#[ artifact; silences the absolute in her mind and suddenly she can remember HERSELF and her OWN anger at Orin ]

[spiderwarden]

" Minthara . Let's stick it to the Goblin Trash , take from The Absolute , KILL ORIN . My blade is itching . &. so am I , for a red war . "

The words from the newly appointed ally inspires a tilt of her head- once focused on the map she turns her head ever so slightly as her weight balanced on the palm of her hand. Minthara's lip twitches as her mind reaches for that voice of their GOD forever echoing on the inside of her skull. OBEY. there's a huff - an almost dark chuckle before she straightens and tosses the feathered pen back on the table by the jar of ink. Turning to face the apparent ally with the curious - yet darkly intrigued, cast of red eyes.

"You would speak blasphemy to Orin's own.." Her words trail off, feeling those words again echo in her ear again. OBEY ME. But this time it was quieter, and where reverence had blossomed in her heart at the very mention of Bhaal's chosen - suddenly there was anger. Rage - an oath of... Something else. Something was not right here, the voice was quieting, and Minthara suddenly felt her mind grasping at nothing. An alarming absence of the Absolute that she could not explain. Suddenly her mind held her own thoughts, her own desires. Minthara turns her eye to the table, to search for the the Heretical Sanctuary.

And thus the Drow stares at that map - long and hard, before her jaw tighten and she turns her expression back to them. The thoughts turning between her ears when the want to obey conflicts with - whatever else this feeling was burning at the core of her chest. Shoulders lift and then fall with the big inhale she releases.

"You have my ear, iblith, do not squander it."

@z4r / random ic things that i love.

[solalunar-eclipse]

Scars You Can’t See - Chapter 11

Chapter title: Improvements

Word count: about 3400 words

Author’s Note: Wow...the fact that this fic has only two chapters left is crazy to think about. It’s going to be finished within the next month or so...whoa.

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...

Rouge cringed as bright sunlight stung her slowly opening eyes, dragging her forcefully out of what had honestly been a pretty great sleeping session. Suddenly, though, she shot upright, remembering-

Wait- G.U.N. had found them- Shadow and Omega--

Oh, right.

The bat rubbed at her eyes to try and get rid of the spots still dancing in them, before looking around and taking in the clearing surrounding her. She was truly safe now and on Angel Island.

Rouge just...needed a minute to remind herself of that.

She figured that she also owed Team Sonic at least a year’s worth of favors for busting them out of that awful situation. Chaos, she’d thought they were all done for at first, even with Omega’s best efforts. 

Speaking of that team, she suddenly felt a rush of wind at her side and turned to see Sonic himself kneeling next to her, looking worried. “You good there, Rouge?” he asked, resting a hand on her shoulder in concern.

“I’ll live.” she said warmly, grateful for his attention. “Doing better than yesterday, that’s for sure.” 

Sonic’s expression changed into a hopeful grin at that, his shoulders sinking slightly in relief. Rouge knew that he really tended to worry about the people he cared for when they weren’t doing well, so she was pleased to see some of the stress leave him now.

“How’s Shadow? And Omega?” the bat asked quickly, wanting to make sure her team was alright.

“Okay, well, Omega’s over there sucking the life out of Tails’s portable generator,” Sonic said, and Rouge followed his gaze to see exactly that. Her robot friend gave a thumbs up when he noticed her attention, before lifting the generator and walking over to greet her.

“This power is strong for such a small device. Much better than that pathetic excuse for voltage the rooms provided.” he said, by way of a greeting. Rouge grinned in response. Omega had never really seen the need for pleasantries with his friends when he could just get to the point instead. (They already knew that he cared about them anyway.)

“How do you feel?” he asked, sitting down and staring at her. The robot clearly wasn’t going to take an “I’m fine” for an answer, so she sighed. “Tired, mostly. Are we sure we’re totally safe out here?”

Omega looked like he was ready to smirk, if he could. “You missed the fun earlier when the blue hedgehog discovered that we are in the middle of the largest ocean on the planet. He was not happy about our isolation.”

Rouge had to restrain a cackle at that when she turned back to the (suddenly several shades paler) hero in question. “Water…” he groaned. “So much...water…”

“You’ll be okay, hon,” she said, a little bit of sympathy softening her tone. “There’s still plenty of room up here to go running around.”

Sonic’s eyes widened. “Oh right! I didn’t tell you about Shads!” His ears drooped slightly after that. “He’s...he’s still asleep near the Master Emerald.”

Omega cut in there. “His vital signs are completely stable. He is merely exhausted.”

Rouge sighed, frowning slightly. Was telling him to do that Chaos Control really-

“You made the best decision you could under the circumstances.” the robot said insistently. “Stop questioning yourself or I will have to make you comply with force.”

Rouge stuck out her tongue at him, before getting up to go walk over to the altar and see her other friend. She hadn’t taken more than a couple of steps, though, when she found that her head had begun to ache horribly- leftover effects from the stress, she knew. There was always a price to pay for missions. 

She was vaguely aware of Sonic darting to her side, but she straightened up, ignoring the pain for now. If there was one thing she had to do, it was to check on Shadow.

The hybrid was still on the altar, barely having moved from his original position. Someone had folded up a blanket and put it beneath his head, at least. Knuckles was pacing around and around the Master Emerald, clearly driving himself to distraction considering all the possible ways in which Angel Island could be threatened at this very moment.

Rouge sat down next to Shadow for a moment, checking to make sure he was alright before rubbing one of his ears slightly. The hybrid purred a little in his sleep, making Rouge smile and Sonic mask a squeal with his hand. “Awwwww…” he whispered, staring down at Shadow with wide eyes.

Meanwhile, Rouge got up and walked over to lean on the giant Emerald, smirking as Knuckles completed another circuit around the altar- only to bump right into her and look up, startled. “Rouge! You’re awake!” he exclaimed, before pulling her into a tight hug that squeezed all the air out of her lungs.

“Babe,” she wheezed, trying to adjust. “Honey, I missed you too, but I kind of need to breathe to live? So if you wouldn’t mind…”

“Oh- right- sorry,” he said, loosening up and clearly embarrassed. “I’m just so glad you’re alright.”

Sonic gave him a look from over the top of the giant gem. “Says the guy who didn’t want to head off to Central City at first.”

“Come on, man, give me a break! You know how much G.U.N. wants to get their hands on these artifacts!” Knuckles exclaimed, sounding irritated. He glanced back at Rouge nervously, though, clearly more than a little embarrassed about his hesitance.

She wasn’t going to hold it against him, though- he’d been trained since day one to practically worship the island and all that it held, and putting it in harm’s way must have taken a lot out of him. “It’s okay, just remember to try and keep from being uptight all the time, alright?” Rouge asked gently, wrapping an arm around his waist and leaning into him. 

Knuckles blushed as red as his spines. “Thanks, Rouge...I’ll try.” he said, pointedly ignoring his friend’s knowing grin.

“Awww, Knux, aren’t ya gonna kiss your giiiiirlfriend?” Sonic taunted, knowing just how to frustrate the echidna (and fluster him more).

“Shut up!” he bellowed. “It’s none of your business what we do or don’t--”

Rouge had kissed him on the cheek, and his voice immediately seemed to fail at that, breaking off into absolute silence. She snickered quietly. Knuckles’s shock whenever she did this never stopped being fun.

A low groan sounded behind them. “Urgh...Chaos, is this what I hafta wake up to? Move y’r PDA somewhere else, Rouge.” 

Shadow’s words were slurred with exhaustion, but nobody seemed to care. Rouge dashed over to his side faster than Sonic (not too surprisingly- the hedgehog seemed to have frozen the second Shadow started speaking).

“How do you feel, hon?” she asked him gently, all the while monitoring him for any sort of abnormalities. 

“Feels like I’ve been run over by a truck ‘n launched out of a catapult into the side of a mountain.” he grumbled. “Everything’s aching…I’m so tired. Let’s...let’s not take out any more military bases for a while, ‘kay?”

Rouge grinned at him. “Sounds good to me, hon.” She began to pull him up into a reclined position so that he could see better. The bat could also hear Omega’s steps in the background as he hurried over (which for most people was a speed-walking pace, but he was doing his best).

“Just relax for now, Shadow. You and Sonic brought us somewhere safe, so we can just rest, alright?” she added, and felt him do so almost immediately. 

Omega arrived and put a hand on Shadow’s shoulder, his giant metal fingers nearly engulfing half of the hybrid’s arm. “Hey, Omega.” he said wearily, smiling faintly up at the robot. 

“You are safe now. I will make sure that nothing bad happens to you or Rouge so long as we are here.” he said, sounding determined and just a little bit violent. 

“You did a pretty good job of that back in the field.” Shadow said, apparently far too tired to hold up his usual aloof attitude.

Omega stood up and assumed a slight power pose. “Of course I did. I am awesome.”

Sonic took the robot’s place quickly, taking Shadow’s hand in his own. “If anyone comes anywhere near this island, I’ll help Omega take them out. You’ve done more than enough, Shads.”

The hybrid tried to maintain a cool, calm expression, but it quickly softened into gratitude. He struggled with his words for a moment, clearly uncertain about how to react to Sonic’s determined kindness. Eventually, though, he settled for a simple “Thank you, Sonic.”

Rouge didn’t miss the way Sonic’s smile became wider and more genuine at that, nor how he squeezed Shadow’s hand briefly before releasing it. “Anytime, nerd. Anytime.”

Shadow mock-scowled at the hero before settling back against Omega, who had sat down behind him. Rouge noticed how he struggled to keep his eyes open, so she settled down next to him and made shooing motions with her hands. “Alright, alright, let the guy rest! You said yourself he doesn’t have to work anymore, Sonic.” 

The hedgehog in question walked off reluctantly with his friends to the first tier of the altar, looking back at Shadow once before giving the team some space.

Rouge sighed, settling back against Omega and trying to find a position that didn’t leave metal poking into her back. He could be comfortable if she sat right- especially since he was warm- but she had to work a little to find the right spot. Her own eyes closed a little, and she leaned against Shadow as the faint buzz of stress and her exhaustion battled it out inside her head.

She suspected that her instincts would give her trouble for a while, but it would probably be manageable now that they were safe. Things were looking up now for real, and that was great.

And then Sonic’s phone rang.

“Wha- huh- you have your phone on??” Shadow yelped, sitting upright immediately. “Why didn’t you turn it off?”

“I had to keep up with everything!” Sonic exclaimed, his eyes wide. He held the phone as far away from his body as he could, as though it might burst into flames at any moment.

“Alright, alright, everybody calm down!” Rouge shouted, directing all attention to herself and bringing complete silence to the clearing.

This role was what she was used to.

“Alright, first off. Sonic, do you recognize that number?” she asked, as everyone gathered back around.

He frowned, looking at the ‘missed calls’ screen now that the ringing had stopped. “N...no…..wait, actually, I think I do! But who…..”

The hero’s eyes widened. “Oh. Wait. What’s the president want with me now?”

“Wait, is it really her?” Tails gasped.

Omega glowered at the phone. “She probably wishes to know if we are with you.”

Everybody jumped again when the phone started ringing once more. 

“Well….I guess I’ll just answer and tell her I don’t know where you are?” Sonic asked, moving to tap the green button.

“No!” three separate people yelled at once, making him drop the phone in surprise. 

“Well, what should I do then? Just, like, ignore her?” the hero said, exasperated.

Tails shook his head patiently. “You remember that app I put on your phone, Sonic? The one that hides your signal location?”

“Ohhhhh,” Sonic said, clearly realizing why it would be a very good idea to use said app. “Right! Let me turn that on.”

“And don’t forget to use the super-scrambler I made for you!” Tails reminded him, sounding an awful lot like the real older brother of the two at the moment.

“Fine, yeah, I remember what you said,” Sonic muttered, sounding a little irritated. He cringed a moment later, though, looking up his friends. All three of them were clearly tense once again- not ideal when they were in the safest place they could possibly be. “Sorry, I know this is important and all. Sorry.”

“It’s alright, hon.” Rouge said soothingly. “You have it all up now?”

“Yeah, I-” Sonic was cut off yet again by his ringtone. 

He took one deep breath before pressing the button.

Everybody else remained absolutely silent. The wind rustled through the trees as his phone connected to the other end of the signal.

“Uh….hey there.” the hero said, his voice sounding far more wary now. “What’s up?”

Shadow facepalmed silently beside Rouge, who clamped a hand over her mouth to stop any potential laughter.

Sonic quickly switched the call to speakerphone so that everybody could hear the president talk.

“Hello, Sonic.” she said politely, her voice warmer and more friendly than any of them had expected. “Are...any of the members of Team Dark there? I’m not asking for G.U.N., I promise.” 

Rouge gave the phone a skeptical look. Not asking for G.U.N.? Doubtful.

“Nah, not here.” Sonic said easily. “Whatcha want with them?”

The bat could hear the faintest hint of harshness in his tone, hiding beneath the cool front he put up. Apparently the hero hadn’t quite gotten all of his frustration out just yet.

Clearly, the president could hear it too, because she sounded a little awkward when she next spoke. “Oh. I...I actually just wanted to tell them something important. Is there any way for me to get in touch with them?”

Sonic glowered at the phone. “I can tell them whatever it is you wanna say.” He was practically growling by this point, clearly working hard to keep his emotions under control.

Rouge cringed at that- now everyone would know that Sonic had a direct link to her team. Not good.

“Alright then...” Strangely enough, the woman on the call still sounded stressed. Shouldn’t she be pleased that she’d gotten some sort of a lead instead? That was what this was for, right?

“Can you tell them, then...just let them know that I’ve signed off on an order temporarily shutting down all of G.U.N.’s operations, okay? And that the commander has agreed to comply with it? Will they get to hear that?”

Rouge, Shadow and Omega all stared at one another.

What?

“Yeah- yeah, they’ll hear the news.” Sonic said, his eyes as wide as they could get. “Uhhh, why exactly did you do that?”

Now it was the president’s turn to sound irritated. “What do you mean, why? Not only are there protests and riots in the streets, but I’m horrified by what they’ve done, as I’m sure you are too! The leaders in both houses of government and I have completely agreed that G.U.N. needs to be closed down until we figure out what to do with it. 

“I’ll be putting my voice in for total reform, and a consideration of permanent closure, but there are those who’ll argue with me, of course. I’m still going to do what I can for Team Dark and for those who’ve been hurt by G.U.N., though.”

“Wow.” Sonic said softly, stunned. “That’s...that’s impressive.”

“No.” the president said decisively. “It’s the least I can do to make things right. And, if you see Shadow…”

“Yeah?”

“Can you tell him that I personally apologize for everything that happened on Space Colony ARK? I had no knowledge of it until that video was released...but still. I wish there was something I could do to let him know how horrified I am by what he was forced to endure.”

Shadow stared at Rouge, who honestly couldn’t do much more than stare back, her thoughts racing by at a pace to rival her friend’s speed. G.U.N. wasn’t chasing them anymore? They weren’t even allowed to hunt them down? It almost sounded too good, too easy to be true.

“I’ll tell him. I promise.” Sonic said, his voice just a little shaky.

“Thank you, Sonic. Take care.” she replied, before ending the call.

“...whoa.” he breathed.

“What just happened?” Shadow ran his hands through his quills, as though he hoped it would help him sort out the events that had just taken place.

“Is this even real?” Knuckles asked skeptically. “It could be a prank…” They all knew he’d been the target of too many falsehoods to trust most people by now.

“Voice patterns match previous speeches given by the current president.” Omega said, making everyone’s surprise grow even more.

“So what...they’re just shutting down?” Tails looked confused.

“Most of them, yes.” Rouge said, taking a deep breath and beginning to work through her own swirling thoughts. “There’ll be some agents who don’t agree with what’s going on, but that’s to be expected. The commander is a big fan of rules, so he won’t ignore an order directly from the government. G.U.N. should be shut down...so the question is how safe the United Federation is for us right now.”

“So? Is it safe?” Sonic asked, looking hopeful.

The three members of Team Dark locked eyes. Rouge sighed. “Not quite. G.U.N. hasn’t actually been fixed yet and there’s going to be plenty of agents who are less than happy about this development...especially when it comes to us escaping.”

“There’s still a chance they could use their various connections to order some sort of attack on us that couldn’t be traced back to them...it’s unlikely that the commander would go for it, but others might. None of us need any potential assassins sneaking into Club Rouge in the middle of the night.” Shadow muttered, staring down at the grass.

All three members of Team Sonic cringed at Shadow’s wording. But then, Sonic sat down next to him and put an arm about the hybrid’s shoulders gently, giving him the option to push it off if he needed. “Don’t worry, Shads, you can stay here as long as you like.”

Knuckles glared at him. “This is my island, Sonic! I get to decide who stays for how long!”

Rouge raised a brow at that. “And do we get to stay, then?”

“...yes.” the echidna grumbled defeatedly.

Sonic’s answering smirk got him chased all around the clearing and the surrounding woods as punishment...if you could call it punishment when he was laughing and dancing and skipping over boulders all the way.

Rouge looked over to see Shadow leaning back against Omega again, looking tired but surprisingly calm and...was that a smile she saw?

“Feeling good there, hon?” she asked gently, leaning on him (and purposefully making their height difference obvious).

He rolled his eyes but still leaned into her shoulder, bringing a smile to her face as well. “Better than the last time we did this, that’s for sure.”

Rouge felt Omega’s arms tighten around them and looked up to see his eyes dim slightly in thought. After a moment, though, they brightened again, and he spoke.

“Original objective: make Shadow feel better. Status update: partially completed. Notes: cortisol levels lowering but still above recommended levels. Remaining irregular behavior due to exhaustion. And...outcome regarding G.U.N appears to be positive so far. This mission appears to be an overall success.”

He pulled them both a little closer, clearly not planning on allowing the two to escape his hold any time soon.

“Awww…” Rouge said gently, but Shadow was already falling asleep.

“Ngh. Stop making fun ‘f me.” He nudged her shoulder with his head, completely failing to do anything other than make the bat's smile grow warmer.

Within moments, he was completely passed out, and Rouge and Omega shared a look. “Do you regret any of the difficulties that this mission has created?” the robot asked, seeming curious more than anything.

Rouge looked over at the sleeping hedgehog next to her, a small smile spread across his face as he rested safely with his closest friends and family. There wasn’t any pain waiting for him in his unconscious now, and while there might be in the future, it could be handled with care and time.

She grinned up at Omega then, her smile wide and genuine.

“I don’t regret it at all.”

[shadow-assassin-blix]

A Picture is a Poem Without Words

Chapter 3

A/N: Swearing. A lot more setting up the basic background of the plot. The museums listed are real museums. Gifs by @nomoregoldfish and @gif-hunts-for-you

‘Thoughts’

“Spanish”

The next morning Blix woke up lying on her stomach, her face buried into a very soft pillow. She became aware of slight tickling situation. It took her a second to realize it was a hand, the fingers tracing over her various scars.

“That tickles, handsome,” She whispered as she blearily opened her eyes, as she turned toward him.

She reached for the sheets and pulled it up to cover her naked chest as the chill of the room hit her. She looked him over as he rested his hand onto her hip and watched his eyes roam over her skin, pausing at various scars.

“Surely, not all of these are from work, are they gorgeous?” He asked with a frown.

“No. Not all of them are from work. Many are from my traumatic childhood that I am not quite ready to divulge,” She explained quietly as she tried not to think too heavily on the memories that tried to creep to the forefront of her mind.

He nodded once and said, “I can understand that. Maybe one day I’ll share my past with you as well.”

She smiled softly and stretched, wincing when she felt the aches and pains from last night make their appearance.

“Last night really happened eh? Guess I wasn’t that hard to get after all?” She conceded as she shifted onto her back.

“I wouldn’t say that. Most women tend to become putty within 5 minutes of meeting me. You made me chase after you and work for it,” He commented as he dragged her closer to him. “It was a bit exhausting.”

“Oh yes. How terrible it must be to have women and men alike fall for you at the drop of a hat, Pacho. What a horrid life you lead,” She teased him as she pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Truly. It’s awful. Can’t have a moment to myself at all,” He joked as well, with a chuckle.

They fell into a comfortable silence, and she almost fell back to sleep when she suddenly heard the sounds of rain pattering against the windows.

“Lovely. That will be fun returning home in,” She said with a sigh.

“Gilberto and Miguel will be here in an hour. They wish to talk out the details and finalize the deal. So, the storm may have passed by then,” Pacho replied as he sat up. “I had my men buy you a change of clothes, we should probably shower.”

Blix nodded her head and sat up as well. Her shoulder gave a twinge of pain at the change of pressure and she rotated her arm a bit to work out the kink. He glanced over at her as she quietly groaned as it continued to cause her pain.

He motioned for her to follow him and as she does, he leads her into the bathroom. He turned on the shower and allowed the temperature to heat up before stepping in, pulling her in with him. They washed their hair quickly, and as he gathered body wash into his hands, he gently began to massage it on her shoulders. He found a couple of knots and softly worked them out. She couldn’t help the moan of content as he worked out a particularly large knot. Once her shoulders had fully relaxed, they finished up their showers and stepped out. She dressed in the clothes that was provided, a camisole and some jeans, and new underwear/bra.

Once they were dressed, a light lunch was ordered for them both, and as they ate, Gilberto and Miguel appeared. They walked in and sat across from them in the living room.

She took a couple more bites of her sandwich, surveying both men before her. She finished it and took the initiative to start the conversation.

“So, shall we begin with your demands, or mine?” She asked with a raised eyebrow and glancing between the two.

“Please, tell us what you wish from us first and we shall see if we can work with them. Pacho told us some of it, but believed there were others?” Gilberto inquired leaning forward; elbows propped on his knees.

“I need assurances from the both of you that your men, will not interfere with my work. That means no dragging me to your places. No Marta or any other child of yours, to spy on me at work, as the first condition,” She began.

“Second, I am trying to gather info on art thieves, and various other crimes. I need to know who is moving what. What is on the market. That sort of thing. My bosses think that there are criminals selling art on the black market to fuel communism,” She continued with an eye roll at the last part. “I believe there’s something bigger going on. I just need proof of it.”

“I do not mind creating a deal for you with the government. Does it make my skin crawl to be even considering this nonsense? Yes. But you are far better than Escobar and his men who are absolute freaks,” She concluded taking a sip of her iced tea.

They both chuckled a bit at her and Gilberto conceded, “Those are acceptable conditions my dear. As Pacho told you previously, we do not wish to be in the cocaine business forever. We know that it’s only a matter of time before Escobar and his cartel are taken down. We want to be at the top, for a time, and do the bare minimum of prison time, before continuing our life.”

“Does everyone, aka all four of you, agree to this?” She confirmed with the three of them.

“Yes, and Chepe is aware of the plan as well and agrees as well,” Pacho verified as he lit up a cigarette.

There was something in the way he spoke and refused to make eye contact that made her somewhat doubt that. She, however, was not going to push the subject, just in case she was wrong.

“Okay. We can iron out full details in the future. This is all predicated on the idea that the Medellin Cartel will be gone, and as of right now, that is not the case. So, write down everything you want, and when the time comes, I will do what I can,” She assured with a nod. “Shall we shake on it?”

She held her hand out to them, to seal the deal. They nodded and Gilberto shook her hand firmly. As she moved to shake Miguel’s he held her hand and threatened lightly, “Remember Miss Lage, this also means that you do not rat on us. It would be such a shame, to see such a pretty face die because you didn’t respect us or show us loyalty.”

She cleared her throat, shoving the panic that tried to appear back down and shook his hand once.

“Now then, we have business to attend to. Pacho? We shall see you this afternoon, yes?” Miguel asked his tone doing a 180° as he spoke to him.

Pacho nodded and showed them out. Blix stood up and dusted herself off. Once they had left, Pacho walked back over to her.

“I will take you home now, and then in a few days, I was thinking about coming around and maybe we can chit chat over any information we find?” Pacho suggested as he stood before her.

“Sounds good to me. You do have something other than your motorcycle, right?” She inquired as the sound of the rain grew louder and harsher.

He chuckled lowly and nodded his head in response. She grabbed her things, and he handed her a jacket, that was slightly too big. As she put it on, she realized it was one of his, as it smelled just like him. She smiled to herself for a moment and then followed him out. He led her downstairs to the parking garage of the hotel, where a red thunderbird waited for us.

She snorted loudly as she looked at it, causing Pacho to look over at her and raise an eyebrow.

“A Thunderbird? Really? Really nailing that ‘bad boy” persona eh?” She teased as he opened the door for her.

“Hm. But you like that persona, no?” He hummed back pressing a kiss to her lips, as she stepped into the car.

She just shook her and buckled in as he got in on the driver’s side. The drive to her home took a few minutes longer due to the blinding sheets of rain, but when they arrived, she told him goodbye and ran inside, unlocking her door as fast as possible.

She closed the door behind her, and shook off the raindrops, as she took off the jacket and her shoes. She set her things down on the table by the door before heading over to her answering machine to check for any messages.

No messages played. She sighed in relief and then called Jacque at the bar, to see if he wanted her to come in tonight due to the heavy rains. He told her to not bother and enjoy her night off, since the rain was meant to last well into the night, meaning hardly anyone would be coming in.

She made her way into her office and looked over files. She looked over at her crime board, aka the entire left wall of her office. She read over some case files, trying to make more connections, and fill in more blanks.

Shipments of art meant for the Museo Nacional de Colombia in Bogota, Antioqua Museum in Medellin, and Museum of Colonial Art and Religious la Merced in Cali, have gone missing. However, the biggest concern was the heist done at the Gold Museum in Bogota. 20 crates full of gold artifacts, all valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, missing. There were rumors that there were buyers located in Medellin, but the sellers were hiding out somewhere in Cali for the time being.

Every time they got close to figuring out who was selling them, and where they may have hidden the art, they disappear. Blix suspected that there was a high possibility that there was spy amidst her team.  

She spent the next couples of hours going over her stack of files, noting details of each one that she found somewhat important. It wasn’t until there was a large crack of thunder that she looked up from her work. She glanced over at the clock and noted it was after 6pm. She stretched, before going into the kitchen to make herself something to eat. Her dinner consisted of some chicken and pasta drizzled with alfredo sauce.

She quietly ate and put away the leftovers before going back to work for a couple more hours. It wasn’t until about 11pm before she stopped for the night and went upstairs to change, sliding under her covers as soon as she was in comfortable clothing.

The next morning, she woke up and as she stepped out to pick up the newspaper, she noticed a yellow manilla folder peeking out of her mailbox. She pulled it out, looking around suspiciously. She slipped back inside, tossing the newspaper onto her coffee table. She flipped it over and saw the words “For your eyes only” in Spanish.

She walked into her kitchen and stepped up to her kitchen island; opening it after getting settled onto one of the seats.

She shook out the contents of the envelope, and out came a handwritten note along with a stack of photos.

“It appears you have spy in your midst, lovely. Do not trust this person with anymore information. I look forward to speaking with you in greater detail, in a few days. -Pacho”

She looked at the photos and saw that it was the one person she didn’t personally hire. It was someone that the ambassador had recommended and that her boss forced her to hire because of his political ties. He was the son of one of the senators here in Colombia, and stated he had an interest in law enforcement.

She glowered at the images before her and had to take a deep breath to calm herself down. On the back of one of the images there was a name written down: Augustus König. She looked at the name with wide eyes. She leaned over and grabbed her satellite phone. She dialed the one person she knew on her team that wouldn’t betray her.

“Hello?” A male voice came through after the phone rang twice.

“Theo. I have a lead but I need for this to stay between us,” She began. “Look up the name: Augustus König. Don’t let Marcos aware of what you are doing.”

“Do you think he’s the one spewing intel on our missions? And how do I spell that?” He asked lowly.

“Yes. In fact, I’m quite sure of it. Let’s just say, I have new CI and let’s keep it at that,” She explained vaguely before spelling out the name for him.

“Alright. I’ll let you know what I find and fax it over to you,” He assured as soon as he got the info he needed.

“Thank you. Hopefully, this is the break we need,” She said with a sigh.

“I know, right? I’ll get back to ya boss asap,” He replied with a small laugh.

She hung up and looked at the photos once more and got annoyed all over again.

She made another phone call and as soon as the phone connected, she started, “Horacio. Need a favor.”

“Hello, Blix. I am well, how about you?” He answered back in a mocking tone.

“Sorry. Hi, Horacio. I really need a favor,” She amended with a slight eye roll.

“What’s up?” Horacio asked.

“Do you know Diego Marcos?” She questioned.

“Yes. The senator’s son that’s on your team, correct?” He confirmed after a moment.

“I need for you to investigate him. I have reason to believe that he’s leaking intel on us,” She requested.

He hummed, “He has taken a recent interest in the DEA as well and has been loitering around the office randomly. Explains why a recent mission to find La Quica went to hell.”

She shook her head at that. “I don’t trust him. I didn’t even want him on my team but the powers that be said I had to take him. But… if we gather enough evidence to prove that he’s not on our side, then we can get rid of him.”

“Let me see what I can do, little fox,” Horacio replied, determination in his voice. “Anything else? And how is your Cali situation going?”

“Thanks. It’s settled for the most part. Had to make a deal with the devil but at the very least, I don’t have to worry about dying anytime soon,” She informed him with some bitterness in her tone.

“I hope you know what you are doing. Stay safe. I’ll keep you updated,” He stated before he hung up.

She sat her phone down and studied the photos some more, examining each one. She gets to the last two and paused, blinking rapidly. They were photos of both Miguel Gallardo and Pablo Escobar, meeting with König, paintings in the background; paintings that she knew very well. She had been staring at photos of them for hours just last night.

“Fucking hell. Those bastards. They bought from him… which would mean that… the Cali also probably brought from him. Those fucks. Imma kill them. That’s.. that’s what is gonna happen. I’m going to beat them all to death. Fuckin. Fuck,” She angrily spoke to herself.

She looked on the back of them to see if he had written anything, and there was one note that said, “He has tried to sell art to us before but after making it well known that he does not… tolerate men like me, we washed our hands of him”

She squinted at it with deep suspicion. ‘Uh huh. Sure. We will be talking about this when we meet.’

She tossed the photos down, sighing, a hand running down her face in exasperation. As she tried to decide what to do next, she heard her fax machine come to life. She got up and walked over to it looking at what was coming in.

The first page literally just read in huge handwriting, “Huge files. I found a great deal on him. Apparently, he’s wanted by several agencies. Prepare for a long week of reading, boss.”

‘Great.’

She left it to do its thing, occasionally checking on it to remove stacks of paper, and make sure that there was plenty of paper and ink within it. It took about 2 hours before the fax finally stopped. She began the long process of sorting the papers sent to her. Fortunately, Theo was kind of enough to code each paper with a specific number in the upper right-hand corner to note what files they belong to.

By the time she was done, several hours had passed, and she had 5 different piles sat upon her table. She only stopped every now and again to eat. She was exhausted by the time she had finished and was thankful for having work that night. She needed some space away from work or she was going to set it on fire.

That night at the bar was fairly normal, and she spent part of the night supervising the new bartender.

About 2am, trouble walked in, in the form of the Gentlemen of Cali. She ignored the three of them for the most part, allowing the newbie to take their orders, and see how he did with them.

She was busy jamming out to the rock n roll blasting from the stereos. Most of the time, the music was just a local music station. Every now and again, Jacque allowed them to play mixtapes. Currently, Uptown Girl by Billy Joel was playing, and Blix was singing along loudly. Some of the waitresses would walk up and join in with her. They would dance around and be silly between orders.

The night was coming to close; she was ready to go home and sleep. She watched as Pacho worked his magic on a guy that he settled up next to a few minutes ago. She chuckled when it barely took him two minutes to convince the guy to leave with him. She watched him walk out, with his arm wrapped around the guy.

Gilberto and Miguel stayed until bar closed and walked up to her. “Your tip. Thank you. You were very entertaining,” Gilberto said with a secretive wink. “Pacho also left his tip with us to give to you as well.”

He handed her an envelope and before he and Miguel walked out. She shoved the envelope into her bag, not bothering to look at it, as she gathered the rest of her tips, and stuff. Jacque usually had the new personnel stay behind to learn the closing process, like cleaning and such, so she was able to leave a few minutes early.

She made her way home and sighed in relief once she stepped into her home. She walked upstairs to shower and change. She chewed on her lip as she sat on her bed, thinking about the envelope she had in her bag. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened it up. Inside was about $1k.

“Ooh. Oh boy. Uhhh. Wha-“ She stammered as she stared at it wide-eyed.

‘Great. Now, I have to be responsible and return this when I see them again. This is... far too much… and is essentially a payoff.’

She threw it back into her bag with an annoyed sigh, throwing herself onto her bed. ‘One of the best tips I’ve ever gotten, and I cannot accept it… because it’s from… cartel members.’

She made herself comfortable and as she fell asleep, she thought, ‘New rule: no more ridiculous tips, which I can’t believe is a thing that needs to be discussed.’

As she slept, another museum in Cali, Museo La Tertulia, was in the midst of being robbed.

[eve6262]

Hue Chapter 1: Alien

Rose’s room always smells of freshly cut flowers, expensive perfumes, and tea. There are three tables. One, a desk, mostly clean save for papers half-finished and a quill and bottle. The second is her vanity, the perfumes sorted by hue and scent, small bottles and sticks of makeup littering the lineup.

The third is a small round table, on which is always the tea set, with only two cups to its name. Surrounding it are three bookshelves filled to the brim, and stacks sorted along some dissonant melody only she understands on the floor space.

“Tea?”

“Sure.”

She hums as she boils the water, scattering leaves with effortless precision. I wonder, vacantly, when she learned how to make tea so perfectly. Between studying scripture? Did she even bother to read the books, or did she ace it all while brewing cups upon cups finding the perfect recipe for pink rose tea?

The teapot has been crafted with care, so when the water boils the whistle does not hurt the ears. It sounds more like an ocarina, almost melodic, and yet so distinctly clashing. It must have been tailored to Rose herself. Such conflicting natures- calm, yet studious; unbothered, yet a perfectionist. Such a strange girl.

“Here you are.”

Always a perfect cup. This one is no different- a little sweet, and yet that is perfect for today. Can she read my mind?

“Tell me.”

“Hm?”

“Am I talking to a witch in disguise?”

“And this is because?”

“I’m supposed to believe you get this perfect, every time, including the differences, without reading my mind? Impossible.”

“You’re an open book, Mira darling.”

“Nonsense. Witch.”

“Off to report me?”

“Not even if you pulled a demon out of your skirt.”

Her laugh sounds like out of tune fairy bells. I want to hear more of it; the only thing so addictive is her smile. They come together; a package, the two of them. How nice. I’m addicted to both. Damn witch. Even if she’s never cast a curse in her life, she’s bewitched me; that’s enough, is it not?

“Now then, you’ve come here for a reason, I’m sure.”

“Yes. The new recruits were complaining about something, so I went into the woods to see. There’s a strange plant that almost seems to respond to what you do.”

“Interesting. Moreso than a flytrap?”

“Larger. And a bit more complicated. Thought I saw an eye, though I could be wrong about that in particular.”

“So you say, but you’ll disappoint me if I see no eyes staring at me when we get there.”

Rose puts down her teacup, having only half finished it. The soft clink is so ingrained into my mind, I swear my muscles move in reaction to it.

“Very well then. We leave when?”

“At your discretion.” It’s always her times. I could probably set my own, but what purpose is that? I have cleared my whole day for this; I would clear my whole week if she asked on a whim.

“Now, then?”

“As you wish.”

This, too, is at Rose’s discretion. How long it takes to get there; what pace we set, what mood the day is in. Everything is under Rose’s control; under her spell, just as I am. She is as controlling as Uvirel, I think; except Uvirel has never appeared before us to enforce things, where Rose is very willing to act on her wishes.

The woods are an offshoot of the cathedral, mostly to prevent people from wandering in and discovering something dangerous. The only way for the church to truly protect the land is to own it; naysayers often walk into danger themselves. Sometimes I wonder how anyone can agree with such idiots. Must be idiots themselves, I suppose.

Rose is beautiful. It’s something I don’t often think about- I know it, no need to keep thinking about it. But it never ceases to stun me, just how enchanting she is. In the quiet darkness of the woods, with slivers of light falling through the cracks and onto her hair, she looks like an angel with a halo of light around her; ethereal, and yet so real. I want to touch her, just to make sure she won’t fly away, or dissipate into the light. I won’t bother her.

A witch, maybe. But I’ll let it slide.

We come to the place where I remember the green visage, and I stop Rose before she takes another step.

“Here?”

“Yes.”

“To searching, then.”

It takes no time at all for my hand to be caught by a vine snapping to attention. Within moments Rose is muttering a spell, unbinding me, but her focus is not on my health; instead, she scans the underbrush with a precision befitting a hawk. Suddenly, she sees her target; she lunges with just her bare hands, and quickly gets caught.

My sword is unhooked on a moment’s notice and without hesitation I cleave the vines in two; Rose is almost unbothered, pointing to the source. I am tempted to skewer it to observe, but Rose would perhaps kill me, so instead I slash all its vines so there is no method of attack.

A final vine comes out from behind it, but before I can slice it, the front opens to an eye, staring at me with fear and curiosity.

“Ah. Good, it wasn’t disappointing.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying this, then.”

“Oh, very much so. Studying is nice, but I’ll admit watching you wield a sword is often better.”

With that she walks up, confident as a cat, and starts poking and prodding, making notes in the book that follows her around. The pages never run out; they seem to get lost in the abyss, and I swear she always opens it to the same spot. The eye looks at her with malice; I point the sword straight at it, and back to fear it goes.

After a few hours, she makes a triumphant noise, somewhere between a grunt and a hum.

“Alright. Figured it out. Think it’s bound itself to a rune, and used the magic to gain sentience. It didn’t work quite right, though, or something, and now it’s very barely an animal in the slightest degree.”

“So we are?”

“Hm? Oh. Well it’s not like it can do anything, and if it regrows the vines then whoever’s coming here should be more careful.”

“Very well. I’ll use it as training for the cadets.”

“Oh, do invite me. I would love to watch that.”

“Of course.”

As we walk back to the cathedral, I can’t help but wonder where the second eye went.

A few days later, and we are adventuring again. The days between are calm; sometimes I come simply to drink tea and take a break, others we barely talk at all. Those days I don’t quite care for. There will always be more to research, though, and thus more adventures to take. Worthwhile.

“You’ve come bearing news?”

“Not surprised the witch knows, even when I’ve done nothing to reveal my secrets.”

“Easy to read, Mira darling. I’ve told you that before and I’ll tell you again.”

“That does not change you being a witch.”

“Oh, alright. Now tell me the news.”

“I was swimming and found an underwater cave covered in green, glowing markings. I’ve never seen them before.”

“Interesting.”

The soft clink of china makes my muscles jolt on instinct. It is only luck that I do not look like a fool, much less drop my teacup.

“When are we leaving, then?”

“At your discretion.”

“Now’s a good time as any.”

The beach is very nearly next to the cathedral. I swim in my armor- it has been made waterproof due to those godforsaken salamanders that like to crawl into crevices and bind with the metal, so swimming with it is a matter of strength rather than worry about rust or the like. Rose, the cheater, casts a little spell and she’s floating in a bubble next to me. Witch.

Witch I love to love. I’ll give her that- she’s a damn skilled witch, to have caught such a high-ranking paladin. Or maybe I never actually had any fortitude, and my title is due to my good acting. In either case, I am now her puppet.

There it is, again. Under the sea- so dark compared to the light of the surface- is a strange ring of green lights surrounding a cave. They seem to speak in scripts I don’t recognize, and by her puzzled, inquisitive gaze I suspect Rose hasn’t a clue either.

“This is…otherworldly. What have you found, Mira darling?”

“Is that not your job to find out?”

“Well, it’s not an eel’s lair, I’ll tell you that. Come, let’s go.”

Without a thought she drifts almost lazily into the cavern, gazing at the walls. There are no more markings, but there are metal bits strewn about; I don’t recognize the metal, or any colors, or even the shape. No armor would break like this; what is all this? A damn ship’s remains? Not in a cave like this- no ship could make it here.

As we go further in, there are more metal scraps. At some point, Rose notices something- she dashes to pick it up, and we look at it together. Strange strings- they feel smooth to the touch, and are assorted colors. The insides have very thin metal wire- for what, I wonder? And how are they so thin? Cut with a saw?

“Mira.”

Her voice is soft, serious, in awe. I cannot focus on what she says, like this.

“Yes?”

“This…this cannot be of this world.”

“Yes.”

I can’t quite comprehend what she means. Not fully- I know, literally, what that means. The idea does not register the same way she understands it; such is evident in her absolute awe, compared to my very near boredom. If she wasn’t such a beautiful damn witch I’d leave right now.

Finally, she starts to move again. Slowly, through the tunnel, looking for more strange artifacts. A strange black panel, with the strings come out of it. There is glass on its top; I only know because it is shattered. A little square of some strange material, with a symbol on it- mildly resembling a “k,” but slightly off. Also, backwards.

The silence is ominous. I feel that something is coming; I do not know if it is hostile. Instincts, do not fail me; it feels foreign, as if even when I meet it I will not understand a damn thing. I don’t feel hostility, but that does not mean it will not fight. I must be prepared, but not hostile myself; my sword is in my sheath, but it is unhooked.

Rose is slow and methodical with her movements as we approach a breach in the water. She doesn’t let the bubble pop above the water; she wants to observe. We see more strange, unidentifiable objects. There is no one there, as far as either of us can tell. I know she thinks so, too, as she is slowly approaching.

I don’t know if this area is hostile. She doesn’t, either; I see the fear in her every move, the apprehension in her eyes. She’s about to surface; I can’t let that happen. She’s begging me not to; not with her voice, but with everything else in her body capable of begging. Or maybe I’m just under a spell.

The water splashes loudly with my arrival to the surface. My lungs go from gills to my nose; I cough a few times, still getting used to the fresh air. So clean, too; it gives me a heady feeling, how nice this air is. Perhaps this is another enchantment; perhaps Rose has simply never seen another witch’s magic.

“Zu thrien kra? Li'phren ku shren, hh…. ku'vren?”

“What the hell?” Whispers Rose, but we’re already getting our answer.

A woman- woman? I don’t know- steps out of a turn we didn’t see. Her top half looks normal compared to the bottom- a normal person, almost, except for the teal skin and light colored pupils. And her hair, which blends its colors- a vibrant blue on top, fading to dark at the tips; little teal stars dot it, as though there’s a galaxy within her long, curled mane. There are two crystals on her head like hair clips, the same color but with none of the stars; there is seafoam, or perhaps mist, or something of that nature gathering like a tiara sitting upon her head.

Her coat- which is all she wears- is certainly not from this realm. It has strange patterns on the shoulders, with little gems hanging from it in the same green, glowing hue as the outside markings. Said markings line the bottom of her coat, and the cuffs; they are folded, seemingly but line up perfectly with her outfit. There is a strange dangling link in the center of her chest, connecting the two halves rather than buttons or the like. Three teal crystals hang from it.

And then, her bottom half. Tentacles- too many to count, more than an octopus- similar to her hair, but in reverse; mostly dark, with light-tipped ends.

“…eh? Kali-vr– I mean, offworlders?”

Her voice is deep, and has a strange accent I can’t place.

“Er, this would be home, for you, hm. I am the stranger, yes?”

“I would believe so.”

“Hello, then. My apologies, I don’t know language well. Not many…” She makes wild gestures with her hand, trying to find a word.

“Resources?”

“Hm? Ah. Probably? Not very good with this language, ahaha.”

“That’s alright. I don’t know yours, so I can’t quite blame.”

“Oh, of course. Only the Aaciren know our words. I had forgotten I am on another home right now- another planet.”

“You come from space?”

“Hm? Ah…kind of, yes! Space works, yes. ”

“An alien.” Breathes Rose, as her first words of a century. Her eyes are dumbstruck, and yet hold a curiosity only ever sated by vigorous testing and interrogation. I almost feel bad for this alien woman; I don’t know quite enough to empathize, yet.

“Ah, is that the word for it? In our language it is quite different.”

Suddenly, Rose seems to remember that we are still in water; she shivers, from the temperature. I notice, at about the same time. Even for an underwater cave, this place is strangely cold.

“Ah, apologies! I perfer the chill- er, that is wrong, yes? My, my, silly Orall'vren. Give the guests the warmth, even home that is tradition- that’s not the right words? Hm. Strange language.”

The alien moves about, gathering something from farther in the cave. I look to Rose; all the intrigue is gone from her eyes, and in its place is fear and cold.

I can’t leave her like that. I hold her hand, first; she looks to me, scared, looking for some stability. I haven’t a clue what has given her a fright, but I refuse to keep that look on her face any longer. I gently nudge her into my embrace; she moves, stiffly at first, then practically launches herself into my arms, shivering against my armor. It is warmer than she is, I know this; thank Uvirel for this armor.

By the time the alien comes back, Rose is looking satisfied again. She looks at me once more with a clear thanks in her eyes. There, again, is a third look I am addicted to. Damn witch, casting her charms even now, even here. I will never tire of it.

“Here, here. Blankets are warm.”

The alien doesn’t lie. They are warmer than either of us; we huddle under two like scared kittens rescued from an abusive owner.

Now that we’re safe, Rose looks around curiously. I see the search for knowledge slowly come into her eyes again, like the slow beginning of the rising sun. Everything she looks at she looks more sharply at. She isn’t speaking again, though. Still, her voice escapes her.

“Thank you.”

“Of course, of course! Hospitality is important- that was correct, I am sure of it.”

“May I ask you a question?” Rose, finally , starts to speak to the alien.

“Yes, of course. Ask away! I will answer as best I can in this language.”

“What’s your name?”

“Orall'vren.”

[ariadnelives]

Chapter 21 -- The Dossier

[Missed earlier chapters? Go catch up here! Otherwise, welcome back! Oh, and make sure to join our discord server! Chapter can also be found @ ao3”]

“So, before we start, what did we end up doing with the, uh,” Ariadne asked as the crew filed into the briefing room, “gift from our new friend?”

“The what?” Sweettalk asked.

“The head,” Sasha replied.

“Ah,” Sweettalk said, “don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to, boss.”

“Noted,” Ariadne conceded, “Spacebreather, would you care to catch the crew up on what we learned from Prescott’s dossier?”

Spacebreather nodded. “Our target is The Zealot, and we now know his true name to be Dr. C. Alexander Simon. Archival photos of him match up with the photo we received from La Pesadilla, and our friend ViLaz.” Spacebreather jerked her head in the general direction of a visibly distraught ViLaz. “Much of this information concerns ViLaz directly, so for the sake of her privacy, we will only be sharing details which she has agreed to disclose publicly. Everything else will be kept absolutely need-to-know.”

ViLaz seemed barely able to hold herself together. Tears were welling up in her eyes, which would have come as a surprise to anyone who was paying close attention to her eyes, since one of them was synthetic and no longer should have had the ability to produce tears.

Spacebreather continued, “ViLaz has been raised to believe that Dr. Simon is her biological father. Technically this is true, but not in the sense you’d expect. He is, in fact, her sole biological donor. According to Prescott’s dossier, ViLaz is one of three genetic identicals produced from Dr. Simon’s DNA.”

“So, she’s a clone?” Taryn called out.

Spacebreather wiggled her hand noncommittally. “See, that’s what I said too, I don’t really understand it, but… Ariadne?”

“Well, yes and no,” Ariadne explained. “For lack of a better term, the process used to create them could be described as ‘cloning,’ but it’s important to note that she while her DNA was taken from Dr. Simon, she does not seem to be genetically identical to Dr. Simon himself.”

ViLaz flinched at this.

Ariadne continued, “Prescott’s intel tells us that Dr. Simon’s area of expertise before his theories were discredited and the controversy surrounding his experiment forced him to retire in disgrace was the search for a way to induce biological immortality in humans or, failing that, maintain continuity of consciousness.”

Spacebreather restrained herself from smiling. “And when you finally get her to translate that from nerd, what you basically get is that he wanted to either find a way to make you live forever, or to put your brain in a new body.”

Sweettalk’s hand shot up.

Spacebreather pointed at her. “Not a classroom, ask your question.”

“That doesn’t sound all that controversial, I mean,” she said, “That just sounds like basic medical stuff. Sasha’s whole shtick is cheating death, right?”

“The concept is not what was controversial. The methods, on the other hand…” Ariadne began, glancing over to ViLaz, who was silently crying and hoped no one would notice. Everyone collectively decided to pretend they didn’t, and Ariadne continued, “he was spearheading a project that would allow a dying person to save their consciousness and memories to computer, and then, using the indoctrination tech we learned about from La Pesadilla, eventually download that mind into a new body. In order for the transplant to take, the body would have to be a close blood relative, and it wouldn’t do any good to have the new body die from the same thing as the old one, so the goal of the experiment was to create a genetically engineered clone designed to withstand whatever killed them the last time.”

“Rumor has it, Dr. Simon is not well,” Spacebreather said flatly, “some kind of terminal genetic condition that killed his father, and grandfather, and great-grandfather, and all of his relatives born with a Y-chromosome, in their 40s. Based on ViLaz’s recollection, that’s about how old our Zealot would be right around now. Our belief is that he continued his experiments after he was forced to retire, hoping to create a new host body that wouldn’t fall ill like his original body.”

“Hoping to create, as our Dossier calls it,” Ariadne paused, “a Viable Lazarus.”

The crowd murmured in shock and, again, collectively pretended to not notice ViLaz crying.

“Dear lord,” Sasha whispered, “ViLaz, I’m so—”

“Don’t call me that!” She spat back.

“I’m sorry,” Sasha said quietly, and backed off.

“My visions of the Red God always told me that I was to be his vessel in the material world,” ViLaz explained, wiping her tears off on her sleeve, “he said that my father’s body was too weak and infirm, and that he needed a strong healthy vessel to carry his word to the people.”

“Jesus Christ,” Ariadne said, “the whole time you knew you were being used as an… an organ farm?!”

“The Red God told me I was to be his prophet,” ViLaz replied. “It just all seems a little too coincidental, if the Red God spent all those years telling me to give up control of my body, and now I find out my father created me as a host for himself. It’s… blasphemous that he would use an ancient and beautiful religion just to manipulate people like this.”

There was a fairly stunned silence through the entire hall, which is more or less to be expected whenever someone’s religious beliefs, or lack thereof, suddenly become a central fixture in a conversation where they were not expected. Of course, in most situations, it would simply be a matter of opinion, and most people would simply let it slide rather than get into a theological debate that no one could ever possibly definitively win.

Ariadne had two reasons for not letting this particular statement slide. The first was that she was a very passionate Atheist, and unfortunately had a rather nasty habit of being somewhat condescending when discussing it, especially towards those who still subscribed to the religion she practiced as a young girl. The second, and the much more important reason was that ViLaz’ statement about her religious beliefs was objectively, factually incorrect.

“V— Sugar …” Ariadne caught herself before using the name that would remind ViLaz of her father’s machinations, and knelt down to meet her gaze, “first of all, people have been using religion to manipulate people since the first caveman found a rock to worship. Second, I hate to break this to you, but the Red God cul— church— is not an ancient religion.”

ViLaz looked confused and upset. “What?”

“The earliest written references to it are in the last few years,” Ariadne said, “most of the scripture we’ve gathered just seems like watered down Christian Dogma, we think that’s why he had all those Church documents and artifacts. He was studying the growth of an effective religion so that he could pervert it to his own ends. His servants just told you it was an ancient religion to put the pressure on to do what he wants.”

Something dropped within ViLaz, as though she’d just looked at her entire world from a distance only to realize it was nothing more than a rubber balloon floating five feet in front of her face.

“The Red God really was just him all along, wasn’t he?”

Ariadne sensed that she had perhaps been too blunt, and quickly tried to turn the conversation around. “Come on, let’s get you to the library. Fastwing?”

“Yeah boss?” Alicia asked from somewhere near the end of the crowd.

“Take… our young friend to the library, find her a really good book, read it with her, and help her pick out a new name. I think there’s a lot more to her than just a Viable Lazarus, and I think she deserves a name that captures that.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Alicia said, and walked up to ViLaz. “Come on, babe, let’s get you a nice cocoa too.”

“Cocoa?” She asked as she was ushered out the door.

“Oh man,” Alicia said, “your day is about to get so much better.”

Once they were out of the room, Spacebreather continued the briefing. “The cult, the whole religious aspect, was just a front to get more test subjects. From what ViLaz has been telling us, right now he can only permanently take over one of the clones’ bodies if they consent to the transfer. But, there’s a reason why everybody who goes into the Life Centers seems to come out a suddenly devout missionary.”

Ariadne picked up here, sensing that Pilar didn’t like describing the more technical aspects of the dossier. “With the data Prescott gave us, our best guess is that the Suffering Test they administer at their life center uses the same tech from the Immersion Pods. It overwrites people’s personalities entirely and turns them into mindless zombies who live only to serve the cult. He shows them some horrible vision of the hell they’re going to, and they’re so scared they sign up for the conditioning. I’m assuming that’s how he got the Acolytes to raise ViLaz the way they did, so during our assault on their compound, let’s try to remember that it’s generally unethical to kill the mind-controlled.”

“We think he probably appropriated the name Ariadne for his prophet character in order to capitalize on our legend,” Spacebreather explained, “he probably figured there was no real Ariadne and that it was just some name punk kids gave when they were arrested, and decided that claiming to have the Real Ariadne would bring in lots of new curious people that he could subject to his brainwashing.”

Sweettalk, having taken her earlier admonishment to heart for the first time ever, spoke without raising her hand. “This is all really nice to know, but Prescott promised a Silver Bullet. How does any of this help us take him down?”

“The implants in the clones’ heads are linked to a master unit directly controlled by Dr. Simon. It’s how he was able to make ViLaz see the Red God and—” Ariadne paused for a moment and considered the ramifications of telling a partial truth, then decided to give only the information her crew absolutely needed to know, “It’s how we’re going to find him. All we have to do is reactivate the implant and with a little clever hacking thanks to yours truly, we should be able to pinpoint the other implants it’s linked to and reveal the true location of their compound. We’re going to need time to prepare, and a much larger strike force than we had at the casino. Deathsbane, I’d feel safer if you picked out an apprentice and started showing her the ropes, we’re going to need a medic on the ground and another on call in the ship with Fastwing.”

“Sasha will remain in the ship, her apprentice can join us in the assault.” Pilar said flatly.

“I thought we were past this,” Ariadne sighed, “we got kidnapped and she got arrested last time you—”

“And last time we let her go planetside with us, someone died.”

Sasha turned bright red, which Sweettalk noticed and felt a near-compulsive urge to defend her. “Nobody that mattered! And besides, you can’t possibly blame her for—”

“Do me a favor and shut your goddamn mouth, Sweettalk,” Spacebreather said.

Sweettalk was taken aback, but stood up and tried to stretch to Pilar’s height. “What did you just say to me?”

Sasha was somewhat stressed. Her sister was wrong, but she still didn’t want to see her get punched, especially not when she already held such a grudge against Sweettalk as it was.

Ariadne desperately wanted to keep the peace, so she attempted reason again. “Remember what Beam said—”

Pilar swung around to face Ariadne and held up her index finger to cut her off. “I… Said… No… End of discussion.”

Spacebreather then stormed out of the room, leaving everyone too stunned to respond.

Sasha stood up. “Thank you for standing up for me,” she said to Sweettalk and started walking toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Sweettalk asked.

“I’m finally standing up for myself.”

[emma-nation]

In My Veins - KamilahxMC Fanfiction (Chapter 1)

Summary: Inspired by Lovestruck’s “Havenfall is For Lovers” (Antonio). Amy is a regular, small-town girl looking for her first job in New York City. When she gets kidnapped by the powerful CEO, Kamilah Sayeed, she’ll have to discover her true goals… before it’s too late.

Genre: Romance

Rating: M

Notes: - English is not my first language, so I apologize for any mistakes - This fanfic is slightly inspired by Lovestruck's story Havenfall Is For Lovers - Antonio, but I intend to make it more interesting and steamier too :P

- I hope you enjoy it, your likes and reviews are always appreciated.

"Do I look good?" Amy asked, examining herself in the mirror. "Amy, please..." Lily complained. "You've asked a million times! You DO look good." She had to be. She used her last savings to buy an appropriate suit for that interview. Rumors said Kamilah Sayeed, Ahmanet Financial's CEO, was hard to impress. "I just want to look professional, you know? I don't want her to think I have zero-experience." "You have zero-experience." "Thanks for reminding me of that," Amy gave her an annoyed look. "Don't worry, Amy," Lily laughed. "You're gonna rock, you'll see." "I hope so, I don't want to return to my hometown." "Yeah, it's about time you start paying rent." "Lily!" Amy turned around to check her outfit one more time. Lily grabbed the magazine she left open on her bed. "So, Kamilah Sayeed?" "Yes. I've been doing a little research about her, you know... To be ready for my interview." Lily examined the article. "Hmmm... She's an influent, powerful CEO and... hot! Really hot!" Amy looked at the picture again. Kamilah didn't reveal anything about her personal life. It was all about her company, Ahmanet Financial, and her career. She was gorgeous, it was true. Something in her eyes, a sparkle of mystery, made her desire that job to get to know more about her. "Well, I better go or I'm going to be late." "Dude, who schedules a job interview at 9 PM? This is so weird." "They said it was the only time Kamilah would be available." Amy prepared to leave the apartment when Lily called her back. "Good luck, Amy," she wrapped her in a tight, long hug. "And be safe." "Thank you, Lil." The subway was scary at night, especially with the recent attacks going on around the city. This is all people would comment about. Amy nervously sat next to a couple in the train wondering if they were regular people, like her, or cold-blooded murderers. In the present days, it was impossible to know. You couldn't trust literally anyone. She accidentally eavesdropped part of their conversation. "There was another attack last night," the young man commented. "Yes, the police said it was caused by a big animal or something," his girlfriend added. "They'll never admit it. They'll never reveal the truth." "Come on, it's only a theory people talk about in the Dark Web." The last part attracted Amy's interest. She approached a little bit more to listen, as they started to whisper. "It's not a theory, okay? They have evidences... Evidences that vampires are secretly running New York City! They're also behind these attacks." Vampires. Amy gasped. She thought they only existed in fiction. At some point, during her teenage years, she secretly wished they were real. Every girl did. They were always portrayed as sexy, compelling characters. Even a little bit romantic sometimes. The train stopped and as she left the station she couldn't help feeling she was being watched. She put her earphones on and tried to distract her mind, focusing her thoughts on the interview. She was just too impressed by the whole vampire conversation, that was it. She finally arrived at Ahmanet Financial's building. "Hi," she walked to the front desk, "I have an interview with Ms. Sayeed. 9 PM." "Ms. Amy Parker?" The receptionist asked. She nodded in confirmation. "Can you wait for a moment? Ms. Sayeed will be ready for you in a few minutes." "Of course." Amy sat on a couch and looked around, examining the Egyptian artifacts on the walls. They somehow fascinated her. Ancient Egypt was her favorite class in college. She tried to remember the meaning behind those symbols. She could use it as an advantage to impress Kamilah. Her mind traveled far away and when she looked at the clock, forty minutes had passed. "Ms. Parker?" The receptionist called. "Yes?" "Ms. Sayeed had an emergency meeting but she'll see you soon." "Okay, I can wait." "Would you like some coffee?" "Please." Slowly sipping her coffee, she recapitulated everything she had read about Kamilah Sayeed and the answers she had prepared for her interview. Suddenly, her eyes started to get heavy and she yawned. "Whoa, this couch is really comfortable," Amy thought. "Maybe I should rest my head a little bit..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amy eyes went wide, she didn't know for how long she had been sleeping. She sat on the bed, her head was spinning and she felt nauseous. She studied the room. That certainly wasn't her bedroom or even her bed. She had no idea where she was. She tried to reach for her cell phone in her pocket but it wasn't there.  She stopped breathing.

"I’ve been kidnapped,” she concluded. “I’m going to die.” 

She wouldn't even have the chance to say goodbye to her parents or Lily. She was about to start crying when: "Finally," someone opened the door, "I was starting to think you were dead." That was Kamilah Sayeed. The elegant, sexy and rich CEO that was supposed to interview Amy. "W-what am I doing here?" She asked, confused. "Where am I?" Amy tried to get up but Kamilah prevented her. "Calm down, darling. You're at my place." "Oh, I'm sorry. But why? Did I pass out or something..." "Sort of," she said. For the first time their eyes met. Kamilah had the most beautiful brown eyes Amy had ever seen. They looked so deep... hypnotizing... "Uhh... I... I should go home," Amy moved away from her. "It must be late. My roommate..." "Darling, wait," Kamilah requested. "Follow me to my office, would you?" "Y-yeah, of course." Still stumbling a little, she followed Kamilah outside the bedroom. Her eyes examined every detail of her mansion in astonishment. It was enormous and well-decorated with luxurious, modern-styled furniture and objects. Kamilah led her to a door near the living room and introduced it as her home office. "Whoa," Amy exclaimed, looking at the garden outside. "This is so amazing!" "It's a nocturnal garden," Kamilah explained. "It's a garden planted entirely with night-blooming flowers. Everything you see opens only at night." "It's beautiful. Do you have any special reasons..." "I'm a botany enthusiast but I can only appreciate it at night." "Right... because you spend most of the day in your company." Kamilah gave her a small smirk in response. "Sit down, please." Amy sat in a comfortable chair in front of her desk, paying attention on her extensive book shelf. Books from many different periods and genres, in at least five different idioms. Her admiration for Kamilah grew a little wider. "Whoa... you..." she opened her mouth in surprise. "Drink?" Kamilah interrupted, pouring some liquor in a glass. "N-no, thanks. I'm still kinda nauseous." Amy looked around expectantly. Everytime her eyes met Kamilah's she felt a funny feeling in her stomach. After a moment in absolute silence, Kamilah handed her some papers and a pen. "What is that?" Amy wanted to know. "A contract." "But... what about my interview?" "Read carefully, please." Amy studied the first few paragraphs of the contract. It had nothing to do with Ahmanet Financial or her job as assistant. One of the lines clearly stated she voluntarily agreed to give all her blood to Kamilah Sayeed. "Ms. Sayeed? There's something wrong with this contract..." she spoke. "It says that by signing it I'm giving you total ownership over my blood!" "For research purposes, yes." "I don't understand. What does it have to do with the assistant position?" "Nothing, darling. I don't really need you, I need your blood." "H-How much?" Amy stiffened a little bit. "All of it." "Okay, I'm getting out of here!" Amy got up, running as fast as she could directly to the front door. Suddently, a shadow passed right through her, blocking her path. "You're not going anywhere," Kamilah held her with an impressive strength. "I-I..." Amy looked up and something had changed in her face. Her gorgeous brown eyes had been replaced by a red and cold gaze. "You're not going anywhere!" Amy noticed two sharp, pointed teeth showing behind her lips. "Y-you're a..." "It didn't take long for you to figure out, huh?!" "P-please... don't kill me..." Amy cried. "I have family, you know?" "I know and if you had finished reading my contract you'd see I'm willing to provide them everything they need." "You're monster!" Amy struggled to escape from her arms but she couldn't. Kamilah was too strong. "You don't understand..." she complained. For a second, Amy could swear there was some sadness in her words. "Please... let me go..." Amy begged as Kamilah dragged her by the arm through her mansion. "I can't," Kamilah placed inside the bedroom again. "You'll stay here until you decide to sign my contract." She slammed the door. A click suggested she also locked it. "No! Wait!" Amy desperately knocked, sobbing and screaming. She insisted for hours, until her all strength was gone and she fell down on her knees. Lily was her only hope now. How long would take for her to notice her disappearance and inform the police?

[themclovenlegacy]

In light of the new Nathema update, I’ve decided to write a fic about Oddosal and his future husband Theron.

Side note: this fic has absolutely nothing to do with the new update, it just about a moment in time between these two sometime after Ziost. I haven’t written in a long time so…its probably gonna be bad. I don't care though, cuz this is my third post and its 2;30 in the morning. ill be less weird in the morning.

Here it is...

Theron stared out the window and over the horizon of Tatooine, admiring the view of the two suns as they set at dust. He closed his eyes as the peace he didn’t know he was missing settled over him. It had been a long time since he felt this way, or ever if he remembered correctly. But he had here, even if here was actually the stronghold of one of the most powerful Sith in Empire.

It had been months since he had last seen Oddosal. Since Ziost, it had been difficult to keep up with him. He had been put on leave for his actions and that left him under near constant surveillance when he was at the office. Well, he wasn't proud at what he done back then, but he thought it was a good idea at the time. Anything to protect the Republic from the emperor, right.

What surprised him though was Oddosal and his behavior in those last moments he was with him. Being an imperial citizen and a member of the Dark Council, it would be wise for him to look for different ways to improve the Empire and stop the Emperor and, though he hated to admit it, that could have been possible if he had taken Master Surro with him to do, what he knew to be, an intense and intrusive experiment on her mind to find information. Instead, he let her go with him. He know Lana was seething, and beside her complaint when he was there, he wasn't sure if she would dare to question him twice after he left.

One thing he did know was that Odd’s wasn’t like any Sith he had ever met before, or probably would ever meet again.

Which lead him to his current position. After months of administrative leave, then returning to the field with the condition that he would have to routinely check in with a partner, he was allowed more freedom. He’d be ashamed to admit it but one of the first things he did was check up on his not-so-lover. He even fiddled with the communicator he receive upon their last meeting on Yavin 4, wondering what it would be like if he actually used it, even though he should have did the right thing and turned it over to be tracked and possibly used to help the Republic.

After several weeks of this, he decided that using caution wasn't one of his strong points anyway and the worst that could happen was...well...he’d rather not think about it. So, while relaxing in his private quarters on Coruscant, making sure no one would drop in and hear anything, he type in the frequency and waited for someone to answer. He was surprised someone picked up, and even more so when he saw who it was.

Staring back at him was Cipher Nine, a legend and a ghost even in the Republic. Their eyes met, her red ones to his green, her expression clearly bemused.

“Theron Shan?” she said quizzically.

“Uh…”

All of a sudden, her eyes widen incredulously before she started laughing, her blue face flushing in amusement. He watch in confusion as she wiped the tears from her eyes from laughing so hard. When she spoke again, she let out little chuckles to herself.

“I can’t believe...she was...I thought he was insane...but here you are...and...I owe her hundred credits now,” she muttered out. Clearly whatever she was talking about involved him and possibly a bet.

“Uh...I think I have to wrong frequency. I’ll just…,” he paused, rubbing his forehead nervously.

“No, No. This is the right one. Shaynasa gave you this holo, right” she questioned? All he could do was nodded.

“Then you got it right. You’re probably wondering why it called me in the first place. Well long story short, Me, Shay, Oddosal have worked together for a while so I owe them.” Theron just stared wide-eyed.

“Soooo, I’m guessing you wanna meet up with him then. Missing those muscled arms at night? That burning gaze? That tall sta…”

“Ok I get it,” Theron rubbed his redden face with a sigh as she snickered, “Normally, I would want to know how he got someone who literally doesn’t exist anymore to work with him, but I'm not really surprised by it. So, since we’re here, I wanna...uh.”

“See him.”

“...Possibly.”

“Well, Possibly, I have news for you. He wants to see you just as bad so you're in luck. You’re not the only one who’s been keeping tabs on their significant other. Odd can’t stand not knowing you’re ok. For a man so powerful and lived the type of carefree lifestyle he had before, it's a wonder he commits so much time to your wellbeing,” she shrugs.

He was speechless. Just knowing that he wasn't the only one looking out for whatever they had left him feeling funny inside.

“Since this is happening, I have one thing to clear up first,” she continued on. Suddenly, her eyes harden and she spoke icily, “Should you do anything to hurt him in any kind of way, you will regret it. You got that?”

All he could do was nod his head in shock and agreement.

“Good, now let get you two lovebirds in the same room.”

After some weird planning, it was decided that Tatooine, due to their laxer laws would be the place to meet. Theron wasn't so sure about how they were going to get him there and since there wasn't many missions coming out of Tatooine right now, he didn't want to look suspicious asking about it.

“Let me handle that,” the cipher had said with an ominous grin.

Theron really didn’t believe anything would come of that call. How was she gonna get him alone Tatooine? He had his doubts, but not even a week later he was on a ship to Tatooine. The director apparently just learned of a contact, a bounty hunter who worked with someone under the dark council who had information exchange for safety. Usually the director didn’t go for missions like this, but whatever the information was it’s important and it was a time sensitive mission and he was suddenly the only available person that could go. However, the director informed him during the trip over, due to the planets mostly uncharted nature, he was instructed that communication would be limited to priority and emergency call only.

So there he was on a speeder to an undisclosed location where upon his arrival met his next surprise. A blaster pointed at his face. He followed the blaster up the arm and to the blue face of the renowned Great Hunter. They stared at each other for a moment from she rolled her red eyes and holstered her blaster.

“If you were a bounty right now, you’d be dead. My sister said you were reckless, but for a spy, I didn’t think you’d be this stupid too.”

“Uh…”

“Love makes you dumb, yeah yeah. No time for small talk, I'm on hunting vacation with my husband and my little sister is lucky I kind of like her a little. Now move.”

Theron didn’t time to respond as he pushed onto another speeder and they sped away.

Once they arrived she gave him the passcode and unlocked security for him.

“Big Bad won’t be here for a few more hours, so get comfortable. Also should you decide to explore, don’t go into the big dome building, Shay keeps her pets there and some are mean. Some rooms are private so they’ll be locked. Need anything ask the droids. Bye.”

With that as quick as she was here, she was gone, leaving him alone.

Leaning over the lounge couch lining along the walls, he continued to watch the beauty in the sky. Since he’d gotten here, he’d roamed the surrounding area, steering clear of the dome when he heard a loud roar. Most rooms were locked, but some that weren’t contained bedrooms suites or libraries and artifacts.

Upon returning to the lounging area, he marveled at the fact that there was no sand in this area even with the open outlook in front of him. He discovered that due to some type of tech, perhaps a field generator?, nothing came in or fall out of the area. He tested this by tossing a pebble at it. He was about to try again, but a droid abruptly appeared and  ‘politely’ reminded him some places are hard to clean and would appreciate it if him stopped.

So he just relaxed and finished up on some work he had been putting off. Some time later, he heard the locks disengage and the door slide open. He looked up and saw Oddosal, Shaynasa and his crew enter. Oddosal paused by the door as his crew mates wandered off towards their quarters. As the crew entered the elevator to the lower levels, Shay smirked and winked at him as the door slide closed.

Finally after months without seeing each other, they were finally alone. Theron stood from his seat and stared at Oddosal, before looking down at his feet. He looked back up to say something and stepped back, almost falling back down into his seat, as Oddosal was suddenly standing in front of him, eyes baring down at him. They stared at each other, studying each other’s faces. Theron realized that Odd’s eyes were more a burnt orange now then the blazing yellow they were when he last saw him.

“I…” Theron started.

Suddenly, Theron’s lips were captured in a hungry kiss and he was lifted up into strong arms. He wrapped his arms around Odd’s neck and legs around his hips as he was carried across the room to an adjacent one. As he the door slid open and closed behind them, he decided they could talk later.

***

Theron slowly blinked his eyes open at the sound of a holo beeping. He heard a groan behind him, before an arm stretched over him and cut it off. The room return to silence as Odd nuzzled back into him. He sighed and closed eyes again, comforted by the arm thrown over his waist.

“Sorry, alarm,” Odd mumbled into his neck. Theron just smiled sleepily.

“I wish we can be like this more,” he sighed as he turned around in Oddosal’s arms, rubbing across his bare chest. Oddosal grinned and leaned over to kiss him. They both hummed at the kiss before they pulled apart.

“This is really weird for me.” Theron said. “I’m not use to whatever this is between us. I don’t know...I mean... I…”

He was silenced by a peck on the lips.

“Let’s just spend what time we have together. No worries, no Empire, no Republic. Just us. We aren’t here for either of those things so let’s just enjoy where we are for now,” Oddosal whispered into his neck before nipping at it.

Theron moaned softly and just stared up at the ceiling as Oddosal buried into his neck pressing more kisses there.

“You’re weird.”

Oddosal just laughed and rolled on top of him, kissing him into submission. Theron just closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Odd’s neck as he worked his way down his chest. Well, if something goes wrong he’ll deal with it later. He’s here now so he’s just going to enjoy this time he has. Though, he should probably worry about what he was going to tell the director now.

“Ouch!” Theron looked at Odd as he pull away from him with a deadpan stare.

“You’re thinking too much again.” he said, kissing him after. Theron gripped the back of his head as they kissed hungrily. Theron thought, ‘yeah, he was’ and let his mind go blank.

[magnoliasinbloom]

Someone to Stay - AU

Previous chapters

Chapter 4

At noon, Claire found a spare moment to grab her mobile and text Geillis, on the off chance that she would be on break too. 

traitor. what did u say to him about me?

She waited a full twenty minutes before the phone buzzed in reply.

technically, nothing. i told Rupert, ye ken? ;)

what did u say specifically to Rupert then?

oh, only that you workd at the University College Hospital A&E, 235 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BU. ur lucky i didn’t give him your home address. 

Claire gripped the phone, mildly wishing it were Geillis’s neck. So throttling it was, not hugging as previously considered.

well, he showed up here. chased frnk away, as it were, nice surprise. and he asked me out for coffee.

!!!!!!!!!!!! :O :O

TECHNICALLY, dinner, but i’m afraid i can only do coffee. For now.

claire, i must get back to wk, but i am calling you later. don’t even think about not taking my call. OK?!?!?!!!

Claire allowed herself a small grin. alright, we’ll talk later.

She put her phone away, but it buzzed one more time.

u must name one of ur future bairns after me!

Claire stuffed the wretched thing in her pocket and walked away, leaving all thought of blue-eyed, red-haired children behind.

_______________________________________________________________________

The lavender sweater hung inside her locker, while Claire just stared at it. It was 5:45, and Jamie was due in fifteen minutes. Should she change out of her scrubs, put a bit of makeup on, or just stroll out in her nurse-wear, tennis shoes, and tangled curls?

“Why am I even debating this?” Claire muttered to herself, before slamming the locker door shut with a clang. After washing her hands at the sink, she pulled a hair tie out of her purse, making a messy bun on the top of her head. If Jamie was the sort of man that cared much about a woman’s appearance, then she wouldn’t want to go out with him after this anyway.

In her navy pea coat, Claire stepped out of the hospital, bundling herself against the chill in the air. At six on the dot, Jamie turned the corner, in a simple white t-shirt, jeans, and that damnable leather jacket. Noticing Claire immediately, his face broke out in a sunny grin; he came right up to her and gave her a brief peck on the cheek.

“Hello, Claire. I’m glad to see ye didna change yer mind.”

“Hi, Jamie,” Claire managed, still a little stunned at his greeting. “I almost did, just now, wishing I had worn something else. You look very… well, James Dean comes to mind.”

He laughed, deep bass and staccato. “Ye look lovely. I’d love for people to see I’m out with a  doctor.”

“I’m not a doctor,” Claire amended with a smile.

“Not yet.” Jamie extended his hand toward the street. “Shall we?”

That hand found its way to the small of her back, there but not touching, and Claire did not know what to make of it. She imagined it was him not pushing himself on her, letting her take the lead—and she liked him for it.

In shy, comfortable silence, Claire walked them to a nearby café she frequented with the other nurses. They sat across from each other and ordered from the waitress, black decaf for her, and cream and sugar for Jamie.

“Could we get some scones with clotted cream please?” Claire asked. The server nodded with a smile and swept away to fetch a plate. “They’re absolute heaven,” she explained to Jamie, helping herself to a steaming scone.

“Did ye eat properly today?” Jamie probed. “Seems like they work ye to the bone.” 

Claire smiled. “I had a sandwich from the hospital cafeteria.”

“I’ll no’ have ye go hungry. Please, let’s order something more.” He raised his hand to signal their server, but Claire brought it back down. A tingle shot across her skin and she withdrew hastily. 

“Perhaps later.” So you are considering a ‘later’, a voice piped up in her mind. Claire shut down this inner monologue with a long sip from her cup.

“So Claire…” Jamie brushed his hand against the back of his neck; this was a gesture she had seen before and thought oddly endearing. “I’d like to apologize for asking yer friend Geillis for information on where to contact ye.”

“Oh.” Claire blinked. “There’s no need really.”

“She told me ye changed yer number ye see,” Jamie continued, with red-tipped ears. “And I certainly wasna goin’ to show up unannounced at yer doorstep.”

“It’s fine. It’s nice to see you again.” She looked down at the table and breathed deeply. “I guess you should know what took me to that bar in the first place, weeks ago.”

“Only if ye care to tell me. I assumed Frank did something bad.” He stirred another sugar in with a nod for her to continue—if she wanted to.

“Frank cheated.” Claire swallowed hard. “I caught him in the act, you know—” here Jamie winced in sympathy—“and I fled to Edinburgh to see a friendly face. Geillis helped me drown my sorrows.” 

“And then, like a wee idiot, I asked ye backstage and you thought I wanted—“

“I admit, I was a bit flattered.” Claire grinned, remembering. “Mostly annoyed though.” 

“Were ye?” Jamie’s eyes gleamed, teasing. His hand lay close to hers on the table. Her fingers twitched involuntarily, and she took the spoon off the saucer instead. The waitress refilled their cups and lay down a fresh plate of scones.

“A bit.” Claire inhaled the sugary yeast of the bread, the sharpness of the coffee, and the spicy scent that was him. “It’s been a month. And you were right, it’s still raw and hurting. Less than yesterday, but more than tomorrow.” She tried to keep the bitterness from her tone, and almost succeeded. Her eyes met his honest, open gaze and she thought he understood.

“I suppose that’s how it goes. One day at a time.” Jamie squeezed her hand briefly, unawares, and too soon let go.

Flustered, she bit into a warm scone and licked the crumbs off her lips. “Tell me about your tour, then. Seemed like an awful lot of cities in such a short time.”

“It was hellish betimes, lass. It helps that we are all genuinely good mates and we love what we do. Ian’s my brother-in-law, ye ken?”

“I didn’t! He married your…?”

“Sister. Jenny. I’m an uncle four times over. They’ve managed to carry on despite the long distance.” Jamie’s blue eyes sparkled in remembrance of his nieces and nephews.

Claire smiled and raised her cup to the mysterious Jenny. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

“Aye, and abstinence too, apparently.” The Scottish burr of rolling r’s ensnared her into a feeling of warmth and security long forgotten. Claire laughed, and it felt good to laugh, openly and truthfully, cleansing her heart.

Jamie took a bite of a scone liberally spread with cream. “Ian’s always been by my side. We’re childhood friends, and wi’ Jenny always about, it only seemed natural for them to get marrit.” When he spoke with emotion, his accent got thicker, she noticed.

“And the rest of the band?”

“Cousins. And our manager is our uncle, Murtagh,” said Jamie.

“All in the family indeed. And why music? Don’t get me wrong, you’re very talented,” Claire clarified as Jamie cleared his throat in amusement.

“Even though ye had never heard of us before?” His eyes gleamed with humor.

“Geillis would have told you, of course.” Claire blushed.

“Weel, my da took me to a concert when I was eight years old, to see U2. They played in Edinburgh at Murrayfield Stadium. The first notes began and it was puir magic—how everyone responded and I thought, I want that someday.”

Another comfortable silence stretched between them. The sky outside had darkened rapidly into November night. Small flakes were falling; they melted as soon as they brushed against the window. It had been an hour—or perhaps two, Claire wasn’t keeping track, to be honest—and even more surprisingly, she didn’t want to leave.

“And ye, why nursing?”

“I suppose I like helping people. I was always fascinated by the first aid tent at Uncle Lamb’s expeditions and digs. He was an archaeologist. I had a most unusual upbringing.” Claire grinned into the dregs of her coffee when Jamie looked taken aback. “I know how to dig latrines and light fires and the proper procedure for cataloguing priceless ancient artifacts.

“But it was healing that attracted me. When men from the dig would come in, hurt or sick, and I could help do something for them. And I hope to continue doing that, when—if—I get into medical school.”

Jamie tapped her hand with a long finger. “So ye are plannin’ to be a doctor! I knew it! It’s a relief, bein’ certain about what it is we want to do in life, isn’t it?”

“Frank always said he was jealous, that I’d always known what my calling was,” Claire said. “He wasn’t always an arse.”

The waitress came over with the check and an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry to toss you out, but we’re closing soon. Would you mind cashing out with me? You don’t have to leave yet, though.” Jamie gave her a dazzling smile and pulled a £20 note.

Noting Claire’s glance at the bill—far too much for what they had consumed, even with tip—Jamie explained, “I always felt guilty about spending hours and hours at cafés in Scotland and only drinkin’ water. Now that I can, I like to make it up to others.” He put the money on the small tray and told the waitress to keep the change.

That brought to mind their previous coffee encounter. “If the tour’s over, why are you in London then?” Claire asked.

“Och, I live here,” Jamie answered.

“I thought you said you lived on your family’s farm, Lolling- something?” Claire said, confused.

“Lallybroch,” Jamie corrected gently. “Aye, that’s home, but not where I live. Verra important distinction.” He tried to wink, but was apparently incapable of it; he managed to blink with both eyes and nod at the same time, which made Claire burst out laughing again.

Seizing her hand suddenly, he looked eagerly into her eyes. “A friend of ours, Hugh, owns a bar here, Duke’s. He’s asked us to play this weekend, and we said yes, as a surprise for his patrons. He’s a good lad, he gave us one of our biggest breaks early on.”

Claire sat unmoving, staring distractedly at their hands together and trying not to notice that tingling sensation that seemed to develop whenever their skin came into contact. Trying not to get caught in the intense azure of his gaze which she was studiously ignoring. If she looked, she would say yes. Yes to anything he suggested or wanted. And it felt like too much, too soon.

“Jamie—” 

“Come. Please. I’d really love for ye to be there, Claire. Bring Geillis if ye like—I know Rupert would.”

“I don’t know.” Don’t do this. Don’t do this to me. “It seems complicated. I mean, you’re James bleeding rock-star Fraser and you seem all kinds of perfect. I can’t deny you’re attractive. That I’m attracted to you.” Just say it. “I’m drawn to you—this—whatever this is. But my head… it’s not there yet.”

Jamie’s thumb circled her palm, eliciting uninvited sparks. “And yer heart?”

Claire flushed red. “Oh, Jamie.”

“I’d like to try for it. As long as it takes. I’ll be here—you can have whatever you need from me. I’ll wait, Claire. I’ll stay.”