#//he he all aboard the pain train Tumblr posts

[queernoctis]

OK AFTER 100 YEARS OF REINSTALLING THE GAME I HAVE MORE RESEARCH ON SHINRA SCIENCE DEPARTMENT'S SPECIMEN LIVING QUARTERS

first is Ifalna+Aerith's room. I picked the screenshots with the other party members to show that it's a decent sized room. None of them are standing on top of each other, even barret has plenty of room.

it even has a litle space for the toilet and bath [the bath being behind the curtain.] is it the height of luxury?? absolutely not. but it might as well be a deluxe suite when we see what else is around it.

we've got some rooms with treasure chests. cloud to show how tiny these rooms are, especially compared to ifalna+aerith's.

there's too more rooms in the same hallway, each having a bed and a desk. you can see theyre also pretty damn small. the bed rooms and the chest rooms dont have any little nooks or alcove like a toilet room. on the minimap they break down like this:

[i didnt even think to take a pic of the bigger map when you press the touchpad kjgntfg gomenasorry]

of course its a bit hard to tell because of the chibi art style but well. it definitely looks like sephiroth's room is one of the smaller ones. there's what seems to be a desk in the bottom right corner. and from this angle, nothing else. maybe you could argue there's a bed right out of frame, but this framing is likely very deliberate. it shows that sephiroth cant even dream of having things like a bed, or a bigger, more comfortable room. literally all he wants is his mother. someone to cook for him and love him and care about him. he doesnt even have his own private bathroom, and he's so thoroughly conditioned/beaten down by shinra he doesnt even think of wanting one.

[piratefishmama]

Crashed the wedding, Part 7

Eddie had no grand speech prepared, he had nothing, his whole job was to wing it, which was probably a good thing because anything he’d have prepared to say, would have flown right out of the metaphorical window when he saw Steve.

He’d only just managed that witty quip as he Aragon’d his way through those doors, all the breath just taken right out of him god he was still as beautiful as the day Eddie left, nine years hadn’t touched him at all. His hair still impossibly perfect, even though he’d clearly not put much effort into it for the day, his glasses still made him look like the cutest pre-school teacher ever, and the moles.

Lord have mercy on his poor soul, the moles. He was too gay for this. He just wanted to skip everything, get directly to wrapping Steve up in the cosiest of sweaters, and handing him the tastiest mug of hot cocoa like he deserved, and just cuddling him for the rest of his life.

“E-Excuse me sir, we hadn’t actually gotten to that part yet” The reverend’s voice hesitantly cut through the silence that seemed to carry on for way longer than intended. The man choosing not to mention that the senior Harringtons had instructed him to remove the offer to the guests to object from the ceremony speech citing that they wouldn’t need it.

“Yeah well, it’s not like I had a damn invitation to sit in and wait, did I?” Eddie snapped right back, shaking himself up. He had a job to do, a love of his life to rescue, and no goddamn idea as to how he was supposed to do that if Steve wasn’t reacting in any way other than just staring at him with wide-eyed, open-mouthed surprise.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Steve heard from his left, turning to find his father’s face had turned a curious shade of red in apparent anger. The man quickly turning his eye onto his son hissing “did you have something to do with this?” At him. God Steve wished. He’d have given anything to have had the courage to just pick up the damn phone and call Eddie before all this shit went down.

Nine goddamn years, he wished he’d have picked up the phone each and every single day, but he hadn’t, too many missed calls, too many excuses for him to keep trying, he’d been so sure that Eddie had just… moved on, convincing himself more and more with each failed attempt to stay in touch that maybe… maybe it was just for the best.

Eddie was famous, for something good… besides the shit that happened during Vecna’s little bitch fit, Eddie hadn’t stepped a toe out of line in nine whole years, no scandals, no drug addiction stories, no compromising paparazzi shots in the papers, he sang his songs, played his nerd games, he showed up as ‘Metal Santa’ at Children’s hospitals with the other bandmates dressed as goofy elves, giving out toys all out of his own pocket, he helped out at soup kitchens on the weekends when he wasn’t busy, did charity auctions of random shit for troubled youth charities, he was good. The only time he’d had an issue was early ’88 with a mild drinking problem but Dustin knocked some sense into him on that one and he’d cleaned up his act by September the same year.

He looked mean and scary sometimes, but nobody, not a single person could ever accuse him of being anything but good. Steve was just… Steve.

A man going nowhere, stuck in his hometown with nothing to offer him. It’d been so easy to convince himself to just stop trying. Eddie didn’t need him, Eddie probably didn’t want him, he could have anyone, why would he want him?

Steve didn’t answer his father, instead turned back to the intruder, a smile fighting at the corner of his lips as he witnessed the man telling one of the bride’s huffy aunts to pipe the fuck down. “Eddie? The hell are you doing here?” How could he let his mind force him to doubt when Eddie was right there as if he’d heard that one wish Steve had spoken only in his mind.

“Rescuing you, sweetheart, can’t say I’m the most impressive of cavalry but at least I look good, which is more than I can say for your bride, yikes ma’am you just faceplant into a cake made up entirely of makeup this morning? Not a good look, I can see where the foundation meets the rest of your neck. One word, blend.” Liar, she looked flawless, but the outraged gasp of an offended bride was worth it. The shit stirring little fucker. “It will change your life.”

“Steven—” Harriet huffed, turning to her groom expectantly “aren’t you even going to—”

“No.” Steve immediately cut her off with a short, snort of a laugh, eyes still on Eddie as the man approached, his bride immediately turning to her parents to loudly complain about the interruption, Steve tuned her out completely, he’d tuned everything out, focusing entirely on Eddie “you could have worn a shirt, man.”

“And miss the warm Indiana breeze on my nip? I think not Steven.” Steve scrunched up his nose in distaste “Stevie? Steve-o, Ooh, ooh… Estebe?”

“That means Stebe and you know it means Stebe.”

“I know but you always thought it was cute.” He was within reaching distance now, so close he could touch him, could touch him to ensure he was real, that he hadn’t just hallucinated his way through his forced vows.

“I only thought it was cute cause you actually thought it meant Steve.” He reached, Eddie’s smile widening, only for it to drop, his eyes sharpening in barely concealed rage as Harrington Sr. grabbed the arm reaching out toward Eddie.

“Don’t even think about it, Steven. You will inform your brief, and unfortunate lapse in judgement that you were mistaken, that it meant nothing, and you’re marrying Miss Reid, do not make me remind you—”

“Sit the fuck down Harrington, nobody pulled your string.” Eddie snarled leaning in close enough for the man to release his grip in surprise.

“Eddie… he’s right, I—I have to.”

“No, no you don’t, I see nobody we know here Steve, your friends, your family they’re not here… why? Why aren’t they here Steve… on what should be the happiest day of your life, why did Nancy have to shoot a security guard in the arm just to get me in?”

“Nance did what?” Was that what that noise was?

“Surprised you didn’t hear the gunshot. Karen wheeler practically shoved this monkey suit on me and shoved me out the damn door in hopes I could get you out of this, the only reason the others aren’t here is because these assholes did well enough to have it clash with everything going on in their lives.” Not him though, Eddie would have abandoned a whole damn tour, he’d have cancelled mid-gig, if necessary, Steve needed him. He needed them. “What’s stopping you from walking out of that door right now, baby? What’s doing that?”

He saw that crack in Steve’s already crumbling resolve at the soft use of an old pet name, such a simple, generic little name but it always made Steve just a little weak hearing it from Eddie. “Eddie—Eddie I’m… I can’t…”

There were whispers, people had stood up to get a closer look, nobody in that church recognised Eddie, as famous as he was, he wasn’t their kind of famous. Eddie paid them no mind, taking those last few steps, using what little courage he had left to reach up and skim his calloused fingers along that perfect jawline, thumb caressing the soft cushion of his cheek just below where his glasses perched. “You can, baby boy… my sweet little prince, you can walk right out of here with me… whatever it is Steve, we can deal with it, money? Baby I have more in pocket change than your family’s entire net worth combined, including the shit in those offshore accounts ol John here doesn’t think anyone knows about it.” Steve’s father leaned a fraction backwards in surprise, how the fuck did Munson know about that? He could move all he wanted, Eddie wasn’t paying attention to him, his soft eyes were on Steve, watching as the man let his own drift shut, leaning into the palm cupping his cheek. “Hawkins? Sweetheart… I got here in a day, I flew first class, very fancy, if anything happens, we’ve got it, we can be back here so fast whatever that freaky-ass place throws at us, we’ll be ready for it same as always… so what is it, big boy, what’s stopping you?”

Steve let his eyes open halfway, taking in the man in front of him “I’m not worth it Eddie… just… just go, it’s okay… I’ll be fine, m’always fine” so why did that smile look so sad “…I’m not worth what you’d lose if I were to leave.”

Part 9

[gffa]

Hey, are you feeling salty about STAR WARS for no reason whatsoever, just totally happened randomly, and want some fic that reflects the Jedi Order of the movies and TCW? Ones that are novel-length time travel fix-its to really make yourself feel better? Then I have some ones that I've been reading and really enjoying! Because I think maybe we could all use a bunch of fic to get lost in over the weekend, just 'cause. STAR WARS TIME TRAVEL FIC RECS: ✦ there is no death ashkav, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & cal & quinlan & ocs & cast, time travel, 134.9k wip Darth Vader is a cataclysmic event, and Cal, delirious with pain, scrambles to catch the hilt of his saber as he begins to drag it out their corpses – and that’s what he and Cere are, corpses, with only a last few seconds of misfiring neurons left in them, no matter how much BD-1 trills and punches stim after stim into his arm – they are tipping past that point of no return now, and Cal needs to do something right now before it’s too late for – for what?

✦ Take it from the top and try again by mauvera, obi-wan & anakin & qui-gon & padme & mace & dooku & cast, time travel, 142.3k wip     Five years into his self imposed exile on Tattooine, Obi-Wan Kenobi is gifted the chance to go back and bring hope back to the galaxy. With hindsight on his side, he fully intends to save his master, save his padawan, make some new and old friends again, prepare the Jedi for a war they’ll hopefully never see and begin to pull apart all the many tangled threads of the Sith Lord’s plans. Should be relatively easy. Right?

✦ Let Go by Micillyn, qui-gon & obi-wan & anakin & padme & cast, time travel, 101.5k Qui-Gon did not expect to die on Naboo. Nor did he realise that by insisting for Anakin to be trained as a Jedi, the boy would one day fall and become Darth Vader. Foresight, it seems, did not confer the gift of infallibility, yet if it took all those tragedies to destroy the Sith and restore balance to the Force and hope to the galaxy, then perhaps it wasn't so bad after all. Or, the story as happened in the movies is the fix-it, and this is the story of the disaster that happened before the time-travel happened.

✦ a distant fire is burning by e_va, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & cal & cast, time travel, 47.4k wip Cal Kestis can move backwards in time (kinda-sorta-not really), and his confrontation with Darth Vader in the Fortress Inquisitorius plays out a lot differently. Fixing the timeline while stuck in his 10-year-old body will be quite the task, but Cal is up to it. He has to be.

✦ Reprise by Elfpen, obi-wan & anakin & qui-gon & mace & cast, time travel, 558.9k wip Ben Kenobi dies aboard the Death Star in the year 0 BBY. He wakes up shortly thereafter in the Jedi temple in the year 41 BBY. Haunted by memories and regret, Ben must forge a new path for himself in the Jedi Order of his youth while navigating the murky waters of time travel. Crafting a better future from bitter experience is hard, but learning to heal is even harder. Major AU.

✦ Unexpected Awakening (The Rewrite) by Rhiw, obi-wan & qui-gon & anakin & feemor & bruck & jango & cast, time travel, 135.1k wip     The life of General Kenobi is cut short at the hands of his Padawan, but the sight that greets his eyes upon awakening is not that of blinding light of the Force, but the Jedi Temple he knew when he was still a youth. As he struggles to understand the path laid out before him, Obi-Wan unwittingly captures the attention of a singularly unusual Temple Guard, and that of a reluctant Qui-Gon Jinn.

✦ Averting Galactic Destruction by kj_feybarn, obi-wan & anakin & quinlan & rex & cody & fives & dogma & wolffe & plo & shaak & dooku & sidious, time travel, 44.3k     AKA The Time the Force Sent Obi-Wan Back in Time and Quinlan Vos kept him from Going Kamikaze because let’s be Honest, Being Forced to Come Back in Time Would Suck.

[14thgalerie]

path to you

• pairing: theodore nott x reader

• now playing: war of hearts by ruelle

• word count: 7.3k

• genre: angst, fluff every now and then

— not proofread, i wrote this on a whim the other night and only finished last night.

Theodore Nott stood amidst the crowd of returning students aboard the Hogwarts Express, his heart heavy with a blend of emotions.  His eyes were ablaze, lit with determination in search of that one familiar figure with locks he spent nights running his fingers through. However, as the last call to board the train echoed through the station, his hope was diminished when there was still no sign of you.

In truth, he knew it was futile right from the moment the both of you had left Hogwarts. The incident— if that was what he would even call it for that— was the moment that Voldemort had truly begun making his appearance known to the students of Hogwarts. 

He was no innocent bystander to this, the mark that burns on his right arm is a constant, painful reminder of that. His father had mercilessly subjected him through the initiation process, appointing him watch of Draco to ensure he would follow the Dark Lord’s order just as others had been compelled to do.

However, in the brief moment that he knew your eyes had latched on to an exposed skin of his sleeved arm, a fear struck him, unlike the familiar one that had long been instilled by his father. He decided that he would rather weather the searing pain that seemed to burn deeper for every day that Dumbledore roamed the grounds than prove he was no trustworthy person to you now. He would ignore the ache that pried into his very soul as you steer a conversation away as he picks you up from your friends.

Despite this, in the dark and dreary summer, he is left terribly alone with only thoughts of you entangled in his mind. The old days of sunshine only remain in memory, as he supposes is a communal thing for all of you as Voldemort continued to infiltrate and pollute the magical world with his influence. 

Theodore had written you a myriad of letters over the many days, his heart engraved with every droplet of ink that marks the parchment.  

I miss you.

I beg of you to tell me that I’m not as forgettable as your silence otherwise makes me feel.

But every owl that returned carried nothing but itself. No words from you. Not a single one even from your friends, a choice he made in desperation, regardless of the consequences if his father found out he had been in contact with one of you. 

He knew that they knew where you were, even if it might not be the entirety of it. If there was one thing he truly regretted before, it would be his cowardice. His fear runs deep in the thick crimson inside of him that dictated his every move. Though he shares a strong companionship with Mattheo and the others, Theo remains in awe of the camaraderie that you have with your friends at this time.

Driven purely by the need to be a catalyst; to make an end of this war.

With the sudden void torn into his at your disappearance, Theo found his heart crystallising once again, trying to preserve what little warmth is left by you. 

Praying to a god he doesn’t believe in, begging that there will never come a day that he won’t know your last words.

You exhale slowly.

The morning had barely started, and the sun was still but a ray in the dim sky. You tug the blanket over your face, blinking once, twice. The stream below the knife-like hill they had taken camp in, continued its hum.

It has been roughly three months since the start of the school year started, and four months since you have made the decision to accompany Harry, Hermione, and Ron in the hunt for Horcruxes. Four, lengthy months since you’ve last exchanged words with Theo, afraid that you would let this mission slip, Merlin knows he knows you better than you did.

If circumstances were different and he was not tied by that horrific mark, maybe he would be even with you. But reality is unforgiving and you are left in sorrow for the easy times you’ve taken advantage of.

There were times it felt ghastly to keep certain things to yourself, for so long it had been you and Theo, sharing the deepest truths. Then in a snap of a finger, it seemed most of what came out of you were lies, all in the name of protecting your friends. But it was paramount to be cautious nowadays, even if Theo was careful and dedicated to keeping crucial information, you couldn’t shake off the fear that Voldemort may attempt to pry on his mind.

Harry, with all his strength, is no exception to Voldemort’s manipulation of the mind. What more of Theo?

You wouldn’t be able to forgive yourself if everything came crumbling down the moment Voldemort sought Theo’s memories.  

Sometimes, you couldn't help but feel the urge to apparate for even just a moment. Just a minute. You found it difficult to get rid of the nagging feeling that he now despised you for doing this, for running away and leaving him, despite the promise you made only a year ago. It was a constant tug-of-war of the heart and the mind, most days leaving you drained in addition to the physical exhaustion.

I miss you.

I hate this uncertain silence that does nothing but bring you forth.

“Y/N? Are you awake?” You hear a voice call out.

You snap yourself out of your thought

“What time is it?” You mumble. Hermione’s sharp ears are used to your morning voice by now. “It’s already 8 in the morning, Y/N. Get up.”

“Goddess!” You shot up, “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier, my shift was supposed to be an hour ago.”

With one less person in your team, as Ron left in his fury, the rest of you had to take shorter rests now.

“It’s fine, I couldn’t sleep anyway,” Hermione reassures her. You stand and make your way down to the table where a cup of steaming tea is left for you. “Are you alright?” You ask.

She merely hums in question but makes no indication that she will answer. Instead, she walks out of the tent to sit on one of the rocks nearby. 

“He will be fine, mione.” You say, following her. “Ron has been through so much in the past, I think by this time, he would be able to get by on his own.”

You pull her into a side embrace, holding her close without saying anything as she rests limply underneath your arm. She needed it. Sacrificing the risk of her parents forever forgetting that Hermione was their daughter had taken a heavy toll on your friend. Leaving them in the house she deemed her sanctuary from the destruction, the madness that reigned outside.

With Ron having left the three of you. Although you weren’t as close with the redhead, you knew he had been Hermione’s shoulder— ever since forever. You understood how she felt or even a spectre of it, for you, too, had left someone behind.

Someone that you could only beg the gods remains breathing and unsullied by the encroaching darkness that seemed to follow him.

“And what about you?” Hermione whispered softly, the tears that lined her cheeks dry now. “What do you mean?”

“Nott.” Hearing the name instantly formed a small, melancholic smile on your face. 

“I’m your best friend, Y/N. You can stop pretending to be the shield for us now, Harry and I will be here for you. You can cry.”

Your gaze remains fixed on the sight before you. Atop the hill, the pale gold ball of sunlight emerges and bathes the cold stone in warmth. Reminiscent of the days before the Triwizard Cup, before Cedric died. It all seemed so far away now.

“I’ve exhausted all the tears from me already, Hermione. I miss him terribly. I may just crumble beneath his feet the very moment that I see him again.”

“It’s difficult what you had to do. I can’t even begin to decipher it. The both of you had consistently defied, and will likely continue to do so, every misconception that the others had of you back when you were still friends." 

“I hate how there was not a scintilla of hesitation and doubt in me when I had to keep so many things from him when I had to lie to him.” You croak out, voice barely above a whisper.

“You did so because you knew that in the end, it wasn't just for the best of the wizarding world that you deliberately did all of that, it’s all for him. You did it because you wanted to keep him safe from that vile, bald head.” 

You nod. It's true. Ever since you found out about the abuse that Theo’s father inflicted upon him, you knew that there would come a day when he would pay the price for it. Knowing that he couldn’t escape him before he turned 17, the only solace you can provide is your unwavering companion.

It only weighed on you heavily that Theo would have to endure it all alone again so that you could work to permanently sever the ties between him and his malevolent father..

“We’re kids.”

Tears welled up in your eyes, threatening to spill over, and you clenched your fists in frustration. At Voldemort, at Theo’s father, at your parents who left you all alone, at the lost innocence of your childhood.

“We’re supposed to be ripping our hair off for NEWTS, preparing for life after we leave Hogwarts, dancing and drinking our teenage years away. Why did we have to make all these choices? The storybooks on my shelf speak nothing of this.”

Then, her gaze unwavering firmly set on you as she sat up straight. “We’re doing this so that Voldemort, or any wizard that dares follow his steps, may never inflict the kind of pain on anyone else, the way he did to us and our parents.”

Heart heavy with foreboding and unease, Theodore stands among the students of Hogwarts in the dimly lit Great Hall. The room, devoid of its warm glow and chatter, was bathed in eerie silence where Snape, now the headmaster of Hogwarts, had summoned every student. From the tense shoulders of the man, Theo could only surmise that it was something important. It was rare to see Snape truly bothered.

“Many of you are surely wondering why I have summoned you here at this hour. It came to my attention that earlier this evening... Harry Potter was sighted in Hogsmeade.” 

A murmured thrill fills the Hall. Theodore’s eyes widened, as he waited for a sign. If Harry Potter was nearby, it could only mean that you were too.

Snape continues, raising his voice a tad bit to quell the noise. “Should anyone — student or staff — attempt to aid Mr. Potter, that person will be punished in a manner consistent with the severity of their transgression. Rest assured: So long as I am Headmaster at Hogwarts, Harry Potter will never again step foot in this castle.”

Theo only hears the latter of what he said, mind distracted by the idea that you could be in the castle. His feet itched to run out and find you himself. Not an ounce of care for what the man in front is saying.

“Now then. If anyone here has knowledge of Mr. Potter’s movements this evening... I invite them to step forward now.” 

However, the sound of footsteps catches his attention in the dead silence, and the younger Slytherin students near him exchange glances with each other. Then a figure appears from the shadows at the back of the hall. Someone that brought forth a sigh of a blend of relief and disbelief from Theo. An action that the younger him would probably scoff at.

“I think I can help you out with that…” Harry exclaims, “It appears that, even with all your thorough defensive measures, you might have a security problem, Headmaster”

The students all stare in utter perplexity, each wondering when and how the bespectacled boy had entered the castle. A vacuous question really for Harry has proven countless times that he is, in several ways, a gifted person who is filled with more courage and resolve than anyone in this room. Even Theodore, who’s good friends with Draco, can admit that fact.

The sight of Harry struck a spark of hope in a place that had grown increasingly bleak since the death of Dumbledore— Diggory’s death if you will. But the spectacle wasn’t yet done there when the doors of the Great Hall swung open, revealing the members of the Order. Their arrival further sets a ripple among the unexpecting students, though from the looks of Harry’s friends, it seems that they were the ones to aid them.

His gaze shifts to watch as one by one, they line up in a defensive pose behind Harry. He Recognizing a few familiar faces like the Weasleys, Hermione, Lovegood, Professor Lupin, Fleaur from Beauxbatons, and even some members of the Ministry. 

“How dare you stand where he stood.“ Harry shouts. “Tell them the truth of that night’”

Theodore’s breath catches in his throat. The air becomes suffocating at the reminder of those times, days that still hunt him and the others. He takes slow inhales and exhales to calm himself, knowing that now is not the right time and place.

Snape with his eyes like shards of ice, faced Harry Potter. Theodore watches as he moves as if to retrieve his wand, but before he can do so, McGonagall comes forward and sends a blast in Snape’s direction. Snape pivots and barely rebounds the spell in defence,

Chaos ensues as the rest of the staff leaps forward with their wands out. A short but intense exchange erupted in the middle of the room, making the students shuffle to the side to avoid being hit by the spells and curses that flashed through the air like crackling lightning.

Snape, ever the formidable wizard despite his attitude, held his ground with a stoic determination. But Theo couldn’t help but notice how his old professor merely deflected the curses thrown upon him and never cast his own. It piqued his curiosity knowing that he was a master of the dark arts, prominent in the way lectures were replaced by dark arts in his headship.

In the end, Snape yielded, a moment that sent shockwaves to many. 

“A coward, that man.” Professor McGonagall proclaims, before turning to Harry. “Mr. Potter, do you mind telling me what you’re doing here, which, I trust you realise, is an act of complete lunacy?”

Harry replies by simply telling her that he is a Gryffindor which comes to no surprise to the woman. McGonagall then turns to the rest of the students, calling them to settle down after the whole debacle. 

Just then, Harry suddenly winces, pressing his palms to his temple, before a rumble rings throughout the Hall. A dark cloud swarming in the Enchanted Ceiling, imminent that the beginning of the war will begin any time now. It is the screams and face of pain that confirms it.

A familiar voice to Theodore sounds off in a deathly whisper in his head. And by the looks of everyone, it was the same for them.

“I know that many of you want to fight. Some of you may even think this is wise. But this is folly. Give me Harry Potter. Do this and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave Hogwarts untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded.“

With that, the whispers recede followed by the dark clouds evaporating into thin air. For a moment, silence ensues. Pansy’s screechy voice scratches in his right ear from where she stands beside him. 

“Harry’s right there! Somebody grab him!” Yet nobody gives her a second thought. Everyone’s attention shifts instead to Filch who loudly enters through the Hall, screaming that everyone’s out of bed. The man made Theo chuckle inwardly, making a tiny smirk form on his lips.

“They are supposed to be out of bed, you blithering idiot!” McGonagall tells him off. “Oh right, sorry.”

“Now, as you’re already here, I’d like you to lead the rest of Slytherin House from the Hall to the dungeons.” She adds on before Filch can leave.

Theodore’s thoughts returned, as they always did in the past months, to the one question that haunts the very corners of his mind: Where are you? In this whole happening, his eyes had been moving back and forth towards the group that stood near the large double doors. Trying to catch a glimpse of you in between the still figures. But as you had tortured him, you were still nowhere to be seen and he began to question if you had truly disappeared and left him questions unanswered. 

As they were being ushered out of the Hall, he, like many others, was vacillating between insisting upon fighting for Hogwarts or to keep their loyalty to their Slytherin roots. But really, the prevailing choice for him is neither of those. He desperately wants to run towards Hermione and just ask her of your whereabouts.

But before he could approach a decision, Hermione made it for him. He jolts when a hand grasps his forearm, taking him by surprise. 

“Nott.” Hermione begins before he cuts her off. “Where is she?”

It must’ve come off louder than he intended to from the way she jumped and the stares from the clutter of students from all directions. But he couldn’t care less, and it seemed that the girl in front of him had just now remembered when he didn't offer an apology.

“Well, it’s nice to see you’re not much different.” She sarcastically says. “Granger. Hermione. I frankly don’t have the time for this and I doubt that you do too, so I beg you to answer me now.”

Theodore’s impatience taking over him, he could not endure another moment without having you within his sight. It was a bit of an uncharacteristic burst of urgency for him and he knew it, but you were different. You, who holds all of his vulnerable entirety in your hands. 

“She’s somewhere in the castle, searching for one of the remaining Horcruxes in the castle,” Hermione explains. “Y/N had suggested that we split and she began the search while we had to ward off Snape. We will be doing the same thing now, so if you have any idea of Ravenclaw’s lost diadem location, then that’s where you’ll find her.”

With a simple nod and a meek expression of gratitude, he runs off to a place where he begs must hold such a priceless object. It would be somewhere close by but nowhere that it can be easily found.

In the corner of his eyes, Theo caught a glimpse of Harry sprinting towards a distant hallway before rounding a corner. Knowing that by now he must have an idea of where it is, Theo makes a sprint for it. He cautiously peers around the hallway where he sees a door materialising in front of Harry.

Before he can approach Harry to accompany him inside the Room of Requirement, he sees the unmistakable form of his two friends, Draco and Blaise, along with Goyle, discreetly following Harry inside. He muttered frustrated curses under his breath, knowing that those three would make trouble.

He enters through the door, where he makes a dash along the stockpile of objects that seemingly never seems to lessen with every step he takes. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, but still a lingering tension persisted, as he saw Harry’s figure running.

“Potter!” He calls out to the boy, casting aside any lingering apprehension he once held for the boy. “Did you find it?”

Harry halts in his run, taking a moment to catch his breath before responding to Theo. In truth, he wasn’t surprised that Theo was here with him, but rather, more so that you weren’t the object of his first question to him.

“I think so, the sound keeps getting louder.” He answers. 

“It should be somewhere near now.” He continues. “Let’s go then.”

Theo quietly takes his place beside Harry as they weave their way through the maze of ancient objects and furniture. They continue until Harry stops, causing Theo to freeze in his step. 

There you stood, a presence that seemed to penetrate his very being. The only person who plagued his thoughts, you had woven yourself into every conscious moment and every corner of his mind. 

Now that you were a mere five steps away from him, he couldn’t conjure the nerve to move forward, feeling himself paralyzed.

Was it the fear that held him back? The nagging thought that this might be just another dream of his? He couldn’t grapple at an answer, but by the length of your hair that now sits at your shoulders, he would like to believe that maybe this was indeed you. This was you, and before he realised it, he was all but standing still.

A sharp gasp escapes your lips as you nearly lose your footing, feeling a heavy weight press to your back. The sensation of those familiar long arms enveloping you in a tight embrace sent your heart racing, the shock of it sending a rush of emotions through you.

For a fleeting moment, it felt that your body had become one with the ground, immobilised by the torrent of emotions surging through you. But then when the realisation finally sinks into you, the tension that seemed to course through you suddenly dissolves and you willingly surrender yourself to the warmth of his embrace.

You turn, your hands tracing a graceful path across his back. It had been far too long, and you couldn’t imagine being apart from him for such an extended period ever again.

The background fades into obscurity. Harry was forgotten, a distant blur that moved with the others. Your eyes filled with relief and that soft, affectionate expression that he adored. All he could see was you, the person he had yearned for and feared losing in the world you both live in.

Theo’s defences crumbled, and he finally surrendered to the weight of his emotions. He couldn’t find a part of him that would care if others saw him right now. Tears flowed freely down his flushed cheeks, like a torrential downpour.

“I’m here. Theo, I’m back with you.” Your arms held him, gently rocking him as you tried to soothe his nerves. 

“Never leave me alone again.” He choked on the words, his voice raw and rugged with pain. “I beg you.”

“I won’t be going anywhere, I promise. I’m sorry for having to leave so suddenly.” You whispered, your voice filled with genuine remorse. Out of the corner of your eye, you caught a glimpse of movement behind some cabinets— a flash of white. 

“But we’ll have to talk later.” You continued, turning your focus back to Theo. “We need to get rid of this Horcrux.”

“Horcrux?” He asks, pulling back from the crook of your neck. “Hermione mentioned that when I asked about you.”

“It’s one of the many things that Voldemort has done to ensure his immortality.” You explained, your tone carrying a sense of urgency. “But if we get rid of it, we’re one step closer to finally banishing him for good.”

He opens his mouth to say something but before he can, he is interrupted by Draco, with Blaise and Goyle, stepping into view. “Well, well, what brings you here, Potter? And Theo, what are you doing with them?”

Your gaze shifts back at Harry who had only realised that you had some other company. “I could ask you the same.” You retort.

Theo, however, pays his friend no mind. Instead, he leans to your ear, his voice a hushed whisper. “We should get that thing while Draco is still preoccupied with Harry.”

You could make a run for it; it seemed that Draco didn’t care for your purpose inside the room. Rather busy demanding your friend for his wand back, the very one you had accidentally brought back with you from the Malfoy Manor.

“- its allegiance is to me now. If you want it, you’ll have to win it back. Perhaps even kill me…” You hear Harry proclaim. You silently curse your friend for his recklessness, tired of his cavalier attitude with his life simply because he’s braved the risk of death before. You kept your eyes trained on Draco, knowing that despite his hesitation before, he might act on it now.

His wand hand twitches.

Brow conflicted.

Uneasy eyes settling somewhere behind you. You look behind to see a silhouette of a girl with a wand pointed in your direction, before you can see who it is, a ball of scarlet light emerges and briefly lights up her face and hits Draco’s hand.

“Avada Kedavra!” You were pulled back by Theo, landing on the ground with his body catching the fall. You watch as the spell ricochets and sends the diadem, which was sitting peacefully in its encasement on the table, flying away.

You spring to your feet, a burst of adrenaline propelling you forward to catch the item before it vanishes on you in this labyrinth. Your hand barely grazed the edge of the jewelled headband and with a quick nod to Harry and Hermione a nod to escape this room. Meanwhile, you’re confused as to where Ron had disappeared off to.

The red-head gives you your answer when he comes running from somewhere followed by a  twisting serpent made of scarlet flames. “Run! Goyle’s set the bloody place on fire!”

With your right hand clutching the crown, you secure a firm grip on Theo’s hand, which rests lightly on your waist. The five of you dash through the towering heaps of debris that would likely be a pile of smouldering ashes and soot. A quick glance behind you reveals flames that draw closer, mutating into different forms: serpents, dragons, and the like, each following you so closely that sweat beads form on the nape of your neck.

“Keep running!” Harry shouts when Hermione sees Draco scaling a mountain of furniture. You were still running for your life when suddenly Harry spots a stack of broomsticks. TO which you all took one and began to speed across the room.

The flames explode behind you, You and Theo, who decided to share, barely elude the snap of its jaw. 

“Wait! What about Malfoy and Blaise!” Harry screams at the rest of you, your head turns to look back at the two who are barely hanging on as the flames continue to destroy the room. It was only a matter of time before it reached them and they would have nowhere to go.

“You grab them!” Theo replied, his voice scratchy and painful from the amount of smoke you’ve inhaled. 

“Are you serious? He’s joking right?” Ron asks Hermione, to which you instead reply. “No, he’s not! Go get them!”

Harry and Ron sweeps down, swiftly reaching out to grasp Draco and Blaise’s outstretched hands. While you, Theo, and Hermione went ahead as a giant beam of light appeared in the distance, a radiating beacon. It’s Hermione, hovering on her broom with her wand raised.

Then, with Harry and Ron in tow, you all fly headlong towards Hermione’s beacon. And in an instant, your sight dissolved into a blinding whiteness.

Your eyes flutter open, your senses returning to you in a hazy rush. You felt someone shaking you furiously, and in your disoriented state, you instinctively pushed them away. But arms instead wrapped around you and pulled you into a warm chest.

“You’re fine!” The person evidently shakes in relief, before you feel a gentle bush of lips against your temple.

Blinking away the remnants of confusion, you look up to see Theo’s striking blue eyes already intently focused on you., striking a shiver across your spine “You couldn’t get rid of me that easily.” You joked weakly, a tiny smile on your face.

Theo’s expression softened, and he tightened his hold on you as if he was afraid that you might disappear again. “I thought I lost you there,” He tells you, voice barely above a whisper. “When I saw you just lying there, unmoving… I was utterly terrified.”

You reach up and gently cup his cheek, wiping away the dark ash that sullied it with your thumb. “Like I said, love, I’m not going anywhere,” Your voice filled with reassurance, and you sit properly to kiss him softly, sealing your promise in that tender moment. 

But as with everything else, it was interrupted by an awkward cough behind you. 

“You guys done there? We still have some things to do?” Ron retorts. To which Hermione slaps him in the chest.

You laugh and hum in tease. “Well, actually I think we could do with some more snogging here.” Ron merely groans. “No, please. I don’t wanna see that.”

The both of you stand from where you sit, your hands still entwined, hearts racing. “Where’s Draco and Blaise, by the way?” You ask Theo. “They ran off somewhere.”

As they all stepped out of the corridor, they caught you up on what happened while you were unconscious. Harry had stabbed the diadem with a basilisk fang which Ron and Hermione retrieved from the Chamber and threw it back towards the Room of Requirement where it blew up into flames.

You look at Harry who was staring into the distance, his face still bearing the trace of the agony he must’ve endured when he stabbed the diadem.

“It’s the snake. She’s the last one. The last Horcrux.” Harry speaks up. 

“Where do you think he’ll take it?” Theo asks from beside you. “Somewhere safe. He’ll be keeping her close to him.”

“You should go ahead, Theo and I will stay here to help with the others.” You tell your friends, while Harry tries to locate Voldemort with his mind. 

“I know where he is.” He finally comes back. “Let’s go.”

“The three of you keep safe alright?” You remind them as you all run towards the battlefield, where many of your friends stand fighting. They nod, promising you that they will and in return make you and Theo swear you’ll be careful.

In the courtyard, where students and staff trade spells with the Death Eaters that littered across the school grounds, you quickly join them, making sure that you are in sight of the other. The unspoken promise to do so served as a beacon of comfort amidst the chaos you were faced with.

From the upper balcony, your eyes scanned the battlefield, assessing the danger that lurked when you saw a Death Eater poised to send a curse to Luna from behind. Without a second thought, you unleashed a forceful flick of your wand, sending a powerful spell toward the Death Eater which sent him tumbling through the air and straight to the waters beyond the castle.

Luna, whose signature dream-like demeanour was replaced by an expression of gratitude, turns and locks eyes with you. She offered you one of her wide smiles, “Thanks! Y/n, glad to see you back here!”

Your heart swelled with warmth for your friend. “Don’t mention it, happy to see you also, Luna.” You quickly reply before returning to battle when you are hit by a deafening blast straight on the chest. You were raised to the air before you crashed into the floor below.

Theodore Nott fought valiantly in the courtyard, proving to the others that the dark mark that covered his right arm bore no significance to the man. His wand moved in a blur of motion in the onslaught of Death Eater. His thoughts were empty save for the ever-present worry that plagued him for your safety.

From his vantage point on the ground level, he does a quick scan of the courtyard, his heart pounding in his chest. The grisly sight of students and friends, along with the staff all stood their ground against the dark forces that dared penetrate their home. It filled him with a mixture of pride and fear. 

And then, his eyes flicked onto a scene that made his heart skip a beat. From the upper balcony, he sees you with your wand in hand and your expression resolute as you defend Luna, a dear friend of yours. It filled him with a warm emotion at the sight of your strong determination to protect her.

But then in a blink of an eye, disaster struck. A blast struck you square in the chest, lifting you off your feet in shock and sending you crashing down. Theo’s heart which skipped a beat earlier had now wholly stopped, his blood turning to ice as he watched in horror.

With everything in him, he surges forward through the chaos to catch you before you fall down. But as he was still many steps away from you, you dropped full force into the stone ground. Panic fueled his every step as he ran towards your motionless form now with even more speed than he ever thought a human possibly could.

He feels his gut twinge at the bloody sight, a sickly feeling developing in the deep recesses of his body, the wand heavy in his hands then. His lips bore no sound as tried to call your name, his heart was twisted in his throat. 

He knelt beside you, pulling you into his lap and checking you for your injuries. To his relief, your breathing was still steady for what had just happened to you and you didn’t seem to take any damage to the head, Still, he carried your disoriented body in his arms bridal style.

As he began to stand, his eyes went back to where you had previously been, searching for the source of the blast that struck you down. And then, with a shock that sent chills down his spine, he sees a familiar old face.

His father.

He sets you down somewhere safe inside the castle, without taking his sight away from his father. By the time he returns back to where you both were, his father is now advancing towards him with a sinister, triumphant grin on his face. It was a face that had been both a source of fear and disappointment throughout his life. 

The face that caused his mother’s death.

“Father,” Theodore muttered, his voice laced with a blend of anger, disbelief, and a profound sense of betrayal. That despite all he’s done for him, his father still stood there with not an ounce of recognition that he was faced with his son. It was as if he had truly sunk to the depths of his loyalty to Voldemort and there was no other obligation for him except for his unwavering loyalty.

Their eyes were locked in a moment of tense, silent confrontation. He knew that this battle was only physical but also a battle of his loyalties. He had to protect you, he had to stand against his father, and he had to make a choice that would define the course of his life.

With the courtyard around them paying no specific attention to the father and son, it was only fair to say that everything else faded into the background for them too. Father and son. Standing on opposing sides, driven by their own convictions and beliefs, the younger no longer waited.

He was no, father, not in the true sense of the word. He was merely a shadow of a man, a heartless figure who stood there—grinning as if he had just claimed the grand prize in this twisted lottery. 

In that moment, he had not only attacked the one person who held his son’s heart after he took away the other one but he had also torn away the last remaining fragments of the bond that tied the two of them.

His father had no time to react when Theodore raised his wand in a swift manner, hurling him violently to the cold, unforgiving wall across the castle. He rained down curses after cruses upon his father’s assailable body, each blow driven by a potent combination of anger and a fierce desire to defend.

“Stay” He seethed, punctuating his rage with a curse. “Away” Another spell. “From” The onslaught of his attack never ceased despite the dawn that slowly began to fade into view. “Her!” Each word carried the weight of an entire lifetime’s amount of hurt as Theo relentlessly battered his father until he was left into nothing but a fraction of what he used to be.

His eyes are glazed and unfocused as he continues this torture until he comes to a grip on reality when strong arms pull him away. It takes him a moment to realise that the battle has ceased. 

The two people behind him dragged him away, from his father's still body. But still, his eyes remained locked onto him, unable to shift it away. The cold fire in him terrified the others that they had passed. They whispered that nothing could compare to the kind of fury and destruction that he was sure to rain upon his enemies.

“Wake up, Y/N. Please.” Theo’s voice quivered, his words trembling on the precipice of his emotions. His eyes, blurred by the veil of his tears, bore a weight drastically different than it did only hours ago.

Eyes that failed to veil the inner turmoil that plagued him. The entire battle against Voldemort had taken its toll on both of them, leaving them stranded from each other for nearly half a year, but seeing you this way…

He watched from a chair beside you as the healers worked diligently, silently begging them to look at you again, despite numerous assurances that you are now stable. His fingers unconsciously flexed at his sides, a manifestation of the anxiety that controls him. 

The fear of losing you, the anger towards his father, the overwhelming relief that you are alive– it all left him in a state of disconcerting.

As he waits for you to wake, he couldn’t help but reminisce on all that the both of you had been through. The trials, the secrets, the moments of love and laughter everywhere and anywhere. You were not just some person he loved; you were his best friend, his reason.

His eyes welled up with tears, and he wiped them away hastily. He needs to be strong for both of you, just as you will in your state of unconsciousness. He knew that your love had emerged stronger than ever in this crucible of war. So he made a silent promise to himself that he would do whatever it takes to take you away from any danger that dares creep upon you.

Finally, as if an eternity had passed, your voice broke through the silence. He jumps up in shock at the sound. You had slowly begun to stir in your makeshift bed in the Great Hall, your eyelids fluttering as you emerged from the depths of unconsciousness. The world felt hazy at first. But as your senses gradually returned, you became aware of the hustle and bustle of the people around you and you tried to call attention.

Theo sees that you were trying to say something but from the scratchy tone that instead came out, you were in need of some water so he ran to the nearest jug he found and helped you sit up so you could properly drink.

Then, as your vision cleared, you saw Theo sitting by your bedside and that he was the one that quenched the dryness that lined your throat., his eyes locked onto hers with a mixture of relief and worry.

His face broke into a gentle smile as he saw you recognize him. “Y/N” He whispered, his voice cracking as he began to cry once more. “You’re awake, you’re back. Thank Merlin!”

You manage a weak smile in return, your throat still dry and your body aching from the attack on you. You tried to speak, but your voice came out raspy. “Theo.”

Theo reached out and gently brushed a strand of hair from the side of your face, his touch gentle as ever. “You’re going to be okay.” He says, but it was more like he was also trying to convince himself. “You had me worried there for a while. I am this close to tying you up in a chair because you have caused me nothing but stress lately.”

As the both of you lay on the bed after you guilted him into laying beside you, your memories of the battle and the moments leading up to your injury slowly came back. You remembered Luna, the chaos, and the deafening blast that nearly took you away. But most of all, you remember the face of the person who did this to you.

Tears welled up in your eyes as you reached out to hold his hand, your fingers entwined in a silent, unspoken connection. “You must have been like a hero back there, then?” You gently try to ask him.

“More like a monster.” He mutters, unable to bring his eyes to you. The truth is he felt horrible after he finally calmed down. He was disgusted with himself and how he acted. He let his rage take control and acted like a monster. “What do you mean?”

“I was just like him, leaving him unable to fight back like he did to Mom and I back then. I just fired curses and curses at him. It was like a veil had draped over me and all I wanted was to protect you and destroy anything and anyone that dared harm you. ” 

You call his name. But he doesn’t respond and continues to stare off into the distance with a glazed-over expression. You reach out to cup his cheeks to pull his gaze towards you. “Theodore, look at me.”

He hums, now staring at you but still he can’t hide the tumultuous emotions that were a storm inside him. “You are not like your father, Theo.” You said softly. “Just from what you told me, you are a gazillion ways different from him. You didn’t cower behind the fear he caused you. Instead, you faced him head on, and defended not only me but also your mother from his cruelty.”

Theo looks at you, his eyes searching yours for affirmation. “How?” He meekly asks. 

“You took away the power that he boasts to have over you. '' You replied. Tone unwavering. “You showed him that you will never, ever, become anything like he is."

Your words hung in the air, a testament to Theo’s strength. At that moment, he realised that he had broken free from the shadows of his father’s influence and that he had chosen a different path. A path that is defined by love, courage, and a refusal to be controlled by his fear.

“I’m here because of you. I strived each day so that I could go back to you.” You whispered, your gaze never leaving Theo’s. “And I'm not going anywhere.”

Theo’s eyes shimmered with tears as he leaned in to gently kiss your forehead. “I love you.” He murmured, “I am in love with you, physically, rhetorically, every -ly.”

You laugh at his cheekiness, “I love you too.” You close your eyes for a moment, allowing yourself to drown in the wave of his love that washed over you. Giving his hands a squeeze as you raise them to lay a kiss upon the back of his hand.

In that Great Hall, amidst the scars of battle and the uncertainty of the future, they had found something precious in the very same place where two 11-year-old kids once locked eyes and found a connection.

masterlist

[unluckilyimnot]

HI YIRL

so I rlly wanted to ask (actually I’m craving it rn) if you could do a sae, shidou and kurona hc when what they would do/ how would they react if their s/o is rlly good (like REALLY good) at like soccer or any other sport (basketball, volleyball I don’t really mind so do wtv<3)

s/o who's really good at sport

0.5 | fluff

m.list | rules

Note: HIII thank you for your request!! I'm an hc girlie ask anything ! It really like this one hihi I hope you like it !

Sae + volley ball

he loves the fact that you’re good at sport too

he doesn’t know shit about volleyball but he will learn by himself to understand when he see you play

it doesn’t matter if you’re pro or not, he likes to come see you play 

don’t expect him to scream or whatever, but he tries to come every time 

he wants to know more about strategy or your position in the team (libero, setter, ect)

the more he learn about it, the happier he is

will make you dinner or bento according to your daily training 

he always knows what to do when you’re sore and can’t move because of the pain, but won’t do much for you because he’s in the same state 

or he would be annoying and tells you things like “you should’ve stretch better”

comment whenever he thinks you played well or not 

will try to help you do your best 

you two do cardio together 

running date

for fem body people, he’s really cautious if you’re on your period and tells you to be careful + give you pain killer along with your lunch

not your first fan bc your friends are way too extreme but he comes just after them <3

Shidou + boxing

wants to do it with you 

he LOVES when you show him new things you’ve learn or teach him 

he’s really good and you already told him to try out more but he loves soccer too much 

it’s simply a good date idea to him

he’s screaming the loudest he can during competition 

pretend to be you trainer sometimes to mess around

your number 1 fan 

likes to play fight with you 

he’s really dramatic, if you win at some point he will just lift you in the air and take a few turns

he loves to do basic sportif stuff with you 

i’m not sure he’s that careful about his diet but if you are, he’ll listen to you and it can be an excuse to spend time with you 

he likes coming with you for groceries 

his fav protein shake are vanilla flavor 

You always have to put an end to the fight he starts it

But if you're violent enough he'll end up being clingy bc you're hot

Kurona + basketball

he tries to make it to all of your matches 

he seems like a big fan of basketball, i think he follows NBA play closely beside football

first hype boy man, you never fell down with him

and if you do, he’ll cheer you up like nobody else can, even your team mate 

he always here to give you advices if you need 

but he also loves to hear your point about his training and how he can get better

i feel like your better at building your training than him so he likes to do it with you 

he would love to play with you sometimes, outside when the weather is fine with it is the best 

he’s kinda insecure if some people came along and they’re better than him but thats still not his sport so it’s fine 

as long as you enjoy it the fullest he’s the happiest 

if you’re pro and you have to go aboard to play he’s sad ngl, he misses you a lot

tries to call you everyday 

he’s the happiest honestly, he just likes being able to talk about sport freely whithout sounding nerdy

[beenoeila]

A list of underrated fics I adore.

▪️this don’t feel anything like sinking by

@dontcallmebree

A little over six weeks and his knee heals only for his breathing to act up. It may have been a handful of decades—coming up on a century, even—but he never did forget how it felt to wheeze through the night.

Steve sees it coming when Dr. Youssef tells him his lungs are taking a turn.

The year 2032 brings about the Summer Olympics, the coldest winter of the decade, and an end to Project Rebirth.

🔹 Learning to want by @luna-rainbow

Bucky is still trying to piece together his memories, but at least he now had Steve with him.

When Steve asks him if he wanted to meet with his sister, Becca, his response was, "I don't know about wants...I'll start with the shoulds."

Steve and Bucky goes for lunch with Becca. Steve and Bucky dealing with memory loss. Steve and Bucky being mutually pining idiots.

▪️better to speak or die by emilywithoutY (@between-a-ship-and-a-hard-place)

Summers in C. are as endless and hazy as when they were kids. All James wants is to play his part well enough that his mother stops looking at him with that twist of regret in her smile.

The only thing to break the sun-soaked monotony is the arrival of the new summer intern. While the rest of the household—and half the village—fawn over Steve Roger’s movie star looks and understated charm, James finds him aloof and his polite interest near unbearable.

But as they collide in vulnerable moments, the sparks of frustration ignite something neither has the power to stop.

Do you think Jonathan understood what happened that day David first stepped into his father’s court?

🔹The weapon remembers by pushdragon

The Winter Soldier finds old fantasies of Steve in his memory, and takes them for reality.

He's got two days to sort out all his mixed-up history, before he puts himself back in cryo freeze. Harder still, he's got to convince Steve to let him do it.

▪️Preberseeschießen by Ginny_Potter (@hipsterdiva)

Bucky takes his time, ignoring his comrades’ cheering and Gaiswinkler and Mariandl’s teasing. From his position, Steve only has an oblique view of Bucky’s face, which is mostly in the dark anyway – the strong line of his jaw, a smudge of grease on his cheekbone, a sweaty lock of hair curling on his forehead, his mouth pouting in concentration. Steve itches to draw him, to take out his battered sketchbook and reproduce that instant of perfect imperfection. Steve itches to touch him, push back his unruly curls, wipe away the smudge on his cheekbone, cup his face in his hands and…

Bucky breathes out and shoots. The bullet hits water… and there it is, the zapping sound of paper tearing.

The light turns on and off three times. Third circle. Just a lick out of bullseye.

The Howlies explode in cheers.

Or, the Howling Commandos play a shooting game with the Austrian Resistance and Steve has lots of unresolved feelings about himself, his new body, and his changing relationship with Bucky. In other words, comrades are comrades, angst looms, and Steve feels.

🔹Till there were no more wolves in the West

by @dharmasharks

“I’m afraid of a lot of things, Steve,” Bucky says softly.

“But this thing sticking in my heart—the part of me that’s yours? It is the best part of me. Maybe the only good part.” His rueful smile wavers. He makes a pained expression.

“What if it’s the only good part?” he asks.

Two Brooklyn boys find themselves aboard an orphan train headed west in 1854. Across farmland, war, and the lawless frontier, a childhood promise helps them find each other again.

(A Western SteveBucky retelling.)

▪️Hiraeth by ixalit

Hiraeth

noun /ˈhɪraɨ̯θ/

[Welsh] A homesickness or nostalgia, an earnest longing or desire, or a sense of regret. The feeling of longing for a home that never was.

🔹Undone by justanotherStonyfan

You’d think, given everything, that if one of them were going to regress, that if one of them were going to break down, it would be Bucky.

(Set mostly after Endgame - canon deaths remain but Steve doesn't leave)

▪️But You Can Hold Me (Only 'Cause It's a Cold Night in Brooklyn) by Voylitscope_speed (@voylitscope)

This should just be two friends getting off after the burlesque show. This should just be two pals both thinking about the girl. That would probably be okay, Bucky thinks.

But then he ruins it all when he says,

"Come here," and puts a hand out to tug on Steve's shoulder.

(Or: Sometimes, Bucky and Steve lend each other a hand, literally. Bucky tries not to be weird about it, but he's always been bad at controlling his thoughts about Steve.)

🔹Midlife Crisis by profoundalpacakitten

Steve isn’t expecting much of anything from life, he’s content to coast by, letting life flow past. Get up, get dressed, get to work, get home, get to sleep, rinse and repeat.

▪️ The Magic Touch by @broodybuck

The soldier is finally free but he has one big problem, he can't finish. Until he meets a man called Steve who apparently has the magic touch.

[tizzyizzy]

Seen some talk around the interwebs about how Izzy is a totally different, or his arc happened too fast, whatever. He is my argument to the contrary.

There are three major factors driving the change in Izzy's behavior.

Default Pirate Culture → Gentleman Pirate Culture

Izzy spent his entire pirate career before Stede acting like, well, a pirate. There wasn't room for softness. Being tough was expected. Blackbeard's crew's culture in particular discouraged weakness to such an extent crew were expected to kill their pets before joining.

In S1, Izzy's relationship to the crews and captains was ambiguous. Was he training the Revenge crew to be proper pirates? Was he in charge when the captains weren't on board? Was Ed planning on killing Stede and everyone aboard, or not? So it's unsurprising Izzy held himself away from Stede's crew instead of becoming part of it, and tried without success to make the Revenge crew follow his lead.

In S2, Izzy ends up in Stede's crew, and Izzy isn't in a place emotionally or socially to try to push to change the culture of the ship. He's outnumbered. Izzy has to adapt. At the very least, all of the expectations he has been living up to his entire pirating career are gone.

Taking Care of Ed → No More Ed

Izzy said he'd been cleaning up Ed's messes his whole life. Scenes from S1 and S2 suggest that is the case. In S1, Izzy is dealing with Ed making strange choices on his search for meaning, which requires him to manage restless crew members and deal with the risky spots Ed puts them all in. Once Stede arrives on the scene, Ed is contradictory and non-communitive, leaving Izzy to wonder if the plan to kill Stede and the promised captaincy were bullshit (they were).

And because Izzy has no emotional intelligence, he thinks that Stede is seducing Ed into losing everything, and he desperately tries to pry the pair ppart.

I mean, we all know what happened in the early S2 episodes. Emotional, off-the-rails Ed trying to himself and everyone else while Izzy desperately tried to protect Ed and the crew, until he was forced to give up on Ed.

After breaking up with Ed via bullet, though, Ed is officially Not Izzy's Problem. Ed isn't a threat to the crew. Stede is incompetent, but was clever and brave enough to escape Zheng's ship and rescue them. Izzy is free to have a drunken breakdown. After, well, he gets to do whatever he wants.

What does Izzy want? Well, he's finding out.

No Trust → Trust

The major reason pirates put on such a tough facade is to protect themselves. Being tough keeps enemies from messing with you. It keeps your crew too afraid to mutiny. It's easy to recognize that Ed puts on a persona of Blackbeard, but Izzy put on a persona too. A weak link can be targeted and broken.

Just look at the scene where Izzy finally breaks down and is comforted by the crew. Izzy doesn't make the choice to be emotionally vulnerable. He is behaving the same way he always with crew who question his orders. He yells, he curses, he commands. It is only the level of his emotional distress and the crew's acknowledgement of it that make him incapable of hiding his pain.

I think it's safe to say that has been hiding grief, frustration, confusion, sadness, etc. behind the "Get back to work!" facade for years. It only crumbled under extreme pressure.

But when Izzy breaks, and is at his most pathetic and vulnerable, the crew have his back. Under Blackbeard, they comfort him, hide him away, and treat his injuries at the risk of the captain's wrath. Under Stede, when he's at his most pathetic, the crew make him a new leg and accept him into the crew without judgement.

There's almost nothing Izzy could do in front of the crew now that would make him look more weak than he was when he was crawling across the floor drunk and repeating "You're born alone, you die alone" over and over. He hit rock bottom and there was a pillow there to catch him.

So, Izzy is in the "talk it through" culture of Stede's Revenge. He is free from obsessing about Ed as a man and as a captain. He is surrounded by people who saw him at his worst and showed him compassion.

Izzy's worst behaviors in S1 were motivated by fear. Fear of the new, fear Ed was losing it, fear of what would happen if he showed weakness. In a "safe space", where he has nothing to worry about? Of course Izzy calms way down. This is the Izzy that swaggered up to Stede on the island and at Spanish Jackie's in S1. Dry, sarcastic, sassy. Some flair for the dramatic with the swordplay.

It is because Izzy feels so safe that he can put on that makeup and perform. Wee John is doing it, and Wee John wouldn't let him do anything embarrassing. He's clearly got confidence in his ability to sing.

He's still Izzy. He says fuck constantly. He's kind of a dick. He offers good advice. He's a dramatic, whether he's cutting his name into someone's shirt or singing in French from a balcony. He's just an Izzy that can be whatever he wants without fear.

[happy-beeeps]

Darling, I Would Do it Again

Pairing: Hunter x reader

Warnings: canon typical violence, injury, angst with a happy ending, language

Summary: After a mission goes south, Hunter risks it all to get you back.

Thanks @starboytech for the request! Birthday requests still open!❤️🥰���

Four walls, one floor, one metal slab you assume is a bed, one small chamber pot you’ve decided not to investigate.

One broken rib, three gashes, one puffy lip, one bruised ego.

You’ve been itemizing your surroundings, counting your affects, trying to keep some semblance of composure. It’s what you’d learned in med training, the effects of shock can be the sneakiest killer in a crisis. From the moment that Trandoshan had grabbed you, you’d been doing your best to keep yourself on the other side of a panic attack.

To say the mission had gone sideways would’ve been a colossal understatement. It was well and properly fucked. Truly FUBAR as Wrecker would say. What was supposed to be a simple grab and go of some cargo (and information) from a small collection of pirates had turned into the squad attempting to infiltrate a fully operational pirate base, who dabbled in trading and selling live cargo. CID’s intel had been dated at best, or designed for failure at worst. The last thing you remembered was pushing Omega towards Wreckers outstretched hands, as Hunter screamed, clamoring for you as the squad ran towards the exit they had blasted open. You were running, legs striding, until you felt a singe, then burning pain in your calf. The tranq was fast, your vision fading to black before you even knew what had hit you. 

That was, by your count, three rotations ago. The pirates had scarcely been by, only to throw food at your cell and offer vulgar remarks. From what you had gathered, you were the only live cargo aboard this section of the ship. There was no way of knowing where you were going, and no way of knowing what awaited you when you got there.

Honestly, you hoped Hunter and the rest of the batch had figured you a lost cause. You were vastly underprepared for any siege, and the danger these pirates posed to Omega made you sick. You had looked hell in the eyes before, and you’d do it again to keep them safe.

Hunter was, in Tech’s words, displaying the worst show of territorial protectiveness a clone had shown in his memory. In Echo’s words, he was kriffing irate. He hadn’t spoken since you were taken, instead pacing aimlessly through the hull of the Marauder, eyes glazed over, jaw tightened. Not even Omega had dared speak to him in this state, instead coloring pictures of their small family to give you when you returned. Tech had warned them that even with the tracker Wrecker had chucked onto the ship, they needed to be practical, but the look that flashed across Hunter’s eyes had softened the rest of the statement into a whisper. He was going to get you back, non debatable. Even as the ship blurred through hyperspace, tailing the ship to the best of their abilities, he had willed a thought to you. I’m coming for you cyar’ika.

One broken rib, one gash, two cuts, one broken heart.

You knew that even as the ship touched down, there was no way they were coming, you had hoped that even. Still, the thought that you’d never see them again, never lay in Hunter’s arms again, had you fighting back tears. A different pirate, a human man with a cybernetic eye that reminded you all too well of a clone you had befriended so many moons ago, had warned you that when they had completed inventory, you’d be taken to the highest bidder.

You hadn’t shown any crack of emotion the whole time, but wept the moment he left. It had all gone so wrong, so fast.

The ship rocked for a moment, a commotion coming from far down the hall.  You had seen large crates of merchandise when you had first snuck aboard, and figured something had merely snapped loose. It wasn’t until the telltale sounds of blaster fire that you had even begun to think about this hell coming to an end.

It was coming closer, moving towards you. The sounds of yelling and blaster fire and body after body hitting the floor. In a flash, the door was flung open, and you caught sight of the silhouette of Hunter, Echo, and Wrecker standing against the smoke and sparks in the air. 

Echo had moved to a panel near you, where you assumed the controls to the cells were held, and Wrecker stood near the door, ready for incoming threats. Echo had gotten the door opened in a mater of moments, and was now working on closing the main blast door to the detention area. Hunter had moved in immediately, taking one, two, three, big steps and closing the gap between you, careful to press you against his chest on the opposite side of your break.

“You came for me.” You wept, tears flooding from your eyes freely, “but Omega, the squad,”

“There is nothing in any system that could ever keep me from you, you understand? I would never stop looking for you, whoever had you would never know peace.” His words were rushed, angry, but his smoothing hands against your hair told you all you needed to know. Hunter was terrified, terrified that they’d have come all this way for you to already be gone, or worse, come to collect your corpse. You wanted to badly to rip off his helmet and kiss him, but given the circumstances, held back.

“This is cute and all, but we gotta move!” Wrecker’s voice came in loud as Echo managed to get the opposite blast door open. The four of you took off running, Hunter pressing against you as he cushioned any impact on your already aching body. It was working, you thought, whatever distraction Wrecker had planned and whatever interference Tech was running was working. You’d nearly made your way to the door Echo had opened, to what you assumed the rendezvous point was, when you were met with company. Most shots were met with a fast response from the batch, but a few were close for comfort. It was like deja vous, you were so close to freedom.

In a moment that had to have lasted no longer than four seconds, you heard Hunter turn around, before yelling “no!” And sidestepping in front of you.

The shot that landed in his chest would have hit you squarely, with no armor. You screamed his name, and Wrecker wasted no time picking up his downed brother, tossing him over his shoulder as if he was weightless. Echo slid into Hunter’s spot, urging you forward as you all moved to where the Marauder was waiting, engines already firing as Omega motioned you all foreword, eyes wide.

One shattered chest plate, one nasty bruise, two broken ribs. He was alive. He wasn’t wounded. You tried to repeat these truths to yourself as you worked on him on the tiny pull down stretcher the Marauder had. All your years as a med never made caring for those you loved any easier. You shakily applied bacta patches to the angry bruised spot on his chest, anxious to heal it before any internal bleeding caused irreparable damage. Tech is expertly piloting the ship away from danger, and last you saw Omega was tucked snuggle between Wrecker’s arms as he attempted to distract her from any negative thinking with Lula. Echo was up front with Tech, so it left you alone with Hunter.

You knew he’d pull through the second you removed the plastoid. Sure, his chest plate had been shot to smithereens, but it had done it’s job. Your own chest ached at the reality of how much danger you’d actually been in. How much danger he had risked just to bring you home. 

His wounds were patched, bacta slowly working its way through his body. All that was left to do was wait.

You weren’t sure how long had passed, the inhabitants of the Marauder had moved to a restful sleep while you were keeping a vigil for Hunter. He woke up with a shaking breath, eyes wide, hand shooting out to grip the side of the stretcher, your name breathing from his lips like a desperate prayer.

“Shh, I’m here, I’m here,” you crooned, leaping up from your chair and moving to stand next to him, hands running across his sweat-damp face and hair. Your own wounds had been patched in the meantime, and your sudden movement had made you wince, but it didn’t matter now that you had tangible proof he was okay.

“Couldn’t leave you, had to come back for you,” he breathed, his eyes settling as he locked with yours. He pushed up a bit, leaning against the metal wall of the ship while he focused on you. “I couldn’t live with myself knowing I was the reason you were hurt.”

“Hunter, with all my love, how do you think I’ve felt waiting for you to wake up?”

“I’d take a blaster shot for you for less, you know that,” he sighed, but offered you an apologetic smile. The two of you settled into silence for a beat, you simply tracing your fingers over his knuckles while he watched you, content to see you alive and in his arms.

“I’d do all of this again, you know. Wouldn’t change a thing.”

Your brows furrowed as you looked at him, “What do you mean?”

“You know, to end up with you, to have you with me,” he brought your hand to his face, lips pressing sweetly on each of your knuckles, “I’d go through any kind of hell just for, just for the chance to have you in my life. Every banthashit choice, I’d do it all for you ten more times, cyar'ika.”

You had no words at first, just leaned over to him and tried to channel all of your possible love into a kiss along his hairline. The words came to you, slowly, and you murmured back, “I’d have them put me back in it. All for you.”

[probablyspooky]

One of Us (Alien VS Predator Celtic x Fem! Reader)

Born as if you were a yautja yourself, you join your pack to go on your right of passage trip. But running into other humans always causes problems for you.

Trigger warnings : Blood, swearing, white men of course, British people

The clashing of metal on metal echoed throughout the stone walls you called home, the dry humid head of yautja prime beating down on your skin as you dragged in a crate of whatever into the home. Placing the heavy box onto a small table in the center of the room, a loud crash could be heard, followed by a roar, then two roars, and then finally three roars. You pinched the bridge of your nose and walked down the long hallway to the training area out back. Opening the large door you were greeted with three brothers wrestling one another in anger. The smallest Scar, was grabbing his brother Chopper, trying to get him off balance, as their oldest brother Celtic was holding Scar by the leg and Chopper by the arm trying to separate the two. Spit and growls filled your ears as they continued to try and fight one another.

You coughed trying to get their attention, when that didn’t work, you did it again, louder, making all three brothers freeze during their little scuffle. Celtic dropped both his brothers and walked over to you, draping an arm around your waist.

Despite your origins, and your small stature, Celtic found comfort within you as his mate. You’ve proved your strength through combat strategy, and combat intelligence. His gentle purrs emanated from his chest as he greeted you softly, a bit embarrassed that you got to see his two brothers fighting like that.

“Hello my love,” Celtic purred, placing his chin to your head, “What goes on today?”

You placed a comforting hand onto his arm and looked up at him, typically he would be wearing his combat mask, but today his face was free, you weren’t complaining as you loved him as much as a human could love a creature as marvelous as he.

“A package came,” you told him, looking at the other two brothers who were aggravated by their previous scuffle.

“A package?”asked Chopper, tilting his head towards Celtic and yourself, “Who was it from?”

You rolled your eyes,”You know I can’t read”

“Yeah fool,” Wolf mumbled under his breath, antagonizing his older brother.

Chopper grabbed Wolf into a headlock and the two began scrapping again in the courtyard, Celtic growled lowly, and took your hand, leading you back into the home the four of you shared. The two of you walked into the main area, and he took a look at the wooden crate that was sitting upon the table, reading the label himself.

“What does it say?” you questioned, tilting your head at your mate.

Celtic excitedly picked up the crate and ripped the wooden lid off like it was nothing.

“It is a message from the Elders! We can go on our right of passage soon!”, he clicked excitedly, mandibles stretching out and retracting.

“Does…does it say..?”

“Yes my small one, you are invited as well!”, he clicked, putting the box down, strolling over to you and lifting you into the air in joy.

Now here you were, aboard a ship floating in orbit of Earth, the planet where your ancestors came from, but it was not your home.

The three brothers were adorned in their finest armor, excited for the trip, the crate that had been delivered contained the plasmacaster holders that clipped into their armor, along with a smaller set of traditional yautja armor, armor that now clutched your body tightly for your protection.

“I must say sister,” Chopper started, coming over to the viewing deck, “You look very good in that armor, if Celtic wasn’t my brother, I surely would battle him for your hand”

If only Chopper was a bit more observant, he would notice Celtic standing behind him, the oldest brother was very protective of you, he grabbed his brother's dreads, causing Chopper to yelp in pain.

“My ooman, brother is not a prize to be won,” he growled, throwing his brother onto the ground.

Chopper growled and walked off, possibly to go annoy the youngest brother. Once the sliding door shut behind him, Celtic turned his attention to you.

“Are you nervous?”, he asked, taking your small hand into his

“A bit, I am excited to prove myself again,” you smiled up at him, leaning your head onto his broad shoulder.

“I believe you will be victorious in our mission today, the Elders would not have allowed you to accompany us if they did not have faith in you.”

“Thank you my love,”

“Anything for you”

You could hear the purring coming from his chest, as your wrist gauntlets began to buzz, signaling you to head to the drop pods for deployment.

Walking through the metal halls, and eventually to the loading bay, the four of you entered thin tubes of metal, and soon feeling the pressure drop, you were shot out of the mothership to Earth. Holding onto the sides as the pod shook, and eventually being jolted a bit as the pod crashed into the icey Earth. The pod’s hologram began talking saying the doors were now opened and to hurry and make your clan proud, yet your door never opened. Sighing, you took your boot and began to kick the door out from the inside out, with a couple of good kicks the door dislodged and you were greeted by your mate and his brothers, just standing around your pod watching.

“You could’ve helped,” you groaned, stepping out onto the ice.

“Yeah, but that would be no fun,” Chopper chuckled, turning to the large ice tunnel that led to the temple.

Celtic explained that some other humans were lured here when the Elders began to heat up the temple, forcing the queen to produce facehuggers for them to eventually hunt the xenomorph that would eventually form from that.

Chopper excitedly, pulled out his wrist blades and jumped down the hole to the temple entrance. Scar growling and following his brother, leaving Celtic and you.

“Do you want me to carry you?” he asked, putting his hand out to you.

“In your dreams,” you smirked under your mask, jumping down the hole after them.

“I want you to sire my young,” Celtic grunted, jumping lastly down the hole.

At the end of the tunnel, it seemed there was a small crew at the base of the temple, using your cloaking devices the four of you slowly walked through the camp, trying your hardest not to bring any attention to yourselves. Of course though, a person had to look a bit too hard at the moving figures that seemed to move through nothing. 

A man drew his weapon and began firing at you, the smallest target, it dinked off your armor, and of course your mate did not like that one bit.

Celtic let out a battle cry as he charged his massive frame towards the man, kicking him down with little to no effort. You sighed as the rest of the team began firing at your mate, the two others decloaked along with you and began attacking the humans. Grabbing your spear weapon, you charged at a human man, piercing him through his jaw, and swinging him towards his friends. Running and placing your now retracted spear between their two heads, and then releasing it, stabbing the two in the head at the same time.

Eventually the carnage of the three brothers and yourself left no crew members alive on the above surface. Celtic walked over to you.

“Are you hurt?”

“I can handle myself love,” you groaned

He nodded, knowing he would have to put aside his protective nature towards you while you were on this mission.

The four of you made your way to the main chambers, where the plasma casters should be. But no plasma casters were there. Chopper and Scar began to howl with anger, where could they be? Before any words can be spoken, the temple begins to shift, and three paths open in front of you. With a nod, the mission was clear, Scar and Chopper into their own path, and Celtic and you down your own. You bid them a farewell, possibly the last time you would see them, and Celtic and you made your way down your own path.

Despite having separate paths, you did eventually find Chopper, and he was stalking.

Celtic clicked at his brother, “What is it?”

Chopper pointed at a group of people, and you crouched down to get a better look at them. Using your head vision that was in your mask, you listened to them speak.

Celtic nudged you, pointing to a woman in an orange coat, zooming in you could see one plasma caster in her bag.

Chopper angrily cloaked and jumped down. One human with a gun pointed towards him as he fired a retracting net at him. The man fell back, as the spear the net came from began to retract, the wire pulling deep into the man’s flesh. Celtic and you jumped down as well, another man turned to face you.

“You’re small?”, he looked genuinely confused, as you ran up with your wrist blade drawn and punctured him through his gun, he in his last breaths hit you across the face, knocking your mask off.

The woman who was panicking trying to get the man out of the retracting net, turned to face you.

“You’re a woman?,” she shouted.

You had an annoyed look on your face as you walked over to them trying to help their friend from the net, his cries were annoying, pulling out your spear, you looked her dead in the eyes.

“We are of the same species, but we are not the same blood,” you stated, piercing the man in the chest, killing him and stopping his cries.

The woman yells at you killing her friend, she charges as you, you weren’t sure why she would even try, as it was clear you were of a different class. Using her momentum against her, you lifted her and tossed her into the center of the room.

She stupidly started reaching for a pickaxe to attack you with, but Chopper ran over and de-cloaked, kicking the woman across the room. He soon raised his wrist blades over his head to strike her down and to retrieve the plasma caster from her bag. But the sickening sight of the pitch black tail of a xenomorph began to coil behind him. It reeled back to strike, but you ran over, wrist blade out and cut the sharp tip from the beast, it’s acid blood spraying on your skin causing you to yell out in pain as your skin fizzled away.

Celtic, who was handling a human man, throws the man to the ground at the sound of your screams. He rushes over, grabbing the tail of the xenomorph, pulling it down. It began to frail crazily as it struggled against Celtics grasp. Chopper, regaining his balance, grabbed your spear and pierced it though the head, causing the spear to melt away from its blood. Killing the beast instantly. Chopper let out a roar of victory as he was now a blooded yautja, Celtic rushed over to you and pulled your hands away from your face to look at your wounds. Reaching for his belt and pulling out some healing goop, goo? Cum? Healing herbs???? I DONT KNOW

And applied it gently to the fresh scar that now went from the side of your face to your lower cheek.

“Is it ugly?” you asked, feeling the cool ointment being applied.

“The scars of a warrior are the most attractive” he replied, helping you to your feet.

“What the hell is going on!”, the woman shouted at the three of you.

Chopper growled walking over, he was now marked with the symbol of a blooded yautja.

You walked over across the room, past the woman, past the dead man and picked up your mask. Returning to your pack, you placed the mask back onto your face, and one by one the three of you cloaked and ran away into the temple to find Scar.

The three of you found Scar holding the rather old man at the temple stairs. Using your mask you could notice this man was diseased and would probably die within a year or so, so of course Scar tossed him aside as it was not a worthy kill. Not noticing you, Scar began to walk away from the man.

Why are humans so stupid, you watched as this weak man pulled out a flare, and sprayed fire onto Scars back, how pathetic. You watched as your brother turned around and stabbed the man through the gut, killing him and walking away.

Following close behind you watched Scar throwing a shuriken through a closing gate.

“What’s up?”, you asked him, walking with the other two.

“Humans, they’re on the other side of the wall”, Scar grumbled, turning his attention to his sister.

You began to think for a bit on how to get there, not noticing Celtic grabbing a face hugger who was jumping towards the back of your head, throwing it down and stomping on it.

“If we travel through the back ways we can reach them on the other side.” you stated, pulling your gauntlet hologram up to show them the path you wish to take.

“Whatever you say my sister,” Scar and Chopped nodded, cloaking and following Celtic and you.

After a bit of traveling through the tunnels you found yourself in a  dark tunnel, the sound of footsteps echoing off the halls. The three brothers moved to the side so that you could face the human woman.

The woman in the orange coat ran down the hall and stopped in fear when she saw you.

“Wait!”, she pleaded, her hands out in fear, she knelt down, and opened her pack, pulling the plasma caster out. The three brothers tilted their heads at the sight of it.

“Kick it over.” you demanded

She kicked it over and you picked it up in your hands.

“Where are the other ones?” you asked, handing it off to Chopper.

“They…we got separated…” she whimpered, putting her hands above her head in fear.

“Where are they?”, you knelt down pulling your wrist blades out and forcing her to look at your mask.

“I’m not sure! Please, one of those things is coming!” she cried, turning in fear as a xenomorph tried to run up behind her, Chopper, now equipped with his plasma caster fired a single shot, killing the beast.

One by one the three brothers de-cloaked, standing behind you.

“What are you…How did you…” she stammered

“Name?”, you asked, tilting your head at the woman.

“Lex…” she replied, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone right now. “You are weak.”, you spat, standing up to leave, the brothers had already begun walking.

Lex didn’t want to be left alone, in this place, with those things, she ran up and grabbed your arm. Celtic let out a roar as he ran up and put a blade to her neck.

“Let go.” you growled, shaking her hand off, “What do you want, human?”

“Uhm, last time I checked you’re human too…I think..”, Lex replied, sheepishly

“That is true,” you stated, tilting your head at her as you stepped close, “What do you want?”

“Take me with you”

You laughed at her request.

“And why should we let you come with us?”

“I’ve seen your search history”

“I can help you find the other…guns?” she stammered, the cold blade still on her neck.

You sighed, and waved your mate off.

“Very well, but if you try anything, my mate will dispose of you”, you added, walking away.

Lex began to take a step and stopped.

“Mate? This thing is your husband?” she sounded shocked.

You groaned at how close minded she was being. This trip wasn’t going how you’d hoped.

After answering a million awful questions about your personal life to Lex, the group came upon the sacrificial chamber.

“How do you feel about your people being used as hosts for these things you hunt?” Lex asked, her voice clearly full of anger towards the Yautja kind.

“Those who give their bodies up for the tradition of blooding are remembered well for their sacrifice. We honor them.”

Walking into the chamber, it was covered in the webbing of face hugger eggs constantly reproducing. Chopper and Scar began to walk around to investigate the bodies, while Celtic began to scan the temple to see how many of these creatures had been created. Lex and you began to walk the walls, looking for any signs of life.

“Disgusting,” you grumbled, feeling the wet under your boot.

“What’s disgusting is what you’re doing”, Lex sneered

You turned to her in anger, drawing your blade you came close to Lex.

“I am only keeping you alive as an act of mercy, I will revoke it at any time.

Lex stammered, her eyes darting back and forth from your face to the blade.

“I’m-”

But then a cry echoed through the chamber, as a man who was fused to the wall began to groan in agony and pain.

[sauronsgirl]

Wanting You

Tangerine x F!Reader

Warning: smut 18+

This is a really bad idea. And a stupid one. Stealing the case from the Twins. But you have no choice. They have your boyfriend; who doesn't know that you're an assassin. You have twenty four hours to steal it on the train then get off at Nagoya. Once you're there, someone will be waiting for you.

You’ve known the Twins for years, you've worked with them a couple of times. Lemon is a deadly sweetheart and Tangerine is hard, strict. But extremely hot. You always had a thing for him, but he doesn't know. It was during a mission with them that you've met your boyfriend. A charming civil man, who works as a Real estate agent.

You are dating for a year now and you're happy. You have a few contracts but you manage to hide them from him. The man really loves you and would freak out it he finds out your real job. Well that was before he was kidnapped. They must have told him by now. Your boyfriend didn't deserve what is happening so you will retrieve the case, save him then once he is safe you will go. Your relationship will not be the same.

You climb aboard the train, being careful to not be seen by the Twins. You wait for the train to leave then go search for the case. You saw where they are sitted so it’s easy to stay out of view. You start by the luggage wagon. After a minute you find it and raise an eyebrow. It has to be Lemon who hide the case because it was too easy to find.

You take the case and go sit in the first class wagon. Now you have to wait three more stations while not being caught by the Twins. They would never forgive you for messing up their mission. Because it’s the reason why they’re on this train. You did your research on your way.

It all goes well until one station before Nagoya. Tangerine enters the wagon you’re in, swearing profusely.Shit. They had notice the missing case and clearly he is looking for it. He absolutely must not see you. You turn your head against the window with your hair down, hiding your face and pretending to be asleep as he walks down the aisle. You hear him talk to a girl before he’s leaving the wagon frustrated.

You relax a bit. It was a close call. When you reach Nagoya, you get up your seat and leave the wagon to exit the train. As you’re about to exit, a strong suited arm pulls you back inside. You curse and turn to escape the man, only for your eyes to widen in panic as you see it's Tangerine. Fuck.

-Hello love. I'm sorry to hold you back but it seems you have something that belongs to me. Just give it back and you can go to wherever the fuck you are going. says Tangerine firmly.

He really doesn't want to hurt you. It shows in his eyes and tone.

Any other day you would have obey but not now. You don’t have the time, so you kick him between his legs. He let's you go with a groan of pain. You manage just in time to jump on the train. You mouth a “sorry ” before turning away as the train leave.

You receive a text saying that a man is waiting for you at the exit of the station and to follow him. So that’s what you did and two hours later, the deal is done and you’re on your way back to the hotel with your boyfriend who’s unharmed but terribly quiet. And you can’t blame him. Once you are back into your hotel room, it’s when your boyfriend speaks.

-So who are you really? he says coldly.

You flinch at his tone but chose to tell him the truth.

-My name is real. The only thing I’ve lied about is my job. I’m a professional assassin. I don’t only do kills, I steal importants things, spy in people… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m happy with you and didn’t want you to know about this dark side of me. I love you. you say full of regrets.

-Do you really? You’re a killer, a thief, a liar. And not to mention the fact that you dream about another man. Are you cheating on me too?

You don’t say anything. He has the right to be angry. Although you didn’t think he would discover your attraction for another man…

-You don’t even say anything. You know what? We’re done. I don’t want to ever see you again. I don’t need a murderer in my life. I won’t tell the police about you. Consider this a parting gift. he says looking at you coldly before leaving.

You stare at the door for a minute before turning and sit on the bed. You don’t know how you feel. On one hand you’re sad that your relationship has ended this way and on the other one you’re relieved. You liked him very much but you were tired to live in a lie. At least now nothing will ever happen to him again.

You spend the next couple of days in Nagoya, looking for a safe place to live, since you were living with your ex. With the amount of money that you have, it wasn’t hard to find something. A small villa in France, in a little and peaceful villagw. Perfect to lay low, exactly what you intend to do. For a while at least. Then maybe you’ll get some contracts again.

A week later and you are in your new home. It’s luxurious but not too much. The best thing about this place is that you have a private beach that leads to a beautiful lake. You put on a revealing navy blue bikini, take sunscreen, a towel then go outside to lay on a day bed to enjoy the sun.

An hour later, your eyes are closed. You feel the mattress sinks next to you so you open your eyes and gasp as you see Tangerine smirking at you. You sit up quickly and look at him shocked. You thought you were careful and didn’t leave any traces. Also, he is not wearing his usual suit. Instead he wears dark blue shorts with a white t-shirt that fits him really well.

-What the fuck? How did you find me and why are you here? you finally manage to say.

-It wasn’t easy. Had to bribe a few people and looked into your hotel room. We found a picture of France then eliminate all the place possible until this one. As for why I’m here, it’s because I have missed you and wanted to tell you that I forgive you for the briefcase. Our mission was already a mess anyway. says Tangerine.

-Oh Tan…I’ve missed you too and I’m still sorry. you say with a small sad smile.

-It’s alright love. Now where’s that boyfriend of yours?

-Gone. He broke up with me two weeks ago and I think it’s for the better. Our lives weren’t compatible anymore. you answer.

-Good so he won’t be there to stop me from doing this.

You don’t have time to ask what he means because Tangerine brings his mouth to yours. You kiss him back without hesitation. It’s better than all of your dreams. One thing leading to another, you soon find yourself naked on top of him, riding him slowly but passionately. Tangerine has his arms around your waist, holding you close to him. You breathe heavily against each other’s mouths. It feels so good and intimate, even if you are outside.

-That’s it love. Ride me nice and slow. Fuck your cunt is perfect… moans Tangerine.

-Your cock is so big… It’s so deep… you reply sighing with pleasure.

He groans at your dirty words then starts thrusting his hips up matching the pace you had settled. You moan in pleasure, throwing your head back. No one can see or hear you, it’s a private property. So you don’t hold back your noises. Tangerine can feel your orgasm approaching so he rolls you onto your back and moves hard and fast.

You grips his shoulders and wrap your legs around his waist, your breasts bouncing with the strenght of his thrusts. Tangerine takes one of your nipple in his mouth, suck on it and you come with a shout of his name. Your pussy clench hard around him and it triggers his release. Tangerine comes inside of you with a groan and the sound is so hot you think you could come again.

He holds himself above you with one hand, trying to catch his breath. You are a mess, face red and all sweaty but completely satisfied. Tangerine smiles, then kisses you sweetly before pulling out and laying at your side. You cuddle against him, not caring about your mixed releases between your legs for now.

-That was incredible. The best sex I’ve ever had. I’ve missed you so much Tan. you say smiling.

-It was the best for me too love and I’ve missed you too. he replies smiling.

-What now? Do you want to say or you’re going to leave? And what about Lemon? Where is he by the way?

Tangerine chuckles and you blush. You really don’t want him to leave.

-You ask a lot of questions for someone who’s just been fucked. Don’t worry I’m not going anywhere. As for my brother, he is at a hotel outside of this village. I’ve asked him to stay behind because I wanted to talk to you alone. I will call him later. For now, I really love to be alone with you. says Tangerine while playing with your hair.

You smile relieved and move to kiss him tenderly. God you love this man. But you will not tell him yet. Tangerine hold your head in plage as he kisses you back. You whimper as you feel him hard again.

-Do you want to go inside? We could make real use of my new furnitures… you ask smirking.

-With pleasure darling. he replies smirking as he picks you up making you laugh at his eagerness.

For the rest of the day and night, you had sex on every surface and furnitures inside your house. The next morning you are sore and hungry, but it definitively worth it. You are finally with the man you’ve wanted for years.

Another fic about Tangerine :) love him so much ❤️

Tags: @tangerineboss @pretty-little-mind33

[nahoney22]

Hey! Hope you’re doing alright and hydrated ❤️ I have a request if possible…I’m a sucker for angst so was thinking how would any of the batch (your choice) would react dying in the way Aunt May died in Spider-Man NWH…like she was right for a second and then it just happened.

It’s ok if you don’t feel comfortable about it, Ty!

No Way Home - Readers Death

All Bad Batch Boys X GN!Reader

As the request says, boys reacting to your death like Aunt May’s in NWH

warnings: mentions of death of reader, swearing, blood, denial, major injury but not in detail, suuuuper angsty. ALL ABOARD THE ANGST TRAIN 🚂

authors note: very sorry for the delay nonny 💜

Echo

"That was a close call, too close," Echo breathes out, his voice laced with relief as he finds himself amidst the wreckage. You had just rescued him, albeit recklessly, but the danger had finally passed, and it was time to return back to the Marauder. What a mess.

"Tell me about it," you reply, forcing a short laugh despite the heaviness in your chest. As you approach Echo, you grow confused as his widened eyes catch your attention, as if he had witnessed something utterly horrifying. "Are you alright, Echo?"

He hesitates for a brief moment before rushing over to you, swiftly offering support as you suddenly collapse onto your knees. "Take it easy, cyare," he urges, his concern palpable. Confusion washes over you at the intensity of his worry.

"I'm fine, really. Just... need a moment to catch my breath, that's all."

Echo’s hand that was on your back comes forward and both of your hearts thunder at his crimson stained blood. “Is that yours?” You whisper, looking at his hand and tune up at him. But, his face said everything.

“We need to get you back to the Havoc. Now.” He had lost so much already, he couldn’t lose you.

“I’m fine Echo. I just need a second.” But your words were slow, laced with tiredness as your body starts to shut down. “Just a second.”

How many more seconds were you willing to give?

“I’m fine…. Aren’t I?” Your head tilts to the side as you look up at him, his eyes flooding with tears.

“Yes,” he rasps but his voice didn’t carry the strength of truth. “You’re going to be fine.”

“Just a few more seconds.”

And that’s all you could give him. He wanted a forever.

Hunter

Hunter caught a whiff of it before he saw it. At first glance, you appeared relatively unscathed, just a bit battered from the recent attack. As always, you mustered the strength to stand up and push forward. But the scent of blood hung in the air.

However, the moment you took a step forward, you stumbled, only to be caught by Hunter. "Tech, I need an immediate extraction. Track my location. Now," he urgently commanded, his words filled with anguish, leaving you perplexed.

"Why the extraction? I simply tripped, silly," you chuckled softly, your nose nuzzling against his—a familiar gesture between the two of you. But as you attempted to sit up, your body betrayed you, and you remained rooted to the ground. His gentle pressure on your side triggered a wave of panic. "Hunter, am I injured?"

"Yes," he replied softly, "but don't worry. Tech and the others will be here soon, okay? Just hold on."

"Why are you telling me to hold on? I'm fine. I feel fine!" you protested, emotions rushing over you, followed by a fit of coughing that caused you to cry out in a pained sob.

"Take it easy, my love, take it easy. You're going to be alright. I won't let you slip away. Never," he assured, his words filled with desperation.

Sadly, even his words couldn't save you.

He cradled you in his arms for what felt like hours, feeling helpless, lost, and consumed by anger. "Please, wake up," he whispered, gently stroking your cheek, his tears falling onto your skin. "Wake up."

Wrecker

"Are you alright, babe?" Wrecker rushes over to your side, forcefully kicking away the heavy debris that had engulfed both of you during the chaotic mission. It was just the two of you, both bewildered about what went wrong when the onslaught of rubble descended upon you.

Coughing, you nod while dusting off your eyes. "Y-yeah, I'm okay," you groan, joining Wrecker in removing the rubble that trapped your body. He assists you in standing, his arm wrapped around your waist as the two of you make your way towards the exit. But he abruptly halts as something warm trickles onto his glove.

Slowly, he withdraws his hand from you, desperately hoping it isn't what he fears. Unfortunately, it confirms his dread. "You, uh, you're bleeding quite a bit," he immediately informs you, flustered, as you stop and look at him, noticing the blood staining his glove.

"Oh," you manage to utter, but in that split second, you collapse to the ground. You believed you were fine, or at least you thought so, but witnessing the consequences of the mission on your own body triggers sudden pain.

"Fuck, are you okay?" Wrecker drops to his knees beside you, but it's too late. Just like that, you're gone.

"Baby?" he whispers, gently nudging your shoulder and placing his large hand over your cheek. "Hey, come on now. We have to keep going."

He's in denial. You can't be gone. It's simply inconceivable. The others hear him when he comms them, begging and crying and screaming your name. You left his life just as quickly as you fell into it.

Tech

With adrenaline still coursing through your veins after the attack, you and Tech find yourselves surrounded by rubble and debris. Despite the chaos, you can't help but chuckle at the mess when you meet up beside Tech. "Well, that was quite an eventful ride, huh?"

"Yes, but it shouldn't have happened. I'm uncertain about what went wrong," Tech muses, resting his chin on his hand in deep contemplation. However, you reassure him with a kiss on the cheek, conveying that worrying about it can wait and that it's best for both of you to make a quick exit.

But as you continue walking, a sudden surge of pain radiates from your stomach, causing you to clutch it tightly before collapsing to your knees with a thud. "Tech, I don't feel well," you manage to utter through the discomfort.

His face instantly fills with concern as he swiftly approaches you, crouching down to your level. "Let me quickly check your vital signs and see if we missed any injuries."

Tech retrieves his scanner and begins assessing you, but his heart feels like it's about to burst out of his chest, as if it's being stomped upon, when he sees the results. Your minds are hazy, too clouded to fully comprehend the situation, as he urgently speaks into his comm, likely calling for assistance.

His hands gently grasp your shoulders, guiding your head to face him, even though you struggle to rely on reading his lips. Yet, there's an undeniable sense of concern in his eyes.

"Tech, what's happening?" you whisper, your voice filled with both pain and confusion. Your eyelids grow heavy as an overwhelming wave of drowsiness begins to wash over you.

"You're injured. Quite severely, I'm afraid," he responds candidly, wrapping his arms around you as you nestle into his side. He does everything within his power to prevent any further damage from occurring.

"It's not that bad," you mutter, your head lolling against his shoulder. "I'm just a little sleepy. I need a moment or two."

"No," he shakes his head adamantly, his voice filled with urgency. "No, you must stay awake, my love. Okay?"

As your eyes close, you release a deep exhale. "Just a few minutes, okay? You can wake me up soon."

Tech's heartache intensifies as he witnesses the person he loves slipping away right in front of him. His lower lip quivers, his mind desperately searching for solutions, for any brilliant ideas that might help, but nothing seems to work. "Stay awake, my love. List all the stars, moons, and planets for me, like I taught you. You have to stay awake," he implores, his voice filled with desperation.

"I can't," you sigh dismissively, leaning into his chest. "I'm so tired."

"Please... please, don't leave me.”

Crosshair

"Why are you looking at me like that? Stop looking at me like that!" you exclaim, feeling uneasy under Crosshair's intense gaze. The mission had concluded, and you were both making your way out when he abruptly halted, fixated on your movements, as if witnessing a lifetime's worth of memories in an instant.

Confusion etches your face as you turn to him, repeating his name, but he remains motionless. It takes a shout from you to finally elicit a response.

"You're bleeding," he states firmly, dropping his rifle and stepping closer to you, causing your brows to furrow. You instinctively touch your head, finding a small trickle of blood.

"Well, of course I'm bleeding. A building just collapsed on us. It's just a scratch-" you begin, but he cuts you off.

"No," he interrupts, his tone resolute as he positions himself directly in front of you. He raises his wrist and speaks into his comm, urgently requesting an emergency evacuation.

"Crosshair, baby, I'm fine!" you protest, tugging on his wrist, urging him to keep moving. However, he remains steadfast, unmoving. Instead, a sudden wave of excruciating pain seizes you, causing you to cry out and clutch your side.

As you pull your hand back, your eyes widen in shock at the sight of crimson staining your palm. "W-what?"

Before you have a chance to collapse, Crosshair catches you in his arms. "Shh, it's okay. I've got you. The others are on their way."

"Crosshair, w-what happened? What's going on?" you panic, squirming in his grasp, only intensifying the pain.

The Marksman rarely experienced panic, but watching you in this state was unbearable. He felt utterly helpless, unable to do much except apply pressure to the bleeding wound. "Stay calm. It... it will be okay," he says, his voice wavering as he tries to reassure both you and himself.

"When can we go home?" you whisper, breaking the long, painful silence that had settled between you. He can't find the right words to say, so he simply holds you tightly, knowing that you're in shock and asking questions that may not make complete sense.

"Soon," he replies, his voice stiff, his lips lightly brushing against your forehead as he closes his eyes, feeling his heart shatter within him. "We'll go home soon."

Crosshair was never quite the same after you left for home.

masterlist

tags: @nunanuggets @andyoufollowyourheart @littlefeatherr @kaitou2417 @eyecandyeoz @captxin-rex @cwarssimp @jesseeka @ashotofspotchka @oohyesplease @megafrost4 @theroguesully @mustluvecho @ladykatakuri @jambolska-grozdova @arctrooper69 @padawancat97 @rain-on-kamino @either-madness-or-brilliance @staycalmandhugaclone @ko-neko-san @echos-girlfriend @fiveshelmet @dangraccoon @plushymiku-blog @chrissywakingup @kixs-husband @pb-jellybeans @tech-aficionado @grizabellasolo @therealnekomari @tech-depression-inventory y @brynhildrmimi @greaser-wolf @tinyreadersmur @agenteliix @kaminocasey @marvel-starwars-nerd @ladytano420 @imalovernotahater @s1st3r @by-the-primes @the-bad-batch-baroness @crystal076 @blustalker @the-good-shittt

[sugarpasteltmnt]

First of all, I gotta say that I absolutely LOVE your fic. I read the first chapter and just... didn't stop reading lol. It was so compelling and the way you describe emotions and depict Leo's mental state is so good!!!! I can't get enough of it. I love how you write his manic thought process and the way that his thoughts jump around in a very 'word association' type way! (That's super accurate to manic episodes!) I also really like the way that his awareness ebbs and flows and how you are able to indicate that to the reader while also maintaining the narrative. For real, kudos to you, that's a super difficult thing to do and you've pulled it off so well! It's absolutely stunning!

Question (and feel free not to answer if this is a spoiler or if you aren't sure), did Leo age in the Prison Dimension? Cause obviously the five years was FIVE YEARS, he didn't just time skip or anything, and he's definitely five years older mentally (for better or for worse, poor guy) but if the Prison Dimension essentially 'stops' bodily functions like hunger, thirst, exhaustion and.. dying, was his aging paused as well?

I'm low-key dying over the idea of Leo still being a kid physically. Like, the mental image of his brothers coming face-to-face with a visibly teenaged Leo who is more scar tissue than skin, it's just, ugghhgg. It's one thing to know 'oh he was a kid, he shouldn't have had to deal with this. He shouldn't have had to have been in that position, this is all so fucked up' but it's another thing entirely to see it, y'know?

Anyway, again feel free to ignore the question if it's spoiler territory or completely off the mark or if you don't have the spoons to answer. I mainly just wanted to say that I'm obsessed with your fic and it has me completely unhinged (pos). Was literally sobbing at 3AM while reading it. 10/10. Would recommend.

(also how the fuck do you write Leo so scary and threatening and yet also so adorable and charming and 'wet meow-meow stuck in the rain'. I'm frothing at the mouth wtf. The whiplash of being all 'oh no he's gonna kill- oh he's purring now, he's baby' is so fantastic holy shit)

THANK YOU THAT'S SO NICE WAAAAAAH 😭😭😭 i'm so glad people seem to enjoy it because i can always go a little TOO in depth at times and i hope it's never like, too boring or repetitious

and yes, Leo did age!! while the idea of Leo being a time capsule of his teenage self but now so warped is DELICIOUS... I love the idea he aged for several reasons. It was one (or maybe the only) way Leo knew time was passing for him-- which adds to the mental strain of knowing he was stuck there. Forever. And the emotional damage it would inflict on his family because it makes it just more transparent and painful how much time had passed. How long they left Leo there. As well as prove the point that time in the Prison Dimension passed at the same rate as it did on Earth.

Plus, I feel like there's another, dark, angsty edge to it that I couldn't resist. I feel like when the Prison Dimension was made, the primary goal was to trap the Krang for eternity. Whether intentional or not, the Mystic Warriors had practically made a place you could age. Where you can get hungry. Where you can get thirsty. Where you have to face all those painful needs of the body you just can't satisfy... But you just couldn't escape it. Ever.

That might make it a bit TOO dark to think about, but ultimately I just loved the idea of the brothers seeing Leo older like them and knowing that they had left him behind for so long. (toot-toot all aboard the angst train)

but omg i'm so glad you like it 😭 thank you for the ask it was super sweet 🩵

also

My Brother in Christ Pizza Supreme I wish i knew

[strobbylemonade]

what the fuck was up with that huh???? warp express spoilers yada yada

i literally screamed when the reveal happened because OHHH MY GOOOOOOOODDDDDDDD WHAT THE HELL i wish i wish i WISH WE GOT VOICE ACTING FOR IT!!! ARHGHHHH.

"in all absorbing darkness, voice is our only light" what a cool metaphor. how fascinating that dante has no voice... but they have light...

i feel like not enough people are covering the fact that the blast was strong enough to blow faust to pieces. also dante very rarely comments on the pain of bringing people back now... i wonder if they're getting desensitised to pain? or blocking it out of their memories?

do you think dante had to do up her laces. like covered in blood and gore and pieces of faust and so so tired from reviving the sinners, they had to take just two minutes alone to do up don quixote’s laces

DON QUIXOTE'S CANTO IS 2 MONTHS AWAY I CANT DO THIS MAN I CANT WAIT THAT LONG

i talked about this with my friend but it's entirely possible that vergilius was hired almost soley to deal with don quixote, because his EGO allows him to become one with pools of blood and she's made to forever spill blood. i really hope we get to see their dynamic expanded upon

do you think its possible that she was so fast to suggest the idea of the sinners staying aboard the train for a thousand years because she'd lived for that long before.

i wonder if she'll sing her Pass On in her regular Don Quixote voice or her more... natural? bloodfiend voice.

its sort of strange to know that faust and vergilius are in the same boat as dante is (dante has to listen to vergilius, who has to listen to faust, who has to listen to the Gesellschaft). since the three of them are deemed as sort of a 'higher management' collectively, and dante is being let in on more secrets, i wonder if some sinners will start distrusting them because of how secretive they have to become?

"do you suppose i shall see her again?" AHHHH THAT MOMENT WAS SO CUTE WAAHHHHH. i think its really interesting that yi sang and ishmael were the ones to comfort her, as they're the two sinners with the most "resolved" cantos. do you think yi sang saw some of himself in her. in the way he was in love with the unknown and discovery and she falls in love with it too.

rodya has always been super flirty with faust. i hope she flirts back (i wanted to have another gamble) after this and everyone gets their balls knocked out of the park

do you think faust felt safe. with the sinners. and no fausts watching her. i love faust. i will die for her.

great intervallo. holy shit. auguuuguhhhghhghhhhhhhhhhhhh

[thus-spoke-lo]

Pain Management // Trafalgar Law x afab!reader // NSFW/18+

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Series Masterlist // AO3 Link // Playlist

Chapter 1: A Thorough Examination

Chapter Summary: No longer able to deal with the chronic abdominal pain that's plagued you as long as you could remember, and having exhausted your available options for treatment aboard the Sunny, you suggest traveling with the Heart Pirates as a way to gain access to some of the best medical care in the New World. Your new captain is willing to give his all in helping determine the cause of your issues, and offers his help to treat you.

Chapter CW: afab!reader [no pronouns used]; descriptions of pelvic pain; menstruation mentions; reader receives a gynecological exam [pelvic/breast]; allusions to hysterectomy; slight medical/glove kink; slight praise kink

WC: 2.9k

A sudden flash. A deep, searing pain that cut through your insides.

You doubled over, the feeling of a phantom knife stabbing you near your core. The wrench in your hand fell, a loud clang ringing through the air, and you dropped to your knees on the floor as the air was punched out of your lungs.

“Hey, you alright?” Franky turned off the welder and lifted his goggles, a sudden worry settling into his expression.

“No, but I will be,” you grunted. “Just give me a minute.”

“Should I get Chopper?” he asked as he started to get up from his position on the ground.

“No, really, it’s alright.” The wave of misery was subsiding, leaving behind only a vague feeling of queasiness. “He can’t do anything for me.”

It was almost your entire adult life that you’d experienced these phantom pains, and you struggled to have anyone tell you the reason. It was most certainly tied to your monthly cycle, of that you were sure, but the way in which it incapacitated you mentally and physically was becoming more of an annoyance and a hindrance than anything else, rendering you disabled at the most inconvenient times.

Chopper had done the best he could since you’d joined the Strawhats some time ago, giving you pain medicine he formulated himself. But as time went on, and the pain pills could only dull the worst aches, Chopper conceded that perhaps, despite his training, he didn’t have the equipment or the specific experience needed to properly diagnose and treat you. As you lay in bed one night, biting your pillow with every shockwave in your abdomen, it occurred to you there may be a way to get help yet.

“So wait. You wanna leave and join the Heart Pirates?” Luffy asked, his eyebrows knitted in confusion as you told him your plan over breakfast. “But why?”

“Not leave as in forever. It’ll be like…an internship,” you said cheerfully.

“What’s that?” His head tilted slowly to the side, as if it would help him process your words more effectively.

“It’s a temporary assignment,” Nami clarified from her spot next to you at the table. “Not forever, just for a while to learn some things that can help us.”

“Ohh, I get it now.” The look on Luffy’s face said he absolutely did not get it, but you pressed on.

“It would be a great opportunity to learn how a submarine functions,” you continued, a smile plastered across your face. “Just think of how much I’d be able to help Franky if he needs to build any specialized vehicles for us!”

“Well as long as Traffy thinks it’s fine, I think it’s a great idea!” Luffy grinned in a way that said he still was not entirely clear on what exactly you were doing or why, but that he trusted your judgment.

As you packed your bags the following week, waiting for Law and his crew to meet you at the port, you wondered if you could even trust your judgment. Sure, it seemed that “Traffy” had been fairly easy to convince when it came to bringing you aboard (after all, what’s one more warm body and willing set of hands?), and sure, you were a pirate after all, and deception was perfectly in your wheelhouse, but was it worth the ruse?

You boarded the Polar Tang, waving goodbye to the captain you’d just lied to and nodding hello to your new captain who you’d also just lied to, and wondered if Law or his crew could smell the dishonesty on you. There was no need to wear your paranoia like a coat, you told yourself over and over as you were shown to your quarters—you were going to keep your head down for a while, learn the ins and outs of your new underwater home, and bide your time before knocking on your Captain’s door to beg for help.

----------

“Come in.”

You were surprised that Law even heard you knock; you had barely touched your knuckles to the door. “Captain? I was hoping I could possibly talk to you about something.”

“Everything okay?” he asked, eyes still on the papers in front of him as you pushed open the metal door.

Your eyes drifted towards the ceiling as you considered where to begin. “Not exactly.”

“Is it a problem with someone?”

“No!” You waved your hands frantically in front of you. “No, nothing like that at all, everyone has been so kind to me since I’ve been here.”

“That’s good to hear.” He set his pen down on his desk and turned his chair towards you, his daunting gaze settling on you. “So what brings you here, then?”

“It’s—it’s a medical issue.”

He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, what seems to be the matter?”

“You see, I have this pain in my abdomen, like right here”—you gestured to a spot near the apex of your thighs, just off to the left—“and it comes and goes. But it’s been happening for, well, about as long as I can remember. Sometimes the pain is worse than other times.”

“I see.”

“Chopper gave me some pain medicine for it, but it only does so much, and I feel like either the medicine has stopped working, or whatever this is might be getting worse over time.”

He sat back in his chair and removed his hat for a moment, running his hands through his soot-black hair as he thought. “Did he ever do a pelvic exam?”

“Uh, no.” You shifted from one foot to the other before leaning against the door frame. “I don’t know that either of us really thought much about that.”

In truth, despite the fact that Chopper was never anything but professional with his medical care, having treated injuries and disorders you couldn’t even begin to imagine, you felt incredibly uncomfortable asking him to complete an internal pelvic exam. Sure, he was more than capable, and perhaps you could have found a way to make yourself feel at ease, but the concept of having one of your crewmates stick their fingers inside of you and root around, right before having to sit and stare at them across the dinner table, left a peculiar taste in your mouth.

Law laced his fingers behind his head and crossed one leg over the other. “Why don’t you come by the exam room tomorrow, let’s say same time, and we can do a little more…exploration?”

“Sure, sounds—sounds good,” you nodded, tripping over your words—you had felt yourself grow a little warm at the particular way he’d said exploration, drawing out the word in his low, rumbling voice. “I’ll see you then. Thank you, Captain.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, returning his stack of papers. “Let’s hope we can figure out what’s wrong. I’ll do everything I can to get you some relief.”

I certainly hope so, you thought to yourself.

----------

The exam hadn’t even started yet, and you were already deeply regretting asking Law for help.

You perched stiffly on the elevated table, paper crinkling under you, the undersides of your thighs sticking to the exposed bit of vinyl. You pulled and tugged at the thin cotton gown that had been left for you on the side chair (accompanied by a scrawled note, “I’ll give you ten minutes to change, don’t worry”), feeling like no matter how tightly you had tied the thin straps at the neck and waist into haphazard knots, you were still at risk of sudden exposure with even the most minute movements.

Not that it mattered, you reminded yourself—your captain was about to be knuckle-deep in your vagina in a moment, what did it matter if he caught a glimpse of your ass cheek or a peek of your pubic hair before he got started?

“Safe to come in?” a voice said from the other side of the door.

“Yep, I’m decent,” you responded. “Well, as decent as I can be.”

Law entered the room, flashing you a brief smile as he shut the door behind him and moved to the sink to wash his hands. “How are you doing today?”

“As okay as I can be, I guess.”

“Any pain right now?”

“Mm, not at the moment.”

“That’s good to hear,” he said as he fished two latex gloves out of a box on the counter. You watched with an inappropriate fascination as he put them on, slowly pulling them down over his long fingers, letting the band settle on his wrists with a light snap. There was no denying that many a wandering thought of yours had involved Law’s strong hands and slim fingers, and how they’d feel exploring every inch of you, every dip and curve of your body; this, however, was not the time for indulging in fantasy.

He walked over and stood before you, his slim hips almost touching your knees. “I’m going to start by giving you a breast exam, is that okay?”

You shrugged, trying to maintain some sense of detachment. “Sure.”

He pulled your gown down your shoulders, placing the fabric in your lap. He palpated your breasts with his warm, gloved hands, then moved two fingers in circles on various spots. As he moved one hand to the side of your body to feel under your arms for any abnormalities, his thumb brushed against your nipple, pebbled from the cool air of the room.

“Sorry, I know it’s a little cold in here,” Law smirked as he walked back over to the counter and quickly scribbled in a notebook. “Everything seems good there, no concerns.”

“Oh. That’s good.” You nervously smiled at him and lifted your gown back over your chest, crossing your arms tightly over you, trying to warm yourself and convince your traitorous nipples to relax. As you watched him with his back turned, you ruminated on the way his thumb had grazed you—it was so brief, but almost tender, in a way you could almost swear was intentional.

“Okay, I’m going to do a pelvic exam,” he said, sitting down on a wheeled stool and scooting it towards the end of the table. “Go ahead and lay back for me, and place your feet in the stirrups.”

You reclined onto the table, and fumbled at correctly placing your heels in the metal rings. Your knees drifted together as you felt the cool air of the room waft over your exposed vulva.

Law sighed. “You have to spread your legs for me if I’m going to examine you, you know.”

“Right, sorry,” you muttered as you let your thighs drift open. In the time you’d known Law, even before your new venture aboard his vessel, you’d thought on occasion what it would be like to have him command you to spread your legs; this, however, was certainly was not the way you’d had in mind.

“I’ll be gentle, I promise,” he said, the rumble in his voice vibrating your core.

Stop it, stop it, stop it, you chided yourself. Stop making this weird, he’s your doctor. You can have your stupid little crush later, when he’s not shoving a piece of plastic in you.

He inserted a speculum into your vagina and you felt yourself stretch with every little click-click-click as he adjusted it. “Doing okay?”

“So far, so good.” A tight smile stretched across your lips despite the fact you assumed he couldn’t see your face.

“You’re doing so well for me,” Law said, his voice low and reassuring.

You felt a perverse swell of arousal at his praise. You clenched your jaw and balled your hands into fists at your side—why now, why with a piece of plastic holding you open like a prized poultry being stuffed for dinner, did you have to let his voice make you feel any particular type of way?

“I’m going to put my fingers inside you now, okay?”

“Okay.” You exhaled slowly.

You stared at the ceiling as he slid two fingers inside of you and poked and prodded at your walls. The vague discomfort of the speculum and the probing of his fingertips certainly did well to erase the feelings of desire you had experienced moments earlier.

“I’m going to press on your abdomen, see if I can feel anything abnormal. Tell me if anything hurts.”

He pressed his two fingers up while he pushed his free hand down on different spots on your abdomen. When he reached one particular spot, you felt a searing pain rocket through your body, like a red-hot knife dragging through your insides.

“There!” you said through gritted teeth. “Pain! Right there!”

“Okay, okay. You’re okay.” He pulled his fingers out of you, and wheeled back to the counter. “You can sit up now.”

“So, what does that mean?” you asked as you gathered yourself, swinging your legs back over the side of the table and pressing on that tender spot in your abdomen, trying to soothe it and will it to calm.

“Well, it’s one of a couple of things, based on the way you reacted. I can’t exactly be sure without further research.”

“Isn’t there anything you could do in the meantime?”

“Well, I can give you some pain medication to ease your symptoms.”

“That’s it?” You scoffed, having heard that phrase so many times before. “But—but Chopper already did that, and it doesn’t help anymore. There’s nothing else you can do?”

He paused, twirling a pen between his long fingers as he thought for a moment. “Surgical intervention would be a possibility.”

“Okay, that’s fine then,” you quickly blurted, seeing relief on the horizon. “Just take out all the parts that are causing me problems.”

He sighed. “It’s not quite that simple.”

“I mean, it is, isn’t it? Couldn’t you use your devil fruit to just, you know, remove stuff?”

“Yes, possibly.” He scratched at his chin, and his gaze met yours. “But we don’t know exactly what’s causing the problem. I’d still have to open you up and have a look around first, and that might cause more issues than it would fix. And depending on what I find and what we have to take, you may also need hormone replacements, just to help you function correctly. And frankly, I don’t have access to those, not out here.”

You didn’t care that the desperation in your voice was nearly tangible. “Look, I’m sure I can make do without the hormones, I’ll just learn to deal with it. Captain, I’m serious, just take whatever is in me out of me if it’s going to be a problem. Please. I can’t do this anymore.”

He stood up and leaned his long body against the counter, and stared down at you. It was unnerving how vulnerable you felt, sitting nearly-naked on the vinyl table, thin fabric barely keeping you from being fully on display for him, angry tears beginning to bead at your lash-line, your face hot with frustration. The pain had gone on too long, and here was the only man you knew that could help you, trying to find ways to deny you the solution (albeit the least ideal one) to your troubles.

“Here’s what I’d suggest,” Law finally spoke after what felt like hours of silence, as he stared at you, barely blinking, running his tongue over his teeth. “I have an idea for an intervention that could help relieve some of your symptoms without having to resort to surgery just yet. If it works, then we’ll just continue treatment; if not, then we’ll consider opening you up and seeing what’s inside. Does that sound acceptable?”

“I guess so, sure.” It felt like you didn’t have much of a choice; you were at his mercy, and probably would have agreed to just about anything if it would bring you some relief.

“Good. Come by tomorrow, same time.” He paused. “And be prompt.”

“Of course, Captain.”

He handed you your pile of clothes from the chair across the room. “Take your time getting dressed, this room won’t be needed for a while.”

“Thanks,” you said, waving weakly at him as he walked out and closed the door.

You winced as you zipped your pants back up—all the poking and prodding left your insides tender, and a twinge of pain rocketed through your core. Maybe you just should have stuck to pain medicine, you thought to yourself as you re-hooked your bra, your mind still lingering on the way his thumb delicately brushed your nipple.

Maybe you just should have continued taking the pills Chopper gave you when things got especially bad, and kept your mouth shut, and stayed back on the Sunny, and maybe—maybe—found relief eventually from some gifted doctor on a faraway island one day, if you were lucky. But instead, here you were—miles under the ocean, trapped in a metal tube with the weight of your decision and the only doctor who might be able to help you find relief.

You shuffled back to your station to finish your day of work, wondering what sort of treatment Law had in mind.

[deathmetalunicorn1]

Could i request a part two with guiding light train station with any greek gods of ur liking? Thank you!

-Every now and then, usually after Aphrodite breaks up with him to go back to Adonis or one of her other lovers, Ares finds himself depressed, wondering what he did wrong to make her leave him once again.

-They’ve been in an on-again off-again relationship for thousands of years, and when he’s with her, Ares always feel so happy, so alive, she makes the pain in his heart go away.

-As the god of war, he is used to fighting, he is used to war, but wars used to mean something, but now, wars are senseless means to violence and suffering, pulling in innocents who have nothing to do with the war. That’s not war- not anymore.

-Ares felt like he failed in his duty of managing war amongst humanity, he couldn’t control them now, none of the gods really could unless if they wanted to be just as bad as the violent people on earth- harming innocents as well.

-Ares knew there were gods who didn’t care if they hurt innocents, but Ares felt a sense of honor and duty, that only warriors should be the ones fighting and being hurt and killed, not innocent people, women, children, the frail and elderly, those aren’t warriors. If Ares wouldn’t fight them, then nobody else should either.

-Ares found himself wandering aimlessly around Valhalla, lost in a daze of thoughts, trying to self soothe the ache in his heart as he felt everything crumbling around him.

-A voice then spoke up, “All aboard!!” he looked up, not even realizing he had made it down to the train station where new souls had just arrived, being welcomed by the various Valkyries.

-He remembered you, you were so little, but so powerful, running this massive train network with what looked like ease, you looked like a child, but you were so hardworking, you had your crap together, so why couldn’t he?

-Ares sat down on one of the benches, waiting for the next train to arrive so he could come and see you, as he remembered your offer for them to come and visit you and take a train ride.

-The ride down was quick and quiet, being the only person besides the engineer and conductor on the train, but they allowed him on, seeing that he was a god.

-Ares was in awe when he arrived at the main hub, seeing people being guided to their trains that were going to take them to one of the several destinations before he heard a little voice, “Welcome!”

-He looked down and saw you beaming up at him, your little hands on your hips as he grinned lightly, his smile a bit forced, something you could tell and you immediately smiled, telling the other platform workers that you were going to take a small break.

-They all agreed, as you rarely took breaks, but seeing Ares there with you made them understand as you lifted a hand up to Ares for him to take.

-He surprised you by picking you up, holding you in his arms like you were made of glass as you pointed, with your whole hand, towards a set of stairs leading upwards, “We can take a break together on one of the scenic trains.”

-Ares nodded softly, heading upstairs and was in awe to find a large train with glass covered cars, so he could see all around him and he boarded. Once he was seated you made sure everything was clear, leaving him for a moment before you called the ‘all aboard’ and the train soon took off, heading down to earth.

-You returned to Ares and crawled onto the seat next to him as he took his helmet off, placing it in the seat before him, “So- what brought you to my little corner of Valhalla?”

-He exhaled deeply, closing his eyes as you could tell he was stressed, “How do you do it, Y/N? How do you always seem in control- you never seem frazzled, and you always do your job perfectly…how…”

-His voice trailed off, his eyes closing, and you gave him a small smile, putting your little hand on his own, “Sometimes things can be overwhelming- nobody is perfect and sometimes no matter what you do- you’ll feel like you’re a failure, that you can’t do anything right.”

-Ares inhaled, looking down at you, to him, you were only a child, and to see you talking about something like this broke his heart as you leaned back in your seat, your legs kicking lightly, “Unlike you and the other gods, I only deal with the dead- those who have recently died. There’s no changing death- no matter how much the passengers argue and plead. Sometimes one has to accept that there are things out of their control, and nothing can be done about it. All they can focus on then is what lies on the tracks in front of them.”

-His large hand came to the top of your head, you were very wise, he now knew why so many of the other gods liked you.

-The ache in his heart was still there, but it was lesser now, realizing that he couldn’t control everything, like Aphrodite’s wandering eye and fickle love life or those fighting senseless wars, but he could manage things to make it less impacting on himself and others, even if it was just a bit. He needed to be strong.

-Ares enjoyed the break, seeing the scenery of Canada, with the towering trees and snowcapped mountains, it was beautiful and serene, and Ares couldn’t help but smile as you pushed a snack trolley over to him, “Can I get you anything, sir?”

-Ares knew that coming to you, getting a short break and getting to talk to you, was a good thing and he made a mental note to return more often so he could relax and detox, just for a bit.

[amberskyyking]

99% happy with my Bad Batch ending, but gonna have to fix the 1% myself. Cracks knuckles in malicious-canon-compliance

Tech is alive and I will die on that hill.

Implications Of Being Alive

SPOILERS FOR BB FINALE BELOW!!!

CX-2 had failed.

It knew its mission. It shook its head, its vision was compromised but it was still capable of identifying the enemy, even against the distorted blur left behind from the toxins and the toll of the battle below. But no matter. If Clone Force 99 wouldn’t be turned to their cause, they would be eliminated. It lined up the shot -

And was sent reeling as something struck it on the left, hard. The target was alerted, a new threat emerged, and it spun to retaliate a second too late. Cracking blue crashed into its chest and slammed it backwards against something solid.

There was smoke, buzzing, the smell of smoldering metal and charred flesh, and in the moments before the force of the electricity coursing through its biomechanics overwhelmed what was left of its physical body, it registered a face through the gaps of its helmet. Distinct. Battle worn. Familiar.

CX-2 shut down.

---

Why was CX-2 being activated?

Why was activation causing it pain?

CX-2 opened its eyes, but it didn’t drop from its stasis pod like usual. In fact there was nothing beneath its feet at all. It tried to wrench itself free but a sharp sensation tore through its body and it suppressed a weak organic gasp. Something was undoubtedly wrong. It took a breath that rattled in its chest.

Senses impaired. Functionality damaged. Mobility… Impossible, due to the presence of the shaft of an electro-spear protruding from the center of its chest. Bio-mechanic systems compromised too, then, and a sufficient enough explanation for the pain radiating through its organic parts.

Hemlock sure had a lot of experiments, A voice drifted its way. What do you think was the purpose of these ones? Stasis chambers, training room, clones in weird armor…

Whatever he intended to do with them, it was an obvious failure, Came a second voice, rigid and clipped. No data, no explanation, no survivors? There’s nothing here to salvage. Hemlocks work will simply die with him. We’re moving on.

Yes sir.

CX-2 must have been activated in error. Hemlock was dead. It had no mission.

A gray-clad officer let out an exasperated huff and turned her back on it as her troopers began their sweep. CX-2 gritted its teeth and strained to see more of the room, assess the situation, calculate its options. The room itself clearly lacked power and most of the valuable assets in it had been destroyed. Through the viewport below it could see TK troopers prodding at the bodies of the other CX’s and dead clone prisoners. The officer continued discussing something barely audible near the lift, but it couldn’t activate its helmet to listen in, and straining its ears was useless.

A trooper crossed into its vision, blocking its view. It scoffed beneath the helmet, and the trooper paused.

“Uhh… Officer Bragg? I think this one’s still alive.”

CX-2 narrowed its eyes. Alive was barely the proper terminology. CX-2 was active, perhaps, it had survived, but alive seemed rather generous. The word held many meanings and implications, only one of which could be applied to itself, the scientific definition, nothing more. It was a poor choice of words. There was little alive about CX-2. It had no mission, it had no feelings, it had no life.

“Are you sure?” The officer huffed. “Remove the helmet.”

After a moments hesitation the TK trooper reached up and fumbled for CX-2’s helmet, sliding it off its head, and CX-2 found itself staring at the surprised officer with empty stoicism.

“I’ll inform Governor Tarkin,” The officer nodded. “Perhaps some portion of Hemlock’s work won’t go to waste.”

---

There were no more stasis chambers for CX-2 to shut down in on command, but the imperials assigned it a single-bunk domicile aboard a Star Destroyer once its reconstruction was deemed acceptable. The medical droids never quite understood the complexities of its bio-mechanic enhancements. CX-2 resorted to working on itself when it wasn’t in self-induced stasis mode, assigned to a mission, or subjected to medical testing, and in time, it improved its own efficiency, accuracy, and stamina far past what Hemlock’s original design had allowed. Its results were indisputable. Despite the mysteries that remained of Hemlock’s work, its superiors were pleased.

Yet the enhancements came with its own set of curious drawbacks, and CX-2 had yet to discover the solution for them, which was unusual. Its malfunctions could typically be patched with specialized coding or tweaks to the inner workings of a particular system, yet once these began to manifest, there was nothing it had been able to find to neutralize them. The first incident came when it removed its prosthetic leg for maintenance and potential upgrade. The movements felt familiar, and as it implemented its ideas into the improved design it suddenly saw a flash in its mind of another scenario, another mechanical leg on a table, a different soldering iron in its hand, and a clone sitting across from it, looking sheepish.

I’m not surprised, It heard a voice coming from its own mouth. It has only been a couple of weeks. You’re going to need more time than that to grow accustomed to them, Echo, and seeing as you have insisted on taking wild risks this soon, an accident of this sort was inevitable.

The image dissolved and CX-2 sat frozen. It had been someone else before this, that much it knew, but before didn’t matter. There was CX-2, there were missions, there was the Empire. It was merely a tool, not a person.

It completed its work on the leg and attempted to push the strange scene to the back of its mind, though it couldn’t help but log that the clones name was Echo.

The next time it happened was, unfortunately, in the field. CX-2 usually worked alone but this time it had been assigned to a squad, sent to hunt down rebel insurgents in the Cadavine sector. The mission was supposed to have been a stealth operation, so when CX-2 found itself a visual on the rebel targets, it flashed a hand gesture to the TK-troopers below.

One of them looked at it blankly and shrugged.

Awww, I hate hand signals! A massive clone with a milky eye groaned overhead.

Perhaps it would help if you memorized them! CX-2 snapped back.

You memorize them!

I have!

CX-2 nearly fell from the snipers nest and had to stifle a gasp as the scene faded out. It’s systems, for a moment, had been overwhelmed by something on its organic side, and it took a moment to reset them before continuing the mission. The TK Troopers incompetence had bought them precious seconds, they were spotted, and there was no time to waste wondering about what it had seen. At least when the mission was over, it was still a success. All insurgents were eliminated.

After that, though, the malfunctions began to occur with greater frequently. CX-2 found itself unable to combat them with technical prowess or further enhancements - in fact, each time it made the attempt, it only seemed to instigate more incidences, more images to replay. Memories, it concluded, after working itself to a state of exhaustion one night when it should have been attempting to put itself into stasis. That was the pattern, they were all tiny memories of who it was before, of people it knew. Brothers.

Traitors.

They had opposed the Empire, each and every one of them, even itself. It wasn’t sure why. It didn’t matter. They had been enemies, it had hunted them, they were the ones who opposed it on Tantiss, who harbored the girl, who caused its failure that day even after it gave them all a chance to become like him. Hunter’s face was the one it had seen just before shutting down. If it couldn’t purge itself of the fragmented memories, it would at least lock them away under the weight of their betrayal, where they couldn’t affect any more of its missions. It wouldn’t fail on their behalf, not again.

CX-2 laid back, closed its eyes, and attempted to fall into a form of stasis. It didn’t have family. It didn’t have feelings, it wasn’t a person, it wasn’t even alive, was it? It merely existed…

…So why did it wake up with an all consuming pain in its chest when the little girl in its dream wrapped her arms around its waist and called it Tech?

I’ll be posting updates for this on A03!!!!! Find it/Subscribe here if you like, I don’t usually post full chapters to tumblr lol. But that man is alive and ima prove it’s possible!