you were immediately lost in the beautiful blue irises. When you made eye contact, he seemed to lose all confidence. As he stared into your eyes, every self-assured organized thought seemed to melt together in his head, creating a jumble of emotional sentence fragments barely able to describe how he really felt.

You smiled as he began to stutter through his words. You could see in his face that he was so prepared, so ready to spill what he was feeling. You felt sympathy at the frustrated expression that appeared on his face as you reached to grip the devil breaker in your hand. He froze as he felt you grip his hand and looked back to you. With the opportunity open you seized his face in both your hands and brought him in for a kiss.

Though you had closed your eyes you could sense Nero’s were the size of dinner plate. He stayed stock still as you initiated, moving you lips against his. Eventually he relented. You could feel his whole body relax as he began to kiss you back, his lips moved against yours, opening and closing as he poked out his tongue to tease your lips.

He moved his hands up your arms, pulling you closer to him. Although it was awkward with the open space between the front seats. He did let that stop him, as he blindly reached for your seat belt buckle and loosening it. With your upper body freed he was able to wrap an arm around your waist and pull you close, almost sitting in his lap. His mouth never left yours, your lips still dancing together in a sensual harmony as both your bodies began to heat up. His tongue fought against yours and neither of you could help the soft moans that escaped you.

You removed one of your hands from his face and moved it to tug down at his shirt, your finger twisting around his necklace. Unsatisfied with the progress there you moved your hand to underneath his coat, resting it on his shoulder briefly before trying to push it off his body.

You felt Nero smiled against your mouth and give a breathy chuckled when he realized what you were trying to do. He pulled his lips away from your, but he didn’t pull away entirely. His nose still brushed against your and pressed your foreheads together, eyes perfectly at level.

“Do you remember how pissed Nico was when she found out what we did in the back a few months ago?” he asked smugly and slightly out of breath from the kiss.

You couldn’t help but giggle at his question as you remembered Nico finding an abandoned pair of panties on the floor of the van along with a few condom wrappers. Nero – being the cheeky little shit he was – tried to pocket your underwear as a sort of trophy, much to your annoyance, only to have them fall out of his jacket pocket when you two dressed and left the van. You both thought you had been so sneaky. Eventually Nico found out and forbade sex in the van from that day onward.

“Yes,” you replied.

“Maybe we shouldn’t incur her wrath again,” he said, “Besides, that’s not why I drove you out here.”

“Did you finally realize I was an undercover demon and we’re here for you to shoot me under cover of night?” you joked.

Nero laughed again as he pulled you in tighter and lounged against his seat. Not the most comfortable position in the world but as you rested your head against his shoulder you couldn’t bring yourself to care.

“Don’t joke like that,” he chastised.

“Then why are we here?” you asked.

Nero took a deep breath as he looked around the van again, you could tell he was trying really hard not to lose his cool again.

“(Y/N),” he started, “We’ve been together for a long time and we’ve been through a lot. At first, I didn’t think anyone would want to put up with the shit I do but you not only put up with it but you’re actively a part of it. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

He paused for a moment, but you didn’t say a word.

“And I’m glad that you’re in my life,” he continued, “And I’m glad I’m in yours, and there’s only one way I can think of to really make sure it stays that way.”

You looked at him incredulously, wondering where he was going with this.

He gestured his head toward the passenger side, and you followed his gaze.

“Open the glove compartment,” he said.

You separated from him and settled back into your seat to reach for the glove compartment. You opened it and stared into the piled of papers and trinkets that were thrown in there over time. You began to rifle through the junk as you felt Nero’s eyes on you.

“What am I looking for?” you asked still raking through the expired vehicle registrations.

“You’ll know…” he said cryptically.

You rolled your eyes at his response and continued digging. After pushing away more junk you felt your fingers brush against a small velvet object. You grabbed it and pulled out the little thing. You looked at what you soon realized was a small box. You held it with both hands as the realization slowly set in. You looked to Nero, who silently urged you to open it.

Almost shakenly, you opened the hinged box and gasped when you saw the silver banded ring inside. You instantly recognized the ring in the box. It was one of Nero’s old silver rings that he had stopped wearing a while ago. When you had asked what had happened to it, he brushed you off and said it was damaged and he took it to a shop to repair it.

Even though you knew it was his it was wildly different. The Order insignia was gone, shaves off and replaces with an intricate carving that expanded all over the band. Gracing the top was a milky white gemstone. You had no idea what it was. A quartz, maybe opal? You didn’t know but you didn’t care either. You marveled at how the stone shined even in the dim light.

You peeled your eyes away from the box and back to Nero, who you realized was staring at you this entire time. He had a genuinely sweet smile on his face and an overall expectant look with a hint of concern and anxiousness.

“You like it?” he asked, “I was worried that just changing the size of one of my own rings was just cheap, so I wanted to make it extra special.”

You said nothing, still speechless as the conclusions you made in your head started to become vindicated.

“Try it on,” Nero urged.

With shaking hands, you carefully pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it on your left ring finger. It fit perfectly and gave you the opportunity to really admire the ring. You could even see the cut lines where the ring was resized.

You were too busy marveling at the ring to notice Nero slip his left hand around yours. The warmth of his real hand in yours finally made you break, and you felt tears prickle at the corners of you eyes. Nero wrapped his other hand around your, encasing your hand in the warm embrace of his. His fingers squeezed your hand tightly as you looked into his eyes again.

“You were right,” he said, “I’m not one for grand sweeping gestures, so I won’t go on a huge speech again. I just have one question.”

All you could do was nod your head slightly.

“(Y/N), will you marry me?”

You felt the tears finally roll down your cheeks as you lunged at him from your seat, locking your arms around his neck sending his back into the drivers side door. You happily sobbed into his neck repeating, “yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” over and over again.

Nero laughed out loud at your response and returned your embrace, wrapping both his arms around your back, holding you tightly to his chest. He hugged you while planting kisses all over the side of your neck and your cheek. He rocked you both back and forth as you continued laughing and crying with joy.

Soon you pulled away, your cheeks still hurting from smiling so hard and wet from your happy tears. You leaned into Nero’s hand when he reached to wipe them away with his thumb. Only for him to pull you into another kiss, this one more chaste and quick but still just as passionate.

You smiled at each other, both of you admiring the others beauty.

After what felt like an eternity going by in seconds, Nero settled back into his seat and you into yours. You leaned over resting your head on his shoulder as he restarted the ignition and put the van into reverse. He stroked your hair as the two of you pulled away from your spot and started the drive back home. Both of you smiling like dope the whole way.

A/N: So pretty much everyone wanted to see the fluff when I asked what people wanted to see. Might make a part 2 if people like this one but we’ll see. Hope you all liked it, I know its a little long but I’m a stickler for details. Thanks for reading and I love and appreciate feedback :)

#dmc #devil may cry #dmc 5 #devil may cry 5 #dmc 4 #Devil May Cry 4 #nero #dmc nero #nero x reader #dmc nero x reader #fluff #fanfiction #fanfic #dmc fanfiction #devil may cry fanfic #my post #my fanfiction

[writinginstardust]

Do Anything | Part 2

Pairing: Tyler Jones x reader

Warnings: Implied/referenced torture, swearing

A/N: I said this was just going to be 2 parts, I know. But it’s 4 parts now! I don’t know what happened either but it gives my the chance to write more angst. And I’m very sorry but things do not get happy until the final part so sorry. However it is very close to finished so I won’t leave you hanging for too long.

Word Count: 3037

*

“Get up.” I didn’t. I could, just barely, but it wouldn’t make a difference if I followed their orders or not. That was just one of the things I’d learned in the past month. At least, I thought it was a month. It could have been longer, it could have been less. Keeping track of time was tough and not exactly a priority most of the time.

“Did you hear me? Move.” A disruptor rifle jabbed into my ribs and I had to bite back a scream when pain flared through my side. Most of my ribs had been broken for at least a week and a half. That was the last time they’d tried to get me to talk. They’d mostly left me alone since then, only letting me out of this room occasionally to shower which was surprisingly nice of them. I’d thought it was some new tactic the first time but so far it hadn’t been.

The pain eased slightly and I turned my head to look at the TDF agent who was standing over me. She looked bored. I hated her more for it. It’s one thing to be an asshole and deliberately hurt someone, but being bored by my pain and misery? Fuck. Her.

“Come on. Don’t you want to see your boyfriend?” The sudden panic I felt must have shown on my face. She smiled. A sadistic smile that made my heart clench, but still a smile. I wasn’t sure I didn’t prefer the boredom. “Get up.”

I did this time.

“Where is he? What have you done to him?” I couldn’t help but ask, my voice scratchy and hoarse from disuse and screaming. That landed me with a blow to the stomach and I had to fight the urge to throw up as I doubled over in pain. It took several long moments before I could stand upright again. I glared at her but she didn’t seem bothered in the slightest and simply walked towards the door, beckoning for me to follow.

“I thought you’d have learned by now not to ask questions.” And I had. But just the mention of Tyler had rendered everything else unimportant, even my own pain. Every step forward was still agonising but I pushed it aside. Tyler was here, or he was close at least. Was that good or bad? Was he okay? Had the TDF caught the whole squad? Was he going to suffer now even after I’d tried to spare him from it? Or were they just going to kill us all now? Too many questions. Too many horrible possibilities I didn’t want to contemplate but couldn’t stop dwelling on. There didn’t seem to be any scenario in which seeing Tyler again right now was good.

I didn’t pay attention to where we were going, all of my focus was on putting one foot in front of the other and staying upright. The woman in front of me stopped abruptly and I almost crashed straight into her. Looking up, I saw that we were in front of one of the grav-lifts. That was odd. Everywhere they’d taken me since I got here was on this deck.

The doors opened and she shoved me inside where another agent was waiting. My heart hammered in my chest and I started shaking on instinct. This was one of the guys who had given me most of my injuries. The one who’d got a bit too enthusiastic and almost killed me. I was actually thankful when little miss bored followed me inside. She was awful too but I felt safer with her there. Maker, what had my life become?

It only took about 10 seconds for us to reach the right deck but it felt like years with that agent so close by. As the girl who’d come to get me stepped out, I saw where we were. The place my nightmare had begun. The docking bay.

-

“I love you,” I said, looking up at Tyler, so nearly safe on the Longbow. I knew he couldn’t hear or say it back but I needed to say it anyway. I blindly felt for the pistol on the control panel in front of me and raised it with a shaking hand. He was still close enough for me to see him clock the action and his yell was all that remained when Cat blasted the ship away in the next second.

I heard a commotion behind me as I turned the pistol on myself, surprised none of them had done it themselves yet. A crack and splitting pain through my skull and the world went black.

I woke up with several sets of hands on me, dragging me up none too gently. Someone had hit me. My shot missed. I was still alive. I wanted to scream but it was all I could do to stay conscious.

“Put her in a cell and someone get our weapons online and restart the engines!” There was yelling all around and it felt like receiving blows to the head again and again and again as I was dragged away. I knew whatever came next wasn’t going to be good but I couldn’t help feeling some grim satisfaction. Zila and I had done our jobs well. They weren’t going to be able to shoot or give chase anytime soon. The squad would be safe. Tyler would be safe. That was all that mattered.

The further we walked, the quieter it got. My pounding head was glad of it but my stomach dropped as the high of successfully saving my friends wore off. All that was left in its wake was fear and dread. I had no way out this time. I’d missed my chance. They weren’t going to let me die, not for a while at least, or they’d have killed me then and there on the docking bay. No, this, this was going to be much worse.

-

I tried to pull myself from my reverie there but couldn’t. The memories wouldn’t stop coming. They weren’t clear, just quick flashes steeped in pain and fear that resurfaced now. I could feel every moment of pain, every injury inflicted - the ones that had healed and the ones I was left to suffer through now. No medical attention for prisoners of war. Who knew just how badly I was really messed up now, how many bones were trying to heal in the wrong place. If I ever did get out of this place, I knew the nightmare wouldn’t end there. Even if I could keep the memories at bay, my body would be a constant reminder of it all. In that first week, I’d dreamed and allowed myself to hope I might survive and get out one day but as the days wore on, those dreams had shattered and my hopes diminished. Now I only dreamed of oblivion. Once, that had been a curse, now, it only felt like a blessing.

The agents brought me over to a small ship. A ground to orbit shuttle. I was getting off this ship. What the fuck was going on?

“Where are we going?” I asked as I sat down and buckled up, only remembering a second too late what happened when I asked questions. I braced myself for a blow but none came. Opening my eyes I saw little miss bored smirking at me. Enjoying my fear. Maker, I fucking hated her so much.

“We’re going to see your boyfriend.” She’d enjoyed tormenting me with mentions of Tyler since this all started and I’d stopped trying to correct her on our relationship. There wasn’t any point. They’d all heard me say I loved him and that was enough to deem him a worthy subject in the psychological torment. It was one of her favourite plays and the one I hated most. I could handle the physical pain but thinking about him hurt more than anything else.

“He’s got something we want,” she continued. “And we’ve got something he wants back.” Oh. Oh no.

I knew even without the very deliberate look she gave me what she meant. He wanted me. And there was only one thing the TDF and GIA wanted enough to set me free. Auri. Tyler was going to give them the very thing they wanted, the only thing that could stop the Ra’haam, just to get me back. If I wasn’t so horrified at the implications of it, I would have been touched at how much he was willing to risk for me. Even despite that, my heart clenched painfully. If Tyler was willing to do something this reckless, he must have been hurt bad. I hated it but I was going to have to hurt him more. I couldn’t let him do this. My life wasn’t worth the entire galaxy. He’d understand eventually.

The shuttle engines started up. I didn’t have long to think of a plan. Trying to do so proved incredibly difficult. My head had been in a constantly fuzzy state for weeks now and I hadn’t been making any real effort to make it work properly. Even if I could, the less aware I could be, the better. I did manage one clear thought though. If I was going to stop this, I’d have to die. Reasoning with either side would never work. But how to do it?

Every agent around me had a disruptor pistol but buckled in and surrounded as I was, I’d never be able to steal one, let alone use it. They needed me alive now so I couldn’t even hope one of them might shoot me themselves. Causing the ship to crash somehow was out of the question for the same reason. I had nothing to hand that could do any real damage and the second I even reached for the buckle, one of them would just knock me out. I’d have to do something after we landed. Then at least I’d have less restriction and far more options. I couldn’t plan now, I didn’t know the variables, but there was sure to be something I could do. It was just a shame I couldn’t take little miss bored and the over-enthusiastic asshole with me. Maybe Tyler could do something about that. And maybe having to wait was for the best. Maybe then I’d at least get to see Tyler one last time.

The journey only took a couple of minutes and the sudden force of real gravity pressing down on me again when we landed was something else. I never thought I’d miss it. Sure it made my body feel heavier than it had in a while - I guessed the force was stronger on this particular planet, but it made me feel alive for the first time in a month. This was something real, something as yet unruined by the nightmare my life had become.

Stepping out of the shuttle, my heart sank. We were at what would usually be a fairly busy spaceport from the looks of it. Not today though. The TDF had completely cleared it out and secured the area for at least a mile on all sides. It was absolutely packed with troops, all of them armed to the teeth and on high alert. I had a moment of pride and satisfaction at just how much they felt was necessary to go up against 7 teenagers. But then I looked harder and worry started to creep back in.

There were multiple ships running though stationary and more patrolling the skies. From the particular whirr coming from them, I could tell their weapons systems were primed. Ground defences capable of taking out an entire battle cruiser sat along the perimeter and there was no way those would normally be at a spaceport like this. And to top it all off, the GIA themselves were here, a lot of them. Obviously the GIA were in control of all this and everything that happened to me in the last month, but none had shown their faces since Octavia, the TDF doing their dirty work for them instead. But they were here now and that could not be good. I was starting to wonder just what exactly their deal with Tyler entailed and whether any of us were going to get out of this alive. It seemed less and less likely by the second. Would the Longbow even make it to the ground, or would they just shoot them out of the sky and finish me off right after?

An agent holding a uniglass broke from what looked like the command crowd and walked towards me. As she drew closer, I saw a hologram beaming from it and recognised Tyler immediately. I nearly wept at the sight and it wasn’t even really him, just a light rendering that could never hope to do justice to the real thing.

“See for yourself,” the girl said and turned the uniglass to face me. I did cry then. The moment Tyler’s eyes registered me and the leader mask dropped, the tears started pouring out.

“(Y/N),” he breathed out as if he really couldn’t believe it was me. I knew how he felt.

“Like we said, she is alive and present. We’ve held up our end of the deal, now show us the girl.” I could tell Tyler wasn’t listening to a word she’d just said but her words snapped me back to the grim reality.

“Tyler, don’t do this,” I begged frantically. It might be my only chance to save him now. “It’s not worth it. I’m not worth it. Please don’t do this. Just turn around and leave while you still ca-” Something hard cracked into my ribs and cut my words off with a pained gasp. I fell to me knees in agony, struggling to breathe through the stabbing in my chest. Tyler’s yells registered dimly through the haze but they were getting fainter as the agent walked away again.

It was just as I finally got my breath back that I heard the loud hum of a ship coming in to land. I knew it was the Longbow but couldn’t bring myself to look up just yet. Maybe if I didn’t, it wouldn’t be real. At least they’d been allowed to land safely. But that raised more worries than it eased.

Who knew how much the TDF was in on here and how much the GIA wasn’t telling them. Maybe they didn’t know much and were being true to their word. Maybe they didn’t see any reason to kill us all but the GIA certainly did. So why weren’t they? Was it something to do with Auri? Were they going to try and use her for something? Not a single possibility seemed remotely good.

A hiss finally drew my attention up. The Longbow’s airlock opened and the ramp extended. I barely heard it all over the pounding of my heart. Tyler was there. So close and yet so far away.

Five of them filed out. Tyler leading followed closely by his sister, Zila, Auri, and Kal bringing up the rear. They were all grim-faced, determined set to their jaws, murderous glints in their eyes.

They fanned out a few feet in front of the ship and Scarlett stepped forward. The lead TDF agent stepped forward too and the loudest silence I’d ever heard swept across the area. Not a single cough or rustle of fabric broke it. It was the eye of a storm, one that was sure to leave nothing but devastation in its wake when it finally hit.

Scarlett started talking but I didn’t pay attention. I couldn’t look away from Tyler, pleading desperately with my eyes for him to stop this now before it was too late. His eyes were locked on me too but he made no move to stop anything that was happening, ignoring my pleas and looking as though he was holding himself back from killing every agent that stood between us.

The silence returned and I ripped my eyes away to see Kal stepping forward with Auri beside him. That struck me as odd. I was surprised enough that Kal had even allowed them to consider this exchange but that he was willingly walking Auri towards her doom? That made no sense. I’d seen enough of them that I knew Kal would never allow anything to hurt her, so why was he doing this? Maybe she’d talked him round. She’d be the only one that could after all and Kal could shove down his feelings when the situation called for it. I didn’t think this was one of those situations though.

They took another step and an agent I hadn’t had the pleasure of being acquainted with before grabbed my arm and started forcing me forward. I couldn’t let this happen. I had to do something now. It was my last chance.

With what little strength I could muster, I lunged for the pistol holstered at the agent’s hip and by some miracle, managed to get it in my hand. But that was where my luck ran out. I’d used just about everything to do that and it was all too easy for them to knock it from my grasp and swing an almost debilitating punch into my stomach. I heard Tyler yelling, rage and fear in his voice, but didn’t register the words. I was too busy trying not to throw up and keep walking as the agent proceeded to shove me forward.

The walk felt like an eternity as dread and defeat settled heavily in my gut. There was nothing I could do. I’d done everything to try and keep my squad safe and out of the TDF's clutches, to do what little I could to make sure the galaxy survived, but it wasn’t enough. I’d failed.

We stopped a foot in front of Kal and Auri and I couldn’t help crying as I looked at her. She shouldn’t have to do this.

“Please, don’t…” I tried but Auri just smiled slightly, comfortingly. She didn’t look scared. I thought she probably should. She took my hand and squeezed gently.

“It’s okay. Trust us.”

*

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#aurora rising #aurora cycle #Tyler Jones x reader #Tyler Jones #tyler jones imagine #Tyler Jones x you #Tyler Jones Fanfic #aurora rising imagine #aurora rising fanfic #aurora cycle fanfic #aurora cycle imagine #reader insert #Fic - Do Anything