#(slightly disappointed i missed imperial march) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hungrywhovianjedi · 4 years ago

Text

Twin Moons

read also on my AO3 and my FF.net read the rest here prologue chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Premise of the story: Obi-Wan never took Luke to Tatooine in fact they overshot the force forsaken dustball completely and instead Luke grew up on the planet Lothal being trained to become a Jedi like his father before him. Ezra Bridger is an orphan loner who only makes an exception to his solitude for one boy. The boy who helped him out when he was seven, and that Ezra always seems to get into trouble.

NOW FOR THE BIG REVEAL The cover of Twin Moons art is by the amazingly talented @sunflova

He took it all back, when he said Luke was more like his mother he took it back, as he looked through the wreckage that was a speeder bike and tie fighter he admitted it. He raised another Anakin. Yet another Skywalker with a reckless streak that caused chaos wherever he went. This level of Reckless he hadn't seen in fifteen years!

He knew Luke was alive, despite his initial panic, he could still feel the steady if dull connection between them, and had felt the fear when Luke noticed he was starting to lose his sense of his mentor in the force.

More concerning was still the cold weight that had settled over Lothal, only that coldness made him glad Luke was not on this planet right now, a shadow had come to land on this planet, and it was better that Luke not encounter it.

Feeling this darkness was like being pushed back in time, the worst night of his life. He was suddenly facing Anakin on Mustafar. He didn't know what brought him here, but Vader was on Lothal, and Ben was prepared for the worst.

Although preferably he would avoid his former apprentice completely, and find a ship to follow Luke off the planet. He knew the boy was frightened, could feel it in their bond. He sent a wordless reassurance through the force, and only hoped Luke would receive it.

~~~~~~~

Anger burned through him, a red hot flame cutting through everything. The first thing he gets told upon landing is of incompetence. An entire shipment of arms lost to, as the reports and security footage said, two smugglers and children. He watched again the footage showed two young boys jumping a median on a stolen speeder. His eyes were drawn again to the boy driving a halo of golden hair, and a stern set to his mouth. There was something deeply familiar about the boy, but he couldn't place it.

"Get me agent Kallus" He ordered, then after a moment of thought, "and bring me the sorry excuse of a commander that claims to be in charge of this battalion"

"Yes sir!" The trooper by the door saluted, and marched through the door.

Stormtroopers, he sneered at the thought, he missed the Clones, he never had mishaps like this when he commanded the 501st. The Clones would have deftly handled the thieves, and he wouldn't have to get ISB involved. However the Clones were made dispensable, their advanced aging process taking its toll, and they were all but broken down shells now. They kept a few on to train legions of troopers, but otherwise they were dead or AWOL. One of these was his once Captain and Friend CT7567 Rex. He was disappointed when he heard that Rex's ship went down.

To this day he still got the pang in his chest about the reality of that day. Ahsoka… Rex wasn't the only friend he lost then.

"Good luck" the last words spoken between them, he would never forget the pain of finding her saber in the wreckage of that venator, knowing that he inadvertently caused her demise.

He clenched his fist, what was wrong with him? Why was he being haunted by the past of Anakin Skywalker after all these years, it was like something on this planet was pulling all of the things that he had buried to the surface. It all began with that presence, like a light in the darkness so much like Padmè it hurt.

"My lord" the voice pulled the sith lord from his thoughts.

He turned to face the men who entered, "Agent Kallus, Commander Arescko. It has been brought to my attention that the afternoon's fiasco, was in fact not the first of such disturbances to happen under your watchful eye, and yet these thieves, remain unapprehended"

Arescko swallowed, visibly uncomfortable with facing Vader. "My Lord, these brigands knew our protocol, and were waiting in position"

Vader folded his arms, "so it was your protocol to have a secured imperial comm unit stolen? Or was it your protocol that caused several casualties, and the loss of thousands of credits worth of stolen firepower? The fact is Commander, if you had been diligent in your duties these brigands would not have had the chance to ambush your troops. Reports across Lothal have spoken of this crew, and yet you did nothing to prepare your men for the inevitable attack"

The commander shook, trying to remain calm. He knew of Vader's reputation, and what usually happened to those who dissatisfied him. "I assure you my lord-"his words cut off sharply into choking gasps.

"I will not abide incompetence commander"

Kallus shifted uncomfortably as the commander's choked breathing faded, and Vader dropped the man to the ground. Kallus did not check if the man was still alive, he was certain that Vader would not have released him if that was the case.

"Agent Kallus, do you know what these attacks suggest?"

"Yes My Lord. The Imperial security bureau pays attention to patterns, and this is shaping to form a spark of rebellion" he stood at attention, not wavering under the gaze of Darth Vader, "I assure you, since being deployed here, I have made preparations for the next strike these would be rebels make. I have set up a trap for them. We will crush this spark of rebellion"

"See that you do" Vader replied tersely, "and when you do, the boy on those tapes, bring him to me alive. There is something familiar about him"

Kallus saluted and walked out.

~~~~~~~

Space… they were in space, force knows how far away from Lothal, Luke could barely sense Ben in his mind, and it unnerved him. Ben was the constant in his life. Since as long as he remembered it was him and Ben. Going to the market, meditation training together, exploring the mountains of Lothal, training with his saber, each time Ben was there. His absence was like a cold dark spot in his mind. After watching the hyperspace jump, the man, who finally introduced himself as Kanan, had taken him to the cockpit where he met the pilot, Hera.

He had to admit, he admired Hera's courage, facing down the Empire in an old freighter, and he was set slightly at ease when the Twilek told him they would be returning to Lothal as soon as she could calculate the next jump.

"Let me go! You can't keep me here, take us back to Lothal!" Ezra bellowed as Zeb hauled him into the cockpit.

Luke looked back to his friend and saw the noted relief the other boy showed.

"Relax, that's exactly what we're doing" Hera's voice held an edge of humor.

Ezra looked panicked, "wait, now? With the Empire chasing us?"

Luke spoke up then, "it's okay Ez, she lost the fighters" he looked up at Hera, "she's an amazing pilot"

The woman seemed pleased with his praise, "like the kid said, we lost the fighters when we jumped and the ghost can scramble its signature so they can't track us when we return"

"Oh, that's pretty cool" Ezra looked stunned, but like always shook it off, and smirked, "alright, so just drop me, Luke and our blasters off outside of capital city"

The door slid open, Kanan and Sabine walking in

"They're not your blasters" Sabine stated, brushing past Ezra, shooting Luke a quick smile.

"And we're not going back to Capital City, jobs not done." Kanan finished.

Luke bit his lip, Hera hadn't mentioned that they weren't being taken back home, "We're not?"

Hera shook her head, "we have a deadline to meet, then we'll get both of you back where you belong if that's still what you want"

Luke nodded, he really did, he missed his uncle, and he only hoped where they landed was close enough for him to reach Ben again.

~~~~~~

Ezra was fuming, how dare these people refuse to bring them home! He didn't care about their job, he wanted his blasters so he could sell them on the black market and have a little cash to live off of, then there was the fact that Luke was acting weird.

The blonde was usually so happy and talkative, he had barely said a word since they jumped onto this ship seeming almost fearful of the crew.

Then there were these people they treated Luke like some lost little kid, and him? They treated him like a common Loth-rat he hated it. Ezra wanted to go home, wanted his best friend back, and never wanted to see this ship again!

He sat in one of the bucket seats in the cockpit, Luke in the other, legs pulled to his chest, head bowed and eyes closed. Ezra wondered if he was sleeping.

"We're coming for a landing, you boys want to stretch your legs? We'll be here for a while"

Ezra glanced again at Luke who hadn't even stirred, but he saw a smile on the other boy's face that hadn't been there before. He always marveled at the way Luke could do that, just drop into total relaxation at the drop of a hat, he had seen the boy do it many times, at times it was almost like he was seeing nothing and everything at the same time. Ezra envied the ease with which Luke found peace, and sometimes wished he could be more like him. He knew he was brash and abrasive, but he couldn’t help it. Being the way he was, it was the only thing that allowed him to live on his own. It gave him the aura that kept people from messing with him. Be abrasive and they left you alone. It worked on everyone.

Everyone except Luke it seemed.

~~~~~~

The force surrounded him, he gathered his fear and uncertainty and released it to the force. It took longer this time than usual to find his center and drop into a meditative trance, the alien sounds of the ship invading his thoughts. In the end, he latched onto the familiar. He reached out in the force and found Ezra, the other boys presence, a soothing balm.

Luke breathed in, and out steadily, looking to lose himself in the force. Take his anger release it, his fear release it, his uncertainty release it. He took in a deep breath, and silently repeated the words Ben would tell him as the older man taught Luke to find his place in the force.

Emotion, yet peace

He took the emotions that had been at war in him and pushed them away, they belonged to the force.

Ignorance, yet knowledge

He released the questions that had been hounding him, force willing someday they would be answered, they also belonged to the force.

Passion, yet serenity

He pulled on the peace he found in the force, allowing it to swallow him whole, his passion now belonged to the force.

Chaos, yet harmony

Chaos surrounded him, burning through Zeb and Ezra, Chopper the droid was certainly a character of chaos, but he wouldn't allow it to touch him, his chaos belonged to the force.

Death, yet the force

Like many times he felt the caress of a woman's hand on his cheek, people didn't keep themselves in the force Ben said, but Luke knew he was wrong, in his meditation, he felt his mother, her hand on his skin, her voice in his ear. When he realized what it was, he sought also the touch of his father, but the force had stopped him, a black vortex before him, that threatened to swallow him. He turned from the vortex and released his mothers touch to the force. His life belonged to the force.

Emotion, yet peace

Ignorance, yet knowledge

Passion, yet serenity

Chaos, yet harmony

Death, yet the force

This time like many as he moved through the force, he found a dormant tether, one that neither held taught nor hung loosely, it was formed much like his and Ben's, yet somehow deeper, he tried to follow it once when he was younger, but had only been shown a vision of a young girl looking around in a panic. He tried to speak through the tether once, like he did with Ben, only to be cut off from the bond completely with the force of a psychic scream.

He once asked Ben, who told him it was a connection in the force that he was not yet meant to learn. Luke always wondered who the girl at the other end was, and why she never reached back, but after being cast out, he left it alone.

Finally he reached for the bond that was always there and pulled lightly, almost crying with joy, when he was answered almost instantly.

Luke! Where are you, what happened, are you safe?

I'm safe Ben, I'm in a ship heading back to Lothal, Ezra had a bad plan, we ended up getting chased by Stormtroopers the only way out was to jump on a ship with some smugglers, but I think they're okay…

We will talk about all of that soon, but for now I need you to promise me something Luke, stay where you are. If you are safe with these people, stay with them. Someone has come to Lothal, and it is safer for you to stay away from Capital City.

Ben, I don't understand, why wouldn't you want me to come home?

Luke. I promise, I will explain everything soon. For right now however, I need you to stay there. I will find you it is no longer safe here.

Luke froze, and could feel a stab of ice into his heart, making him lose part of his grasp on the force. It almost felt like somehow someone was probing the bond. No not probing the bond almost consuming it a cold force that reminded him of the swirling darkness that surrounded the spot in the force his father should have been. It was terrifying he had never felt anything like it. The cold threatening to swallow him whole. It blanketed the force around them, and Luke almost pulled away, being calmed only when Ben once more spoke through their bond.

Calm down Luke, remember your training, the force will be with you, and no matter what or however far you stray I will be with you always

Ben I'm frightened

The force has a plan for us Luke, and something tells me it doesn't end here. Remember Luke. I love you as though you are my own son, and I will see you soon, this I promise.

Luke was pulled from his meditation then, a rough hand on his shoulder

"Wake up kid, time to move, grab a crate, pull your weight" Zeb instructed, before he stomped out of the room. Luke looked outside and saw Lothal's twin moons shining through the front window of the ship.

#whovian writes #star wars ff #star wars rebels #star wars original trilogy #skybridger #Luke Skywalker #ezra bridger #kanan jarrus #Obi-Wan Kenobi #hera syndulla #sabine wren #garazeb orrelios #chopper the chaos droid #sunflova #my fic #fanart

51 notes · View notes

jasontoddiefor · 5 years ago

Text

Title: Tuning up your TIE-Fighter to prove you’re better than the bastard currently running the TIE-Fighter Program for fun and profit

Summary: As a rule, Vader did not really do anything with his social media account, but then the rant of some kid from Tatooine about the inefficiency of TIE Fighters began trending, the pilots and engineers on the Devastator started fixing their ships and Vader got invested.

AN: This fanfic is almost 7.000 words long do yourself a favor and go read it on AO3.

“Why are all the engineers tearing through the ships?” Vader asked the officer in charge.

Truthfully, they hadn’t been sent on a campaign lately, but the Emperor liked to whimsically assign Vader and his ship to pointless random battles, so they always had to be prepared to head into combat and couldn’t afford all their Fighters to be in repair. Frankly speaking, most of the TIEs never saw any repairs. They were just scrapped and demolished. He supposed he should be glad his mechanics had enough sense not to start working on all ships simultaneously.

“They are fixing the life support and shielding of the TIEs, my Lord.”

The what.

“The TIE-Fighters don’t have deflector shielding,” Vader stated.

The Head Engineer nodded nervously and stood up straight. Vader hadn’t picked them for nothing. Their predecessor had been a weak sucker-up who had seen it fit to either doesn’t inform Vader about crucial decisions and changes or had bothered him about every little detail. This new one knew how to do their job or at least it had seemed like it up until now.

“We are aware, my Lord. But there was this video explaining how to easily make some changes to the TIEs and I saw it fit to ensure we reduce our damages,” they replied.

“What video?”

The Head Engineer fetched a datapad from the nearest table and searched through a couple files until they opened one, revealing a video. It appeared to have been posted on the holonet one and a half weeks ago and already had an impress number of views and comments. The entire video was several hours long, and had gained a few Reaction Videos as well.

The thumbnail showed a blonde boy, roughly fifteen if Vader were to guess, wearing a half undone overall and a tank top, standing next to a slightly older boy and an assassination droid, a severely damaged TIE-Fighter lying in the sands behind them.

Vader hit play.

The video started, showing the blond boy of before sitting in a makeshift workshop, a pair of goggles lying around his neck.

“Welcome to another episode of Scrap Hunting,” the teenager in the video said. He took a sip of water from the metallic canteen he was holding, drinking slow and carefully the way only a desert dweller did. “A couple weeks ago some sleemo commented that I’d never be able to improve any Imperial ships since I’m just Outer Rim trash.”

The boy took another sip, then set his canteen aside to reach for some parts that looked like they belonged to a half-finished droid.

“And I suppose you did have a point that the things I fix won’t ever reach the level of an Imperial TIE because I wouldn’t build such trash in the first place.”

The teenager’s face was fairly blank, but laughter could be heard coming from whoever was behind the camera, likely the other boy.

“So, to prove that I can do better, I sold a lot of speeders, ships and droids, repaired more terrible freighters than I can count, won several totally legal races and placed a couple of very fortunate bets in the palace of Jabba.”

The boy paused, then he smiled widely and, together with his cameraman, yelled “Boonta Eve Classic Champions!”

When he was done laughing, the boy continued talking. “Anyway, the point is, I made a lot of money to buy a lot of trash.”

The screen turned black and when it returned, it showed the image depicted in the thumbnail. The blond boy climbed on top of the TIE and smiled victoriously.

“So in today’s episode, I’m not only going to prove all you disbelievers wrong, I’m also going to drag the entire Tie-Fighter Program through the sarlacc pit. I’m Luke, the man recording is Biggs, my helper over there is HK-77 and this is Scrap Hunting.”

The first few notes of a song start playing and the channel’s logo, two suns overlaid by a speeder, showed up. The Head Engineer proceeded to stop the video, the screen frozen on the image of the boy grinning mischievously.

“He proceeds to begin to completely overhaul the damaged TIE he bought with alarmingly low cost and high efficiency within a few hours and, frankly speaking, embarrasses me. Some of the things Luke does never occurred to me and it should have, I went to one of Coruscant’s best universities-“

They sighed and put the datapad down. “Either way, we are now making changes to our TIEs. I apologize for not having informed you before, my Lord, but I assumed you’d approve of our Fighters being the most advanced on the field.”

The Head Engineer didn’t look like they regretted their decision, but they had obviously resigned themselves to whatever Vader decided their fate would be. They were loyal to Vader and his command. Vader needed people like them on his crew, not more of the Emperor’s spies.

“You presumed correctly,” Vader said. “Finish outfitting the TIEs you already began taking apart. I will watch the video of this Luke and see what exactly he has to say about the military.”

The Head Engineer saluted. “Yes, Sir! I won’t disappoint you!” Then they turned around and marched over to where the others had stopped working to watch their exchange and told them to get back to work.

Vader, meanwhile, took the datapad and returned to his own rooms. He had a video to watch.

Luke had not planned on becoming famous with a video titled Tuning up your TIE-Fighter to prove you’re better than the bastard currently running the TIE-Fighter Program for fun and profit. In fact, he had never expected any of his videos to gain the kind of following and attention they had even before that particular one. In all honesty, it had just started with him making a recording of how he fixed vaporators without taking them apart completely so his friend Biggs could do it as well. He’d just posted that on the net and kept going. First about droids, some more rambles about ships and a while back he’d finally been allowed to go to the shipyards on his own to earn some extra cash.

But then he had found HK-77 in a dumping ground. The droid had been severely damaged, but not so much that Luke couldn’t fix it. Assassin droids were intelligent, much more than any other ones and Luke could honestly use some extra hands around the farm and when he was repairing speeders. Biggs had recorded bits of Luke working on the droid, cut it together and uploaded it and people had loved it. His videos got more clicks, he got more subscriptions and here he was now.

Usually, Luke didn’t let comments get to him, but one obviously core-world spoiled bastard had discredited Luke’s skills without having any idea how terrible the Empire’s priced Fighters actually were.

“C’mon,” Biggs said, throwing an arm around Luke’s shoulders. “One last project before I leave for the Academy.”

Luke had also been trying his best to avoid thinking about how much he was going to miss his best friend. He wanted to leave with him – though not to be a common TIE-Fighter pilot, Luke wasn’t suicidal – but he couldn’t leave his family behind when they needed him.

“Alright,” Luke agreed, blushing. “Where are we going to get a TIE, though?”

Turned out that a TIE had crashed a while back and a junk dealer had picked it up. Unfortunately, despite its terrible damages, it was really expensive and Luke didn’t have that kind of money. It took a lot of work to scrap it all together – and he had been grounded for a month after winning the Boonta Eve Classic, but being the second human to ever win after Anakin Skywalker, his own father, had been worth it – but in the end Biggs and Luke had poured their funds together and bought the TIE.

And then the fun had started.

Vader sat down at his desk and pulled up the video again. He skipped to the moment the Head Engineer had stopped the video and hit play.

“Okay, first things first,” Luke said. “TIE’s were not made to be repaired. How do I know?”

Luke crawled into the pilot’s seat and opened the panels beneath it. “Because this is where the Empire would store the hyperdrive navigational systems, theft prevention protocols and life support, if the TIEs had any!”

He disappeared beneath the panels and began taking out the machinery, handing it to the HK-77 droid. Tatooine’s junkyards had always been a treasure chest, but finding C-3PO there had been astonishing. An assassination droid was worth much more than a mere protocol droid. Vader would have to check if the boy talked about how he’d acquired it somewhere.

“What kind of moron designs a ship that doesn’t have that?” Luke spoke up, his voice echoing. “I know who. They’re called Sienar Fleet Systems and go back to the Clone Wars.”

Luke stood up, and placatingly held up his hands. “I know, the Empire also made some pretty cool ships. I won’t lie, I’d kill to get my hands on the schematics on the Devastator, but the security of Kuat Drive Yards is too good.”

Luke paused.

“Not that I’d ever attempt to get a better look on them.”

The video zoomed in on Luke’s face and his frankly speaking terrible poker face in what was supposed be a comedic shot. Not many people would have the guts to admit they’d attempted to slice into KDY’s security and Vader doubted it was idiocy on the boy’s part. The youth was interesting and it became apparent rather quickly that he knew what he was talking about. He would certainly make a good asset to Vader’s crew, should he sign up.

“Point is,” Luke continued. “They cut all these extra measures out to lose weight and mass produce these TIEs with the lowest costs possible. However, even out here on Tatooine we’ve got ships with really small and efficient support systems, so I’ll dig through this mess down here and make some space for life support first.”

Luke then pointed on the rather large box standing next to him. “All I need for that is in this box. I uploaded the schematics to my usual server. It’s free to download, but I’d be very thankful if you could leave me a tip because I am broke until I’ve gotten this project done.”

Vader only skimmed through the next hours as Luke was working on taking the TIE’s insides apart. He explained what he was doing more or less coherently. It was clear he was lacking some of the terminological knowledge needed to describe the precise measures he took, but he was a rather efficient worker.

“Not sure yet if I can get my hands on a hyperdrive that won’t blow up on me, but we’ll see,” Luke said during the last minute of the video. “Theft prevention, however, I can work with.”

The video cut again and by now only the last beams of sunlight were illuminating the sands.

“Check this,” Luke said and pulled back his arm, a hydrospanner in hand, and threw it at full strength at the outer shell of the TIE. Upon impact, the TIE began blaring alarms.

“Nailed it,” Luke declared confidently while the HK-77 next to him gave him a thumbs up and presumably his friend behind the camera, held his thumb up in front of the recording as well.

“And this concludes part one of-“ Luke began to speak, only to be interrupted by a man’s shout.

“LUKE SKY-“

“Oh, shit,” Luke muttered, eyes wide. “Stop recording, Biggs, stop-“

The video ended and a couple of suggestions popped up, all with equally unserious titles such as ‘Killing it with a Murderbot’, ‘Repairing a hyperdrive but your arm is broken and All Stars is playing’ and ‘Garbage Summary of Republic/Imperial Ships’. The most recent upload was titled ‘Status Update: Scrap Hunters vs. Guardians.’

Vader decided to play it.

The channel’s introduction started to play against and soon after there was a recording of the black-haired boy playing.

“Hello, fellow Hunters,” the young man said, smiling widely. “I’m Biggs and unfortunately, I have to do today’s video by myself.”

He closed his eyes and in fake serenity added, “I hope you’ll enjoy it despite the lack of our overly bright mechanic and resident murderbot. Don’t worry, I know you’re all not actually watching this for me.”

Biggs sat still as writing appeared in the upper corner. I’m also just here for Luke. Hit me up at @darkestlight if you feel like it.

“Anyway,” Biggs continued and the writing disappeared. “This short video is just an update on our current situation. First of all, we’re super happy to see that so many people enjoyed our newest video. The next parts will be uploaded as soon as we can get our hands on the items we need, which might take a while given that Luke has been grounded from working on the TIE for the foreseeable future. If you have any questions for him though, feel free to drop him a message @skyseekerpilot, he’s still got access to the holonet.”

From out of the camera’s reach, he pulled a piece of flimsi, showing off the account’s name and a small doodle of what Vader assumed was meant to be Luke.

“Written by yours truly,” Biggs said and set the flimsi aside. “We’re thinking of doing a Q&A in the near future to bridge the time between the actual next update. Feel free to send us any kind of question! That being said, don’t miss us too much!”

The video stopped and Vader almost found himself being disappointed. The youth had certainly talked a lot about unimportant things, it was clear that he was a mere aid to Luke. Perhaps contacting the boy about his ideas would be worth it.

Luke was bored out of his mind. Honestly, he hated being grounded. Nothing new to tinker with, only work and endless hours of chores and browsing the holonet. He supposed he could work a little more on his schematics, but he didn’t really feel like it. Sitting down and actually sketching what he was thinking was always the most difficult part of the process. Most of the time, Luke just knew and could figure out what he had to fix. He worked by instinct alone, but that didn’t really help others so he had to write things down properly.

Annoyed, Luke flopped down on his bed again. He hoped that Biggs at least would be allowed to come over again soon. It was just so boring without anyone around.

“I could get rid of the problem,” HK-77 offered from where it was sitting in the corner.

“No, thank you, Hagekay,” Luke replied. “I guess I’ll just check the ‘net again.”

He took out his datapad and began skimming his usual sites. He watched the video Biggs had uploaded and looked a little though all the comments they’d already gotten. Their channel had really blown up in the past days and a lot of people seemed quite eager about the possibility of a Q&A, already shooting off questions. Luke switched over to his page and saw a steady amount of questions and comments come in. A lot of them were rather personal, but one caught his attention.

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick asked:

You pay a great deal of attention to enhancing the pilot’s safety and protection in the events of a crash, but how do you intend to make up for the lesser maneuverability? The added weight will lower the TIE’s speed to 1,112 KPH and in actual combat, the added speed is necessary. If one considers the lack of deflector shields, the TIE becomes much more vulnerable, to a degree that even your additions will not work. I’d like to hear your suggestions as to how you would solve that problem.

Reading the message, Luke began to smile widely. Fighterfan had obviously sat down to do the proper math. Luke, admittedly, had only done some rough calculations but his result had been almost the same and he’d immediately began searching or results.

Easy, he wrote back, grinning like a madman. I add deflector shields and modify a hyperdrive of the Interio Class. ;)

Luke knew that his holonet connection wasn’t exactly the best. There was a reason Biggs was the one who uploaded their content. Sometimes, especially before, during and after sandstorms, Luke could forget doing anything with his datapad. So when he got a reply barely thirty minutes later, he knew that the other person must have replied immediately.

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick replied:

The Interio Class hyperdrives are slow at best and do not work at all at worst. I take it you intend to break it down so far that it cannot actually do a hyperspace jump but still accelerates much faster than any other engine?

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot replied:

Exactly!!! :D Should push the speed back up to 1,200 KPH despite the added weight! I’d also suggest changing the wings to bent-wing solar arrays, but I don’t have the materials for that right now :/

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick replied:

While the flight controls were designed to be intuitive and easy to learn, very few people would be skilled enough to fly a ship with the modifications you are proposing.

Luke smirked. It would be dangerous indeed, but he’d be able to make it. He’d stretch out his senses, feel the vast expanses of space around him, the million planets and stars and he’d rush right past them.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot replied:

I could. :)

Vader hadn’t been sure what to expect of his conversation with Luke. The boy certainly proved that he was bright and clever. Not just intelligent, he knew exactly what his modifications would do to the TIE- Fighter. Despite his excessive need to tag emojis onto his every message and add exclamation marks, actually talking about ships to somebody who couldn’t care less about Imperial regulations was almost enjoyable. The boy’s suggestions were refreshing and unorthodox and a few of them even puzzled Vader for a moment until he was able to follow Luke’s train of thought.

Soon he found himself looking forward to the boy’s messages, even if he couldn’t bring himself to care particularly much about the daily life of a teenage moisture farmer. Unfortunately, he had to admit that he was almost a little annoyed Luke was still a child and therefore couldn’t accept a job offer. Well, Vader would simply have to wait a little longer to get his hands on his next Head Engineer. Until then, messaging him while pretending to listen to some Moffs blab away about the Death Star yet again, would have to suffice.

He had learned nothing but patience in the past years.

“Welcome back to Scrap Hunting!” Luke announced excitedly. “As you can see, I have returned to the land of the living!”

“He’s still grounded,” Biggs said next to him. “I’m just allowed to visit now.”

Luke rolled his eyes and lightheartedly punched his friend into his side. “Don’t make fun of me. I was incredibly lonely.”

Biggs smiled and messed up Luke’s hair in return. “Sure, whatever you say. Anyway! We collected a lot of comments in the meanwhile and decided to do the promised Q&A about ourselves. Luke, if you’d do the honors to read the first question.”

“Sure!”

Luke reached for the datapad in front of them and started it up. He spent a few moments scrolling through it, then stopped and began to read out loud. “For Biggs: In the video repairing Hagekay you said that it keeps threatening you. Does it still do that?”

“All the time,” Biggs replied seriously. He raised his hands in a what-can-you-do kind of way and then dropped them again with a sigh. “Literally. I don’t think this droid likes anyone but Luke and the mouse droid keeping the house clean.”

Biggs frowned and looked around as if he were searching for something. “Where is Emmy? It always seems so eager to clean up after me.”

Luke shrugged. “Maybe got lost in Aunt Beru’s closet again, wouldn’t be the first time. Alright, you do the next question.”

Biggs took the datapad from him and moved on to the next inquiry.

“What the kriff is your title song?” Biggs read, then groaned and buried his head in his hands. “Just let it die please.”

Luke on the other hand immediately jumped up in excitement. “Oh! It’s every fifth note of my favorite song so it doesn’t get taken down for copyright reason. I’ll put a link in the description.”

“Question #3: Where do you live?” Luke stared straight ahead into the camera. “Tatooine, Outer Rim desert world. Do not recommend unless you can survive without a lot of water.”

Beside him, Biggs nodded. “Indeed, not the best place to raise your children. Question number four: Could you upload Hagekay’s original programming?”

The two boys looked at each other and finally shook their heads while staring suspiciously at the camera again. “What could you possibly need the programming of an assassin droid for?”

“Next up: How old are you? And how long have you been working on projects like this?”

Luke frowned and turned to Biggs. “Didn’t we say that before once?”

Biggs only shrugged. “No idea, you talk a lot when you’re working.”

“You love to hear me talk,” Luke replied teasingly. “Well, I’m seventeen and Biggs is nineteen. I’ve been doing repairs on droids for as long as I can think. Speeders and ships are new additions.”

“Same for me,” Biggs said. “You can’t grow up in the middle of nowhere running a moisture farm and not be at least a half-decent mechanic. Okay, next question: What was your favorite project so far? Hmm, I think I enjoyed ‘Hagekay vs Emmy with a viroblade’ the most. You?”

Luke chewed on his lip and paused, deeply lost in thought.

“The TIE-Fighter,” he said eventually. “Even if I wasn’t so sure about it at first. That reminds me! I don’t know how many of you have seen the bits of the conversation that aren’t private, but you should seriously check out Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick. The ship modifications he speaks of are the best and a couple of them will definitely end up in the TIE, credit given, of course. When we’re done with this video, I’ll go right back to replying to your thoughts about navigation systems because I totally agree-“

“Alright, alright,” Biggs interrupted, clasping his hand over Luke’s mouth. “Nerd out with your new best friend somewhere I don’t have to see it.”

Luke huffed and, going by the way Biggs quickly pulled his hand away from his mouth and wiped it on his shirt saying “ewww”, had licked it.

“What are you? Five?” Biggs complained.

Luke laughed. “Compared to your mature six? Alright, next question-“

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

Have you thought about a way to solve the take-off issue yet?

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Noooooo (TT^TT). It’s so stupid, why does anyone design a ship that lacks landing gear? I mean, I get it, these were built for space combat but it just seemed unnecessary that you need an extra start up. What do you do when somebody crashed on a planet? Leave them there????

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

Yes. TIEs are viewed as expendable, due to their cheap production costs, as are their pilots. The Empire prefers quantity over quality.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

That just seems incredibly short-sighted. What kind of person doesn’t go back to save their friends?

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

You are wrongly presuming that TIE-Fighter pilots have friends.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

So you don’t have any friends?

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

What?

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Oh gosh I’m SO SORRY! I didn’t mean that, I just wanted to ask whether you were TIE pilot bc you seem to know the ships so well and I didn’t want to be rude

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

I’m sorry!!!

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Super sorry!

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Honestly, I didn’t mean to insult you. I apologize, I shouldn’t have said that.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Are you still there?

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

Yes. I was stuck in a briefing and couldn’t reply. You mustn’t worry. I do not have any friends, nor do I want them.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Oh, I’m glad I didn’t scare you off and I’m sorry for overreacting. But you really don’t have any friends? Doesn’t that get lonely? Biggs has been gone barely a couple weeks and I’m already going crazy. I miss him a lot.

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

You are too dependent on him, Luke. You do not need him.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

I do! He always had my back, ever since we were small. And even if you don’t want any friends, you can be sure that I will consider you mine. No expectations of course! But I really enjoy talking to you and I have learned so much since we started talking!

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

I have also found our talks to be pleasant.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Yay!!!!

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

TIE Advanced x1

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

What?

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

You wanted to ask me whether I am a TIE-Fighter pilot. I own a TIE Advanced x1

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

WHAT

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

REALLY???? THAT’S SO COOL THEY ONLY STARTED MANUFACTURING THEM LAST YEAR. How fast does it accelerate? Are the stabilizers really that improved? No wait tell me about the hyperdrive which did they go with? Does it use a Class 4.0? I would have built in a Class 7.0 but they’re more expensive and hard to really stop correctly if you’re not like a great pilot ooOOOH WAIT

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

YOU are flying a TIE/AD!!!!!

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU’RE ACTUALLY IN THE IMPERIAL NAVY. Which ship do you serve on??? Please, please, please tell me about the Destroyers I’ve been wanting to compare them to Republic ships since FOREVER but I couldn’t find any good sources pls I’ll pay in an extra special videos

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

Give me a few hours.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

YOU ARE THE BEST!

Vader could not fathom what was wrong with Luke. Nobody wanted to be friends with Darth Vader, certainly he had never given the boy the impression that he was interested in such a relationship? He had merely strived to see what the boy was capable of. He shouldn’t supply the boy with more in-depth plans to his ships and yet he found himself downloading the corresponding schematics. It had been a while since he had been able to carry on a conversation that was actually on his level and engaging as well. Luke was only improving and Vader wanted to keep him. Good personnel was hard to come by and Luke was something different entirely.

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

I have sent you the plans we talked about. Have you ever considered signing up for the Imperial Academy?

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Yes, but I can’t go this year because my uncle still needs me on the farm :/

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

I am able to get you a contract as civilian consultant. You’d be able to work from home.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

What? Is that really a thing?

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

If you give me your personal data, I’ll send you a contract.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Thank you!! It’s Luke Lars! My ID is T-LL-2187-A23. Also, uploaded a new video for you :D Hope you enjoy my misadventures!

Luke was sitting on his bed, HK-77 standing beside him, holding out various tools while the mouse droid Emmy was sitting in his lap.

“Hello, everybody and welcome to another episode of Scrap Hunting! Today is a special compilation dedicated too @thatsaneattrick, who basically gave me an early birthday present. So, sit back and enjoy a compilation of the things we usually cut from our videos! I’m Luke, my helper today is HK-77 and shout out to Biggs who is currently studying a couple of planets away from me!”

The video cut away to start showing the first in a series of rather short escapades featuring at least one member of the trio.

The first video showed Luke working on the TIE’s wings, singing underneath his breath. “This was not designed to land, this ship was not designed to land, this ship was not designed to be functional, functional at all.”

The next video depicted Luke working in the background while Biggs and HK-77 were staring intensely at each other, Emmy stuck between them, driving forwards and backwards like they were trying to keep the two from fighting.

“Where did you hide my hydrospanner.”

“I did no such thing, Biggs.”

The recording blurred as Biggs threw himself on HK-77.

It was dark. The camera slowly focused on Emmy attempting to drive up to the TIE fighter but getting stuck because of the sand. Two giggles could be heard.

“We have to help Emmy,” Luke whispered.

“Yes, wait- oh, Em’s gonna fall over-“

The video slowed down as Emmy tragically fell to its side and couldn’t get up again.

“It’s so kriffing clumsy, like a baby,” Biggs laughed.

“It’ll get there someday.”

In white writing, the message Hasn’t Happened Yet showed up.

“Luke, what are you?”

Luke sighed and looked downcast. “A good mechanic?”

“Then why is the TIE’s cockpit smoking?”

“I was just taking a look at the repulsorlift antigravity field- oh, kriff it’s burning.”

“What!?”

Ever since Biggs had left, Luke’s conversations with Fighter became the most fun part of his days. Sometimes, replies took a little longer depending on how busy and far away Fighter was, but their talks never failed to bring a smile to Luke’s face, no matter how standoffish Fighter acted.

Luke checked his messages again, hoping to catch a new message from Fighter. Sadly, none were in his inbox, only something from a stranger.

Lord Vader @ImperialCommand: Consultant Contract

Luke frowned.

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

Have you thought about my job offer yet?

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Job offer? You were really serious about that? O.o

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

Of course, did you not see the attachment I sent you?

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

I never got a message with a job offer, so I thought you were joking!!! The only thing I got was a message by some guy pretending to be Vader. Didn’t even bother to open that, who knows what kind of virus I could have caught. -.-‘

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

Someone pretended to be Lord Vader? Surely nobody would actually be so ignorant.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Idk! I had to go on his holo page and it seemed legit but there’s no way the emperor’s slaver would ever message me I’m not that naive

…

Fighter?

Are you still there?

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

You would do well not to spread such rebel propaganda anywhere others could find them.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Rebel propaganda???

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Do you mean the ‘slaver’ thing?

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

That’s not propaganda, that’s what Vader is. I know your serve in the Navy, and probably met him once or so. I can’t judge what kind of superior he might be, but his behavior is that of a slaver.

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

What do you know of slavery, child?

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

I live on Tatooine, remember? Hutts control everything. And my father was a slave, that’s why I have to go by my uncle’s last name, least of all somebody thinks I’m a runaway just cause my father’s name was ‘Skywalker’.

Fighterfan @thatsaneatrick

What was your father’s name.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

His name was Anakin Skywalker, he died towards the end of the last war. Freed himself as a child and became a navigator on a spice freighter. I don’t know much more about him, my aunt and uncle only met him once for my grandmother’s funeral and that’s it. I’m sure he was a good man, though. I just know it.

The boy, Luke, was living Tatooine with his aunt and uncle. Vader had known his last name was Lars, had even seen him mention Owen and Beru multiple times, but he hadn’t made the connection-

Quickly, he pulled up the files he had made on the boy. It said in his documents that he had been adopted by Owen Lars and Beru Whitesun Lars, no mentioning of his biological parents anyway. Vader hadn’t paid any attention to it because it happened often enough on Tatooine. Newborns were smuggled bought out of the slave quarters so they’d get a better life. The boy could be lying, of course, but what would he seek to gain from this ploy?

Anakin Skywalker was dead and everything he had held dear had burned with him, his Master had seen to it.

But hadn’t the boy’s smile reminded him of his dear wife? His excitement for ships, his brilliance- Vader had assumed that some of his stories might have been exaggerated, but maybe he had performed all those death-defying stunts indeed and it was the Force which had saved him.

Luke Skywalker of Tatooine.

It was impossible to think that he had managed to find him through mere interest. The Force must have led him to his son.

His son.

His Master had lied to him, deceived and betrayed him.

Snarling, Vader left his rooms behind and marched towards his personal hanger. He had to go now, reach his son and protect him before the Emperor would diminish his light. Vader would make them pay, all of them, every single person involved in keeping his child from him would be destroyed.

The past weeks had not been particularly interesting or happy for Luke. Ever since his discussion with Fighter, the other man had completely cut their communication. No matter how many messages Luke sent him, he didn’t reply.

He supposed he should have seen it coming. Fighter didn’t say much about his background, but if he was skilled enough to be trusted with a TIE/ad, he had likely grown up on some Imperial Core World, surrounded by the Empire and Vader’s image and didn’t see things the way some Outer Rim kid would. It was too bad that their conversation had stopped. Even if they couldn’t agree on the Empire’s policies, ships were still ships.

He’d miss talking to Fighter.

Luke dragged himself out of his room to go in the kitchen for lunch. He had halfway crossed the homestead when a man in a dark robe hurried down the steps.

“Luke!” He said and threw back his hood, revealing himself as Old Ben Kenobi.

“Oh, hi, Ben! Is everything alright?”

Ben shook his head and a pained expression crossed his face. He looked like he was in a hurry, but Luke could feel the fear lingering in the air.

“We need to go, now,” Ben said hurriedly. “Where are your aunt and uncle?”

“Aunt Beru went into the city and Uncle Owen is out working on the vaporators,” Luke replied slowly.

Ben’s behavior was confusing him. He’d known the older man since he could think. He had never said a thing, but Luke knew he was the one who had made a lot of the model ships now proudly displayed in his room and made sure the Tuskens stayed away from their homestead.

Ben was a nice and kind man, carrying a lot of grief. He was a little strange, but not mad. If he was worried about something, Luke figured he should as well.

“Then there is no time to get them,” Ben said and took Luke’s hand. “We must hurry.”

“Ben, what’s going on?” Luke asked and let himself be pulled along to the homestead’s entrance and out into the sun. “Why are we running?”

“We need to go before he’s here-“ Ben stopped abruptly and stared right ahead.

A black demon stood in some distance from the two of them. He looked like the monsters out of the stories Luke had been told as a child and now knew to be real. Lord Vader.

Ben let go of Luke’s hand and took a step forward, keeping Luke behind him.

“Kenobi.” Vader’s voice was deep, mechanic and artificial. “I have finally found you.”

“So you have, Darth,” Kenobi replied and ignited a lightsaber of a light blue color.

Vader followed suit, his blade an angry red and soon after they were clashing against one another, whirling up the sand. Luke hadn’t known Ben could fight like that, keep every move so fluent despite the ground he was standing on. He met each of Vader’s aggressive strikes with equal strength.

Luke felt like he was suffocating.

He had to stop them, he knew it. He didn’t know why or how, but if he didn’t do anything, the desert would swallow them up.

“What is going on!?” Luke shouted. The two fighters turned to him and it occurred to Luke only then that shouting mid-battle was probably not his smartest move, but what else was he supposed to do.

“You have been deceived all your life, young one,” Vader said. “Kenobi stole you from me, kept you hidden so you wouldn’t inherit your birthright.”

“My birthright,” Luke repeated. “I’m sorry, what are you even talking about.”

“Your father-“

“Was a good man,” Ben interrupted, his words as sharp as a knife. “And you ruined him.”

“You left me to burn!” Vader screamed. “You said you loved me and you left me behind for Sidious to take and remake as he wanted. You took my son from me and let him grow up on the Force-forsaken planet! You stole years from me, months of being unaware of who I was talking to.”

My son, the winds seemed to echo Vader’s words, dancing around Luke’s small frame. The weight behind them almost seemed to push him over.

“Father?” Luke realized. The wind roared in agreement, rushed through Luke’s mind as a barely comprehendible mess acknowledging an impossible truth.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Going on a galactic roadtrip for the foreseeable future! :D

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

(Somebody please get me off this ship they keep glaring at each other it’s so awkward)

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Pros of having parents: You don’t have to pay for lunch Cons of having parents: Lunch is ration bars

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

If not for the laws of this galaxy I’d have a glowing sword to cut through durasteel with

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

I have adopted 4 more mouse droids to keep our ship clean!

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

I love discovering I have a godfather who is also a pirate while being held hostage by said godfather. 5/10 experience

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

I have the power of the Force and Hydrospanners on my side!!!

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

Turns out HK-77’s programming was not as thoroughly deleted as I thought. My bad.

Twin Suns @skyseekerpilot

TIE-Fighters still suck. New video tomorrow together with @thatsaneatrick

“Hi!” The video showed a young blond man standing in what appeared to be a huge hanger. He was a little older than he had been in the last video uploaded on the channel.

Next to him sat an older man whose skin was as pale as ash. Many scars covered his face, the only part of his body that was actually visible. The rest was covered by dark robes. The third member of the group was another man with snow-white hair and beard. He sat in a safe distance from the ship behind the other two, reading through a datapad while drinking a cup of tea. All three of them carried lightsabers and it was practically impossible to ignore them.

“Welcome back to another episode of Scrap Hunting!” The blond continued. “I know, it’s been a year but I was pretty busy.”

He glanced at the man beside him and leaned slightly into his side, as if he were seeking comfort.

“Today we’re finally concluding our series ‘Tuning up your TIE-Fighter to prove you’re better than the bastard currently running the TIE-Fighter Program for fun and profit’. Unfortunately, the original TIE-Fighter was lost, but Father crashes so many that we could easily start from scratch with a new one. The focus of this episode is finally adding the safety that prevents the twin ion engines from moving an energizer out of alignment so that the recharge systems won’t become ticking time bombs. Henceforth, we dedicate this episode to Darth Sidious, alias Emperor Palpatine. My name is Luke Skywalker. The man in the back is my Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi-“ The old man looked up from his datapad to wave at the camera and then continued on reading “-and my helper today is my Father.”

Luke paused and smiled softly while the scarred man put his hand on Luke’s shoulder. The gesture seemed almost a little possessive, would certainly be like it if the man’s touch weren’t as gentle as a feather.

“My name is Anakin Skywalker,” the man said, his blue eyes shining as brightly as Luke’s, but much colder in nature. “And I’m coming for you, Sidious.”

The video flashed black, then brightened again, depicting a round emblem of two wings settled around a sword.

#star wars #Luke Skywalker #darth vader #Anakin Skywalker #biggs darklighter #obi wan kenobi #fanfic #memes and vine references

152 notes · View notes

calamity-callie · 4 years ago

Text

New Beginnings ~ Wiztober Day 1

Edited by @spiralcompendium

“So.” The single, stern word broke a heavy silence that had been present since their private airship left the port in Hamamitsu. “How was your first year at the Imperial City Dragon Academy?” Alia flinched. They had been hoping and praying that this question would never come but knew it was inevitable. ‘Why did it have to be this soon though?’ they cried internally, cursing themself for not already having a full speech prepared for this. “Well?” their mother snipped impatiently, interrupting Alia’s thought process. Under pressure to deliver positive results, they opened their mouth to reply and a flood of words poured out.

“Dragon Academy? Oh, it was great!!! The Imperial City is such a cool place, and I loved seeing the inside of the Imperial Palace - did you know it contains 75 bedrooms?! 75!!! Also -”

“Alia,” came the first interruption.

“Also it turns out I have a natural talent for gardening! See I joined the gardening club and I was the only first year in the history of the school to actually raise a maelstrom snap dragon to elder! A Maelstrom! Snap! Dragon! That’s senior level stuff!!! Oh oh also -”

“Alia…” their mother interrupted again, this time with slightly more insistence.

“- alsoalsoalso it turns out I’m real good at alchemy, too! So much so that a potions vendor in the city took me as an apprentice! My first job, and something I love too! Can you believe it?!?!? Also also oh oh also also also -”

“ALIA!” The third interruption came as a full on yell. They gasped, taken aback by the intensity. “You know exactly what I mean. I don’t care about your extracurricular activities, your clubs, or how many bedrooms the palace has. Your grades. Let me see them.”

“Well, I got one A, uhhhh...” Alia trailed off, panicking. Their off-the-cuff plan hadn’t turned out quite how they hoped. As they desperately tried to brainstorm ways to stall for more time though, their mother, growing ever more impatient, demanded yet again, “Show me your grades. Now.”

Defeated, a crestfallen Alia opened up their bag, pulled out an official looking envelope, and handed it off without a word. The seconds felt like hours as their mother peeled off the wax seal, opened the top flap, and pulled out the parchment inside. Her face morphed from concentration, to confusion, to rage. She opened her mouth as if to yell, but at the last second changed her mind. Putting the sheet back into the envelope, she simply said, “We will discuss this with your father when we get home.” Not a single word was uttered for the rest of the flight.

Some hours later, the two arrived at their home in Kembaalung. Their father initially greeted them with a smile and open arms, but their mother quickly trotted over to him and they began talking in hushed tones. After a moment their father turned with a grim face and said, “Alia. Go to your room. We will call you when we are ready to talk.”

“Talk. Great. They want to Talk.” Alia laid on their bed, speaking their thoughts aloud, thankful for the magical soundproofing their parents tended to use during their private conversations. Looking over at the bookshelf on the opposite wall, they contemplated how things ever got to this point. The shelf was full of thick tomes on dragon magic: grimoires they could remember being forced to read and memorize for hours at a time, beginning as soon as they learned to read. They had every word of every thick volume on that shelf memorized, but not a single line made any sense. This collection of facts served them well enough to pass the entrance exam though, and they held out hope that maybe actual teaching would be the missing link; maybe seeing these incomprehensible concepts in action would be all it took to help them finally understand this strange breed of magic. Unfortunately as the school year wore on, they only found themself falling farther and farther behind, and though they aced every written test, they never managed to cast a single spell.

“I really just am a failure aren’t I,” they muttered, burying their face in a pillow. Their mind began to race with all sorts of possibilities. “I’m going to get lectured, I’m gonna be confined to the indoors for the whole season reading these awful books again and again, I’m gonna be kicked out, they’re never going to want to talk to me again, I’m a disappointment to the whole family…” Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud knock. Jolted out of their downward spiral, Alia slowly crawled out of bed and opened the door. Their parents, stiff and stern as ever, marched in as Alia sat back down on their bed. The silence was thick with tension when their father opened his mouth to speak.

“We are… disappointed in you, Alia. You failed every class.” The lecture began in a smooth yet stern tone, but Alia wasn’t fooled. The escalation was imminent. “I just… I just can’t believe you failed every class!” A thick lump began to form in their throat as his speech heated up. “You studied those books every day! You had everything memorized and aced the entrance exam! All of our hopes were riding ON YOU, ALIA!” As the lecture finally escalated to full on yelling, they felt tears begin to well up but tried their best to force them down as the lecture continued. “Have you forgotten that we are the oldest clan of warrior monks in all of Mooshu??? And now thanks to THIS-” he held up the parchment, displaying all seven failing marks, and the single passing grade “- OUR TRADITION IS OVER!! OVER!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH YOU HAVE FAILED US??? WHERE DID WE GO WRONG!?!?!?!”

Alia stood up and burst into tears. “I don’t know what more you want from me okay??? I read your stupid books, I memorized your stupid facts, I did everything you wanted me to do, but you never even cared about what I WANT!” Her father prepared to yell in response, but before he could Alia shouted again, “I never wanted to be a STUPID FUCKING WARRIOR MONK ANYWAY! I HATE YOU!!! I HATE YOU!!!!!” With that, they stormed out of the house, leaving a deafening silence behind.

Dusk began to fall as Alia sat on a bench next to a frozen lake. Though it was the middle of summer, Kembaalung was always cold and snowy, and this night was no exception. They huddled in a blanket and began to sob uncontrollably. How had their life come to this? Through the frozen tears their mind began to wander into dark places again. “Where will I spend the night? Nobody here will take me in, they’re all monks… I don’t even have any friends… Does anyone even really care? I could just sit here on the bench and freeze…”

Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a splash of green in their peripheral vision. They turned to look and, despite the freezing temperatures, a single young plant had sprouted out of the snow. Alia got up, walked over to it, then kneeled down, cupping their hands around the base. “You understand what it’s like, don’t you?” they muttered. With a pang of empathy, they cupped their hands closer and started softly singing. The snow around the plant began to melt as a single sunbeam materialized, piercing the night seemingly from nowhere. Alia sang louder and closed their eyes, truly becoming engulfed in their song, letting the melody flow through their entire body. As if channeling power from old Bartleby himself, the sprout grew, slowly at first but then quite rapidly. When the song came to an end, Alia, feeling calm and peaceful for the first time all day, opened their eyes. Before them was a now tall, proud sunflower towering in defiance over the whole cold landscape. They stared in awe for a short time, but were again snapped out of it upon hearing footsteps in the snow from behind.

“So it seems you do have a knack for gardening then.” The sharp voice instantly brought Alia back to reality. They turned their head and saw their mother standing there, arms folded. “I’ve come to collect you. Now, come.” Alia began to protest but realized that they didn’t have much choice. They grudgingly began following her back to the family home.

The next morning, Alia trudged downstairs, awaiting the fallout of yesterday’s scene. As expected, both parents were seated and silently gestured for Alia to join them. As they sat down, their father began speaking. “Your mother told me of everything that happened at the lake last night. You channeled the Song of Creation, didn’t you?” Alia gasped, but before they could speak, their father continued. “We have decided you will enroll in Ravenwood, effective immediately. You are free to choose your own path from there.” Alia’s face lightened up for a moment as her father continued. “But there will be conditions. You may no longer associate yourself with our family. You no longer share our last name, you no longer share our lineage. You will be welcome here for short visits until you come of age, at which point you will be expected to find your own way. Do you accept this arrangement?”

Alia sat, dumbstruck at what had just laid out before them. Leaving their home forever was a terrifying proposition, but after only a single minute of thought, they confidently said, “Yes. I accept.”

For the first time in their life, Alia saw shock on their parent’s faces. It was soon wiped off and replaced by the typical stony looks, but it was unmistakable. “V-very well,” their father stammered as the shock wore off. “We depart immediately. Your first day is tomorrow.”

------ One Week Later ------

Alia sat alone at a table in one of the many Wizard City student dining facilities, again deep in thought. “Was it even worth coming here?” they asked themself. “Classes are fine I guess, but I haven’t met any friends here, I don’t know anyone who lives here at all, my parents will probably never want to see me again… Oh, what have I gotten myself into this time… Maybe they’ll take me back if I ask -”

“Mind if I sit here?”

The voice snapped them out of their spiral of thoughts as a girl who looked to be about the same age as them sat down. “First week’s rough, huh? I struggled to adjust at first too, but don’t worry, it’s gonna be great! Heyyyy, now that I think of it, I’ve seen you in some of my classes, haven’t I? You’re Alia, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Alia responded somewhat hesitantly, holding out their hand to shake.

“My name’s Keira,” she said as she ignored the hand and went in for a full hug. “And I can already tell we’re gonna be best friends!”

#wiztober2020 #w101 #wizard101 #wizzy101 #wizzy fanfic #Alia is my smallest oc I love them #and Keira is my gf's oc!

15 notes · View notes

stillwinterair · 4 years ago

Text

2020 in books so far! All 21 of them!

Season of Storms by Andrzej Sapkowski -- Finished January 1st. My least favorite Witcher novel. In a series that managed to surprise and endear me at every turn, this one final romp did almost nothing for me. 2/5 stars.

Star Wars: Hard Merchandise by K.W. Jeter -- Finished January 17th. The final chapter in the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy, and by far the worst of the three. 2/5 stars.

Migration by Julie E. Czerneda -- Finished February 18th. The middle chapter in Czerneda’s excellent Species Imperative trilogy, fun and charismatic, sciencey and cute. Didn’t hit me quite the same way as the first in the trilogy did, but still had fun. 4/5 stars.

Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn -- Finished February 2nd. It was okay. 3/5 stars.

To be continued under the cut, including thoughts on The Expanse, which has taken over my life this year:

Mass Effect: Revelation by Drew Karpyshyn -- Finished February 25th. Borrowed from a coworker, was immensely disappointed, decided once and for all I wasn’t going to touch tie-in novels for the rest of the year. That wound up being a great decision. 2/5 stars.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty -- Finished March 12th. The first of Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy, this was a great little historical fantasy fiction about a half-djinn caught up in about a thousand tropes I usually hate, but were written with care and nuance and charm. 4/5 stars.

Midway through The City of Brass, news of a virus overseas begin making waves.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie -- Finished March 29th. The first of Leckie’s Imperial Radch saga. So, so, so many incredible concepts that I loved dearly... but all just slightly off to the side of where they would normally hit me. I wanted to love this book so badly, and it kept almost hitting me, but never quite did, at least not as hard as I wanted it to. Still, I enjoyed the world and the characters enough that I bought the sequel and will read it soon. 3/5 stars.

AAAAAND PANDEMIC! I began this book when I was still working, and finished it while in quarantine. So that’s fun. From here on out, all of these books were read from my couch or my bed.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison -- Finished April 16th. Another book I wanted desperately to love and... succeeded a bit more than with Ancillary Justice, thanks to how ceaselessly charming it was. But the names. Oh, god this book is full of fake fantasy names and titles and you have to remember all of them and the glossary isn’t always helpful. But, still. I found myself so endeared, I couldn’t put it down. 4/5 stars.

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey -- Finished May 3rd. The first book of The Expanse, and I fell in love instantly. This one hit all the right buttons and didn’t stop: good science fiction, fun space adventure, charming characters, perfect level of tension, the list goes on. And reading this one was... the beginning of a certain obsession I’ve had this year. 5/5 stars.

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks -- Finished May 21st. The latter half of this book? Great. Stellar. The first half...? Uhhhhh. Eh? By far one of the most insufferable protagonists I’ve ever had to slog through, but some really cool scifi concepts here (and also some really bad ones -- the whole desert island cannibal thing was stupid as hell, but the Damage Game got me). 3/5 stars.

Caliban’s War by James S.A. Corey -- Finished May 30th. The second book in The Expanse series. I could not put this one down. Everything I loved about Leviathan Wakes, amplified a thousand times. The additions of Bobbie, Prax, and Avasarala made me ascend. This book fired on all cylinders and I loved every moment of it; it stands as one of my three favorite Expanse books so far -- but we’ll get to those. Anyway, I can’t give it 6/5, so we’ll have to settle with: 5/5 stars.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut -- Finished June 1st. A book I’d been meaning to read for a while and finally got around to. Literally finished it in two sittings. Mostly it made me sad. 4/5 stars.

The Strong Shall Live by Louis L’Amour -- Finished June 2nd. A collection of wild west short stories. A couple were great, a few were awful -- most were just okay. I’d been reading it slowly since December, and finishing felt more like a weight off my mind than anything else. Still, some of these stories were incredibly memorable. 3/5 stars.

Larissa by Emily Devenport -- Finished June 4th. I read this in about three sittings overall, which is a lot faster than I usually read. It wasn’t particularly good, but it was the exact sort of scifi junk I eat up for some reason. This is... a very, very weird one. It was very progressive for the time (the book is as old as I am), so much so that I wasn’t surprised to find her on Twitter very publicly supporting BLM and decrying the current administration. It’s about a black woman in space, wealth disparity, and a bunch of other stuff. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t, but Devenport was trying, all the way back in 93. It’s also the sequel to a book I didn’t know existed until I’d already finished, but I guess that one didn’t matter so much to the plot of Larissa? Anyway, had a blast, even though I can’t quite put a finger on why. 4/5 stars. (I actually had this one marked as 3/5 stars, but my memories of it are all very positive, so... it was worth the bump.)

Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey -- Finished June 13th. Third in The Expanse, and not my favorite. The pacing in the first half was a little wonky, but once it gets going, boy does it go. 4/5 stars.

Regeneration by Julie E. Czerneda -- Finished June 25th. The final entry in the Species Imperative trilogy. This might have been my least favorite of the three, unfortunately, as much like Ancillary Justice it always seemed to hit just to the side of where I wanted it to. The first one was by far my favorite, and the third installment just couldn’t recapture that magic, but I love the protagonist and was happy to walk with her to the end. Plus, as always, there’s some damn good science fiction here. 4/5 stars.

Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey -- Finished July 4th. HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKER, this one has everything! I don’t even want to spoil what, just know that this is exactly what you want after Abaddon’s Gate, and had everything it was missing and more. This one rocked my fucking world, and is one of my three favorite Expanse books so far. Another one I’d rate higher if I could, but for now... 5/5 stars.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold -- DNF, July 8th. This book had me until the 35-year-old protagonist started trying to hide his arousal while he was watching the two teenage girls he was tutoring swim, and it was played off as like... cute? I don’t know man, fuck this book, it made me miserable.

Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey -- Finished July 16th. Once again, HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKER, HELL YEAH! This book begins with some of the slowest pacing in the series so far, but god, have they earned it. It feels so good to just take a break and walk a mile in the shoes of all your favorite characters. And then when things hit? Boy do they fucking hit. The third in my trifecta of favorite Expanse books so far, and another I’d rate higher if I could. 5/5 stars.

The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke -- Finished July 21st. I really thought this was going to be a fun pirate book. Instead, it’s a book about a fun pirate slogging along with the most obnoxious man in the history of fiction, who she is also falling in love with, apparently, for some reason. I don’t know. This is a duology but idk if I’m even interested in the sequel. Which is a shame, because I really liked the protagonist. 2/5 stars.

Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey -- Finished August 5th. Definitely my least favorite Expanse novel so far, mostly because the narrative was stretched very thin. This one hit really fucking hard toward the beginning, and again at the end, but in the middle? The middle was very... nebulous. A lot happens and I’m not interested in all of it, which is something this series has thus far managed to avoid doing. Still, very good, just not quite up to the standards I’m used to from this series. 4/5 stars.

And... it’s August! And I haven’t picked up another book since the 5th, which feels weird, but is due to a lot of factors. I’m in the middle of moving, so I don’t have as much time to read during the day. But also I’m waiting on a shipment of books to come in, and it hasn’t yet, and that’s stressing me out. Of those, there are a couple I’m leaning toward reading, but if the ol’ Read The First Page trick doesn’t work on any of them, I’ll probably hop back to Imperial Radch.

4 notes · View notes

synvamp · 5 years ago

Text

HAPPY PLACE 7

Just love me! Fluffy, slow burn, angst!Qrow has met his match and Clover begins to reel in his catch...

(Part One HERE)

Title: Healing

Fair Game – Part Seven / 10?

Rating: M

---xxx---

The briefing started at 8:30 sharp. Qrow was on time but distracted. He watched Clover’s biceps tense and relax as he ran through the mission allocations. They were so defined. Qrow knew the guy was strong but arms like that… it was just excessive.

How the hell am I meant to focus?!

“..and Qrow,” Clover said, his eyes just flicking to meet Qrow’s haggard morning gaze for a split second.

Wait, what? But he hasn’t finished the assignments yet…

“…and I’ll go with Marrow and Harriet. It’s about time we got onto the grim that have been skirting the southern walls. Any questions?” Clover asked, pausing that perfunctory split second that all managers seem to have in common, “Alright then, good luck out there.”

Qrow blinked.

Yang and Blake wandered over, smiling at a shared joke.

“Clover let you off the hook today?” Yang smirked.

“Seems so,” Qrow mused, spacing out over her shoulder. Clover was laughing with Marrow about something; the boy’s tail was wagging like crazy.

“Well, at least we’ve got something fun to do! Sphinxes and Manticores are always good to work up an appetite and it’s beef tonight!”

Blake smiled, “It’s meatloaf.”

“Ugh! Oh well, I guess there’s always dessert. Hey, are you with me?” Yang waved a hand in front of Qrow’s face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“Well it looks painful,” Yang laughed, “Come on! We can’t sit around all day, we’ll miss the transport out,” she grinned and bounded off.

Qrow watched as Clover put his hand on Marrow’s shoulder and guided him out of the room. Just before Clover walked through the door, he turned and gazed at Qrow with those perfect turquoise eyes, flicked his wrist in half a salute and was gone.

The day passed in a blur. It was nice to hang out with Yang and Blake. He always enjoyed Blake’s quiet, no bullshit manner and Yang was… Yang. She really was Tai’s sunny dragon. All joy and flames. They worked him hard and kept him distracted. Between the grim and the banter, the day flashed by. It was almost enough to stop him from thinking about Clover… but not quite.

Why did he allocate me to a different team? Why didn’t he even talk to me?

But it wasn’t like Clover had brushed him off… he’d given him that seven thousand watt smile and that cocky salute…

“Oh no, he’s gone again,” Yang said, “Qrow… Qrow… come back to me! Don’t walk towards the light!”

“Ah, shut up…” he grinned.

They were walking back into the mess hall and Qrow could smell the meatloaf.

Yang looked at the plates and slumped in disappointment. Blake gave a tiny smile of I-told-you-so and went to sit with Ruby and Weiss, who were arguing about peas.

“Mint is disgusting,” Weiss complained.

“But it’s like eating peas after brushing your teeth!” Ruby enthused.

“My point exactly,” Weiss said imperiously, prodding the peas on her plate as if they had just crawled out of a tar pit and died there.

Qrow looked across the room. The Ace Ops were at the next table, well… four of them anyway.

A deep, confident voice called out from behind him, “Look who’s finally back.”

Qrow turned slowly; Clover was standing behind him with a tray of dinner. He looked at the tray then back to Qrow again. “Meatloaf day. I guess my luck has finally run out.”

“I kind of like it,” Qrow said.

“What have I told you about punishing yourself?” Clover smiled, “Meatloaf is self-harm Qrow and you deserve better.”

Qrow smiled in spite of himself. The little spark of joy flickered in his chest but then the doubt surged again, “Why did you send me away today?”

“How about you get yourself some… let’s just call it food… and come sit with me?”

“Alright,” Qrow marched off and grabbed dinner. He actually did like meatloaf. It reminded him of a huntsman he used to know. Great guy but a terrible cook… all except the meatloaf which was actually glorious. Funny how it’s the little things that you remember.

Clover was sitting at a table by himself slightly away from the others. Qrow wondered if they should sit together… but he pushed the doubt down hard in his chest. He wanted to know what was going on a lot more than he cared about his laughable reputation right now anyway.

Clover looked up as he dumped his tray on the table and huffed into the chair.

“Long day?” he asked, green eyes twinkling.

“Long enough,” he looked at Clover with accusing eyes.

“Hey, hey,” Clover raised his hands in a gesture of peace, “I decided we should have a little space.”

“You decided, huh?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t want you to get sick of me now, would I?” he smiled warmly and Qrow did his best to try to remember that he was annoyed.

“I guess not…” Qrow muttered, poking his meatloaf. It was grey. Maybe Clover had a point.

“Why, did you miss me?”

“No!” Qrow said, far too quickly.

Clover laughed, “Well, I’m guessing that you haven’t cleaned your quarters?”

“Amazingly, no. I hired a maid service and they sent this absolute hottie so I was kind of hoping that he would come b..”

“No way,” Clover shook his head, “but nice try. In that case, if you’re feeling lonely you could always swing by my quarters around eight tomorrow. I thought a night in might be nice.”

“Tomorrow?”

“The day after today? Unless you can’t wait of course.”

Qrow glared at him.

“Alright then, I’ll take that smouldering rage as a yes. See you tomorrow night.”

And with that, Clover stood up, flexed that amazing ass of his and strode off.

---xxx---

Qrow couldn’t sleep and spent a good hour prowling the barracks before dawn. He knew that he was hoping to meet Clover, hoping that he was also pacing the halls, hoping that he was out here… somewhere… maybe even looking for him.

But he didn’t see anyone. The day passed in a haze of sleep deprivation and coffee. Clover sent him out with Jaune, Ren and Nora this time. It felt like a favour of sorts because he could really use a distraction and Nora was… a hell of a distraction.

Today they got beef. Yang was thrilled and even shouted Ruby down when she tried to start a food fight, pleading with her to save it for one of the many days when they didn’t actually have something edible.

Qrow couldn’t focus. Clover wasn’t there. He’d been there for the briefing, made an excuse about having executive meetings and vanished.

I bet he’s doing some stupid massive romantic thing, getting things ready for tonight. What an idiot.

Qrow smiled to himself and thought about the soft pink glow that spread across Clover’s cheeks when he was embarrassed. How can someone be so confident and so easily flustered?

Qrow went back to his room and had a shower; he put on a black shirt and jeans and just sat. Somehow, eight o’clock finally came around.

He learnt his lesson and waited until eight to leave his quarters. Even then he still hovered on the threshold of Clover’s door, heart sputtering in his chest. Finally, he knocked softly.

“It’s not locked,” he heard Clover call from inside.

Qrow opened the door. Clover was lounging on the couch in sweats and a dark green t-shirt. He had a game scroll in one hand and a fight scene in full swing on the screen in front of him.

He was playing ninja warrior.

Clover glanced up at him and smiled, “Hey, come in, sit down. I’ve just got one more round.”

Qrow did as requested. It was strange, being here in Clover’s room. Not being the centre of his attention.

Qrow let his eyes wander. There was a landscape painting on the wall, a beautiful sweeping view of a green valley with steep peaks rising on either side. Majestic. Tranquil.

There was a couch, a TV, a bed, a bookshelf, a little kitchenette… everything neat and normal.

Qrow thought of his own room, which was a merciless black hole brimming with chaos.

This guy really has his shit together.

Clover delivered an epic combo, ending the match.

Show off.

Clover grinned and held the controller out to Qrow. “A little birdie told me that you are no push over.”

“Well, you should always believe random animals that speak to you.”

“I take it on a case by case basis,” Clover grinned, “I bet Yang I could beat you. She has this ridiculous opinion that you’re some kind of ninja legend.”

“Well, I suppose I can’t disappoint my nieces can I?”

“That’s never going to happen.”

Qrow looked at him.

He felt tightness in his chest and a smile welled from somewhere deep.

He kicked off his shoes and jumped onto the couch, “I am going to own you.”

“That so?” Clover laughed, moving so there was more room.

They played for an hour or so, their talk becoming easier as the time wore on. Clover was actually better at ninja warrior even than Qrow, much to his delight.

“I bet you’re cheating,” Qrow laughed, as he got his ass handed to him yet again.

“You’re just old.”

“You did not just say that!” Qrow laughed and turned to poke Clover in the ribs.

Clover put down his scroll and wrapped his arm around Qrow’s shoulders. “Do you want to watch a movie?”

“No, I think I’d fall asleep.”

“Thanks,” Clover chuckled.

“No, it’s not you I just slept really badly.”

“We could call it a night. I can walk you back to your room if you want,” Clover’s fingertips pressed ever so slightly on Qrow’s shoulder.

“It’s dark.”

“Yes?” Clover said.

“It’s a long way.”

“I suppose it is,” Clover agreed.

“It seems like a bit of an inconvenience.”

Clover put his hand on Qrow’s cheek and kissed him. He just wanted to live in the smell of him, the taste of him. To just drink him in.

“I suppose you could just stay here,” he said softly.

“If you insist,” Qrow leaned forwards taking one slow and fulfilling kiss in return.

Clover turned and wrapped the slighter man in his arms, picking him up, pulling him onto his lap.

He felt Qrow’s long fingers caress him, one hand tousling his hair and the other untucking his shirt, “Would you like to move to the bed?” Clover asked, smiling to himself as Qrow’s fingers moved quickly onto his shirt buttons.

“Here is fine,” Qrow breathed into his ear as he pulled Clover forward to pull the cloth from his back.

“Well,” Clover mused, slowly taking his belt off, “Let’s see if I can keep you awake then.”

---xxx---

Part Eight

#fair game #qrow branwen #clover ebi #rwby spoilers #rwby 7 #fanfiction

23 notes · View notes

four-loose-screws · 6 years ago

Text

FE5 Umemura Novel Translation - Chapter 10 Part 4

If you would like to start from the beginning, read a missed part, etc., click here!

Pre-3DS FE Translations - FE Awakening Translations - FE Fates Translations - Original FE Support Conversations - Ko-fi

Leif’s army left Danzhi and started marching towards Manster. About a day later, they came across a large river.

It was The Great River of Thracia, the largest river of the Thracian Peninsula.

This grand river was not only important geographically, but also historically. It had been the battleground for many critical battles.

About ten years ago, the river had been the stage for the battle between Northern Thracia and The Kingdom of Thracia; where Leif’s grandfather, the previous king of Leonster, had lost his life due to Conote’s betrayal. Because of that, Leonster lost the power needed to oppose the Thracian army, and was soon conquered.

Since it had happened right after he was born, he had only heard about it through stories. Still, the sight of the river filled him with regret.

He balled his hands tightly into fists.

“This river has been filled with blood and tears. Even now, it’s full of things we cannot change.” August muttered.

“Yeah, it is.” Leif nodded slightly, then looked away from the water’s surface.

They followed the riverbank a little south, and saw a huge stone bridge. The imperial army had it surrounded, and looked ready to fight.

On the other side of the bridge, Leif could see a fort. “Once we pass through here, we’ll reach Manster soon after! Move out, everyone!” He yelled and unsheathed his sword.

Partway through everyone’s battle cry, August looked at the fort and shivered.

“What’s wrong, August?” Leif furrowed his brow and looked at August.

“Can you see that red-haired person?” August pointed a shaky finger in the direction of the fort.

Everyone looked at where he was pointing, and sure enough, there was a red-haired young man near the fort.

“Ah!” Mareeta gasped.

Leif whirled around. “What’s wrong, Mareeta?”

“N-Nothing. I’m sorry.” She said with furrowed brows, but also a smile

“He is Saias, a bishop of the Bragi Church. However, he is a prodigy in tactics first and foremost, and should be feared. So long as he is here, this is going to be a difficult battle.” August said while grinding his teeth over and over again.

Leif nodded. “I understand. Let’s proceed with caution.”

At the same time that the sight of Saias surprised August, Olwen was very surprised by the sight of one of the enemy units.

“What’s wrong, Lady Olwen?” Fred asked, puzzled.

“Fred, look over there!” Her eyes didn’t move from where she was staring as she answered and pointed at the mage knight unit positioned near the fort.

He looked at where she was pointing. “That’s the Gelben Ritter, isn’t it? …Oh, and that’s…!” Fred realized why she was pointing near the fort, and responded in a shocked voice.

The Gelben Ritter were the honored imperial guards of Conote’s House Freige, made up entirely of mage knights. The members they could see were the best of the best.

And in the back of the group was their leader, Reinhardt... Olwen’s older brother.

“What’s Brother doing in a place like this?” She stared at him and furrowed her eyebrows.

“First, we’ll get across the bridge. No matter how great a tactician Saias is, there’s no way he can be giving out orders to a unit on the other side of the riverbank. Move out, everyone!” Leif raised his sword over his head once more, then started marching towards the stone bridge.

Positioned on the front line was a unit of soldiers.

Leif and the swordfighters charged at them.

The soldiers themselves weren’t that strong, however, they were gathered together in a tight formation with no openings, giving Leif and the others a much more difficult fight than they had expected.

“There’s no way Saias is giving them orders too!” Leif dodged a lance and glared at the opposing riverbank. He realized just how difficult this battle would become.

They defeated the soldiers, reached the bridge, and turned towards a cavalier unit, who were nearing the bridge one by one.

They also noticed several ballistae positioned around the riverbank.

The arrows probably wouldn’t reach their current location, but it would be too dangerous for Dean, Karin, and Eda to fly.

Leif ground his teeth together while crossing the bridge and glaring at the cavaliers.

The land around them was a field that was almost entirely flat, the most advantageous kind of terrain for cavaliers to fight on. If his army could intercept them on top of the bridge, they could possibly limit their movements, but there was little chance that would be good enough.

“Spread out left and right! Block them!”

Everyone followed his orders and spread out in a wide formation.

So long as the cavaliers couldn’t pass them, they should be able to face them head on.

The enemy cavaliers broke down in to equally-sized small groups and pressed forward one-by-one. Just when Leif’s army thought they had defeated one group, the next attacked them.

Demoralized by the cavalier’s movements, their formation gradually started to crumble.

Yet there were still a lot of cavaliers left to fight.

“Grrr… Don’t let them break our formation! Keep pushing forward! Leif yelled. He jumped and stabbed his sword into the chest of an oncoming cavalier. He pulled out his sword and was shot in the shoulder with an arrow.

He groaned and fell on his back.

“Lord Leif!” Nanna rushed over to him.

“I’m fine! Stand down!” He pulled the arrow out and stood up. Blood trickled down his arm.

The cavalier that had shot the arrow readied his next attack.

Leif ran straight at the enemy with his arms crossed in front of him, forming a makeshift shield.

The cavalier shot his arrow.

It pierced through Leif’s arm, grazed his side, and ripped open his thigh. Yet he didn’t stop, and continued running. He jumped and swung his sword.

The cavalier fell to a crouch.

He heard hooves galloping closer, and raised his head to see a lance cavalier coming at him. Using his sword as a crutch, he forced himself up.

The lance cavalier was getting closer and closer to him.

He swung his sword upwards.

The cavalier didn’t stop, instead galloping right past him.

“Gah!” He turned around and tried to follow after the cavalier, but his knees gave out and he fell forwards.

The cavalier rushed straight towards his army.

The lance cavalier weaved through Leif’s army’s battle formation, and raised his lance over his head.

He aimed it at Sara.

Her entire body stiffened up.

“Look out, Lady Sara!” Salem rushed at her and pushed her away.

The lance pierced through his chest. It stuck out from his back, now dyed red.

“Ah… Ahh…” Sara’s lips trembled. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything.

Salem grabbed the lance with his left hand and tried to pull it out.

The cavalier started to panic.

Salem smirked and raised his right hand. Dark magic shot out from his palm.

The darkness covered the cavalier, and he screamed in agony and died.

Now that his body no longer had any support, Salem fell backwards on the ground.

Sara rushed over to him.

“Are you safe… Lady Sara?” Though blood was flowing out of his mouth, he was smiling.

She stared at him, expressionless. “Why did you save me? For my grandfather’s sake?”

“He has… nothing to do with it… I’m… not… a Loptyrian priest… anymore…”

“Then why?” She asked.

He tilted his head slightly. “I… wonder… Think… about it… a bit…” He made a disappointed face, and stopped moving.

Though her expression had not changed, tears poured down her cheeks.

Nanna helped Leif up, then removed the arrow from his arm and healed him.

“Thank you, Nanna.” Leif started to walk, but was a bit unsteady.

“Please don’t push yourself, Lord Leif!”

“I’m fine, thanks to your healing spell!” He smiled at her, then dashed off.

The stone bridge was right in front of him, and only a few cavaliers were left.

“Keep moving forward, everyone! Let’s get across the bridge before the next unit attacks!” Leif yelled through ragged breaths.

Everyone followed after him, nearing the bridge while routing the enemy cavaliers.

On the other side of the river, they could see nearly twenty knights and two ballistae waiting for them.

Leif held up his hand, motioning for everyone to stop in front of the bridge.

The enemies didn’t look like they were going to move.

He started thinking to himself while staring at them. ‘The knights won’t be a problem, but the ballistae… There’d be nowhere for us to run if they shot at us while we were crossing the bridge. What should we do?’

“Lord Leif!”

He suddenly heard a voice. It was Olwen’s.

“Please consider leaving the ballistae to me!” She said while staring straight ahead.

“Will you be okay?”

“With my horse’s speed and my thunder magic, I can take care of them in no time!”

“Well…” He thought her plan through while looking at the ballistae once again.

“I’m off, Sir!”

“Huh? Hey, wait!”

She dashed off without waiting for his answer. Her horse galloped across the bridge and straight towards the enemies.

Upon noticing her movements, they brandished their weapons and readied the ballistae.

She reached them before they could shoot the ballistae arrows.

Her horse jumped high in the air, over the knights’ heads.

She unleashed an attack from midair.

Her thunderbolts hit the ballistae’s strings dead on. Thy burned away and the giant arrows fell to the ground with a thud.

“She did it! Way to go Olwen!” Leif cheered.

However, she didn’t come back, instead continuing forward at full speed, towards where the elite mage knight unit was positioned.

“Wait! Olwen, stop!”

But it seemed she hadn’t heard him, as she didn’t stop.

“Move out everyone! Let’s hurry across the bridge!” Leif ordered, though he was troubled by Olwen’s sudden reckless behavior.

The moment his army started to cross, the knights on the other side all started to march at once. They walked slowly, and their armor clanked as they walked along the bridge.

The two groups met in the middle.

While the short width of the bridge and the knights’ tough armor gave them trouble, they weren’t very difficult enemies for Leif’s army at their current strength.

They slowly pushed the knights back.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Saias raise his hands over his head.

It seemed to be a signal, as the knights wielding bows, who were on both the right and left sides of the unit, all shot flaming arrows down at the bridge.

The next moment, a low, heavy sound echoed through the air, and the bridge started to shake.

The knights all retreated to the end of the bridge.

Once Leif realized what was going on, he ground his teeth together. “Run as fast as you can! Force your way through the knights, and get across!” He yelled while running.

Cracks started forming beneath their feet. He heard a noise, and the bridge began to fall from the edges inward.

The knight unit faced Leif’s army head-on and reacted to their moving forward. They hardened their defenses and kept Leif’s army from progressing.

At this rate, there was no way that Leif’s army would be able to get across before the bridge completely collapsed.

Leif swung his sword around as hard as he could and bit his lip.

Dean, Eda, and Karin’s mounts all flew down to his side.

Chances were, their enemies hadn’t expected to be attacked from left, right, and above; which would allow them to attack from the three directions and break the knights’ formation all at once.

They rushed through the knights, scattering their formation, and made it across the bridge.

Now, all Leif had to do was get his allies on the rear line across. It would be a close call, but they should be able to make it.

He returned to the bridge. One by one, the remainder of his army crossed it.

However, Sara had stopped in the middle of the bridge, and was looking back.

She was staring at where Salem’s body lay.

Linoan, who had been running just ahead of her, noticed her and ran up to her. “Sara! We must move forward right now! If you stop here, Salem’s death will be for nothing!”

Sara nodded, still expressionless. She started to run.

Linoan tried to follow after her, but the moment she stepped forward, the bridge shook violently. Another huge crack split through it.

“Eeeeek!” Her foot got stuck in the crack.

“Linoan!” Sara stopped and turned around.

Linoan shook her head while standing up. “I’ll be fine, so go on ahead!”

Sara nodded and ran off, but kept looking back at Linoan.

Linoan stood back up and started running again.

Sara made it across.

Now Linoan was the only one left, and she was almost there.

Another huge crack ran through the bridge, and it made an even louder sound than the others had.

The bridge collapsed.

“Ahhhh!” She tumbled backwards and fell along with the bridge.

“Linoan!” Leif extended a hand towards her.

However, it didn’t reach her, and all he caught was air.

She fell further and further towards the river.

Then, Leif felt a gust of air blow past him.

It was Dean. His dragon flew up into the sky, then came straight down. “Lady Linoan!” His dragon flew past the falling rubble.

She reached for him.

Mere inches above the water, she grabbed his hand.

The dragon changed direction and began to arch back up into the air.

Dean leaned over to shield her.

The rubble fell into the water, causing splashes the size of pillars to rise up from the river.

Dean’s dragon weaved through the splashes and returned to Leif and the others.

He had been hit by both the water and the rubble, leaving him soaked and bleeding, but only the bottom of Linoan’s dress was wet, and she was unharmed.

“Thank you, Dean.” She said while dismounting the dragon. She seemed to be embarrassed, as her cheeks were a bit red.

“Don’t mention it.” He answered quietly, then looked at Sara. “We’ll give Salem a proper burial when the battle is over, so don’t worry about his body for now.”

“Okay.” She answered with her face down.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

Leif nodded slowly and looked around at everyone. “We have just a little further to go! Let’s hurry and take the fort!”

After destroying the ballistae, Olwen didn’t stop, and continued onwards.

All she could see was the Gelben Ritter… no, her brother, Reinhardt.

She galloped straight towards the Gelben Ritter.

They were so surprised to see a single enemy come at them that their reaction was a bit late.

Leaving some space between her and the group, she stopped.

Her eyes met Reinhardt’s.

His eyebrows twitched a little.

The cavaliers readied their weapons and tidied up their formation.

“Wait!” Reinhardt held back the cavaliers and moved forward by himself.

“What are you doing in a place like this, Brother!? Wasn’t it your duty to serve Lady Ishtar?”

“This is also my duty. But don’t change the subject. It appears the rumors that you defected to the rebel army are true. How despicable!”

“What’s so despicable about it!? It’s the empire’s actions that are despicable!”

“It seems that the rebels have completely changed you. Have you forgotten your vows to chivalry!?” He glared at her.

“If it’s a code that tells me to serve my masters even when they are wrong, then I don’t need it!” She spat out and glared back at him.

He narrowed his eyes and smirked slightly. “Though you may have broken your vows, you seem to be following your own beliefs.” He said, then removed one of the swords from his waist and tossed it at her.

She stared at it in shock. It was his favorite sword.

“This sword belongs to one who tries to walk their own path.”

“Brother…” She put both hands around the sword, and looked at him.

Suddenly, his expression became grim. He unsheathed a sword. “Don’t misunderstand me! This doesn’t mean I approve of your actions! I fight all those who oppose me! Will you stay loyal to your beliefs, even if they mean you must defeat me!?”

Olwen furrowed her brow, sighed, and attached the sword to her waist. “Of course!” She unsheathed it and stared at him.

Their horses started running at the same time.

Their swords clashed.

They put all their power into pushing against each other.

Their swords screeched, then snapped back.

They stepped away from each other.

The one to recover their horse first was Reinhardt.

Naturally, the power between her and her brother, the leader of the Gelben Ritter, was great.

Once she had finally recovered her horse, his sword was already coming at her.

Somehow, she managed to block his attack.

He didn’t stop moving, and swung at her again.

She did everything she could to block his second and third consecutive attacks.

He thrust his sword at her again, this time, it was aimed at her chest.

She stopped the tip of his sword with the blade of hers, but the force pushed her backwards. She grabbed her horse’s reigns to keep herself from falling off.

Her horse reacted to the pull on the reigns by standing up on her hind feet and neighing.

While somehow keeping herself from falling and maintaining her posture, Olwen began to chant quietly.

“It’s over!” Reinhardt swerved around the side of her bucking horse and brought his sword up.

…Just as she had planned.

She unleashed her spell. Since she had cast it from such a compromised position, it didn’t hit its target, but the effect was more than enough.

The surprise attack had broken Reinhardt and his horse’s form.

She kicked her horse’s side and pulled the reigns. With her front feet still in the air, her horse turned slightly sideways.

Using the force from the turn, with her body still crooked, Olwen swung her sword.

The blade hit Reinhard’s sword and sent it flying.

Olwen clung to her horse’s back, pulled the reigns, and finally fixed her posture.

Lastly, she pointed her sword at his throat. “I won!”

“It appears so.” He answered, defeated.

“If you understand, then please hurry up and retreat back to your unit.”

He furrowed his brows at her. “What are you doing? You should kill me without a second thought! Or are you going to show mercy because I am your brother!?”

“That has nothing to do with it! I just fight how I choose to!”

“You’re soft!”

“Perhaps. But that’s how I do things.” She stared straight at him and hissed.

He broke out in laughter. “You’ve changed. But not in a bad way.”

“Brother…”

Still smiling, he raised both of his hands. “Understood. I’ll retreat.” He said calmly. He turned his back to her, gave an order to his unit, turned north, and galloped off.

She watched him leave.

Olwen seemed to have defeated the cavaliers stationed next to the fort herself, as they were nowhere to be seen.

“Lady Olwen!” Fred rushed up to her.

Olwen whirled around as if she had been attacked from behind.

“Are you alright?” He asked, worried.

She nodded and smiled without saying a word to him.

They returned to Leif and the army.

“I’m sorry for rushing ahead, Lord Leif.” She bowed her head.

“It’s fine. What matters most is your safety.” He answered with a grin. It seemed like something had happened, but based on how the two of them had been acting, he decided that he shouldn’t pry.

“All that’s left is the unit guarding the fort! Let’s take them out in one fell swoop!” Leif ordered while looking at the people in front of the fort: Saias, an elderly baron, and a few cavaliers.

―

As they approached the fort, the cavaliers rushed at them.

‘We’ll be able to beat a group this small easily! No matter how great a tactician Saias is, it’s gonna be difficult for him to turn the tables this time! We have no reason to fear!’ Leif thought as the cavaliers readied themselves to take the attack.

Suddenly, someone ran past him.

It was Mareeta.

She paid no attention to the cavaliers and turned straight towards the fort.

Leif tried to follow her, but the oncoming cavaliers and blocked him from doing so.

“Y-You’re…”

Saias opened his eyes wide at Mareeta, who was coming towards him.

“What’s going on, Bishop?! Why are you in a place like this, working as a tactician of the empire?!” She pointed her sword at him and yelled.

It was Saias who had taken her out of Manster after the grey-haired swordsman had saved her. It was him who had healed her heart from the regret of losing herself to the Shadow Sword and attacking her mother.

Yet now, he had appeared before her as an enemy.

“Each person has their place, their own part to play. I am only staying true to mine, whether I be saving you or devoting myself to this battle.” He chuckled at himself.

Mareeta tightened her grip around her sword.

The muscular, elderly baron stepped between Saias and Mareeta. “Your place is not here, Saias.” He readied his lance and glared at Mareeta.

“Lord Cowen!” Saias furrowed his brow and looked at the baron.

“You yourself should know best where your place is. Hurry out of here, Saias.”

“But if I do that, Lord Cowen, then…”

Cowen frowned at his response. “No matter what we do, we will not be able to stop them here. Whether you are here or elsewhere, there is nothing you can do to change that. There’s no need for you to force yourself to stay here any longer.”

Saias stared at Cowen, speechless.

“Quit dawdling!”

Saias took a few steps backwards. “I-I’m sorry, Lord Cowen.” He said quietly, then ran off.

Cowen didn’t even look back once, instead readying his lance. “Come at me, miss!” He said with a small smile. In his eyes were nothing but the will to fight.

Mareeta readied her sword and swallowed.

After they defeated the last cavalier, Leif and the others started towards the fort.

In front of it, Mareeta was fighting the baron.

For some reason, Saias had disappeared.

Mareeta ducked a horizontal swing from the baron. His lance grazed her hair, but went over her head.

She stepped forward. In one fluid motion, she swung her sword at him five times.

The attacks broke his armor and he fell where he stood.

She crouched and pointed her sword at his nose, signaling that the difficult battle was finally over, and that Leif’s army had seized the fort at The Great River of Thracia.

―

Afterwards, they buried Salem, and spent the night resting at the fort.

They were very close to arriving at Manster Castle.

9 notes · View notes

sassycassie-s-writing · 7 years ago

Text

Group Chatting with Nerds

By: SassyShoulderAngel319

Fandom/Character(s): Avengers - A Lot of Characters.

Rating: PG

Original Idea: This was originally a part of Same Story, Different Versions (Version 1) but it got too long so I made it its own fic and changed it up slightly.

Notes: (Masterlist)(About Me) I love reading Group Chat fics but have never written one. This one is a bit akin to how my friends and I group chat. Featuring @moonlight-lyrics and @saviorsong as Wonder-Pool and Nightsong, respectively. I promise in my bio at the top of my blog that my writing will have next-to-no profanity, but this one has a way around it.

^^^^^

GROUP MMS: Me, Nerdy Stark, Wonder-Pool, Nightsong, Spider-Nerd, Bird Nerd #1, Bird Nerd #2, WintNerd Soldier, Wanda Witch, Thor BROdinson, Black Widow Is Awesome, Bruce BanNerd, & CapNerd America.

Nerdy Stark: Calling all in the area! Team movie night tonight! Any votes on what to watch?

Wonder-Pool: Horror!

Me: Absolutely not! If you guys make me watch a horror movie ONE MORE TIME, I’m quitting the team!

Spider-Nerd: Aw don’t go!

Nightsong: She won’t. She’s just trying to make a point.

Me: MEL! Good to hear from you!

Nightsong: You too kid.

Nerdy Stark: Back to the movie???

Bird Nerd #2: Wrangling these kids is like herding cats, isn’t it?

Wonder-Pool: Shut up Sam.

Wonder-Pool: Ok. If not horror, how about that new rom-com?

Nerdy Stark: Oh dear [Auto-Censoring Engaged] %$&* no!

Wonder-Pool: Why not?

Bird Nerd #2: Because it’s cheesy and boring.

Nightsong: Cheesy and boring can sometimes be really fun. Back off!

Bird Nerd #2: …

Me: Okay, okay, okay. How about something we can all attempt to agree on? Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol?

Spider-Nerd: Yes!

WintNerd Soldier: No.

Spider-Nerd: What? Why?

WintNerd Soldier: Unrealistic and [Auto-Censoring Engaged] %$&* ridiculous.

Me: What? Climbing up the side of a building? Barnes, there are literally TWO people in this group chat who can do that. Three if you count Widow’s epic parkour skills. Ever heard of “suspension of disbelief”?

Nightsong: Of course he hasn’t. He’s old.

WintNerd Soldier: No I haven’t. That one of those future things?

Wonder-Pool: *snorts* Go Google it, Unfrozen Caveman Soldier.

Me: Okay. Star Wars?

Nerdy Stark: Now we’re talking!

Spider-Nerd: [Auto-Censoring Engaged] $*&% YES!

Bird Nerd #2: … Meh. Maybe.

CapNerd America: Guys, can you slow the messages a bit? I’m doing a workout and really don’t need the distraction right now.

Me: Turn the Do Not Disturb feature on. Or put your phone on Airplane Mode till you’re ready. Or just go into the chat settings and turn off notifications for it. ‘Cuz trust me, Cappy, we ain’t slowin’ down at any time soon.

CapNerd America: …

Wanda Witch: Vision and I would like to ask whether the movie has been decided on yet.

Nerdy Stark: [Auto-Censoring Engaged] $%&* I forgot to include Vision in the group chat.

Wonder-Pool: No, we haven’t decided yet.

Spider-Nerd: But Star Wars has seen the most favorable answer so far.

WintNerd Soldier: What exactly IS Star Wars? I’ve heard the title mentioned a lot but no one has told me anything.

Me: *drops cup* GUYS HE DOESN’T KNOW! :-O

Spider-Nerd: That’s it! We have to have a Star Wars Marathon!

Black Widow is Awesome: Guys, I swear if anyone spoils it for him, I will destroy them.

Bird Nerd #2: I second that.

Me: Third!

Spider-Nerd: Fourth!

Nightsong: Okay, okay! We get it! No one drop any secrets!

Bruce BanNerd: What is going on? There are way too many texts for me to read right now. Someone wanna sum it up?

Wonder-Pool: Team movie night. Star Wars. No telling Bucky anything.

Bird Nerd #1: Sorry guys, gotta miss out. Promised the kids we’d go water-skiing and after last time… well. I’d hate to disappoint them again.

Me: It’s okay, Clint, we understand.

Black Widow is Awesome: SUCKER!

Black Widow is Awesome: Sorry. We’ll miss you.

Bird Nerd #1: -_-Thanks Nat.

Black Widow is Awesome: XD Welcome.

Nerdy Stark: Anyone heard from Thor?

Me: Dude, he’s probably still on Asgard.

Spider-Nerd: What makes you think that?

Me: I’m staring at his phone right now, watching it go off with every message we send. So he’s not here or else he would have picked up his phone.

Thor BROdinson: See? Hur-de-dur! I am the almighty Thor! Weilder of the hammer, Mkjasdfjkngh! Protector of the Earth! I do a terrible job because I’m rarely ON the Earth!

Bruce BanNerd: Oh hi Thor. Didn’t realize you were back.

Me: HE’S NOT! THAT WAS ME ON HIS PHONE SINCE IT’S SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! *double facepalm*

Nerdy Stark: OKAY! We get it! Now back to the movie please! Who will be back at the facility by 8?

Me: … I’m still at the facility.

Wonder-Pool: Same here.

Nightsong: I think I’ll be able to make it back. If I get caught on this mission, though, expect me back in a couple weeks.

Spider-Nerd: If someone wants to come get me from Queens, I can get there by 8.

Nerdy Stark: I’ll swing by and get you, kid. You’re on my way anyway.

Spider-Nerd: Thank you, Mr Stark!

Spider-Nerd: Wait… was that a pun?

Nerdy Stark: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Me: The heck you don’t. “SWING by”?

Wanda Witch: Vision and I are still at the facility with no intentions to leave.

CapNerd America: … I’m still here too. As is Bucky.

Bird Nerd #2: I’ll be flying in at about 7:30. DO NOT start without me!

Black Widow is Awesome: Hey Can Man? Think you can pick me up too? I’m in Midtown.

Spider-Nerd: What are you doing there?

Nerdy Stark: What are you doing there?

Black Widow is Awesome: None of your business, boys.

Nerdy Stark: Okay, okay. Yeah I’ll grab you too. Private-msg me the address.

Black Widow is Awesome: Will do.

Me: Hey, uh, Tony? Should I clue Rhodey in on all of this?

Nerdy Stark: [Auto-Censoring Engaged] $%&* I KNEW I WAS FORGETTING PEOPLE! ARGH!

Nerdy Stark: Yes please. Thank you.

Me: Wow. Manners from you—I might die of shock. No problem, Mr. Stank.

Nerdy Stark: [Auto-Censoring Engaged] %$*& DID RHODEY TELL YOU ABOUT THAT?!?!?!

Me: … Duh.

Wonder-Pool: *snorts* Stank? Where did that come from?

Nerdy Stark: Long story.

CapNerd America: Totally not my fault.

Nightsong: ANYWAY. Star Wars. 8 o’clock. I suggest someone go to the store on a popcorn and/or ice cream run.

Nerdy Stark: Spidey, Widow, and me will on our way up. Same list as usual?

CapNerd America: Yeah that should be fine.

Nerdy Stark: Great. On it.

Me: This is exciting guys! Star Wars! *parades around singing Imperial March*

WintNerd Solider: What is happening? Is she okay? Hey, kid, I can hear you from the BASEMENT.

Nightsong: Wait, she’s ACTUALLY singing Imperial March? HA! Why am I not surprised?

Me: Because I’m not surprising. Okay! I’m excited. See you all soon!

20 notes · View notes

chyteawrites · 7 years ago

Text

Beat in Your Heart

Summary: With Sebastian being gone for TIFF, there’s an obvious hole in everyone’s hearts.

A/N: Inspired by Lonestar’s “I’m Already There” which you can listen to here -----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJEP5sWuDi8 . This story is incredibly emotional, so yeah.

Giggles filled our home as we had a peaceful Sunday night in, watching our favorite Star Wars movie. The way Genevieve could quote all of Leia’s lines and Aiden could so easily resemble Luke made me giggle. But there was someone missing. My personal Luke lookalike. Sebastian was away for the TIFF. I missed him terribly, just like I knew the kids did. I knew he would get a kick out of Evie quoting lines.

“Just like you, you dork. So much like her momma.” I could hear his voice. He’d look up at me from his spot in my lap as I played with his hair, giving me that rotten as sin smile. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind and focus on our children. I watched as they played out battle scenes, smiling and giggling at them.

My phone started ringing and I leaned over, cursing whoever could have been calling right now. Shit. I huffed. ‘Papi Chulo-FaceTime’. Why are you doing this to me right now? I asked mentally, hoping to use that unspoken connection, even though we were miles apart.

“Hey. You guys stay in here. I need to take this.” I told them quietly as I stood up and answered once I got into the kitchen. I saw his face fill up my screen and my heart started flipping like it always did when I saw him.

“Oh, thank God. I was starting to think you weren’t gonna answer, Rin.” Sebastian told me, running a hand through his hair and giving me a tired smile.

“Of course, I was going to answer, darlin’.” I murmured and smiled sweetly. “How’s everything going?” I asked and his hand flew up.

“No work talk. I can’t do it tonight.” His hands fidgeted and I knew that wasn’t a good subject. “How are things there?” He asked wistfully. He wants to be here. I know that look all too well. I told myself.

“Things are good. It’s movie night since the kids don’t have school tomorrow. We’re watching Return of the Jedi for the millionth time.” I chuckled. I peeked my head around the kitchen corner and smiled at them before turning back to see Sebastian craning his neck to sneak a glimpse of our kids.

“You wanna see ‘em, baby?” I asked quietly, pressing my lips together afterward. I saw the tears forming in his eyes and he nodded, running a hand through his hair. I set the phone down and walked to the living room, walking back a few moments later with the kids behind me.

“What’s going on?” Aiden asked me sweetly.

“I got someone on the phone who wants to talk to you guys.” I answered and grabbed the phone. I held it at their level and turned it so they could see Sebastian. Evie’s eyes filled with tears while Aiden gasped and grabbed the phone, taking it to our table. Genevieve followed behind him and I leaned against the counter, holding back my own tears as I listened to our son recount the ‘adventures’ he’s had since Seb left.

“Well, that’s everything I’ve done. Have you had any adventures, Dad?” Aiden asked and even though I couldn’t see, I knew there were some loving looks being exchanged.

“Nah, not really. Just working. Making sure all these guys stay in line.” Seb chuckled. “Can I talk to your sister now, buddy?” He asked and Aiden handed the phone to Genevieve before walking back to me. He gave me a tight hug and I ruffled his hair before he ran upstairs to grab his blanket. I looked back to see and hear my daughter and husband sniffling.

“When are you coming home?” Evie hiccupped through broken cries, tears streaming down her fair features. I couldn’t see the phone, but what I knew of Sebastian, his heart was in pure agony to see his girl break down like this.

“As soon as I can, raza de soare. I promise. But I’m always there, even if you don’t realize it.” He whispered, taking a sharp breath.

“I miss you so much, tătic.” She heaved. As she tried to catch her breath, she wiped her tears on her sleeves.

“I miss you too, my sweet girl.” He crooned, his voice cracking. “Just remember this. No matter where I am, I’m seeing the same sun, moon, sky, and stars as you. Okay?” Seb asked quietly and doing his best to calm our weeping daughter.

“Okay. I love you, tătic. So much.” Evie whispered and blew him a kiss.

“I love you too, frumoasa. Much more than you’ll ever know.” My husband murmured and blew her a kiss back. She wiped her slowing tears away and brought my phone back. She gave me a gentle hug in passing, but I barely noticed. I was busy drowning in my own tears from watching them and I could barely look down at my phone.

“God, you’re a hot mess.” Sebastian chuckled from the screen, trying to lighten my mood. I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh as I wiped my cheeks and attempted to catch my breath. I looked down at him and he wiped his own tears away.

“Takes one to know one, punk.” I retorted and got him to flash me a smile.

“But I’m your punk.” He joked, still not fully recovered from the good crying session we just had all around.

“And only mine.” I whispered. “You know this was never easy, you being gone, when it was just me left behind. Now we’ve got our kiddos. The way Evie looks at you…” I started before my words caught in my throat at the way he looked at me.

“I know. God, do I know. I miss you all so damn much.” Sebastian sniffled. “I miss the way Aiden laughs at the smallest things. The way Genevieve smiles when I tell a set story for what should be the millionth time. And your hugs. I miss the comfort of your arms and the way your fingers brush the hair at the bottom of my neck when I drift to sleep on your chest.” He was rambling and he knew it, but he couldn’t stop. He broke down into heaving, hysterical sobs.

Curse you all. Damn you Marvel and all the other companies. I raged in my mind. I hated seeing him like this.

“Sebastian. Come home. You’re going to have a breakdown one of these days if you don’t recharge and see us for more than thirty minutes through a phone screen.” I was pleading. “I hate this. I can’t stand to see our kids cry because they miss you. It physically kills me to see you cry over this. Please, darling.” I whimpered, my head bowed in dismay.

“Ssshhh, iubită.” He shushed and hummed. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. And I’ll be home sooner than you can imagine. And like I told Evie, I’m there even if it doesn’t feel like it.” His voice was soft and low. So soothing. I looked at him, my body trembling and my lip quivering.

“Do me a favor, regina mea. Put your hand over your heart for me.” He told me with a sweet smile. I mirrored his movement, watching as he placed his right hand over his bare chest where his heart rested. “Feel that heartbeat? A piece of my heart is in there. Same beat. Same rhythm. Same time. Our own song. And I know a piece of your heart is in mine.” Sebastian grinned.

“You’ll always have a piece of my heart, Sebastian.” I whispered, fighting back my tears.

“And you’ll always have a piece of mine, Corinne. And whether they know it or not, Evie and Aiden have a piece of my heart too. Because that’s what a family and love is. Pieces of the others’ hearts to make ours whole.” He crooned and looked at me like in that moment I was the whole world. Like there wasn’t what felt like a million miles between us.

“You’re so wonderful, baby.” I signed one handed, my tears flowing again.

“I love you, Rin.” Seb whispered.

“I love you too.” I whimpered. “We’re going to be okay.” I whispered and looked at him through tear filled eyelashes.

“We’re going to be better than okay, doll.” Sebastian crooned, his eyes never leaving me as I wiped my tears. “You a little better now, printesă?” He asked kindly.

“I’m never one hundred percent when you’re gone, but I’m better.” I told him quietly and sat on the counter.

“I know. I’m not either. I won’t be until I hug those kids and then take you to bed.” He chuckled, his face changing from solemn to mischievous almost as quickly as the words left his lips.

“You are absolutely rotten.” I huffed and smiled before letting out a yawn.

“Rotten to the core, baby doll.” He giggled. “Getting sleepy, regina mea?” He asked and looked at me with heavy eyes of his own.

“Yeah. Between taking care of work and the minions and crying over you, it takes a lot out of this girl.” I told him with a weak smile.

“Better get some rest then. Let me tell the kids goodnight and then I’ll get off here. Got an early flight tomorrow.” Seb told me, his eyes widening slightly.

“Aiden! Genevieve! Come tell dad goodnight! He’s gotta get up early!” I shouted toward the living room. The sound of feet running toward me still made my heart do high dive flips. I handed them the phone and they both smiled at their dad.

“Goodnight, guys. Get some good sleep and you keep behaving for your momma, okay?” Sebastian gave them a sweet smile and a raised eyebrow.

“Of course, dad. We wouldn’t want to disappoint you.” Aiden chuckled and gave his dad a wide grin. Seb held up his fist and our son gave him a fist bump in return before handing the phone to his sister. Genevieve flashed Sebastian a heart stopping smile and his eyes lit up in excitement.

“I hope you have a good night, tătic. I love you so much.” She whispered, her smile still bright.

“I love you too, raza de soare. Get some rest.” He chuckled and blew her a kiss. She blew him one in return and waved goodbye before handing me the phone. She kissed my cheek before walking away, humming the Imperial March.

“And you, Mrs. Winters-Stan, definitely need to try to get some rest.” Sebastian chuckled, giving me a playful grin.

“As do you, Mr. Stan.” I giggled and winked. “I love you, my handsome papi chulo.” I told him with a mischievous smile.

“And I love you, my beautiful printesă.” He crooned, his lips forming as if he were going to kiss me. I copied him and giggled before waving goodbye.

“Night, handsome.” I cooed with a small smile.

“Night, gorgeous.” Sebastian whispered before waving goodbye and hanging up. I watched his face disappear from my screen and immediately wished he was here. Or we were there. I had to push the thoughts far from my mind as I walked upstairs to change into my pajamas. I crawled into our bed and grabbed his pillow, holding it close to me. I hummed myself to sleep, imagining that his strong arms were wrapped around me and he was singing softly.

#with arms wide open #chynna writes #Beat in You Heart #Sebastian Stan #sebastian stan fanfiction #sebastian stan angst #sebastian stan fluff #seb stan fanfic #seb stan fluff #seb stan angst #OFC Corinne Winters #OFC Corinne Winters-Stan #Sebastian Stan x OFC Corinne Winters #Sebastian Stan x OFC Corinne Winters-Stan #Sebastian Stan x OFC

12 notes · View notes

best-left-hook-jones · 7 years ago

Text

It Is Not Yet Evening (10/?)

Summary: Historical AU. It is 1917, and with the Russian empire on the verge of collapse, Emma - a former maid for the Imperial family - means to escape the imminent revolution and start a new life in London. Desperately fleeing the Bolsheviks and armed with fake documents and a new identity, she sets out to find the mysterious man with the power to grant her her freedom. But the road to Moscow is a treacherous one, and a chance encounter with a wealthy British businessman may change her life forever.

Words: 45,003

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10

Redkino Station; March 15th, 1917. 8:03am.

Miss Swan?

The words seemed to echo through her sleep addled brain. Who was ‘Miss Swan’? She shrugged it off, still clinging to the lingering remnants of a good dream. Something about ocean blue irises and dark hair. A stubbled jaw line and a slight scar on one cheek, perhaps too? She scrunched her eyes shut tighter and tried to remember. The image had shattered at the intrusion and her mind frantically grasped at the shards, hoping to reassemble the pieces. She had just about managed to remember something about a roguish smile when the voice came again.

Swan?

Why couldn’t the voice just leave her alone? She was exhausted. After everything that had happened, all she wanted to do was rest, to snuggle into the warmth of the body that was cozied up next to her. Ah yes, that was what the dream had been. She knew it was a dream, but the light brush of fingertips across her cheek felt as real as anything, as did the light breath that puffed against her hair. She let out a deep sigh. Why couldn’t they just let her rest?

Emma!

That was enough to breach the surface and she awoke with a gasp, her eyes flying open wide in surprise. The man from her dream - whose limbs Emma could have sworn had been tangled with hers only moments before - was inches away from her face, his face filled with worry as he hovered over her. Emma instinctively recoiled back further into the seat to put some distance between them, which Killian copied, leaning away from her.

“My apologies, lass,” he started, his voice quieter that it had been in the dream. “I did not want to wake you, but I thought you should know that we have stopped.”

Emma blinked, trying to focus.

Stopped? Again?

“Why?”

Killian looked almost embarrassed, a hand rising to scratch behind one ear. “I am afraid I cannot understand the attendant’s instructions. I would not have awoken you otherwise.”

Emma nodded once, her brain catching up to the situation. She ran a hand across her face to brush away any sleep or - God forbid - drool that might be there, before slipping into her shoes. Other than a quick run through with her fingers, there was very little she could do about the knots that had accumulated in her hair. That would have to wait. She pulled on her coat and hat as Killian did the same, leaving her possessions stashed away in the same hiding spot they had been in when they had gone for dinner. Killian hadn’t mentioned seeing any soldiers, but they both took their papers, just in case.

They made their way into the narrow corridor, Killian turning to shut the cabin door tightly behind them. The entrance at the end of the carriage was open, letting in small flurries of snow and the sounds of mixed chatter from the platform. Killian took her hand as she descended down the slick metal steps to the platform. Her balance wavered for a moment on the bottom step, but a second later she felt the soft crunch of snow beneath her feet.

There was a large group of passengers already waiting on the platform, most wrapped in heavy coats and scarves, and all demanding answers from the heavy set attendant standing in the middle of the masses. The attendant, for his part, appeared exhausted as he repeated the same announcement in a booming voice that was still barely audible over the crowd.

A fallen tree on the tracks up ahead, blown down by the strong winds that had swept through in the night. A half hour at most, the attendant promised, his bushy mustache twitching as he spoke, though he kept looking anxiously down the platform as if he were looking for reassurance that the workers that had been sent were on task. Emma sighed and relayed the message to Killian. The businessman looked relieved at the words and it occurred to Emma that he might have also been anxious about the reason for the delay.

‘I am afraid there is no way to know how long we will be stalled here,” Emma finished, sighing.

Her companion only hummed, not appearing to be particularly concerned that they were effectively stuck in the middle of tracks, with no discernable time frame for departure.

“Perhaps a stroll, then,” Killian suggested, glancing around to the platform around them. “To stretch our legs.”

Emma looked around as well. Some passengers had given up on waiting for updates on the delay and had begun making their way through the station doors to wait it out. The station was small, consisting only of a pale blue structure with three archways, a flat peaked roof that seemed barely strong enough to support the weight of the heavy snow covering it, and a rather modest yellow sign announcing in blocky letters their arrival at ‘Redkino’. Despite the town’s obviously small size and lack of any visible landmarks, the name seemed vaguely familiar. Emma thought fleetingly that she had heard of a fire devastating the area years prior, but she couldn’t be sure.

She turned her attention back to Killian, who was still waiting patiently for her answer. The thought of being cooped up in the cabin when they were not moving was not entirely appealing, especially when they still had another few hours left of actual travel time until they reached Moscow. Having to sit for that much longer would surely have her tearing at the walls by the end. Besides, being outside meant that she would receive word immediately if the plans were to change.

Or if guards were to arrive.

“Alright.”

Killian let her lead the way, turning his collar up against the wind and pulling his cap lower on his head. It was mid morning, and though the sun was well above the horizon, the sunshine was dimmed behind the heavy layer of cloud and snow, leaving a sharp bite in the air. Granny had been right; despite the heavier garments, the cold was already seeping through her shawl and coat. Her toes were curling in her shoes and she wanted to curse her forgetfulness for leaving her gloves in her bag. She dragged the edges of her sleeve over her fingers and crossed her arms tightly to her chest.

It was too much to ask that her companion not notice.

“Are you cold?” Killian asked.

“No,” she replied, knowing full well that she was being stubborn.

“Here.”

He stopped and pulled off his black leather gloves using his teeth.

“I cannot take your gloves,” Emma protested immediately. “You need them.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “I only need one,” he reminded her, holding up his wooden hand.

Fair point. Was she really so ridiculous as to refuse the gloves of a man who hadn’t need of one? It was a generous offer and as she was nearly freezing in her boots, the rational - and slightly less stubborn- portion of her brain won out.

Emma reached out and took the gloves from his outstretched hand. They were expensive, their quality reflected in the buttery feel of the goat skin. They were unlined and far too big, but Emma supposed she couldn’t be too disappointed given that he had graciously offered up his gloves to her in the first place. The heat from the previous owner lingered in the right hand glove, and she flexed her fingers into it, hoping to retain some of it.

“Better?”

Emma nodded. “Much. Thank you.”

He smiled and offered her his arm, shoving his ungloved hand into a pocket. She took it gratefully, treasuring the warmth that radiated where their arms met. Killian set the pace, and together they began their slow walk down the long platform.

Although Emma was sure that Killian was likely as exhausted as she was, but the brisk morning air seemed to slowly be reviving the pair. Being a maid for the Tsarina, Emma had not been allowed to go on such strolls with any men from the palace, the Tsarina preferring to keep her ladies separate from the male staff. The rule had been largely obeyed over the years, but even the monarch herself was unable to be everywhere at once to enforce it. Being in public, and strolling along now with Killian Jones - a wealthy businessman, of all things - made Emma feel oddly rebellious. Ruby would have been proud of her, she thought. It was satisfying, knowing that if a few heads turned to gawk at them, it was surely due to the handsome gentleman who had her arm.

“You carry yourself as a true gentleman, Killian,” she noted, making sure to use his first name alone.

Killian’s eyebrows shot up in mock surprise. “Was that a compliment I heard, Miss Swan?”

Of course she would give him a rope and he would immediately hang himself with it.

“Yes. Now do not let it go to your head,” she chastised.

“You wound me, love.”

“Good,” she teased. “It might help to ease some of your ego.”

“Are you suggesting that I have an inflated ego?” He asked, feigning offense.

“You are the man who awarded himself a prostitute in his cover story,” she pointed out. The lie hadn’t bothered her at the time - not really - but now that the adrenaline had worn away, the ease with which the story had come to him had raised questions for her.

Killian’s smirk only widened. “Did I offend you with that quick thinking?”

Emma rolled her eyes. “I am sure you could have thought of something else.”

“Ah, but would it have been as convincing?”

“ What are you implying ?”

“Fear not, Miss Swan,” he chuckled. “I am not suggesting anything. You are far too cruel to be a prostitute anyhow.”

“Acquainted with many prostitutes then, are you?” Emma grumbled. If she were honest, she didn't truly believe he was the type of man who would ever need to pay a woman to spend the night with him, but the words had come out all the same. For some reason, she needed to hear him say it.

“Not entirely, no,” Killian answered hesitantly. “I assure you that I am a loyal husband.”

Emma nearly scoffed. “You are not married. Have you forgotten? I have read your documents.”

She glanced up at him then and was surprised to see that the happiness had faded from his expression. He seemed almost sad.

“Perhaps not. But I have been engaged, and I would like to think that I would have made a fair and loving husband.”

Emma nearly lost her footing. “You were engaged?”

Killian almost regained his smile at her incredulous expression. Almost.

“Does that surprise you?”

Emma looked at him then - really looked - as she pondered his question.

“No,” she admitted slowly. “I suppose that it does not surprise me.”

Truthfully, it wasn’t difficult to imagine the man in front of her as a husband. He was kind, honourable, and he had already proved himself to be loyal to an almost ridiculous extent. And that was all on top of his handsome appearance and clear abundance of wealth. Men such as him were rare - if not impossible - to find and he surely would have had his pick of any woman he fancied. Any woman would be lucky to have him by her side, Emma thought.

But to think that he had already found someone he had cared for enough to propose had her stomach fluttering in ways that she didn’t quite understand. It was also no hard guess as to the identity of his lost love - Killian was a man who quite literally wore his heart on his sleeve. Perhaps it was time to learn more about the mysterious woman who had laid claim to Killian’s right arm.

“It was Milah, was it not?” Emma prompted, trying to sound casual. It didn’t work, and she immediately felt Killian stiffen beside her.

“You are very perceptive, aren’t you?”

A partial answer, but not what Emma had wanted. She pressed on, not willing to let the elephant that had been in the room for far too long to settle itself back between them. It was time.

“Is she…?”

“She died a long time ago,” he answered hurriedly, as though he were ripping off a bandage by getting the words out. “Smallpox.”

Emma had had a feeling that the mysterious woman had died, but hearing the truth confirmed for her did her no favours. She only barely repressed a shiver as she recalled the photographs that Dr. Whale had kept in his diary of those that had contracted the disease. The image of a young child covered in the tell-tale rash had haunted her dreams for weeks afterwards. It had been the last time that Emma had sat with the royal doctor during his studies. There were some things that she just didn’t have the stomach for. Emma was only grateful that Killian’s memories of his fiance did not seem tainted by the brutal illness.

“Smallpox is a terrible disease.”

“Indeed,” Killian agreed sadly. ”They say that those who survive the disease are left with horrible scars, but I cannot imagine my Milah as anything other than beautiful.”

It must have been a strong gust of wind that had Emma cringing at the words. Of course she would have been beautiful. It only made sense for a man as handsome as him to be with someone beautiful. Was that not what beautiful people did? Marry other beautiful people and have beautiful children and live beautiful lives?

Yes, it must have been the chill of the wind that had her clenching her teeth.

“How long was your engagement?”

Killian let out a breath as he thought, the warm air turning into a cloud of white against the hazy sky.

“I met her when I was seventeen, and we saw each other for just over two years. Milah was older, but I knew that she was the one from the very beginning. She was gorgeous and strong, and I was head over heels in love with her.”

Emma nodded. Young love was a powerful thing. “You miss her,” she stated simply. It wasn’t a question.

He gave a sad smile, one too many for the early morning.

“All the time.”

All the time . The more Emma thought about it, the more everything began to make sense. For every gentle touch and flirtatious smile he gave, there was always a look of wariness and uncertainty that followed. Emma wasn’t even sure if he was aware that he did it, but it was there all the same, reminding her that his mind was elsewhere. That in those moments, he was with someone else. She was sure now that his mind had gone to her in the moment before their near kiss.

Just my luck to be infatuated with a man whose heart is already somewhere else.

Emma immediately banished the thought. She was not competing with anyone, let alone a dead woman. The mere suggestion of it made her flush with guilt. Killian had revealed a moment of sadness and turmoil in his life, and here she stood feeling jealous , of all things. No, not jealous. Something else. It had to be.

She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she almost didn’t notice when Killian began to speak again.

“Although some days it does not feel as though she has gone far,” he continued. “She… gives me advice, I believe. Sends me messages that I am meant to decipher.”

Emma furrowed her brow, confused. “What sort of messages?”

“It could be anything,” he shrugged. “They are not always obvious, but I believe that they are there all the same.” He paused, thinking. “She was a lot like you are, in that way, I think.”

“How do you mean?” Emma failed to keep the surprise from her voice. Like her?

“Stubborn, mostly.” He attempted a smile, but it lacked warmth and faded quickly. “She was secretive, too. Milah always played things so close to the chest and it used to drive me mad, trying to figure her out. At the beginning, she never even told me that she was sick.”

“That sounds rather reckless. You could have become infected.”

Another wry smile crossed his features. “She was hoping it was morning sickness.”

“Oh.” Emma’s stomach twisted in knots. Of course. “Was she..?”

“No,” Killian shook his head. “She had gone to see a physician to check. It was only after they told her of the contagion that she finally told me that she had been feeling unwell. But by then, of course, it was too late.”

The reassurance felt like anything but. Of course Milah would have hoped for the best, believing that the nausea and malaise were signs of a bright future with her doting husband-to-be. Emma wouldn’t even be surprised if she had passed off the fever as a side effect. What a terrible moment, Emma thought, to be so close to happiness and to have it all ripped away. She couldn’t begin to imagine it.

His face was scrunched in pain as though he were reliving the experience.

“I was not permitted to see her after she was admitted into hospital,” he continued. “She must have known that too, I think, but she knew that I would never have left her side if I had known.”

Killian paused, taking a breath to steady himself. Emma felt useless as she watched him be pulled into darker times, unable to find anything to soothe his hurt. She had never been the one to provide comfort to her small handful of friends in the palace - that responsibility had always fallen squarely on Ruby’s shoulders. And besides, how was she meant to say kind and thoughtful words for a woman she had never met? Surely anything she said in that regard would seem false and insincere, making matters worse.

In the end, Emma settled on the words that she knew must have been true.

“She must have loved you very much.”

It wasn't much, but Killian gave an appreciative nod for the effort. She could see the guilt in his eyes, and though Emma had never lost anyone to illness before, it wasn’t difficult to imagine where his thoughts had gone. He had wanted to be with her during her final moments, and he hadn’t been able to. It was common, Emma thought, to want that, but she couldn’t help but think that Killian had been spared a particularly cruel fate. For as horrible as the memories of Milah’s illness were for him now, Emma imagined that the images of her diseased ravaged body lying cold in his arms would have been far more difficult to purge. She only prayed that he could find at least some peace and comfort in that.

They had reached the end of the platform, the drop off in the path revealing where the station hands had given up clearing the walkway of snow. The area was deserted of other passengers, the far walk likely too tedious for most to make. They stood at the edge in silence and peered down the long tracks to where they disappeared in the distance. It wasn’t the loveliest of sights; the grey sky, bare knobbled trees, and pale snow gave the entire area a gloomy feel. They had many weeks left until the land would thaw and life would return to the town.

Emma looked down to see what appeared to be a thin, red book partially protruding from a small pile that had been brushed into the side of a pillar. Taking care not to get her borrowed gloves covered in snow, she tugged the package loose.

It was a magazine - a satirical one - folded open to a page that contained a pair of drawings. The words were smudged and unreadable, but even through the wet of the snow that had seeped through the thin paper, the grotesque caricatures were unmistakeable; a hefty man carrying a cigar and a money box sat astride a crawling and pitiful looking Rasputin, while another man carrying a large pencil and several cartoonish drawings of the the head monarch rode a bridled Tsar Nicholas II.

Killian, who had been examining the pages over her shoulder, spoke up.

“What does it say?”

“Does it matter?” Emma snapped. Her tone came off more harsh than she had intended, but she couldn’t help the anger that was boiling inside her.

Killian only hummed noncommittally. It was innocent enough, but it was more than enough to set her on edge. It was irritating that he did not - could not - share her outrage at the defamatory images. Caricatures were not uncommon and Emma was not so naive as to think that they did not have similar drawings of royal families in Britain and elsewhere, but it was not the same. Emma knew these people, knew what was truly in their hearts in a way that all of the artists and critics would never understand. In a way that the Bolsheviks would never understand.

She crunched the magazine between her gloved hands and jammed it back underneath the snow. It was petty, and Emma knew that there were likely plenty more copies on the kitchen tables of the dissidents, but at least there was one less. It didn’t matter if anyone else came across it; the paper was nearly ruined as it was. She only prayed that it would rot in the coming spring slush.

Killian hadn’t said a word as he had watched her bury the pages in the snow, and Emma was sure that he must think she was mad. Given his comments about the Imperial family earlier, Emma doubted he would understand her wish to protect the dishonoured royals. They weren’t worth her tears, he probably thought, and they were certainly not worth digging in the snow for. Perhaps he was even right a bit, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t need him to say it.

Without looking at her companion, Emma stood up and began patting the snow off of the gloves and brushing the clumps of snow from the skirt of her dress. The wind had picked up a bit and Emma tugged her coat tighter around her, fixing her long hair around her shoulders to keep her neck warm.

Killian leaned his back against one of the pillars, crossing his arms across his chest. His cheeks and nose were flushed pink from the cold, and it made Emma briefly wonder if he would even tell her if he was feeling the cold as she was. Given that he seemed to be as stubborn as her in that regard, she thought not.

“What was it like?”

Emma frowned, confused. “I beg your pardon?”

“To live in the palace. What was it like?”

Emma paused, not expecting such a question. Indeed, it was never a question she had ever been asked before. Anyone she had ever really known had worked in the palace, so the question would have been ridiculous. What had it been like? It was strange, but Emma found herself woefully unprepared to answer. She considered brushing off the answer, of giving a quick shrug and changing the subject, but the look of genuine curiosity on Killian’s face made her waver. It seemed unfair to give him nothing when he had given her so much.

“It was lovely,” she said after a moment. “At least, I thought so.”

Killian raised an eyebrow. “I take it the Tsar did not?”

“Not the Winter Palace, no,” Emma admitted. “It is strange to think, I know, given its beauty but they hated that palace. They found it a blessing to leave there.”

She would never admit it to anyone, but she had once heard the Tsar announce in front of a room full of guests the night before they had left for holidays that he pitied anyone who had to remain in the “bog” that was Petrograd.

“How old were you when you came into their employ?”

“I was fourteen.”

Killian gave a low whistle. “That is quite a young age to be so close with royalty.”

Emma laughed. “It was not that terrible, I assure you. I was working in the kitchens at the time. It was not anything particularly special, but I would help prepare the food for the chefs. There was an older woman there - Cora - who hated me desperately though.”

“She sounds like a witch.”

“She was.” Emma wrinkled her nose at the memory. “She had a daughter who was just slightly older than I was, and I believe Cora was convinced that she had more royal blood in her than the entire Romanov family combined.”

“That is quite bold of her. I always imagined that anyone who spoke against the family would be put to death.”

“Yes, well, unfortunately for me, I was the only one who ever heard her speak that way. My mother used to tell me that she would receive only what she was owed.” Emma thought for a moment. “I suppose that it exactly what she got, in the end.”

Killian tilted his head to look at her. “And what was that?”

“Nothing.” Emma shrugged, moving a wisp of blond hair from where in caught in the corner of her mouth. “Granny was the personal maid to the Tsarina, and when the Tsarina expressed interest in a new, young maid, she recommended me.”

“A child?” Killian raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Someone who was near her daughter’s age,” Emma explained. “I was only five years older than the eldest daughter and the Tsarina believed it would be best to have someone her own age to play with.”

“I mean no offence, Miss Swan, but surely the Romanov family has connections to plenty of children with more, er, well, favourable backgrounds than yours.”

“The Tsarina hated them all. She never did like the royal lifestyle anyhow. She thought it was insincere and self-glamorizing. She did not want her children to be raised like that. Hence why they brought me in.”

“I am sure the old witch was pleased with that decision.”

Emma shrugged. “She threatened me, and she threatened my parents. She even threatened Granny. I am sure it was the last one that had her and her daughter thrown from the castle.”

“As they should have been,” Killian stressed firmly. “It serves them right.”

“Perhaps, but not the daughter - Regina. I am certain she would have been a kind and loving child if it were not for her mother. It was awful.”

Killian seemed to think about that for a moment. He removed his hat and lazily brushed off the snow that had gathered in a light dusting over it. His expression was unreadable, but Emma preferred it to the look of haunting and sadness that had marred his features when he talked about his fiance.

“Indeed. Wounds made when we are young tend to linger. The sins of the father become the sins of the children. Or mothers to their daughters, in this case.”

There was a tone in his voice that was unmistakeable.

“You sound as though you speak from experience,” she noted.

“A tale for another time, perhaps.” His smile was likely meant to be reassuring, but Emma saw past it. Still, she would not push. He would surely tell her in his own time. “You were saying, Miss Swan?”

“Yes, of course,” she continued, returning back to her own memories. “Well, needless to say that the family were more than pleased to move to the palace in Tsarskoe Selo. It was calmer and less formal that before. It was really quite comfortable.”

“I am sure that any palace that the Tsar chose would be comfortable,” Killian pointed out.

“Maybe, but I believe that it makes a difference. It, well, it feels different when you are away from the city, when it is only the family and the closest staff. They were never unkind, or cruel towards us. They treated me as though I were one of their own.” She was nearly whispering by then. “They were my family.”

“If I am correct, then, Miss Swan,” he began, his tone becoming more playful again, “that would make you a princess.”

“And what if I were?” She smiled back, tilting her head. “Would that be more believable than my story about being a palace maid, running away to Britain to escape a possible revolution?”

Killian paused, thinking. “If that were the real truth, I think I would know it and I would believe you.”

Emma snorted. “You keep saying that but I am not sure what I have done to earn your trust.”

“Do you trust me?” Killian was looking at her again with his piercing blue eyes.

“Yes.”

She answered immediately, almost without thinking. It was nearly shocking that it was the truth, but she did trust him.

Killian shrugged. “Then that is enough,” he replied simply.

He said it with such confidence, as though there weren’t any other factors to consider, as though it really could be that simple as to just trust someone implicitly. He was able to stand on a platform in a foreign train station, after lying to Imperial soldiers, and trust her. Emma had never been that way with anyone before. Perhaps she never would. But in that moment, Emma felt proud to have someone like Killian Jones on her side.

No, Killian , she corrected.

Perhaps it was because she was examining him so closely, but Emma caught the exact moment a shiver broke free from his body. It was gone in an instant, but it was enough.

Knowing that he would never admit his discomfort to her, let alone ask for his gloves back, Emma took a few steps forward to close the distance between them. Surprise flickered across his face as she curled up into his side, letting the heat of their bodies combine between them.

And once again, it didn’t bother her that she was practically wrapped in the arms of a stranger in plain daylight, for all the world to see. He wasn’t a stranger, he was Killian. Killian, who in the short span of a few hours, had become both her friend and ally. It was an unconventional friendship, so say the least, but then again, it was more than she had ever hoped for after leaving her only friends and family behind. Perhaps Killian was right. Perhaps, even, it was more than enough.

“What will happen to them?” He asked then, his voice quiet. “The Imperial family, that is.”

What will happen to you?

He hadn’t said it, but she had heard them lingering behind his words. His never ending concern for her, as always.

“I do not know,” she answered honestly.

His adam’s apple bobbed as he processed her words. He had been so kind to her, and it hurt that she couldn’t reassure him that his efforts weren’t all for naught. There was still a very real chance that they would be caught - that she would be caught - and there would be nothing that either of them would be able to do about it. It was the price that she had agreed to pay all those years ago when she had entered into the Imperial family’s service, back when talks of war and revolution had been merely hypothetical gossip. It was a cruel bargain, but Emma was certain that she would choose it again every time if she were given the chance.

She looked up and found him watching her, his expression warm. There was a slight smile on his face, and now that she was up close and out of the dim light of the cabin, Emma could swear that his eyes were more blue than she had ever seen them.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked, only half teasing. It didn’t seem to deter him, his gaze tender.

“Nothing, love. Only that you have some snow caught in your hair,” he murmured almost absently, never breaking his gaze away from her face.

He reached out and delicately brushed the hair just above her left ear, tucking the strands behind as he did so. His fingertips were cold where they brushed against her cheekbone, and Emma felt a momentary pang of guilt at knowing that she had made them that way. She wanted to return them then, insist that she would be fine without the extra layer, but she found that she couldn’t speak. Not with the way that his eyes were staring into hers, captivating her.

Emma wasn’t sure who had moved, but suddenly, they were closer than they had been moments earlier. He was close enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath on her face, his nose inches away from her own. It was only the fact that she wasn’t able to see her own breath in the cold air that made her realize she had been holding it, waiting to see what he would do. His pupils were blown wide, and she was sure that if she let herself go, she could press herself into him and find out if any rum lingered on his lips from the night before. He would let her, she thought, and in moments they could find themselves tangled in a passionate embrace, the cold forgotten and the black iron train a distant memory.

But Emma had done this before, been caught in this exact position only hours before, and she knew what would happen next. And it wasn’t that. In a second, he would begin to pull away again, just as he had in the corridor. In another second, she would have to hear his apologies, hear how he couldn’t handle it, how his heart belonged to another. It would be the same as before, she was sure. At least now she knew why.

And she knew that there was only one way their journey together would end.

“Perhaps…” Killian began, his voice barely a whisper.

“Perhaps we should go back inside now,” she finished for him, just as quietly. She took a step away from him then, moving her hair back to cover her ears and wrapping her arms around her. “I am feeling a bit cold.”

His eyes flickered between hers for a moment, and Emma thought that he looked almost disappointed. But then again, Emma knew better than that.

This. This is why boundaries were needed, why rules were made to be followed.

Emma was only fortunate that she hadn’t let herself indulge. There was still time to return to their original agreement. The momentary regret he felt would turn into guilt at having lusted over her and they would return to normal, just as it had before.

He nodded, looking anywhere but at her, and Emma took that as a cue to leave. She spun on her heels and made her way back to their cabin, the soft crunch of snow behind her the only indication that he was following.

#Captain Swan #cs au #cs fanfic #cs #csff #ouat fanfiction #It Is Not Yet Evening #NextFewWords

6 notes · View notes

kaitanisb021 · 8 years ago

Text

Truth

A rebel captain faces interrogation by the notorious Agent Kallus, but is unprepared for his methods.

Notes:

May contain or imply Season 2/early Season 3 spoilers. Written and posted prior to Season 3: Through Imperial Eyes. May eventually be part of a series of Kallus shorts. Reference to previous series canon violence (i.e., torture, Lasan massacre) (Cross-posted at Archiveofourown.org, TheForce.Net and Fanfiction.net)

Truth

Flanked by four stormtroopers, Captain Ranu was being quick-marched down the hallway of an Imperial administration building, two blasters uncomfortably jabbing into her kidneys. She smiled ruefully. At least they didn’t take it for granted that she would go easily.

The stormtroopers stopped in front of a nondescript door. One pressed the door com.

“Agent Kallus? We have the prisoner.”

Ranu’s heart jumped into her mouth. Agent Kallus, a high-ranking member of the Imperial Security Bureau, was apparently on the other side of that door. Her hands clenched into fists, tightening the binders which secured them in front of her.

Agent Kallus was known to be ruthless. Stories had made it back to the newly-formed rebel alliance. Dark stories. Torture, ruthless murder, genocide. Doing the bidding of the Sith Lord Vader. Working with the cold and clever Grand Admiral Thrawn. And she knew that the ISB was known for effectively…extracting information from captured leaders. She took a deep breath. She felt sick. This was going to be her biggest challenge yet in her near-lifetime of rebellion.

“Enter,” growled the voice on the other side of the door.

The door slid open to reveal a plain office with a window and a desk. A tall man with reddish-blond hair and a closely-cropped beard—no, large sideburns, actually, now that she looked—and dressed in a dark grey and black uniform sat behind the desk, looking at a datapad. His eyes glanced up as the stormtroopers marched her into the room. He stood and walked toward them, searching her face carefully as he approached. He walked with a slight limp, she noticed. But more than that…she had never met him before, and yet he seemed strangely familiar. She saw his eyes widen slightly as he approached, but then his face hardened into an impenetrable mask.

“Thank you, soldiers. You may leave the prisoner here.” He turned to the officer who stood to the side of the three soldiers. “I will call you when I am…done here.” He turned menacingly toward Ranu. Her stomach turned.

“Yes, sir.” The soldiers and the officers saluted briskly and turned to leave the office. She was alone with the agent. Her eyes quickly scanned the room for weapons, for escape routes—anything that could help her in a match with this monster. When her eyes returned to the agent, she noticed he was watching her with a smirk.

“Any luck? Have you found a way out? Or perhaps discovered a clever way to render me senseless while my back is turned?” He snorted derisively. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with, rebel,” he growled, turning to walk back to his desk. She noticed he kept one eye on her nonetheless. He was no fool, this man. She had binders on, but she could still fight, and he knew it. But he also knew that she didn’t have a chance of getting anywhere in this imperial facility on her own. There was little on his desk to use as a weapon anyway—nothing but a datapad and a strange, glowing meteorite.

“Nice rock,” she said.

Kallus turned quickly and walked to the desk, placing the rock in a drawer and turning the key with a click. “You aren’t going to smash me over the head with that, rebel. Thank you for the reminder.”

He glanced out the window. “You will find that this office, on the fifth floor of the Imperial Headquarters, is rather unfortunately high for a daring escape. Near the roof, in fact. A floor below your cell, which is an even higher jump—or fall.” His eyes flicked back to her, then away again. “Unless you are hiding a jetpack under your uniform, or have rather more resilient bones than you appear to have at first glance, you aren’t going anywhere, rebel.”

Fifth floor. She followed his gaze out the window at the setting sun and clocked her position. Fifth floor, south side. Cells on the sixth. That would be useful information if she could ever get a message out of here. She was surprised that the Imp let that slip. Sloppy.

He came around from behind the desk and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at her with that searching gaze, eyes narrowed. “So. Let’s get on with this. Name?”

“Ziro,” she spat back defiantly.

Kallus’s eyes widened and, much to her surprise, his head tipped back as he barked out a hearty, genuine laugh. He looked almost boyish for a moment. He met her gaze again, a wide smile on his face for a moment before he controlled his mirth with some effort. “The rebels have a surprisingly rich connection to infamous intergalactic crime families, it seems. Not that I should be surprised. Nonetheless, I have to point out that you are a little….small for a Hutt.” He placed his hand over his mouth, wiping away the smile that was creeping back. “Small. And human. And female, which is rather at odds with our knowledge of Ziro the Hutt. That, and the fact that you are alive.” He chuckled softly and walked away from her, hands clasped behind his back.

Ranu’s face reddened. She did not like being mocked. She narrowed her eyes. “May you burn in the fires of Mustafar, Imp.”

Kallus turned back to her with an unreadable expression on his face. “Although it is not entirely out of the ordinary for the Empire to grant a reasonable prisoner request,” he said, turning to look out the window again, “I am afraid that that particular request will have to go unmet.” In a lower voice, as if to himself, he added, “for today, at any rate.”

He walked back to his desk and pulled out a circular metallic device. “I suppose I’ll have to do this the hard way, then.”

Ranu’s heart started beating faster. “I can withstand your torture, Agent. I will give you nothing.”

Kallus approached her with the band, shaking his head. He looked annoyed and, if possible, bored. “I don’t think torture is really necessary at this stage, is it, Miss Ziro? Torture is a rather….crude approach. And pain is a blunt instrument. I don’t need to use them to get what I want.”

Ranu’s eyes flashed. “That’s pretty rich coming from the Butcher of Lasan.”

Much to Ranu’s surprise, the Agent reacted as if he’d been slapped—for just a moment, before he replaced his expression with a mask of grim impassivity.

She was surprised. In that brief moment, his face had registered hurt, anger, something more.… But why, she wondered, would that comment bother him? It was true—she was sure at least that that story about him was true. Kallus was notorious for having called for the use of T-7 ion disruptors in the genocide on Lasan. She had heard through the grapevine that he had even bragged about it when facing down members of one rebel cell. The rifles were known for having particularly cruel effects on organic life forms, destroying them agonizingly slowly, painfully, and completely. Even the Imperial Senate, not generally known for its sympathy with insurgents and their feelings, had banned their use. But Kallus had employed them mercilessly, and she imagined that despite the Senate’s publicly-expressed hand-wringing, this particular victory had been instrumental in his promotion through the Imperial ranks. So why would this memory leave him so pained? Curious, she thought.

Kallus ran his hand through his hair and met her gaze again. “Ziro,” he mocked, “do you think I rose to my position in the ISB because of my ability to cause pain?” He drew closer, anger reddening the tips of his ears. “I rose to my current position because I am, quite simply, better than anyone else at getting information from those from whom I seek it. Pain is”—his eyes flicked away briefly—“occasionally required”—he met her gaze again with renewed control—“but rarely so.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “You will see what I mean. This,” he raised the band, which he had opened, “is a tool, but it isn’t entirely necessary. It is just convenient and slightly more direct than the low-tech alternative.”

Ranu felt her stomach flip as he snapped the band around her wrist. Was this some sort of torture implement she’d not heard of? Was it going to stab her, or drug her, or….

“It is,” Kallus continued as if she had asked the question aloud, “a biofeedback reader. But one can do the same work with some basic biological knowledge about the species one is interrogating.” He straightened. “Now. Let’s begin.” He glanced at the datapad. “Your name is Captain Ranu. You are a pilot and leader of a rebel cell”—his eyes glanced over the datapad; she could tell that he was looking at different things on the pad, not reading—“now centered on Lothal. Your cell took over as the organizing force there after another rebel cell, consisting of a Jedi, his padawan, a Twi’lek pilot, a Lasat, a Mandalorian and a C-1 series astromech droid, left the system. For the time being. Yes?” He looked searchingly at her face before dropping his eyes back to his datapad and nodding.

“Wrong,” she responded defiantly.

“I think…not,” he replied flatly. He turned the datapad to her. “See this?” He pointed out numbers and readings as he spoke. “The combination of your pulse, your respiration, your temperature and…”—he peered into her eyes – “pupils tell me what I need to know.” He glanced back at the datapad. “You rebels could stand to be a bit better at this sort of thing,” he said, his voice sounding almost disappointed. “Bad information was at the heart of the death of the Republic, and it could be the death of the rebellion.” His face, again, had an unreadable expression. He paused to let his statement sink in. But why in the stars would he be explaining his interrogation strategies to her? She shook her head, confused.

He kept squinting at her eyes. ��Oh, and Coruscant was your home, not Lothal. These are the things I know about you, Captain. And you have confirmed them quite helpfully.” He looked back down at his datapad.

Ranu was furious. She intended to give up nothing, and already he knew who she was, what her status was with the rebellion, and where she was from. Nothing much, of course. More than she wanted to give up, but not what was really important. He didn’t know that she came from a moneyed elite family that traced its successes in trade to the time of the Republic, a family that continued as Imperial loyalists from the very start of the Empire, thus keeping their power and position secure. He didn’t know that her older siblings had been shuffled off in their youth, first to the Republic Academy and then to the Imperial Academy on what she assumed was the very planet on which she was standing right now. Her successful siblings were, of course, her mother and father’s pride and joy. She never saw them, could barely remember them; they were sucked quickly into the machinery of the Empire and her parents couldn’t have been happier to see them go into that glory, even if it meant that they were effectively gone forever. Her eyes filled at the loss. And this man didn’t know that she had run away at a perilously young age when her best friend’s family had “disappeared” after criticizing the Empire publicly. She had been on her own since she was a youngling, and found a small band of rebels early. She had shown her dedication quickly, and worked hard to hone her ability to shoot, fight, and fly. She straightened her back unconsciously. She was proud of this history. A history he would never know, if she could help it, and that he certainly would never understand.

“Now,” he said, raising his eyes from his datapad and narrowing them again. “Do you know Commander Sato of the Phoenix Squadron?” He stared at her.

“No,” she said, as impassively as she could.

He looked at his datapad, and then back up to her face. His eyes glanced over her eyes, her face, searchingly, almost desperately. Then his eyes lit up. He looked almost…joyful. Ranu’s anger rose. “You do. You know them. Are you in contact with them?” he asked quickly, his pitch rising. “Can you contact them?”

He knew. Why did he even ask? That blasted wristband, that datapad, those searching eyes. She ignored the strange tone in his voice as she was overcome with shame and self-loathing. He knew. She had broken without being broken. Her treacherous human self had given her away, had given everything away. She was furious with herself. She had expected to grit her teeth against horrible torture. She didn’t expect to be bested by an Imperial bureaucrat with a bracelet and a datapad.

“Karabast,” Ranu mumbled.

Kallus froze, his eyes lighting up with surprise as he met her eyes again. Then, once again, his face was transformed entirely as he laughed another hearty laugh. “Karabast?” he sputtered merrily. “Karabast! What does that even mean?” His laughter was uncontrollable now, tears running down his face. “Oh, Captain. Bless you. Karabast! Karabast!”

Ranu stared at the man. Was he insane? What was happening? She watched, stunned, disbelieving. The hardened Imperial Agent was practically falling over laughing at a joke she had somehow made and didn’t even understand. But he wasn’t mocking her. He was….happy.

Then she looked more carefully at him he tried unsuccessfully to catch his breath and regain control, breaking out into rolling, joyful laughter again. That face….when he laughed, it looked so familiar. She shook her head, trying to reach into her memory…who? Who did he look like? Why did he seem so …

Her mouth dropped open as the realization struck her. Her head spun and she stumbled a step toward him, barely keeping herself upright as the shock of recognition overwhelmed her. Tears rose to her eyes.

“Kal?” she whispered.

He turned and wiped away his tears of laughter. His face looked serious now. Serious but...kind. Searching.

“Ralia?” he said, a wondering smile crossing his now-familiar face. “It is you. I thought…I hoped, when I first saw you….It is you,” he finished. He paused. “You changed your name.”

“And you yours,” she replied quietly, eyes shining.

“It is required of security agents,” he said simply. “I gave myself a name to live up to,” he added wryly, turning away.

“You weren’t so callous when I was young,” she said with a smile. “You always played with me when Mother and Father were busy. And they were always busy.” She looked away, pain crossing her face. “I changed my name, too. So they wouldn’t find me. And,” she said, cocking her eyebrow, “so no one would make the connection to our illustrious family.” Her indignation began to rise as she realized what was before her. Her brother was an ISB Agent. Her sworn enemy, a torturer, a brutal Imperial. How could he?

“Ralia.” He looked back at her, his face serious, almost stern, ignoring her obvious anger. “I needed to know if you knew those in the larger rebellion before I told you anything more. I’m glad it is you. Ralia, I am about to tell you something, but I don’t know if you’ll believe me.”

Ralia’s face hardened. This might be her brother, but she was no fool. He, like her other siblings, was their parents’ pride and joy because he had become a successful Imperial. And he hadn’t done it by playing dolls with his sister.

He approached her and clicked the band off of her wrist and attached it to his own. She looked at him in confusion.

“If I release your binders, Captain, will you promise to give me five minutes before you attempt to kill me?”

She paused. “Yes. I suppose.”

He put his hand on her wrist and stared into her eyes. Then he nodded. “Very well.” He unlocked her binders. She resisted the temptation to sucker-punch her brother in the gut. He handed her the datapad.

“Look at me, and look at the datapad. And ask me a question that you know the answer to.”

Ralia looked at him, puzzled. He nodded to her impatiently.

“OK. Did you grow up in the Imperial capital of Coruscant?” she asked hesitantly.

Kallus looked at her with an expression of mild frustration. “Yes, Ralia, but I could be lying about being your brother. Try something else first to set your default data. Something the answer to which you are more certain.”

Ralia thought. “Are we standing in Imperial Headquarters?

“Yes,” replied Kallus. “Good. Look at the data. Remember it. And did you look in my eyes? Did you note what you saw?” he asked.

“Yes, I think so.”

“Good. Now. Ask me something you know to be false.”

“All right.” She thought for a moment. She didn’t know much about him, but she was certain of a few things. “Did you fail out of the Imperial Academy?”

“Yes.” Ralia looked at his eyes, and examined the datapad. She could see the variations in his biodata that showed her that his response was false.

“A lie. Good,” she replied, warming to the game. “Is the current emperor named Palpatine?”

“Yes.”

“True. Now. Are you trying to trick me?” she asked quickly, her eyes darting to her brother’s.

“No,” he replied simply.

She looked at him, and looked at the data. Nothing suggested he was lying to her. She took a breath, about to ask him another question, when he stepped toward her.

“Now, I will tell you something, Ralia. Listen to me very carefully. Watch me. You don’t need the datapad or the band for this, but use them. It is very important that you have no question about this. Am I understood?” he said.

“Yes, I understand.”

He paused. Then he straightened, and looked into her eyes with deadly seriousness.

“I want to join the rebellion.”

Ralia looked at him, blinking rapidly in disbelief.

“Ralia. RALIA,” he snapped. Then his eyes softened. “Am I telling the truth?”

She looked at her brother searchingly. She glanced at the datapad. She read the signs there, noted all of the clinical data. But she didn’t need it. She could tell in her heart.

Her brother—he had changed. He was coming home to her.

“Yes.”

Brother and sister smiled at each other.

At the truth.

#agent kallus #the honorable ones #swr #fanfic #might as well get this out there in case Agent Muttonchops bites the dust this weekend #don't kill him Filoni

22 notes · View notes

chadnevett · 8 years ago

Text

Books I read in 2016

This a list of books that I read this year -- or, more accurately, finished. I have at least four other books began in 2016 that are in some stage of reading. Maybe more. I've included a few brief thoughts on each...

1. Fish in the Dark by Larry David (January 2): I vaguely recall this. It had its funny moments. I wish I'd gotten a chance to see David in this.

2. The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow (January 9): Goddamn... this picks up pretty much where Ellroy's stuff stops and shifts gears just enough. Not as much mixing of historical figures, but it's the same broad strokes -- the same nasty sort of people. Really fucking good.

3. Stories I Tell Myself: Growing Up with Hunter S. Thompson by Juan F. Thompson (January 29): I got this for my birthday and read it that day. Funny book... a little surprising in parts... and ends with some bits of barely disguised bits about his issues with Anita. The Hunter/Juan stuff is something that had never really been explored too much anywhere and to have a whole book detailing one side of that relationship was cool.

4. The Man Who Sold the World: David Bowie and the 1970s by Peter Doggett (February 13): A bit of a chore after a time. It goes through every song Bowie recorded in the '70s and that sort of approach can grow tedious. But, there's a reason why I read it when I did and that's fine enough.

5. Baseball Prospectus 2016 ed. Patrick Dubuque, Sam Miller, and Jason Wojciechowski (February 18): A new yearly tradition. 2017's edition is already pre-ordered. My strongest memory of this one is sitting in this tiny Starbucks connected to the Indigo in Tecumseh while Michelle was at the gym (and Ryan at the daycare there). As it was around Valentine's Day, I had some raspberry chocolate coffee thing. I also got a croissant. It was overpriced and undergood. I do love reading the team essays. A nice primer on the upcoming season.

6. The Cartel by Don Winslow (March 6): The Power of the God was sprawling, while this was more contained. But, it covered more ground in its own way. It was heartbreaking in a larger way. This book hammers you. I don't know what a third one will bring, but I'm there.

7. Gone with the Mind by Mark Leyner (March 15): I liked The Sugar Frosted Nutsack, but that felt like a warm-up book. A bit tedious; a bit too involved with itself. This was the return to the Mark Leyner I know and love with himself as the protagonist. What surprised me was how fucking good his mother's section was. How affecting it was and how much it added to the book. Probably the best new book I got in 2016.

8. Et Tu, Babe by Mark Leyner (March 19): Still one of my favourites... always.

9. My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist by Mark Leyner (April 10): So hit and miss. You have to find a lot in the small moments and sentences. I'm not sure if this has aged well.

10. Launching a Leadership Revolution: Developing Yourself and Others Through the Art and Science of Leadership by Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward (May 3): This year, I began a leadership development program at work. It's a two-year thing and one of the homework assignment is reading books. This was the first that I picked and it was a good place to start. It was very hit or miss with regards to things you probably already knew. But, kind of like what I said about Bendis's book last year: it's good to have it all in one place. Plus, there were some things that I learned.

11. Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success by Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty (May 8): I bought this to contribute to the leadership program's library. As my company/industry is, in many ways, female-dominated, I saw a lot of "woman's rise to the top of business in a man's world" type of books available and, hey, that's great, but I wanted something that seemed a bit more like a book I would choose to read. I also thought about the sort of leaders that I respect and anyone who can make a pro sports team with all of the egos and money and shit work -- 11 times! -- is someone I was interested in hearing from. My biggest takeaway is that coaches have one advantage: the shared goal. All of the players want the championship and I've been struggling to carry that over to my profession where there is no inherent goal like that. But, it's a good book.

12. Your Favorite Band is Killing Me: What Pop Music Rivalries Reveal about the Meaning of Life by Steven Hyden (May 29): Such a fun read. I love stuff like this. I can't wait for Hyden's next book. He fills a bit of a void that Klosterman has left as he's moved, with each book, to more high concepts and less about specific popculture. Not that that's a bad thing... it just leaves a void and I'm glad someone with Hyden's talent and smarts is able to fill it.

13. But What If We’re Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past by Chuck Klosterman (June 22): Speaking of which... A really interesting read that goes in some unexpected directions. I'm not sure it carries as strongly through the finish, sometimes becoming a little repetitive. Some chapters really had me going...

14. Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis (August 18): A spur of the moment reread. No new thoughts really.

15. Predators by Jim Starlin and Daina Graziunas (August 27): This took forever to read. Lots of putting it down to read other things. It's an odd book that feels like book five in a series about this telepathic hunter of serial killers. The plot doesn't go anywhere you'd expect. Not as good as their first novel; way better than their second.

16. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (September 18): My first time rereading this completely since it first came out. I'd reread some stories here and there over the years, but never the whole thing. I love the simplicity of his stories. And the variety.

17. Wicked and Weird: The Amazing Tales of Buck 65 by Rich Terfry (September 24): Picked this up from the bargin table. It was $4-$6. Not sure what exactly. The first two-thirds are great; entertaining and engaging. The final third just goes off the rails. I wish he'd make another album.

18. Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami (September 24): Another that I hadn't reread in a while. Not sure what I think about it.

19. What I Talk about When I Talk about Running by Haruki Murakami (October 2): I got the mind to read this after different people in the leadership program talked about running. I was also gearing up for the new Murakami book and the two seemed to intersect.

20. The Greatest Albums You’ll Never Hear: Unreleased Records by the World’s Greatest Artists edited by Bruno MacDonald (November 6): Informative in places. Books like this suffer a bit, because, if you know about a musician well, then you probably know about the album(s) discussed and learn little new. If you don't know about a musician a lot, then you learn lots, but don't necessarily care. Good book for what it is.

21. Absolutely on Music by Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa (November 28): I'm surprised at how much I liked this. It definitely put me in the mind to want to listen to this type of music. My only complaint is that they didn't touch on topics I would have liked them to (orchestras playing with rock bands, for example), but that's not a fair criticism at all. This was two guys having some conversations with a purpose, but also because they enjoyed it.

22. Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson (November 29): Another leadership book. It was alright. I read it while Ryan napped. It took half an hour.

23. Normal by Warren Ellis (December 3): Depressing and fun. I read this in one shot on a Saturday with the house empty. Ellis probably could have gotten more of the concept, but why push it? The brief flirtation with the campers take over the corrupt camp plot was fun. The final revelation is slightly disappointing at first, but it stayed with me. It sunk in a bit. Hmm...

24. Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith (December 5): Another leadership book. I really liked this one and have been working to implement some of its concepts into my daily life.

And that's it. I've finished one book in 2017 already.

#books #larry david #haruki murakami #mark leyner #warren ellis #chuck klosterman #steven hyden #jim starlin #bret easton ellis #don winslow

2 notes · View notes

ilovemaplesyrup17 · 6 years ago

Text

Shekarashika! - Chapter 2 (181102)

Author's Note: Warning. The Fic's author totally messed up the timeline of the real world. I know most of the songs mentioned in the fic were released on 2016. However, for the convenience of the fic, the Author still wrote them as they represent the characters well or at least think that it is so. Just think of it as a random mishap of someone who can't do research and probably hasn't encountered good songs because they didn't exist yet.

July 18, 2015

Hakata Private Academy…

1 hour before the first class…

In front of the School gates…

An abnormally long limousine promptly stopped in front of the School gates. Its right rear window opened slightly, revealing a black-haired petite young girl looking at the surroundings of the school gates.

"Sheesh. Why did they have to flock near the school gates today? Why not just tomorrow? Ihh." the petite young girl said in an annoyed tone.

"Geez. Just get out already. Why is this school so big? We wouldn't be using a limousine on our way to school if it wasn't so huge. I mean… The garden looks really good and all but… Ah, never mind. Just get out, Aoi." a taller girl said beside the small young girl she just called 'Aoi'.

"Ihh… But Sakura… I want to play my background mu--"

"No. Not that Imperial March again." Sakura retorted before Aoi could finish her sentence.

"Yes, Sakura. YES." Aoi eagerly replied, her hands obviously gripping on the portable radio.

Sakura, now really annoyed, then swiftly took away the radio from Aoi's hands.

Hakata Private Academy has this very unique way of announcing that a certain Student Council member has arrived in the school. Instead of sounding warning bells, the previous students of the school got creative and instead chose several songs, spanning from current to part and from local to foreign songs to signify a certain member.

"Seriously though. Why do we have to walk separately on our way to school? Damn that song policy." Sakura said in a bored tune.

"Oh come on. Didn't you like Pristin's Wee Woo? It's your song, mah man~!" Aoi said, doing an annoying finger-gun pose at Sakura.

"Where did you learn that annoying pose?" Sakura asked, face-palming at Aoi's pose.

"The interwebs. People from Nihonjin Trashposting sure are funny!" Aoi answered.

"Don't show that in public or your image will be destroyed." Sakura said then got out of the limousine. As Sakura went out, a red carpet welcomed her to the school gates. She stepped on the carpet, making her way. As she was walking, every student had their eyes on her, while the school's megaphones played Pristin's Wee Woo.

"We are Pristin~! Annyeong!"

"Miyawaki-sama sure is pretty. I wish I could be like her."

"Me too! Smart, pretty, and kind! Not to mention but she's as elegant as a swan as well! She's the epitome of perfection!"

Everyone showered Sakura praises as she walked gracefully to the school building.

Several seconds later, Aoi went out of the car and walked to the same red carpet. As she did so, i.o.i.'s Crush started playing in the background. Every male student in the school grounds looked at her as she elegantly walked to the school building.

"Oh my gosh~ Jigeum nae simjangeun crush~ Ontong gyakgyakgyak bimeyongsori gadukhae~!"

"Ah~ Motomura-sama looks cute today as well!"

"Cute, chic, and pretty! I wish I was her boyfriend!"

"Both Motomura-sama and Miyawaki-sama are Class KIV, right? Then they're not only pretty but also intelligent! Perfect people do exist!"

Several minutes later, a boy who was dressed roughly started running past the school gates. This boy was the Public Relations Officer, Tomonaga Rui. A song then played in the school's megaphones, specifically Beast's 'Beautiful'.

"So beautiful my girl! My beautiful my girl and I… So beautiful my girl-- In the cube! Haha girl! This is my confession. Drop. That. Beat."

Aoi and Sakura heard the said song from inside the school building while both were changing to their school shoes and then looked behind them.

"Ah. He did it again." They both said in unison.

Rui then tripped on the sliding door and fell to the ground, leaving Aoi and Sakura weirded out.

Aoi then approached him and said, "Just stop already. The song will play unless you're Moriyasu."

"Aoi got that right." Moriyasu answered, closing his shoe locker.

Sakura then sighed and whispered, "When will you actually use the school gates as an entrance to school, Moriyasu?"

"Oh come on. I know the trick for that song system. That's why I exploit it by using my talents." Moriyasu answered as he went on his way to class. He opened his phone to take his daily selfie.

Rui then ran to Moriyasu's side. "HOW DO I STOP THE SONG FROM PLAYING!? TEACH ME--"

Before he could finish his sentence, a girl, who was slightly taller than Aoi, kicked him in the side. Moriyasu accidentally tapped the capture button as the girl was beating Rui. Moriyasu's face in the photo was smiling awkwardly with his left hand doing a thumbs up as Rui was being beaten by the girl in the background.

"Meru, stop! PLEASE! AHHHHH!" Rui begged for his dear life.

"I already told you several times to stop running to school, didn't I!?"

"Yes! YES! STOP IT! NO MORE!"

As they entered the classroom, the song "Chameleon Joshikousei" could be heard in the background.

"Anai-san has arrived, I see." Sakura muttered.

First Period…

2nd Year Class…

Fuchigami-sensei entered the room then asked the person behind her to stay outside. As usual, the class was uninterested. She then went in front of the whole class and gently put down her books on the desk in front of the blackboard. She then gleefully told them the news. “Class, we have 2 new students!”

Everyone in the class then looked at her.

She then went back to the door, opened it and asked the transferees to go inside and introduce themselves. The first transferee who went in front of the class, was quite flashy, and wore quite a serious face but suddenly smiled when he saw the ever so nerdy Treasurer, Anai Chihiro who was wearing the school’s uniform, a white blouse under a vest, concealed inside the school’s official blazer. Fuchigami-sensei then told him to introduce himself. This transferee also bore a familiar face according to the students.

The student then wrote his name on the board and faced the class with a stern look on his face.

Inoue Yuriya, a student sorted to Class H then whispered to Okamoto Naoko, her seatmate, “Isn’t he the guy in the fashion magazines? The one beside Yuizou-kun in this month’s Hakata Fineboys Magazine, right?”

“KYAA! He is the one! He looks so much better in personal!” answered Naopon who squealed after seeing one of her dream guys in real life.

The flashy transferee student nodded and said, “My name’s Matsuoka Natsu. From Fukuoka Commercial High School. I was sorted into Class H. My talent is dancing, acting, and modelling. And oh, playing the Saxophone.” He then smiled at Chihiron.

The students saw that Natsu was interested at Chihiron and thus gossiped about the two of them. “That Anai! Not only did she bewitch Maki-kun to be interested at her, she also bewitched Matsuoka-kun! What a flirt.”

However, Chihiron was rather avoidant of Natsu the whole time, averting her gaze from him, sticking to her hopefully correctly stated trial balance for Moriyasu’s audit after school hours.

Fuchigami then noticed this and said, “Oh, are you acquainted with Ms. Anai here?”

Natsu then confidently replied, “Of course. We even slept together.” This caused an uproar in the class.

His statement made Anai stand up and retaliate in return. “N-natsu, that was 10 years ago! When we were children!” Those words coupled with Chihiron’s deadly glare made Natsu apologise instantly.

“Oh come on. I’m sorry, okay? I just missed you, that’s all.” said Natsu, sweating profusely.

“Well, that’s that so to make matters easier, Mr. Matsuoka, please sit beside Ms. Anai. Ms. Anai, please tour him around the school later when you have the time.” she then signalled the next student, and then looked somehow at Sakura, Aoi, and Maki.

The transferee then made his way inside the room, wrote his name on the board and faced his classmates. He was wearing an orange hoodie inside his blazer, his hair disorderly but disorderly in a somehow fashionably rebellious manner.

Sakura, unfazed by both transferees, then listened to what the 2nd transferee has to say.

The transferee then inhaled and exhaled loudly as he puffed his chest, gathering his courage. “Good morning, my name ish Kodama Haruto. Naish to meet you!”

The whole class then snickered as they heard the transferee’s lisp. The first transferee however, gave a disappointed expression.

This made Haruto embarrassed. “What’sh with you guysh and lishpsh?! Are you guysh picking up a fight!?” Haruto dared his classmates.

Fuchigami then thought that the 2nd transferee is a rebel so she texted the ever-so-mischievous principal about it. The reply from the Principal came in faster than expected, its words implying that the rebellious transferee be guarded by the Student Council President. Fuchigami, with a somewhat troubled face then signalled Sakura to step forward and read the Principal’s message. Sakura, upon reading the text then obeyed without question.

“Mr. Kodama, please sit beside Ms. Miyawaki. And please tour him later as well, Ms. President.” Fuchigami then concluded the homeroom by starting their Science Class. Haruto sat beside Sakura, the latter who greeted the former with a cold and distant smile. Haruto then took this as a sign that the President was within his reach. He thought that the youth these days were all about partying and having drugs and fun so he decided to try acting like the cool guy that he's not. After the class, Sakura then interrupted his thoughts by giving him her phone number, which she gave to almost everyone in the campus because of her duty as the Student Council President. Haruto gave his in exchange then decided to try his luck by sending her a kinda idiotic message.

To: Miyawaki Sakura-chan

Hey Pres! Want to have

sex with me?

--END OF MESSAGE—

Sakura instantly received this message. To which she gave a neutral reply.

To: Kodama Haruto (2nd Year Class H)

Sexual harassment in the Campus is

not allowed. You have been warned.

Your next attempt would deem it

necessary for me to call the attention

of the Student Council Treasurer to

issue you a fine slip. Have a good day.

--END OF MESSAGE—

Haruto has been cockblocked by school rules. However, being the pushy person that he is, he wouldn’t allow such petty rules to get in the way. He then replied:

To: Miyawaki Sakura-chan

Eh? Just an hour would be

fine!

—END OF MESSAGE—

After Sakura received it, she looked at the direction of Chihiron, who blushed after seeing the transferee beside Sakura. Upon noticing Chihiron’s behavior, she snapped her fingers to call her attention. Chihiron then stood up from her chair, and went to in front of Sakura’s chair with her mini wheel of fortune.

“What is it, Ms. Miyawaki?” Chihiron asked, avoiding Haruto’s gaze.

“Fine slip. Sexual Harassment.” Sakura answered as she showed the conversation on her phone between her and Haruto.

“S-sorry, Kodama-san. You just transferred and now, I’m issuing you a fine slip…” Chihiron apologized and then spun the wheel. In the background, specifically on the chairs of Motomura and Moriyasu, Aoitan could be seen chanting prayers which could be lip synched to ‘Pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza…’ After a few seconds, the wheel lost its momentum and it stopped to 5. Chihiron wrote the slip and gave it to Sakura.

“You didn’t listen. Now, you owe us 5,000 yen.” Sakura said then passed the gray piece of paper to the poor transferee. The poor transferee, defeated, paid the fine.

Natsu was facepalming after seeing Haruto pay his first fine to his Childhood friend.

Fuchigami continued her lecture as if the whole fine-collecting thing was normal. Miyawaki’s Student Council is known to be so profit-oriented to the point that fines are collected before its members solve the underlying problem. As Fuchigami was walking around the room, she then remembered something important. She then returned in front of the blackboard. “I just remembered, by the way.” The whole class then looked at her. “Ms. Anai, Ms. Miyawaki, and Mr. Moriyasu all passed the 2 Licensure Examinations they took just this May. Namely, the Certified Bookkeeper Examination and the Certified Tax Technician Examination with Ms. Miyawaki getting into the top 10 of both exams.” The whole class applauded.

The three of them stood up and bowed in front of their classmates. Fuchigami then looked at Aoi. “And Ms. Motomura, thanks for your participation.”

Aoi then confidently answered as if she was the topnotcher, “Sure thing. Any time, Professah.” She said these words with matching actions from her right hand as if hitting an imaginary friend in front of her.

Sakura just facepalmed internally as she remembered what Aoi did in the first day of their review.

Flashback…

March 2015…

4 students were originally invited by the Principal to undergo the course. Miyawaki Sakura for being Class KIV’s Topnotcher and of course, because she’s the current Student Council President. Moriyasu Maki for being the Student Council’s Auditor, and also because he’s one of the top students of Class KIV. Anai Chihiro due to her status as Student Council’s Treasurer and also because of her, being the Class H’s Topnotcher. Motomura Aoi because well… She’s the Vice President and because the Principal wasn’t really thinking.

Fuchigami-sensei went in front of the 4 students and said, "Welcome to my Advanced Accounting Review Class. We only have 3 months to prepare you guys. The Licensure Tests would be at the end of May. Blame our Principal for being the incompetent fool that she is for making you guys suffer in this 3 month course just because she needs a slave accountant-slash-bookkeeper to keep the school’s accounts.”

The four students then sighed. Fuchigami-sensei then passed around a thick 1000 pages worth of handout for them to scan. Sakura scanned the handout and started understanding the basics as she tried the theories on the short problems. Moriyasu doesn’t seem to have problems with the handouts due to his background in Accounting, thanks to his Cram School. A few minutes later, Sakura and Moriyasu could be seen comparing their answers, with either of them correcting the other. Chihiron, on the other hand, tried grasping the gist of every paragraph in her own words but couldn’t seem to understand anything. And finally, Aoitan, who only got into the program due to her status as Student Council Vice President, was silently browsing through the pages of the handout.

Sakura stopped momentarily to watch a serious Aoi who looked like she was really studying. Sakura was shocked to see her like that for the first time. ‘I think this is her calling. She’s going to excel at this sort of stuff. I can feel it. I’ll be expecting a lot from Aoi-chan from now on.’ Sakura thought then nodded a little. She then looked at Moriyasu and whispered, “Look at her, Moriyasu. She looks so cute when she’s studying seriously like that.” Sakura then smiled.

Moriyasu then sighed and replied, “I wouldn’t be so sure.” He then moved away from Aoi’s chair.

Sakura wondered as to why Moriyasu did that. She then looked at Aoitan who was reading the middlemost page of the handout. Aoitan then closed the handout, sighed, then pushed the handout a bit away from her. Aoi then closed her eyes and suddenly… scattered her handout in the air and then ran as fast as she could to the door. “FREEDOM!” Aoi shouted as she opened the door and then scurried away from the plague that is, the subject itself.

Sakura’s mouth was left agape. Moriyasu then rolled his eyes and closed Sakura's mouth. “I told you, didn’t I?”

End of Flashback…

Fuchigami then sighed and said, "Well anyway, let's congratulate our 3 passers!"

All of the students in the class gave them a round of applause. After the class ended, Chihiron and Sakura started touring the students assigned to them.

"This is the library. The librarian is a really strict woman so it's best you keep quiet." Chihiron then looked at Natsu. "Are you still listening?" she asked.

"Yeah." Natsu answered then smiled sadly. "It's been so long since we last talked. I just feel that you've really grown into such a good looking woman." he added.

"Stop with the flattery, Natsu. And I agree. The last time I saw you, you were still a snotty nosed brat who liked annoying me together with Aoi. Now, you're in the magazines, and Aoi is still annoying me in class." Chihiron replied, smiling sadly.

"Aoi? The cheerful girl we used to play with was Aoi? She's also the Aoi in the classroom?" Natsu was perplexed with the sudden development.

"Uhh… Yeah? What's wrong?" Chihiron asked in return.

"Didn't she die with the whole Motomura clan in the Motomura Massacre of 2005?" Natsu, hearing Chihiron's answer, is now getting scared.

"Yeah… However, she survived. And even managed to get the clan ring so that everyone would recognize her as the sole heir of the fortune or so I was told but let's not talk about it here." Chihiron then pulled Natsu to the rooftop.

Rooftop…

"Phew. Let's talk about it here. Nobody in the school knows that the Motomura in the school is the survivor to the Motomura Clan massacre. They just know that she was overseas or something when it happened." Chihiron was panting heavily.

"I see. Is she… Still the same person we were friends with?" Natsu asked nervously.

"Yeah… I guess? But for some reason she's really hard on me these days. Could it be…? That she…" Chihiron was thinking deeply.

"That she what?" Natsu then interrupted her thoughts.

"Ah, nothing! Enough of the gory talk. I was asked to tour you around the school, not tell you about some sad event." Chihiron then smiled at him. "Alright, let's go to the Cafeteria, shall we?" Chihiron then went down the stairs, leaving Natsu for a few seconds in the rooftop.

"Nothing… Has changed…" Natsu said as he looked at the back of his childhood friend. 'Or did something change?' he then followed Chihiron.

Meanwhile…

"Kodama-san, this is the Cafeteria. It has set themes daily and the themes may vary from Local to Foreign menus. If you don't like the theme for the day, the Local dishes can be ordered in the leftmost stall. Now, let's go to the other parts of the school. Let's start with the bookstore, shall we?" Sakura was explaining the facilities of the school as fast as she could to Haruto who wrote everything in a pocket-sized notebook diligently.

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am." Haruto answered as he followed Sakura to the Bookstore.

"For someone who asked me to have sex with him in first message, you sure are obedient." Sakura said, not even batting an eye on him.

"I was trying to imitate what boys my age would say." Haruto sighed then looked at the bookstore.

"Anyway, if you need to buy school supplies or books, this is the place for that." Sakura said then looked at Haruto. "My first impression of you was bad enough but you're not that bad of a person. Let's get along well." she then smiled at him and offered her hand for a handshake.

Haruto then smiled back. "Nice to meet you." he then shook her hand.

"Oops, it's time for class. Let's go back. In the afternoon, I might attend a separate class due to our class statuses." Sakura then turned her back on Haruto, showing him the way back to the classroom.

"Oh, so that whole Class KIV and H thing isn't just about class scores?" Haruto wondered as Sakura started walking back to their classroom.

"Yeah. Students from Class KIV are expected to study more about Science as students from Class H are expected to hone their talents more. What was your talent again?" Sakura kept walking.

"I can play the piano." Haruto replied shyly.

"That was unexpected. So they handed you an application sheet for the Orchestra?" Sakura didn't even turn around and looked unfazed by Haruto's surprising talent.

"Yeah. I signed up and I was immediately taken to a special audition. I guess the Maestro and the student jury were satisfied since they gave me a pass to the practice area?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. 'The orchestra did that? Then he must be a prodigy of some sorts.'

The tour concluded without anything noteworthy. The classes went the same way as well. They all went home as afterwards.

6 o'clock pm…

School Gates…

Sakura was walking out of the gates when Haruto called out to her.

"Miyawaki-shan!"

Sakura turned around nonchalantly. "Yes, Kodama-san?"

"Thanks for showing me around today. And sorry for my behavior earlier again." Haruto bowed his head slightly.

"It was nothing. Please do your best in your studies." Sakura then looked back at where she was headed and walked away. A limousine then stopped several meters away from her, its rear right door opening as she headed to it. "Have a good day." She said as she entered the car and closed the door. The car drove away and Haruto could only look at it.

'That concludes the day one of my infiltration in school. Hopefully, clues will start appearing in the following days.' He then took the bus directly to the student dorms.

7 o'clock pm…

Hakata Private Academy Shrine…

A humbly dressed man in his 20s entered the shrine. He was only wearing a white shirt inside a black blazer. His trousers obviously used every day to the point where one could see its wear and tear. "I…am Iriyama Arthur. I'm here now. Are you here?" He shouted.

"Silence." A deep voice muttered from the covered center part of the temple. "I am h're." The voice added. "What doth thee wanteth?"

"Ah, good. Good. I-I… am here to request the retrieval of my family heirloom. It is currently being shown in the Sakaguchi Museum of Art." He replied. "It's the sword in the stone in the British Legends."

"The Excalibur?" The deep voice showed curiosity.

"No. Contrary to the legends where Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone were one and the same, it is not the same. The sword in the stone just proves one's ancestry."

"I seeth. How didst t endeth up into the museum?" The deep voice asked.

"My ancestors who were British were far relatives of the man who once wielded the Excalibur. When he died, the sword was found by my ancestors whose descendants descended to migrate to Japan in the 1950s. In the first year of the new millennia, while I and my family were in a vacation, an assassin broke into our house, killed most of our servants and stole it." The man answered.

"I thought it was 'sitting atop of a stone'?" the dark voice's interest has been piqued.

"It was but since they were relatives, my ancestors pulled it out and hid it." The man gently answered. " I really want the sword back. It's the family's proof of identity. I beg of you… Please…!" The man knelt and lowered his head, trying to stop his tears.

"Thou art wary of the cost of what thou art currently asking this god to do, art thee not?"

"Yes…! Please help me… I want my family's honor to be restored… I am willing to give anything at the end of our bargain…" the man was in tears.

"I seeth. Well then. Sign the contract in front of thee and ent'r the cost thee has't to payeth. I shall taketh nay petty change."

The man crawled as quickly as he could to the area near the center of the shrine's interior. He signed the contract almost instantly, putting himself as the collateral.

"What's this? Thee hath made yourself a collateral?"

"Yes."

"V'ry well then. Thee may leaveth."

The man then stood up. "I… Am a Tactician in the Police Force so if ever you need the floor plans and even the formation of the Police in the night of your heist, please tell me. I'll leave my card on the floor." He then left a silver plated card on the floor.

The man left the shrine interior and the shrine after bowing in front of it. Several minutes after leaving, a shadow emerged from the interior of the shrine.

"The famed sword in the stone? That Sakaguchi sure knows what she wants." a small silhouette appeared beside a nearby tree. "This heist will be interesting, don't you two think?"

A taller silhouette appeared beside the shrine arc. "A Police Officer asking us to steal something. How ironic."

"Only proves how messed up this situation is. The museums have become so untouchable the original owners couldn't do anything when their artifacts are forcibly taken or stolen from them either directly or indirectly by the museums." A voice inside the shrine answered. The voice wasn't deep but rather belonged to a younger person. "But this client would be a huge asset for us. An informant inside the Police force could make our heists easier." the voice added.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the school building, a female school staff who was working on some research paper was distracted by the sudden vibration on her left pocket. She then froze for a second and then a small grin formed on her lips. "I see. Time to go home." she turned off her personal computer and headed to the door, closing the lights and locking the door on her way out.

-=To be Continued=-

#Miyawaki Sakura #Sakuratan #Motomura Aoi #Aoitan #Moriyasu Madoka #Morippo #Matsuoka Natsu #Tomonaga Mio #Tashima Meru #Fanfic #Shekarashika #Kodama Haruka #Haruppi #Anai Chihiro #Chiichan #Chihiron #HKT48

0 notes

four-loose-screws · 6 years ago

Text

Fire Emblem 5 Umemura Novelization Translation - Chapter 6 Part 2

If you would like to start from the beginning, read a missed part, etc., click here!

Pre-3DS FE Translations - FE Awakening Translations - FE Fates Translations - Original FE Support Conversations - Ko-fi

Leif's army left Noel Canyon and continued west through the mountains, toward Tahra.

"The rest of the reinforcements never showed up, did they?"

"No, they didn't. They may have chosen to give up on this fort, and to wait for us to come to Dandrum Fortress."

When he heard Dorias' words, pain shot through his chest. Did that mean that they left General Largo and used him as a decoy? Did he give up his life for the people who abandoned him?

"The commanding officer at Dandrum is either extraordinarily smart, or extraordinarily stupid." August said with a laugh.

Either way, Leif found it difficult to forgive someone who would go so far as to abandon an ally to protect his own fort.

"There it is, that's Dandrum Fortress." August pointed straight ahead.

A gigantic fort blocking the path between the mountains towered before them.

"So that's Dandrum? It's huge!"

"It's not only huge, but also prized as a tough and impregnable fortress."

"But if we don't pass through it, then we can't get to Tahra, right?"

"That's correct."

"Then we have no other choice! To battle!" Leif looked at the fortress' gate and unsheathed his sword.

As Leif's army started to tear down the gate, about twenty imperial soldiers came out to attack them. It was a very small army for such a large fortress. They probably had several more lines of defense waiting inside.

Leif's army broke into two lines, and the cavaliers fought this first wave of enemies. Since they were fighting in such a small space, a battle between two small groups was best.

They only suffered one injury during the battle. A young cavalier had been bucked off his horse after it was shot in the leg.

"Are you alright?" Leif offered a hand to the nodding cavalier.

"I’m sorry you had to see that. I disappointed you. "

"Not at all! I thought you fought well, don't you? But even if you hadn’t, I’m happiest to see you safe. Stand down and let someone heal you."

"Excuse me." The young cavalier grabbed Leif's hand, stood up, and retreated to the back of his unit.

Before the entrance of the fort was a large open space that appeared to be a courtyard. They saw countless soldiers on guard there. The path into the courtyard was sandwiched between two watchtowers, and was so narrow that only one horse could pass through it at a time.

"I'll take the lead!" Fergus cried out and galloped off.

"Let me go with you!" Brighton followed after him.

Carrion followed after Brighton.

Leif went as the fourth person in line and the leader of another small unit.

"Huh? There's a hole here..." Lifis pointed at the wall and muttered.

"What’s wrong, Lifis?” Leif asked.

“It’s not that anything’s wrong, exactly…… Hmm…… Could this be……? You there, girl!”

"My name's Lara! Would it kill you to remember it? There's a bunch of girls in this unit!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Just get over here and listen!"

"No way! Why do I have to be the one you share all your secrets with?"

"Don’t say stupid stuff like that! Just shut your mouth and listen!" Lifis pulled on her ear, then started whispering to her.

At first, she still looked disgusted, but her expression slowly became serious. “Really?”

"I’m not 100% sure, but chances are I’m right. C’mon, let’s get to it!”

"Yeah!" Lara nodded.

Leif hurried along, wondering what they were talking about. He exited the passageway and entered the courtyard.

Fergus, Brighton, and Carrion were fighting knights.

Leif looked past them and saw a cavalier.

"Are you Prince Leif? Then I will be your opponent!" The cavalier unsheathed his sword.

Leif heard a heavy creaking sound coming from behind him. "What!?" He whirled around and realized that the sound had come from the door to the courtyard door closing shut. He realized immediately that he had been separated from his friends. "So this is how you cowards fight!?"

"You must be joking! Such behavior is not fitting of a knight! It’s just something that happened in the heat of battle!" The cavalier lowered his sword. "Curse you, Kempf!" He spat out and sheathed his sword.

Suddenly, a huge arrow came flying towards his head.

"Look out!" Leif yelled.

The cavalier pulled his horse's reigns and dodged the attack.

The ballista arrow pierced the ground where his horse had just been standing.

"They don’t even care who they hit!?" The cavalier looked up at the wall and clicked his tongue.

The door opened behind Leif. "Huh?"

"Hey, Prince! Hanging in there?" Lifis walked through the doorway with a smug look on his face.

"Wow, that was fast."

"What can I say, sneaking around is what I do best."

"Thanks, Lifis. Can you open the door to the fortress next? We don't have much time to waste."

"Leave it to me!" He gave Leif a thumbs-up before running over to the door.

"You should get out of here quickly. This place isn’t safe." Leif looked at the cavalier and said.

"I'd agree with you, but my commander is being held prisoner within the fortress. She was accused of treason when she tried to call for back-up. I cannot leave until she is saved."

"But you don't plan on coming with us?" Leif asked.

The cavalier furrowed his brow and shook his head. "I don't think I can. I'll retreat for now. I'll come back later. I'm sorry to ask, but is there any way that you could avoid killing my commander?"

"I can't make any promises, but if it's possible, then we'll let her escape."

"Thank you." The cavalier gave a small nod before starting to gallop away.

"Wait, hold on! I don't know your name yet!"

"It's Fred." He stopped just long enough to give his response, then continued on.

While Leif was watching to make sure that Fred escaped safely, a ballista arrow pierced the ground before him.

"Forget the ballista! We need to get inside the fortress right away!" He called out and pointed at the door Lifis had opened.

Leif's army defeated the imperial soldiers as they appeared and opened up the door to the innermost part of the fortress.

Sitting on the throne in the middle of the room was a silver haired man. His eyes opened wide the moment he saw Leif and the others. "What!? My soldiers let you get this far!? The incompetent fools! But you know what happens next, right? You'll never make it out of here alive!” The man, still seated, turned to the soldiers and mages that were in the room with him, and yelled.

They all assumed fighting stances in unison.

Before they could attack, Leif kicked the ground and started running. He dashed past the soldiers and stopped before the man on the throne.

The man’s face twisted into a shocked expression.

Leif raised his sword.

“Eeeeek!” The man ducked behind the throne. He looked terrified.

Leif held his sword at the man’s nose. The motion cut a few strands of the man’s bangs, which fluttered in the air around him.

He fell down so hard that he rolled backwards.

“Grrr… you’ll regret this!” The man screamed before turning around and running away.

It had all happened so fast. Leif could only watch in bewilderment as he ran away.

“Whelp, it looks like your leader is gone. What are you guys gonna do?” Fergus pointed his sword at the soldiers.

All the enemies in the room finally relaxed their fighting stances. They dropped their weapons and raised their hands above their head.

“Whew, that’s over.” “Yeah, but we took longer than we expected.” Leif looked around the room. Everyone looked so tired. He had hoped to rest here, but now they were very behind schedule. If anything else slowed them down, chances were they wouldn’t make it to Tahra in time to help fight. “Dorias, get everyone ready to march. We’ll leave as soon as we can.”

“Yes, sir.”

They heard footsteps coming from the stairwell within the fort.

"There's still enemies left?" Carrion put a hand over his sword.

But it was not an enemy who appeared. It was Fred.

"Fred, what are you doing here? Didn’t escape?" Leif walked over to Fred, surprised.

"Yes, I did. But then I found a hidden back entrance that lead into the dungeon."

"I see. So you found your commander?" Leif asked.

Fred bowed deeply, and replied, "Yes. She has a few things she would like to ask you, if you would have an audience with her."

Leif smiled and nodded. "Of course, I don't mind. Please let me talk to her."

"Thank you. You can come in now, Lady Olwen!"

"Okay!" His commander, Olwen, walked into the room.

Olwen was a young woman, and very different from the kind of person one would imagine to be an imperial commander. She only looked to be about three or four years older than Leif. She bowed slightly, but had a frown on her face.

"What is it? You look like you're really worried about something."

She glared at Leif out of the corner of her eye.

"S-Sorry. That was rude."

"No, it's fine. It's true, I am worried about something. That's why I wanted to talk to you."

"What is it? I'll tell you everything I know.”

"I was called a traitor and imprisoned by the commanding officer stationed at this fortress."

Leif nodded.

Her frown deepened. "There were a number of small children locked inside the same cell as me. Please, tell me where they are taking those children! Why were they being held in the dungeon?!" She asked, her voice wavering.

Leif sighed. "You're an imperial citizen, yet don't know anything about the child hunts?"

"Child hunts? What in the world..." She replied anxiously. She really had no idea.

"The empire is gathering up all its children to take them to the imperial capital and sacrifice them to the dark god Loptyr. That's most likely reason why those children were in the dungeon." "But...... but why? What are they going to do to them......?" Now, Olwen's entire body was shaking. Her eyes glazed over. Leif couldn't even see his reflection in them.

"That, I don't know. All I know is that something is happening to them."

"I won't stand for it!" She balled her hands into fists. Her body started shaking even harder. "Please let me go with you, Prince Leif! There's no way I can forgive the empire for doing this!"

"What? But..."

"I may not look like one, but as a leader in the imperial army, I am skilled in both swordsmanship and magic. It's a pleasure to join you."

"Are you sure?"

Olwen nodded several times.

Leif looked over at Fred.

"I feel the same way. I will join you as well." He answered with a smile.

"Understood. We wholeheartedly welcome you into our army." Leif extended a hand.

"Thank you." Olwen lifted one of her own soft hands, and firmly shook Leif's hand.

2 notes · View notes

best-left-hook-jones · 8 years ago

Text

It Is Not Yet Evening (5/?)

Words: 21,000

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

0.8km East of Tosno; March 14th, 1917. 4:57pm.

They had had to sprint to his cabin when the locomotive finally came to a stop at the station in Tosno; the train would only be stalled a short while before they were due to depart again, and Emma had not been keen on weathering the same storm that her strange new companion had. In fact, as Killian had paused for the fourth time to help her across the platform between the train carriages, Emma had had to wonder how he had managed to cross the first time unaided and barreling down the slick track at full speed. She hoped he wasn't completely insane.

Then again, perhaps she was completely insane for agreeing to this madness to begin with.

Admittedly, she had been taken off guard by his offer. When the train had begun to decelerate into the station, she had attributed his initial look of disappointment and frustration to his wavering regard for her. The wealthy man was probably missing his luxurious, first-class cabin now, she had thought wryly. Though he had been facing away from her, she had easily imagined the look of disdain on his face. Emma had met more than enough dignitaries to know the look; it was the torn expression of someone who was used to gossiping about the vagabonds but, on the rare occasion that they were forced into the same breathing space, had the good sense to at least hold their tongues. Well, at least until they had passed out of their presence.

So when he had instead expressed his wish for her to accompany him, she had - quite understandably, she thought - mistaken his proposition as something less than gracious. The quick clarification had not been enough to dispel the rather inappropriate visions that had immediately filled her mind and she had not been able to stave her blush.

He was handsome - there was no denying it - but that was not reason enough to follow a stranger into their cabin on a fairly fantastical promise. A lump sum of rubles to act as a temporary translator and to stay in first class accommodations? The deal sounded too good to be true and her walls had immediately been thrown up.

But the businessman had been correct; she did, in fact, need the money. The trip to London was going to be long and she was going to need to keep a tight hold on her funds as it was. Besides, she was exhausted from the earlier trip and she was already dearly missing her bed. She had been cramped and uncomfortable curled up on the wooden floor, and the idea of a soft bench nearly made her groan in anticipation.

As the circulation began returning to her limbs, her mind began compiling boundaries and rules concerning her new position. He had only asked for her to accompany him to Moscow, and there was no reason for that to be an issue for her. He hadn’t asked for any papers or documents from her, and he did not seem to either know or care about the possibility of her being a fraud. As long as it remained that way, her cover would remain intact.

The walls she worked so hard to maintain were not going to be felled by a handsome face.

Still, Emma thought. Perhaps it would be easier to make her boundaries clear without his ridiculously blue eyes staring her down.

She piped up as they entered his cabin, turning to slide the lock on the door into place.

“I have some conditions, if I am to be your guide.”

“Already? Well, that was quite quick, wasn’t it?”

She rolled her eyes, even though he wouldn’t see it with her back to him. “Firstly, I am in charge of my own travels. Whatever tasks you demand of me cannot interfere with me getting to my destination.”

“Why, love? Do you have somewhere you need to be?” There was something halfway between curiosity and amusement in his tone. She ignored the comment, turning back to face him.

“Secondly, wha- what are you doing?”

The businessman was turned away from her, his head bowed as his hands worked away in front of him. He had already removed his vest, the wet garment crumpled in a heap on the bench, and was halfway through unbuttoning his shirt.

Years of etiquette training screamed at her to look away, but she couldn't seem to peel her eyes away from the smooth muscles of his back outlined by the clinging white shirt. Outside of the rather explicit descriptions of male anatomy from Ruby, Emma had never laid eyes on an adult, nude, male body before. He was sleek and toned like the marble statues she had often gazed upon at the palace, the muscles in his shoulders rolling as he moved to strip off his shirt. She turned quickly before he could notice her stare.

“As you said before,” he started, seeming unconcerned, “I must change my clothes. You may turn your back if you would like.”

“That was not an invitation to begin undressing in front of me!”

“Well, I would have asked your permission, but it is my cabin -”

“ Our cabin.”

“Yes, of course, our cabin, and I believe you were in the middle of listing out your demands.”

“Secondly, there will be no undressing in front of me!”

“Too right, love.”

“Do not call me ‘love’.”

“Is that another one of your rules?” He was smirking, she was sure of it.

Emma felt her cheeks flush with anger. Was he trying to provoke her, or was he simply an ass?

“Is this how you treat all of your personal staff, Killian Jones?” Emma shot back, unable to hide the venom in her tone. “With ridicule?”

He stiffened, the corners of his mouth turning down and his head turning to the side ever so slightly. “What makes you think I have any staff?”

“You do, do you not?”

“No.”

Emma went silent. There was a finality, an honesty, in his voice that she hadn’t missed. His face had hardened slightly and for a moment he almost appeared offended at her accusation. Surely he had to have someone at his beck and call back home, she thought, but the piercing look in the British man’s face said otherwise. Could a man as well dressed and wealthy as Killian Jones appeared to be really not have staff?

“Well,” Emma continued, a little more softly, “you must have business partners.”

“Aye, of course.”

“Then you should consider me as one of them. We may not have a legal contract, per say, but it is just as binding as one and you will act in the same manner that you do with all of your partners. Is that clear?”

Killian seemed to sober at that, the look of irritation fading from his face and slowly being replaced by hints of shame and embarrassment. He reminded her now of a naughty schoolboy who had been caught cursing in the halls. It was almost humorous to see a grown man react to her caregiver voice in the same way that the young Romanov children had.

“I apologize if I was rude. I only thought that…” He trailed off, seeming to reconsider his next words. “Well, anyhow, it was not my intention to offend you. Please, continue.”

“Thirdly, there will be no discussion of private matters.” When he nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly, she continued. She listed off her set of conditions, finding more and more terms coming to mind as she went along. There was a certain level of comfort that was gained as she laid out the terms of their arrangement - which included everything from sleeping arrangements to prohibited topics of discussion - though a small voice in her head noted that she was building her walls up so high it would be a wonder if she could even see the sky any longer. She shoved aside the intrusive thought and instead started on her rules regarding dressing and undressing in the cabin.

Killian scratched idly at his beard as he considered each of her terms. When she was finished, he reached out his hand to shake hers. He looked a bit ridiculous standing before her, half dressed in nothing but his trousers, black gloves and loosely buttoned shirt, but she grasped his hand in hers and sealed the deal with a firm shake.

“A business woman, through and through,” Killian noted. “I can respect that.”

“I should hope so, Killian Jones,” she warned. Emma turned and began laying her possessions on one of the benched seats. She was just removing her own coat when she heard him speak again.

“I have a condition of my own, if you will allow it.”

Emma turned to eye him. His face betrayed nothing of the nature of his request. ‘Alright,” she agreed, slowly.

“Please, call me Killian.”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. The use of Mr. and Mrs. was not customary here, with Russians preferring to address others by their full name instead. Emma knew what British customs dictated, but she hadn't thought anything of it. Either way, it was such a simple request that it caught her off guard. “Is that all?”

“If you would, please,” he shrugged almost sheepishly. “I cannot say I am particularly fond of formalities.”

“Alright,” Emma agreed again. Surely there was no harm in that? It did not mean that they were friends by any means, and she had just given him a long list of demands that he had readily agreed to. It would be a sign of bad faith, she thought, to deny him this. “Killian.”

He grinned at her use of his name.

“Thank you, Miss Nolana. Now, if you please, I really would like to change into something warmer and I would not wish to break one of your terms already.”

“Oh, right. Yes, I - I will wait outside, then.”

Making doubly certain that her papers were tucked away in her bag, Emma stepped outside the cabin and shut the door to wait. It would be a nuisance to have to switch every time they needed to change, but it would have to do. She had set the boundaries firm for both of their sakes, and a few moments spent loitering in the narrow hallway was certainly worth the extra bit of privacy it provided. She only hoped Killian would not be too long.

Killian .

Even in her thoughts, the name had a nice ring to it.

Emma Lebedeva was no fool; she had seen the look of want that had filled his eyes more than once already. It was nothing like the puppy eyed longing that August had shown back at the train station. It was surely something hungrier than that, and she did not doubt the sincerity that coloured his tone every time words of good grace left his mouth. For whatever reason, he truly did believe she was a marvel.

Despite the British man’s clean cut appearance, there was a distinctly roguish side to him that he seemed to find hard to keep under control. She felt it in every smirk, in every wise cracking comment. And the deal that he had made with her - a vaguely large sum of money for an unspecified job - could only mean one thing; the man was nouveau riche.

Emma had been around enough of them in her lifetime to know the signs and the dangers that came with that title. The impulsivity always seemed to emerge first, as the person began testing the limits of their new wealth. Automobiles, clothes, and even new homes would be bought on a whim, and Emma often wondered if they had the chance to really appreciate them before they were shoved off to side to make way for the new plaything. Most of the time, she thought not. It was the revolving door of women that had always pained Emma the most, however. Bigger houses meant more rooms to fill and more spacious beds to keep warm. Emma had been relieved that her background role in the palace had meant she had never been tasked to recall the names of the many mistresses that had been ushered through back doors to the awaiting guest apartments. Never for the Tsar, of course; he had only ever had eyes for his Tsarina.

She couldn’t help but look towards the door and wonder how many young ladies were waiting at home for the man currently redressing in their shared room. What would they think if they saw him now, leading a new young thing by the hand without a second thought? Perhaps he would never admit to having been with her at all. She wouldn’t blame him; upholding one’s reputation was a serious matter, and he was clearly taking a risk as it was. Still, Emma’s stomach turned sour at the thought of being swept under the rug as someone’s dirty little secret.

Boundaries. Boundaries were going to be essential if she were going to make it through this trip in one piece.

Just then, another large rocking of the train had her reaching for the walls to steady herself. She managed to keep upright, but she thought she heard a muffled ‘thump’ followed by a faint ‘bloody hell’ from the other side of the door.

“Are you alright?” Emma called through the door. “May I come in now?”

She took the small grunt that followed as a yes, and slid the door open just enough to slip through. He had claimed the bench across from where she had left her belongings and was dressed again - well, mostly . He hadn’t replaced his vest, which remained in a heap with the rest of his damp clothes where he had abandoned it, but he had changed into a black button up shirt and similarly dark trousers. The chill of the cold winter air must have been bothering him more than he had let on, as he had pulled his gloves up tights to his wrists and had put on his coat.

The businessman was riffling through his satchel, appearing to be searching for something. Unsure of what to do herself, she allowed her old habits to guide her and moved to pick up the mass of wet clothes next to him. The cabin was not entirely warm, but Emma hoped that by hanging the articles on the coat rack that they would dry in time. She lit the small mantle lamp affixed to the wall just in case, the scent of kerosene strong and immediate as it flickered to life.

“You did not need to do that.”

Emma turned and noticed the man’s blue eyes watching her intently. She wasn’t entirely sure what he was referring to, but he quickly clarified. “My clothes. It is not one of your duties as my translator.”

“Are you afraid that I will charge you for the service?”

“No, but I do not want you to feel obliged -”

“I assure you that I do not.” Emma frowned at the look of uncertainty on his face. “Are you unused to having favours done for you?”

“I am a businessman,” he pointed out. “Favours are my stock and trade.”

“But surely you expect some sort of payment from your business partners after you grant them a favour, do you not?”

“Naturally, yes.”

“Then they are not favours. They are deals. Trades.”

He eyed her curiously, his mouth set in a firm line, before turning up into a humourless smile. “Point taken.”

With that he gestured for her to take the seat across from him, which she took.

“Where did you want me to start?” She asked, thinking it better to inquire about her role now rather than later.

He looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“As your guide. Would you like me to begin preparing an itinerary now? Or when we arrive?”

He hesitated before answering, looking a bit disappointed that the conversation had veered back toward the terms of their arrangement. “As you wish. We have more than enough time to prepare for that.”

Emma couldn’t help feeling a bit surprised. He had invited her to his cabin to be his assistant, had he not? What else was she meant to do for the next dozen hours or so? Emma Lebedeva was no one’s escort.

“You may sleep if you would like,” Killian continued, his focus back to rifling through his bag. “Travelling is always exerting, and you must be tired.”

She was, but the stubborn voice in her head prevented her from acquiescing. “Perhaps in a little while.”

“In that case, perhaps we could do something to pass the time?” Killian held up a deck of cards, evidently the object he had been searching for in his bag. “Do you know how to play?”

“No.”

“I could teach you,” he offered with a slight shrug.

Emma blinked. Teach her how to play? She had watched the men at the palace play before, but no one had ever bothered to teach her how to play.

“Alright,” she agreed slowly, rubbing her palms along her skirt to smooth out the imaginary wrinkles there. He continued on, apparently unperturbed at her novice.

“Now, I thought we could start with something simple. Do you know how to play blackjack?”

She shook her head.

“Well, it’s quite easy. But tell me, Miss Emma; are you a gambler?”

“Not particularly, no.”

“Then allow this to be the moment you succumb to your darker impulses.” He waggled his eyebrows dramatically, and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes in amusement.

“I would hardly call this a high risk endeavour. We do not even have anything to wager.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “Pride?”

“Oh, then perhaps this is high risk for you indeed,” she teased back, earning her a playfully affronted look.

“Now, Miss Emma, the trick to this game is luck.”

Emma looked unimpressed. “How can luck be a trick?”

“Believe it or not,” he began, expertly shuffling the square cards in one hand, “luck is a skill that can be acquired. Much like your affinity for languages, I would wager.” He must have noticed the skeptical look on her face. “You do not believe me?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Alright, Miss Emma, then I will prove it to you.” He held the deck upright in his palm before her. “Choose a card, if you would, please.”

She picked up the top card and placed it face up as instructed. Despite the larger size of the first class cabin, there was little room to spare and the two were forced to use their laps as makeshift tables. Killian explained the game and Emma was surprised to find the objective relatively simple. He played the part of the dealer, admitting that the game was usually more enjoyable with more players but that they would have to make do.

Unsurprisingly, she lost her first hand badly, though Killian was quick to reassure her that he hadn't expected her to win on her first try. He was right of course, and Emma soon managed to to make calls that brought her hands nearer to twenty one. She had caught on quickly to the game, and she hoped he wasn’t imagining the impressed look on her travelling companion’s face as she turned up a perfect twenty one for the third time in a row.

They continued their game, Emma’s brow furrowing further and further as Killian suddenly began winning each round without fail. For every call she made, he was right there with a card that brought him one point closer to the target. Emma finally threw down her cards as Killian flipped over his second card to reveal an ace of spades, giving him another perfect blackjack.

“I am not sure I am all that fond of this game,” she muttered, as he collected her cards to shuffle.

“Would you like to know my secret?”

She rolled her eyes, exasperated. “If it is ‘luck’, I must tell you that I am still unconvinced.”

“Not quite,” he hummed. Killian laughed as he watched her jaw drop comically as he pulled a Queen of Hearts from the edge of his sleeve.

“That is cheating!”

“Only if you get caught,” he shrugged, unconcerned.

“I believe it is cheating either way.”

“I did warn you. I make my own luck.”

“By cheating.”

“Only a little bit.” He was still smiling, clearly happy to have gotten away with his deception. “But you are right, I apologize. I was only trying to impress you.”

Impress her ? “Why on earth would you need to do that?”

His grin faltered a moment, something in her question having thrown him. Though, for the life of her, Emma could not place what it was.

“Where would we be if the master was beat out by the student on their first attempt?” He answered simply. Emma’s internal lie detector sensed it was not the whole truth, but she chose not to push it. His secrets could be his own, she supposed.

Killian placed the cards in front of her. “Would you like to play again? I promise to play fairly from this point forward.”

Perhaps she should have been angry at his earlier deceit, but something told her that it wouldn’t do any good. Instead she picked up the cards and began shuffling them in the way she he had seen the men at the palace do. By some miracle, she managed to keep the entire deck from spilling out onto the floor as she did so.

It was strange to think that only hours earlier she had been sitting alone, facing an uncertain future on her own. Though these were not the circumstances she would have chosen, she was grateful for the company. It couldn’t last long, of course; she would be back to her solitude the moment he no longer had use for her, but by then she hoped to be finished with him as well. The moment her contract with him finished, her new life would begin. It was comforting to know that she would be a few steps ahead of her plan on that front; a purse full of rubles would be an asset if she was going to locate the man who held her exit papers.

Still, she relished the idea that she would be able to keep some sense of normalcy over the next few hours. The threat of discovery still loomed over her - there would be no changing that until she was safely outside of the empire’s borders- but she couldn’t deny that the sense of imminent danger seemed to fade somewhat in Killian’s presence. If she closed her eyes, Emma could almost imagine she was back at the palace, the seat cushion beneath her nearly passable as Ruby’s mattress on the many nights that the two maids spent gossiping together like schoolchildren. Emma nearly sighed. Even though her friend had had valid reasons to stay behind, Emma couldn’t help but wish that it was her wolf eyed friend seated on the bench across from her.

It wasn’t all bad, she reasoned. As they continued round after round of their game, settling into their seats as the train rattled and swayed around them, she had to admit that out of all of the passengers that could have accosted her along her journey, she was grateful it had been Killian Jones.

‘Killian’ , she reminded herself. Just ‘Killian’ .

Only moments later, however, the comfortable silence that had fallen over the pair was broken as the sound of creaking wood began emanating from the other side of the wall behind where Killian was sitting. It started low, and for a moment Emma wondered if it was an occupant’s nervous pacing that was causing the rhythmic noises, but the addition of a distinctly female moan clarified the situation rather quickly.

Oh lord, why was this happening? She couldn’t help the deep blush that began to colour her cheeks as the unseemly activities escalated further.

If Killian noticed, he did not say as much, his attention focused solely on the cards in his hand. Perhaps he was used to it? The thought sent an unnerving chill down her spine. Was the man in front of her the type of man to take a woman against the wall of a train? There was certainly no reason to rule it out.

It was only when the noises reached their peak, a solid thump of a body against their shared wall that Emma lost her patience.

“Oh, how vile!”

Killian only chuckled, dealing himself another card from the deck. “They were gossiping earlier. Perhaps they ran out of topics of conversation.”

Emma made a face as she glared at the wall that separated the two parties.

“I would not wish to hear what they were discussing,” she muttered.

“I could not understand them. Not that I would ask you to translate that anyways,” he quickly clarified.

She gave an appreciative hum as she turned her attention back to her cards. Now that Killian had stopped his tricky sleight of hand, she was actually doing fairly well. Though she was still convinced that the game involved more luck than skill, she couldn’t deny that her judgement was becoming better as the game went on. Emma grinned at his fake annoyed sigh as she laid down another winning hand, his own falling just short.

“How did you manage this far without a translator?” She asked suddenly, the question long overdue.

“My partner speaks Russian. It appears I am much slower at picking it up.”

“Your partner?”

“My business partner. Will. He travelled with me the first time, but unfortunately for me he had to leave Petrograd early to go to Moscow. I am to meet him there.”

“Ah so I am only to babysit you until you reach your friend?” She teased. “That should not be too difficult then.”

Killian snorted. “I promise to be on my best behaviour until then.”

It was at that moment that Emma’s stomach began to protest against the late hour. She threw her arm across her stomach to silence the sound, but it was too late. Killian’s eyes flicked up to hers at the noise and he immediately reassembled the deck he was about to reshuffle into a neat square.

“Well, Miss Nolana,” he started, brushing his hand across his trousers as he rose to stand, “I am famished. What say we go for dinner, hm?”

“You may go ahead. I will stay here, I think. I have some food in my bag.” Granny had insisted that she take along a small parcel of food with her before she left the palace, and the boiled eggs and cheese would not keep.

Just as he looked ready to argue, the lurid noises started up again in the cabin next door. From what Ruby had told her - which had been admittedly more than Emma ever would have dared to ask - Emma was surprised at how quickly they had recovered from their last tryst. And if the mumbled “bloody hell” from her companion was anything to go by, Emma wasn’t the only one to be disappointed by that fact.

She quickly tucked her bag in the corner of the cabin where he had only moments ago stashed his own.

“Perhaps it would not be too horrible to dine with you tonight,” she admitted, checking that her change purse was on hand.

The grin on his face was nearly enough to distract her from the sounds next door.

“I am glad you have reconsidered.”

He opened the door and gestured for her to lead the way.

“Shall we?”

#csff #captain swan #captain swan ff #IINYE #It Is Not Yet Evening #ouat ff #ouat #nextfewwords

1 note · View note