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#why do the royals keep all the magic to themselves so hard that the peasants don't even know if it's existance
arr-jim-lad · 3 years
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i'm watching barbie movies and pondering serious questions about the politics of the connected cinematic universe of the princess society movies that exist within the real world of barbie
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talpup · 3 years
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Summary: Yami Sukehiro just wanted to join the Magic Knights and make his mentor proud. He knew there would be trails. He knew trouble would come his way. Knew he would be faced with discrimination for being a foreigner and a peasant. What he didn’t know. Didn’t expect. Was that literal Chaos would come his way. That he and his mentor’s sister would be at the center of world ending trouble. Or that he would fall in love with his mentor’s sister and face more than discrimination; but the jealously of Nozel Silva who loved the same woman he did.
Please remember this fic is rated mature and has warnings of violence, abuse, sexual tension, eventual sexual behavior, and other possible triggers. For a full list of story tags please check the fics AO3 (link to that at the top of my tumblrs homepage).
Sorry about the late update. It was a super busy weekend, and my three big chronic illness bad's are still making me pay the price. Anyway, here you all go. Hope you enjoy.
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Chapter 96
It was near midnight. All the Captain's were tired, irritable, and on edge. They were meeting because Yami and Teris had never checked-in this evening when Jax had explicitly ordered his Vice Captain's to do so before lights out.
The Black Bulls Captain focused his glare on his fist which rested on the table as questions were asked, hypothesis given, and ideas about what to do were put forth. He blamed himself for Yami and Teris’ disappearance, certain that the Agents of Chaos had taken them.
Having reported to Greywright before this meeting was called, Jax had encouraged the Commander to question the supposed traitor Flic about Yami and Teris’ disappearance. But, Greywright had told him it would do no good. During his interrogation of Flic yesterday afternoon, Greywright had learned that the man knew nothing of the details concerning Alowishus’ plans. Jax would've liked some time alone with Flic anyway. Not to question the man; but simply to beat one of the Agents of Chaos, even if that person was no longer aligned with them.
“I question keeping up the search. Especially this late at night. We went out this morning looking for two Vice Captains and instead of finding them, we lost two more.” Jamie said.
“You sound scared.” Win taunted.
“I’m concerned for the safety of my squad. For all our squads.” Jamie said.
“We’re Magic Knights. We don’t abandon anyone, least of all our own.” Kess said, fiercely.
“I’m not saying we give up.” Jamie told, thinking Pyter would’ve understood if he were still Captain of the Silver Eagles.
“You’ve always been a selfish ass. I doubt you’d want to continue even if it was your own Vice Captain missing.” Mereoleona fumed.
“We don’t even know who took them or why. Blindly searching has done nothing but thinned our resources and wear our Magic Knights to exhaustion, and it’s only been a day.” Danise said.
Whilf nodded in agreement. “There has to a better way to go about this.”
“Better then searching for four Magic Knights Vice Captain’s?” Mereoleona stormed in challenge of the Purple Orcas Captain.
“No one’s saying that. But fumbling around hoping to stumble upon something isn’t working.” Breigha said.
Mereoleona could hardly argue with her friend. During her own futile search this afternoon she had wanted to torch the four kingdoms until whoever took her brother returned him, begging for mercy. She’d fry the fools and then pummel Fuegoleon for letting himself be taken.
“Do we even have an idea if they were taken because they’re all Magic Knights, or three of them royal?” Win asked.
“I’m guessing none of the families have received any word or demands?” Danise tendered. The Coral Peacocks Captain looked from Mereoleona to Julius. She glanced at Kess figuring as Nozel’s Captain she would've been in contact with Nathyn Silva or at least a representative from the royal house.
Julius rapped his knuckles on the tabletop with a silent curse. Just like last year, and two months ago during the Spade Kingdom mess, he had forgotten to send message to Fyntch about Teris being taken. When he had finally gotten around to writing Fyntch last year he hadn’t mentioned that Teris had been taken; simply saying he was sure Fyntch had seen the beam that lit up the sky the morning of the Summer Solstice and assuring him that he and Teris were okay. As for the happening with the Spade Kingdoms Magic Scientist Rayla, he hadn’t bothered sending Fyntch message and told Teris as much so she wouldn’t mention it to their brother.
Having met with Lord Leonidas himself and spoken with House Silva’s representative, Jorah said. “Neither the Silva’s or Vermillion’s have reported receiving demands or word of admission and intent.”
Jamie scoffed, thinking that the Silva’s and Vermillion’s were too proud to admit to it if they had. The two royal houses likely had their own people looking into things and would handle the matter privately if they came across anything.
Whilf looked at the Wizard Kings Advisor. “Has Magic Investigations unearthed anything of use?”
Ellara shook her head sadly at the Purple Orcas Captain. “My people have been out all day checking in with their sources and questioning people searching for some kind of lead. We haven’t given up. But as yet, they have discovered nothing that would tell us who took the Vice Captain's or why.” She looked at Julius, Mereoleona, Jax, and Kess. “I’m sorry.”
Julius and Jax stared at the Wizard Kings Advisor, both thinking Ellara was far from sorry but would be.
96.2
Yami noticed how Calen stuck close by them as he and Teris were made to walk through the portal. Given that Teris had once broken through Calen’s negating magic the first time she had light traveled, it was justifiable that they were concerned.
“Leon! Nozel!” Teris rushed forward only to be grabbed by a cloaked figure.
Yami punched the Agent of Chaos not seeing or caring if the person was a man or woman. He pulled Teris out of their grasp, holding her to him.
“Peace, Livia.” Calen told the woman as Alowishus stepped through the gateway.
Livia stood down and tenderly touched her face.
Hands bound above his head, hanging from a tree branch, Fuegoleon’s eyes blinked slowly open.
Tied and swaying beside the Crimson Lion, Nozel croaked, barely able to lift his head. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“Didn’t have much of a choice.” Yami said, looking them over.
Nozel took in a slow, shallow, shuddering breath; grimacing at the pain the small movement brought.
Teris tried once more to step to them, but Yami held her firm least someone attempt to stop her again.
Teris trembled in Yami’s arms, a fearful rage building. Nozel and Fuegoleon were alive but they were a battered, bloody mess. And that was only the injuries she could see. They had been in the Agents of Chaos’ custody for little more than twenty-four hours. Who knew what those monsters had done to them.
One eye swollen shut. The other, vision tinted red by blood. Nozel told Yami. “First chance you get, you get her out of here.”
Teris shook her head, angry worried tears blurring her sight. Though she had no idea how they were going to manage it, she promised Nozel and Fuegoleon. “No matter what it takes. We’re going to get you out of this.”
“I’m glad you said that; because you hold the way to freedom for your Intended and your cousin. The path to seeing them live through this is a simple one.” Alowishus said, stepping toward her and Yami.
Teris turned to face him. “Let them go and I’ll do it.”
“Teris... No--” Fuegoleon’s lips moved, sound barely coming out. His voice faltered, weakly coughing up blood.
Yami uttered a stream of curses, his grip on Teris tightening. He scowled at Alowishus and the surrounding Agents of Chaos in the low, flickering firelight of Piper’s magic. He would kill every single one of them even if it took his entire life to hunt down every member of Alowishus’ followers.
“That’s not how this goes.” Alowishus told Teris. “Your friends go free only after you and Yami do as I say. Play difficult and we will continue harming them until you do or they die; whichever comes first. But I warn you. They proved difficult themselves, refusing to answer the simplest questions. It’s left them in bad shape. I doubt they’d be able to survive much more.”
Fuegoleon’s eyes slowly lifted, too weak to rise his heavy head. He wanted to tell Teris not to listen. He would rather die than have his cousin agree to whatever these people wanted. But no matter hard he tried, his brain couldn’t make his chapped bleeding lips form the words.
Yami didn’t need a better look at Fuegoleon and Nozel to know Alowishus was telling the truth. It was clear they had been tortured and were in really rough shape. Nozel’s head lolled. Though it was difficult to tell if the man was unconscious or not.
“What do you want?” Yami asked.
“To get to the treasure vault of a labyrinth.” Alowishus said.
“What? You and your people so lacking that you need us for such a simple task.” Yami mocked.
“This isn’t any labyrinth, Yami. The contents of the vault are meant for you and Teris. Destined for the two of you to find and receive.” Alowishus told.
“Labyrinth 297,353.” Teris breathed.
Alowishus smiled. “I see you’ve heard of it.”
Yami looked at Teris in question.
Teris stared back, both surprised and not that Yami didn’t remember. “He wants us to collect the Future of Chaos.”
“Not just the two of you.” Alowishus said, keen ears hearing Teris’ whisper. “I will be going down with you to also receive the page.”
Yami turned to the man. “The History of Chaos has been nothing but a curse. Like hell I’m going to the labyrinth that has the Future of Chaos. I’d rather see those two die.”
“As you wish.” Alowishus’ eyes slid to the Mage that stood beside Nozel and gave a slight nod.
Nozel’s body tensed and began to squirm. Hanging from his arms, he began to swing. His muscles spasmed at the pain. Teeth pressed together trying to hold back the cry that bubbled in his throat.
Yami couldn’t see any outward wounds being made. But when blood began to come from Nozel’s ears, nose, eyes, and mouth, he barked. “Stop!”
Alowishus tilted his head at Yami, not yet giving the signal for the Mage to cease. “Agree.”
Yami glared.
Nozel began to scream.
Voice caught in fear and horror, Teris’ trembled, knuckles white as she clutched onto Yami’s upper arms.
“We’ll do it. We’ll go.” Yami broke.
Alowishus smiled. “Excellent.”
The signal was given and the Mage stopped.
Alowishus held a beckoning hand out to Teris. “Come here.”
Yami’s arm tightened around Teris’ waist. But he hadn’t needed to worry, she didn’t even try to move.
“It appears you require another lesson in how this goes.” Alowishus turned to the Mage and told. “Don’t be so gentle this time.”
Whatever the man was doing, he did it to both Nozel and Fuegoleon. Both their bodies seized. The Crimson Lion and Silver Eagle crying out. Teris tired to take a step toward Alowishus but Yami held her in place. She squirmed in his arms, pushing at his chest; but Yami refused to release her.
Teris looked up Yami at single tear rolling from its bank and down her cheek. “Please.”
Yami shook his head even as his hold slowly released. Teris stepped away him. He made to follow but was barred by someones arm. They didn’t dare touch him, but it was enough to stay his steps.
Teris was more than halfway to him when Alowishus gave his man a nod.
Teris’ steps ceased. Her head started to turn to look over her shoulder at Fuegoleon and Nozel when suddenly Alowishus was right in front of her. His hand clasped her jaw, fingers digging into her cheeks as he turned her to face him.
The next thing Teris knew, Alowishus was kissing her. No. It wasn’t really a kiss. Though that didn’t make it any less unnerving or make her stop trying to push away. It was more like the way a mother bird feeds her young. Only in this case, Alowishus was forcing a thick, vaporous substance down her throat.
Yami broke the arm barring his way and rushed forward. He was tackled and held down by three men. A cloak of mana flickered around Yami like a sputtering candle flame, present one moment and gone the next.
Calen ground his teeth. His magic fighting to negate Yami’s.
Mana skin blinking in and out of existence, Yami threw one of the men holding him into another that was coming to assist. He got to his feet and tossed a second against a tree trunk ten meters away,
“Stand back.” Slade told the third that was still trying to hold Yami back from their Master. The Rope Mage created a glowing rope. It wrapped around Yami, binding him tight.
Yami fell to the ground. He pulled and struggled against the magical binds, yelling curses and threats.
Alowishus released Teris and staggered back. Misandre was there to help steady her Master.
Teris fell to her knees. Sputtering, she coughed up dense black smoke. Her eyes watered, at the burning cold that seeped through her body into her very soul.
“What the hell did you do to her! I’ll kill you!” Yami roared, the magical ropes breaking nearly as fast as Slade could create them.
“I merely replenished her mana stores. You should thank me. In her depleted state she wouldn’t have survived receiving the Future of Chaos, let alone whatever dangers we might cross down there.” Alowishus looked down at Teris who was on all fours choking up thick black puffs. “Your system is adjusting to foreign mana. It’s not a perfect exchange, but you’ll be fine.”
Yami snarled. His fighting didn’t let up, even as Teris’ coughing eased.
“Let him go to her.” Alowishus ordered.
As soon as Slade’s magic released, Yami was on his feet. He rushed to Teris, sliding to his knees to stop beside her. His arm wrapped around her jerking shoulders as she continued to sputter.
“You alright?” Yami asked, pushing her hair back from her face.
Teris nodded, still wheezing. She wiped the stale taste of Alowishus off her mouth and spit, wisps of black mana escaping her mouth and nose like smoke. She pushed up to her knees, a shaking hand gripping Yami’s arm for balance. “Leon? Nozel?”
Yami glanced over at the still bound men. Neither Nozel or Fuegoleon moved. Their breathing so shallow Yami couldn’t see the rise and fall of their chests. Through his sense of their Ki, he was able to pick up on their faint breaths and weakened heartbeats.
“Still breathing.” It was the only thing Yami could say.
Alowishus turned away. “Let’s go. The new moon rises. We must be in the vault by its peak.”
“What’s a moonless night have to do with it?” Teris rasped, Yami helping her to her feet.
Alowishus turned back her. Rather than answer, he told. “Yami’s power might be on the rise. But he has still faced a small down trend as the Summer Solstice has neared. Your power, though lessening, will continue to grow slightly until the morning of the solstice.”
Yami looked at Teris seeing her frown at the unanswered question. He could see her mind working, trying to figure out the answer on her own.
“Before we head out. Turn around and look at your beloved friends.” Alowishus ordered.
Despite not wanting to do anything the man told her to, Teris couldn’t resist. She turned.
Yami stood in her way, wide shoulders and towering frame blocking her view. He gave her a slight shake of his head.
Teris stared up at him.
“Move and let her see them, Yami. You both should know the stakes any further disobedience will have.” Alowishus told.
“She doesn’t need to see them.” Yami said, eyes lifting to the man that called himself Death.
Alowishus stared back. For a moment it looked as if he would insist. With a sigh, he allowed. “Very well. You’ve seen the state of them, Yami. You know what testing me would mean. I doubt you want to be the cause of their deaths.”
Teris balked at that. She tried to step to the side, but Yami moved with her.
“So protective.” Alowishus smirked. Looking at Teris, he told. “It’s probably for the best. A sight like that will stay with you long after they’ve recovered, or died.”
“Leave her alone.” Yami growled.
Alowishus looked down at Teris. “Just so long as you’re aware. Timeis of the essence for the both of us. Your cousin won’t last more than two hours at most. Your Intended not lasting much longer after that. And that’s only if you behave and don’t kill them yourselves by having me set Nexis back to work on them.”
Yami glared at Alowishus. “We won’t try anything. Let’s just get on with it.”
“For the Prince’s sake I hope that’s true. I will be carrying a charm. If I activate it, Nexis continues his work until I deactivate it. If I’m injured, it activates immediately. If I am rendered unconscious, it activates immediately. As unlikely as such a happening is, if I am killed...” Alowishus smiled at the change in Yami’s eyes at the prospect.
“Let me guess. The charm activates.” Yami said.
“No. The charm crumbles to dust. As does the connecting ones left in the hands of my followers. If that happens, not only will the Silva and Vermillion heirs be instantly killed. But the Agents watching Captain's Julius and Jax, as well a the rest of your friends from afar, will spring into action killing them before they even realize there’s a threat.” Alowishus said.
“But you’ll be dead.” Yami said, as if the rest didn’t matter.
Alowishus gave a tight smile. “Only for a time. You cannot kill Death”
“Pretty sure if I removed your head you’ll die.” Yami said.
“I’ve heard that before. Sadly, only one such commenter was still around to see how wrong they were.” Alowishus sighed tiredly and raised a guiding arm. “Shall we?”
Taking Teris’ hand, Yami stepped after Alowishus. They walked for some time through the dark forest with only the dim glow of the accompanying Agents of Chaos’ grimoires to light the way.
While the mana Alowishus gave Teris might've bolstered her magics reserves. It didn’t do much to help against physical exhaustion. Seeing her start to lag, Yami looked ahead to Alowishus. “Didn’t you say time was of the essence? Why are we tripping through a moonless forest?”
“Misandre will see us inside the labyrinth, but first we must find it.” Alowishus said. Pausing his steps to stare at something in his hand.
“What do you got there?” Yami asked.
“Directions. Of a sort.” Alowishus looked over his shoulder at Yami. “Come have a look if you’d like.”
Yami slowly released Teris’ hand. He glared at the surrounding Agents of Chaos in warning. Grateful for the breather, Teris didn’t move to follow him.
Alowishus watched Yami as he stepped beside him and looked at what he held in his open palm.
Yami scowled. “Are those bones?”
“Finger bones to be precise. They’re from the maker of the labyrinth and are pointing us to the labyrinths entrance.” Alowishus smirked at Yami. “You see? I do my part to make things as easy and painless as I can for the two you. When we reach the area, Misandre will portal the three of us in. Once down there, we’ll make our way to the vault and the three of us will enter and receive the Future of Chaos.”
Yami raised a brow. “The three of us?” He scratched the back of his neck. “I might not have the brains Teris does. But I remember the paper sniffers at Investigations saying Yurist’s prophecy said the ones who found the History of Chaos would find its future. Seeing as you weren’t there when we got the first page of Chaos. I don’t see how you expect to get your hands on the second.”
Alowishus’ eyes darkened. “I’ve forgotten more about Yurist and his prophecy’s than the sum knowledge of the four kingdoms libraries and scholars combined. When it comes to such things, you must be careful, Yami. Yes, the prophecy says the two that find the History of Chaos will also find the Future of Chaos. But the key word there is find. Not receive.”
Yami looked at the man thinking that if the keyword was ‘find’ then Alowishus was still somehow wrong and in for a disappointment; because he and Teris weren’t finding anything, they were being led. Giving one last look at the bones that moved like a compass, Yami stepped back to Teris.
They walked a bit more until Alowishus stopped once again.
“Misandre. Here. Three hundred and seven meters down.” Alowishus glanced at Yami and Teris seeing they too had picked up on the numbers. He and his people still hadn’t learned the full meaning of Yami being a third seventh son; and as much as he wanted to question Yami further on it, now wasn’t the time.
Calen stepped to his Master, his concern evident. He remembered last years long lingering injury Alowishus had suffered from his battle with Julius Nova, and Yami and Teris’ combined attack.
“They know the stakes, and won’t try anything.” Alowishus soothed Calen. He looked at Yami and Teris. “Will you.”
Yami’s left hand rested on his katana’s hilt. “I suppose you’ll just have to trust us. Just like we’re having to trust you about not killing the royals, and letting us all go.”
Calen glared at Yami. “If you harm the Master. I’ll do more than kill your friends. I’ll find this Land of the Rising Sun and end every single member of the Sukehiro line.”
“Good luck with that.” Yami said, sure there had to be a family that went by Sukehiro in his homeland; unfortunately for Calen’s plans, it wasn’t Yami’s family.
Misandre opened up a portal. Alowishus gave the Spatial Mage a nod as he passed through. That’s when Yami saw the woman’s hands. Hands he’d recognize anywhere given the amount of times they had hit him and tried to crush his neck.
Yami pulled his katana from its sheath. “Those don’t belong to you!”
“Yami, don’t!” Teris grabbed his arm, not seeing how his eyes had flicked black for a fraction of a second.
Snarling at the woman wearing Bronn’s hands, Yami sheathed his katana. “I’ll soon see those off you and where they belong.”
96.2.2
“Teris. Give us some light.” Alowishus said from somewhere in the dark space.
Teris’ hand twitched tempted to light up the direction Spade’s voice sounded from and fry him. Her grip on Yami’s arm tightened, grateful they had stepped through the portal together.
Slowly, she lit up the area. The three blinked, their eyes adjusting.
Looking about the space, Alowishus told. “To use your terminology, the labyrinth isn’t active. With it not open and visible to the surface we will have to deal with the dark. But it also means that most of the beasts and traps will be in hibernation. Still, be on guard. The creatures that reside in places like this are more powerful during the new moon.”
“Which leads me to ask again. Why a moonless night?” Teris questioned.
Alowishus tilted his head. “The vault is this way.”
Senses alert to danger even if he didn’t appear to be, Yami commented almost conversationally. “I suppose we should be thankful that Bronn was such a good Spatial Mage. Without his hands, that woman probably would’ve deposited us between bedrock.”
“Noticed that did you?” Alowishus smiled, leading the way.
“Gotta admit, I half expected her to try and smack me upside the head.” Yami said.
“Parts taken carry a residual portion of a persons magic, not a remnant of the persons character.” Alowishus said.
“Why take Bronn’s hands at all? Were Erskin’s a little too chewed up by Saber Wolves? Or were the hands of your dead follower too painful to see?” Teris asked.
“When you have lived as long as I; such feelings of friendship, love, even hate all but fade away. I’m not so old that I’m incapable of affecting such emotions for the sake of others. But, just between the three of us. I feel little to nothing. Well, until the two of you showed up.” Alowishus stopped and turned to to face them. “You two have done much more than give me the means to reach my aims. You have made me feel again. First excitement. Then awe. I have long since forgotten what hope felt like. But I believe I may have begun to feel a bit of that as well.”
Teris’ brows furrowed. “Just how old are you?”
Alowishus wagged a finger at her. “A proper bred young royal like you should know it’s impolite to ask.”
“Just how old are you?” Yami questioned.
Alowishus smirked and turned away. “Come. Time runs short.”
Though they didn’t come upon any traps. They did happen upon two beasts. Just as Alowishus had said, the creatures were more difficult to subdue than expected. Finally they reached a large cavernous chamber with a set of towering double doors that looked near identical to the ones that had housed the History of Chaos.
“Our time together is almost over.” Alowishus said, as if saddened by the fact.
“You’ll keep your word and let us go.” Yami prompted.
“Of course. I’m a man of my word. After this, you and Teris are free to go. Until I next require you that is.”
“Nozel and Fuegoleon?” Teris questioned.
“Your beloved cousin and your Intended will be set free as well.” Alowishus said.
“Last time we faced a vault containing something having to do with Yurist and Chaos the doors snapped shut behind us and didn’t reopen till someone from the outside did so.” Yami said.
“That won’t be an issue.” Alowishus said.
“Why? Got a tracking charm on you that you’ll leave where you’re standing so the Spatial Mage with Bronn’s hands can portal here and open the doors when we’re done?” Yami asked.
“Clever. But no.” Alowishus told.
“Then what’s your plan for getting us out of there?” Teris questioned.
“Me.” Alowishus said.
“You?” Teris stared.
Alowishus’ expression darkened. “Even if you don’t trust me. Trust that I don’t want to be in that vault room any longer than necessary.”
Alowishus turned and looked at the vault doors. Excited as he was to once again see and this time receive the Future of Chaos, he wondered if his grandfather’s work would have him. And if added to his grimoire, what, if anything, the page of Chaos would show him.
96.3
Nozel’s eyes slowly opened. Even with the pain, thirst, hunger, and fatigue muddling his senses; he could feel a swell of mana not too far from where they were.
Guilt washed over him. Not just for Teris agreeing to whatever Alowishus wanted for his and Fuegoleon’s sake; but for the terrible state the Crimson Lion was in.
During their questioning, the Agents of Chaos had taken to torturing the other in effort to get them to comply. The tactic had worked a lot quicker on Fuegoleon, who had caved, reluctantly answering their questions. Nozel’s will to protect Teris and ability to tune things out had seen him hold out longer. Their tormentors cutting into Fuegoleon’s flesh and magically tearing at his insides as Alowishus calmly waited for Nozel to answer.
Much as he wanted to, Nozel couldn’t fully lay the blame of this on Yami. Not when he and Fuegoleon were being used to make Teris comply with Alowishus Spade’s wishes. Not when even he had broke for Fuegoleon’s sake and answered the mans questions. He tried to recall what those questions had been but currently couldn’t.
His still good eye, the other swollen shut, turned in the direction of the swelling mana. The direction Alowishus had taken Teris and Yami in. He hoped Teris was alright, and silently swore he’d kill Yami if the man let anything happen to her.
Still unconscious, Fuegoleon’s shallow breath rattled in his chest. The Crimson Lion was fading. Yami and Teris needed to hurry.
96.4
Yami’s head snapped up, sensing a rise in Alowishus’ mana.
Teris turned to the man as well, tone accusatory. “The peak of the new moon has a similar effect as the solstice does for us.”
“Not the peak of the new moon. The moment right before. When it is at its darkest. The height of the moons death, if you will.” Alowishus gestured to the closed vault doors. “After you.”
“Never been in a labyrinth where the vault doors didn’t open. Do we just bust in?” Yami asked.
Teris shook her head. “There’s magic holding the doors closed. If we try to force it, the reaction could be similar to our magic when it clashes.”
Yami looked up. “Under three hundred some odd meters of earth and stone. I don’t like our chances of surviving that.”
Teris turned to Alowishus. “The labyrinth’s not active. There is no way we can open the vault doors.”
“You disappoint me. Unless you’re hoping I’m that stupid.”
Teris’ mouth opened, but Alowishus continued on.
“I assure you. I didn’t go through all this trouble without being certain there was a way to open a sleeping labyrinths vault room.”
“Then do it.” Teris said.
“Now that does make me certain you know better. Did you forget the rules regarding your friends up top? Think you could see me dead by tricking me and light travel to them before my followers kill them?” Alowishus’ eyes darkened. “Open it up.”
“The mana you gave me— I doubt it’ll recognize it as mine.” Teris said.
“Then we will just have to hope your system was able to assimilate enough of it for the labyrinth to recognize it is you.” Alowishus said.
“What’s that?” Yami asked, looking between them.
Frowning at Alowishus, Teris explained. “If what Yurist wrote is true. Then our mana should be able to open the doors.”
“So why can’t he do that?” Yami asked.
Teris stepped before the doors. “Shall we.”
Yami scowled. “I asked you a question.”
“Leon and Nozel don’t have much time.” Teris told.
Yami stared a moment. Something was off. He didn’t like how Teris didn’t answer him. How she wouldn’t even look at him, staring straight at the door. But she was right. Braid Face and Lion Cub were in bad shape. They didn’t have much time.
Heaving a sigh, Yami tilted his head side to side, stretching his neck. “How much mana are we giving to open up this thing?”
Teris swallowed, nervously. “As much as it needs in order to recognize us as us.”
Yami did the same as Teris and placed his palm on the door. He slowly loosened his hold on his mana. Even a couple paces from Teris and in direct contact with the object he was letting his mana seep into, it was a struggle to keep it from veering to connect with hers.
A pressure beneath his hand built as if something other than the door was stretching out, making contact with him. It apparently approved, as it stopped taking in his mana forcing Yami to pull back on the eased harness of it least his lose control and his mana connect with Teris’.
Yami turned to Teris surprised she wasn’t done as she had started before him. He stepped to her. A prickle of foreboding tickling the back of his neck. “Teris?”
Watching Teris with interest, Alowishus warned. “I wouldn’t touch her.”
Yami spun to the man, temper and worry rising. “What’s happening?”
“It’s trying to decide if it’s really her.” Alowishus said.
“What do you mean, if it’s her? Of course it’s her.”
“Did you forget? I gave her a portion of my mana.” Alowishus said.
Yami’s muscles tensed, concern tipping into fear. His jaw clenched, understanding what Teris and Alowishus had been talking about. Understanding why she had avoided answering and had refused to look at him.
“I’m confidant her system has been able to assimilate enough of my mana and make it her own by now.” Alowishus eased.
“Bastard! I’ll kill you!” Yami stepped toward Alowishus, katana cloaked in darkness.
“Do you really wish to be the death of Teris’ beloved friends when you are so close to seeing them and yourselves go free? Or was this your secret plan all along? To lash out at me and get her Intended out of the way. Permanently.”
Katana raised to send a slash of darkness, Yami paused.
Alowishus lifted a shoulder, smirking. “I can’t say I blame you. You face enough trails with me and my plans as it is. It would undoubtedly be a relief not to have to deal with the mess of having to fight in order to make Teris yours. You know I could just activate the charm. We could finish up here and return to the top. It’ll simply appear to Teris as if they succumbed to their injuries. It will be our secret. She need never know.”
Yami glared. The cloak of darkness disappeared from his blade. “No.”
“I could send message for only Nozel to be put down.” Alowishus tempted. “Fuegoleon, if he still lives, isn’t the problem after all.”
“I said, no.” Yami growled. He sheathed his katana.
Teris fell to her knees.
Yami turned back and knelt beside her. “I got you. You alright?”
“Yeah.” Teris breathed.
Yami brushed her hair back noting how pale and feverish she was. “When we get outta here you and I are gonna talk about the chance you took without telling me.”
“Had to—for Nozel and Leon.” Teris panted, trembling hand wiping her sweat drenched brow.
Looking down at them, Alowishus felt a pang of disappointment that Yami hadn’t taken him up on his offer. Maybe it was merely because Death had helped create Darkness; but there was something about Yami that made him want to win the young man over.
Alowishus stepped in front of the opening vault doors. “Up. We still got our prize to receive.”
Ignoring the man, Yami asked Teris. “Can you stand?”
Still out of breath, Teris merely nodded.
Yami hooked her arm around his neck and wrapped his arm around her waist. Easily bearing most of her weight, he lifted her to her feet with him as he stood. “Let’s get this over with.”
They stepped into the vault with Alowishus. Yami and Teris looked at each other, puzzled when they weren’t congratulated by the same Crazy Happy Killer Voice that had greeted them when they received the History of Chaos.
If the labyrinths were created by the same person. Even if that person wasn’t Yurist himself. Then surely things would be similar. The doors and interior of the vault were almost identical.
At least this vault didn’t have bodies in various stages of decay, Teris morbidly thought.
Alowishus seemed to realize something was wrong as well. Mana flaring, the Master of the Agents of Chaos released a roar of fury. The chamber they were in shook around them. Dirt and stone raining down.
Yami held Teris tight, creating a shielding cocoon of blackness. “Get us out of here!”
Teris would’ve done so but for one thing. Her concern for Nozel and Fuegoleon’s lives. Alowishus still held that charm.
“Now!” Yami gritted, dark cocoon straining against the weight of the crumbling labyrinth.
Teris light traveled them to where they had last seen Fuegoleon and Nozel.
“Get away from them!” Alowishus ordered his people when they made to move against Yami and Teris.
Teris spun around. Yami’s shield dropped,
Teris’ hand lifted on instinct. She sent out a burst of incinerating light only for it to dim and slow as soon as if left her. Slowed as it was, it was still faster than most magical attacks.
Caught by surprised, Alowishus didn’t get a chance to move. The attack struck him in the chest. There was a moment of stillness as everyone stared.
Alowishus and Teris blinked at one another. They both knew he had been undefended and her direct hit should have instantly killed him.
Rage still consuming him, Alowishus counted this as one thing going his way this night. “It would seem your system hasn’t assimilated enough of my mana for it to harm me. Better luck next time.” He saw Yami reach for his katana and ordered. “Misandre. Quickly now.”
Alowishus didn’t wait around long enough to see if Misandre was able to portal his followers out in time. Breaking apart, he disintegrated into the earth.
Katana cloaking in darkness even as he unsheathed it from its scabbard, Yami sent out a several dark slashes. He cursed, knowing before they cut down the trees beyond that he was too slow. Alowishus and the Agents of Chaos were gone.
Yami turned to Fuegoleon and Nozel. With a swipe of his blade, he cut the Silver Eagle and Crimson Lion free. Hoping Alowishus' foreign mana wouldn’t adversely effect her light traveling Fuegoleon and Nozel, Teris took the four of them to Healers Hall.
96.5
Alowishus’ anger had barely calmed. Storming into his private office, he slammed the door behind him and made for the shelf behind his desk, picking up his father's skull.
“Your lied!” Alowishus roared, gripping the skull in both hands.
“I told you, your efforts would be futile.” A voice resonated in his head.
Alowishus shook the skull, not hearing the dead mans words. “The Future of Chaos was not there!”
“The Future of Chaos is not for you.” The voice of the skull sounded in his mind.
“I had a plan to work around that. It was faultless.” Alowishus snapped.
“Apparently not.” The voice said.
“You placed grandfathers work back inside labyrinth 297,353 after you retrieved it, putting special protections in place to keep me out.” Alowishus said.
“You mean after I took back what you stole?” The voice of Erin Spade questioned.
Alowishus snarled, grip tightening. “I had it in my grasp and you took it. Stole it.”
“You stole it first.”
Alowishus slammedthe skull down and turned away. He had barely been able to delve into the unfathomable knowledge that was the Future of Chaos before his father had ripped it from his grasp. He had been sure his father had placed the page back in labyrinth 297,353 for Yami and Teris to eventually find; certainthat his father had merely set barriers to block his re-entrance, since he had been unable to enter again until tonight.
“You placed grandfathers work back inside labyrinth 297,353 after you retrieved it.” Alowishus said, again.
“Did I?” His father's voice sounded in his mind.
“You moved the Future of Chaos to another location!”
“You moved it first when you stole it.”
“You changed the future Yurist saw. You ruined Yami and Teris’ destiny to have the Future of Chaos.” Alowishus accused.
“More thanlikely, I kept theprophecy concerning the Future of Chaosin tact. While my father’s prophetic words could often be unclear. That one sentencewas quite clear. Findand receive. It could hardly be said those twofound the labyrinth, what with you setting upon them and forcing them to bend to yourwill and go down there. I have full confidence that Yami and Teris will find and receive my father’s final work, if they haven’t already.”
“What do you mean haven’t already?” Alowishus demanded.
“Destiny canonly be bent to your will so far before it snapsback to its own designs, Fin.”
Alowishus sneered at beingcalledby his first life's name. “I will have my way, Old Man. Yami and Teris will help me awaken Chaos and see to a finalend. I will get what I have worked sevenexistencesfor.”
“Good luck doing it without the Future of Chaos.” The voice taunted.
“You are useless and more infuriating every time I speak to you. I should ground your bones to dust and forget you ever lived.”
“I wish you would.” The skull of Erin Spade said.
“That would bring you too much joy. Finally finding your rest after all these years. No. You will not rest until I have my way.” Picking up the skull, Alowishus set it back on the shelf. “Till the death of the next moon, Old Man. Know that I won’t enjoy the three nights of your company anymore than you will mine.”
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Comments are VERY MUCH appreciated and really make my day. Thank you to those who have left hearts. And a special THANK YOU to those who have recently commented or re-blogged. It really means a lot.
Next chapter snippet:
“He’s ill.” Jax said.
“How ill?” Marx asked.
“Deathly.” Yami rumbled.
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Forged in Darkness summary
Forged In Darkness was going to be two backstories that I felt couldn’t be squeezed into Act 2. And because these backstories are important and FiD is short, we’ll start with that before jumping into Act 2.
The first backstory is Alora’s, because in original planning of this story, Alora was going to be the main character. 
So, a girl was born to two peasant folk in the year 1000 AD. The mother died of childbirth, and the father had no money to feed him and the baby. So he sold the baby to the nearest castle for coins to feed himself, convinced that a life of servitude would leave her housed, fed, protected and cherished. Well, he was right about the first two. The girl, who grew up with no name, was made the scullery maid of the castle kitchen, where she did dishes and the cleaning and made sure there was always hot water available. The kitchen cook would routinely check if the water was hot enough by dousing her with it, overtime leaving her with severe scars on her back. The girl was resentful and bitter, but powerless to even speak her frustrations else she become further abused or worse kicked out of the castle.
Her fortunes took a turn for the better and worse eighteen years later, when gumm-gumms took down the castle, killing and/or eating everyone inside. The girl was found and eaten by Gunmar himself. Then she woke up in his own castle keep twenty four hours later. Turns out she’s a Shard, resurrected by her now immortal soul. Yay? Well, now that Gunmar has himself a Shard to craft a massive army, he’d be able to take over the surface lands much faster now. But before that, he requests from her a son. It takes the girl time to get used to the idea that this is her life now, but she accepts this under the condition that she be treated better than when she was in the human castle (exact wording: “Don’t give me kindness and be cruel. Don’t give me cruelty and be kind. Be consistent with your treatment. Do not deceive me.” “Is that all? You don’t ask for much.”). Two months and two days of intense magical labor later, the Maiden has given Gunmar his son, Bular. The child is very small and weak, practically a runt, and while Gunmar is overjoyed to finally have kin, he’s apprehensive of the child surviving at all. Turns out that Maiden’s Life Magic is not particularly strong and it’s doubtful that she can churn out an army quickly. This would make her pretty useless, but since the other option is to toss her out and potentially give the enemy a Shard of their own, the gumm gumms opt to keep her. If only to raise the child.
Maiden loved Bular dearly, but having never cared for children and being a human raising a troll, she couldn’t give him a good upbringing. And terrified that he could be killed easily, once he started getting the hunger for battle, she tried to toughen him up and train him herself. Which meant she needed to be trained to fight as well. But a soft, fleshy human doesn’t last long in a sparring match with a troll. She was killed often, and soon brought back to life. She also eventually discovers the power to summon the swords she was training herself to use whenever she gets extremely pissed off or overprotective of Bular. These two discoveries cement that Maiden was immortal, and couldn’t die no matter what, which gave her the now trademark smart mouth, fiery temper and ignorance of high risks and deadly situations. The Maiden is now stricken with Deadpool Syndrome and quickly gets on the nerves of everyone in the Keep, including Gunmar. But again, they can’t toss out the firecracker or else she could become the enemy’s Shard. Also, Bular is rather attached to his completely erratic and insane mother, and she’s become rather good at fighting.
Determined to now become her own person and stand by Gunmar and Bular’s side as someone to be respected and feared, she goes to Gunmar and demands a rite of passage. All trolls go through a rite of passage to be considered adults, and once complete have the opportunity to choose a new name for themselves (this practice is now out dated and trolls in the modern day don’t really do this anymore). Gunmar is reluctant, but when she challenges him with a rite that “even Gunmar would not be able to do,” he tells her to go slay a Nyarlagroth Queen and bring back its skull. It takes her a goddamn MONTH, but she does it. Now, while she’s gone, a couple of changelings are putting a strategy in motion to keep themselves alive a little longer as well as put Maiden to better use when she comes back. They convince Gunmar that the Maiden will get stronger and stronger willed and possibly revolt against him, and if she does, Bular will most likely follow her. This isn’t good for anyone, so they convince Gunmar that the best and fastest way to tame her is to tie her down with the one thing that ropes in humans: love. “Give her what she wants most,” Corvis tells Gunmar, “a family.” Gunmar reluctantly agrees to play along, if only to keep civility and to reign in his own son. So when the Maiden comes back, and chooses the name Alora Darren (a combination of two troll queens from the past), Gunmar greets her with what will be a pet phrase to come:
“Alora. My wife. My queen. My one true love.”
This... works. Its awkward for the two of them at first, but now believing she’s won Gunmar’s adoration, she feels officially a gumm gumm and part of the pack. And it is so for three hundred years. Alora soon makes her name as a fieresome, deadly general among both trolls and humans. The trolls call her “Gunmar’s concubine” or “Gunmar’s human whore” while the humans call her “the wife of the devil himself.” But despite the new status, she’s still at the bottom of the family totem poll. And still as arrogant and wild as ever. Gunmar often sighs and groans at her antics, but there’s little else he can really do. She’s as reigned in as can be, but overtime, she does grow on him as his mischievous other half, though he rarely supports her schenaniganary. 
This backstory actually ends just before the end of Act 1. Having lost the survivors of Royal Troll market, everyone is moving to head out to China to track down this Heartstone growing there. Alora is rather salty after her battle with Nakrik but won’t say why. This is when her own right hand, Skeeziel, who had been by her side as basically her only friend and supporter, admits that he’s been madly in love with her this whole time and goes to embrace her. She quickly pushes him away, not sure what’s caused this confession and not feeling the same way. However, Gunmar has seen this, and he calls Skeeziel to him, and promptly beheads the wizard troll. Alora is... devastated by these turns of events and it leads to a massive fight with Gunmar. This is basically going back on the agreement of giving kindness and being cruel. It then comes out that Gunmar didn’t even love Alora back then and was just doing this to reign in her wild side. Both are hurt and heartbroken, Alora so much so that she just... sits down and refuses to move. Gunmar won’t stay for any temper tantrum she may have and calls his armies to march east immediately.
Bular goes to his mom’s side, not having seen this fight at all, to urge her to come with them. It takes all of her energy to bring him close and touch foreheads, eyes heavy with tears, trying hard not to cry in front of her son. Bular catches on that something is wrong, and wants to stay with her, but she urges him to go with his father, scared of what would happen if Bular was no longer on Gunmar’s side. Bular reluctantly goes, angry with his mother staying behind and follows Gunmar east.
And so falls the Gumm gumm queen, into mortal despair. We’ll come back to this scene in Act 2.
The second story in Forged In Darkness is called Paika, and it follows the villain to be introduced in Act 2.
The story takes place in Bulgaria (because GODDAMN IT RICHARD ASHLEY HAMILTON WHY DAMN IT WHY FUCKING GOD DAMN IT ALL!),circa 1121 AD, in a tiny village called Anka, which sits on a mountain. This village is a combination village where humans and trolls lived together side by side in peace. And Gunmar’s conquering and rampages are driving trolls to seek solace in places he would have trouble reaching or not bother with, including this very out of the way village. Making their way here is a group of refugees hoping to find safety for themselves and several orphans they picked up along the way. One of these orphans catches the eyes of the human elder of the village, Kohsena Radulova. She spies a troll toddler born with no eyes and is a species of troll she’s never seen before. Taking pity on this little one, she takes him in personally and through magic, gives him his own eyes to see the world through. He says his name is Paika and she raises and loves on him as a son of her own.
Now, Kohsena isn’t your average hedge wizard, she’s also a Shard (whoa!)! She was born in the year 1000 AD, and had no idea of her powers until she passed away in her old age at seventy. Having come back to life, she discovered she can retain any and all knowledge she learns and uses it to memorize books of magic the trolls have on hand, easily harnesses the power of magic and brought stability to the harsh mountain they live on. She went on to continue being a granny to her kids, grandkids and great grandkids as they grew, and is the undisputed wise woman of Anka. When she adopts Paika, she quickly notices his talent for magic and takes him as her apprentice to pass on her teachings.
Paika is incredibly gifted in magic, using it in ways never seen before. But he’s a rather small troll, so he’s often bullied by both the troll and human kids growing up. But he’s also rather fast and limber, so he’s able to outrun, out jump, out climb, and stay hidden from any trying to pick on him. Noting how he navigates around the village and nearby forest with ease, one of Kohsena’s grandsons teaches Paika how to hunt and he’s rather good at that too. He seems as in tune to the mountain as Kohsena and has good potential to be a village elder. It’s not long after Paika reaches adulthood that he accepts his rite of passage. It comes in two stages: to make a tool he will use for the rest of his life, and to bring back a rare flower that grows inside the mountain. Paika makes a hardy hunting knife and uses his own talents to bring the flower back. Now an adult troll by rite, he can chose a new name. He decides to name himself after this troublesome flower, the Ingoret, which is a poisonous flower but when used correctly can be a life saving medicine. The name Ingoret is a troll word for “the very fine line between life and death.” But Paika has never been able to pronounce this word, so his official adult name is Angor Rot.
Skip to 1297 AD, Gunmar and his troops are making their way up the mountain. There is almost nowhere else for the people living on Anka to flee. Some are preparing to fight, and Kohsena promises to protect her home to the best of her ability. But Angor believes they aren’t enough and wants to go search for help. When asked who could possibly help, he says the witch in the black sea. In the least, she can grant him greater magic than he can wield on his own. Kohsena viciously shuts this idea down, since the witch is extremely dangerous and fickle. But Angor doesn’t see any other way to fight off Gunmar and keep his home. He sneaks away to the rocks in the sea to strike a deal with Morgana. We all know how that went.
Angor, sans one soul, instead of going off to fight Trollhunters rushes home to mom, hoping maybe she could fix this. He comes back to a village in ruins and the mountain barren of life. Gunmar, Alora, and the gumm gumm armies have laid waste to it all. Kohsena clings to life by the village center tree, unwilling to move in her grief, and seeing Angor return after selling his soul for magic makes the grief worse. She tells him that some of the villagers had escaped and she did what she could to protect the village but almost everything is gone. Angor insists that she come with him to find the others, but she refuses. She’s heartbroken that he left, but she says outloud “I’m glad you did. If you stayed, you would have been killed.” And this cuts him deep. He leaves her behind to pack what little of their things survived, and when he comes back, he sees that she’s died. Figuring that she’ll wake up on the way, he starts to take her body down the mountain. After several days, she doesn’t wake. An immortal Shard has permanently died. Angor, devastated, takes her back to the village and buries her. And now, with no emotional tethers, becomes a hunter to all Merlin had created. This also includes Shards, creatures of Merlin’s creation.
((Side note: Nadia was born the exact moment Kohsena died. Coincidence? To be addressed in Act 2))
In 1300 AD, Angor locates another Shard. This one is a rather young woman who’s ability is seeing the future, and her title is the Blind Seer (I think I had a name for her, but it’s lost to time). She had evacuated the troll village she lived in, prepared for Angor to come here. He came seeking knowledge of how a Shard can permanently die, and she was willing to give it to him. Why? “Because I have seen this moment. You come. I tell you the secret. You kill me, and go on to kill the other Shards. This is both our destinies, and there is nothing to be done to stop it.” With this, she tells him:
A Shard is only immortal when she wants to be. When she decides she no longer wants to live, the soul becomes mortal for as long as this wish is present. And the Seer, knowing this is her final moment alive, accepts this and relinquishes her will to live. And so Angor kills her to test this theory, and it is so. She never revives. And now, with this knowledge, he gains a title other than Hunter of Hunters. He’s also the Shardkiller.
Aaaaaand, that’s Forged in Darkness. I had thought of giving Grim a backstory here too since so little is written about him, but I honestly don’t have a good backstory to tell about him.
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1, 8, 12 and 52 for the writing thingy!!!
Look at me finally answering these after like a whole month lol
Thanks for the ask!
1. Tell us about your WIP!
Which one lol, I’ve got many of them. Too many. Really. That, coupled with the fact that I am a slow writer because I keep getting distracted and procrastinating (like with answering these asks,,,,) means that pretty much everyone on this site will die of old age before I finish like any of them :’D
Anyway, I guess I’ll give brief summaries of all of the… main ones. This is gonna be a long one, fellas! I guess in the order I came up with them? Or the order I’m pretty sure I came up with them in.
TT: My original story I’ve been low-key working on and reworking since… 2012…? It’s a fantasy story, and it is… way too long probably. Also needs a lot of work. Worldbuilding and character building and plot building… At the moment, I guess I could summarise it as, our world gets wrecked for some reason, and the main characters, these two girls, who got saved into another, fantasy world with like… a bunch of other survivors, leave the Earth-refugee camp and get tangled with like, politics? Of that world? Well, politics and then eventually like, a war type thing… I didn’t say it was good, and I did also say it needs a whole lotta work. I’m pretty happy with some names younger me came up with though! Also it has dragons, so. Yup.
Fantasy fanfic: I am very good with names, as you’ll come to notice. Anyway this is a.. Hetalia fantasy fic..? I came up with in, like, 2014. I’m not actively working on this one at the moment, but I would like to maybe write it one day, and my most beloved OC originated in this story, you may have seen me mention her in my tags? I haven’t managed to come up with a name for her, but I call her the Asshole Goddess, because she’s a goddess, and also an ass. So.
Anyway this one’s pretty cliche, and it’s like, an absurdly large cast of Hetalia characters ending up in a fantasy world, where a bunch of other characters, who’d gone missing earlier, have apparently been taken to? Then it’s a journey to find and get them back, friendships are formed and magical things are encountered, but uh oh! They’re mortal here and can die! And many do. You may note I was 14 when I came up with it, so. Well. It is quite edgy. Had some good concepts though!
Kingdom AU: Great with names, as I said. This one is also a Hetalia fic, because that is the fandom I’ve been stuck in forever, though mostly just because I’ve so many fics for it. This is the odd one out in my fics though! This is like, a royalty AU of an rp AU me and my friend made by accident one time? The RP, not this AU, this is all my invention. It’s really just for me and my friend, since it’s based on that strange RP and the main thing in it is like and OC x canon character ship? That’s also why it’s the weird one, I don’t usually have much romance in my fics because I’m not big on ships and just prefer gen stuff, but this one is like primarily romance? Lots of pining. And it’s very soft. And I love this AU with all my heart. It’s also got a whole lotta angst!
Basic plot is the more or less classic, kinda cliche, peasant girl goes to get a job in the royal palace to help her poor family and meets the crown prince, and they become friends, and slowly fall in love.. Except, well, this is weird also in that the end point isn’t them getting married or confessing their love or anything, that’s like...Maybe the midpoint? There’s also politics, kinda worldbuilding? It’s set in like a 1700s type setting, I think, And while it’s not really a fantasy world since no magic, it’s not like, a real world setting. Anyway, yeah, this is near and dear to my heart.
The Home Front Fic: This! This is the one I’ve been trying to work on lately! It’s about life on the Finnish home front during WWII, and yes this is uh, also a Hetalia fic. Sorry. Though to be fair with this one and the previous one everyone’s probably gonna be so OOC and the setting is so different they might as well just be original works lol. Anyway, it’s a human AU, and also had a lot of OCs for that reason because it’d be tough to make a story of this scope with like. Three characters.
Basically! Tino is a 8, soon to be 9-year-old boy living in the Finnish countryside in 1942. His dad’s gone off to war, as well as the farmhand they had at the farm, and his mom and grandma can’t take care of the whole farm by themselves. So when they hear a nearby factory and some other farms in the area are getting extra work force in the form of Soviet prisoners of war, they decide to ask for one, too. They get a worker, his name’s Ivan. It takes some time, since they’re technically enemies, right, but eventually Tino befriends him and slowly he kind of becomes a part of the family… But you know what happened when the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union ended in September 1944? :) Well, I’ll just say that Stalin did say “There are no Soviet prisoners of war, only traitors.”
This one also has angst. But it also has found family! I like it a whole lot, I wish I’d written it already, but I have been having such a hard time starting it. :(
That BNHA Fic: I can call it that because I’ve only got one so far! So this is a My Hero Academia fic, and hmm. I haven’t talked about it too much, but I do like it, even though my focus has been pulled back to the Home Front Fic again. I do wanna write this one!
So this is like a future fic? It’s canon divergent because some stuff happening in the manga rn is not gonna work with the plot, I guess it’ll diverge at least from like… all the New Year’s chapters? I don’t remember what the number is.
Anyway, the main character is Eri, who’s been going to like this boarding school meant for kids with volatile quirks. She wanted to go there herself when some years ago her quirk had gone bonkers, she thinks? Something like that, she doesn’t remember that well anymore, but anyway, she’s going to apply to UA! Just the Gen-Ed, her quirk isn’t any good against robots. She’d love to be a hero, though, she knows so many heroes and she just wants to help people, but her quirk is no good. :( Anyway she’s back in Musutafu for the summer break in her last year of middle school, and she meets Mirio and Aizawa at the train station, and they go around the town meeting everyone! In the entrance exams she meets Kouta, who for some reason doesn’t want to be a hero though he’s got a really good quirk for it, and he’s proud of his parents who were famous heroes! They both get into UA, and she manages to convince him to try to get into the hero course through the Sports Festival, and he does! She doesn’t get that far in the festival though, because even though she’s practiced using her quirk, she’s scared to use it on people when in battle and stuff. Anyway, she’s very upset about it, and when she tells Mirio about how she wants to help people, but can’t, because her quirk sucks, he gets this look on his face and later tells her that he knows someone who could help. They go to meet this scarecrow lookin’ dude, and oh wait, is that All Might?? Why’s he refusing to help her out from Mirio’s request?? And later, what’s this One For All Mirio’s talking about?? And whose kind arms does she keep dreaming of in her sleep??? 
So yeah. That’s the BNHA fic. One more WIP to go!
Space Fic: Back to Hetalia, and this is technically an older fic but I decided to someday actually write it just recently. So it’s my Historical Human AU No. 3. It’s based on a space facts video fact, where it said that in 1963 Kennedy had proposed the USSR and US go to the Moon together, and Khrushchev had been meaning to agree, but then Kennedy died and the plan was abandoned. This story idea was like, but what if they’d gone through with it? And then, because why not, what if they’d included other countries as well? And this WIP was born. It’d be like, the main characters would be representatives of their home countries, sent to take part in the program and they’d all be candidates for going to the Moon, but there’d be only 3 spots on the rocket so like, they’d kind of have to compete for the spots? And the ones that wouldn’t pass would take part in the mission on Earth. So then there'd compete, there’d be personal drama, their personal relationships would be affected by the relationships between their home countries, but overtime friendships would be forged, and they’d all just become… one big ole found family. A space family. A big ole found space family. And the Overview Effect would also play a part. This is kind of on the back burner, this’ll need lots of research and the Home front fic also needs a lot of it, so I’ll try to.. write that first, I guess? We’ll see.
So that’s all my WIPs. There are other fic ideas that I haven’t put much thought into yet so they’re not on the list, but yeah!
8. Do you have any writing buddies or critique partners?
I don’t have any one person who I’ve talked to about all of my stories, but I have discussed my stories with a few people! Both online and irl. I’m also on a couple discord servers that are for writing or where people talk about writing, even though for the most part I’m too shy to talk much on any of them ;u; But the people who’ve been awesome enough to listen to me ramble about my stories have helped me a lot!
12. Which story of yours do you like best? Why?
Aaaa, don’t make me choose between my children! ;__; I love them all,,,
Well, I am very fond of TT, since it’s my own original story and I’ve worked on it the longest… Then again, the Kingdom AU has a lovely aesthetic and those two pining idiots in it… But also, that BNHA fic has some really nice plot and character moments? But also I’ve spent so long researching for the Home front fic and it’s got my boys in it! And the atmosphere in it is so nice, and it has found family,,, But then also… Space??? And even the fantasy fanfic has the Asshole Goddess in it?? And a nice storyline with Liech?? See I can’t choose ;_;
To be fair, the story my dumb brain takes interest in changes every now and then, for example lately I’ve been mostly thinking about TT, the Kingdom AU and the Home front fic, so I guess those would be my favorites at the moment? But a couple weeks ago I was really into the Space Fic, and at the start of the year it was the BNHA fic. So it depends! But I do love them all.
52. Who do you write for?
Well, primarily probably for myself. I do often find myself in a situation where I’m looking for fics or books to read but none of them really click, and then I realize I’m looking for my own story. Which I haven’t written. So that’s definitely a big one! Then, to some extent, I also write for the people I’ve rambled about my fics to, so they might maybe someday get to experience the whole thing through something other than just my ramblings :’D But mostly for myself, I think.
Thanks for the ask again and sorry for taking so long!
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The seraphic fold master post
Updtaed as of: 6/16/2020
So, the old master post isn’t good at all it’s mostly just Luci, Az, Gabriel, Michael, and Mary facts as opposed to how the fold works and functions, the caste system, social dynamics, etc. I will also be providing and updated list of all the angels that I write that live there along with the date it was updated.
Quick introduction to angels as a species and the fold itself, angels and demons are the same thing, no fall mechanic required. With how the seraphic fold and Burning planes are two neighboring realms that nearly completely overlap, the Seraphic fold is more like a gated community that rejects the idea of being as “low and grimy” as their “savage” cousins. They’re the living embodiment of “you can’t sit with us”.
The burning planes was created and is written by my friend so I will not be making a post on it ehrwh
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I. The caste system and social dynamics
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The caste system is simple, but the class divides are quite literal with huge guarded walls and gates separating each area. Angelic society is separated into spheres with a ruling class above everyone else. It goes as follows:
The council
First sphere
Second Sphere
Third sphere
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The council are the ruling class of angelic society, but they don’t have one ruler. The seraphic fold is infinitely spreading making room for those that are born or reincarnated within’ it’s pristine walls. Each member of the council governs a small portion of the fold making general laws vary quite greatly aside from the constants that were decided when the fold was first manifested, but for the most part the fold is governed by strict social expectations.
1. Murder is prohibited unless you’re challenging the throne, failure to comply will result in execution 
and 
2. The murder and assault of death angels will result in either permanent exile or execution 
The council make their own laws as they see fit for their society, but despite there been quite literally billions of council members only a handful are well known and govern the most populated areas of the fold.  Azrael, Michael, Mary, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Sealtiel, Jehudiel, Barachiel, Samuel, and formerly Lucifer. Lucifer was and still is the most prominent council member in the folds history, he conquered nearly half of the fold before being exiled shortly after the storming of heaven. 
His section of the fold was broken up and given to the members of his council that didn’t take his side during the event, but rulers aren’t elected nor are they born into power. The thrones are constantly being fought over by those looking to get ahead in the first sphere, those that rule have proven themselves as both powerful in battle and worthy of respect.
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The first sphere is home to wealthy politicians, the royal guard, merchants, soul collectors, high class chefs, gladiators and the like. It’s high class society is the strictest out of any of the spheres as everyone’s looking for a way to get rid of competition. Political assassins and body guards are a huge portion of the jobs offered in the back alleys, not to mention the dark underbelly of the “servant” trade where many angels are kidnapped from the third sphere to be “house keeps” and “servants” for the upper class. The first sphere is so full of pride and prejudice to the point where if you’re any bit sympathetic towards those below you or interact below you, you will face harsh scrutiny and possible assault. 
But it’s not all bad, the first class has the highest quality of living out of any of the spheres with running water, lighting, an abundance of food, etc. Not to mention the access to various delicacy’s made by soul collectors. Soul collectors are angels that collect the souls of the dead and turn them into fine alcohols, candies, tapestries, silks, cigars, weapons, and jewelry. Just like you’ll see in other sphere’s, there’s a wealth gradient. The further you get to the second sphere the poorer and worse the sphere becomes.
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The second sphere is middle to low class, it carries over traits from the first and third sphere, but this is generally where you’re “peasant” jobs are. A lot of them are farmers or handy workers, but there are tailors and cooks here. Food shortages and poverty gets worse and worse as you get back towards the third sphere. These are generally average people who don’t have any extreme magical ability and their ability to collect and see souls isn’t the greatest. They’re just average people trying to make ends meet, it is possible to pull out of this sphere and into the first, but it takes a lot of time and effort, but it’s even easier to fall into the third.
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The third sphere is where all those that are exiled and rejected by society end up. There is little possibility of pulling yourself out of here and generally laws don’t apply to those that society has forgotten and/or rejected leaving this section to be guarded by militias. Life in the third sphere is a lot more relaxed and free spirited ruled by rebellion and rejecting social standards despite the huge starvation problem, life has thrived here. But as time passes social unrest grows within’ this sphere making the sign of Lucifer and the removal of wings a sign of rebelling the society they’re oppressed and forgotten by.
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Death angels are a huge part of angelic society, they’re angels that carry out Death’s will and thus are considered the highest of angel society and specially protected under Angelic law and thus are always either a part of the council or living within’ the first sphere.
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Fashion is a huge part of angelic society it reveals wealth, social status, and job position, thus I will give a quick run down of it.
The council:  Long silks, armor, tight fitting clothing all are common place. The face is usually covered by a mask or hood, wings have been enlarged to give an imposing silhouette. Intimidation is key here as many council members face opponents rather regularly. Black and gold is extremely common place within’ fashion here. Many council members adorn their horns in jewelry. Generally fashions rules are much looser here than most of the other spheres. The lack of wings is an extreme taboo along with the lack of horns.
The first sphere:  Extremely extravagant clothing that often takes appearance over functionality. Masks are common place here along with long feather’s and more than one pair of wings placement varies to being framing the head, middle of the back, shoulder blades, etc. A lot of teal and gold is used in clothing within’ this sphere, the usage of black is reserved strictly for mourning. Jewelry is a must here to flaunt your wealth, wealth is often displayed and flaunted by how much gold and jewels a person wears as they’re quite expensive. The lack of wings is an extreme taboo along with lack of jewelry, clothing, silks, and masks.
The third sphere: The third sphere is often categorized by rebellion and rejecting the social standards of the fold. The removal of wings, horns, hooves, etc. in an effort to look more human is extremely common place, but they never look fully human. Any angels that still have their wings are social outcasts within’ this sphere as they desperately try to fit in with their peers, but they’re also more likely to leave the sphere. Clothing in the third sphere is extremely varied, others might wear only white, other’s black, or vibrant colors, but one thing that’s generally not used is gold. Very rarely is gold used and it’s usually stolen.  Wings, anything that would flaunt wealth is an extreme taboo within’ this sphere.
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II. Housing and general aesthetic of the fold
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The fold consists of whites, teals, blacks and golds to contrast the bright red veins angels get when angered. Angelic housing is basically like ancient Greek houses, but made out of smooth white marble and extravagant details galore, you get up into mansions as you get into the more wealthy sphere. A lot more gold and black marble or carpet is used in these palaces while common housing tends to either get white marble, wood flooring, or straw. Wealthy people tend to be able to live alone, while as you get further down it’s not uncommon to see multiple families sharing one home or one area of land. Housing isn’t hard to come by, but since the fold is a series of floating islands, it tends to be compact, reaching upward instead of outward.
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III. Links + misc facts
Extra links to more info:
Dimensional clusters
Why don’t angels want to look human?
Angel diet kinda
Angels as parents
Angel gentialia (nsfw)
How angels change their body
Gender and pronouns usage
High priests and Apollyon
Nomadic ground dwelling angels
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Angels don’t refer to who they’re married to as their spouse, they call them their mate and polyamory is not at all uncommon especially in wealthier sections of the fold where you might want to pool your money together. Divorce also isn’t seen as taboo or uncommon
Angels do reproduce sexually, yes, but since angels can shape aspects of their appearance however they want, gender isn’t seen as anything that’s worth talking about, everyone can have children if they choose to so even what’s in your pants doesn’t matter
Societal pressure tends to keep angels having the same appearance in everything but the third sphere, lack of facial features aside from the occasional shown eyes, horns, hooves, claws, and tails. 
Every angel is born with one set of wings, but while angels can choose to grow more, once they’re torn from their sockets the tissues too scarred to grown another pair leaving them permanently grounded.
Angels reach sexual maturity at one hundred years of age, but they have been known to leave home earlier than that.
Angels are immortal in the sense that they don’t die from old age, but disease, famine, etc. can all kill them
People do reincarnate in the fold and it’s basically a toss of the dice where they’ll end up when they do
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IIII. Angel master list 
aka angels I write on this blog or if people make angels and want to be added to the list I’ll add them and link their blog/whatever
last updated 6/16/2020
Abaddon
Azrael
Lucifer
Mary
Michael
Rose
Apollyon
Lilith
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transboygenius · 5 years
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SE4SON: Chapter 20
Jimmy, Nick, and everyone else sat at the main dining room table, helping themselves to a bowl of warm soup, and leafy green salads. Diana refused to eat anything prepared in the king's domain. Benson was sipping his soup slowly. Rodent Girl slurped hers in one gulp, then asked when's dinner ready. Sally merely swayed her spoon back and fourth in the bowl. Jimmy and Nick hardly touched their soups, for they were too disturbed by the painted portraits of the king. He was even naked in some of them. Despite Nick's lost of appetite, he felt like he needed something to drink. He slowly reached his hand towards the wine glass, before having it slapped by Jimmy's. No matter what century they're in, Nick is still too young for the consumption of alcohol. Jason was getting testy over this silence.
"Hmmmm... Seems to be getting awfully too quiet in here. I know! How 'bout a little story to lighten the mood? *Ahem* One time, on a dull summer of July, I had evicted a family of six because of a two day rent due and-"
King Jason's story was cut off as the servants carried the dishes to the table. There were large assortments of meat, vegetables, seafood, and dessert. Some dishes looked scrumptious, while some looked disgusting. Although, the "disgusting" ones were considered normal to medieval standards. The new cook, Stuart, helped Jimmy and Nick to his special of the day: Stewed rabbit meat served in bread trenchers.
"It's really badger meat. I couldn't catch the little rascal. But hey, fast food isn't good for you anyways. Please don't tell the king."
Every meal made it to the table, but King Jason wasn't ready to let anyone eat yet. No, ever since that incident with the last cook, the king came prepared. He called in the royal taste-tester. The royal taste-tester was a skinny, pale 17 year-old young man who looked like he hasn't been fed enough. When granted permission by Jason, the royal taste-tester was very excited to check for poison, as if he hasn't ate all day. One dish by one, he took a tiny sample from each of the food, trying it, and savoring it. Jimmy and Nick were weirded out. After letting Jason know that the cuisine is safe, the king asked him to leave. Everyone, excluding Diana, dug in. Jimmy and Nick started with their stewed badger meat, which was very hard to work down due to its "unique" taste. Nick traded in his stew for a turkey leg, and managed to feed himself without revealing his face. He just stuffed the drumstick into his helmet, then 10 seconds later, he pulls out a clean bone.
Benson was trying to decide on what he wanted to eat, before Rodent Girl eats it first. Speaking of Rodent Girl, she's just enjoying herself like a hungry hog, with the most ghastly table manners Jason ever witnessed. Diana stubbornly sat in her seat, arms crossed, refusing to touch the tainted food in front of her. Butterscotch took big bite chunks out of any dish he looked at, without even bothering to finish the whole thing. He delivered a forthright critique to the king about how his cook's meals tasted cut-rate compared to Nick Dean's gourmet art of gastronomy, but of course Jason only heard "Neeeiiigh whiiiineeey." Sally, being such a child she is, decided to skip to dessert, and grabbed an entire plate of shortbread cookies. She then accidentally dropped her napkin. Sally dove under the table to retrieve it, when suddenly, she saw that Jimmy and Nick were holding each other's hands. It was out of intimidation, but it looked like intimacy to her. She covered her mouth to drown out her squeal of excitement. Meanwhile, the king spoke silently among his chancellor.
"Look at them, Richard. Look at them. *At Rodent Girl* Disgusting. *At Diana* Arrogant. *At Sally* Immature. They're all a bunch of circus freaks. Who ever gave them the right to exist? But it's okay. I can tolerate their actions a little longer, *Points to Jimmy and Nick* just as long as these two sickos will take me to my awaited treasure. You can't find the nest unless the PIGEONS lead you to it. After that, I won't have to deal with them, or their reject friends, anymore."
Jason shifted an eye to the right to find that Benson was sitting at the far right of the table, close to the king. We all know what he was doing.
"Were you eavesdropping on the king, peasant?!" Asked Jason, in a strict tone. "N-no, your greatness! I j-just wanted to get away from Miss Oona's messy station!" Stuttered Benson. "There are plenty of empty chairs around! Now begone, before I have my guards escort you out!" "Y-yes, your greatness!"
Benson got up and ran to the farthest seat of the table. Meanwhile, the king was ready to make his proposal. He tapped his spoon on his wine glass to get everyone's attention.
"Good now. As did promise-"
Jason was then interrupted by Rodent Girl's noisy eating. That died down eventually.
"As did promise-"
This time, he was interrupted by Rodent Girl's loud slurping. That died down, too.
"As did promise-"
Now Rodent Girl was hacking.
"SILENCE, VERMIN!"
Rodent Girl then hesitated.
"As did promise, we shall be discussing the other half of our negotiation! Richard! Present to them the diagram!"
Richard was excused from his seat, then he gave Jimmy a piece of paper with a sketch drawing on it. It seems that Jason has never improved, cuz the boy genius thought he was a bad artist himself. He couldn't make out the object in the sketch.
"You want us to get you a headband with a heart patch on it?" Asked Jimmy. "No." Replied Jason. "Maybe he wants us to draw a better picture." Nick added. "NO! You mean you don't recognize it?" "Well, sometimes we have trouble reading certain art styles. We're not saying it's bad. *Nudges Nick* Wouldn't you agree, my fair knight?" "For crying out loud. You should know by now, you made it! It's the Amulet of Bind!" "Oh! That! Now rings a bell! That thing I made, a long time ago! For a special happy time!" "I hope it isn't too much to ask, but, I need this amulet. Please, this amulet is worth more to me than my own life! Ever since as a child, it's all I've been thinking of! Please, noble ones!" "Alright, it's yours!" "You mean... ...just like that? You want me to take it off your hands?" "Yeah, of course! Why would we miss one piece of jewel? I make plenty of other jewels for a living, and thinking of opening a jewelry store! We allow credit." "If there's anyone who knows how to turn coal into diamonds, it's him!" Nick added again. "Then what, after we retrieve this so-called amulet, bright eyes? You'll 'redeem yourself and become a more gentle king of milk and honey?'" Diana questioned the king. "Nah! I wast bethinking of packing up everything I owneth, departure this fusty village, and then opening up a new kingdom someplace else! I couldst make a much bigger one, with the fortune pawned from that rare amulet! It's worth at least a billion nowadays!" "You mean... ...you'll be leaving us?!" "That, and thee shall be free to doth whatever thee wishes! I'm taking everything, and throwing away the key! You could even elect a new king!" "YIPEE! *Jumps up from her seat* Boy, that sounds-! Wait a minute, your greatness. Why the heck would you want to leave your own village anyways? You were here long enough for the cemetery to run out of spaces, and burial was replaced with cremation! You said so yourself that you devoted your name to this village!" "Well that devotion was a lie, woman! I'm tired of being cooped up in this stinking four wall prison you call a township!" "(Even though you constructed those walls yourself.)" "I wanna step up my game! I want a big land to take charge of! Millions of people to worship me! They will be my new walls! I want not to be superior of just some dinky dram village! I want to be superior of a whole land, and then allow my kingship to grow until I'm known throughout the world! Wherefore am I talking to you anyways, mistress?! I shouldst be talking to them!"
Jimmy hesitated for a moment, before he was ready to say something. Nick stopped stuffing bits of food into his helmet and joined his friend. Everyone laid eyes on the two carefully, except Rodent Girl, who was still eating. With the king gone, everyone can now live in peace. The Faithful Five may never have to steal again. Of course, they may need to elect a new decent king, just to keep the whole village system arranged. This sounded like a too good of a deal to demur at. Having Jason out of everyone's hair could be what the peasants need. Jimmy was about to come to terms, but then he began to have a second thought. Jason may leave these people alone, but will he put his newfound town through the same jeopardy? What if he resorts back to hanging, capitalism, and leaving misfits to die? Rulers like him, who commit terrible atrocities, don't change that easily.
"Your greatness!" Jimmy spoke up. "Yesssssss?" Answered Jason. "You can have the amulet if you promise your new citizens: No more strict rules with overzealous penalties! Nourishment, medical management, and housing must be affordable! You have to provide equality for all if you're gonna be a good republic representative!" "Well,I'll be blown. What shall befall of me if be true I hold not my gage?" "Then I'll... ...summon my magical spies on you! That's right! I have spies everywhere! In the trees! In the skies! Did I mention they're also invisible? Once they report your actions to me, I'll cast a spell that'll morph you into a big pile of cow pie!" "Besides, the more people die, the less of the population to worship you!" Said Nick.
The guards felt threatened, but the king managed to calm them down. After that, Jason got up from his seat, and walked towards Jimmy. The boy genius began sweating in anxiety. Nick also got up from his seat, then stood in front of his friend with his life. The king looked very menacing. Nick was so scared, his armor was clattering. Jason shoved the tiny knight aside, and then offered Jimmy his hand.
"It's settled."
Forcing a smile upon his face, Jimmy shook the king's hand out of respect.
"Alright! *Claps hands* Chop-chop! Dinner is officially over! Time to give me what I've been patient for!" Shouted the king. "You want it now?" Asked Jimmy. "No, I plan to wait another year- Of course, I mean now! We're heading straight to your Research Edifice!"
...............................
The king invited everyone on a carriage ride. Butterscotch, already being a horse, had to walk on foot. Jimmy read through Mr. Philips' diary again, so he could learn anything about this Amulet of Bind, and the history behind it. Sure, it's worth a fortune, but the king acted as though it was much more important than that. Not even Sally knew about this amulet.
"Are you really gonna turn the king into cow pie?" Whispered Sally. "No, but I thought I could scare him into believing me." Jimmy whispered his response. "Ughhhhhhh, I hope you guys gain your memories back soon."
The carriage eventually came to a stop, and everyone stepped out. They made it. They've reached the Wise Wizard's Research Edifice. At least that's what it said on the sign. Jimmy and Nick studied the building up close. It was shaped differently from all the other architecture in the village. This tower was built in a cylinder form. The building had been abandoned for so long, it was now covered in moss and flowers. It was also huge. Almost bigger than the king's castle. It was tall enough to reach the clouds. The boys were both surprised King Jason hasn't torn this place down yet.
"Sure takes you back, doesn't it?"
Sally accidentally startled the two boys. Jason then ordered everyone to enter the edifice, and then brought his guards in with him. The place was all gloomy from the inside. There was dust, cobwebs, withered flowers, and rats everywhere. Rodent Girl didn't mind. She made new friends. Sally looked around for a while. There were some painted portraits of the Wise Wizard and Silver Knight, either holding hands or hugging. Benson stayed close to Diana as possible, in case anything decides to jump at him. The building looked haunted from his point of view. Jason commanded the squad to stop sightseeing and said they should stay on task. The king then led them to a staircase. There were so many flight of stairs, they couldn't see the top. Rodent Girl just scurried up ahead. She was particularly fast.
"THIS ISN'T A RACE, VERMIN!" Jason screamed his lungs out. "Do this wizard and knight fella live like this everyday?" Nick sassed.
Later, the squad had been climbing up the stairs for about an hour. Even Diana herself was hitting exhaustion. Jason was being lifted up the stairs by his two faithful sentries, who are now in great pain due to how much he weighs. Richard was glad he didn't have to take part this time. Sally hitched a ride on Diana. Nick supportively carried Jimmy on his shoulders.
"I can walk on my own, Nick. No need for this." Said Jimmy. "No... You have... ...the shortest legs... I won't let that happen." Nick breathed.
As soon as the squad made it to the top floor, everybody, who'd been walking, laid flat on the floor, taking a break to rest for a moment. However, Jason wouldn't let them. Both Jimmy and Sally helped Nick back onto his feet. HIIIIIIIII! They heard Rodent Girl's voice. She was waving at them. The squad, seeing her, all groaned in annoyance. Not because she made it before them. Rodent Girl was waving at them, from the other side of a bridge, dangling over a black pit that led to who knows where.
"This is suppose to be their security system?" Nick groaned. "No, I think it's yours." Replied Sally. "Can you stop talking for 10 minutes? Please?" "Okay, everyone! Ladies! Gentlemen! Listen! This faulty bridge can only contrive enough density to hold together. It'll be safe if we all walked across one at a time!" Jimmy explained.
The squad agreed to Jimmy's notion. Jason made the children cross the bridge first, since they were the lightest. Jimmy went first, then Nick, Sally, Benson, Richard, guard #1, guard #2, Jason, Diana, now it's Butterscotch's turn. Diana was giving him emotional support from the other side. Nick promised he'd cooked something for him. Rodent Girl started motivating him like a gym coach, in order to get him to "horse-up." Jason then insulted Butterscotch, calling him a "filthy animal." That made the stallion mad enough to gallop across the bridge. His stomping hooves, combined with his rage, applied too much pressure.
"BUTTERSCOTCH! NOOOO! THE BRIDGE WILL-"
Jimmy tried to warn the horse, but it was too late.
"BUTTERSCOTCH!!!" Diana cried, trying to get to him.
The bridge broke, and then Butterscotch met with a falling fate. She dropped to her knees, with tears cascading from her eyes. Her friends immediately showered her with comfort, but Jason and his authorities were getting impatient.
"LET'S GO! We're way behind schedule!" Barked Jason. "Can you be anymore INSENSITIVE?! We've just lost a trustful steed!" Diana replied. "It's just a horse! You can just get a new one!" "Just a horse?! Mister, Butterscotch was family! You can not replace family, or a scrapbook full of memories!" "You can, if you were living the majestic life like me!" "That's it! I've darn had it with this skin flint ficklepuss!"
Diana was about to charge Jason with her fist, but her friends, including Richard, had to restrain her. The two guards pointed their spears.
"A BUNCH OF POINTY STICKS WON'T SAVE YOUR HIDE FROM ME! YOU'LL BE ALL OVER THIS PLACE BY THE TIME I'M DONE TEARING YOU LIMB FROM LIMB! HANGING OR NOT, DEATH WOULD BE BETTER THAN SHARING THE SAME PLANET WITH YOU!" Diana raged. "Diana! It's not worth it. You don't wanna prove you're just as bad as him. C'mon, we're almost there." Said Jimmy, trying to calm Diana. "But, Butterscotch! IF NOT FOR HIM, HE'D STILL BE HERE!" "I liked Butterscotch just as you did. He was the second best four legged friend I've ever made. When this is all over, I promise there will be a funeral arranged, in honor of a brave, fun horse." "Yeah, and we can invite everyone in the village! Horses, too! I'll even cook up a collection of his favorite foods! Anything for Butterscotch's good name!" Nick added.
Diana took a couple of deep breaths.
"Okay. I'll keep my cool. Butterscotch was a pacifist anyways, so he wouldn't like seeing me kill a man." Said Diana, with pride. "Maybe when your amnesia is cured, you could probably bring him back." Sally whispered to Jimmy.
The squad then entered the next room, which appeared to have light. It was an empty library, and the room was lit from the sun shining through a strained glass window, also providing some color. All the books had been packed, and the shelves were left empty. A big vault door sat in the center of the room. A door King Jason tried to open for years. When Diana turned the handle, it didn’t budge, not even from her strength. She tried harder, but only succeeded in tearing it off. The door can only open from a password. Jimmy found writing was increst on it. A hint, maybe?
A special profound charm, in no need of a spell, that unites us together. It makes the world go around. This emotion is the strongest fuel of human power.
"Go on!" Jason commanded. "What?" Jimmy blurted in confusion. "Feed it the password! You still remember it, right?”
Jimmy hesitated, while sweating. Nick placed an arm around him, giving the boy genius a pat. If Jimmy doesn't know the password, then they're sure to expose themselves as frauds. Jimmy decided to do what he hasn't done in a long time.
"Think... Think... Think..."
Based on the info he learned from Joseph's logs: The Wise Wizard, although happy with his formal life, was extremely lonely. The Silver Knight, a well known celebrity at that time, was one of the most miserable men in the village. Ever since they met, they found themselves to have comfort in one's company. They were both powerful in their own ways, but they also had flaws that the two acknowledged with one another. The knight would put his life against his wizard, and the wizard would do the same. They cared for each other very much, for it was fate that united them. The pair has made themselves one. The Wise Wizard and Silver Knight cared for each other romantically. Joseph cared for them like fathers. Diana cares for the Faithful Five as family. Jimmy and Nick cares for Diana, Rodent Girl, Benson, and Butterscotch like they were best friends. Jimmy cares for Nick from the pumping feeling in his h-
"BRAIN BLAST!" Shouted Jimmy. "Is that the password?!" Asked Jason. "No! But I figured it out!"
Jimmy cleared his throat before saying
"L-O-V-E! Love!"
A few seconds later, a golden light started illuminating from the gaps of the vault door. Everyone stepped back as the door slowly opened on its own. The glow eventually stopped, and the object was revealed. There was the amulet, sitting on a display. It was a beautiful golden chain necklace, with a heart shaped ruby in the center. It looked nothing like the one presented in King Jason's drawing. It was better than imagined. Shedding tears of joy, Jason grabbed the amulet for keeps, then placed it around his neck. Other than the amulet, there was also a piece of paper lying around. While the king modeled around with his new jewelry, Jimmy and Nick read the paper together. It was a log, written by the Wise Wizard himself!
Before the Wise Wizard and Silver Knight were ready to leave the village and travel the world, they presented King Todd with the Amulet of Bind, something they made together. Todd's 14 year-old son, Jason, seemed to have found interest in the jewel. The two had told the king that their love was extracted into the amulet, which possessed a far greater power known to man. It is to be used for an emergency only, in case the whole village gets caught under carnage. They also noted that the amulet must not fall into the hands of evil. If it does so, then the amulet must be touched by a pairing of two, who hold a strong built-up bond. It is their love that will drain the evil of its magic. The two then whispered the password to the king, for Todd could be trusted. However, they never thought about his power hungry son.
"Pffffffft. Magic." Jimmy joked. "Yeah. An amulet that stores powers made by love." Nick joked back. "It's absolutely ridiculous."
Just then, Jason pointed his finger at the two boys, and conjured up a chain, linking them together. A cage appeared around Sally. Diana was about to strike, but the king used a stun spell on her. Rodent Girl scurried over to Jason, ready to bite. With the magic point of a finger, Rodent Girl's leg was suddenly shackled, attached to this heavy ball. Also, her mouth was muzzled up. He didn't have to do anything with Benson. The man just got petrified with fear.
"What the heck is this?!" Questioned Jimmy. "It's magic, you bafoon." Replied Jason. "Not that! Is this suppose to be the other end of our deal?!" "Young man, when will you ever learn that there are certain people you're not suppose to trust? You should know that people like me don't change their heart overnight! It seems to me you don't really know me at all!"
Jimmy looked at the friends he got in danger, also he thought about the one horse they just lost. The boy genius was so up in his pride, he didn't bother with the facts. His friends tried to warn him about this man. The red flags were right there. All he thought about was outsmarting the king into having a heart with his psychology. Jimmy needs to learn that it's his friends he should listen to.
"You know what's so precious about magic, Richard?" "Uhhhhhhh, it can give you anything you desire by just a slight gesture of the hands, sire?" "Correct! You get a raise!"
The king snapped his fingers and a bag of money appeared in the chancellor's hands.
"Wow! Bless you, sire!" "Don't mention it. Magic could make me a whole new man! For instance, I could change my shape into something I've always dreamed of!"
The king turned his tubby figure into a more muscular shape.
"It can also enhance my senses! *Sniffs the air* Let's see, *Points at guard #2* you had a tuna hero for lunch!" Said Jason. "By George, he's got it!" Spoke guard #2. "And, uh... *Sniffs again* Hold on."
There's something about the way the "Wise Wizard" and "Silver Knight" smelled that puzzled the king.
"You're not the noble Wise Wizard and Silver Knight, aren't you?" The king asked in an ominous tone. "What makes you ask that? We are wearing the clothes, and my partner here did figure out the password!" Said Nick. "Silence! If you were the legendary heroes, you'd have their scent! I've been there, and you two smell nothing like how I remembered them! As a matter of fact, I think I smell a little fear in you."
Jason lifted up Nick's visor, so he could look at both of their faces of shame. He glared at the boys with red eyes.
"You two are just a pair of pathetic, scared, commoner children. And to think I let you go, trespassing in my domain, posing as fake authorities! If I knew, I would've had your skinny necks hanged by then. But good news: It's your lucky day today! Since you've led me to the power that's rightfully mine, I'll give you a whole day to live before I ready the gallows. Your friends can join you, like a big happy family! Now's the best time to use that dungeon." "Your greatness?" Asked guard #1. "What?" "How are we going to get them out of here? The bridge is done for, and there's no way I'm carrying her down the stairs. *Points to Diana*" "Have you fools learned nothing on what magic can do?"
King Jason then teleported everyone out of the library.
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@thecorteztwins
So, I wound up writing another piece of that “Fabian and Maximus kidnap Luna” scenario, this time from Luna’s perspective.  This is kind of turning into a fan-fic, but feel free to tell me to stop, or tell me to do specific things in the story, since I am using your ideas here.  If I manage to keep this up, I think the next scene will be Fabian’s perspective at the mall, pretending to be Luna’s two dads. 
(Also, I’m pretty sure that Fabian didn’t actually kidnap Luna to “teach Quicksilver a lesson,” but I figure that’s how he’d explain it to her.  Maximus and Fabian are both entirely full of bullshit most of the time.)
           Luna was used to being alone.  Inhuman parents didn’t hover over their children constantly the way human parents seemed to, and royal Inhuman parents even less so.  Her mother was constantly away on some kind of official business, like long, boring meetings or fancy dinners, or dealing with yet another crisis that threatened to destroy the entire city.  Other children took lessons together, but as a princess, Luna was given private tutors.  She’d outgrown nannies, so she was usually on her own when lessons were over. At least when Ahura was around they could play together, when he wasn’t moody and moping.  
           Being alone at the Avengers compound was nothing new, either.  Her father had dashed away to deal with the Wrecking Crew destroying buildings in downtown New York.  At least they were living up to their names.  According to her father, they usually stole things and robbed banks, which seemed weird, since they didn’t call themselves the Bank Robbing Crew.  Luna knew she shouldn’t mind, it was her father’s job to fight bad guys and save people, but he’d promised her that they’d go out for ice cream that afternoon.  And there were so many Avengers, did he really have to go?  He could fight bad guys any time, but Luna would only be staying with him another month before heading back to Attilan (assuming her mother didn’t forget because the Kree attacked or Attilan fell into a time portal or whatever).  
           So Luna was sitting on the couch watching Steven Universe, and feeling very sorry for herself, because this was supposed to be Luna and Dad time, and she was alone again.  The cartoon cheered her up a little bit.  The show was about magic sentient space gems, which was a really neat idea, and they had cool designs, and sometimes there were songs.  But mostly, Luna could totally relate to the main character being a half-human, half-alien hybrid, struggling to fit into either world.
           Absorbed in the show, Luna didn’t look up when the door opened.  Two of the gems had fused into some kind of giant woman, and were fighting weird bird monsters.  It wasn’t until someone picked up the remote and switched the TV off that Luna looked up.
           One man she didn’t recognize.  He was kind of handsome, except for the haughty expression on his face.  He was wearing coveralls and a hat, but she could see wisps of red hair peeking out around his face, and a long ponytail down his back.  His emotions were much uglier.  Luna could see golden pride running through his psyche, polished to an arrogant gaudiness.  The too-bright gold color was twined with sharp neon green malice, a rich, luxurious royal purple of greed, and tightly coiled spirals of orange anxiety.  This wasn’t a good sign.  
           The other man was Uncle Maximus, which was an even worse sign.  He was wearing the same coveralls and cap, reminding Luna of the work clothing that he often wore in the Chamber of Devices.  The anxiety inside him was tinted white, closer to excitement, lying in tangled knots across the same garish pride Luna saw in the other man.  Uncle Max’s emotions were far less orderly, though. His psyche was a polychrome nightmare, constantly shifting like a stained glass window come to life, colors clashing as they shot jagged spikes across his torso.   The only constant was the black.  It wasn’t like the cool pools of blue-black calm inside Uncle Black Bolt, it was a writhing darkness that reached out to stain any color that came into contact with it.   It twisted through her uncle’s body, coiling into his brain, wrapped around his heart. Or maybe it was coming out of his heart? It was hard to tell.  
           “Oh, hi Uncle Max!”  Luna said, not quite sure yet whether she should be worried. Somewhere in the rainbow mess, she could see a faint pink of affection.  “Are you bad again?”
           “I’m never bad, dear child,” Maximus cooed, in a tone more oily than honeyed.  “Others label me so because they don’t have the mental capacity to understand my actions.”
           “Oh.  That sounds like you’re bad again.”      
Luna was never really clear on whether she should be afraid of her uncle.  She had first heard of Maximus as a kind of boogeyman, someone that her tutors spoke of in fearful whispers.  He’d seemed to fit that description when Medusa dragged her down to his dark cell, a soft-spoken monster hiding behind a smiling mask.  Despite his kind behavior (he even explained things to her like she was a grown-up!), talking with him felt a little like cuddling up to a tiger. He seemed to change every time Luna saw him – one day cold and sly, the next day practically jumping up and down with excitement while explaining one of his machines.  He certainly didn’t remain soft-spoken, he got very shouty when his emotions boiled over inside him in an eruption of colors.
Even the adults couldn’t seem to decide how to treat him – he was locked away in a dark dungeon forever, he was ruling Attilan, he was the family’s trusted scientific expert, he was trying to kill everyone, he was building machines for Black Bolt, he was a prince to be respected, he was a reviled lunatic.  No one trusted him, but Crystal had left Luna in his care when she and the rest of the family went to rescue Uncle Black Bolt and Ahura from the Skrulls.  (He hadn’t hurt her then, only talked to her for hours in a way that sounded very much like he was talking to himself.) Was Uncle Maximus good or bad or brilliant or crazy or all of those things?  He certainly wasn’t the nightmare under the bed any more.  Lately, Luna had started to think of him as a badly-behaved child, hiding behind a grown-up mask.
           “What does ‘bad’ even mean, really?”  Maximus asked, taking her by the arm.  “A word to keep people in their place.  It’s a word for the peasants, Luna, not for us. Royalty is beyond good and bad.”
           “I really don’t think that’s true Uncle Max,” Luna said, letting herself be pulled up away from the TV.  She’d seen this episode, anyway.
           “You’ve obviously been spending too much time with these humans, you’re starting to absorb their mindset.  You need to be back with your own people.”
           “Is that where you’re taking me?  Back to Mom and Aunt Medusa?”  Maximus grinned broadly at her.
           “Yes, child, exactly!”  Bright flashes of sickly pale blue inside him screamed insincerity.
           “Really?”
           “Well, we’ll go back to Attilan eventually, but first you can spend some fun time with your Uncle Max and my….associate here. I’ll teach you all sorts of interesting things.  Your education has been far too neglected.”
           “I don’t wanna learn.”  Luna wrinkled her nose as she paused, not letting herself be pulled any further.  Maximus paused with her, apparently unwilling to yank her along.  “I’m supposed to be on vacation from school.  Can’t we do something fun?”
           “Yes, poppet, we’ll do all sorts of fun things,” Maximus promised, and the blue blended with a forest green that suggested he was at least partially telling the truth.
           “For God’s sake, Maximus, just grab the kid,” interrupted the man with the ponytail, annoyance flashing a jagged red.  “We need to get out of here before anyone else walks in.”
           “Watch your tongue, Cortez!” Maximus snapped. “Luna is a princess of Attilan and she will be treated with respect.  Even if she’s part mutant, poor thing.”  He patted Luna on the head at that last comment.  Luna was used to this kind of talk.  Most citizens of Attilan approached her half-breed status with something between barely disguised contempt, or, at best, horrified fascination and pity.  She didn’t see why it was such a bad thing.  Her father had powers just like Inhumans, better powers than most of them!
           “That’s her better half, anyway,” the man grumbled. “Mutants will inherit this world.” Uncle Max waved his hand dismissively.
           “Can I say good-bye to Mr. Jarvis before we go? And I should leave a note for my Dad -” Maximus’ grip on her arm tightened. Luna was suddenly completely certain that she was being kidnapped.  It was hardly the first time.
           “Let’s not bother Mr. Jarvis right now, he’s very busy,” Maximus said quickly.  “Don’t worry, we’ve already told Quicksilver that we’re coming to pick you up.” Luna’s father would never in a million years agree for Maximus to take Luna back to Attilan.  He was the only grown-up who’d always been consistent in his opinion of Uncle Max – namely that they should lock him up and throw away the key.
           “Wait, let me get my clothes!  And my toothbrush!  I can’t go without my toothbrush, can I?”  If Uncle Max let her go to her room, Luna could leave a note for her father.  Or even make a run for it.  Maybe she could hide in one of the many spare rooms until the Avengers came back.
           “You don’t need all that, poppet.  We’ll buy you some new clothes.  We’ll have a shopping spree, won’t that be nice?”  Now Maximus was pulling her towards the door again, so that Luna had to stumble along to keep up.  Luna made a frustrated sound, not quite a growl or scream, just a long “Rrgggghhhh….”
           “Quiet!”  ordered the pony-tailed man.
           “Uncle Max, if you’re gonna kidnap me, can’t I at least take my clothes along?  And my DS? It gets really boring being kidnapped!”
           “What does ‘kidnap’ even mean, really?  Just another silly word,” Maximus said cheerfully. Luna rolled her eyes and thought about screaming at the top of her lungs.  That would at least bring Mr. Jarvis from the kitchen.  But Mr. Jarvis didn’t have any powers, and he’d try to stop them.  Luna was fairly sure that Uncle Maximus would not hurt her.  But he would probably hurt Mr. Jarvis.  Screaming was out.    
           “It means you’re taking me someplace I don’t wanna go!” Luna snapped, as they went through the main doors towards the stairs.
           “But you do want to go with us,” Maximus insisted.  “We’re family.  Family members can’t kidnap each other, right?  We’re going to buy you some lovely new things, and have a really fun time together!”
            “That’s right!” agreed the pony-tailed man, smiling as if it hurt him to do so. “We’re great fun!”
           Luna fumed quietly as they went down the stairs. She didn’t think she could use her powers on both of them at once.  It was really hard to use her powers on Uncle Max, anyway, like trying to run underwater. If she tried he would fight, and then the other man, “Cortez,” would probably do something nasty to her.  It would be easier to take over Cortez, but then Uncle Max would use his own powers to stop him.  She wished desperately for her mother to appear and light both men on fire (not like, completely on fire, just enough to hurt them a little.  Maybe just their toes.)  She wanted her father to zip up the stairs and whisk her away, safe in his arms.  But neither of them did, because they were busy.
           They were always busy.  For a moment Luna hated her entire stupid family.  This wouldn’t be happening if either of her parents had been there, like parents were supposed to be.  Maybe they’d finally learn their lesson when her father came back and found her gone.  She smiled a little to herself, imagining her father dropping to his knees and weeping.
           “Oh Luna, how could I have left you all alone? We should have gone out for ice cream like you wanted!”  He would wail.  “How could I have ever considered anything more important than my precious daughter?” Crystal would join him, and they would cry into each other’s arms.  “Our daughter is gone forever because we were such bad parents!  By Randac, I swear if Luna comes back safe I’ll never make her do boring algebra worksheets ever again!”
           Luna was so caught up in fantasy that she barely noticed as they exited the building and climbed into a van.  She realized as the doors shut that she should have gotten a look at the license plate, but it probably didn’t matter.  If this was a kidnapping (and it totally was!), Uncle Max would announce himself to the family soon enough and make a big showy spectacle out of it.  He was “extra,” a human word that Luna had learned from She-Hulk.  And maybe it wouldn’t hurt that her parents would worry about her for a little while – maybe they should.
           Maximus was strapping her into the backseat while Cortez got into the driver’s seat.
           “Where did you get this Uncle Max?  You didn’t do something bad to someone, did?”  
           “Nooooo, of course not,” Maximus tried to assure her as he settled into the front passenger seat.  “A nice man gave it to me.”
           “Oh.”  Luna mentally supplied quotes to the word “gave,” just hoping that her uncle hadn’t hurt the man.  “Are you Uncle Max’s friend?”  She asked Cortez, who was driving them towards the gate.
           “We are…associates.  Partners, you could say,” Cortez said, glancing back at her. “Listen child, I know we have had our differences in the past, but if you behave yourself and cooperate, I promise not to harm you.”
           “What differences?”
           Cortez abruptly stepped on the brake, Uncle Maximus letting out a startled yelp as he jerked forward into the dashboard.
           “I wasn’t even belted in yet, Cortez!  Can you not even drive through a parking lot without some display of incompetence – “   He went on in that vein, but Cortez was not listening, only looking back at Luna, bright yellow surprise flaring up, then smoldering down into a dull, dark red anger.
           “Do you really not remember?  I once kidnapped you to teach your dreadful father a lesson!  How can you forget someone like me?!”
           “Maybe I was a baby?  People don’t remember things from when they were babies,” Luna suggested, trying to be helpful, and maybe calm his anger a bit.  
           “You were old enough!  You were – no, never mind.  I am the great Fabian Cortez, Spanish royalty, leader of the Acolytes, true successor to the legacy of Magneto, the very pinnacle of the race of homo-superior.”
           “That means mutant,” Maximus supplied.  “Now will you drive the van, or must I lower myself to the task, Cortez?”
           “Nice to meet you, Mr. Cortez,” Luna said. “Don’t feel bad if I don’t remember. I get kidnapped a lot.  It’s hard to remember every time.”
           “Fine.  Fine. I forgive you forgetting.  You are only a child, and children can be forgiven these things,” Cortez conceded, anger visibly cooling.  “But more importantly, Maximus, how will we get her past the guard?  I assume you’ll….”  Cortez glanced at Luna, then back at Maximus, and tapped his forehead in a way that meant to be secret.  Obviously he wanted Uncle Max to use his mind control powers.  Luna wondered if they’d keep using charades around her if she pretended not to understand.
           “Why don’t we do this the easy way?” Maximus said, turning to Luna.  “Luna, we’re going to play a fun hide-and-seek game where you lay under this tarp.”  
           “That doesn’t look very clean.  I don’t think I want to play that game.”  And Uncle Max couldn’t force her.  He couldn’t use his powers on her, that was the one advantage she could play.  That, and the cell-phone in her dress pocket that neither man had noticed yet, but she’d have to pull it out when they weren’t watching her.
           “Oh, but you must!  It’s one of the many delightful games we’ll be playing today,” Maximus insisted.
           “Can we also go to store and buy me some new clothing?  Like you said?  I’ll play the game if we can go to the mall.”  Luna knew they could overpower her if they really wanted to.  But Maximus probably didn’t want to do something like that, and he probably didn’t want to deal with her crying or screaming. Buying her presents would be the path of least resistance.  And it seemed only fair, since they were kidnapping her and everything.
           “That’s really not-“ Cortez started, but was cut off by Maximus.
           “Yes, of course, princess!  Just like I said!  I promise!”  The colors seemed to indicate sincerity, although Uncle Max could change his mind on a dime.  But then, resisting might mean that they hurt the poor security guard, and Luna didn’t want that.
           “Okay, it’s a deal.  You promised!” Luna lay flat against the seat and pulled the tarp over herself.  If she played her cards right, maybe she could get her uncle to buy her a new DS.  
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madaboutmerlin · 5 years
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Merlin Writer Month: Round up
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Hello Merlin fans! We hope you’ve had an amazing week and that you found some new fics to enjoy! 
Again, we want to remind you to use the hashtag: #MerlinWriterMonth2018, so that we may reblog all of your wonderful recommendations. Also, we noticed that some of you recommended authors instead of specific fics, so you’ll find them at the end after the GEN cut.
And without further ado, enjoy!
Arthur/Merlin
1. Rules For Roommates by Pickitup  Length: 41,235 Summary:  Modern AU. Arthur works in publishing and is ashamed to tell anyone he’s secretly editing erotica, and being bullied by one of his authors - the arrogant ‘Lake Anders’. He’s also just taken in a new roommate, the adorable Merlin Emrys, who is definitely Not His Type. Or is he?
2. The Oncoming Storm by  Diana_Prallon Lenght: 133,914 Summary: The only thing the Republic isn’t ready for, is war. Everything in their power is being done to appease the systems that have joined the Separatist Movement, to try and keep the peace among all. The Jedi Knights have been sent all over the Galaxy, trying to solve conflicts and stop more and more planets from leaving the Republic, with mixed success. King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot, however, doesn’t believe that avoiding war will be that easy and has devised a scheme to help boost the Republic’s defenses – if he can survive the many attempts on his life and remain hidden under the custody of Jedi Padawan Merlin long enough for his master, Mordred, to figure out who is behind the attempts.
3. Let’s Ruin The Friendship by silver_etoile Lenght: 24,564 Summary:  Desperate to get Merlin over his breakup with Lance, Arthur makes a suggestion that surely can’t backfire–sex with no strings attached. Arthur’s perfectly capable of controlling his own feelings, so why does this feel all wrong and more than a little bit right? 
4. Close Quarters by RocknVaughn Lenght: 3,948 Summary:  Albion University’s rather unique “Get to Know Your Roommate” exercise has Merlin seeing red…and blue, and yellow, and green. 
5. The Dreams Inside by winterstorrm Lenght: 9,959 Summary:  Arthur had always held back, not trusting himself. After all, he’d been in love with Merlin since he was eighteen years old—and Merlin had been with his sister. Now that Morgana was off the scene, could Arthur be blamed for taking his chance with Merlin?
6. Everything by beckybrit Lenght: 5,970 Summary:  Arthur wants Merlin to let go and hold nothing back. The result isn’t quite what he expected.
7. Arthur Pendragon and the Philosopher’s Sword by  a8csock (ladysockalot), ladysockalot  Lenght: 60,941 Summary: Arthur Pendragon was living a normal, mundane life, when he received a mysterious letter inviting him to the magical University of Camelot. Despite his scepticism before long he found himself being whisked of to a world of magic, mystery and destiny. His life would never be the same again.
8. Crisis Muffins by flowersheep Lenght: 2,334 Summary:  Merlin needs to stop having crises at ungodly hours of the morning.
9. Meant to Be Heard by jessicamdawn Lenght: 4,768 Summary: Arthur Penderson meets the eccentric Merlin Emrys when he is twenty. While getting to know him, Arthur happens to hear strange things coming out of Merlin’s mouth when he isn’t looking but can’t figure out what they mean. Reincarnation fic.
10. Clouds On The Horizon by Diana_Prallon Lenght: 49,975 Summary: The Golden Age has arrived.It’s been three years since King Arthur Pendragon legalised magic once again in Camelot. Side by side, magical and non-magical folk have worked to rebuilt the land that was torn in the war against magic just as the King and his sister try to heal the rift between themselves. In times of peace, Albions prospers. Prosperity, however, brings a new threat to the land, one that Camelot cannot face without the aid of its allies. Meanwhile, Arthur and Merlin have to figure out how to live with each other now that there are no more secrets between them.
11. Sail Thou Forth (The Untold Want Remix) by fifty_fifty  Lenght: 37,070 Summary: Trapped in a marriage of convenience, Merlin Emrys doesn’t believe in love at first sight - or true love at all, for that matter.That is, until he meets Arthur Pendragon, an extraordinary man whose courage inspires him to begin the career that he has always longed for, and in whose arms Merlin begins to hope for better things.But society isn’t kind to men like them, and both must overcome tremendous obstacles before they will be free to live the life they’ve been dreaming of.
12. Touch by autumdragon Lenght: 2,596 Summary: It’s not black. Not really. It’s more shades of blacks: constant silhouettes floating in and out of his vision. It’s all he’s ever known. Black. But then he meets Merlin. And he sees colour for the first time.
13. A Rose in Spring by daylighthour Lenght: 3,746 Summary: Merlin is fed up with doing all the hard work and getting none of the credit. When Arthur lashes out at him in a fit of anger, it’s the last straw.
14. Death Invades Camelot by yourrockyspine Lenght: 19,665 Summary: Camelot’s Police Dept. is facing a multitude of problems: A) A series of brutal murders in a small town. B) An exhausted DCI connecting said murders, much to the derision of his fellow officers. C) A homeless, petty criminal hoping to share his observations (and possibly land himself the DCI in question). D) The DCI’s half-sister, who senses someone is following her.
15. Silhouette by rotrude Lenght: 12,409 Summary: Though his father objects, Arthur wants to become a poet, not a lawyer. Moving from London to the country, he finds his muse, in more way than one.
16. The Sidhe Prince by Caite Roswen Lenght: 67,207 Summary: When Prince Merlin of Avalon visits Camelot, King Arthur is confident that everything will run smoothly. He does not expect to come face to face with a destiny that never was, or to find his most closely guarded secrets unravelling around him. Merlin disarms Arthur with his unexpected charm, lays bare his charade as easily as if Arthur’s whole kingship were made of glass, and accompanies him on a journey which will change Camelot forever.
17. The Door at the End of the Hall by tamerofdarkstars Lenght: 6,998 Summary: Sometimes, what the human mind perceives as reality is different than what is actually there. A debilitating virus has decimated the nation, turning people into vicious, bloodthirsty creatures, and for Merlin and Arthur, trapped in the complex they used to work in and racing together to find a cure before the worst befalls them both, the line between reality and perception is blurring. 
18. M.E.R.L.I.N. by Lunadeath02 Lenght: 30,666 Summary: Captain Arthur Pendragon mail orders for a companion robot to keep him company and provide him with sex while he’s exploring the galaxy for unknown worlds; he didn’t plan on getting MERLIN. 
19. Time’s Up by Detochkina * Lenght: 31,700 Summary: Is there anything in common between drugs and excellent grades? Or business and psychology?  The answer is simple – in the world of big money a lot can happen when you’re bored to tears. Under pressure from his father, Merlin becomes involved in a strange relationship. At first, he can’t get out of it; on second thought – he doesn’t want to. “When they ask me in court how I got into this,” Merlin said slowly, trying to recover from the initial shock, “I’ll just tell them I was too busy snorting crack to notice. Think that would move them to tears?” Gwaine tossed his head back and laughed.”
*You’ll need to log in to AO3 to read this work. 
20. To You I Pledge by beren Lenght: 45,009 Summary: Merlin lays his life on the line to save Arthur yet again, only this time there are witnesses, lots of them. Only Arthur prevents him going to the headman’s axe straight away, but Arthur alone cannot save him. That is up to both of them. 
21. Learning by Touch by Capriccio Lenght: 802 Summary: Arthur might be a simpleton, but he’s not stupid. He sees the look in Merlin's eyes: soft and fond and sad, like he wants something he can't have. (Set during 4x12.).
22. One Sheet to the Wind by Capriccio  Lenght: 753 Summary: Merlin is just a plain white sheet, happily drying on the clothesline, until a gust of wind tangles him with the arrogant blanket next door.
23. Where This Road May Go by batgurl88
Summary: Arthur is a royal who can’t remember his past. Merlin and Gaius are con-men, hoping to return Arthur to Uther for a hefty reward. Little do they know they have the real deal on their hands.
24. I Win. by Kitty_Kanneas Lenght: 4,476 Summary:  At the summer faire in Ealdor, Arthur tries his hand at what he terms a 'peasant' game. When he isn't pleased with the outcome, he makes sure everyone knows it's just not really the way things are.
25. The Untold Want by Cookie Lenght: 18,572 Summary: Arthur Pendragon was the down-trodden son of the Duke of Camelot. After a break-down he goes to Cascades, a sanatorium, and begins to learn how to live his own life. That becomes even easier when he meets aspiring architect, Merlin Emrys.
26. Cold as the Wind Blows by arthur_pendragon Lenght: 1,780 Summary:  Every year on the first day of spring, Uther lets Arthur and Morgana and the rest of the nobles and servants do as they please, just for the day - and this year, Merlin finds himself invited to the best picnic of his life.
27. Ydill by arthur_pendragon Lenght: 2,955 Summary: One serene day where they're all as happy as they can be.(In which Merlin and Arthur are abysmal at hiding their emotions, Gwen has a big heart for her friends, and Morgana does, too.)
Arthur/Gwen
1. Shatter into the Hope of Tomorror by Mara93 Lenght: 48,000 Summary: Arthur casts Guinevere out of Camelot for the treachery of his heart. When the true treachery begins, and his beloved Camelot is lit ablaze, he is forced away from his home. Without kingdom, his heart must face fate’s greatest fear.
2.  Sound and Smoke by sneetchstar Lenght: 27,129 Summary: The newly-crowned King of Camelot gets some assistance in his rule from an unexpected source. With unexpected consequences.
3. Striking a Balance by sneetchstar Lenght: 75,807 Summary: Princess Guinevere and Prince Arthur are promised to one another as toddlers, but never meet again until their wedding day.
4.  Growing Up with Benefits by scarlettpeony Lenght: 46,949 Summary: Arthur and Gwen have always been close. As children, they were secret playmates and as adults, they are secret bed-mates.
5. To You, An Admirer (Remastered) by sneetchstar Lenght: 6,376 Summary: When Guinevere and Arthur unwittingly exchange love letters not only do they fall in love but also their entire world is set to change forever as the Kingdoms of Albion teeter on the verge of war. Many obstacles stand in their way, especially once they come to the attention of King Uther Pendragon and Arthur’s aunt, the powerful Queen Anna Lothian. Elsewhere, Merlin tries to help Morgana decode a recurring dream prophesising imminent doom.
6. Be of Good Cheer by schweetheart Lenght: 935 Summary: Canon AU. Camlann is over, and Arthur reigns triumphant over Albion. Gwen basks in the beginning of Camelot’s Golden Age.
7. Here by loveandthetruth Lenght: 422 Summary:  It’s barely past midday and there’s not nearly enough shade here to hide them but Arthur just doesn’t care.
8. Plus ca change (plus c’est la meme chose) by loveandthetruth Lenght: 35,649 Summary: Merlin’s hopes to have left the past behind come under fire when destiny intervenes and history appears to be repeating itself. Chaos and adventure ensue as Merlin tries to stop this story ending in the same tragedy. 
9. The Moment I Saw You by sneetchstar  Lenght: 62,777 Summary:  “Hi, I’m Arthur. Will you marry me?”
10. Broken Shackles by AngryPurpleFire Lenght: 26637 Summary: An invasion on Camelot leaves everyone in shambles. Unlikely alliances unfold in hopes of rebuilding what has been lost.
11. Touch by sneetchstar Lenght: 7,259 Summary: After a car wreck, Arthur needs to see a massage therapist.
Gwaine/Merlin
1. Dust of Snow by AkakoDukes Lenght: 503 Summary: Merlin and Gwaine during the first snow of the season on their way to Ealdor. Fluff.
2. Discovery by Luthorchickv2 Lenght: 1,371 Summary:  Arthur follows Merlin on an herb picking trip and discovers the source of Merlin’s good mood.
3. Riversong by ViridianJane  Lenght: 402 Summary: Merlin’s hands are soaked in blood; poison seeps under his nails and turns his dreams against him. He’s killed with these hands. He’s held death between them and couldn’t bring himself to mourn when he felt nothing inside of him shatter.  But Merlin’s hands are also loving.
4. A Type of Heaven. by leashy_bebes Lenght: 2,685 Summary: Gwaine has to be off doing knightly things. Merlin pines. But then "Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven.” Canon future-fic.
5. The Gravity of Love by VTC Lenght: 9429  Summary: Gwaine zeroes in on the burdens Merlin seems to carry on his shoulders, and embarks on a mission to discover them and alleviate them. It does not go as planned, but it is so much more.
6. This is Just To Say by Heronfem  Lenght: 4,510 Summary:  Merlin can track all of his relationships through the books on his shelves.
7. Time Enough by CanaryPaper Lenght: 738 Summary: “I always feel like we’re trying to conquer time,” Gwaine whispers into the soft shell of his ear. Darts his tongue out for a taste.
Balinor/Hunith
1. Back To Where It Began by LittensTinyMittens Lenght: 818 Summary:  After Kilgharrah has been sent away, Merlin takes his father back to Ealdor.
Gwen/Merlin 1. Kiss Me When I’m Down by sadpendragon Lenght: 937 Summary: We were each other’s first after all.
Freya/Merlin
1. The Love That Binds Us by rubberglue Lenght: 3,593 Summary: Camelot’s greatest strength was the love that connected her people. Nine snippets of love in Camelot.
Arthur/Gwaine/Merlin
1. Hidden Dragons by LittensTinyMittens Words: 103,388 Summary: When the Purge began, the Dragonlords fled to the mountains and created their own little society with the dragons. Merlin is born and raised with his family and his people, only learning of his destiny when he is 16 years old. No one knows how he will meet the Once and Future King, since these days leaving the mountains can be a death sentence.  Lucky for him, the Once and Future King finds him, but to everyone’s shock, it is Arthur Pendragon. Merlin can’t help but feel drawn to him and is then tasked with the mission of teaching the Prince all about magic and their people. Along the way, they’re joined by a handsome traveler named Gwaine, and Merlin feels the pull of destiny with him too…or is it really destiny?
Gwen/Mithian
1. A Delicate Thing by freezerjerky Words: 1,569 Summary: Mithian comes in person to give her condolences.
GEN
1. A Mother’s Eyes by SheWhoStumbles Lenght: 1,598  Summary: It had been three years since the messengers had brought news to Ealdor of King Arthur’s death. It had been three years since magic was restored to the land and Albion entered her golden age. And it had been three years since Hunith had last heard from her only son.
2. Don’t Drink if the Mead Tastes Funny by KaterinaRiley * Lenght: 7,155 Summary: It’s all Arthur’s fault! Merlin didn’t want to drink the mead -it tasted funny- but oh no, Arthur just insisted that Merlin quit acting like a girl. So what happens? They get kidnapped and Arthur’s about to be sold as a slave, that’s what! It’s all Arthur’s fault.
*Canon compliant pairing and hint of slash, but they’re not the focus of the fic.
3. Testament of Weapons by shamera Lenght: 3,569 Summary: Four years and Merlin still had a hard time keeping a sword in his hand for more than a minute in a fight.
12. Problems by MayGlenn Lenght: 40,216 Summary: “Gwaine’s sixth problem, which may have been and always would be the greatest, was his complete and utter refusal—nay, inability—to accept help from others. It tied into his hubris, yes, a bit, and also his pride—for Gwaine had a great deal of pride, contrary to popular opinion—it was shame he didn’t have, which was different."  Gwaine has had worse scrapes than this: he just can’t think of any right now.  A boar hunt with the knights goes terribly wrong, but as things progress, it turns out that that’s the least of his problems.
Writers
1.  AO3 user flammablehat 
2.  AO3 user triste
19 notes · View notes
lilac-plum · 6 years
Text
Inspired by this animation by @the-pastle-peach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNqneoesKvw&list=FLCL87HS9g-nzI4tMeBl8cxQ&index=1&t=0s
“Welcome to the guard, Roman. The king and queen, as well as your parents, will be most pleased by you.” The lead guard shook the peasant boy’s hand, moving on to the next guard in the line. Roman fit the role of a knight in shining armor. The boy had always longed to be in the royal family, but all he was was a peasant. The closest he could ever get to be royalty was to become a knight, and he was content with that. He trained hard for almost a year to get where he was, a guard of the Sanders royal family. Clad in a white button up shirt worn by all knights and golden shoulder plates. One day, he dreamed to wear the red sash of the personal guard of a single member of the royal family. He lived in a room in the castle now, on the first floor, next to the training room.
The young prince, Thomas, walked in to greet all the new guards, followed by his close friend and royal adviser to be, Logan. The three boys were the closest in age, Roman being the youngest ever knight to serve the royal family. “Welcome to the guard. In a few weeks, I get to choose one of you to be my personal guard.“ the young prince spoke, standing in front of the line of new guards. Everyone was taller than Roman, making him stand out. “Your job as the princes’s guard is to accompany him whenever asked and to protect him at all costs, even if it means death.” Logan addressed the crowd of knights, eyeing them all. “You need to be willing to do this for all the royal family, including any other children the king and queen shall have. Soon after the prince chooses his own knight, the other princes will, as well as the king and queen. You must prove yourself worthy.” Roman gulped. He was only 11, and he had to be willing to die for these people. He told himself so many times he can do it. He didn’t really have much to lose anyway. He stood tall. “You’re all dismissed.” Thomas said, walking out of the room. Logan’s eyes lingered on Roman a moment longer, making Roman freeze in place till he followed Prince Thomas. He released the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Hey.” Someone said, grabbing Romans shoulder. He jumped, turning to see a group of teenage knights. “How old are you?” “11.” Roman said, not looking up at them. “Woah, you’re the princes age?” The knight said, clearly taken a back. “You got some guts. I respect that. What’s your name?” “Roman.” “Well, nice to meet you Roman. I’m Joan.” “Uh, hi.” Roman said, timidly. New friends?  Should a knight be making friends?
“The time has come for the eldest prince to choose his knight.” Logan said, addressing the line up. They’d been fighting in front of the princes and their royal advisers for weeks, training on end. In Logan’s hand was the bright red, silk sash that showed the position of a guard in high position. Roman bit his lip anxiously as the prince took a step forward. “You’ve all preformed well. My family is lucky to have such a dedicated group of people serving for the protection of the kingdom. But I can only choose one of you.” The prince said, walking down the line. He stopped in front of Roman, turning to him. “Roman, I would be more than pleased if you became my guard.” “I- Thank you, your highness.” Roman bowed his head in respect. He was giddy with excitement. “I hope you haven’t gotten used to your room, you’ll have a room on the same level as me and my royal adviser.” Thomas smiled, taking Romans arm and walking towards Logan. Thomas took his place next Logan as Logan put the bright red sash across Romans chest. Roman felt pride swell in his chest as he assumed his position next to the prince. “Thank you all for training hard. My brother should be here soon to choose one of you to be his own knight. Keep this in mind.” Thomas said, walking off. Roman followed at the same pace and as close as Logan was. He was a personal guard. He achieved his dream, and Roman was never happier in his life.
“Hey, Roman! Come in here!” Thomas called from his room. Roman rushed in, hand on the hilt of his sword. When he saw Thomas was in no immediate danger after swinging the door open, he stood straight and walked over to him. “Yes, Thomas?” “Look at this!” Thomas was leaning out his window and pointing out. Roman walked over, looking at what Thomas was pointing at. You could see the towns people preparing the festival for Thomas’s birthday tomorrow. The sun was mostly set, only a silver of burnt orange on the horizon. “It must be such an honor, Thomas.” Roman smiled, watching the way Thomas’s eyes sparkled as he leaned out of the window. A little too close for comfort. Roman almost didn’t realize until Thomas was falling out with a scream. Roman barley had time to widen his eyes before he jumped out and pulled Thomas against him as they fell through the air, the wind whipping around them. Thomas clutched on to Romans chest for dear life, closing his eyes as Roman wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, getting Thomas on top of him. Roman felt his sword fall out of its sheath, hitting the ground before them. It landed right under them, hilt dug into the ground, blade ready pierce Romans back. He took a deep breath, bracing for the inevitable impact. But the impact never came. Roman and Thomas both opened their eyes when they felt themselves stop moving in the air, right above the sword. Under them was a light purple glow, keeping them from hitting the ground a foot below them. Roman slowly unwrapped one arm from Thomas to put his sword back in his sheath. As soon as Romans sword was away, they fell to the ground. Thomas’s blow was taken mostly by Roman with a grunt. “Are you okay, my prince?” Roman asked, practically pulling Thomas up. “I’m fine. What just happened?” Thomas said, observing the area around him. That was when they heard a thud in the woods. Roman looked at Thomas, as if to ask for permission to check. Thomas nodded and Roman was off, sword in hand, into the surrounding woods of the castle. Roman didn’t have to go that far before finding a cloaked figure passed out on the ground. Roman sheathed his sword, picking up the small figure. Romans breath caught in his throat. The small boy had a soft, pale, smooth face with deep bags under his eyes. Despite that, Roman swore it was the most beautiful boy he’d ever seen. Through his closed eyelids, Roman could see the same light purple fading from his eyes. He headed back to Thomas. “Woah. Is he okay?” Thomas rushed over. “A sorcerer. He caught us.” Roman said. Thomas gasped. “A sorcerer? There hasn’t been a known sorcerer in years! We have to get him inside.” Thomas said. Roman nodded, starting for the front of the castle. - “You said your name was Virgil?” Roman said, sitting across from the cloaked boy. Virgil woke up when Roman put him on an infirmary bed, startled. After the doctor looked him over, as well as Roman and Thomas, he left Roman to talk to him. “Yes.” Virgil nodded, avoiding contact and hiding behind his bangs. “You’re the one who caught us, yes? You possess magic?” “Um....” Virgil wrapped his arms around himself. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re going going to imprison you. You’re the first known sorcerer in years. You’ll live here, in the castle, where you’ll be safe.” Roman said. He took a deep breath and bowed to him. “You saved my life. I am in your debt.” “I.... uh... thank you?” Virgil said, standing. Upon inspection, Roman realized his cloak was more of a hooded cape. Roman got up, offering his arm to Virgil. Virgil didn’t take it, he just got up and left the room. Roman sighed and followed to be greeted with Thomas, Logan, and Patton, the kings advisors son and Logan’s partner. “Everyone, this is Virgil.” Roman said. They were currently in the infirmary hallway, no one passing them. “Hi...” Virgil mumbled. “Virgil, it’s great to meet you!” Patton smiled, throwing his arms around Virgil in a hug. Virgil stood frozen. “Sorry about him, he’s a big hugger. Patton, we’ve talked about this, not everyone’s comfortable with hugging.” Logan said, pulling his boyfriend away. “He saved Thomas and Romans lives! How can I not be grateful?!” Patton asked, crossing his arms. Logan just rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around Patton’s waist. “Thank you.” Thomas said, a bright smile on his face. “It wasn’t a problem...” Virgil mumbled. “Well, now that all the thanking is over, why don’t we get you something to eat, Virgil? Then we can show you to your room.” Virgil’s face lit up at the thought of food. He nodded vigorously, turning to Roman. Roman offered his arm again. Virgil took it.
“Roman...” Thomas called glumly. “Yes?” Roman asked quietly. The queen had recently fallen ill and none of the princes had been taking it well. “You know where mom’s favorite flowers are. Can you go pick some? I’m sure they’ll make her happy.” Thomas mustered up the best smile he could. Roman nodded, smiling sadly at the prince. He turned to Virgil, who had grown attached to Roman and was already getting ready to follow him. “Virgil, can you stay here, with Thomas? Make sure he’s okay? You’re the most... qualified to do it, aside from me, of course.” Roman joked. “Sure.” Virgil said, moving to sit next to Thomas. The king had died months ago, and everyone had just finished mourning. Now, the Queen was extremely ill and Thomas had turned 18 a week ago. Roman headed to the woods at the edge of the kingdom, where beautiful roses and orange tulips grew. The queen loved tulips, and Roman loved picking them for her. As he got to the patch, all he could see were tulips, not a speck of the roses in sight. Roman dismisses this, picking the tulips as Thomas had asked. Suddenly, he heard shuffling behind him. He turned to see an abnormal looking man with yellow eyes and scales on his face. “You must be the prince.” The man complimented. “For only a prince can have a face as lovely as yours.” “Um, thank you.” Roman blushed. “But I am not the prince. I am his guard.” “Oh, my apologize sire, but you should be the prince. After all, it is all you’ve ever wanted, isn’t it?” Roman froze at this comment. “I am the eldest princes personal guard. I’m content with my position.” He said, standing with a bunch of tulips in his hand. “No, no, you don’t understand. I have the power to give you the kingdom you deserve.” The man laughed. “You can do that?” Roman asked. It was too good to be true. Him, a prince? “Yes. You can be a king.” A king! “All you have to do is give these to everyone you see. They’ll love you, and a king has got to have loyal people.” The man said, handing Roman an abundance of the most beautiful red roses he’d ever seen. “I can do that.” Roman took the roses in one hand and the tulips in the other. He walked back to the castle. Once he got to the gates, he looked at the roses in his hand. “Give these to Prince Thomas.” He said to the knight standing guard at the gates. The guard nodded and walked away. Roman turned and walks through the small surrounding village and handed roses out with a bright smile to everyone. Once he was out of roses, he was back at the castle. He walked to his room to find Virgil there. “Roman, where’d you go? A guard came and gave Thomas the flowers and said you walked back into town.” “I had something to do.” He said, sadly. “I was handing flowers out, I didn’t save one for you, I’m sorry.” “Oh, it’s fine.” Virgil gave Roman a small smile. Virgil soon went to his room. The queen died during the night. Thomas’s brothers clung to their guards and cried, but not Thomas. He was the king now. There were preparations to make, for the Queens funeral, for his coronation. Roman and Logan stood by his side, Virgil and Patton had gone out to deliver the news to the towns people. By the next day, there was a funeral, and a few days after that, Thomas was officially the king. Logan and Patton were to be married and Logan was now a royal adviser. Virgil was the towns sorcerer. Roman held position of head guard. He forgot all about the man with yellow eyes and scales. And he payed no mind to having a kingdom of his own.
“Sire Roman? There’s a visitor for you.” A young guard walked into the throne room. Thomas sat in the throne, since all his accommodations were done. “Go.” Thomas dismissed. Logan stood next to him, and Roman stood in the other side. Roman nodded and followed the young guard to the entrance of the castle to see the same man with yellow eyes and scales, his eyes drawn to the beautiful crown of bright red roses in his hands. “My king.” The man bowed. “I’m not a king.” Roman said, eyes glued to the crown. “Do you like it? I made it just for you. Every king must have a crown. Come, let me put it on you.” The man smiled. Roman felt... at ease, suddenly. He walked forward, leading his head to let the crown be put on him. The man put it on Romans head. The bright red roses smelled beautiful. The twigs used to connect the flowers held thorns that dug into Romans skull. Before he had time to tell the man to take it off, the man spoke. “Did you give out all my roses? Anyone who pricked their finger on it is part of your kingdom.” The man laughed. “Why are you doing this?” Roman asked, trying to rip the crown off his head but to no avail. The beautiful red roses lost their hue, shriveling into a deep black. As the red faded, new ideas emerged into Romans head. Terrible thoughts. Thoughts that couldn’t have belonged to him. As Roman lost what humanity he had left in his head, the man got in his face, grabbing his chin. “I told you I’d give you a kingdom. I never said I’d give you a new one.” “You won’t get away with this.” Roman said. “Oh, my king, I already have. Now, give that selfish brat of a boy who THINKS he’s king what he deserves.”
“Roman, Thomas has been asking for you.” Roman ignored Virgil as he walked into their room. “Whats on your head?” “My crown.” Roman said, as if it was obvious. “A crown? Take it off Roman, that’s disrespectful to the king-“ “What are you taking about? I am the king of this kingdom.” Roman laughed. Virgil shook, Romans laughing sending shivers through his body. “What? Roman, what’s going on? This isn’t like you.” He said as Roman took his sword and cut his sash off. He gasped. The red piece of silk was Romans pride and joy, and he’d never deliberately disrespect it. “Give me your cloak.” Roman demanded. Virgil instinctively clutched his hooded cape. “What? No!” Virgil exclaimed. Roman suddenly got mad. “You dare speak to the king of this kingdom like that?!” Roman said, stomping towards Virgil. He practically ripped the black material out of Virgil’s hands. “Roman!” Virgil called as the man rushed out of the room. Virgil grabbed the torn piece of red cloth from the floor and rushed to the throne room. It was empty. Virgil’s stomach dropped. Patton ran into the room, out of breath. “Virgil, you’ve got to see this!” Patton practically dragged Virgil outside, letting his barely grab a cloak from the stand by the door to feel less out of place. Outside stood some townspeople, but they looked... dazed. Their eyes were glazed yellow and they didn’t move, they looked like corpses. “Where’s Thomas?!” “Roman has him! Come on, we have to get out of here! They’ve been hurting people and turning them like this, we don’t have enough time! Roman wouldn’t hurt Thomas, come on!” Patton pulled Virgil to the stables. One of the dazed people made a grab at Pattons arm. Virgil reached his hand out, a purple glow shooting at the person and making them fall. “Thanks.” Patton mumbled as the two got to the stables. Patton mounted his brown horse. Virgil didn’t have a horse so he mounted the horse he knew belonged to Roman. A beautiful white steed called Valerie. Patton ran out and Virgil followed close behind. The two ended up at the edge of town, where a large crowd of townspeople. “Roman has Thomas.” Virgil said, tying the horse with everyone else’s. “Yeah.” Patton said. “No, you don’t understand,” Virgil showed everyone the cut silk piece. Everyone gasped, knowing how Roman would never be seen without his sash unless something happened. “Roman has Thomas. He was ranting about being a king, how this kingdom was his. Thomas is in trouble.” “We need to help him!” Someone shouted. “We will! Just... give me a minute.” Virgil said, assuming the roll as a leader. He turned and watched the eerily silent village. Behind him, people whispered. People didn’t trust Virgil. The last known sorcerer.... he was bad. He tried to take over the kingdom, and was exiled before he could complete his mission. What was to say Virgil wasn’t the exact same? -Play animatic now- Roman paced the room, Thomas stood anxiously. Romans sword stood tall in its stand, Virgil’s cape on the table. Thomas still didn’t know how Roman got it, Virgil never took the thing off. They were in his locked room and he couldn’t hear anyone near. “Well, if anyone is going to save you, it should be now, your highness.” Roman chuckled, facing the glass door. “Roman, why are you doing this?” Thomas asked, taking a step towards him. “I’ll admit it, what I’m doing is some pretty low. But everything I’ve done, you deserve.” “Roman-“ “Quiet! Don’t you understand? This is my kingdom.” Roman chuckled. His hair was decorated with a thorn covered black rose flower crown. Roman grabbed Virgil’s cloak. Roman couldn’t describe why it felt so familiar, like the item belonged to someone important. He tied it around his neck. “Your army has two choices: Step up or back down. I’m going to fight. I have to, if it means I get what what’s my right!” Roman grabbed his sword and swung open the doors to the balcony. “I’m ready.”
Virgil looked at the castle longingly, wanting to save Thomas and whatever magic Roman was under. He looked down at the sash that belonged to Roman. He made his final decision, turning to address the crowd. “Now is the time to make your final choice. You either come with me or you stay behind and watch the kingdom, the home you love, fall to the ground. If you come with me, you come now or never!” He said loudly as he wrapped Romans sash around his neck like a scarf. “Whose with me?” “Me!” Logan shouted first. “Me too!” Patton shouted. If Patton was going to follow anyone into battle, it was going to be Logan. “Me too!” The crowd shouted. Virgil took a deep breath, turning. The beautiful white steed that once belonged to the man he loved nuzzled his snout into Virgil’s asking hand. Patton was about to mount his own horse before he saw Logan hesitate and walk a little ways off. He followed quickly. “Logan?” Patton asked. “What’s wrong?” “Are you sure about this?” Logan asked. Patton smiled at him. “We’re going to save Thomas. I trust Virgil. He cares about Thomas AND Roman. If anyone is able to lead us into this it’s going to be him.” They look over to see Virgil mounting his horse.
“They’ll understand after they get what they deserve!” Roman called, sending his zombie-like army off to fight.
“This is the only chance I have to prove they can trust me.” Virgil mumbled to himself. Patton and Logan road their own horses behind him, swords drawn. Logan was obviously anxious. “Everything will be okay. We’ll save our home, salvage our family. Put your trust in Virgil.” Patton said, grabbing Logan’s hand reassuringly. Logan nodded his head after a second. Logan stood tall, taking a deep breath. “Are you sure you’re ready for this, Virgil?” “I’m ready as I’ll ever be.” He said, leaning forward on his horse and going into a run. The crowd followed close behind, ready to defend their home and save their king.
Virgil was the strongest fighter. He made it clear as to hurt people as little as possible but took people down the quickest. “They’re still citizens of our kingdom, do them little harm!” He had addressed the crowd. Everyone nodded as the approached the first wave of dazed people. They fought fiercely, scratching away. People managed to make them pass out. Virgil watched as Patton and Logan fought, throwing bricks at people. “Go! Save Thomas!” Patton called, having gotten off his horse to fight. Virgil nodded, racing off to save his king and his love.
“What useless idiots! I might as well be down there fighting them myself!” Roman said in disgust, watching his army go down below. Thomas was now tied up, unable to move. He jumped when the door swung open to reveal Virgil, one hand glowing with purple magic and the other being used to magically lock the door behind him. “You again.” Roman growled. Virgil was taken aback by Romans glowing yellow eyes, but he didn’t let it throw him off. He moved quickly, hitting Roman in the chest with a burst of magic, sending him flying into the wall. He grabbed Thomas, untying him. “You trust me, right Thomas?” Virgil said, looking into Thomas’s eyes with his bright purple ones. It only happened when he continuously used magic, which means he’d probably pass out at some point. “Yeah.” Thomas nodded, stretching his unconfined arms. “Good.” Virgil said, leading him to the balcony. He grabbed a sword that was hanging on the wall and handed it to him. “Jump. I’ll catch you.” “I- Okay.” Thomas said with a shaky breath. Thomas threw the sword down, the blade digging into the ground. He took one last look at Virgil before standing on the ledge. Just as he jumped, he saw Roman walk onto the balcony, grabbing Virgil. “Thomas!” Virgil called as his arms were held behind his back, confining him. “What a waste.” Roman clicked his tongue, forcing Virgil to watch Thomas fall. Virgil struggled, watching Thomas flail as he fell through the air. Virgil took a deep breath and stopped moving. Roman was taken a back, pleased, until he was pushed inside. Virgil closed the doors quickly, turning and catching Thomas, who had almost hit the ground. He let Thomas down gently. “Go! Get out of here!” Virgil called down, turning to see Roman regaining his posture. Virgil threw the doors open. “You just let him escape.” Roman growled. Virgil couldn’t get over his eyes. They looked... familiar. “Roman, please.” Virgil said. Roman attacked, heading to Virgil with his sword. Virgil summoned his magic, narrowly avoiding the blade. They fought. They fought till Virgil was leaving against the balcony, his purple eyes staring into Romans bright yellow ones. He gasped, remembering where he’s seen them. “Oh, Roman, no...” he gasped. He quickly shoved Roman off of him, knocking him fall flat on his back. Virgil quickly sat on him, putting his concentration in his magic. If this didn’t work, Roman would surely kill him. He summoned some of his oldest magic, remembering what the man he learned from taught him before he ran away. He only knew him as The Snake Man. The Snake Man was dressed in the most unique yellow hue. He was unforgettable. The first man Virgil had ever loved, and he corrupted to the man Virgil loved the most. His old teacher and boyfriend was trying to get Roman to take the kingdom over for him. He always talked about the Crown of Red Roses, which could be used to control the mind of the wearer. The magic thorns would dig into the persons skull, it was as simple as that. Virgil had been trained on how to remove it, but he’d never done it successfully. “What are you doing?” Roman seethed, struggling. Virgil still concentrating on removing the thorns from Romans head. He watched as the roses gained their color back, feeling his own power draining. He watched as the crown came loose off of Romans head. The final rose returned to red. Virgil passed out.
Thomas, Logan, and Patton ran up the stairs as fast as they could. The dazed people suddenly turned back to their natural state, and once they did, the three ran for the castle. Thomas explained everything that had happened as they ran. They threw open the door to see Roman and Virgil on Thomas’s bed. Virgil was passed out in Romans arms. Roman no longer wore the black flower crown or Virgil’s cape. Roman held the man close, his face his in his neck but obviously crying. “Roman... is he...” Patton started, tearing up. “‘M not dead.” Virgil mumbled, curling into Roman. Everyone, even Roman, let out a deep breath. Patton was the first to jump on the bed, wrapping his arms around the two boy. Thomas followed after, then Logan joined the group. Virgil soon fell asleep, too deprived of energy to do anything else. No one knew who fell asleep after that, but Logan was the first to wake up the next morning at the bottom of he cuddle pile.
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meta topic on why faes are the worst
       Ever heard the song “I Don’t Fuck With You” by Big Sean? They are simultaneously that song (they don’t give a fuck) but they also aren’t because they will indeed fuck with you, but for their own amusement. That’s the short answer.
       The long answer has more to do with the fact that they’re value systems, senses of morality, and social rules are completely different to humans. 
       Going with a quick RL example to help ground this argument a bit: I was raised with the value system that you helped your friends and never expected a reward back. If they insisted on giving something back or “owing” you something, then they could decide what it was (usually monetary, usually landed on $20 because I’ve been a reader since I was a kid and it turned into book money). Even now that I’m an adult I still don’t expect anything from my friends if I help them unless I too need help and we agree to mutually help each other, if not and they want to reward me, then I offer they can buy me a coffee or rockstar from Blackrock which is usually nearby (flavored rockstars are usually only like $4.34 after tax and even coffee is only $4-5, but they’re cheaper and better than Starbucks plus I’m addicted to them).
       When I was a kid I didn’t realize other systems existed, and I first learned this when my dad helped out some of his friends who were visiting from Alaska and lost their original place to stay for the week by letting them stay with us. As this was a general kindness and just considered human decency, none of my family expected anything. That wasn’t how people from Alaska do things though, and the day before they left I came home to finding our fridge and pantry completely filled and even more groceries on the kitchen table and filling every cabinet, which freaked me out because to me that was a huge return for something as small as offering a room and bed for a week free of charge. A thank you would have sufficed. But when I went to say something, worried they thought something bad about us and thought we wanted something as extravagant as that, my mom had to stop me and thank them, later explaining that to them that was a simple thank you and my insisting it was unnecessary would have insulted them. It was simply a clash of cultures at that moment and a clash of social rules and value systems. 
To me: My family offering a place to stay during their visit (which wasn’t originally to visit us) was really small and expected of any good friend. Stockpiling our house with food was over-doing it and more alarming considering they didn’t have a lot of money and caused me to worry about them and their expenses to get home if they spent so much on us.
To them: Being offered a place to stay was a huge thing and stockpiling our house with food was a small thank you comparatively and it would have been worrisome and insulting if I had worried over it in front of them as I almost had.
       And that’s usually the root of human-Fae relations. They have completely different social rules, such as a brownie only living in a clean house and fixing your shoes if you keep it clean and hospitable for them and stealing your shit in an obvious “fuck you” manner before leaving with it if you suddenly trash the house. They saw a mutual agreement where you kept the house clean and they became roommates and helped with what they could, you suddenly trashing the place and expecting them to clean was a huge insult.
       No one knows why Fae steal babies. Sometimes it’s a prank, some just a swap, but some only steal them to teach them music and then return them and it’s hard to tell which one stole your toddler. Maybe the toddler did something rude, who knows.
       The biggest thing that’s most prevalent though is that Fae are heavily steeped in THEIR OWN RULES. They do not care about the culture of the people they are co-existing with and expect them to follow the societal and hierarchical rules that they know without those others even knowing what they are. Most myths can easily be seen as someone messing up or accidentally doing something right and suddenly discovering that whatever happened is a thing they didn’t know was a thing. To Fae playing pranks is very common and death just happens, so if they kill something then it’s not a huge deal. Depending on the Fae they’ll either eat it, use it for an accessory, sell the accidental corpse, or even just leave it and expect it to decompose and become one with nature as everything else is. If the particular Fae is in the Seelie court, maybe they’ll leave a flower on the door of the deceased’s family if it’s a highly dramatic death. Maybe a note mentioning that the loved one is dead if they’re feeling particularly sympathetic. 
       The Fae do not care about you. They do not care about your family. They don’t care about your dog, your cat, or your cow. They just don’t. Humans, to them, are low on the hierarchal ladder and they don’t care about anything that is not their’s or belongs to someone higher up on the ladder than them. They’re pranks are tailored to their various kinds, which makes them deadly to humans who cannot always see the trap coming or who can be negatively affected by their magic, even with genuinely sincere things (ex. offering a fancy pie they baked with Fae magic and then discovering that the human can’t eat human food without throwing up anymore and REQUIRES Fae-made food to survive due to the Fae magic. To the human this is a cruel joke and sadistic method to murder them with for no known reason, to the Fae they don’t realize the context and think that they’re being made an unwilling cook for a greedy human they tried to befriend and are highly offended). They will not communicate, they see no reason to. They are as entitled as their hierarchal status deems them, which means they are always entitled when compared to animals and humans (Hide your cows, they’ll steal all the milk). They are stubborn and view themselves as better than all below their social structure and somehow expect everyone to follow this structure despite not knowing about it. 
       They are chaotic, but only seen as so by structured societies as they tend to follow the rules of their kind and nature, with the Sidhee (The Royals of each faction especially) keeping them in line with those lines, not caring about other social structures. Their morality is different, again, accidental murder doesn’t matter and carries no moral weight for them because it is an aftermath of a prank, it just had a more dramatic result. Their values are more self-focused and focus more on nature, not on social or community needs like humans tend to follow. They especially don’t care about OTHER communities. If push comes to shove, humans from opposite sides of the country will still work together to survive and make new communities, figuring out cultural differences and communication issues as they go. Fae don’t do that.
       A Satyr will give zero fucks to the happiness of a Pixie, and similarly a Pixie will give little to no fucks about the Satyr’s squirrel friend and will instead utilize it as a labor animal rather than a friend and will not work on communicating this with the Satyr (Kyra experiences this a lot with Knoxie the Pixie constantly trying to utilize her Lhasa Apso puppy as a war-horse type thing and leading him into dangerous scenarios despite Kyra’s protests). Both the Satyr and Pixie will hang on the every word of a Shidee though as the Shidee are far more powerful, but the Shidee will not give a damn about them and will instead view them as peasants at best, servants moderately, and test subjects for their magic or to test dangerous waters at worst with no regard for their lives. Again, they’ll rejoin nature so no big deal. If the Satyr gets drunk though he might kill the Pixie, the Shidee will only use this as proof to why it is the better Fae variation.
So again in short:
Mostly Cultural miscommunications and large cultural deviations in moral, value, and social constructs. But in the end, the Fae Don’t Give a Fuck, but they will Fuck With You because they see you as a lesser being. Gods help you if you’re even vaguely rude though.
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actually-impostor · 6 years
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Again
(AKA the fanfic where Roman and Virgil keep reincarnating to meet each other.)
SO! this is the fanfic for my Secret Santa of the @fander-secret-santa, i had @the-durins-lived! The prompt was “ Possibly a Protective!Virgil ready to fight whoever might harm someone he loves? ” And im trash for reincarnation fanfics and latino Roman so i decided to mix it up!
The pairing is Prinxiety, Warnings: Character death in the first two parts, implied homophobia in the third
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1
The first time he noticed the servant boy he felt a shudder run down his spine, everything in him telling him to get closer to the peasant. He wanted to get closer to him; he wanted to meet him and be familiar and friendly and offer him a place in his palace.
But Prince Roman was just passing by. And yet…
He pushed the half finished thought to the back of his mind, his Royal Adviser staring at him in curiosity but Roman couldn’t answer to him even if he tried, he had no idea why he felt the pull to the peasant boy.
Virgil stared from the street, a small sigh leaving his lips. There he was, the prince, the one born on the top of the pyramid. Everything Virgil wished he could be and what he wished he could have. But he couldn’t hate the prince.
And yet…
Years passed before they crossed paths again. The day of the coronation arrived, where Prince Roman would rise to be King Roman, a just king, a protective king, the one who would raise the kingdom back to its original glory.
A wicked smile passed through a desperate face. Good things are not meant to last.
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When Virgil managed to pass all the tests, all the discrimination, and finally became Prince- no, King Roman’s body ward he smiled. He had made it; he had risen past his past. He had a shot of having a good life now.
And he got to be close to the king.
It started as a clash, their personalities messing with the other. It evolved in friendship, finding that they could spar against the other. The knight managed to keep the king on his toes, and the king made the body war relax from time to time.  It developed to love.
It developed to the never married king sharing chambers with the once peasant boy, asking for his opinion, respecting his choices.
It ended in tears, a bloody knight coughing up blood and a king brought to his knees.
“You should have avoided it! You could have avoided it”
“And let my king die? I could never”
The knight closed his eyes, softly touching his King’s face.
“To die in your arms would be the best way to go”
 2
The Burnings were happening, and Roman had never felt more terrified. But a part of him felt rebellious.
His magic was gentle, he only strived to heal and protect people. Surely his fellow neighbors would understand?
When he posed the question to his best friend- the only one that knew for sure Roman had magic in his veins- Virgil tried hard not to snort. He just knew that the town wouldn’t accept Roman. He knew it would end badly.
He was going to somehow avoid it from ending terrible.
A shudder down his spine told him that he just sealed his feat in the worst possible way, but looking at Roman, magic dancing on his fingertips and a gentle smile on his face… well, some things were worth dying for.
When the Burnings reached their town Virgil pushed himself to extremes, he had to make sure he was always with Roman when he made his magic. And with time and cheap tricks he managed to make it look like the magic was from him.
When they burst down his door, the door of the house he shared with the one he loved, he allowed them to take him calmly. This was what he had signed up for.
“You are better than this Ro, so just run”
It was a shame his last words where mumbled to the sky, and it was even worst that even thought Roman could hear them and feel them in his skin he decided to curse the town that ripped his love away from him.
 3
They meet when they were ten, and suddenly they clicked.
No matter where Roman went Virgil followed. No matter where Virgil sulked off to Roman was right on his track making sure he was protected.
When they were fifteen Virgil confessed he was gay, his lower lip trembling, and his check purple with the mark of his father. The times were not the right ones for the confession, but Roman loved his best friend. He was going to protect Virgil.
Or that was the idea. So why was he now hiding behind the slightly taller boy? Why did seeing Virgil’s back bring him comfort and sadness?
He asked that to his best friend while patching him up, and Virgil just smiled
“Maybe you’ll understand in the next one”
“In the next fight?”
“If you want to understand it like that”
He never really understood, but they managed to grow older, to grow old, to live and die together. Virgil always thought that was a favorite time
 Until...
4
Virgil is always ten when he remembers. He remembers a boy with brown hair full of golden lights; he remembers deep brown eyes that have a sparkle of red and gold in them. He is ten when he remembers putting that person safety over everything.
As he grows the memories come more often. Sometimes they are nice, the boy with magic in his fingertips making some tea that is guaranteed to make him sleep fully and rest. The Prince escaping from a tutoring session to force him to play make believe. The brave teenager that spent every fight trying to understand his cryptic and weird words, just to have Virgil smile and hope for a next time where he wasn’t the only one with the memories.
And now, fifteen years old, he finds himself throwing a punch against the biggest bully in his high school. He would normally walk away without attracting the attention to himself but the second he saw who that brat was bullying his blood boiled. Because there he was, his prince, his wizard, his husband once in a past life.
And he was bleeding from his nose, Spanish curses flying out of his mouth while he was holding his midsection. And Virgil saw red.
He wasn’t one to fight, he avoided confrontations. But he had fought wars, he had fought abuse, he had fought churches that wanted to kill his beloved. His soul knew what to do, it knew how to fight.
He ducked down the bully and kicked him in the balls, people in this reincarnation had far less care of protecting themselves. He punched him in the stomach, his elbow nestling deep in the other kid guts.
When he knew for sure the bully was down he turned around to Roman, seconds about to ask him if he was okay, when he felt the Latino –Latino, his mind chanted making him smile. Of course Romano was going to be latino- boy jumping up to him and hugging him
“I couldn’t find you in Mexico, you weren’t there in Chile. I thought… creí que no te volvería a ver”
“English Ro, I still don’t get Spanish”
“Then you better start learning my dear gringo”
Virgil shook his head. But at least he knew now that he wouldn’t have to die before his 20th birthday protecting Roman. Because now Roman remembered him, now he wasn’t the only one who knew of their past.
Virgil fought back a smile, but he wasnt that mad when he lost.
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COVID-Denying Father Sergei is Just the Latest Example of the Russian Orthodox Church’s ‘Holy Man’ Problem | Religion Dispatches
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It’s a weird story, even in 2020—and that’s saying something. Father Sergey, a COVID-denying conspiracy-spewing Russian monk, had, with the help of an ad hoc personal army that includes veterans of the recent conflicts in Ukraine, seized control of the women’s monastery in the Ural mountains he’d founded. Now, he’s been excommunicated. But the story isn’t over.
There’s plenty of reason to believe that the official Russian Orthodox Church won’t be able to rein him in, even now. The civil authorities have proven ineffective against him; a police visit to the monastery turned up no violations of the secular law. It’s understandable that a Western audience would find this story thoroughly bizarre. Peak 2020, if you will. 
But within the Eastern Christian tradition it’s just not that weird. It is, in fact, quite unsurprising as there’s a long history of renegade holy men within the Eastern Christian world. This tradition is largely unknown in the West, but it’s a practice that is very much alive from the halls of the Kremlin to the deserts of Arizona. 
Orthodox Christianity has a crazy holy man problem, a problem that from time to time becomes a problem for those outside the frequently medieval world of the Christian East. And while Father Sergey is unlikely to make life difficult for those of us who aren’t one of the now-displaced abbesses, it’s a problem that we would all do well to keep our eyes on. Because even Vladimir Putin has his own renegade holy man.
The spiritual father knows best
The trouble arises from what’s actually one of the more humane and helpful customs of Orthodox Christianity: the spiritual father. (There are technically spiritual mothers as well, but the exclusion of women from the ordained clergy has historically kept their numbers small.) Deriving from the ancient Egyptian monastic tradition (the oldest in the Christian world), it’s common practice for pious Orthodox Christians to take a spiritual father, a man to whom they not only offer their confession but also seek out for guidance, both spiritual and temporal. 
These relationships ideally (and frequently in practice) endure over decades and even lifetimes, and they’re frequently more intimate and stable than the ones that develop between laity and the typically more transitory figures of parish priests and local hierarchs. Cognizant of this deeper relationship, the Orthodox Church’s hierarchy has historically deferred to the spiritual father with respect to a lay member’s participation and standing in the Church. It is traditionally, therefore, your spiritual father who acts as the first and most important gatekeeper to such central practices as Holy Communion, marriage, and ordination. 
The Orthodox Church has among its clergy both monastics and married men. Married priests are forbidden from the episcopate and have historically served as parish priests. The Church hierarchy, though technically monastic, has always been a sort of distinct “career path,” one more given to pursuits associated with a politician than a monk. The Church’s other monastics, however, are a different story. 
In the Egyptian desert, on the Aegean island of Mt. Athos, and the far reaches of Russia’s vast steppe, the Orthodox monastic tradition is ancient, acestic, and—perhaps most importantly—autonomous. While technically under the authority of local bishops, the reality is that Orthodoxy’s monastic communities have operated in parallel independence to parish life, developing their own customs, practices, and (though few would be willing to admit it) beliefs. 
And it’s among these monastics that many Orthodox Christians, particularly the most pious, have found their spiritual fathers. Moreover, the most popular of these geron—roughly equivalent to a Roman Catholic cardinal—have fairly frequently developed significant followings far beyond the intimate, and by necessity, scarce relationships of spiritual fathers to their spiritual children. 
And this is where the problem lies. Because of the traditional and institutional weight (vis-a-vis the sacraments) given to the geron, the situation arises in which a man with significant spiritual and ecclesiasstical authority is allowed to operate largely independently, exercising significant control over his followers essentially unchecked. It’s a situation ripe for abuse. And instances when such abuses have emerged are not particularly hard to find.
Everybody’s favorite Orthodox holy man
Perhaps the most famous instance in which the Orthodox holy man went horribly awry is the case of Grigori Rasptuin. Born to a peasant family from Serbia, Rasputin rose to become the spiritual father of the Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Tsarina Alexandra. He held no official position in the Orthodox Church, a fact that did not undermine his authority largely because of a long history of tolerance and even celebration of extra-eccesialstical holy men not only within Orthodox cultures, but also by the institutional church. The tsarina in particular attributed magical powers to the monk, believing he was responsible for keeping the hemophiliac heir, Tsarivich Alexi, alive. Rasputin’s lack of an official role coupled with the real power he was able to amass demonstrates one of the flaws in Orthodoxy’s monastic tradition, in which autonomy affords position with little oversight.  
Rasputin’s influence on the imperial couple was not popular at court, particularly as the First World War dragged on and the Tsarina increasingly relied on him to fill the void left by the Tsar who was stationed at the front. It was a disdain that both common people and nobility shared and which helped fuel other resentments toward the monarchy. A group of nobles, led by Prince Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, assassinated Rasputin in 1916, but the ill-will he created lingered. His presence had separated the royal family from their natural allies in the nobility and on the political right, while simultaneously providing the Communists with ample propaganda material that called into question both the monarchy and the Church. It’s not too much of a stretch to argue that some part of the cause of the Russian Revolution can be found in the strange holy man from Siberia.
An Arizona renegade
But you don’t need to travel back to early 20th-century Russia to find an example of a destructive Orthodox monk superstar. Just outside the town of Florence, Arizona, 63 miles southeast of Phoenix, in the middle of the desert, stands St. Anthony’s Monastery. Though built to resemble the great monastic houses of the medieval Christian East, there’s something too clean, too luxurious about St. Anthony’s to pass muster. It’s the mother house of 18 monasteries that, until his death last December, were all more or less under the direct control of one man: Elder Ephraim of Arizona—a controversial figure even in death. Viewed by many of his followers as a saint and prophet, his critics accused him of being a dangerous cult leader, whose radical brand of asceticism and unquestioned authority among his followers continues to threaten the fabric of Orthodox Christianity in America and the safety of his adherents.
The Greek-born Elder Ephraim was tonsured as a monk in 1947 on Mount Athos, an isolated monastic republic in the Aegean which forbids not only women, but even cows, from landing on its shores. He left Athos in 1979 when he went to Canada for medical treatment. From there, he came to the United States, which is (as with so many stories) where it gets weird. 
Traveling through the Greek-American communities of the early 1980s, Ephraim found what through other eyes might have seemed like The Great American Success story. During the twentieth century, Greeks had arrived in the United States in two waves: The first in the early decades of the century and then again in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. On both occasions, they had left a land ravaged by war, occupation, and economic chaos. 
Within a generation, their children and grandchildren had not only entered the middle-class, but had risen to be counted among the wealthiest and most well-educated Americans. But this affluence and success looked like anything but to the austere monk, who saw among the Greeks of America ample evidence that in attaining wealth they had found spiritual poverty and abandoned the Orthodox faith of their ancestors. Someone had to save them and Ephraim decided he was the monk for the job. He was on a mission from God. But first he needed permission from another higher authority. 
The spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox faithful in America resides 5,277 miles from American shores in the Turkish city of Istanbul. Of course, before it was Istanbul it was Constantinople, the imperial capital of the Greek, Christian Byzantine Empire. That’s why the Ecumenical Patriarch still resides there, in faded glory and behind enemy lines, after more than 500 years. 
It was to Patriarch Demetrios I that Ephraim first applied for permission to create a monastery in the style of Mount Athos in the American desert. When the Patriarch refused, the monk did something that is, at best, a violation of the Orthodox Church’s arcane canon law, and at worst an indication of a character so certain of his own righteousness that he was unlikely to ever be restrained in any case. 
Denied permission by his own hierarch, Ephraim looked for friendlier faces, which he found among the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). Begun as a breakaway sect in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, ROCOR is known for a kind of fundamentalism that can really only survive among those who see themselves as the last remnant of Holy Mother Russia. Most importantly, in the 1980s ROCOR wasn’t in communion with any other Orthodox churches. They were renegades. And not the sort of people that pious Greek monks should have been anywhere near. And yet, it’s from ROCOR that Ephraim received his initial blessing to found St. Anthony’s.
The road to tragedy
Within a year the Patriarch of Constantinople backtracked and Ephraim and St. Anthony’s jurisdictional problems were resolved by the early 1990s. But the ordeal at the origin of Elder Ephraim’s American project continues to cast a long shadow. If for no other reason than because the normal ways in which Orthodox hierarchs might act to restrain the more questionable among their flock have proven powerless with Ephraim. No matter how far the monk went, no one seemed able to stop him. 
And he went quite far. His preaching included a strident sexual morality, end-times prophecies and truly outrageous antisemitism. Elder Ephraim regularly made mention of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated antisemitic text (first published in Russia, by the way) that’s grabbed the attention of everyone from Henry Ford to those who wrote the Nazi German school curiculum. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese routinely denied Ephraim’s antisemitism, in the face of overwhelming evidence. It was their only strategy of dealing with the increasingly rogue monk.
The result was tragedy. Scott Nevins was a convert to Orthodox Christianity and had once been a novice at St. Anthony’s for six years when he shot himself just one mile from the monastery’s grand central driveway. It’s a shocking and bizarre story that frankly goes a long way to support the claim that what Elder Ephraim was really leading was a cult. 
When Nevins first encountered Ephraim he was a young former high school stand out. Healthy and handsome, he was the picture of the sort of American optimism that Ephraim clearly found distasteful. Within a year of his joining the monastery, a local Arizona TV news story captured Nevins who is, in the brief glimpses of the camera, clearly a shadow of his former self. Thin, pale, bowed down. 
According to his family, it wasn’t just Scott’s physical appearance that diminished during his time at St. Anthony’s. His communication with his family and friends was limited. He became paranoid and obsessed with conspiracy theories (to be certain, conspiratorial thinking is par for the course among the monks of Mount Athos and their spiritual children). Finally, after six years at the monastery, Nevins fled in the middle of night, hitchhiking down the desert roads that led away from St. Anthony’s.
Scott Nevins had physically escaped, but he was still captive emotionally. He set up a website in which he decried Elder Ephraim as an abusive cult leader. He also grew obsessed about possessions that he’d left behind, including a retainer, and in June of 2012 he bought two guns and drove back to Arizona. To St. Anthony’s. He entered the monastery grounds and was approached by the monk working security that night. When approached, he panicked and drove away. The security guard-monk followed him until Nevins stopped his car, got out, and shot himself. He was twenty-seven years old.
Scott Nevins’s death is impossible to separate from the influence of Elder Ephraim, which is strikingly similar to the influence of these other Orthodox holy men over their followers. So it should command our attention that Vladimir Putin has one of his own charismatic spiritual fathers. Metropolitan Tikhon is rare among Orthodox holy men in that he holds an episcopal position within the Church. That being said, he’s hardly a company man. For example, in addition to his role as a churchman, he’s a bit of a filmmaker. His documentary Death of An Empire: Lessons from Byzantium won the Russian equivalent of an Oscar in 2008 and outlines a view of history that has gained a great deal of currency among the global far-right. 
An archconservative, Tikhon has routinely highlighted the fact that the chief executioner of the Romanovs was Jewish, tying the assasination of the Russian royals to ancient charges of blood-libel. He’s a prolific blogger and serves as editor-in-chief of a website, an activity not terribly common among either monks or bishops. Additionally, he supports the annexation of Crimea and holds deeply anti-European and anti-Western views. This is the man who has the ear of Vladimir Putin and his soul in his hands. 
Renegade monks make for outrageous, sensational, or funny stories—except when they’re dangerous. And it’s not always easy to know when that line will be crossed.
This content was originally published here.
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talpup · 3 years
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Summary: Yami Sukehiro just wanted to join the Magic Knights and make his mentor proud.  He knew there would be trails.  He knew trouble would come his way.  Knew he would be faced with discrimination for being a foreigner and a peasant.  What he didn’t know.  Didn’t expect.  Was that literal Chaos would come his way.  That he and his mentor’s sister would be at the center of world ending trouble.  Or that he would fall in love with his mentor’s sister and face more than discrimination; but the jealously of Nozel Silva who loved the same woman he did.
This chapter is a short one so I decided to do a double update this week. Mostly doing it because I wanna share the drama that happens in chapter76 and can't wait two more weeks to do it. lol
Please remember this fic is rated mature and has warnings of violence, abuse, sexual tension, eventual sexual behavior, and other possible triggers.  For a full list of story tags please check the fics AO3 (link to that at the top of my tumblrs homepage).
Chapter 75
Yami woke up the following day wondering how he had gotten up to his bedroom.  He remembered waking up on the ground propped up against a tree, a crowd of Magic Knights still surrounding the training field. He had made his way to the nearest tap of ale and given the man tending the barrel a silver coin with the instruction to keep his mug topped off.  The alcohol hit him quicker than usual given his empty stomach.  It had probably hit him on the first pint he had upon arriving which was probably why had acted the way he had with Teris.
Teris... Yami groaned, sitting up in bed.  He had really messed up there.  He just hoped he hadn’t done anything else he’d regret.  Getting on Teris’ bad side was bad enough.
He had been drunk before.  And as long as he was left alone, he was a quiet, subdued drunk.  But if instigated, his temper was near instantaneous.
Gendry entered with a cup of coffee and large glass of water.  “Good. You’re finally up.  The Captain and Bronn are due back soon and I didn’t want to have to explain why you’re still in bed.”
Yami took the water first, downing the liquid messily.  “You the reason I made it here?”
Gendry gave a single nod, taking the glass and handing over the coffee. “You’re even heavier than you look.”
Yami rubbed his aching head knowing he’d be feeling worse if he hadn’t been brought in.  “Thanks.  I didn’t do anything stupid.  Did I?”
“You mean more stupid than attempting to challenge Bronn one on one?”
“I could’ve taken him.  Bastard deserves a good ass kicking.”  Yami set down the coffee and got out of bed.
Gendry stepped back near the small writing desk.  “You’re set to take his place.  How would it look to everyone who was there watching? You and he tearing into each other.”
“I would think most would be cheering me on, while the rest would be rooting for him.”  Yami said.  “Neither one of us have many friends.  And most of those friends are right old bastards themselves.”
Gendry raised a brow.  “You call me a right old bastard?”
Yami smirked.  “I said most.”
“And the Captain when he found out?  Cause you know he would’ve.”
Yami waved, noting Gendry hadn’t even bothered taking off his boots. “Jax would’ve been fine.  Eventually.  He knows better than anyone how much Bronn deserves a beat down.”
Gendry shook his head.  “Not by you.  Not like that.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway.”  Yami said, deciding to stay as he was until he got some food in him and had a bath.  “The other Vice Captain's talked Bronn out of agreeing.”
Gendry watched Yami scrub his face and neck clean at the wash basin.  “You sing when you’re drunk.”
“What’s that?”  Yami turned, water dripping from his face.
“You sing.  Not half badly either.”  Gendry said.
Yami wore a crooked half smile.  “What was I singing?”
Gendry shrugged.  “Couldn’t understand.”
Yami chuckled, drying off his face and hands.  “Thought you said it wasn’t half bad.”
“That’s not the reason I couldn’t understand.  You were singing in a different language.  I’m guessing it was your native tongue.” Gendry said, looking almost sad.
Yami looked away, trying to remember.  He couldn’t.
“Don’t know.”  Yami took his belt with its grimoire off the bedpost, and his katana off the chest of drawers; the only two things Gendry had removed.  “Thanks for seeing me to bed.  And for the water.  Gonna get me another glass along with some food and find Teris.  Got some apologizing to do.”
“You can do both at the same time.  She’s in the kitchens cleaning up from breakfast.”  Gendry told.
Yami’s eyebrows pulled together.  “It’s not her week for that.  Was Tobin sent out on another mission?”
“He’s still here.”  Gendry answered.  “But you think Tobin’s gonna remind her of his chores when she’s taken them over and shouted him out?”
Yami made a face.  “She’s still mad, huh?”
“Don’t know what you did but good luck fixing it.”
“I’ll fix it.”  Yami said, passing Gendry as he left his room.
75.1.2
Standing in the doorway of the kitchens watching Teris wash dishes, Yami teased.  “I think you missed a spot.”  When she didn’t respond he signed and made his way to her.  Placing his hands on her hips, he nuzzled her neck.  “Come on, Ikigai.”
“I already told about calling me things I don’t know the meaning of.” Teris snapped, trying and failing to focus on scrubbing the plate in her hands.
Yami smiled.  She had spoken to him.  The first hurdle was complete. “It’s nothing bad.  I promise.”
“I don’t care.  I still don’t know the meaning of it.”  Teris grumbled.
Yami stood there a moment, watching her take up another dirty dish to scrub.  Teris didn’t mind doing household chores, but she hated doing dishes.  Given that she was willfully doing them when it wasn’t her turn, Yami had thought it would’ve been harder to get her to acknowledge him.
“I’m not going to apologize for enjoying my birthday for once.”  Teris said, staring at the soapy water.
“Nor should you.”  Yami said, feeling stupid for letting William bait him into jealousy.
“You’re the one who echoed Julius and made me promise to act proper and do what was expected of me.”  Teris went on.
“I know.”  Yami nodded.
“Then why--”
Yami pressed his forehead against the back of her head.  “Cause I’m a stupid, ill-tempered ass.”
Teris turned to face him.  “No you’re not.  Not with me.”
Yami huffed ruefully and smirked down at her.  As hard as he tried to be better when it came to her, they both knew that wasn’t always the case.  “I’m sorry.”
As badly as Teris wanted to accept his apology and move passed it.  She had to know.  “I thought we trusted each other.”
Yami placed his hands on her bare shoulders.  “I do trust you.  I was stupid.  Upset because I can’t take you out like that.  I know you did nothing wrong.  I’m glad you finally had an enjoyable birthday.”
“I would’ve enjoyed it more if you’d been there.”  Teris said, smiling shyly up at him.
Yami grinned at her.  “We’ll go together soon enough. Promise.  Till then,” he leered over her, placing his hands on the counter-top on either side of her, “I still have a belated gift to give you.”
“Stop it.”  Teris laughed, reaching back to grab a soapy rag.
As she turned to do so the light hit her bare shoulder and he caught a glimpse a yellowish, light purple bruise.
“Hold up.”  Yami said, his tone making Teris stop and wonder what was wrong.
Now that he was looking, Yami noted bruises on her other shoulder too. His hands lifted hovering over Teris’ shoulders lining his fingers over each mark.  He sucked in a breath.  A fire raged in his chest, much different than the heated rush he’d felt moments ago at the thought of kissing her.  Only seven circular discolorations could be made out; but there was no doubting that she had been grabbed roughly.  The light, ugly color of the bruises told him that they had likely been made two or three days ago.  He remembered what William said last night, that Nozel had pulled Teris into a room and locked her away with him.
“I’m gonna kill him.”  Yami swore his voice dangerously quiet.  He turned and made for the kitchens exterior exit.
“Yami! Wait!”  Teris rushed after him reaching out and grabbing his arm.
Yami didn’t pull away from her but didn’t stop his steps either.  Teris was forced to cloak herself in mana least she lose her hold on him.
“Yami. Please!  Stop.”
Yami turned back to look at her, surprised to see her using her magic to keep him there.  “Does his life mean that much to you?”
“Yours does.  Your future as a Magic Knight means that much to me.” Teris’ hold relaxed a bit now that he stopped but she still didn’t let go of him.
Yami stared down at her, taking in her pleading look of concern.
Stepping to him Teris reminded.  “A few days ago you asked me not to do anything that would jeopardize our being together here and now.  I’m asking you to do the same.  Please, don’t do anything that might see you taken away from me.”
Yami didn’t tell her that there was nothing in this world that could keep him from her.  That he would fight.  Kill.  Lay waste and destroy this kingdom and all the others to stay by her side.  His muscles and voice trembled with barely restrained fury.  “Royal bastard hurt you.”
“Who do you think you’re with?  You think I can’t take care of myself?”
Yami stepped to her.  “I didn’t say that.”
Teris shook her head in annoyance.  “I swear you and Julius!  At least he had the excuse of me wearing a dress at the time.”
“What does stupid clothes have to do with this?”  Yami asked.
“Nothing.” Teris sighed, thinking about how much weaker and needy she felt in a gown.
“So Julius knows Bird Braid did this?  That he hurt you.”  Yami questioned.
“He didn’t hurt me.”  Teris stressed.
Yami stared back at her having none of it.  “Then who gave those bruises?”
“It’s fine.”  Teris assured. “Over with.  Handled.  There was a misunderstanding which Nozel had a bit of an overreaction about.  He apologized. Profusely.”
Yami realized he wasn’t going to convince her that a simple apology, no matter how earnest, wasn’t good enough.  Not when she’d been hurt.  Not when the markings of Nozel’s hands were staring him in the face.
Yami took a breath forcing himself to relax.  “What was the Little Bird so upset about anyway?”
“He thought Mereoleona had told me about the birthday surprise to Racine that he had planned.  He went through a lot of effort to make it happen.  His father and my brother apparently requiring much convincing to give up the stuffy dinner and ball that’s always put on.”  Teris finally released her hold on his arm, confidant he wouldn’t take off in search of Nozel.
Yami looked at her.  She might have been telling the truth as she knew but he was sure Nozel would never get upset enough to harm her over such a misunderstanding.  There was another reason, a reason she didn’t know, that had caused the royal lose himself and react in such a way.
Yami took another deep breath, tamping down his anger.  He had waited months to teach Nozel a lesson for kissing her.  While he wouldn’t wait that long this time, he could force himself to hold off for the moment for Teris’ sake.
He took a step toward the sink, nudging her along in ahead of him. Hands resting to either side of her on the counter-top, Yami leered over her.  “Want me to help with the rest of the dishes?  All it’ll cost you is a kiss.”
75.2
“Again.” Fuegoleon demanded, out of breath and drenched with sweat.
“You’re tired and lagging.  I’ll end up sending you to the healers.” Nozel told.
“And since when have you had a problem with that?”  Fuegoleon asked, his stance ready for Nozel’s attack,
Mereoleona had gotten after him during the Crimson Lions squad practice this morning.  His Captain pointing out his lacking in defensive ability as only an older sister could. It was why Fuegoleon had asked Nozel to help him during their scheduled training session.
Nozel had been all too happy to agree knowing he could attack and Fuegoleon wouldn’t directly attack back.  But now the Silver Eagle was slowing his strikes. Using less powerful spells as if worried he would substantially hurt his friendly rival.
It only served to make Fuegoleon angry and more determined.  “Again.”
Nozel sighed.  “Fine.  But don’t blame me when you’re laid up for the rest of the day--”
“Silva!”
Nozel and Fuegoleon turned.
Yami entered the training yard, his anger flaring upon seeing the royal. It didn’t help his temper that he had first gone to the Silver Eagles base only to be told Nozel was at Magic Knights Headquarters training.  That had left Yami searching the many training yards at Headquarters to find the man.
Yami hadn’t lied to Teris about his plans when he had left the Black Bulls base.  He had stopped at the city of Aster to the few things he said he was going out for.
Fuegoleon watched Yami pass him without a glace and stop in front of Nozel.
The Black Bull reached for the Silver Eagle only to have Nozel blocked his hand.
“You won’t be doing that ever again.”  Nozel growled, thinking of the dislocations the last time Yami had grabbed a hold of him  “You want to fight.  Fight like a gentleman.”
Yami glared at Nozel not sure if he could control his temper well enough for an actual fight.  “You talk of being a gentleman after you’ve laid hands on a lady like that.  I told you what would happen if you were stupid enough to do something like that again.”
“You kissed her again!”  Fuegoleon exclaimed, wondering when that happened.
Nozel spun to face the Vermillion.  “No!”
“He hurt her.”  Yami rumbled, never taking his eyes off Nozel.
The only reason Yami wasn’t tearing into the royal on sight was because Teris holding him back from immediately acting had given him time to think.  Nozel wouldn’t intentionally hurt Teris any more than he would.  That much Yami was certain.  Teris had mentioned some sort of misunderstanding; only Yami doubted it was the misunderstanding she believed it to be.  He would hear Nozel out.  Then he would kick the mans ass.
Fuegoleon’s mana roared to life.  Fiery eyes on Nozel, he demanded.  “You what!”
Nozel turned icy blue eyes on the Crimson Lion.  “It wasn’t like that. Teris is my Intended.”  His heard Yami’s katana slide a couple inches out of its sheath.  Keeping his eyes on Fuegoleon but other senses on Yami, he went on.  “Do you really think I would intentionally harm her?”  His almost commented how much Teris meant to him but stopped.  “I gripped her a bit too tightly when I thought—you know—she knew.”
“And that makes it alright?”  Fuegoleon questioned.
“No. It most certainly doesn’t make it alright.”  Nozel stated.  “You think I’m proud of myself?  That I haven’t beaten and berated myself over it?”
“I’ll beat you if it’ll make you feel better.”  Yami offered.  “I’ll beat you either way.”
Nozel turned on him.  “When were you going to tell me that my father tried to have you killed again?”
Yami glanced at Fuegoleon wondering when and how the Vermillion learned about all that.  Turning back to Nozel, he shrugged. “Didn’t realize I needed to tell you every time your Daddy tried to take care your problems for you.”
Ignoring the dig, Nozel fiercely stated.  “When it comes to this.  I need to know.”
“Why? What difference does it make?”  Yami asked.  “You weren’t able to do anything the last time.  How was I to know you weren’t aware this one was coming too?”
It struck Yami then what he should have put together sooner.  That if Nozel had been aware of his father's plans the Silver Eagle would have sent him word of warning.  As much as Nozel wanted him out of the way, preferably through his death, Yami knew Nozel was too honorable to stand by and let such an attempt be made if he had the time and chance to inform him.
“You just—you tell me.  Is that understood.”  Nozel told.
Yami smirked at him, wondering if the braid of silver hair hanging down the middle of Nozel’s face ever made the royal cross-eyed.  “You think you can give me orders?”
“I out rank you.”  Nozel reminded.
“Oh? So we’re going to make this official?  I’d like to see Greywright’s face when that order comes across his desk.”  Yami teased.
“Shut up.”  Nozel snapped.
“Why’d you do it?”  Yami asked.
Thinking Yami was referring to the latest attempt on his life, Nozel expelled, voice low and harsh.  “I told you!  I didn’t know!”
“Hurt Teris.” Yami clarified, finding Nozel’s heightened emotional state both grating and gratifying. “Why’d you hurt Teris? She said it was cause you thought this birthday surprise of yours was ruined, but I know you’d never lose control over something like that.  So what was it that set you off?”
“He foolishly thought my sister had told her about all this.” Fuegoleon answered for the Silva.
“About his father hiring people to kill me?”  Yami asked.
Fuegoleon nodded.
Yami looked at Nozel.  “Just how many people know your father's tried to have me killed?”
“I overheard my father and sister talking about it.”  Fuegoleon said. “I confronted Nozel the following morning.  Far as I know that’s it.”
“How many on your side know?”  Nozel questioned, knowing even if Yami wanted to keep it to himself, someone in his circle had to know.
Yami thought a moment before answering. “Three. Possibly four or five.”
“What!” Nozel exclaimed.
“What? Three on your side know.”  Yami shot back.  “I’m the victim here.”
“You are far from a victim.”  Nozel sneered.
Yami shrugged.  “Besides, it’s not like I told them.  Julius and Tobin were at the bar the first time.  Julius put it together easily enough.  He’s the one that told me it was likely your father.”
“Julius knows!”  Nozel felt wobbly, the world spinning too fast.
“Tobin might not pick up on most things all that well but he’s quick on the uptake when it comes to threats and other unsavory stuff. No one told him out right but I’m pretty sure he’s put it all together.  Especially after this last time and all that went on between Bronn and I after.”  Yami soured at the memory of the Vice Captain knocking him out and taking his money to Nathyn Silva in his stead.
Nozel’s eyes narrowed.  “Why?  What happened with this last time and after?”
“You don’t get to ask that.  I’m not playing your sick game where I tell you all the details of where, who, and how your father tried to have me killed.  And I’m certainly not telling you what went down after.”  Yami said, thinking no one needed to know how stupid he had been in his plan.
As much as Yami hated it, he owed Bronn for knocking him out and delivering the money to Lord Silva.  Actually, he didn’t owe Bronn since the Vice Captain had called them even for Yami having saved Bronn's life out on the battlefield.
“So Lord Julius.  And I’m guessing your Captain and Vice Captain know as well.”  Fuegoleon said, figuring Julius would have informed them for Yami’s safety after the first attempt.
Yami huffed.  “Yeah.  Julius told Jax and Jax told Bronn.  Bunch of gossiping hens.” He muttered, complaining.
Ignoring Yami’s disrespect, Fuegoleon said.  “So the three of them and possibly Tobin. You said there could be five on your side.  Who’s the fifth possibility? Julius’ Vice Captain?”
Yami hadn’t even considered that Jon might know.  Well, he thought, that made possibly six; nine counting the three Vermilion's.
Looking at Fuegoleon, Yami said.  “My guess.  Greywright.”
Nozel and Fuegoleon’s eyes widened.
“The Knights Commander knows?”  Nozel expressed, looking like a startled hare.
“Shut up.”  Yami snapped.  “I said it was a guess.  Mana, you got to calm down.  I can see why you lost control of you senses and gripped Teris so hard when you thought she knew.”
“Which is something that none of us want.”  Fuegoleon stated firmly, staring at Yami.
“Agreed.” Yami said, eyes trained on Nozel.  “Look, I came here to kick your ass for bruising Teris up.  But seeing how adamant she was I don’t do anything.  The reason why you did it.  And,” he looked the royal over, “the state you’re in.  I’ll let it go this once.  Just know that if there’s a next time, I won’t give a damn why you did it or what state your in.  I’ll end you without question.”
Nozel glared.  “There won’t be a next time but that has nothing to do with what you said or what you want.”
“Don’t care.  Just so long as it doesn’t happen again.”  Yami paused a moment, considered the matter over and said.  “If you really want to know.  I’ll send you message next time your father tries to have me killed.”
“Hopefully there won’t be a next time.”  Fuegoleon said.
Yami looked at the Vermillion with interest.  “How’s that?”
Fuegoleon glanced at Nozel before answering.  “That’s what I heard Leona and my Father talking about.  It sounds like my Father spoke to Lord Silva and told him something that would stay his hand.”
“Well that’s good news.”  Yami grinned.  “So Teris and I can do what we want as openly as we want.”
“No. No!  That’s not what that means.  You go doing that and--” Fuegoleon saw Yami’s amused expression and stopped.  His eyes narrowed with angry disapproval.  “You’re having fun at my expense.”
“It’s not like you can’t afford it.”  Yami chuckled at his own joke.
“Get out of here.”  Fuegoleon snipped.
“Gladly.” Yami grinned, amused at the royals temper.
Nozel watched Yami leave the training yard.  “I’m going to executed that foreigner someday.”
Fuegoleon’s eyes slid to the Silver Eagle.  “So long as it’s a proper execution carried out within the bounds of the law, I’ll take a front row seat.”
Thank you to those who have left hearts.  And a special THANK YOU to those who have recently left comments or re-blogged. They really mean a lot.
Next chapter snippet:
Yami turned, swallowing a stream of curses at the sight of Teris, Nozel, Fuegoleon, William, and Randall.  He quickly fished a coin from his money pouch and tossed it on the bar.  Getting to his feet, he told the man he’d been talking to something and made his way to his fellows.
“You’re earlier than expected.”  Yami said, stepping forward and backing them up through the narrow entryway.  “Let’s go.”
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hisquccn · 7 years
Text
Royai Royalty
So this was supposed to be a oneshot, idk if I’ll write more, hopefully at least a second chapter, but with as long as this “oneshot” got without me ever getting to what I wanted to get to, it will definitely be more than one chapter IF I finish it...
Anyways, here have a chapter of that Royai AU that I read about in the Royai tag a while ago... Sorry for the extra spaces between paragraphs, open office does that to me :(
/-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/
Once upon a time in a land far far away... That's how these stories always begin, isn't it? A fantastical land of myth and magic, with evil queens and kings and stepmothers and stepsisters; knights in shining armor, and mystery women who run at the toll of midnight.
This story however, was of a different kind of evil, a different fantasy, and a different reason to run. It's the story of a prince. From a young age, he grew used to stories of war. Knights told him of the men they'd defeated and the lands they'd conquered. They brought spoils of war to the young royal and his father, his mother long lost. He would be ordained in foreign cloth and jewels, gifted with horses and weaponry too large for a boy his size to wield with promises of future use as he grew.
Defeating his enemies, he learned, meant killing them. Spoils of war were stolen from those the knights killed or captured. The growing land under his father's control was soaked in blood. In his teens, as he was learning to use those weapons too large for his younger self, he began to imagine the steel dripping with blood, wondering whose hand the sword was torn from. The spoils of war no longer interested him.
He turned away each gift brought by his knights. None of those stolen from the dead appeased him. His disdain, however, turned against him. His father made it a challenge to his military to bring his son a gift he would accept. Soon the gifts changed from material items, to irreplaceable and undesirable human tributes.
One after another, a slave was pushed to the floor at his feet, the head of a nobleman laid bloody on the marble of the palace tiles, concubines were made from beautiful women from conquered lands, and each gift was once more turned away, more disdain in the prince's dark eyes than ever before. Each tribute to the young lord looked up at him, eyes filled with fear and grief, begging him to be kind and gentle, though not trusting anyone to be so.
Once more, his disdain backfired. It was soon discovered that each boy and girl he turned away, was enjoyed by the knights instead. They began choosing those of their own liking, instead of thinking of the prince, knowing that, in the end, they would be theirs to toy with. His stomach churned at the knowledge. He was damned either way, to own an unwilling slave, or to give another innocent life to the knights he once used to trust to protect his people.
His father would have no say in this matter, he knew. His father, though not inherently an evil man, saw no reason to forbade the enslavement of those of lesser class. It was a tradition long practiced, after all. Speaking up on the idea would only show weakness and a lack of pride in such traditions of their country. No future leader should have such a soft heart to the lowly peasants and peons of the small outer villages.
The only way to save the innocent captors, it seemed, would be taking their lives into his own hands.
Once more, a dirty form was brought before him, dressed in whatever loose clothing he or she had. The prince wasn't entirely sure the gender of the new “gift.” The baggy clothing and short blonde hair gave nothing away. Eyes turned up as the stolen human was pushed to the ground. Brown eyes, narrowed in hatred, focused on the male.
The face, he gathered, was nothing less than female. The fire in her eyes, was different than he'd ever seen. There was no fear in them, no grief. There was only anger, stubbornness, and a sense of pride he'd never seen in any other that had been brought before him.
Pulling himself from his thoughts, the male tilted his chin proudly, looking on at the knights before him with a firm glance. “I'll keep this one. And I'll have no other.”
The armored form before him stood still, eyes widening slightly, surprised at the sudden change in his future leader's taste. “Are you positive, my lord? This one and no other? Surely you can't be satisfied with just one.”
Dark eyes settled on the noble before him. “You haven't brought me anything acceptable in years and yet now you think you know what will and will not satisfy me? How arrogant.” He crossed his arms, frowning as he repeated. “This one. And no other. Do not bring any more before me, nor shall you enjoy any more yourselves. Unless you have forgotten your oath of chivalry when you donned that armor.”
“No sir!” The answer was immediate. It was a new voice, hearing the prince order him so, but with the firmness in his command, the knight new it better than to argue.
A hearty laugh came from the prince's side. The King stood at his son's side, patting his back firmly. “You heard the boy. Get this girl to his room, cleaned up and presented like a gift should be.” He glanced down at the blonde. “Don't look so angry, girl, you will be serve Prince Roy. There are women and men who would kill for the chance to be at his side.”
Roy caught the woman's glance as his father spoke. She would kill if given the chance. Her eyes alone seemed to glare daggers into the prince's pale skin. As she was led away, to the baths and then to his room, it felt as though the room got cold with the absence of the fire inside her.
The conversation between his father and their military seemed to drag on, talks of the growing nation, the conflicts they could face, the taxes. None of it seemed to interest him, though he knew, as the future King, he should have paid attention.
All he could think of was the girl waiting, forcibly, in his room. It was only a matter of time before he'd set her free, allowing her to run away as his key to ending the suffering of those captured by his men. Nevertheless, he was intrigued by her. She wasn't afraid of him. It was a new sensation. He hadn't lied when he said they'd finally brought him something, or someone, of interest to him. It was bittersweet that her presence would be short-lived. He knew, however, that a woman like that should never be kept in a cage.
His skin felt on edge as he made each step closer to his bedroom, knowing what would await him behind that door. What did the proud girl look like beneath the grime? He relieved the guards from his doors, seeing them smirk as he left, believing to know why he wanted his privacy. Each time he brought a woman to his room, though a willing partner all other times, he relieved the guards, allowing the woman to leave before the men returned in the morning.
He knocked before entering, almost a foreign sensation seeing as though it was his own room. He waited, receiving no response before entering. There she sat, poised in the seat by his bed, firm glare still present on her pale face. Her mouth remained shut, hands in her lap, hidden in the frills of the dress that she looked so uncomfortable in, legs tucked beneath her, also unseen under the clothes she'd been presented in.
Roy approached gently, sitting at the edge of the bed, holding a hand out to her. “My name is Roy Mustang.” He greeted, as if she wasn't already aware of the prince's identity. “May I know your name, miss?”
Her voice was rougher than her eyes. “You didn't need my name to claim me, why do you need it now?” She questioned, eyes firm on him.
He sighed, rubbing his neck as he diverted his eyes from her. “I know this might seem hard to believe, but I did this for your own good...”
“My own good?” She laughed, a cold laugh that doused the fire he'd felt inside him. “You had me stolen from my home, dragged around on a leash, presented in front of you like cattle for market, and it was for my own good?”
Roy winced, perhaps he wasn't as great with his words as a nobleman should have been. “I meant accepting you. I never requested them to do this, but it was better to accept you than to turn you away. So that they could have their way with you instead...”
“So I suppose being raped by the prince is supposed to be better than by a knight? I should be honored.”
“No! That's not--” He groaned, losing his words before he could get them out. He was one of the most well taught men in the country, how was it that he could be so illiterate in this moment? “I never asked for them to capture any women or men. I hated that. I turned them all away but every time I did they would take it upon themselves to enjoy those I didn't want. I don't plan on doing anything to you.”
“Then explain why you sent the guards away. Why you had your servants strip me dress me in this... this garbage...” She commented, tugging at the edge of her bodice.
He couldn't help the slight chuckle that escaped his lips. For anyone to call what she wore “garbage” would be a shock. She was wearing finery that even noble women couldn't afford. “It was just to prepare you for me. No one knows of my stance but--” His focus turned to her hands, bound together with rope at the wrist. “Who did that?”
“I was a threat. I fought them when they stripped me and they figured you were safer if I couldn't fight back.” She answered bluntly, eyes never looking away.
“Let me remove them.” He spoke, reaching over to take hold of the bindings.
“I might hurt you.” She warned.
“Then I probably deserve it. Just try not to damage my face, okay?” His smile was amused, still enjoying this new trait in a woman he'd never seen before. He fought a little with the knots, but unwound the rope from her wrists, frowning at the marks left behind. As quickly as the frown had settled, however, one of her hands disappeared from his sight. He had no time to react before a closed fist collided against his jaw.
Stunned momentarily, he slipped from the bed to the floor. Her legs lifted, barely slow enough for him to move out of the way as she brought them to her hands. More rope was wrapped around her ankles, causing a growl to slip past his lips. “Let me help you.” He said, ignoring the pain in his jaw. The binding fell to the floor as quickly as he'd tried to reach out to her ankles. Another jab, this time her foot to his chest, shoved him to the floor, knocking the wind from his lungs. “Dammit... will you stop for a second..?”
She didn't speak, simply ran to the window, pushing it open before standing in the opening. A gasp was heard as she looked down. Perhaps she didn't realize just how high up they were, just how long the fall would be if she decided to take that leap. There were no ledges to climb down, not balconies to aim for for a smaller series of jumps, just a stone wall down to the hard ground. The blonde turned to him again, watching him gather his bearings as he went to his feet.
Roy watched the gears move in her mind, jump and die, stay and become his toy. His dark eyes widened, if that's what she thought, then her choice would be... “No!”
He grabbed her arm, pulling her back roughly. “What the hell are you thinking?!”
Her body went stiff as she was torn from the window. Her eyes widened, and fighting against him suddenly. “Me? What the hell were you thinking!?” Shoving him away she backed away to the wall, sliding down to sit on the floor. “You could have killed me! Were you trying to make me fall?”
“What?” Hesitating, letting his mind process what she said, he ran his hand through his messy hair. “Weren't you trying to... weren't you going to jump?”
She looked as if he'd just asked her what color the sky was, a deadpan expression over her eyes. “Jump to my death to avoid being attacked by a man I can clearly handle on my own? What sense would that make? I don't trust you, but you're clearly not a man worth killing myself to avoid...”
There was almost a pout on the prince's lips. She was unlike any other woman, but she had the ability to wound him just the same. “You don't trust me?”
Her expression sharpened, furrowed brows pointed toward him from her corner. “What reason do I have to trust you?”
Roy gave her a cunning smile, the same that had most women's knees weakening throughout the kingdom. “What reason do you have not to?”
If possible, her eyes narrowed even moreso. That passion in her eyes changed to something much stronger. He read that look with certainty, unsure if it made him more interested or afraid of her. She passionately, vehemently, truly, hated him.
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Caged Love - Chapter 2 (So Close)
As always, thanks to my wonderful beta @still-searching47. 
Chapter 1 Ao3 link.
“Tell me again why you think this is a good idea,” Bae sighed as he and Tink got ready to spend yet another night hidden in the woods.
“I don’t,” Tink sighed. “I think this is our only idea. There’s a big difference.”
Baelfire groaned as he sat on his makeshift bed, once again reminded of how absurd their current situation was. It had taken them ten days to reach Regina’s old palace, that was now used as a prison, and they’d been spying on the movements around it since then. They had not been able to magic themselves there since they could not know the exact point where they would land, and that posed the slim but very real threat that they would materialize in front of someone, which wasn’t a good idea while the entire kingdom was on alert and searching for them. Not that roaming the woods without getting caught had been easy either.
Unfortunately, the information they’d gathered in the two weeks since their arrival was rather scarce. They knew at what times there was the changing of the guards, at least where the men patrolling the walls were concerned, and Tink had even managed to fly close enough to some windows to get a little peek of the interior. However, despite all of their efforts, they had no actual knowledge of the castle’s internal structure. Even if, by some miracle, they managed to sneak inside without being noticed, there was no way they’d be able to find Regina and free her before their presence was noticed. Not to mention that, as Tink never failed to point out, they had absolutely no escape plan. That left them with only one crazy plan. To be honest, Baelfire wouldn’t have been so bothered by all of this if only they could be sure they were doing the right thing.
“So, just to confirm, this woman was once known as the Evil Queen? And she is remembered as one of the most vicious monarchs ever, a woman who killed her own guards whenever she felt like it, and slaughtered entire villages just because people dared to hide Snow White?” he asked sarcastically, still not quite believing what they were trying to do.
“Yes. I was already on Neverland during the worst part of it, but yes. She was cruel,” Tink confirmed.
“And how can we be sure that, once we set her free, she won’t just ignore us and go on a killing spree? I’ve already dealt with my share of crazy villains, I really don’t need any more of them,” Baelfire remarked bitterly.
He’d tried so hard to put his past behind, to forget about Pan and, most importantly, to forgive the things his father had done as the Dark One, and he didn’t want to help this woman wreak the same kind of havoc.
“Well, she isn’t as fond of deals as your father, but she generally keeps her word, and we’ll only let her out if she agrees to our conditions. Also, she’ll owe us one for letting her escape, and she’ll be aware that, should she try anything weird, we’ll be the first ones to deliver her right back to her prison,” Tink reasoned, sounding more sure of her plan than she actually felt.
“Not exactly reassuring, but I suppose it’s something,” Baelfire conceded. “Are we really doing this tomorrow then?” he checked after a moment of silence, his tone turning more serious and tense.
“There’s really no point in waiting.” Tink shrugged. “We could spend a lifetime hiding in these woods, and we wouldn’t gather anymore information than we already have. If we don’t have the means to help Regina escape now, then we never will have, and our rescue mission is doomed. If we do have the means, then every minute we wait is a minute we waste.”
“A minute more that my family has to spend behind bars,” Baelfire completed gloomily.
Tink’s heart broke a little at how miserable her friend was. She hugged him encouragingly, knowing all too well that she could do nothing to ease his worry. “We’ll save them. I promise,” she vowed as she held him close.
Despite all he’d been through in the last few months, Tink had never seen him cry, not even once. He was trying to be strong, but she was afraid of the effect that bottling up his feelings would have on him. She would have to talk with him about it, but not tonight. Tonight, they needed to rest.
*******************************
“Who’s there? Identify yourself!” the guard shouted from the embrasure.
“Don’t you recognize me?” Tink shrieked, her eyes flashing with pretend fury. “I’m the Blue Fairy, counselor of their Royal Highnesses King David and Queen Snow White. I’m here to deliver a prisoner to you. The son of the Dark One, the one the entire kingdom has been searching for, for weeks!”
The moment the words left her mouth, a great commotion erupted behind the walls, as all the guards practically tripped over themselves to let in the most wanted boy in the realm. Baelfire had his hands tied up, his head hanging down in the very picture of defeat. To all appearances Blue Fairy had a firm hold on his arm, roughly dragging him along as she strode past the heavy doors.
“Why did you bring him here? He wasn’t detained here before,” the commander asked uneasily he guided the Blue Fairy and the boy down to the dungeons, towards their most secure area.
“He escaped his previous prison and endangered my realm, hence I suggested to their Royal Highnesses that they changed his location, for everyone’s sake,” Tink explained, unperturbed.
“Well, he sure as hell won’t escape from here. No one has ever managed that, not under my supervision,” the commander told her proudly.
“Then it’s a good thing he isn’t your prisoner yet,” Tink remarked sarcastically.
Before the soldier even had time to understand her words, she had already knocked him down with magic. Even through the glamour spell, Baelfire could recognize Tink’s smile on the Blue Fairy’s face.
He got his hands free from the fake ropes, and smiled back. “Almost too easy.”
“Well, this was the easy part. Didn’t you notice that throughout the dungeons there are only a few guards here and there, but there was one corridor with three soldiers at its entrance? I ‘d wager that’s exactly where we’re supposed to go,” Tink whispered hastily.
“Okay. How do we get past them?” Baelfire asked, adrenaline coursing through his veins.
Tink sighed, not liking at all how much danger she was putting Baelfire into. “Would you mind being the bait?”
A couple of minutes later, Baelfire was sprinting down the dungeons, past the three guards at the beginning of the corridor they needed to enter.
“He’s running away, stop him!” Tink shouted, this time glamoured as the commander.
The soldiers left their position to follow him, and as soon as they were facing away from Tink, she knocked them down with magic. She probably wouldn’t have been able to face three soldiers at once if they hadn’t been distracted, and she could only hope they wouldn’t meet more of them down the corridor.
Baelfire ran back towards her, almost tripping on the soldiers’ bodies in his haste.
“Quick, we don’t have much time, someone will notice that something is wrong pretty soon,” Tink whispered as she grabbed his hand and started running down the corridor.
They sprinted past dozens of cells, peeking inside every one of them, and finding most of them empty. Their hearts were beating furiously in their chests, and Tink’s hopes of finding the way clear were dashed when they ran into two more soldiers, hitting them at full speed and almost sending them crashing to the ground. The men’s surprise at seeing their commander running (since Tink hadn't yet lifted the glamour spell) was the only thing that allowed the fairy to react quicker then them, knocking them out. Baelfire sighed in relief, aware that they’d made it by the skin of their teeth, and that their luck was probably due to end at some point. He only hoped that they’d find Regina and leave before they reached that point.
“Found her!” Tink finally exclaimed. There was a triumphant smile on her face, that was now her own again. “Are you ready for this?” she asked Baelfire before she magicked the door open.
“No, but this is not the time to second guess ourselves. Let’s go,” he urged bravely, pushing the door open the moment Tink waved her wand.
Baelfire didn’t know exactly what he’d been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what he found in that room. The woman in front of him wore a simple, worn out dress, that was as grey as her long hair, and nothing about her appearance, about the way she was leaning on her cot, made her look like a threat.
She startled and turned quickly towards them when they opened the door. Her brow furrowed in confusion when she saw Baelfire, but her eyes lit up in recognition when Tink entered the cell, slamming the door shut behind her and locking it with magic.
“Well, look who’s there, my old fairy friend. You’ve come here to check on the progress of my happy ending? As you can see, I’m doing perfectly fine,” Regina spat out.
“Listen, Regina, we don’t have time for your sarcasm. We’ve come to free you,” Tink told her hastily.
Regina’s eyes lit up in hope and suspicion. “Why would you do that? Why let me out, and why after all these years?”
“We need your help,” Baelfire chimed in. “My family has been imprisoned by Snow White and David, and we can’t save them on our own. We’re offering you your freedom in exchange for your help.”
Regina eyed him skeptically. “You can free me from prison, but you need help rescuing your family? What could your parents possibly have done to be guarded more strictly than the Evil Queen herself?”
“There’s a prophecy that says my brother will kill the princess. My whole family has been imprisoned because of that,” Baelfire explained quickly. Every minute they wasted with explanations was a minute more that the soldiers had to understand that something was terribly wrong.
“You really expect me to believe that Snow White and her useless husband are scared of some filthy peasant boy? You’ll have to come up with something more credible than that.”
“My brother isn’t a boy like any other,” Baelfire growled in frustration, leaving aside his irritation at Regina’s snobbery. “He’s got magic, and he’s the son of the Dark One.”
Regina’s eyes widened in surprise. She was about to reply, when they heard someone scream in the corridor. “Intruders! In the Evil Queen’s corridor!”
Their time was up. Tink immediately flew to the door, reinforcing the spells she’d put on it. They needed to go now. Regina, however, didn’t seem in a hurry; if anything, she looked more relaxed than before.
“So, you’re telling me you’re the son of dear old Rumple? I bet your mother is that pretty maid of his, isn’t she? Judging from your age, my old teacher must have had a lot of fun right after I was captured…”
“Could we discuss this later?” Baelfire pressed on. “Do we have a deal or not?”
Regina tutted, waving her finger at him like she was scolding a child. “Just like your father, always anxious to strike a deal. Where are your manners? I’m a lady and I’ve been out of circulation for years, I need time to be filled in on all the latest news.”
Baelfire grunted in frustration as he heard soldiers running down the corridor. A moment later, their bodies crashed against the cell’s door. Tink’s spells were holding, but who knew for how long they would? There was no way the men who guarded the Evil Queen didn’t have some fairy dust or other forms of magic for emergencies.
“So, you’re asking me to join you on a suicide mission to save the brat of my old mentor? The one who never came to my rescue when I was taken? The monster who put me on this path of vengeance in the first place?” Regina laid out bluntly, her eyes as cold as ice.
This wasn’t going well. This wasn’t going well at all. They couldn’t magic themselves out of this prison, there were spells on the walls that prevented them from doing that much, and there was no way that Tink could face all the soldiers outside the door alone.
“I should let the guards get you, and watch as they drag you away and destroy all of your silly hopes. It would serve Rumplestiltskin right, and it would give me a taste of revenge, something I haven’t felt in a while,” Regina went on.
There was something unsettling in her eyes, something that Bealfire remembered seeing in his father’s gaze when he was most lost in the darkness, something way too close to madness. It sent shivers down his spine.
“On the other hand, I do like the idea of messing with Snow’s carefully crafted plans, and there’s nothing I would enjoy more than to see Rumple’s face when he realizes he owes me, so I suppose we can come to an agreement after all. My help for my freedom, starting with this,” Regina conceded, nodding to the anti-magic cuff wrapped around her wrist.
“If I take the time to undo your cuff, the soldiers will get past my defenses,” Tink said, her voice strained with the effort of keeping the door locked. “I hope the years without magic haven’t made you lose your touch, because we don’t have time for you to practice, and it’s pretty crowded out there.”
“Eighteen years of prison was extremely boring, but It would take much more than that to make me unable to take care of a few morons in armor,” Regina said dismissively. “Let’s get this over with.”
“But no killings!” Baelfire screamed before Tink could proceed. “You won’t kill anyone unless it’s absolutely the only way to save our skins. That, or no deal,” he stated, knowing far too well that he was playing with fire.
Regina cast him a curious glance. “Are you really sure you’re the imp’s son?” Then, after a long moment of silence, she added: “Deal.”
Tink let out a breath of relief, and waved her wand to undo Regina’s cuff. It was mostly made of fairy magic and pixie dust, hence it posed no real threat to those who wielded light magic.
Regina didn’t even have the time to magic her chains open before the soldiers burst into the room. Even with her wrists and ankles chained to the wall, however, it wasn’t hard for her to send at least six soldiers crashing to the ground with a single wave of her hand. Tink’s magic was light, born out of the desire to defend and protect, but Regina’s was as dark as they come, and much more suitable for a fight. Regina had years of resentment to let out, and this wasn’t the time for Rumple’s detailed lessons on how to channel feelings into refined magic; now was time to let her emotion burst, to let her rage run wild and destroy everything it touched.
The first wave of soldiers was dealt with in seconds, and Regina even had the time to unshackle herself before more men burst into her cell. The Evil Queen, still dressed in rags, was facing the soldiers almost on her own, since Tink was still catching her breath from the effort of holding the door. Bealfire was feeling extremely useless. He’d picked up a sword from one of the defeated soldiers, but he barely had the time to cross swords with someone before Regina took care of his enemy.
Slowly but inevitably, they crept out of the cell, even though that put them at much greater risk. It was fairly easy to protect a small entrance, while in the corridors they’d be exposed from all sides. Risky or not, they had no choice: they needed to reach ground level before they could find a way out. Baelfire had tried to memorize the route they’d taken to get here, and he could only hope they were headed in the right direction.
When he thought they were more or less midway to ground level, however, he started fearing they wouldn’t make it. Tink was panting heavily, worn out by the amount of magic she was forcing herself to use, and even Regina was starting to show the signs of fatigue. By now, Baelfire’s efforts with the sword were becoming necessary, and on more than one occasion he saved Tink from a blow she hadn’t seen coming.
The first time that one of the soldiers’ swords cut through his skin, Baelfire was so surprised that he let his guard down, and his opponent would have easily finished him off, had Regina not knocked him down. Luckily, it was a rather superficial cut, and Baelfire was running so high on adrenaline that he could almost ignore it, but the thin crimson trail of blood on his leg reminded him of how badly all this could end. He redoubled his efforts, more determined than ever; he hadn’t come so far only to die a few steps away from safety, he wouldn’t be responsible for Tink’s death, and he wouldn’t let his family spend the rest of their lives trapped. Somehow, he had to get them out of here.
******************
Belle heard the footsteps getting closer to her door. She knew it was time for her meal, but she didn’t look forward to it. More often than not, the guards who brought her food took any chance to torment her, calling her names, insulting her family, putting the tray just out of her reach and making her beg for it. She’d tried to come up with retorts at first, but she’d soon had to accept that it was pointless at best, and dangerous at worst.
The door clicked open, and a soldier came in; she remembered his face, and she was glad to notice that he wasn't one of the vicious ones. He was generally happy with looking at her in disgust, but hardly ever did anything more than that.
Belle stood up to take the tray, and she’d just gotten her hands on it when she heard screams coming from the corridor. “ALARM! IN THE DUNGEONS! THE EVIL QUEEN IS ESCAPING!”
Time seemed to accelerate. The soldier turned around, startled by the news, and Belle took a quick and rash decision. Grabbing the tray, with all of her strength, she slammed it on the soldier’s temple taking him by surprise. He fell to the floor in a heap, and Belle immediately crouched at his side, hoping that the keys to her chains were amongst the bundle he had strapped to his belt. The man lay unmoving as she tried key after key with trembling hands, and she really didn’t want to stop and think that she might have just killed a person. Not now, she told herself, I can worry about my conscience later.
She let out a little squeal of triumph when she finally found the right key, and immediately regretted it; Evil Queen or not, there was always the risk that someone would hear her and stop her. Once she was free from her restraints, she grabbed the soldier’s cloak, well aware that she’d need something warmer than her rags if she wanted to survive the upcoming nights on the run. She took his dagger as well, not liking the idea of going away without a weapon, but knowing that with her small frame she’d never be able to wield his sword comfortably. She wished she could take his shoes as well, since going barefoot in the forest wasn’t exactly appealing to her, but it would take too much time to undo all the laces, and they’d be enormous on her anyway. She’d find a solution to that problem later.
She slipped the cloak on herself and dragged the hood over her face, hoping that she’d go unnoticed in the chaos. She took a peek outside her cell and found the corridor empty. She knew, from what little she could see from her cell’s window, that she was well above ground level, so she started running in search of a set of stairs. The one she found wasn’t narrow per se, but it would leave her little to no space to run away in case she met a soldier. She had no time to look for a better option, so she tried to be as quiet as possible, and to keep her ears open for any sign of human presence.
As she tiptoed down the stairs, the meaning of all that had happened in the past few minutes started to sink in. She was escaping. She was escaping because the Evil Queen had unknowingly given her that chance. Belle didn’t know how to feel about the other woman; sure, she’d trapped her and turned one year of her life into a living hell, but at the same time Belle knew how horrible a life in chains was, and she wouldn’t wish all those years of imprisonment on anyone, not even the Evil Queen. Only now did Belle realize that this was Regina’s old castle, and how ironic it was that it was now used by Snow and Charming as a prison for Regina herself. Belle also realized, with a pang of bitterness, that the same King and Queen who’d once freed her from this very castle, were now trying to keep her trapped inside of it.
Once Belle reached ground level, she could clearly hear the sounds of the nearby fight, and she hid behind the corner of a corridor just in time to avoid being seen by a group of running soldiers. She was hoping to find a window and crawl out unnoticed, but there were bars on every one of them. She had no other choice but to tiptoe around, hoping to find another way out. Eventually, she reached the entrance hall, and she let out a sigh of relief when she realized that the heavy doors that led outside had been left slightly open, probably by some soldiers that had rushed inside once they heard the alarm. The noises from the battle with the Evil Queen were now closer than ever; Belle could even see the flashes of magic coming from the end of the corridor opposite from her. Running through the spacious hall would leave her exposed and clearly visible, but this was her only chance. In a few minutes, the battle would rage right where she was.
Belle took a deep breath, and sprinted down the hall, hoping that no one would see her, that she wouldn't be stopped right now that she was so close to her freedom. Time seemed to slow down, and Belle felt as though the distance between herself and the door never changed, no matter how much she ran. Finally, she reached the door, and slipped out of it without making a noise. The bright light of the day forced her to close her eyes for a moment, while the cool breeze mussed her hair.
She was free.
******************
Baelfire had lost count of the number of his wounds; he only knew that the exit was close, so close, and that he wouldn’t give up now. He was all but dragging Tink along with him, all of her energies focused on her spells rather than on walking upright. Regina was doing slightly better, but her blows had lost precision, and many of them missed their target.
“We’re almost there!” Baelfire shouted, trying to give courage to their little group.
By some miracle, they kept inching closer and closer to the door, helped by the fact that the number of soldiers around them was increasingly diminishing. When they were only a few feet away from their target, however, Tink stopped fighting altogether, and for a moment Baelfire thought she was going to pass out: her eyes closed, her breath was labored, and her brow furrowed as if she were in pain.
Baelfire didn’t have time to investigate Tink’s condition; with one last, inhuman effort, they tumbled past the the heavy doors, and it was in that moment that Tink opened her eyes again. Her wand glowed with magic, her face contorted in pain, and a moment later they were being teleported away from the castle, back into the woods, in what Baelfire recognized as one of the shelters they’d found during their journey through the forest. Now he understood what Tink had been doing in the last few seconds of the fight: she’d been gathering up the last of her strength to take them all away.
The effort, however, seemed to be the last straw for her; her legs gave out from under her and she lost consciousness. Baelfire somehow found the strength to hold her so that she wouldn’t hit her head. He lowered her to the ground, and once he was sitting beside her he realized that he didn’t even have the energy to get up again. He should have tried because he needed to take care of his wounds, but he didn’t have any of the necessary herbs, or anything that he could use for bandages. The best thing to do was to rest and ask Tink to heal him later; after all, he didn’t think any of those cuts were particularly bad. Before he allowed himself to sleep, however, there was something he needed to explain to Regina.
“There’s a spell you need to cast,” he said, only now realizing that Regina was still standing outside of the cave, her back to him. “One that will prevent anyone from finding you with a tracking spell. I don’t know the details, I just know that Tink used it on herself and me,” he went on, trying to figure out what was going through Regina’s mind. Why was she still outside? Didn’t she realize that they needed to hide, and that they weren’t in any condition to fight even a single soldier?
“Fine. I’ll do it,” she said drily.
Regina’s voice was still labored, and she was leaning heavily on the cave’s entrance to support herself, but it was clear that she was doing far better than her two improvised rescuers.
“The sooner you do it, the better. We can’t take any risks. It would also be wise for you to hide inside the cave with us,” Baelfire insisted, unsettled by Regina’s strange behavior.
“I said I’ll do it, just give me a damn minute,” she snapped, finally turning around to look at him.
“Ok, fine, do as you wish, just try not to get us killed, okay?” Baelfire bit back, raising his hands in exasperation.
He was too worn out to pick another fight, so he leaned down beside Tink, and tried to get as comfortable as possible on the hard ground. He was already half asleep a few seconds later, so much that he almost missed Regina’s next words.
“It’s the first time in years that I can see the light of day.”
******************
Belle was out of breath long before she would have liked. She hadn’t been able to move for more than a few steps for three months, and the effects of her inactivity were showing. Her whole body was hurting, but nothing as bad as her feet, that were already covered in cuts and scrapes. There was no way she could go far like this, but she would never give up, not until she exhaled her last breath. Today she’d gotten the miracle she’d been praying for, and she wouldn’t waste it. She allowed herself one minute to catch her breath, leaning her back against a tree trunk and inhaling deeply. The forest was quiet around her; there weren’t any noises from possible chasers, no thundering of hooves against the ground, no screams of angry soldiers.
Even though she was far from well rested, Belle soon moved from the tree, not feeling safe staying for too long in the same spot. She had just started walking again when she heard a strange noise nearby, like something big moving in the trees not far from her. It could easily be a deer, but she couldn’t take any risks. She looked around, finding a possible hiding spot amongst some bushes. It wouldn’t be comfortable and it was far from perfect, but it was all she had. She slipped amongst the shrubs, and waited.
The noise got closer and closer, and Belle held her breath once it became clear that this wasn’t some kind of animal; there was a person a few feet away from her, and this couldn’t be a good thing.
“Belle? Is that you? Come out of those bushes, I’m not here to hurt you,” came a male voice she didn’t know. Belle gasped in surprise. What was going on?
“Belle, please, I know you’re in there, part of your cloak is sticking out. You can trust me, I’m here to help you,” the man repeated.
Belle grunted in disappointment, furious at her own incompetence. Fine, she’d been discovered, but that didn’t mean she was going to give up easily. She still had her dagger, and the mysterious man likely didn’t know about that. She stepped out of her hiding place, holding the dagger firmly in one hand and covering it with her cloak, trying to compose her expression and look less scared than she actually felt, but she couldn’t hold back a whimper when a branch cut sharply into her wrist. Her skin there was already sore and red from her chains, and any minimal scrape was torment. Once she was back on her feet, the stranger tried to get closer to her, and that’s when she revealed the dagger she was holding, pointing it straight at him.
“Who are you? How do you know my name?” she asked, glad that her voice at least sounded firm.
The boy - because now Belle realized he was barely more than a boy - immediately held his hands up, trying to look as unthreatening as possible.
“I know this probably seems absolutely crazy, but I swear I can explain,” he started off, eyeing her dagger warily, even though he didn’t look scared at all. “As I said, I’m here to help you. My name is Roland, and I’m Robin Hood’s son.”
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villainsarebetter · 7 years
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An Uninvited Guest
Parent Fic: The Dark One finds himself in need of the scales of a specific sort of dragon to complete a deal. Lucky for him, Belle has exactly the sort of scales he needs…but whether she’ll give them to him willingly is another matter.
Prompt: @rumpleshtiltskin ( @k2esso): Regina visits. Belle doesn't like the infringement on her territory (namely Rumple's personal space).
Somehow, Rumpelstiltskin had never considered that having a dragon in residence would affect his business deals at all. After all, he was the Dark One, a far more dangerous foe than a simple dragon and if someone was willing to brave him, surely they wouldn’t mind Belle? It wasn’t like she was party to any of his deals and he specifically asked her to leave his supplicants alone, even if they were not good people and came to his home carrying sizable amounts of gold and riches, normal targets for her fiery anger. Most of the time she stayed away from the castle entirely when he was making deals, well-aware that she was not welcome.
This worked well, for the most part, though rumors of a dragon ran rife through the surrounding communities. The peasants were terrified that she would move on from her preferred prey of bandits and burn down their homes and farms – dragons were known as vicious, greedy beasts with no respect for anyone but themselves. Even though Belle never left the wilds around the Dark Castle in dragon form, her presence left an impact. Rumple didn’t see that as his problem – if the peasants wanted to fear her, then that was perfectly fine with him.  The truly desperate would not be deterred from seeking him out and the less time he had to waste on anyone else the better.
What he didn’t expect was the reaction of the royals and other magic users, who all seemed to credit him for Belle’s actions. In the first six months of her time at the Dark Castle, he was forced to dispatch three times as many knights in shining armor out to make a name for themselves by slaying the Dark One. None of them went for Belle, of course, just him. It was strange but easily dealt with. Other magic users obviously had their own opinions on the matter of ‘his’ dragon, but they were not so foolhardy as to anger him by saying something negative to his face.
All other magic users but one, that is.
Regina saw nothing wrong with waltzing straight through his front door uninvited and informing him about the recent turn that the rumors had taken, to his displeasure.
“Pulling a Maleficent, Rumple?” Somehow she managed to sneer and smirk at the same time, quite an accomplishment. “I thought such mimicry was beneath you.”
He eyed her out of the corners of his eyes in irritation, refusing to turn his attention from his wheel to indulge her desire for attention. She wouldn’t be there if she wasn’t fishing for something, and he wasn’t inclined to give her whatever it was, not after that entrance. Ignoring his distaste, she advanced into the room and lit on the nearest chair – Belle’s favorite chair. The edge of Rumpelstiltskin’s mouth twisted downwards when the evil queen made herself comfortable as if she belonged there.
“Just what are you implying, dearie?” He snapped, warning Regina with his dark tone. Characteristically, she ignored his anger. If she weren’t necessary for his plans, he would have quite happily taught her a lesson in respect – namely in the consequences of disrespecting the darkest and most powerful sorcerer in existence.
She merely laughed and waved an arm clad in elegant black satin, brushing away his anger as if it didn’t exist. “I’m talking about your recent penchant for terrorizing the peasants as a dragon. I wouldn’t say it’s creative, but it’s certainly effective.”
“My what?” Finally, he looked up and fixed his gaze on hers, obviously what she’d been waiting for because she leaned forward eagerly.
“Are you saying that you aren’t the Dark Dragon? Everyone who’s seen it claims it lives here, and you have to admit, you bear a certain resemblance. There aren’t that many scaly sorcerers in the Enchanted Forest, you know.”
“I’m the Dark One, dearie.” He replied flatly, unamused. “There are no others like me. And I have certainly not been transforming into a dragon. Also ‘The Dark Dragon’? That is a ridiculous title.”
“Oh, really? I suppose that means it’s a wild beast. And, if it isn’t you, then it must be as much of a nuisance for you as it has been for me. That blasted lizard has robbed five of my men in the past month and four the month before that.” This time, her sneer was angrier but also more relaxed – apparently the new anger was not aimed at him. “I’d thought you were making a statement, and perhaps I should drop by to make one in return.”
“And just what were your men doing in my forest?” He was amused to find that Belle had accidentally irritated Regina – but not that Regina had been a position to be affected by her patrols of the Dark Forest in the first place. Nor was he impressed by her apparent intention to threaten him.
“Carrying messages and the like.” Regina tried to brush it off, but he caught the way her eyes darted towards the door, not quite nervous but close enough to make him suspicious – she hadn’t meant to let that slip. “You haven’t been responding to my messages, so the dragon is obviously interfering and-.”
“Lies, Regina? Really?” It was his turn to sneer. He rose from his stool slowly, in obvious threat. “Maybe you’d like to tell me what you’re really doing here?”
“Honestly, Rumple, you’re so suspicious. I can see there’s no use talking to you today.” Regina rose, aiming to retreat elegantly and pretend it had been her idea to withdraw. The tense line of her shoulders spoiled the image for Rumple’s practiced eye, but he let her go – he’d find out what she was hiding in due time, and use it to his own benefit.
He followed her out of the room and the main door, staying close enough behind her to keep her on edge. Whenever he stepped a little too close to her, clicking his shoes loudly and breathing near her neck, she sped up slightly, apparently unconsciously and he made a game of forcing her to speed up and slow down, eroding her dignity a little more every time. By the time Regina realized what he was doing, there was no salvaging her image.
In the courtyard, she turned towards him with a cold smile on her face and dark, angry eyes. Rumpelstiltskin had no cause to be worried; she might be a sorceress but he was the Dark One – his power would always be superior to hers; but he still paused and cocked his head, willing to listen to whatever empty threats she cared to levy against him today. And respond with his own, much more feasible and appropriate threats, of course.
“You know, Rumple, you should be a bit more respectful.” Her tone was biting.
“Oh? And why is that?” He was now fully amused – whatever anger and irritation he’d felt earlier had melted in his enjoyment of irritating her.
“Because you never asked what statement I was going to make!” Regina’s hand snapped upwards, holding something that was already surrounded by a ball of toxic black magic and too late, Rumple remembered her words about repaying ‘his attacks’ on her men.
Before he could respond – and before Regina could complete her spell – an ear-shattering roar sounded above them. Rumple was now used to such a sound, a great booming howl unlike anything else in Enchanted Forest, and did not react, but Regina cried out and clapped her hands over her ears, instinctively crouching as a massive shadow approached overhead. The heavy flapping of massive wings filled the air around them as the shadow circled above and dust stirred from the sudden wind, settling on the evil queen’s signature black dress and turning it the color of ash.
Rumple did not look up as the sound of a massive body landing behind him resounded through the courtyard (though he did wince a little internally at the thought of Belle’s dragon-form landing on his roof – she definitely wasn’t light and the castle was old) – instead, he remained staring at Regina with a fixed smirk on his face.
“What was that you were saying about a ‘Dark Dragon’, dearie?”  He snarked. The queen’s wide eyes darted between him and Belle in dawning comprehension and anger.
“You…” Her word was a snarl. “It is your fault!”
“Well, I’m certainly not the dragon in question.” He danced forward a few steps in a manner designed to unnerve, but Regina did not quaver. “I never said I didn’t know the dragon.”
“You…!”
Magic blossomed in her hands again, dark and ugly, and Rumple prepared to smack her down in a duel – but Belle reacted first.
The dragon roared in rage and suddenly Rumple found himself snatched up in a giant clawed paws, clutched under the arms by scaly hands that wrapped around his entire torso. Regina didn’t even notice what happened to him because Belle’s next action was to snap forward her long neck and let out a torrent of flame at the offending sorceress.
Regina stumbled backwards with an humiliating yelp, trying to avoid being roasted, all sense of dignity lost, and tried to yell to him and demand that he make Belle stop. Her multiple attempts at calling out were nearly indistinguishable from the roar of flames and eventually she gave up and lunged gracelessly into her carriage, using magic to send it rolling away at breakneck speed.
Unlike the sorceress, Rumple was not threatened by the flames – because he was still clutched to the dragon’s chest like a toy and no matter how hard he squirmed, she refused to let him go. He was able to shoot preservation spells at his castle, grounds, and trees so that nothing else burned in the flames, but dragonfire was not so easily extinguished – one could only remove its fuel and wait for it to burn itself out. Especially when he could not get near it!
“Belle!” He yelled. “Let me go!”
Her giant wedge-shaped head turned towards him and he found himself thoroughly examined by a very concerned dragon. He tried to push her nose away when she sniffed worriedly at him, looking for blood or foreign magic, but she didn’t want to let him go and his magic was useless against her scales.
“I’m fine! Put me down!”
Unfortunately, she didn’t seem in any hurry to believe or obey him. In fact, she didn’t let him out of her grasp until Regina’s carriage had left the Dark Forest altogether and the fire had burned to ash. When she was finally satisfied that he was safe again, she let him go and he vanished into the Dark Castle in an irritated huff, refusing to turn around when massive paw-steps transformed into quiet footsteps that followed him back to his wheel, and Belle settled into her habitual chair near his side.
She was undeniably much better company than Regina, though.
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